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Senate Confirms Tulsi Gabbard As National Intelligence Director; Trump Spoke With Russian President Putin This Morning. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 12, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Today on Inside Politics, from long shot to locked in. The Senate just confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence, all but guaranteeing Donald Trump will get the cabinet of loyalists he dreamed of. So, what happened to those Republicans concerned about her lack of experience and apparent support of U.S. adversaries.

Plus, from Russia with love. We have breaking news. An official tells CNN that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone this morning, just hours after an American teacher was released from a Russian prison. And reality bites. The candidate promised to bring down costs on day one, but the president is finding out very quickly, it's not so easy.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We're going to start on Capitol Hill, where the Senate just voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence. CNN's Manu Raju has been following this. Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. 52/48, but almost completely along party lines, except for one vote, the Republican leader, the former Republican leader and still Kentucky Senator, Mitch McConnell, joining with Democrats to oppose this nomination.

But that was not enough to stop the nomination on any party line vote, of course, you need four Republicans to break ranks. That did not happen here after weeks of battling to get across the finish line, Tulsi Gabbard did manage to do just that to become the next director of national intelligence. That vote 52 to 48 despite concerns that Democrats had been raising for months, and despite some apprehension from swing vote Republicans, ultimately almost all that.

Senator McConnell falling in line, she was able to reassure them behind the scenes. From the pressure campaign also may have had an effect on some of these members who are wavering on what side to go. But ultimately, she is on her way to getting this very critical post overseeing the nation's intelligence apparatus.

And right now, there's a vote on the Senate floor to overcome a democratic led filibuster to try to block the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services. And at the moment, he is on track to be confirmed and he's on track to win this vote against two Republican votes.

We were tracking on this vote, Mitch McConnell and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who has not said how she would vote, both of them voted to advance this nomination. They voted with Republicans. Now it doesn't mean that they will ultimately vote yes on the final confirmation vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but it is a very good sign for him.

And despite his past positions on vaccines and the like, which drew concerns from a lot of Democrats and some Republicans. Ultimately, the Republicans are showing a lot of deference to the president United States, ensuring he's about to get his picks, even his most controversial picks expected move through the Senate, be confirmed along mostly party lines or straight party lines in a matter of hours.

By tomorrow evening, we expect Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take -- to be in charge of the nation's health agencies after Republicans fell behind the president's demands.

BASH: Yeah. They sure have. Manu, thank you so much for that reporting. Here with me at the table, CNN's Kasie Hunt, CNN's Eva McKend, Dave Weigel of Semafor, and CNN's chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt.

Alex, I'm going to start with you. And before I bring you in, I want to play what Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader of the U.S. Senate said just moments before this vote began on Tulsi Gabbard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This endangers our security, and my guess, is if a secret ballot were cast on Tulsi Gabbard, maybe she'd get 10 votes. You all know how bad she is. And so, I know that there are -- that people feel they want to please the president in his nomination. But there are certain times you have to buck and stand up and say, no, this is just a very bad choice for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Alex, I don't know if it would be 10 votes, but just from my reporting, and I'm guessing everybody here has similar reporting. He's not wrong that a private vote would have come out very differently than what we just saw in public.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think Senator McConnell would agree with him as well. And what this tells us is, obviously, that this is Trump's Republican Party. It is his support for Gabbard that has carried the day.

[12:05:00]

There were real questions about Gabbard's possibility to be confirmed. There was a real sense that she might be the one or one of two alongside Pete Hegseth or Robert Kennedy to be picked off by Democrats. And there are a few rogue Republicans, so that she wouldn't make it through.

The confirmation hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee was really, really interesting, and there she could only lose one Republican. She ended up not losing anything, anybody. So, her confirmation proceeded, but she got hammered about Edward Snowden. She refused to call him a traitor, which was a question that she got asked time and time again by Republicans and Democrats.

