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Isa Soares Tonight
French President Macron Meets U.S. President Trump At The White House; Ukraine Marks 3 Years Since Russia's Full-Scale Invasion; German Conservative Party Win Election With Far-Right AFD In Second Place; Israel Deploys Tanks In West Bank; Fed Workers Face Deadline For Response; USAID to Lay Off About 2,000 Workers; Trump And Macron Speaking At The White House. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired February 24, 2025 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
ISA SOARES, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: A very warm welcome to the show, everyone, I'm Isa Soares. Tonight, French President Emmanuel Macron is at
the White House in search of common ground as the American President warns the fighting in Ukraine could end a third world war.
And it's been three years of resistance, three years of heroism. Ukraine enters its fourth year of war with an uncertain future ahead. Plus, the
far-right surges in Germany. A party once on the fringes is now a political force. We'll have details on the election results and what it means for
Europe's largest economy.
But first, this evening, I want to show you these live pictures coming into us from the White House where U.S. President Donald Trump and French
President Emmanuel Macron have been meeting. They are meeting behind closed doors right now after their high stakes talk on Ukraine. Now, at the top of
the agenda, of their agenda, this, can European allies reaffirm ties with the U.S. after Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan to cut
them out of talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war, which we saw, if you remember, just last week.
Just one month into his new term, President Trump has completely flipped the script in the U.S. approach to the war, falsely claiming that Kyiv was
to blame for the conflict. Earlier in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may come to Washington this week or
next.
In an interesting exchange, Macron seemed to correct Trump about what the U.S. President said about European support for Ukraine. Have a listen to
this -- have a listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT, FRANCE: I support the idea to have Ukraine first being compensated, because they are the ones who have lost a lot of
their fellow citizens and they're being destroyed by these attacks. Second, all of those would be paid for, could be compensated, but not by Ukraine,
by Russia, because there was the one to address.
(CROSSTALK)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But just so you understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine, they get their money back.
MACRON: No, in fact, to be -- to be frank, we paid -- we paid 60 percent of the total effort. It was -- so, like the U.S., loans guaranteed, grants,
and we provided real money, to be clear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: And prior to this little exchange you saw there, the U.S. and French Presidents took part virtually in a meeting of G7 leaders in a
readout from that meeting, Trump said he's in, quote, "serious discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin", and says talks to end the war are,
quote, "proceeding very well."
Let's get more from the White House. I want to bring in Kevin Liptak. And Kevin, while there are friendly and where there is a longstanding
relationship with President Trump, the difficulty for President Macron will be really to reel President Trump back in, right? Back on the same page,
one where it depicts Putin as the aggressor.
But we saw -- we saw -- kind of saw the start of that in that little spray we just saw with President -- with Macron correcting President Trump there,
which is somewhat awkward when we're talking about Europe's loans.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, it was truly a fascinating moment because of course, heading into this meeting, the expectation was
that Macron would rely on that relationship with Trump, which he's developed over the course of many years now to try and press him on
Europe's point of view, to try and advocate for NATO, to advocate for Ukraine having a seat at the table.
[14:05:00]
I'm not sure I necessarily expected some of these differences to break out into the open in that photo-op, but that's kind of exactly what happened.
Certainly, it seemed very convivial. You know, the two men smiling very happily. They have now, at this point, already spent many hours at each
other's sides today alone.
But that moment, really, I think underscored the tense backdrop to these talks, and the sort of fact that Trump has been repeating many things about
Europe's support for Ukraine and about Ukraine itself that don't necessarily comport with reality. And I think Macron, heading into these
talks was intent on sort of correcting some of those points of view.
Whether or not they break through to Trump himself, I think is up for debate. And after that moment, Trump essentially said, you know, I'm fine
if you believe that. But he suggested that he was correct in his own point of view. And so, I think that really does show you sort of the uphill climb
that Macron has, as he comes here to talk with Trump.
We do understand, you know, having just watched that spray that Trump did express some openness to having European peacekeepers in Ukraine once this
war ends. He said, in fact, that he had spoken to Vladimir Putin about that very topic, and that Putin had expressed openness to it as well.
I think we would have to check with the Kremlin to see if that is actually accurate. But certainly, that is a point of view that will be happy for the
Europeans. We expect the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to raise this in more specific detail with Trump when he visits the White House later
this week. I think the other interesting thing that you heard these men discussing was the mineral deal, and President Trump saying that he thinks
that this mineral deal with Ukraine could be -- could be in the -- in the near term.
