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Top European Leaders In Kyiv For Highly Symbolic Meeting With Zelenskyy; India, Pakistan Agree To Ceasefire After Weeks Of Tensions And Fighting; Putin's Spokesperson Talks To CNN About Europe's 30-Day Ceasefire Demand; Tufts University Student Released After 6 Weeks In Detention Center; Intense Heat Takes Over The U.S. This Week; Pope Leo Signals He Will Follow "Precious Legacy" Of Francis; Trump Floats Raising Taxes On The Rich To Pay For Agenda; Tariffs Take A Toll On The Floral Industry Ahead Of Mother's Day. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired May 10, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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ROSANNE CASH, SINGER-SONGWRITER: I mean, I don't love the wrinkles and all of that business, but it is a sign that I've been a couple of places. I've been around the block a few times.

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[12:00:09]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: Ah, the passage of time. Been around the block a couple of times.

And that's all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com slash audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and I'll see you again next week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with this breaking news, a remarkable and highly symbolic scene in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. That's where leaders from Germany, France, U.K., and Poland, the so-called coalition of the willing, have all been gathering in person today. They are demanding a 30-day ceasefire from Russia in its war with Ukraine, and a warning of severe sanctions on the Kremlin if it doesn't comply.

CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is there in Kyiv. Nick, what more can you tell us about this meeting?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this is a seismic moment in the longest, largest land war in Europe since the 1940s. Make no mistake about that. The four largest economies, some of them, the largest militaries, certainly in Europe, standing next to Ukraine and demanding that, as of Monday, there would be on the 12th of May a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

But it's something that has been a U.S. and Ukrainian proposal for nearly two months now that has been mostly rejected by Russia. They support the general idea and want to discuss various nuances. Europe's accused them of prevaricating, trying to delay the moment of decision.

Well, that delay is no longer, it seems, possible. Ukraine and these European allies say they have the support of Donald Trump, of the United States, and indeed showed a picture on social media. French President Emmanuel Macron and senior Ukrainian officials of them all gathered around a telephone.

They said in the press conference they gave United on that stage, those five leaders that they rang, President Trump, and they secured his approval not only for the ceasefire proposal, but also for U.S. monitoring of how that ceasefire goes. That's key, because it's important for them to be able to work out who violates what during any potential truce, and most importantly as well for what Emmanuel Macron called massive sanctions that would come into play on Russia if indeed they violated this ceasefire.

He also said, Macron, that Europe and probably the United States as well would then increase military aid for Ukraine. So we have an extraordinary moment here, but here is what Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to say.

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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translation): We've agreed that since Monday, 12th of May, a full and unconditional ceasefire must start for at least 30 days. We together demanded from Russia, we know that the United States support us in this. The unconditional ceasefire means no conditions. An attempt to put any conditions is signaling intention to drag out the war and undermine diplomacy.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

PATON WALSH: Now, as I say, we haven't heard yet from Russia about this, and I think it's important to bear in mind that there was some scepticism amongst those European leaders that Russia wants peace at all. And so you could potentially interpret this as a move in the days ahead to try and test whether or not Russia has any interest in the peace that it says it's trying to negotiate at length over many different formats with the United States.

Now, it is possible, I think, to suggest that we won't see enormous success. We are in theory right now in the middle of a ceasefire that was called unilaterally by Russia, and Ukraine has said that they have violated that over 700 times. So a lot potentially that could go wrong here, a lot that the sides who want to call this ceasefire need to get into play.

Ukraine has to work out what it's going to say to its tens of thousands of troops across the front lines if indeed they come under Russian attack on Monday. Do they defend themselves? Do they back off to try and see if this ceasefire can hold a little longer? And indeed, there's going to have to be a lot of work now to get the monitoring in place very fast.

There, I think, is potentially a glimmer of hope here that we might see something sustained, but a lot of cynics who view Putin as unfair and not sincere negotiating when it comes to ceasefires like this, judging on past experience, but this indeed is a deeply important moment for this war, one which means diplomacy could go either way now.

