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CNN This Morning
President Trump: Talks To End War Will Start "Immediately"; Senate Votes On RFK Jr. Confirmation To Lead HHS; Report: 15 Injured After Car Drives Into Crowd In Munich; Trump: Reciprocal Tariffs May Be Announced This Morning. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired February 13, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:35]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, February 13th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we're on the way to getting peace.
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SCIUTTO: Negotiations for peace. President Trump says Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to end its war in Ukraine. But how much of a role will Ukraine play in talks about its own future and sovereignty, if any?
Plus --
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Kennedy is not a doctor. He's not a scientist. He's not a public health expert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Confirmation day, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gaining key support. The vaccine skeptic now one step closer to becoming the head of Health and Human Services.
And, shrinking the workforce. Mass firings have begun now across federal agencies as the Trump administration gets a big win from a judge for its buyout program.
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SCIUTTO: Five a.m. here on the East Coast.
Here's a live look at the Washington Monument to the White House.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Jim Sciutto, in for Kasie Hunt this week. Great to have you with us.
We begin with President Trump declaring negotiations to end Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine will start immediately. It's not clear -- he's not making it clear if Ukraine will play a role.
The president had a 90-minute phone call Wednesday morning with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. He described it as highly productive. But his response to this question later in the day has officials in Kyiv reeling.
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REPORTER: Do you view Ukraine as an equal member of this peace process?
TRUMP: It's an interesting question. I think they have to make peace. Their people are being killed, and I think they have to make peace.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I said that was not a good war to go into, and I think they have to make peace. That's what I think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: The president said he and Putin agreed to meet each other in person, in each others respective countries. President Trump also spoke to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his conversation with Putin. He has already ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine and is warning that they are not likely to get back land. Russia has invaded and taken possession of.
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REPORTER: Would you support Zelenskyy ceding territory or exchanging territory in any agreement to end the war?
TRUMP: Well, he's going to have to do what he has to do. But you know, his poll numbers aren't particularly great, to put it mildly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Doesn't say anything about who invaded Ukraine.
Trump's critics, like his former national security advisor John Bolton, says the celebrations have already begun in the Kremlin.
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JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don't have any expectations anymore. I think -- I think we know exactly what's going to happen. President Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin before the negotiations have even begun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier joins me now.
I've heard a lot of concern from Ukrainian officials, from officials here in Washington, including lawmakers from both parties, that Trump has, to Bolton's point, signaled that he's going to sell Ukraine out here. Is that an accurate impression?
KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I've heard similar expressions of fear. This is a complete departure from the Biden administrations nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. This is a moment when Europe is really going to have to step up if it wants Ukraine to survive. This presidency is some sort of viable entity.
Britain has declared a 100-year relationship with Ukraine. Other European officials that I'm hearing from are very concerned about, if Russia gets a win here, it'll just be a matter of time before Russia invades one of the Baltic countries perhaps, this is permissive and China is also watching. What signal does this send to China about Taiwan?
But when you talk to people close to Donald Trump, they say, look, he just wants to make peace during his term. He wants to stop spending U.S. money on this. And he doesn't see these geostrategic implications. He just wants it done.
And Putin has just given him a win by returning all of these Americans.
[05:05:00]
And this is all -- it's just really bad news for Ukraine.
SCIUTTO: Trump has conceded three things that normally you might expect to gain concessions for, one of which is no NATO membership for Ukraine, second of which is ceding territory, but also saying, in effect, that U.S. aid and no U.S. troops would be involved in policing a peace.
DOZIER: Yeah.
SCIUTTO: Where does that leave the negotiations if Trump has publicly ceded those positions, what more does Ukraine have to give?
DOZIER: Yeah, some officials watching this are like, look, that's not very different from the Biden administration. Only the Biden administration wouldn't say it out loud, but just saying it out loud does signal to Russia, you know, here's our hand. We're not going to fight for these things.