You heard the Treasury Secretary say that it was on the one yard line. Of course, he has been at the forefront of these talks with Zelenskyy to try
and convince the Ukrainians to give up 50 percent of their mineral revenues as back payment for U.S. assistance. And Trump says that he could have
Zelenskyy here at the White House within the next couple of weeks to sign that deal.
So, whether that happens, I think remains to be seen, but certainly some very important talks taking place right now in the Oval Office.
SOARES: Indeed, and we are expecting a press conference, when that, of course, starts, we will bring it to our viewers. Kevin Liptak, appreciate
it. Thank you very much. Well, as Ukraine marks three years since Russia's full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's ready to
resign as a leader if it brings peace to Ukraine or membership he said to NATO.
Mr. Zelenskyy pushed back on U.S. demands for a $500 billion share of Ukraine's rare minerals. But Ukrainian deputy Prime Minister says the
mineral deal, as you heard there from Kevin Liptak, with U.S., is in its final stages. And U.S. President Donald Trump says a Ukrainian counterpart
may come to Washington this week or next to sign it.
President Zelenskyy praised Ukrainians for their absolute heroism in surviving the war, adding that he hopes this year brings lasting peace.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT, UKRAINE (through translator): This year should be the year of the beginning of a real lasting peace. Putin will not
give us this peace. He will not give it to us in exchange for something. We must gain peace with strength, wisdom and unity. Through our cooperation,
peace cannot simply be declared in one hour. They cannot be declared in one day, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, leaders from across Europe and Canada gathered in Kyiv earlier today, as you can see there, in a show of unity with Ukraine on
this grim milestone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My worry is that in the past two weeks when we've seen a shift in the Trans-Atlantic partnership, and you'll know that I'm an avid
Trans-Atlanticist, we have to wake up to a new reality. And then the question is, how do we get skin in the game? How do we get involved? I
think a good start is what President Costa has done, is to call a European Council, because right now, European diplomacy is rather cacophonic. It's
all over the place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, Finland's President presented a plan for peace including sanctions and a ceasefire, stressing the need for unity across Europe amid,
of course, pressure from the Trump administration. Meantime, Russia launched a fresh barrage of attacks on Ukraine overnight, according to
Kyiv's military, the drone attacks affected five regions in Ukraine, including the capital.
Keeping an eye on all these developments for us, is our chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who joins us this hour from Kyiv.
And Nick, as President Macron visiting the White House, we just played a little clip of -- we heard the spray just in the last five minutes or so.
[14:10:00]
He also -- we saw President Trump take to social -- to Truth Social, I should say, to talk about this rare earth deal. And he said -- he also
spoke about major economic development transactions with Russia. Where are we, first of all, on this Ukraine-U.S. deal?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Well, it seems very close. According to Trump, who referred to his Treasury Secretary, Scott
Bessent, who said they were, quote, "at the one yard line". So, that echoes some of the suggestions we've heard from Ukrainian source earlier today,
familiar with the negotiations, saying that a final draft had been sent, and that essentially, described itself as a framework for Ukrainian
reconstruction and takes out of it the tricky stuff basically, seems to put the more ugly details down to later negotiations and deals.
It presumably puts a pretty positive spin for Ukraine if that's the title. Ukrainian reconstruction framework on what is a natural resources deal in
the Trump administration's favor. But it also lacks the security guarantees at this stage that Ukraine so urgently wants. And that may be something the
Ukrainian source said that's discussed between the two Presidents.
Now, it turns out suddenly that there is likely to be a meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy, maybe this week, maybe next,
according to President Trump. I should just remind viewers that we heard a similar statement, I think it's about ten days ago, prior to the Munich
conference, in which Trump also suggested he might meet Zelenskyy.
That caused a real scramble here in Kyiv to try and get that to happen, and it didn't. So, whether that remains to -- actually occurs, remains to be
seen. But the positivity towards Ukraine and that deal we saw with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Trump in that photo opportunity,
quite remarkable.
And you pointed out the correction that Macron explained to Trump about how European aid has been given to Ukraine. I think we're also seeing too, an
interesting framework here for the European peacekeepers. France has suggested they're willing to contribute. The U.K. said it again here, other
European nations as well. They want a U.S. backstop there.
That's something I think that Trump seemed to suggest wouldn't be a problem or wouldn't be necessary. But he also seemed to express confidence that the
Russians would have no problem with a peacekeeping force between them and the Ukrainians. That's something which Russian officials in the past have
categorically ruled out.
