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CNN International: Trump Takes Question At The White House; Vatican: Pope Had Two Episodes Of "Acute Respiratory Failure"; Trump: Zelenskyy "Should Be More Appreciative"; Dow Tumbles 500 Points As Tariffs Loom. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 03, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:02]

REPORTER: Have you made that decision?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I haven't even talked about that right now. I mean, right now, we'll see what happens. A lot of things are happening right now as we speak. I mean, literally, as we speak. I could give you an answer and go back to my office, the beautiful Oval Office. I could go back into the Oval Office and find out that the answer is obsolete.

It's like his business. It's obsolete. You come up with a new chip and it's obsolete about two minutes later, right? But that's what's good about his business. That's why he's the only one that's successful in it.

But --

REPORTER: To follow on my colleague's question, from Russia is saying that your foreign policy is largely in line with their vision. Should that be concerning to Americans?

TRUMP: Said, what?

REPORTER: Should that be concerning to Americans?

TRUMP: Read the statement.

REPORTER: That Russia -- that Russia says that your administration's foreign policy is, quote, largely in line with their vision.

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what. I think it takes two to tango, and you're going to have to make a deal with Russia, and you're going to have to make a deal with Ukraine. You're going to have to have the assent, and you're going to have to have the consent from the European nations, because I think that's important, and from us. I think everybody has to get into a room, so to speak, and we have to make a deal.

And the deal can be made very fast. It should not be that hard a deal to make. It could be made very fast. Now, maybe somebody doesn't want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn't want to make a deal, I think that person won't be around very long. That person will not be listened to very long, because I believe that Russia wants to make a deal. I believe certainly the people of Ukraine want to make a deal. They've suffered more than anybody else. We talk about suffering, they've suffered.

But if you think about it, under President Bush, they got Georgia, right? Russia got Georgia. Under President Obama, they got a nice big submarine base, a nice big chunk of land where they have their submarines. You know that, right? Crimea.

Under President Trump, they got nothing. And under President Biden, they tried to get the whole thing. They tried to get the whole big -- big Ukraine, the whole thing. If I didn't get in here, they would have gotten the whole thing.

So, I can only say you can go back to Bush. You can go back to Obama and go back to Biden. They took a lot. The only one they didn't get.

You know what I gave them? I gave them anti-tank missiles. That's what I gave them. I gave them sanctions on Russia, on Russia. I gave them Javelins.

You know, the Javelins. You know, when they took out all those tanks, you know, the tanks were heading to Kyiv by the hundreds and they were unstoppable. And I gave them Javelins.

So, you know, I really -- Putin is the one that will tell you this is not been so good for them. The fact is that I just want fairness, I want fairness, but think of it. I gave Russia nothing, except grief. I gave them nothing. I gave them sanctions and Javelins. That's what I gave them.

Obama gave them sheets. And you heard that statement before? It's a very famous. Trump gave them javelins and Obama gave them sheets. And then they say, how close I am to Russia.

Let me tell you, we have to make a deal because there are a lot of people being killed that shouldn't be killed. But remember, Trump gave them nothing and the other presidents gave them a lot. They gave them everything.

REPORTER: Mr. President, on trade, you met with president, Argentine President Javier Milei at CPAC. He wants to sign a free trade agreement with the United States.

TRUMP: Right.

REPORTER: Is that something that you would consider even with Argentina?

REPORTER: I consider anything. And Argentina, I think he's great, by the way. I think he's a great leader. He's doing a great job. He's doing a fantastic job, brought it back from oblivion.

Yeah, we'll look at things. We're looking at the UK with things. It doesn't have to be tariffs, but, tariffs are easy. They're fast, they're efficient. And they bring fairness. For instance, when people kill their -- their dollar their equivalent

of the dollar, whatever, whether it's the Yuan or the yen in Japan or the Yuan in China, when they drop them down, that gives us -- that puts us at a very unfair disadvantage.

So all I have to do is say, Howard, we're going to have to raise the tariffs a little bit because I've called President Xi, I've called the leaders of Japan to say, you cant continue to reduce and break down your -- your currency. You can't do it because its unfair to us. It's very hard for us to make tractors, Caterpillar, here when Japan, China and other places are killing their currency, meaning driving it down.