She got hammered for her positions on Russia and Ukraine, as well as her trip to Syria to visit President Bashar al-Assad. But none of those actually, in the end, impacted her confirmation. Senators Collins -- Senator Collins came around on the Senate Intelligence Committee because, because Gabbard ended up agreeing to saying that she would streamline the office of the Director of National Intelligence. Todd Young was another hold out. And he was essentially comforted by what Gabbard had said about proceeding with what's called Section 702.

BASH: Yeah, I know. Alex, I want to ask you about this because those are all -- lot of concerns that people had on both sides of the aisle, including Republicans. I got a text from a Senate Republican who said, well, yeah, I have reservations, but I'm going to vote yes anyway because the DNI, even though it has a big fancy name, it doesn't really have that much power.

Can you just talk about that you covered this agency and all the agencies underneath it? Is that true?

MARQUARDT: And this was the major concern about her total lack of experience in intelligence. I mean, she served in the military, but not in intelligence, and now she's going to be a top not one but 18 different intelligence agencies overseeing all of them. I think her job will really be defined by how President Trump uses her.

Traditionally, the director of national intelligence is the principal intelligence adviser to a president. We have seen that with James Clapper. We have seen that with Avril Haines under President Joe Biden. Will she be a big voice in the room? That remains to be seen. Because, of course, that's always the question around Trump is, who are the voices that he's listening to?

The officer of director of national intelligence is in charge of the intelligence briefing that he gets every single day. But will Trump be turning to Tulsi Gabbard to actually weigh in on these critical intelligence and national security issues, or will she be given the task? And this is what it appears of streamlining the agency, of essentially downsizing the office, and, as Susan Collins says, getting it back to its original roots. I really think it's going to come down to how Trump wants to use her as director.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Dana, I mean, I think the bottom line here too is -- and the concern and the big question going forward is going to be about the relationship that this administration is having with Russia, right? Edward Snowden is a big part of that. That was probably her toughest moment in the hearing, but that's what ties all of these questions together, right?

And we're just learning, in fact, this just crossed here at CNN that Trump says he and Putin had a productive phone call. Both leaders agreed to visit each other's nations, right? This, of course, this was posted on Truth Social. This comes in the wake of the release -- the hostage exchange that we saw play out late last night.

But the things that tie together all of the concerns that and underscore, I think, Mitch McConnell's concern about Tulsi Gabbard is her view on Russia and the way the United States should be relating to the Russians. And the fact that he was the only one that was willing to vote no on this, just shows that he's the only one that's not afraid of Trump right now. Like Susan Collins may have reasons right, for saying, OK, she said this thing, I feel better. The real reason --

BASH: I think she's got (inaudible) and McConnell is already on the exit ramp. I just want to ask you about this news that you just heard, which we will talk more about later, but we are getting more information from the president himself, of course -- actually, Alex, hang on. One second, I'm just being told that Jeff Zeleny is at the White House. Jeff, Kaitlan Collins, our colleague broke the news about this phone call. What more are we learning?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: She did, Dana. And this is a phone call that is the first known phone call for a substant phone call that the President and Vladimir Putin have had, and it was earlier this morning by telephone, of course, coming in the wake of the release of Marc Fogel, which we witnessed last night here at the White House.

And the president, at that point, did not answer questions about if he had spoken to Putin clearly knowing. The phone call was on the schedule this morning. And this is indeed significant. Both leaders vowed to visit one another's country the first time that of the Trump administration. I recall the leaders meeting five times, of course, that Helsinki Summit, which was such a major moment where Trump essentially threw the U.S. intelligence agencies under the bus and aligned himself with Vladimir Putin.

[12:10:00]

So, so much has changed since that relationship, of course, but the war in Ukraine has fractured relations with the U.S. that President Biden did not speak with Vladimir Putin for about three years or so, if my memory serves. So, this is a thawing of relations. There's no doubt about it. The prisoner exchange is one sign of that, but this phone call is another side of that.