So, we're into an extraordinary whiplash week here, where I think approximately three hours ago, it seemed like we were into a continued
freefall in U.S.-Ukraine relations unless this rare earth deal tries to salvage them. I remember I asked President Zelenskyy yesterday if he
thought he could salvage his relationship with President Trump after Trump called him a dictator. He said Trump was living in a disinformation circle
--
SOARES: Yes --
WALSH: Well, it wasn't him. It seems to have been Emmanuel Macron, who appeared in a G7 video call. Many of the members here in Kyiv slides up, it
seems to President Trump during that, and it's clearly had a significant influence, and explaining to Trump quite where Europe feels about all of
this. And Trump, it seems, has agreed. You saw in that press opportunity how he grabbed Macron's arm and said, this guy is a smart customer. Isa?
SOARES: Yes, indeed, yes. Another week of diplomatic whiplash, it seems. Nick, appreciate it, thank you very much. Let's get more on this. Joining
me now is Oleksandr Kubrakov; he's an adviser to Ukraine's Defense Minister and a former Infrastructure Minister. Oleksandr, great to have you on the
show.
Let me pick up really where, you know, with what we're hearing, where Nick was just talking about what we're hearing regarding this Ukraine-U.S.
minerals deal that we understand or we heard from the U.S., it's in the final stages. Over the weekend, we understood that President Zelenskyy
wasn't on board. So, do you have a sense of what's in the deal?
OLEKSANDR KUBRAKOV, ADVISER TO UKRAINE'S DEFENSE MINISTER: Good evening and thank you very much for this question. First of all, yes, I'm not
participating in negotiation of this deal. I'm also observing this from media. But what I'm hearing, what I see like -- that, yes, there is a
progress of this deal. And again, from my point of view, at the end of the day, Ukraine needs this deal.
And like in this sector, sector of critical mineral -- minerals, like we were not able to make a huge progress during last 50 years this sector
requires huge investments, billions of U.S. dollars. So, I believe that strong partnership is, yes, it's not only about investments. It's about
technologies, it's about security as well. So, I hope this future partnership will allow us to achieve progress in this sector.
SOARES: But it was widely reported, Oleksandr, just over the weekend, you know, that President -- the President Trump wanted something like 50
percent of Ukraine's rare earth minerals as payback, of course, for the aid the U.S. has provided.
[14:15:00]
And President Zelenskyy has been pushing back on that. So, I wonder, give me a sense of the mood in the country in terms of the response to any
potential deal. Do Ukrainians feel that they're being sold out here?
KUBRAKOV: I think the main point here is just to see like real text which is discussed and which will be finally adopted by the both sides, and it
will be real compromise. But at this moment, there are different like attitude from people. Some people they're saying that this is owned by
Ukrainian people, by Ukrainian state, but some people, they realize that probably just we need a partnership in this sector and such country as the
U.S., in case if this deal will be discussed and right compromise --
SOARES: Yes --
KUBRAKOV: Right balance will be found, will be found between both sides. I think it will be -- there is a possibility that this will be good deal for
both sides.
SOARES: Right, you, Oleksandr, you mentioned partnership twice. I wonder what Ukraine gets in return and kind of what assurances will Ukraine be
looking for from the U.S. here?
KUBRAKOV: Definitely, again, just in case, again, if this like will be -- not on the -- not on the U.S. companies will be participating in this, it
will be U.S. side. It means that it's U.S. sovereign interest will be here. I hope this will -- it will. It means that it will be more protected, more
security. And like it will have more interest for U.S. side.
But at the end of the day, it will be investments. Because as I said, like during the last 50 years, there are no significant development in this
sector, because Ukrainian business mostly was focused on some other sectors, and like short-term projects because projects in this sector, life
cycle of those projects, it's like 10 years, 20 years, 30 years.
I mean, this is not like business for small and medium companies. This is for largest players and they need like predictable --
SOARES: Yes --
KUBRAKOV: Rules of the game. They need long-term perspectives and they need long-term investments.
SOARES: Yes, and I'm sure what President Zelenskyy is looking for also, some sort of security guarantees, right? In a -- to make sure that Putin
doesn't expand his reach within Ukraine. We heard today also, and I'm sure you heard me talking to our correspondent in Kyiv there today, just now
that we heard President Trump speaking of a major economic development transactions with Russia.
Meantime, at the U.N. today, we also saw the U.S. abstaining from voting for its own U.N. General Assembly Resolution, marking the anniversary of
the war in Ukraine. Basically, and if we look at who voted, which direction we saw the U.S. voting alongside Russia, alongside Belarus. How does that
sit with you and Ukrainians, as we mark, of course, this very grim milestone here?
KUBRAKOV: I think -- I think this is not very positive indicator, and Ukrainian society, social media right now discussing this. I think U.S.
side right now not in a good company. I mean, definitely on the right side of the history, and like I'm sure that if resolution was compromised, in
right time was with all participants, I think we could achieve together much higher results.