So all of these things add up. And the way you solve it very easily is with tariffs. Because when they do that, instead of having to make phone calls every day like I used to do with certain leaders, President Xi a little bit, a lot of phone calls talking about the fact that they're lowering their Yuan, they're lowering it down. And that makes it very, very hard for us.

[15:05:01]

So this way I just say, look, let them do that and we make up for it with the tariffs but --

REPORTER: You'll be speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum?

TRUMP: Yeah, sure I will. I have a lot of respect for her. I have a lot of respect for her.

REPORTER: Mr. President, Mr. President, take effect. It'll be 20 percent on China. Now, how high are you willing to go against China?

TRUMP: Well, I can't say. It depends on what they do with their currency. It depends on what they do in terms of a retaliation with some kind of an economic retaliation, which I don't think they're going to retaliate too much.

I -- look, the United States has been taken advantage of for 40 years. The United States has been a laughingstock for years and years. That's why this gentleman has built in Taiwan instead of building here. It would have been better if he built here.

If we had a president that knew what they were doing, and we had a lot of them very bad on trade.

Look, I'm a huge fan of Ronald Reagan, but he was bad on trade, very bad on trade. He allowed a lot of people, a lot of businesses to be taken. So I say that with due respect, because he was so great on other things, but he was bad on trade. We are setting records right now, records like nobody has ever seen before.

When you have companies like this coming in and almost 40 percent of their company in one signature is going to be devoted to what he does, which is one of the most important, important businesses in the world. That's an unbelievable thing. When apple now is going to start building all of their plants here, all because of what we've done in terms of its not because he likes me or they like me. They don't probably like me at all. I don't know, I think he likes me a little bit at least.

But you know what? It's -- it's -- it's the incentive we created or the negative incentive. I mean, it's -- it's going to be very costly for people to take advantage of this country. They can't come in and steal our money and steal our jobs and take our factories and take our businesses and expect not to be punished. And they're being punished by tariffs.

It's a very powerful weapon that politicians haven't used because they were either dishonest or stupid or paid off in some other form, and now we're using 'em.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Say it?

REPORTER: Have you spoken with President Xi about this?

TRUMP: I don't want to tell you that.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: You have been listening there to President Trump alongside him just exiting that room is the Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company, TSMC. He was there really announcing a $100 billion in investment in the United States to build semiconductor facilities in Arizona.

At the end of that, what the president called historic announcement, he the president took questions.

Let me give you some of the highlights that we heard on tariffs, the question of tariffs. The president said that tomorrow, there will be an increase on tariffs, 25 percent on Canada, and on Mexico. If you remember, I think it was about two weeks or three weeks ago. He put a halt in that. Now that's going ahead. We heard from the president.

When asked what could be done by -- by -- by a journalist. He said there was no room left on the tariff. So those tariffs are expected to go ahead tomorrow for Mexico and Canada, 25 percent.

He then spoke about an additional 10 percent tariffs on China, but he didn't specify whether that would be tomorrow as well. Now on the question of -- on the question of Ukraine, I think the majority of questions were focused on that. He was asked whether the Ukraine deal was dead or if it can be revived. He said it's a great deal for us, he said. Said then went on to say the usual talking points that Biden gave away a lot of the money and were going to get the money back.

He did say we need rare earths back, and he said, we'll have an update on that deal tomorrow night. On Tuesday night in the United States. We'll have a bit more detail on that.

On the question of Zelenskyy, how he can be brought back, can, of course, after that huge spat that they had at the Oval Office blow up that happened on Friday, roughly at the show, he said that Zelenskyy needs to show he's more appreciative.

Listening to that was my colleague Kevin Liptak, who joins me from the White House.

So, Kevin, I'm hoping you're still with me. I mean, those are really the main points I saw. Tariffs and Ukraine, what did you take away from it?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And I would add one more when the president was asked two times whether he was considering suspending military aid to Ukraine, which I would just remind you, has already been passed by Congress, has already been appropriated. And technically, by law, the president does need to see that go out the door essentially.

First, he punted and didn't answer, and he said he just wanted to see the war ended quickly. Someone followed up with him later, and he said that he hasn't talked about it now. And essentially he said, we'll see what happens.

[15:10:04]

So he's not ruling out the prospect of kind of cutting off that assistance altogether, which I think will cause some alarm bells to ring in Kyiv, given just how essential American assistance to Ukraine has been throughout the course of this conflict. Of course, we know that Trump has taken an exceedingly skeptical view of that assistance, of the billions of dollars that the U.S. has spent in Ukraine.