So, we will see how this goes forward. Of course, Russia and that relationship with Vladimir Putin hangs over the Trump administration and the Trump presidency in unique ways unlike any other president. But there's no doubt that President Trump wants to have a productive relationship, as he announced just a short time ago. And he also said he'll be having a phone call with President Zelenskyy soon -- so much moving on that front, Dana.

BASH: Can I just make sure I understood you correctly, that President Trump said that he will be going to Russia.

ZELENY: They pledged to visit one another's countries, which is normally a thing that leaders do. As you well remember from covering the White House, Dana. Leaders say, we will visit. We will comment and trade reciprocal visits. But it's significant in this case, of course, because Moscow is different than every other country. I believe that the president also said a similar thing when he was meeting with the Japanese prime minister last week.

But again, it's significant in this front and I'm just thinking back to the first Trump administration. Obviously, their conversations were so controversial in Germany at the first a G20 when they spoke without translators in the room, and then, of course, that Helsinki Summit. So, this is the beginning of a new relationship, I guess, a reset relationship, and it will be certainly one to watch, Dana, with massive implications.

BASH: Yeah. Thank you. And yeah, I just want to make sure I heard that correctly, because obviously, as you said, visiting Japan and visiting Moscow are like, you know, visiting different planets at this point geo politically. Thank you so much, Jeff.

And you know, Jeff is talking about Helsinki and all of these really historical moments during Trump one, but those are the before times. And by the before times, I mean before Russia invaded its neighbor, a democracy Ukraine, which made Russia's president, and the Russian people -- I mean the Russian people, a lot of them suffer because of it, but the Russian government, absolutely, to use a Trump term on the enemy's list, geo politically.

And now you have Trump saying, well, you know, maybe I'll go there. It's obviously all part of a larger dance that we're now seeing bubble up into the public. You have the hostage release. You have -- excuse me, not hostage release, the prisoner exchange. Thank you. Very important distinction. And then all of these puzzle pieces falling into place.

MARQUARDT: Yeah. We knew, obviously the approach to Russia and Ukraine was going to change with this administration. But this is -- this is just staggering. And I think that Jeff Zeleny is right, that this is a real moment. And if you're a Ukrainian today, you are really worried, you're upset and you're angry, because we are expecting in the next few weeks the Trump administration to essentially roll out their plan to ending this war that has been going on for the past three years.

And what you've seen yesterday and today is a real rap Russia between Washington and Moscow. When the news came out yesterday that American Marc Fogel was being released in that White House statement.

They talked about how it was a show of good faith for the negotiations over Ukraine. Here you have this phone call today and President Trump saying that these negotiations are going to start immediately. What does it mean for Ukraine?

Well, we're getting some clues from Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, who's over at NATO today, saying some, some, some really big things that Ukraine is not going to be happy about a lack of security guarantees, no promise at all that Ukraine is going to be joining NATO, no U.S. troops in Ukraine. So, this is a really, really tough day for Ukraine.

BASH: I know you want to jump in, real quick, but I want to take a break. Go ahead.

HUNT: Yeah, just very briefly. Just to help everyone understand what Jeff Zeleny was talking about, I think what you're getting at, according to the White House historians office, the last U.S. president to visit Russia was Barack Obama, back in 2013. He did, attended a G summit -- G20 summit in St. Petersburg, but Trump didn't go in his first term, and obviously, after the official in Ukraine.

BASH: Yeah, that's important. And again, it doesn't mean that he's going to go, but even suggesting that he's going to go is a very big moment in the very quickly changing relationship between the U.S. and Russia.

OK, we're going to talk a lot more about this breaking news. We're going to go live to Moscow to get the Kremlin side of this. Stay with us.

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back, and we're going to go back to talking about and learning more about that crucial phone call we were discussing before the break. Our colleague Kaitlan Collins broke that news that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone this morning.

The Kremlin says, it lasted more than 90 minutes. President Trump called it productive and wrote the following on Truth Social. We both agreed we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia and Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong campaign motto of common sense. We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together very closely, including visiting each other's nations.