WHITFIELD: Potentially another new start point.

All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much, in Kyiv.

[12:05:04]

All right, we've got this other breaking news as well after weeks of dramatically escalating fighting between two nuclear rivals, India and Pakistan, say they have reached a ceasefire agreement. President Trump said the U.S. mediated a night of talks between the two sides and added, "Congratulations to both countries on using common sense and great intelligence".

Earlier today, the conflict escalated even further when Pakistan launched a military operation it said was in retaliation for India's attacks on military bases. We've got full coverage of these developments.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Islamabad, Pakistan. Matthew Chance is in New Delhi, and Betsy Klein is at the White House. So, Nic, let's begin with you. Fighting had escalated today when Pakistan launched a new military operation. Why are they agreeing now to pull back, at least temporarily?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think there's a sense of relief here and a sense of whiplash among people. They kind of woke up this morning, and Pakistan was firing a huge barrage of strikes into India after holding off for many days of India's strikes into Pakistan.

Just over the past couple of days, there's been diplomacy going on in the background, and a source here had told me about a day and a half, two days ago, that they -- Pakistan was really pausing so the diplomacy could play out. It was the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey all involved.

And what happened, the source described to me in the early hours of this morning, they thought, the Pakistanis thought, the diplomacy was on track and it was going to bear fruit. And then India hit three military bases very early in the morning here, one not far from where we're standing.

India fired into those Pakistani air bases, and then Pakistan, if you will, snapped. They just took a decision that the diplomacy is not working and fired back a very significant barrage, they say, hitting many Indian military bases and Indian army posts in the Indian- administered part of Kashmir. It was, perhaps the source indicated to me, a bigger strike back than they had been thinking that they would do.

Now, from Pakistan's perspective, they say that pushed India to want to negotiate. Pakistan very quickly getting in contact with Secretary Rubio because it had been behind the diplomacy that had been working the day before. It had fallen apart with this exchange of fire. And now they wanted to get it back on again. And they did, Rubio working both sides, according to the sources here.

What happened during the day, the whole talks were on a knife edge, I was told, because several times India violated, Pakistan fired back. And then it wasn't until late afternoon, it appeared that the sort of idea of a ceasefire was taking hold. India wasn't firing, Pakistan wasn't responding.

What I'm told here is that Secretary Marco Rubio played a very huge and significant role in bringing this diplomacy off in rather short frame of time. But again, that whiplash. Now, this is a ceasefire. It doesn't deal with some of the complex issues that are behind this tension in the first place, such as the water, the Indus Water Treaty that India has said that it will no longer allow three vital rivers of water to flow into Pakistan.

That's not resolved yet. So I think we definitely understand that along the line of control, that border between Pakistan and Indian administrative Kashmir, things are still quite tense there, we understand.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

Matthew Chance, to you, what is the Indian government saying about this agreement?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, it's a good question. But I think, first of all, we need to point out that, I mean, this conflict reached such a dangerous point that the United States, which remember, just a couple of days ago, the Vice President JD Vance said that this conflict had fundamentally, quote, "fundamentally nothing to do with us".

But it reached such a dangerous point that the United States and others in the international community like China felt they had to intervene. We're talking about dramatic Indian airstrikes deep inside Pakistani territory, the deepest they've gone for decades.

And that furious response that Nic was just talking about, targeting dozens of sites inside India, it really sort of pushed an already emotionally charged conflict very close to something that was, you know, not tolerable. When you're talking about two countries, remember, that have nuclear weapons, that's always been in the background.

[12:10:05]

And it just reached a point where United States appears that, you know, it had to focus and step in and broker those negotiations. And that's exactly what it did with Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, JD Vance as well, speaking to political and military leaders on both sides of the conflict in India and in Pakistan.