But I think hearing him say that out loud, leaving that option on the table to cut it off was notable. And then there was another question again, sort of asked twice during this press conference asking the president to respond what we heard from the Kremlin overnight, which is that this new administrations policies closely align with the Kremlin's own view of foreign policy. And the president said there that it takes two to tango and that he and as he's doing this, this efforts with Ukraine and Russia, his goal is to make a deal and that he wants to get people in the room to make a deal.

So essentially not rebutting what the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said about his own policy. You know, it's interesting because we do understand that this week, American officials and their Russian counterparts will continue these negotiations to try and set up a meeting between President Trump and President Putin, potentially in Saudi Arabia. And it's kind of striking just to hear the president describe that track of this diplomacy still going, still proceeding as his relationship with Vladimir Zelenskyy essentially bottoms out.

And so it's interesting to hear him speak about those two sort of tracks very differently. Um, and I just think its an interesting moment to for the president to, to recount all of that, as he said.

And as you mentioned, he suggested that well be hearing more about this during his primetime address tomorrow night. It's the equivalent of a State of the Union Address. They don't call it that because it's his first year in office, but he was essentially teasing some news about this mineral deal in that speech tomorrow night.

We had heard from officials that before this fracas in the Oval Office on Friday, the president had been planning to kind of tout that minerals deal as an accomplishment of his diplomacy in the first six weeks of his presidency. Clearly, he still thinks that this could be an element of that speech he's planning to deliver tomorrow.

SOARES: Yeah. And on that question that he was asked about Russian, the U.S. foreign policy being largely aligned with their vision from the Kremlin. I mean, not only did he rebut it, he -- he basically completely went around, even said, I gave Russia nothing, but, you know, but grief, he said, I gave Ukraine Javelins to kind of dodge the question entirely.

But as you were talking there, I want to bring up the Dow Jones because the markets are tumbling. I see that the Mexican peso is also falling, is now down, as you can see there, just one, 1-1/2 percent. And this is the concern, right, that we have been here before, but I think it was some three weeks ago on the question of tariffs for Canada and Mexico.

This is now. So the president going ahead tomorrow and there's nothing -- he said there's no room left here.

LIPTAK: Yeah, I mean, I still think were going to have to see what happens tomorrow because you'll remember that original time when he was putting these tariffs in place. He actually signed the piece of paper. They were to go into effect in one day. And he pulled back in this essentially the 11th hour when he had had a conversation with the Mexican president, had a conversation with the prime minister of Canada, and essentially came to an agreement to back off.

This time, he's saying that he will not back off. He is particularly concerned, in his words, about the flow of fentanyl. He is saying that Canada and Mexico have not done enough to curb the flow of that drug across both of those borders, so we'll have to see exactly what he plans to do. In his own words, this is happening.

I still think we will have to just see what happens tomorrow when this is set to go into effect.

SOARES: Yeah, we've been here before, haven't we, Kevin? And just important to point out, you know, you were saying we know these tariffs are because of fentanyl. But you also said today, you know, if Mexico and Canada build their plants in the U.S., maybe there are no tariffs. So there's not very much clearer clarity there on what exactly the argument he's making.

Kevin Liptak, appreciate it. Thank you, Kevin, for breaking it all down for us.

We are going to keep our eyes peeled on the Dow Jones, as well as the other markets right across the board. We've got about an hour or just over an hour and a bit, almost two hours left of trade. We're going to leave the show for now.

My -- my colleague Max Foster, do not adjust your time. He's here next with CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:46]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello. You're just hearing from Isa there about how Donald Trump has been speaking, big news on the tariffs for Mexico and Canada. They are going ahead tomorrow, said Donald Trump. There will be no last minute deal there, he implied.

Also speaking on Ukraine, of course, getting his latest thoughts after a series of meetings in Europe, trying to find some sort of way forward towards peace.

Nick Paton Walsh, our chief international security correspondent, was watching that unfold from Kyiv.

What did you think, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECUURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, lots of different things to unpack there, just in terms of the bare bones of the news. I think he was clear to suggest that he felt Zelenskyy should be more appreciative of what the United States has done. That is echoing what we saw in the Oval Office on Friday, the sort of, uh, loud demands for public displays of gratitude from Ukraine.

