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Turkish Police Arrest Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu; Russia Agrees to Pause Attacks on Energy Infrastructure; Kremlin: Ukraine-Russia Prisoner Swap Set for Today; U.S. Federal Reserve Meets Amid Concerns of Possible Recession; Trump-Zelenskyy Phone Call to Happen Next Hour. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired March 19, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Turkey where protesters have gathered to protest the arrest of the Mayor of

Istanbul, a key Erdogan rival. It is 04:00 p.m. there in Turkey, it is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos, and this is "Connect the

World".

Also coming up, Ukraine and Russia exchange attacks overnight, just hours after the Kremlin agrees to a pause in strikes against Ukraine's energy

infrastructure and ahead of a prisoner swap. Meanwhile, pressure growing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after he restarted the war in Gaza,

leaving the remaining hostages, fate unknown.

There are live pictures by protesters coming through on Jerusalem there. All right. I want to check in on the stock market in New York. It opens in

around 30 minutes from now. It is fed decision day today, and as you can see, it is pointing to a positive start. We've had a roller coaster of a

ride on the markets.

Over the past few weeks, we've seen a big backlash in terms of what we've seen on the tariff front coming through from President Trump, as well as

the federal spending cuts as well. So big news today, what the dot plot will say, GDP inflation outlooks as well. We'll be looking out for that a

little later.

Well, we begin in Turkey, where authorities have arrested the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu is the main political rival to Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Republican People's Party, or the CHP, was said to nominate Imamoglu as its presidential candidate later this week.

Now the police say his detention is part of an investigation into corruption as well as terrorism. Dozens of people linked to him were also

taken into custody. CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments for us and joins us here in studio. Paula, this is really significant news.

This man viewed as perhaps part of the main opposition to Erdogan. I want you to tell me about what we know about the charges and his detention,

along with the other 100 people as well.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, Eleni, Imamoglu, is a key rival of President Erdogan, and he was expected to be the presidential

candidate who was going to be running against him for the main opposition party. We were just a few days away from the Republican People's Party

having their primary election.

So, they were going to pick him as their candidate, and then potentially any time between now and 2028 when the elections were called, he would be

standing against President Erdogan, who has been in power for more than two decades now, and the belief was that he had a good chance of winning.

Now his critics have said that this is clearly a political move. He has been detained by police. In fact, he did post a video of himself on social

media just before he was arrested. We should listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EKREM IMAMOGLU, MAYOR OF ISTANBUL: I am saddened to say, a handful of people who are trying to steal the will of the people have sent the dear

police to security forces, implicating them in this wrongful doing. Hundreds of police officers have been sent to the door of my house, the

house of the 60 million people of Istanbul.

We are up against a huge bullying but I will not back down. I love you all. I entrust myself to the people. I will be standing tall. I will continue to

fight against him. And the mindset that uses these processes as an apparatus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: -- on Tuesday is that Istanbul University actually annulled his degree, saying that back in 1990 there were irregularities with that, and

without a degree, he cannot run for president. What we've heard from Imamoglu is that this is not correct. He's going to take legal proceedings

against the university for that, but he also said that he doesn't believe that the courts would necessarily be on his side.

Now the Erdogan government has denied the fact that the judiciary is being used in any way. They say the courts are free and fair. But we have heard

from those on his side, that they believe this is completely critical.

We are seeing some of his supporters on the street despite the fact that Istanbul said that they were banning all demonstrations for the next few

days that they were stopping metro stops, they were closing metro stops, closing roads in downtown Istanbul to try and prevent this kind of

reaction.

GIOKOS: Yeah, exactly. I mean, I want to talk about the reaction here because the Turkish lira also came under significant pressures was down 13

percent at one point. It's recovered a bit now.

[09:05:00]

But it just really indicative of how this news is being taken on a global level. We don't know what the charges are just yet, but the timing remains

really interesting.

HANCOCKS: Absolutely, I mean the exact charges, you're right. We don't know exactly the investigation. We're being told by officials is corruption and

terrorism investigation so fairly wide at that point. It is -- it comes amid a more widespread legal crackdown on some of the opposition figures,

certainly Imamoglu himself.

In fact, the head of the main opposition party, has said this is a coup attempt against our next president. So even though authorities have said

that no demonstrations are allowed. We have been seeing people coming out onto the streets. They have been chanting outside that the police

headquarters, protesting what they have seen.

And of course, we have also heard from him and his wife saying that all these charges are trumped up. It is simply not accurate. And the critics

saying that this is a political decision. As I say, there's only a few days away before he was going to become the presidential candidate for the

opposite.