It spells some very ugly conversations in the Munich security forum that's just starting this week, as Europeans try to convince Trump behind closed doors, as I'm told Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday got angry messages as well of Europeans saying, why are you giving this gift to Russia and trying to convince them that for your the future of your presidency, you don't want to look like you're losing to Moscow.
And the Ukrainians are hoping that a rare earth mineral deal of some sort.
SCIUTTO: Will get Trump on board.
DOZIER: Especially as China has something like 70 percent of the rare earth minerals supply or has captured it, and perhaps Ukraine can say, you know, look, you can make money off of this.
SCIUTTO: Remarkable argument to have to make. President Zelenskyy clearly walking a tightrope here.
I want to play his reaction to Trump and Hegseth taking NATO membership off the table. And get your thoughts on the other side.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I don't think that this door to NATO is ever truly open. I've always said that. We wanted it very much, and we were constantly told about the open door policy. And you know that we know the policy of the United States of America. The previous administrations policy for all these years and the current administration with regard to NATO, nobody is inviting us to NATO yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: And to your point and to his point there, I'd been told for months that it was the dirty little secret, right, that no one in Europe or the U.S. truly believed NATO membership, at least in the near term, was possible. But the question became what security guarantees does the U.S. and the West offer Ukraine in lieu of NATO membership, so they could feel confident it won't get invaded again? Some have discussed in Israel type arrangement where there's not an Article Five like mutual defense commitment, but there is a clarity that the U.S. and NATO would back up Ukraine if it were -- if it were to be invaded again, at a minimum with military support?
Is there any substantive discussion of a substantive security guarantee to replace NATO membership?
DOZIER: European nations had already been talking about providing Zelenskyy troops, and Zelenskyy has asked for proposed that hundreds of thousands of NATO troops enter Ukraine to act as a at least a speed bump for Russia trying again.
But my understanding is that the White House might be against that, because Russia doesn't want NATO troops in there. So there's going to be this tussle over what security guarantees Ukraine can get. And Zelenskyy also said in an interview yesterday the U.S. has to be part of the security guarantees or it really doesn't count.
SCIUTTO: Well, you would also think that Ukraine should be part of its peace negotiations, but President Trump wouldn't even grant that when he was asked in the Oval Office. Where does that leave Ukraine if this is a deal? Actually, where does it leave Americas European allies if this is a straight up Putin to Trump negotiation? Will they force something on all the other parties? DOZIER: The European allies know that one of the -- one of the ways
in the past that they've changed Trump's mind is by appealing to his ego, so they will be appealing to him, saying, you don't want to look like you got steamrolled by Vladimir Putin, and try to stiffen his spine.
But Zelenskyy is in a really tough spot. He can't play hardball with Trump and he knows it.
SCIUTTO: It's existential for Ukrainians.
DOZIER: Yeah.
SCIUTTO: They fear the future of their country as a sovereign state. Understandably so. And we should remind, Russia's intention at the start of this invasion was to absorb the entire country. It wasn't to play footsie with Ukraine.
Kim Dozier, thanks so much, as always.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, fears of a widening trade war. President Trump to meet with the prime minister of India, one country that could be hit with reciprocal tariffs later today.
Plus, on high alert, California bracing for a major storm system that could bring flooding and mudslides.
And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. clearing a key Senate hurdle in just a few hours, the full Senate will vote on his confirmation.
[05:10:03]
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TRUMP: I'm going to let him go wild on health. I'm going to let him go wild on the food. I'm going to let him go wild on medicines.
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SCIUTTO: One of President Trump's most controversial cabinet picks is just one vote away now from confirmation. Hours from now, the Senate will hold a final vote on whether to approve Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Democrats took to the Senate floor to oppose him.
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SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Americans didn't vote to bring back measles. Americans didn't vote to bring back polio. Americans didn't vote to bring back dangerous diseases that we thought we had wiped out decades ago.
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): It's hard for me to imagine a nominee less qualified. SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If the Senate had a secret ballot, I bet
you that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would never have come close to confirmation.