He did, interestingly say that he has not discussed at this point, cutting aid to Ukraine. I think that will bring relief and heart to many here in Kyiv. That has been something mooted vaguely in the past day or so, as what might be on agenda at some point. So heartening to see him say that he has not discussed that at this stage, but also, too, an interesting tone he struck when it came to Russia, suggesting that perhaps he'd been tough on Russia, that he hadn't let Russia annex multiple lands, and indeed suggested that George W. Bush falsely allowed Russia to take parts of Georgia.

There was a Russian incursion in 2008 after clashes near South Ossetia, but the Russians did withdraw to where they were beforehand. He then also said, correctly that the Trump administration, the first term, were the first to provide lethal aid to Ukraine, some of which was indeed used at the early stages of the full invasion in 2002 to repel Russian armor. Much more came in from the Biden administration after that.

He also talked about Zelenskyy suggesting that he needed to make a deal, and said that if people didn't make a deal, they wouldn't be around much longer and that Russia indeed wanted to make a deal again. This putting of pressure onto Zelenskyy here after three days, really, in which he sort of still, I think spinning from the scenes in the Oval Office, buoyed a little bit by the show of support in London from European leaders and seemingly, I think, a little defiant in a press conference last night with journalists in London. [15:20:06]

When asked if he'd resign, saying that for me to resign, you need to have elections and then you need to convince me not to be in the elections and my price for that is joining NATO. And so, Zelenskyy, I think defiant then today saying that they desperately want peace in Ukraine and that they want the U.S. supporting peace.

So the possibility of some kind of softening in the rhetoric here, despite the fact we have heard the last 24 hours, senior Trump officials questioned Zelenskyy's role as the president, less of that from Trump himself. And the suggestion to we might hear some kind of progress on the rare earth minerals deal in the next 24 hours or so, or some kind of statement about it.

So the possibility maybe we might see a change in the Trump administration's tone. He certainly wanted to sound a little more anti-Russian there. When questioned if when the Kremlin said that the Washington's current occupant shared their global vision, if that was good for Americans to hear that.

So a slight change in tone, certainly, but still, I think below all of that, an element of hostility towards Zelenskyy. Just a matter of hours earlier, he said that the American people won't stand for much longer. Zelenskyy's comments like peace being very, very far away, he was seizing on a particular headline in an associated press article, which was one of a number of comments Zelenskyy had made in the same interview, suggesting indeed that he wanted peace not just today but from the beginning of the war. So selective, I think, in what they choose to emphasis upon.

And I think there are questions here as to whether this is part of a broader pressure tactic against Zelenskyy, whether there is genuine personal upset about what happened in the Oval Office and Trump administration, and quite what the progress forward is here, because whatever the Trump cabinet say about Zelenskyy's position, we've been speaking to officials here and the simple act of trying to change a president in wartime is nigh impossible without causing extraordinary political crisis that would paralyze the military, most likely, and cause months of bickering and gray areas here in terms of who was even in charge and even in peace time to hold a vote. They need six months of preparation, according to deputy head of the central election commission that we spoke to here.

So Zelenskyy's departure doesn't really seem to be an option, frankly, unless you want absolute chaos, and therefore, no real chance of a peace deal either. So, whatever the way ahead here, it isn't quite clear. Although I could detect in what Trump was saying a slight softening of his position that we'd seen in the earlier hours from himself and his cabinet officials -- Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Nick in Kyiv, thank you for that.

We're also following news out of Rome about the health of Pope Francis. The Vatican says the pope has experienced two episodes of acute respiratory failure. This comes after he was taken off ventilation over the weekend. The 88-year-old pontiff is being treated for double pneumonia. Pope Francis was admitted to a Roman hospital on February 14th for respiratory issues, so he has been there a while.

Joining us from Rome with the latest is our Christopher Lamb.

I understand he's still alert, Christopher.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max, but it's been a rollercoaster following this health crisis of Pope Francis.

We've had some days of improvement and then we've had a day like today, which sounds like a serious setback, Francis having two acute respiratory failure episodes. This was caused by, we were told, an accumulation of mucus in the lungs that then had to be aspirated. The pope is back on this ventilator through a mask. Receiving this advanced oxygen treatment that he had come off following a similar crisis this past Friday, but is now back on it.