And what's resulted is this very rapid cessation of hostilities or ceasefire. Now, it's probable that the U.S. was pushing on an open door in the sense that, you know, both India and Pakistan know very well it's not in either of their interests to continue with a conflict that could lead towards in the future some kind of nuclear confrontation. Both countries essentially wanted to avoid that.

And so, you know, that's why I think we've seen this conflict really come to an end so suddenly and so quickly, really as soon as the United States and others sort of made a concerted effort to bring the fighting to a close.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's been two very tumultuous weeks thus far.

All right, Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

Betsy Klein, there at the White House, mediation efforts by the U.S. come just days after Vice President JD Vance, you know, said this conflict was none of our business, underscored by Matthew Chance's reporting there. So what changed?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yes, certainly those sentiments from the vice president made this morning's announcement all the more surprising. That was on Thursday, but we have learned that it was this engagement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with Vice President JD Vance himself, that really spurred these negotiations and ultimately this ceasefire.

Vance had made clear the U.S. did not want this to spiral into a broader conflict and particularly not a nuclear conflict. But we're actually getting some new details from Trump administration officials familiar with the role the U.S. played who tell our colleague Alayna Treene that Vance, along with Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, determined Friday that this conflict was at risk of spiraling out of control. They decided to get involved more aggressively.

So we understand that Vance spoke with India Prime Minister Modi at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday. Vance conveyed that the White House believed that the situation had a high probability of escalating and the State Department and Rubio began working the phones subsequently, multiple calls at multiple levels of government.

Now, President Trump announcing that ceasefire this morning in a post to social media, he said, quote, "After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire. Congratulations to both countries on using common sense and great intelligence".

Of course, the White House clearly wants to call this a win. This comes just days before President Trump is set to embark on his first major international trip to the Middle East on Monday. Of course, still major questions about how all of this came together and whether the U.S. will play a role in keeping that ceasefire intact.

WHITFIELD: All right, Betsy Klein, thank you so much.

All right, let's go back to our reporting now on the conflict in Ukraine. European leaders are in Kyiv trying to help broker a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. CNN's Fred Pleitgen spoke with the Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who said Russia is not going to bow to pressure. Fred, tell us more about this meeting.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. Yes, I'm actually inside the Grand Kremlin Palace right now. And what's been going on over the past two days really is that Vladimir Putin has been involved in a flurry of bilateral meetings with leaders from around the world.

And that's important because the Kremlin is saying they believe that those European leaders that we saw earlier today in Kyiv are nervous because all of that, because the Russians here, of course, are portraying that Vladimir Putin by no means is isolated.

And that there are many leaders who are willing to come here to Moscow and meet with him and also improve relations with Russia, of course, comes only a day after that massive May 9th parade, a victory day parade, which happened on Red Square here in Moscow with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, as the guest of honor.

But I did indeed ask the Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov about that meeting that the Europeans had with Volodymyr Zelenskyy about that demand for a 30-day ceasefire. And here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

PLEITGEN: Sir, the Europeans are currently meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv, and they said that they are demanding a ceasefire from Monday for 30 days. They're threatening massive sanctions against Russia and saying that the U.S. President Trump is on board. Do you feel Russia is being pushed into a corner?

DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON: No, I don't think so. Well, actually, a couple of days ago, Putin announced a ceasefire for three days. Have you heard any criticism from Kyiv? No. We haven't heard it either.

[12:15:16]

Have you heard any criticism of Kyiv for not being able to respond or not willing to respond? No. So if Kyiv is willing to have a ceasefire, why not to have a ceasefire for at least three days? And so this is --

PLEITGEN: They want the three-day ceasefire to essentially go on for 30 days.

PESKOV: We have to have -- we have to think about that. We have to think about that. These are new developments. So we have our own position. Yes, definitely, we see that Europe is confronting us. Europe is actually confronting us very openly. We feel it, we know it, and then we are quite accustomed to that.

PLEITGEN: And do you think that Russia can be pressured in this case?