SOARES: Oleksandr Kubrakov, really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us. Thank you Oleksandr.
KUBRAKOV: Thank you, bye.
SOARES: A small victory for Ukraine today after the U.S. failed to get the U.N. General Assembly to approve its resolution, is what I was talking to
Oleksandr, there about. And that resolution really urging an end to the war without a mention of Russia's aggression. The U.S., as you and I just heard
-- I just heard my guest there explaining voting on its own resolution, against its own resolution after several amendments were made in support of
Kyiv, the original draft did not acknowledge Ukraine's territorial integrity.
That's why it's important the U.S. put forward its text on Friday, pitching it against Ukraine and European allies who brought their own resolution.
But it was a sigh of relief for Kyiv and Brussels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(APPLAUSE AT THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: The General Assembly also adopted this resolution from Kyiv and its allies which the U.S. voted against. Still to come tonight, Germany enters
a new political reality. Details ahead on the next expected chancellor while the AFD Party surges to second place. And then a deployment in the
West Bank does not -- seen for decades. Why Israeli tanks are now rolling through Palestinian towns and refugee camps. Both those stories after this
very short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:20:00]
SOARES: Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz says he wants to see a stronger Europe independent from the U.S. The center-right Christian
Democratic Union or CDU and its sister party, came out on top in Sunday's snap election. Merz says U.S. President Donald Trump's comments from last
week shows administration is, quote, "largely indifferent to the fate of Europe."
Merz also says he wants to form a coalition with his party's old rival, the center-left Social Democratic Party or SPD. By pairing up, the two centrist
parties could have enough seats in the German parliament to govern without the need for a third coalition party. And this complex coalition comes
after the far-right alternative for Germany or AFD, surged to a historic second place on Sunday.
Our Frederik Pleitgen is tracking the story for us, and he's here for analysis with an analytical hat on for this hour, Fred. You know, we saw
Macron sitting alongside President Trump and being very clear on his position, Europe's position, even saying Russia, the aggressor is Russia --
the rest is Putin here.
Give us a sense, first of all, of what are we likely to see from this new chancellor, who has a huge -- domestically huge challenge on his hands,
just building the coalition first of all, but then obviously long-term thinking about in terms of strengthening Europe, as he says.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think strengthening Europe is really key word there, Isa. And one of the things
that Friedrich Merz told us today when we were at a press conference at the CDU headquarters, he said that while Emmanuel Macron was on his way to
Washington, that they actually had their first phone call while he was on the plane, and that they obviously spoke about how to deal with the Trump
administration, but then, of course, also how to deal with the conflict in Ukraine.
And I think that's one of the things that Friedrich Merz has said that you'll probably see from the German government led by Friedrich Merz in the
future, it is really trying to strengthen Europe and Europe's position. And one of the things that we've heard already from Friedrich Merz that I
hadn't heard to that degree from Olaf Scholz, is really trying to tie in the central European states like Poland.
Friedrich Merz certainly puts a lot of stock into Poland, got good relations with the Polish government, both with Donald Tusk and also with
Andrzej Duda as well. So, that is something where I think that you might see a more common approach as a counterbalance to the Trump administration.
So, as Donald Trump not to talk over the heads as Friedrich Merz put it of the Europeans.
But then also, of course, for a stronger position vis-a-vis the Russians as well, especially when it comes to the Baltic states and the central
European states. And that's one of the things that he said as well. He said he doesn't believe that the Trump administration has very much interest, as
he put it, in Europe.
[14:25:00]
And so, therefore, Europe would have to strengthen itself. And that's a question that I put to him, is how he is going to deal, wants to deal with
the Trump administration, here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: You spoke about some of the concerns that you have about the Trump administration. Sir, how do you want to position then Germany as far
as the United States is concerned, to prevent confrontations with the Trump administration for Germany, for Europe? And how concerned are you about
Donald Trump's efforts at rebuilding relations with Russia to the detriment of both Europe and Ukraine?
FRIEDRICH MERZ, LEADER, CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC UNION (through translator): I am quite concerned about what we hear from Washington, especially over
recent days. But I personally don't believe that what we heard were the last words. I also heard very clearly different voices from the Congress.
Many Americans see the view of their own government quite critically, but it is important for me that we have a common attitude on the European side
of the Atlantic on the topics that need to be tackled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: There he's speaking about the common attitude of the Europeans, at the same time, of course, they don't want a conflict with the Trump
administration. Germany is Europe's strongest economy, and is the strongest economy because of exports, especially a lot of those, of course, going to
the United States. So, the last thing that the Germans would want is any sort of beef with the Trump administration, especially when it comes to
tariffs and trade, but at the same time looking for a common European position, especially when it comes to Ukraine. Isa.