Now, obviously, all this is causing a lot of concern and anxiety in the Vatican and behind me, you may be able to hear the prayers that are going on in St. Peter's Square for Pope Francis being led by U.S. cardinal, Cardinal Robert Prevost. There have been prayers every night for the pope in these past several days in St. Peter's as he continues to battle pneumonia in both lungs.

The pope is 88 years old. He has a history of respiratory infections, and he's been in the hospital now for 18 days. It is a concern, and it is a worry for many people in the Vatican to be seeing what's happening at the moment.

The hope, of course, is that the pope can improve, that they can get this pneumonia under control. But really, Francis's health hangs in the balance, it seems. We are expecting a further update from the Vatican tomorrow on Tuesday -- Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Christopher. We will await to hear more of a really, tough time for the doctors and for the pope.

At least two people have been killed and several others injured after a car rammed into pedestrians in Germany. It happened in the southwestern city of Mannheim. Police say they arrested a suspect following a large scale manhunt around midday on Monday.

[15:25:01]

The incident is the latest in a number of deadly car ramming attacks in Germany.

Fred Pleitgen following this from Berlin.

Do we have any sense of the motive on this one, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know at this point in time, Max, but one of the things that the investigators have come out tonight in a press conference that actually just ended a couple of minutes ago, is they say right now, they don't believe that there's any political motivation behind all this. However, they also caution that so far, they've not been able to interrogate the suspect that they have had in custody. It's a 40-year- old man with German citizenship.

So right now, they are saying that they don't believe that any of this has political motivation. Of course, they do say, however, that all of this was deliberate. They are calling this a ramming attack and it unfolded or began to unfold around midday of today in the pedestrian zone of that city in Mannheim, in the southwest of Germany. The police saying that originally, when they had heard the news of a car incident happening in that pedestrian zone, that they thought that this was just a road traffic accident. But when they got on the scene, they realized that a car had actually plowed into a group of people in that pedestrian zone, raced into the pedestrian zone.

They then saw the vehicle that it was a black compact car, which was heavily damaged from obviously hitting a lot of people. The other news that we have tonight, Max, is that the victims are apparently a woman in her 80s and a man in his 50s. Those are the two people who were killed. There are also people who were injured, some of them severely injured in this incident.

And one of the things that the authorities had said is when they got word that something like this had happened, they obviously declared an emergency situation in that entire city, urged people not to enter the center of the city, but also the hospitals in that area got ready for what they believed would be a mass casualty situation. We know that several people are still in hospital, still being treated.

The police are saying right now on their condition they can't say very much, but they do say obviously this is going to be an ongoing investigation. And they say that they believe that the perpetrator did all of this on his own, planned all of this on his own. Right now, the investigation is for murder in this case, Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Fred. Thank you. As you say, there's been a string of these, and they're not linked, it appears, but frightening for people of Germany to contend with.

Still to come, Ukraine's president says he's counting on the U.S. support to end the war with Russia. We'll discuss the next moves available for President Zelenskyy in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:49]

FOSTER: Well, just a few moments ago, U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Speaking after the two leaders clashed, of course, on Friday, the U.S. president said his Ukrainian counterpart should, quote, be more appreciative. But he doesn't believe the Ukraine minerals deal is dead. Mr. Trump said he'll give an update on that on Tuesday, which might happen during his joint session address to Congress. The U.S. president also spoke on the 25 percent tariffs against Mexico

and Canada, which he said will go into effect as planned on Tuesday. U.S. stocks were already sliding, but they slide -- slid even more sharply off the back of that news.

Richard Quest joins us from Berlin.

I mean, it really was marked, wasn't it, because there was some hope that he may backtrack like he did last time.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Look, look, this is not a surprise. Why the market should fall so far and so fast. The one thing investors look for is certainty. The last thing they're getting from the Trump administration is certainty.

Every single day, it's another tariff on this, tariff on that. We're going to do it next week. We'll do it in three weeks time. We'll have a resurgence of this. We'll go backwards and forwards.

As a result, investors don't know where they stand. Companies don't know where they stand. Some businesses have got goods on the high seas coming from China and want to get them off the boats as fast as possible so that they don't have to pay tariffs. Sometimes it's a allegation or a threat of a tariff of 10 percent, next thing its 15 percent. We just don't know.

And I'm not sure what the strategy is short term. Long term, he wants to rebalance the terms of trade for the United States. But in the short term, investors have just about had enough. And it's not going to be long before you see this market have a really serious crack.