PESKOV: Well, if you look during the history, during the old history, during the modern history, you'll see that -- so Russia is quite resistant to any kinds of pressure. And we are open for dialogue. We are open for attempts to have a settlement in Ukraine.

We do appreciate efforts of mediation. We do appreciate and we're very grateful --

PLEITGEN: From the Trump administration?

PESKOV: Of course, of course. But at the same time, it's quite useless to try to press upon us.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

PLEITGEN: So you have the Kremlin spokesman speaking to me earlier today, Dmitry Peskov, saying that Russia will not bow down to pressure. And one of the things that we have, of course, heard from the Russians is that they are willing to enter into direct negotiations with Ukraine, but at the same time, they say that they are not going to back down from what they call their core national security interests, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Fred Pleitgen, live for us there from inside the Kremlin. Thank you so much.

All right, coming up, the Tufts University student who was snatched off the street here in the states by federal agents is now free on bail. What her attorneys hope will happen to her case next.

Plus, heavy rain is impacting millions of Americans this Mother's Day weekend, but it's what's coming next that has meteorologists sounding the alarm.

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[12:22:10]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. The Tufts University student who was snatched off the street by masked federal agents is now free on bail. A judge ordered the immediate release of Rumeysa Ozturk after she was held in a Louisiana detention center for six weeks. Ozturk thanked a group of supporters gathered outside the detention center.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

RUMEYSA OZTURK, FREED TUFTS UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I really appreciate you being here. Thank you so much for all the support and love. I am a little bit tired, so I will take some rest, but I really appreciate you being here. (END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: Her attorneys say a final hearing will be held where they hope the judge will rule the government cannot detain people based on their political views. The doctoral student was arrested in March as the Trump administration launched a crackdown on international students who participated in campus protests against the war in Gaza.

Heavy rain across the east this weekend with potential for flash flooding. And in the west, extremely above average temperatures. Some cities almost 30 degrees hotter than normal.

Here's CNN's Allison Chinchar to talk more about all of these conditions.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are still technically several weeks away from the start of summer, but Mother Nature seems to be giving us a bit of a preview of some of that heat, especially out to the west. But that heat is going to start to spread eastward in the coming days, giving everyone at least a little bit of a glimpse of what summer should feel like.

Here's a look at the high temperatures. As we begin Sunday, you'll see 98 for the high in Vegas today, dropping down to 90 on Monday and 75 on Tuesday. So it's going to be a couple of days before we see those temperatures dropping back to normal. And that's going to be the case for Los Angeles, Phoenix, even around Albuquerque and El Paso, where you're going to have to wait at least a little bit longer to see that dive back down to normal.

Areas into the Midwest and the Plains, we are talking extremely above average. Take a look at this. Fargo, their normal high this time of year is 66 degrees. We will be almost 30 degrees above that number, not just today, but also Monday and also Tuesday. And they're not the only one. Rapid City looking at least 30 degrees above average.

Now, maybe not quite as bad for places like Omaha, Minneapolis and Chicago, but still above where they normally would be this time of year. But all of that heat, again, starting out in the western portion of the country and the northern tier. But by the time we get to Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, you see that really start to spread eastward, giving other folks a chance to see those temperatures beginning to rise.

And when you look at Dallas, for example, not too bad for today, actually a little bit below normal in Dallas for Sunday. But then you start to see that mercury rising. We're getting up to triple digit temperatures by the time we get to Wednesday.

In Atlanta, similar scenario, below average to finish out the rest of the weekend. But those temperatures quickly rise as we head through the upcoming week.

[12:25:04]

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. All right, coming up, a closer look at Pope Leo on the eve of his first Sunday mass, an Augustinian friar who lived with him in Peru in the 90s joins us live.

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WHITFIELD: Pope Leo XIV held his first formal meeting with cardinals this morning, which began with a standing ovation ahead of the new pontiff's first Sunday mass tomorrow. He becomes the second successive pope belonging to a religious order. Pope Francis was a Jesuit, while Leo XIV belongs to the Order of Saint Augustine.