[12:20:00]

We are covering the story from all angles, all around the globe. You see Jeff Zeleny is still with us at the White House. Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow. Fred, what are you hearing there?

FRED PLEITGEN CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Dana. Obviously, there's huge news here in the Russian capital. In fact, we just got off a conference call with journalists, with a spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, where he sort of outlined the Russian version of this call, the Russian readout of this call.

And as you already mentioned, the Russians saying that this call took upwards of 90 minutes that it happened in a very friendly atmosphere. I want to read you some of the things that the Russians have sort of pointed out. They said that the heads of state discussed issues related to the exchange of citizens, the Russian Federation, the United States. Of course, that's something that we've been talking about.

One of the most important things for the Russian is, of course -- for the Russians is, of course, the war in Ukraine. And there the Russians are saying the topic of settlement in Ukraine was discussed. President Trump spoke in favor of an early end to hostilities and a peaceful solution to the problem.

President Putin, and this is very important, I think, in turn, mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement can be achieved through peaceful negotiations. That sort of the vibe, Dana, that we've been getting over the past couple of days from the Russians, as the Trump administration has started that diplomatic offensive to try and end the Ukraine war as fast as possible.

The Russians had been saying, look, it's not going to be as easy as some may think, because there are, of course, a lot of unresolved issues, especially as far as the territory that Russia holds in Ukraine, and some of the territory that the Ukrainians are still holding on the Russian side as well.

And of course, also the big question of NATO membership for Ukraine, which is something that Pete Hegseth addressed today in Brussels. The Russians then writing, the Russian president also supported one of the main theses of the head of American state, that the time has come for our countries to work together.

So, the Russians are saying there could be more cooperation then, saying that they also discussed the Middle East -- a Middle East settlement, the Iranian nuclear program, as well as bilateral Russian, American relations in the economic sphere, which were also touched upon. And of course, the Russians are saying that Vladimir Putin did invite President Trump to -- he come here to Moscow to speak with the Russian leaders.

The Russians also seem very pleased with this phone call, also saying that it was very productive and that it did cover a sort of wide array of topics, with really the Ukraine war being the one that it really centered around as these two leaders were speaking, Dana.

BASH: Wow, there's a lot there. Fred, thank you so much for that reporting. And Jeff, one of the things that Fred was just reporting out about the readout from the Russian spokesman is that they agreed upon the root causes of the conflict. I'm going to put this to you, Jeff. Isn't the root cause of the conflict that Russia invaded a sovereign country, a democracy, in order to try to conquer its territory?

ZELENY: No question. And this is where the new challenging and indeed likely, controversial relationship with these two leaders will begin. There is no doubt that ever since he was running for president, and since he has been elected president. President Trump has sent many signals about Ukraine and Russia, and always generally tipping the scales towards Russia. He has questioned U.S. foreign aid for Ukraine. He has diminished the U.S. involvement and European involvement. So, this clearly, as we learn more about this phone call, if the United States is adopting Russia's view of this conflict, that is very much a challenge and a problem for the western world.

But it would not be surprising, necessarily, because if you look back at the history of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump from his first administration, it was generally President Trump siding with Putin, certainly over his own FBI back at that Helsinki summit and other places. So, this is certainly a challenge here and the beginning of a separation from other western allies, which we've already seen.

So, there is no doubt that the prisoner exchange last evening without question is amazing news here in the US, but deep, deep questions and skepticism about the relationship, which seems to be a priority for this administration. And it has been 12 years since the U.S. president has visited Russia. We will see if Donald Trump is another one, but certainly he likes to make big trips like this. I would not be at all surprised, Dana.

BASH: Jeff and Fred, thank you so much. Don't go far. Let us know if you hear anything more. I'm back here. I just want to actually -- as I'm listening to our colleagues, and as I'm frankly absorbing this, I think we need to really underscore what a huge moment this is. It's one of those that we've said many times in the past, three plus weeks.