GIOKOS: Yeah, and he also said, no, I'm not going to back down. So, I think this is a story that will evolve and develop in the next few days. Paula

Hancocks, good to see you. Thank you so much. Well, Ukraine's President says he will talk to President Donald Trump today, following Tuesday's call

between Mr. Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Speaking earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he plans to hold firm to his government's long held position in upcoming negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: For us, the red line is the recognition of temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories as Russian. We

will not accept that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Overnight, Ukraine and Russia exchanged attacks. President Zelenskyy says some Russian strikes hit hospitals, while others struck

Ukrainian energy facilities, despite the Kremlin agreeing to temporarily halt attacks on energy infrastructure. Meantime, the Kremlin says a large-

scale prisoner exchange is planned for today.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is across developments for us. Clare, a lot of moving parts here. The Kremlin has clarified. In the meantime, a discrepancy

between the White House's wording and their wording of the Trump, Putin call basically had to do with energy infrastructure. And energy and

infrastructure. Take me through that.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eleni, I think there is still some confusion around this. Almost 24 hours after the call, we have the

Kremlin readout, which talked about the agreement, as they said they had agreed on we haven't seen it take effect yet to stop attacks on energy

infrastructure, whereas the White House readout clearly said energy and infrastructure.

The Kremlin today has come out and said, look, from our perspective, it's clear this is energy infrastructure. Last night we saw Steve Witkoff

Trump's Middle East envoy who has twice met with Putin as part of the U.S. overtures towards these peace talks. He said, initially energy

infrastructure, and then, when asked to clarify, he said energy and infrastructure in general, but it's still not 100 percent clear at this

point.

We are seeking clarification from the White House on this. And as I said, what is extremely clear is that Putin has not as the readout from the

Kremlin last night suggested, given the order to the military immediately to stop these attacks. Both Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of

attacking each other's energy infrastructure overnight.

Russia says that Ukraine caused a fire at an oil transportation facility in class today. Ukraine says that Russia hit a railway power system in the

central region of Dnipropetrovsk. So, they are both accusing each other of doing this, and I think it's clear that the order hasn't been given at this

stage.

I think what's also clear when you have this very fast paced diplomacy. Is that detail, even appealingly small details like this really matter. So, I

think it's clear that more work needs to be done on what was agreed in that call yesterday.

GIOKOS: Yeah, exactly. I want you to also listen to what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today about future talks, Clare. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: The next meeting of Saudi Arabia is meant for talks about a partial ceasefire, for example, regarding infrastructure, energy, et

cetera, and shipping safety will also be discussed. That is, it will be a technical team, a team that understands the issues. On our side, there will

definitely be military personnel.

There will be energy specialists, and there will be people who understand very deeply the port infrastructure and other civilian infrastructure. This

is at a technical level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean, Clare, we've got talks that are said to occur in Jeddah later this weekend. And look, you've got to get both sides, and

President Zelenskyy said you could have technical teams that are going to see eye to eye. What does this tell us about what comes next?

SEBASTIAN: Well, look, right now, the only party that's confirming that talks are restarting specifically this weekend is the U.S. Steve Witkoff

saying in that interview on Fox News yesterday. They will restart on Sunday in Jeddah. He only confirmed that the U.S. side will be led by Mike Waltz,

the National Security Adviser, and Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State.

[09:10:00]

Now President Zelenskyy did say that he was going to send technical teams to basically iron out the details of what was discussed between Trump and

Putin in terms of the Russian side. The Kremlin spokesman today would not be drawn on specifics, but simply said, the coordination of the next

contacts and their compositions, in other words, who is going to be sent is happening today and tomorrow.

So, he's not giving much away there either. But again, as I said, it is very clear that there is much work still to be done, not only on some kind

of partial temporary ceasefire or even halting of attacks on energy infrastructure, but also on the much bigger issues towards an actual peace

settlement.

GIOKOS: OK, Clare Sebastian, thank you so much. I want to stay on this, and I want to bring in James Nixie, who's Director of the Russia and Eurasia

Program at Chatham House. Great to have you with us. Look, there's so much going on right now, and I really want to talk about the cracks in the

narrative that have appeared between the Kremlin and the White House.

Energy infrastructure is what the White House is saying. Is what Russia is saying, and White House said energy and infrastructure. Do you think this

is a case of lost in translation or just really pure miscommunication?