[12:30:11]

The Pope, in his first homily yesterday, pledged to be a faithful administrator of the church and said the church needs to continue missionary outreach around the world. I want to bring in now Father John Lydon for more insight. He is an Augustinian friar and lived with Robert Francis Prevost in Peru in the 90s. Father, great to see you.

You and then Missionary Prevost lived together for, what, nine years in the 40 years that you have worked in Peru. So, what are the characteristics about him that you find most striking that we need to know about?

REV. JOHN LYDON, AUGUSTINIAN FRIAR: Well, greetings to everybody. Yes, I have the privilege to have lived with him and worked with him closely in Peru in the same ministries. So and now I'm overwhelmed that a friend of mine has become the pope, obviously. His qualities are very obvious from the time we spent together. He's one person that works with a team. He's not a lone ranger. He works with a team, so he listens well, dialogues well.

We lived in the southern part of the city of -- of Trujillo, which has a very large area that's very poor. He was very concerned, loved by the poor people because of the outreach to them setting up soup kitchens we had there in that area of Trujillo, which continue today. And so, he just had that dialogue with the people, respect for the people, especially for those days in Peru, the poor were not respected very much by the authorities, so the church gave a different face and why they loved him so much.

And I think he's very intelligent. He was a professor. We both taught at the seminary, but down to earth, a humble professor, which is the best kind.

WHITFIELD: And while you were talking, we were also enjoying some lovely pictures of you and he together over the years. So, after Cardinal Prevost was elected pope, he reportedly was very careful and intentional about his speech. Just listen to a portion of what he said.

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POPE LEO XIV (through translator): Evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and amongst ourselves, let us go forward. We are the disciples of Christ. Christ goes before us. The world needs his light.

Humanity needs him like the bridge to God and his love. Help us and all others to build bridges with dialogue, with meeting, to be one common people living always in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He spoke in Italian and in Spanish. He's known to know five languages. People who know him say he has been a bridge builder for a very long time. Now a world -- now on the world stage, leading 1.4 billion Catholics as pope and influencing far more, regardless of people's religion, you know, through his pontificate, how will his style in your view either grow or even expand?

LYDON: Well, I think, you know, he took the name Leo to tie him to the last Leo, Leo XIII, which was the first pope to talk about the Catholic social teaching. So, I think that's very significant for how he's going to be pope, which is not to run away from the world, but enter in a dialogue with the difficulties, the problems and the injustices that are there and put the light of Christ and try to challenge the world to being better.

And that's through dialogue. There's different perspectives, traditions, cultures, religions. So, dialogue is the path forward, which hopefully is a different model than we're seeing in many countries nowadays with so much polarization. So, I think he's going to try to emphasize that. He talked about a synodal church, which Pope Francis talked a lot about.

And that's a word most people don't understand, but it simply means dialogue, building bridges and talking and trying to work together to find, you know, the light of hope and a better society and a more fulfilling society.

WHITFIELD: His brothers call him Rob. He's an avid texter, apparently. He's big on Wordle and a Chicago White Sox fan. His friends actually call him Bob. Maybe you called him that too. What more can you tell us about --

[12:35:12]

LYDON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- his interests, hobbies, what you're even going to say to him the next time you get a chance to talk to him?

LYDON: Yes. Well, I always called him Bob and that's how we always talk. I'll have to get used now to calling him Pope Leo. Yes, in -- in Peru, you know, he liked to cook. Cooking was like a way that he could release tension. So, he would do that with some frequency. He also had like a hobby, I think from childhood of, you know, studying cars. So, he had this ability. He could look at any car anywhere in any parking lot and tell you exactly what the make was and where it came from, every vehicle.