FOSTER: He also adding another 10 percent tariff on goods from China. Of course, where we are, all the talk is about Europe, particularly the E.U., countries like Germany and where tariffs will come there.

QUEST: Oh, yeah. I mean, it's going to happen. The president said last week when sitting next to Keir Starmer, the president said after love, marriage, God and country, the thing he loves more than anything else is the word tariffs.

Now, the global -- the global business, the global trading environment is a highly sensitive and balanced instrument. And what he's doing is throwing vast amounts of sand right into the cogs and gears. And people don't know where they stand.

So it is not a surprise that stocks that were already overvalued, those like Nvidia, Amazon, were the only ones that are succeeding at the moment. By the way, are defense stocks, particularly in Europe, some of which are up 15 to 20 percent because the Europeans are going to be spending that much more on their own defense.

This is one of the most unusual investment scenarios that I can recall, mainly because it's the president of the United States that's causing all the uncertainty with this never ending diatribe of which country is going to be hit next with tariffs. FOSTER: In terms of politics, the European leadership have been trying

to rally around Ukraine without offending Donald Trump in any way, very much showing their support, weren't they, over the weekend for President Zelenskyy?

QUEST: How do you tell the U.S. president that he's wrong and you don't support what he's doing without saying the words, you're wrong and I don't support what you're doing? That's exactly what the Europeans are doing at the moment. They are dancing around this any which way they can.

And if you look at the analysis in Europe of the fiasco of the Oval Office, the general view is, well, you know, Zelenskyy took the bait when perhaps he shouldn't have done, understandable for a man who's been at war for the last three years. But how do we show that Europe can lead?

[15:35:01]

The U.S. seems quite happy if Europe takes the lead. But I think that the White House is pretty certain that the Europeans will never get their act together. And it is in that confusion that once again, the White House will say, well, we'll sort it out. But at the moment, the nuanced differences between Macron and Starmer and there are differences, but not huge. They've got to come up with a plan that everybody else can sign on to, that they can then sell to Donald Trump as being the way forward.

All the while, by the way, Vladimir Putin is standing on the sidelines throwing bricks.

FOSTER: Richard, thank you so much for that. We'll bring you more as well from Richard, in the next hour. We'll have reaction from European leaders as well coming up on this show, following that intense Oval Office exchange between Trump and Zelenskyy on Friday.

We'll take a listen to what the presidents of Estonia and Germany's likely next chancellor had to say about that clash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAR KARIS, ESTONIAN PRESIDENT: I don't even think that the U.S. should take its NATO or U.S. away from -- from Europe. It's -- we even don't consider because it's -- it's useful for both sides. It's not only for Europe, but it's also for us to stay in Europe. So, we are working on it, and I'm sure I'm convinced U.S. will stay in Europe.

FRIEDRICH, CDU PARTY LEADER: For me, this was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelenskyy, but obviously a manufactured escalation in this encounter in the Oval Office. Usually, these press appointments only last a few minutes. Friday was different. And yes, I must say, I was somewhat astonished also about the mutual tone. This was not beneficial to the matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: Earlier today, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed the House of Commons about the oval office clash between Trump and Zelenskyy. Take a listen as Starmer walks a delicate tightrope to support both Ukraine and the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What happened in his subsequent meeting with President Zelenskyy is something nothing nobody in this house wants to see.

But I do want to be crystal clear: we must strengthen our relationship with America -- for our security, for our technology, for our trade and investment. They are and always will be indispensable. And we will never choose between either side of the Atlantic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Maria Avdeeva is an expert in international security and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. She joins us from Kyiv.

You must be fascinated to see how these European politicians are tiptoeing around all of this, trying to not upset a key ally, the U.S., whilst still throwing their full support behind the Ukrainian people and very much Zelenskyy as well.

MARIA AVDEEVA, SENIOR FELLOW, FOREIGN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Well, what happened during this weekend in London actually brought a lot of hope to Ukrainians because after the meltdown in the White House, a lot of people were anxious and threatened. What will happen next? Because U.S. military help, military assistance is critical for Ukraine. And, you know, without that Ukraine, it will be very difficult for Ukrainian army to withstand the ongoing Russian aggression because while we talk, Russia does not stop for a second attacking Ukrainian positions all along the front line and also launching drones to hit Ukrainian cities.