JAMES NIXEY, HEAD OF RUSSIAN AND EURASIA PROGRAM AT CHATHAM HOUSE: -- little bit of both, perhaps, and the fact that the American side is not

particularly across the detail. The Russians, of course, know exactly what they want. They want peace on their terms, and the Trump Administration

wants peace on any terms.

And that's ultimately where we're seeing this sort of divide here, in fact, it's come out on energy infrastructure versus energy and infrastructure is

barely relevant either way. Neither side it has to be said, is obeying the spirit or even the letter of the law, so to speak.

GIOKOS: Yeah, what kind of pressure do you think is President Trump going to be giving President Putin, given that, you know, he basically rejected

the ceasefire agreement that was put on the table.

NIXEY: Yeah, if Trump puts Putin under any kind of pressure, that will be something of a first. He has not been known to express any desire to have

the Russians concede any particular points or make any concessions, which is just as well, by the way, because the Russians don't make concessions

and they don't do compromise.

So, in that particular respect, Trump is playing it, I suppose, correctly, because he knows, but he wouldn't get any concessions from a Russian side

if he asked for them. So, by not asking for them, he can say he has achieved, also that which he wants.

GIOKOS: Yeah, a little earlier today, we heard from President Zelenskyy, and he was at a press conference with Finland's President, and he basically

said that Ukraine is not going to recognize any territory that's currently held by Russia as Russian. And he also conceded to the fact that it's going

to be one of the difficult points of negotiation.

You know, what do you make of the messaging from President Zelenskyy here? Because I think both sides are coming in with red lines, and at some point,

someone's going to have to make big concessions to make this work.

NIXEY: Yeah, that's right, but the concessions have already made by the Ukrainians, in the sense that they have conceded that when a ceasefire

comes, an armistice comes, whatever you want to call it, then Ukraine will not hold all of its legally recognized territory that it held before 2022

or even 2014 in fact. It's just a question of the final status of these lands.

And of course, there is no way that Ukrainians would or could or should recognize that these lands are now Russia's, and have been won by Russia as

a result of muscularity and military force. So, these concessions have actually already been made by the Ukrainians, but there have been none made

by the Russians.

And of course, what the Russians really want is effectively the demilitarization of Ukraine, and the stopping of arms shipments and

intelligence sharing to Ukraine, and that if the Russians get that, then I think most of their demands will have been met.

GIOKOS: Yeah, this, and also prisoner swap, which we are expecting today, and I think the way that Russia is positioning this as a gesture of

goodwill, but frankly, this has been in the works for quite some time now. How significant is the prisoner swap today?

NIXEY: Yeah, you're absolutely right. These prison swaps are a frequent occurrence. In fact, as they should be, generally speaking, in the west, we

like to do these things. It behooves us well to exchange their prisoners who have presumably committed war crimes of some sort, or maybe taken

during the act of war in exchange for people who are perhaps not necessarily combatants.

[09:15:00]

People who have been arrested inside Russia, or Ukrainian prisoners of war as well, who have, I must be said, it must be said, being subject to

various kinds of torture and abuse. That is not true for Russian prisoners on the Ukrainian side. So, it's a regular occurrence, as it should be, and

it happens as a matter of course during the war.

GIOKOS: All right. James Nixey, great to have you with us. Thank you so much. In Israel, angry crowds protesting outside parliament today spilling

out into a Jerusalem highway after a barrage of Israeli airstrikes killing more than 400 people in Gaza Tuesday and more than a dozen overnight,

according to Palestinian officials.

Those deadly bombs shattered the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Israel's Prime Minister warns this is just the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing intensity, and from now on, negotiations will

only take place under fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Prime Minister Netanyahu was scheduled to testify Tuesday in his corruption trial, and that was canceled because of military strikes in

Gaza. Joining me now is Jeremy Diamond, live in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, good to see you. Netanyahu is accused of resuming the war in Gaza to keep his

coalition government alive. Tell us more about what you're hearing.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, and this is a consistent refrain that the prime minister has faced from his critics,

the notion that he is motivated in his decision making related to the war in Gaza by political considerations more than anything else, something, of

course, that the prime minister has repeatedly denied.

But now the prime minister is facing some more specific accusations. First of all, it's important to note that when the prime minister agreed to that

ceasefire agreement in January, he made quite clear to his coalition partners, namely the Right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, that

after phase one, that there would likely be a return to the fighting.

And that is what secured Bezalel Smotrich his agreement to remain in Netanyahu is governing coalition. And now Netanyahu also faces the fact

that by March 31 his government must pass a budget. If they don't pass a budget that would trigger new elections and the downfall of his current

governing coalition.