So, he had something that, you know, he had studied as a hobby growing up. And he won't be able to do this anymore, but he used to like to drive to relax. He used to like to go on the highway and just drive. He won't be able to do that anymore, but the -- that was one of his ways of relaxing. And most people wouldn't know that about him, but having lived with him that many years, I -- I know that.

WHITFIELD: Well, maybe he'll surprise us. Maybe instead of just being the passenger in the Popemobile, maybe one day he'll just drive it and just really blow all our socks off. Well, Father John Lydon, great talking with you. Thank you so much.

LYDON: Yes, well, thank you. And I believe he's a Pope, not just for the church, but I think he'll be a blessing for the world as well.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up, planning on buying mom some flowers this Mother's Day? Well, they might cost you a little bit more this year. Of course, she's worth it though, no matter how much it costs you. How the Trump administration's tariffs are indeed impacting American florists.

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WHITFIELD: President Trump says he's open to raising taxes on wealthy Americans to help pay for Republicans sweeping tax and spending cuts package.

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[12:41:52]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What you're doing is you're giving up something up top in order to make people in the middle income and the lower income brackets save more. So it's really a redistribution. And I'm willing to do it if they want. I would love to be able to give people in the lower bracket a big break by giving up some of what I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now is Daniella Diaz. She covers Congress for NOTUS News of the United States, a digital publication. Daniella, great to see you again. All right. So how do Republicans on Capitol Hill feel about that idea, that proposal?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CONGRESS REPORTER, NOTUS: Fred, it's really interesting to hear President Donald Trump talk about this, considering that there's been a massive debate on Capitol Hill just about how to handle tax policy with this huge one big beautiful bill that Trump wants to pass that Republicans are working on that is extended for weeks.

I mean, they've really been meeting consistently with leadership to figure out how to address really tough cuts to Medicaid that they need to be able to do to offset a lot of the costs for this bill. And not only that, there's a lot of debate within these blue state Republicans who say they're the ones that won the majority for Speaker Mike Johnson and for Republicans, and they need to be able to bring home a SALT increase on the caps, a SALT state local deduction tax to be able to help their constituents back home.

So the fact that Donald Trump is saying this just yesterday, that he is willing to do these to help middle class with tax cuts, really puts another factor in these negotiations that Republicans are going to have to continue to iron out this week as they're trying to pass this bill in just a couple of weeks before Memorial Day.

And that's not even considering, Fred, that the Senate is doing its own thing when it comes to this bill. So a lot of contracting -- contrasting factors here.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So what is the status of this big beautiful bill in that might it make those deadlines that you just, you know, spelled out, given that there are those sticking points and now with this new wrench kind of thrown into it?

DIAZ: Well, Fred, that's the question that I'm hearing from Republicans, even asking amongst themselves what is going to happen with this bill. We still haven't seen a lot of these really crucial measures ironed out within House Republicans when I just mentioned about, of course, how they're going to handle Medicaid cuts. There's this committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, that has jurisdiction over Medicaid.

They have not laid out their proposals for how they're going to address potential Medicaid cuts. Of course, Republicans will argue that it's to, of course, have fraud, waste and abuse weeded out of proposals, but it might potentially affect Americans. And that's what vulnerable Republicans are wanting details on.

And that's when they're meeting, of course, consistently with Republican leadership, with these key committee chairs to see what's going to happen. Those details have not been ironed out. And of course, I mentioned SALT.

Those details have not been ironed out. And there's already very key committee markups essentially, committees are going to be meeting behind closed doors and talking about these measures next week without any text, bill text, that's been released.

[12:45:02]

So a lot of things up in the air. And of course, Republicans and Democrats, House lawmakers, went home this weekend to go back to their districts. They're back on Monday to continue to iron out these details. But Speaker Mike Johnson has a lot on his plate, and he's consistently been pushing back these deadlines because he knows that he has to figure out a way to please all factions of his conference.

WHITFIELD: There's another big story now that's emerged. A federal judge temporarily blocking the Trump administration from carrying out its mass firings at federal agencies. This pause will last for about two weeks. How do you suppose Republicans will be reacting to this?