So for all of that, Ukraine needs ammunition to -- to defend our country. So what happened in Europe actually gave reassurance to Ukraine that, even if in their worst case scenario, if the U.S. withdraws its help or, the help will be not as substantial as before, then Ukraine still will be able to defend itself and eventually come to the peace agreement, because this is what people of Ukraine want.

And actually, in the evening statement just tonight, President Zelenskyy said that we do not want the long lasting ongoing for ages war. We want peace. But this peace must be long lasting, stable, and for that peace, Ukraine needs guarantees.

Actually, this -- the mention about guarantees brought all of that frustration during the meeting in the Oval Office on Friday.

FOSTER: I don't know if you heard Donald Trump speak in the last hour, but he was talking about there needs to be a deal. Russia needs to be involved. Ukraine needs to be involved. Europe needs to be involved, and obviously the U.S.

He seemed to be implying throughout that the problem here was President Zelenskyy, because he had suggested that peace may not come for some time.

Do you think a deal is possible for Donald Trump with Zelenskyy part of it?

AVDEEVA: Well, I was -- yes, really watching the remarks from President Trump. And I think we see it a little bit different tone, has different from what he was when he was accusing Zelenskyy of not being thankful or, of like actually accusing Ukraine of starting the war.

So now he is open to the scenario which Ukraine also supports, where Ukraine, Europe, U.S. will be negotiating with Russia about the possible peace deal. And for that European role is important in providing security guarantees as well as supported military aid from U.S., because what is vital to keep to bring peace to Ukraine is that we deter Russia from further aggression.

And I think that he, the President Trump actually, he will open -- he will be open for further meetings with President Zelenskyy because Zelenskyy is representing Ukrainian people here. And actually, after he was attacked in the White House, the support for him in Ukraine is raising, people are united, with -- with him because he is a national leader, a wartime president. And attack on Zelenskyy, people take very personally.

So, now, his support rating is even higher than it was before he went to the White House.

FOSTER: Yeah, and he certainly got lots of cheers when he arrived in the U.K., over the weekend as well. So he's still very much held in high regard in Europe. But there is this issue that Donald Trump is paying most of the funding at the moment.

Maria Avdeeva, thank you so much for joining us.

We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:02]

FOSTER: Israel says it will block the entry of vital humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas agrees to new terms for extending the first phase of the ceasefire deal. The U.N. and aid groups are slamming the move, with Egypt calling it the politicization of humanitarian aid. The first phase of the ceasefire expired on Saturday, and Israel missed a deadline last month to start phase two talks.

Excuse me, the Israeli prime minister says the idea of the proposed extension was put forward by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. So far, no word from the Trump administration, though. As per the U.S. mediated ceasefire over the past six weeks, Hamas has released 33 living and dead hostages in exchange for more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners. Some of these prisoners were serving long jail terms for the most notorious attacks in Israeli history, which has caused some in the country to have mixed feelings about the deal.

Jeremy Diamond spoke with one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this cemetery in Haifa, Oran Almog reflects on what he calls the price of a deal to free Israeli hostages.

This is the price?

ORAN ALMOG, RELATIVES KILLED IN SUICIDE BOMBING: Yes.

DIAMOND: Right in front of you.

ALMOG: This is a really huge price for me.

DIAMOND: Twenty-one years after Oran's father, brother, grandparents and cousin were killed in a suicide bombing, the man who planned the attack has been set free. It is a price Oran says he is willing to pay. Three Israeli hostages are now free because of it.

This was the grisly scene at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa on October 4, 2003, after a suicide (VIDEO GAP)

Now, standing at the memorial dedicated to the 21 victims of the attack, Oran recalls the moment he learned Sami Jaradat, the man who dispatched that suicide bomber, would be released.

ALMOG: The first reaction is to was shocked, I was speechless.

DIAMOND: But he says he soon started to see the bigger picture.

ALMOG: I understood that if Sami Jaradat will stay in the jail forever, my family, who were murdered in the terror attack, they will never return alive, but a living Israeli also just. Still come back.

DIAMOND: It's something Oran understands better than most. His cousin Ken Almog-Goldstein and her three children had been taken hostage on October 7th and were released as part of the November 2023 ceasefire agreement.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have been freed during the first phase of the ceasefire, but most are not convicted murderers like Sami Jaradat. Of the 1,735 Palestinians released during the first phase of the ceasefire, about 15 percent were convicted of killing Israelis, including soldiers. Another 18 percent were convicted of attempted murder. Nearly two thirds, including 1,000 Palestinians detained in Gaza during the war, were being held without trial.