And he has already faced a shaky situation with that coalition, including from several members of the ultra-orthodox parties who are part of that

governing coalition, who have threatened to leave if the prime minister doesn't first pass a bill exempting ultra-orthodox members of the Israeli

society from having to serve in the Israeli military, codifying a situation that has largely already existed in the country for years now.

And so along with that, the Israeli Prime Minister needs to make sure that he has the numbers to pass his budget, whether or not those ultra-orthodox

parties support it, and that's where you see yesterday, just right after the Israeli Prime Minister resumes air strikes in Gaza, signaling a full

return to war, you have a Itamar Ben-Gvir, another far right member who was part of the governing coalition left during the ceasefire agreement, but

has now rejoined amid this return to air strikes in Gaza.

And so, you can kind of see all the pieces on the board coming together, and how that could potentially influence Netanyahu's desire to go back to

war. And that's certainly the accusation that a number of members of the Israeli opposition and the thousands who we saw in the streets of Jerusalem

today were leveling at the prime minister.

That this is all about his political survival more than what's happening in Gaza, and that in doing so, he risks endangering the lives of the hostages

who remain.

GIOKOS: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much for that update. And still to come, critical deadline as the Trump Administration escalates its

fights with a federal judge over the legality of deportation flights. We'll be back after this. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

GIOKOS: Right now, a court deadline is looming over the Trump Administration's decision to deport hundreds of migrants this past weekend,

and that includes many it claims, of Venezuelan gang members. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was wanted to know if the flights to El Salvador took

off or reached the destination before he ordered that process to be halted.

The Justice Department has less than three hours to provide that information and more details about the individuals on the planes. But will

this new deadline have any more impact than it did on Tuesday, when the Department of Justice lawyers stonewalled the judge.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now from Washington to answer some of the most pertinent questions around the story. Katelyn, how do you expect legal

analysts to play, you know, to respond to this deadline that has been installed on the court, and I wonder how, what kind of probabilities we're

looking at here.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Judge James Boasberg of the federal court in Washington, he's trying to pry information

out of the Justice Department, the Trump Administration about these flights. Specifically, who was on them, and were they being removed from

the country only under this presidential proclamation that he has said.

You can't use that and it is temporarily stayed from being used by the administration. So, he's saying, you need to tell me if the migrants who

were put on the plane even before he issued his written order, while there was a hearing still ongoing, and he was telling the administration turn

planes around if people are being removed under this presidential proclamation.

It might not be legal to use that. He's trying to get the answers there. So, we've gotten a little bit of answers from the Justice Department so

far, in a filing yesterday about how many people were still in U.S. custody and could have been removed under this proclamation.

A little bit more information about the flights, but today, Judge Boasberg is asking the Justice Department for even more information. And he tells

them, if you need to do it under seal, not publicly, do it that way. Provide those pieces of information, those details about when the flights

were taking off, when they were over international waters, who was on them, the legal reasons for removing those people, all of that needs to be

provided to the court by noon.

But of course, because it's under seal, we may not be seeing anything, so the public won't be getting answers yet all this building a record, so the

judge can weigh in on whether the administration is intentionally violating court orders and making some sort of determination of if there's a problem

there between the court and the Trump Administration.

GIOKOS: All right. Katelyn Polantz, good to have you with us. Thanks so much for that insight. Of course, watching very closely as we head closer

to that deadline. And still to come, we're just moments away from the opening bell as investors await a key decision on interest rates from the

U.S. Federal Reserve.

What impact will President Trump's rapid fire policy changes have on the economy? Plus, the Trump Administration has released thousands of files on

the assassination of President John F. Kennedy just ahead. Hear why researchers think the document dump won't be anything earth shattering you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi, and you're watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines, angry protests directed at

the Israeli government. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Israel shattered the 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces unleashing air strikes overnight that killed more than a dozen people. After bombing and killing more than 400 Palestinians

Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu doubled down saying this is just the beginning. The Kremlin says Russia and Ukraine are poised to conduct a large-scale

prisoner swap today.

175 prisoners from both sides are expected to be exchanged 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian servicemen will be transferred in what the Kremlin calls

a gesture of goodwill. The Mayor of Istanbul has been arrested in what critics are calling a political crackdown. Ekrem Imamoglu is a leading

figure in the country's opposition party and a key rival to the Turkish President.