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[05:15:08]
SCIUTTO: But that's not how it works. And Kennedy's confirmation is all but certain after some key Republican senators said that they would indeed back him. And it's not just Republicans.
As CNN's Dana Bash reports, there is some growing grassroots movement in his corner.
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DEMONSTRATORS: Let us in! Let us in!
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): October 2024, Battle Creek, Michigan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a monumental moment.
BASH: An army of protesters delivered 400,000 petitions to Kellogg's headquarters, demanding the company make good on a pledge to remove artificial dyes from its food.
VANI HARI, FOUNDER, FOOD BABE: I'm here for the moms, all the moms, who struggle to feed their children healthy food.
BASH: The leader, Vani Hari, a food activist known as the Food Babe, who says cutting out the processed and fast food of her youth not only helped her shed weight, but curbed serious health struggles. She has a wellness brand and a massive online following.
HARI: I feel like my voice represents so many ordinary citizens, moms and activists and dads and so many people across the United States that have just had had enough.
BASH: Hari volunteered for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns. She was a delegate at his 2012 convention, where she wrote, "Label GMOs" on signs.
She got disillusioned with politics and turned to activism, pressuring restaurants like Chick-fil-A and Subway to take some additives out of their food.
HARI: Why is it citizen activists like me and the people that follow me, and all the grassroots movement holding these companies accountable? Why -- isn't there anybody in Washington doing this?
BASH: She and others, livid about the American food system, found common cause with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
CALLEY MEANS, SAFE FOOD ADVOCATE: There's, I think, a real hunger for politicians across the aisle to be targeting this voter anxiety about why are we getting so sick.
BASH: Calley Means and his sister Casey are well known leaders in the so-called MAHA, Make America Healthy Again movement.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., HHS SECRETARY NOMINEE: I got a call from a safe food advocate named Calley Means.
BASH: He was a GOP Trump critic who turned supporter and helped broker the first call between Kennedy and then candidate Donald Trump last summer.
KENNEDY: Don't you want a president that's going to make America healthy again?
BASH: With that endorsement, the MAHA movement came with him.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior Obama aide, says Democratic leaders missed an opportunity.
DAN PFEIFFER, FORMER SENIOR OBAMA AIDE: We're not living in the same social media Internet spaces that a lot of the public is where, you know, people talking about, you know, what to feed your kids, what chemicals to avoid.
Long before he even decided to run for president in 2024, RFK Jr. lived in those spaces.
BASH: And when Trump nominated Kennedy for secretary of Health and Human Services, the MAHA network went to work.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I was getting hundreds of messages a day personally, and thousands through the office.
BASH: Despite serious misgivings about Kennedy pushing conspiracy theories and regularly suggesting vaccines cause autism, which was scientifically debunked --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cassidy.
BASH: -- Republicans like Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, saved Kennedy's bid for HHS secretary.
CASSIDY: Vaccines save lives. They are safe. They do not cause autism. There are multiple studies that show this.
Mr. Kennedy and the administration reached out seeking to reassure me regarding their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination.
BASH: Are you completely confident that none of those theories that RFK Jr. has, and he's expressed many times over the years, will be part of America's public health, as he promised to Senator Cassidy?
MEANS: I am completely confident that Bobby Kennedy will come in with opinions and believe those opinions do not matter. Bobby Kennedy is coming in to institute a process. And I know that many people on the left watching that can't stand Bobby Kennedy and stand President Trump, I know they resonate with something that's happening. I know they resonate, that there's a strain that we're touching on childhood chronic disease. And I would just urge them, there's a mass opportunity in society to support the Trump administration on this sector.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Dana Bash, thanks so much for that story.
New overnight, mass firings are now underway as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's quest to shrink the federal workforce takes a new turn. It's underway.
Plus, a deadly explosion. Explosion tears through a shopping mall. We'll have the "Morning Roundup" just ahead.