[12:25:00]

That is not surprising, given what we heard Donald Trump say so many times, in this case, about the Russia, Ukraine conflict. Clearly, as Jeff said, favoring the notion of settling things maybe more in the favor of Russia than Ukraine wants. Now it's happening. It is unfolding before our eyes right now, and this phone call was really going to be -- I think it's going to be in the history books, as something that helped to change the relationship, perhaps back to the way it was.

We're getting information from our colleague, Alayna Treene, that Steve Witkoff, who is actually the Mideast envoy for President Trump, met privately with the Russian President Vladimir Putin while he was in Moscow yesterday. And in that meeting, obviously, part of what they were discussing, and a big part of what they were discussing was releasing the prisoner, Marc Fogel, who, of course, came back last night. But they probably talked about a lot more than that.

MARQUARDT: This is extraordinary. I mean, Witkoff went to Moscow on his own plane. Keep in mind, his title in this administration is the special envoy for the Middle East. So, when we found out that he was in Moscow, we were all asking, why on earth was he there? We understand that because of some middle eastern connections, he was actually crucial to getting Marc Fogel released.

Now this news from our Alayna Treene that he actually met with Vladimir Putin. I believe this is the first high level U.S. engagement with Putin directly since November of 2021. And that was the then CIA director, Bill Burns, who went there essentially to warn Putin against invading Ukraine. Of course, Putin ignored him.

One more really interesting thing on the Witkoff front. When you look at the statement that President Trump just put out today, he talked about launching negotiations immediately, and he named the people who would be involved. He mentioned Senator -- Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. He mentioned the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor, and Witkoff, who again, is the Middle East envoy.

He did not mention, Dana, his own special envoy for Russia and Ukraine. Keith Kellogg, who has been fervently working towards figuring out some kind of deal here. Now he appears to have been left out in the cold on the most critical issue when it comes to his portfolio.

BASH: I want to play another layer of what we're talking about here, which is capitulating towards what Russia wants. One of the things that has made Russia so upset, particularly since it invaded Ukraine, was the idea that the U.S. was for and supportive of Ukraine joining NATO. And I want you to listen to what Pete Hegseth the president's new defense secretary said while in Brussels about that today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Eva?

EVA MCKEND: I think as surprising as this all feels in the moment, President Trump has never hit the ball here in terms of his priorities and his relationship with Putin. And this is something that Democrats frequently on the campaign trail warned about, sometimes they were called hyperbolic for doing as such, but here we are.

And none the less, most voters still supported President Trump. I think what's most important in this moment is it underscores the activist wing of the Democratic Party saying Senate Democrats need to do more to push back on this agenda. Senate Republicans are going to do what they're going to do.

The writing is on the wall. They are afraid of President Trump. They are going to rubber stamp his nominees, but Senate Democrats can do more to gum up the process. Tulsi Gabbard didn't necessarily have to be confirmed as easy as she was. They could have stalled that effort in order to bring out more information about her to the public. So, I think that, yes, it might feel surprising, but it really --

BASH: Yeah. No, I don't think it's surprising at all. In fact, I totally agree with you, and I said that. I think it's what we expected but this is the moment it's happening. DAVE WEIGEL, POLITICAL REPORTER, SEMAFOR: It is and that supplicants by Republicans is years in the making. Go back to 2016 and Russian influence in the election, hacking of Hillary Clinton's campaign, a huge benefit Donald Trump. The story line in Republican politics is that that was a hoax, that any talk of Russia collusion is de facto a hoax, mention Russia to Republican and that's where their head goes. And Republican voter or senators who've gotten elected since Trump was elected.

So that part's not surprising. The willingness with them to go along with this plan, the Trump -- the Trump idea of peace in Russia is in sync with the Gabbard idea, and sync with the Kennedy idea. It is conceding what Russia's demands.

And it was not hard for Democrats, I think, to attack during the campaign because Joe Biden was president, he wasn't bringing the war to a conclusion. The alternative of just getting us out of this conflict completely, saving all the money. Very powerful if you're on the ground talking to voters.

[12:30:00]