Authorities say his arrest is related to an investigation into corruption and terrorism. Wall Street is watching closely as the U.S. Federal Reserve

resumes its two-day meeting just hours from now, with fears of a possible recession picking up steam, the fed is widely expected to leave its key

interest rate unchanged, and that's at least until more is known about the effects of President Trump's tariff policies.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak when the meeting wraps up later today. We're now joined by Adam Posen, the President of the Peterson

Institute for International Economics. Adam, great to have you with us. And what a day, I guess, what a time, geopolitically and financially,

economically.

I mean, honestly, it's just so much uncertainty has been injected into the global market, and main -- major source of that is from the United States.

What is your sense on what the fed should be looking at as key risks to inflation?

ADAM POSEN, PRESIDENT OF PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: Thank you for having me, Eleni, and you're right. This is unprecedented

uncertainty, even when in 2008 we have the financial crisis, there was a lot of uncertainty, but not about the underlying institutions and not about

the U.S. government's delivery on its. commitments.

[09:30:00]

So, if you're the fed right now, you've missed your window to do much, because at this point, if you talk anything, you will be seen as political,

probably. I wish they had started speaking last summer when things were adding in an inflationary direction, but they didn't.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

POSEN: So right now, what you're watching for are several things. I think they should be spending more time and trying to figure out the inflationary

effect of the tariffs. I don't think the uncertainty is going to go away. So, you then you have to worry about what's the chilling effect on

investment, on deals, on import and export sectors holding off until new things happen.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

POSEN: But I think they have to also look at the fiscal situation, where there's also a great deal of uncertainty. And the likelihood that the Trump

Administration and the Republican majorities in Congress will make a big shift in the nature of taxes from income taxes to consumption taxes.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

POSEN: And that is both inflationary and --

GIOKOS: -- U.S. markets just opened, yeah. I mean, we just heard the opening bell there in New York. And frankly, markets right now pointing to,

you know, they started on a positive footing. And frankly, the last few weeks, we've seen such a roller coaster on the market front.

I think companies are trying to ascertain what this means for their earnings down the line. I mean, again -- just again, we don't know what the

world is going to look like in a few months' time, and the impact of tariffs, for example, on businesses and consumers. But at the end of the

day, even President Trump did not rule out the possibility of a recession.

Do you think that he's right, that this period of transition could result in a recessionary type environment?

POSEN: Yes, it could. This is the first time we've had a genuinely bimodal meaning to very distinct outcomes for the U.S. economy in a long while,

usually things are heading in one direction. And if there's a shock, it's very clear which way it's going. In the U.S. right now, you have very

strong fundamentals and you have very bad economic policies, and the two are colliding.

So yes, there is a decent chance of recession. My own estimate is there's about a one in three chance, which is more than double what the normal

recession risk is.

GIOKOS: Let's talk about what the Federal Reserve should be doing if the outlook is recessionary. I mean, you want to ease the pain on consumers if

they're taking all of these things into consideration. Do you ease up monetary policy? Do you make things a lot easier at the risk of inflation

getting out of hand?

You know, what should the Federal Reserve be doing and Jerome Powell, but you know whether we like it or not, and even though they're independent,

they are being pushed from a political perspective, and I guess that they are cognizant of those pressures.

POSEN: Think the degree, Eleni, to which they're cognizant of those pressures is this restraint of waiting until policies are very clearly

decided and implemented, rather than forecasting what's reasonable. But I don't think they will be cowed out of either raising or cutting rates when

push comes to shove, it's just push is going to come to shove a little late.

The reason that matters is because inflation expectations are not entirely well anchored, as the central banks mean. What that means is, if we get a

short-term inflation shock from tariffs, from anti migrant policies, from something like that, the response of inflation may be bigger than it's been

in previous cycles.

And then the fed has to do more to offset it, or has to weigh more heavily the inflation risks versus the recession risk. So, I think what the fed has

to confront is they're probably going to get inflation whether it's a recession or a growth story. And I think they need to make clear,

unfortunately that, in that situation, they have to raise rates.

GIOKOS: Yeah, and then, what are we talking about a stagflationary environment, you know? What are you anticipating?

POSEN: Well, in January, early January, through most of last year, I was anticipating a boom that the fed would eventually have to raise rates to

cut off, but given the chaos that has been induced, not just through the tariff policy, but through the foreign policy, through the DOGE manner of

doing government cuts and creating uncertainty for government contractors.

That the risk of inflation, I mean the risk of recession, as you and I said, is up, but I don't think the inflation will be stopped, even if we

get a recession initially. And so given that the fed has led inflation persist and that expectations are unanchored, you could get stagflation.