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[05:24:15]
SCIUTTO: This just in to CNN. Fifteen people were injured after a car drove into a crowd in Munich, Germany, this according to a German newspaper. It is unclear right now if this was an accident or an intentional attack. Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to arrive in Munich today for the Munich Security Conference. A number of world leaders and senior officials going there.
Happening today, President Trump will meet with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House. The meeting on the same day, Trump is expected to announce reciprocal tariffs on any nation which has levies on U.S. exports, and that includes India.
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TRUMP: I may do it later on or I may do it tomorrow morning, but we'll be signing reciprocal tariffs. The world has taken advantage of the United States for many years.
[05:25:02]
They've charged us massive tariffs that we haven't charged them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: President Trump is not the only key meeting on Modi's agenda. "Reuters" is reporting that first buddy Elon Musk is set to meet with Modi as well to talk business.
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SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): He's going to personally meet with Prime Minister Modi, and his agenda will not be the interests of the people of the United States of America. Elon Musk, as a representative of the White House, is going to sit down with Prime Minister Modi and talk about Tesla's business and Elon Musk's business in China. I mean, you couldn't make this up. You couldn't make this up.
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SCIUTTO: CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is live in Hong Kong. And once again, tariffs on the table as President Trump meets with a head of state.
I wonder, does Modi believe they can come to some sort of deal while he's here?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what he's hoping. And you're right, tariffs is top of mind here. Narendra Modi is in the United States. He will soon meet with President Trump, a man he has called a, quote, true friend. So we're looking at to see whether there's so-called true friendship can help overcome serious concerns about trade, about tariffs as well as immigration.
Now, so far, India has managed to escape the wrath of Trump, the tariff man. Modi wants to keep it that way. In fact, sources tell "Reuters" that Modi plans to meet Trump with tariff concessions in hand. These are concessions that could boost U.S. exports to India and perhaps avert a potential trade war.
Now, in the past, Trump has called out India. He's called India, quote, a very big abuser on trade. But Modi is trying to keep the vibe positive.
In fact, on Wednesday, a few hours ago, he took to social media to post this. Let's bring it up for you. He says this: Landed in Washington, D.C. a short while ago. Looking forward to meeting POTUS Donald Trump and building upon the India-USA comprehensive global strategic partnership. Our nations will keep working closely for the benefit of our people and for a better future for our planet, unquote.
But it's not clear what Modi can offer in terms of immigration or migration. The number of Indian nationals entering the U.S. illegally has surged dramatically in the last few years. We did see that dramatic video from U.S. Border Patrol of 100 migrants being deported in shackles that sparked outrage across India.
But whether or not they can bring this friendship to the fore and put those issues aside remains to be seen.
Back to you.
SCIUTTO: Based on recent experience with Donald Trump, it's very much a bottom line issue, a transactional one, often
STOUT: Right.
SCIUTTO: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thanks so much.
STOUT: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: All right. Well, just pass 27 minutes past the hour. Here is your "Morning Roundup". Wow. A suspected gas explosion at a department store in Taiwan killed
at least five people, injured 20 others. It happened in a food court, construction zone on the 12th floor of that building.
A United jet goes off the runway in snowy weather at St. Louis's airport. The plane slid onto the grass, as you can see there after landing. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Emergency crews met the plane, got everyone off safely.
Evacuation warnings are in place for parts of fire ravaged Los Angeles County. The scorched earth creating a high risk now for flooding and mudslides. Right now, southern California is bracing for its most significant rainfall in more than a year.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Secretary Pete Hegseth is in Brussels right now meeting with NATO leaders, just one day after President Trump said talks will begin soon with Russia's president to end the war in Ukraine. Not involved at this point is Ukraine's leader.
Plus, mass firings now underway at federal agencies and the Department of Education seems to be target number one.
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REPORTER: How soon do you want the Department of Education to be closed?
TRUMP: Oh, I'd like it to be closed immediately. Look, the Department of Education is a big con job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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