DIAZ: It's really interesting, Fred. This came yesterday. Republicans, of course, will be back next week. We'll be able to ask them about these questions in person. But over the past couple of weeks, I've talked to Republicans about the government cuts, specifically those fiscal hawks, think House Freedom Caucus members, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Chip Roy, who adamantly say these proposals that the government is doing need to be codified by Congress, which is essentially that executive order. The judge ruling over that executive order said, said that if the government, federal government continues to cut key agencies in the federal workforce, these need to go through Congress and be implemented by Congress, needs to go through the different checks and balances of the federal government.

So they're going to come back next week and praise that decision in the hopes that maybe it would add some escalation to being able to pass these measures. But again, we were just talking about the one big beautiful bill, Fred. That is the priority of the Trump administration, and that is potentially why Republicans haven't been able to codify those, what we call the DOGE cuts, the Elon Musk cuts, and -- and make them permanent, because Republicans are so focused on trying to pass that one big beautiful bill.

But we definitely expect it to be another topic of conversation this week, as Republicans have renewed energy behind trying to do that, especially those fiscal hawks that want to see these cuts codified by Congress.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there for now. Daniella Diaz, great to see you. Thank you so much.

DIAZ: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, next, back to our breaking news, more breaking news. After weeks of intense fighting between India and Pakistan, they now say they have reached a ceasefire agreement. We're live from both countries.

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[12:52:04]

WHITFIELD: High stakes trade talks between the U.S. and China are underway right now in Switzerland, aimed at easing the escalating trade war. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is meeting behind closed doors in Geneva today with China's top economic representative. And this marks the highest level trade talks between the two nations since President Trump announced the 145 percent tariffs on China. Bessent says the talks this weekend are likely to result in a major trade deal but calls the meetings an important first step.

So it's Mother's Day weekend and along with cards and candy and flowers, which are the standard go-to gifts now, with a 10 percent tariff on countries like Colombia, a major flower supplier to the U.S. Those last-minute arrangements could cost you a lot more, but mama's worth it. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is joining us now from Los Angeles with more. So these florists, are they struggling to fill the orders and make a profit?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're definitely feeling that squeeze, Fred. Look, an arrangement like roses here that last year would have cost around $20. They're booking more like $35, $40. That's almost double the prices that consumers were paying last year.

And that is not only because of the tariffs. There's also another element of uncertainty that's making it really difficult for florists to plan ahead. And then it ends up costing more money to bring these flowers in. Take a listen to how one of these wholesalers put it to us just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Are you hoping that these tariffs will eventually go away?

SAL JIMENEZ, FLOWER WHOLESALER: I think we all are. Yes, I think we all are. Because this country consumes a lot of import goods and -- and that's definitely something that is part of our daily life. Yes.

JONES: How much are they hurting your business?

JIMENEZ: There is a percentage because now people don't get prepared as they used to. They kind of wait for the movement flow and then everybody's kind of like last minute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And for florists who are coming here to buy their product and pass it on to the consumer, that's even more difficult because, Fred, it's not just flowers, right? It's all of the packaging. It's the decorations. It's the foam that flowers go into when you make that beautiful arrangement, that bouquet for mom. And -- and these are people that are getting squeezed so hard. One of them told us that she's not even actually making a profit this year. She's just doing it to make sure that her customers have something to give their moms on Mother's Day.

[12:54:40]

WHITFIELD: That is definitely a drag for many of those merchants and florists. But mama will appreciate it nonetheless here and beyond. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. The next stop for Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain, the vibrant and innovative culinary capital of Madrid. Don't miss a new episode of Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain Sunday night, 9 o'clock, right here on CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

[12:59:53]

WHITFIELD: All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we've got this breaking news for you. India and Pakistan say they have reached a ceasefire agreement after weeks of dramatically escalating fighting between two nuclear rivals.