[09:35:00]

You could get continued growth and inflation, but I think the inflation comes either way.

GIOKOS: Wow. OK, so Federal Reserve Jerome Powell, we are expecting today no move on the interest rate front. Is that the prudent thing to do? What

would you do? Because you want to be proactive.

POSEN: Yeah --

GIOKOS: You don't want to be reactive to things you're going to be looking at what it's down the line.

POSEN: I agree with you that was the intent of the inflation targeting regime, and that's what central banks generally should do. But the fed, the

FOMC, decided roughly a year ago that they were worried about weakness and they were not worried about inflation, and therefore they would be cutting

rates and indicating future cuts.

And so, they have been reluctant to move off that, and the markets rightly reduce the number of expected cuts. But the fed didn't want to say the

balance of risks is now even or even inflationary, which would be what I'd argue. So, there'll be a lot made out of the communications today, since

they're not moving rates.

But my expectation in both the statement and Fed Chair Powell's press conferences, they won't say much.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

POSEN: If he says something that people take as a strong statement, they'll correct it in coming days.

GIOKOS: All right. So great to have you with us. Thank you for your insights.

POSEN: Thank you.

GIOKOS: Good to speak with you today. Adam Posen, there for us. Well, let's get you up to speed and some other stories that are on our radar right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): I know that some of you in this room are angry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Nebraska Republican Congressman Mike Flood faced heckling and booing when he met voters at a town hall in Columbus, Nebraska Tuesday

night. Much of the crowd's eye was directed at Elon Musk and his chainsaw approach at cutting federal spending. They were also riled up about

President Trump's tariffs and how they could impact Nebraskans.

Outspoken U.S. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders slammed the Democratic Party Tuesday, saying it's out of touch with reality and heavily dominated

by the billionaire class. Sanders is proposing a party within the party to demand Democrats stand with the working class.

The World Health Organization warns millions of people in eight countries will soon lose access to HIV drugs, that's due to the Trump

Administration's USAID cuts. Now, health officials say disruptions to HIV programs could undo 20 years of progress leading to millions more cases and

deaths.

Well, Madrid's woman got the win over Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday, but the game was played in a reserve stadium that left one legend

calling it a disgrace. We're going to a short break. We'll see you in a bit and some breaking news. That phone call between the U.S. and Ukrainian

President will be happening soon. We'll bring you an update on that in just --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

GIOKOS: All right. And some breaking news for you that phone call between the U.S. and Ukrainian Presidents is set to happen at the top of the next

hour. That's at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States. Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking the day after Mr. Trump had a two-hour

phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. We'll bring you more on that in the next hour of "Connect the World".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears as though something has happened in the motorcade route. Something I repeat has happened in the motorcade route.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Well, the Trump Administration has released thousands of records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Many files had already been

made public, but the White House says those released Tuesday were previously classified and redacted.

Researchers will need time to go through these documents, but sources tell CNN, there's no indication anything will change the current conclusion.

That alone, gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for JFK's death. Quarter final action began in the Women's Champions League on Tuesday.

And Arsenal was left stuck in mud as Real Madrid to control in the first leg. Patrick Snell joins us now, while some calling it a disgrace. Patrick,

what went down?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Eleni. Yeah, it is not good look for the women's game at all. And you do have to sympathize, I think, with the

players in this case.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

SNELL: Yes, the torrential rain didn't help in the Spanish capital Madrid ahead of kickoff, but we had a really, really high-profile match, and that

really the state of the pitch, just a quagmire of mud and rain and everything. And it impacted, I think, on one of the first goals full credit

around Madrid, because they won the quarter final first leg by two goals to nil.

But their opponents Arsenal have it all to do now in the second leg, which will be played at the Emirates Stadium. Why is that important? Because the

game was played at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium in Madrid. Could it possibly be played in the Bernabeu, which is where the Real Madrid men's

first team play?

GIOKOS: Yeah.

SNELL: But we do know this for sure, the return will be played at Emirates Stadium, and we know at Emirates Stadium they're going to get a very high

caliber, high quality playing surface, effectively, only half time Arsenal, 2-0 down Real Madrid.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

SNELL: But the headlines from this game, the state of the pitch and use the state of the players jerseys afterwards, just caked in mud as well, Eleni,

back to you.

GIOKOS: Yeah, I can see the images, absolutely muddy. Patrick, we'll see you after this. I'll be back at the top of the hour. Stay with CNN.

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