The remainder were convicted of lesser charges like incitement, a charge that has been used to jail Palestinians over social media posts.

That nuance is often lost on the Israeli public.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Israelis believe that a Palestinian that's being held in Israeli detention, by virtue of being held in Israeli detention, must be a terrorist. They don't understand that there could be people who are innocent of any charge, who were basically detained for the purpose of this very moment, the hostage exchange and prisoner release.

DIAMOND: Instead, many Israelis think of Yahya Sinwar --

(CHANTING)

DIAMOND: -- the mastermind of the October 7th attack, who was among more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Still, a majority of Israelis like Oran have consistently supported the ceasefire and hostage release deal, thinking of the hostages above all.

ALMOG: Gadi Moses. Agam Berger and Arbel Yehud, maybe somewhere they will meet Agam, Gadi, and Arbel, and they feel the -- the full, the full meaning of this deal and this prize to me, maybe somewhere.

DIAMOND: Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Haifa, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:17]

FOSTER: Hollywood celebrities are the best of film of the 97th Academy Awards. It was all out on show yesterday, $6 million indie "Anora" dominated the night with five wins, including best picture and in an upset win, best actress for Mikey Madison over Demi Moore. Other big winners of the night included Adrien Brody for best actor in "The Brutalist" Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana took home the best supporting trophies. Other highlights included the stars of the wicked of wicked singing favorites from that film.

Conan O'Brien hosted and paid tribute to those in Los Angeles who suffered through devastating wildfires last month. I recently spoke to best actress winner Mikey Madison before she won the Oscars, but on the night that she won the BAFTAs here in London, here's what she had to say that night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Can you believe how the films blown up? Or did you always have faith in it?

MIKEY MADISON, BEST ACTRESS FOR "ANORA": Oh, I mean, the film is always special to me. And, you know, Sean always said that it'll be at least one person's favorite film. And I think it's been a lot of peoples favorite film. And so it's -- it's wonderful. Yeah.

FOSTER: Why do you think the film hit a nerve? Have you got any feeling for that?

MADISON: I mean, I think Sean makes films about humanity and touches on really interesting subject matter, and I don't know -- I mean, I think that there is just something really special in the air when we made this film.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, for a complete look at Oscar night in Hollywood, they had its moments, certainly.

Here's CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Anora"!

(CHEERS)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was "Anora's" night, the raunchy, R-rated story of a sex worker who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch and battles his disapproving family, took five awards, including best picture.

SEAN BAKER, "ANORA" DIRECTOR: I want to thank the sex worker community. They have -- they have shared their stories. They have shared their life experience with me over the years. My deepest respect.

MADISON: Wow, this is very surreal.

WAGMEISTER: The film's star Mikey Madison winning best actress, depriving industry veteran and frontrunner Demi Moore of her first Oscar.

CONAN O'BRIEN, COMEDIAN: You know, "Anora" is having a good night.

WAGMEISTER: The film leading to host Conan O'Brien's only political joke of the night.

O'BRIEN: I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.

ADRIEN BRODY, ACTOR: I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world.

WAGMEISTER: Calling out antisemitism and racism, Adrien Brody became the 11th person in Oscar's history to win twice for best actor, beating Timothee Chalamet, who won the SAG Award a week ago.

[15:55:03]

ZOE SALDANA, ACTRESS: Mommy! My mom is here. WAGMEISTER: Zoe Saldana completed her award season sweep, taking best

supporting actress for "Emilia Perez" and honoring her immigrant parents.

SALDANA: And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last.

WAGMEISTER: Saldana's costar, Karla Sofia Gascon, attended the Oscars after a series of offensive tweets from years ago derailed her best actress campaign.

O'BRIEN: And Karla, if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember my name is Jimmy Kimmel.

WAGMEISTER: O'Brien getting rave reviews for a hilarious monologue.

O'BRIEN: We have some footage of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos arriving tonight on the red carpet. This is great. Let's see if we can get out there. And here he comes. And yeah, there he is.

(SINGING)

WAGMEISTER: The night kicked off with a wickedly good performance. Nominees Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande may not have won Oscars, but their voices certainly struck gold.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: What a voice.

Thanks to Elizabeth Wagmeister for that.

And thank you for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" with Richard, live in Berlin, up next.