SOARES: Yes, and the relationship that, you know, that Merz has or -- you know, in terms of tone is very different to what we're hearing from the
AFD. You've been speaking to the co-leader of the AFD, and I mean, she's been even receiving messages from Elon Musk. Speak to what their play is
here.
PLEITGEN: Yes, that's exactly what she said. I was also at her press conference earlier today, and she did say that overnight, she had a missed
call and it was from Elon Musk. And Elon Musk had congratulated her on their great showing in this election. Later, Elon Musk actually did tweet
and did congratulate the AFD, which he was actually responding to a post from Viktor Orban; the leader of Hungary.
And so, that is really the camp where we see the AFD. It is in that Viktor Orban, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, they do say that they are very close to the
U.S.' positions or this administration's positions when it comes to not just European policies, when it comes to migration, of course, and then
also when it comes to the war in Ukraine.
Obviously, one of the things that they have been saying is they don't want Germany to provide weapons to the Ukrainians. They want to speak directly
to Russia. There are actually a lot of members of the AFD who have been going to Russia and speaking to the --Russia, even since the war started on
numerous occasions.
And I did also ask Alice Weidel about the whole notion of this firewall that they talk about in German politics, where parties like the ones, the
Freie Demokraten(ph), they refuse to work together with the AFD. And that was, of course, also criticized by J.D. Vance, the U.S. Vice President.
Here's what she had to say today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALICE WEIDEL, LEADER OF THE ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY PARTY: Firewalls are undemocratic, and there should be no firewalls at all.
PLEITGEN: Elon Musk saying congratulations to you. How would you like to work together with the Trump administration?
WEIDEL: To be a very good partner and to have serious and proper conversation with our U.S. American partner. And you know, for us, very
good international relationships are a precondition for a good international dialogue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: So Alice Weidel's message, at least when it came to international politics, but also on a lot of domestic issues as well as they know, they
have the Trump administration in their corner. They say they're going to keep pushing the centrist parties, like for instance, the CDU, and they are
demanding basically that they'd be worked together with by these parties.
Again, right now, parties like the CDU and the Social Democrats are saying they'd rather form a coalition amongst themselves, and they're keeping the
AFD behind that firewall as they put it. But definitely even Friedrich Merz has said, look, in the future, if his government doesn't manage to solve a
lot of these problems that Germany has right now, he fears that the AFD could get a lot stronger very quickly. Isa.
SOARES: Frederik Pleitgen making sense of all these new strands coming to us from Berlin. Thank you Fred, appreciate it. Well, the Palestinian
Authority is urging the world to stop what it calls Israel's escalating aggression in the occupied West Bank, accusing it of violating Palestinians
rights to remain on their land.
Israel has deployed tanks in the West Bank for the first time in decades. It is expanding a military operation that it says is rooting out terrorism.
Israel's Defense Minister ordered troops to stay in several refugee camps for the next year, saying the tens of thousands of residents who fled their
homes during the offensive will not be allowed to return.
Well, the European Union says it's closely watching developments in the West Bank, and, quote, "we cannot hide our concern". It says the two-state
solution which requires an independent Palestinian state is the only resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our Jeremy Diamond is in
Jerusalem with the very latest for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (on camera): For the first time in more than two decades, the Israeli military deploying tanks into the
occupied West Bank. This video taken from Jenin in the West Bank shows several of those tanks that entered that refugee camp, which has been the
focus of a major Israeli military operation over the course of the last month and a half.
[14:30:20]
But now, the Israeli military is further expanding those military operations in the West Bank, which have already resulted in the
displacement of some 40,000 Palestinians, not only from Jenin Refugee Camp, but also from Tulkarem and Nur Sham. The expansion of Israeli military
activity in the West Bank comes following those three bombs that exploded on buses in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
While no one was aboard those buses, they were parked at depots in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, it certainly jolted the Israeli public, taking them
back to the bus bombings of the second Intifada and prompting calls, including from the Israeli prime minister, for an expansion of military
operations in the West Bank.
And now, Israel Katz, the defense minister of Israel, saying that Israeli troops should be preparing for a, quote, "prolonged presence" in those
Palestinian refugee camps for the coming year. And saying that those 40,000 Palestinians who have been displaced from those very not be allowed to
return until the conclusion of those military operations.
We know, of course, that the Israeli military says they are going after Palestinian militants in these three refugee camps and the surrounding
area. But already, we know that at least 27 people have been killed in Jenin, 70 across the West Bank, many of whom are not militants, but rather
civilians. As all of this happening, still questions over whether or not the ceasefire in Gaza will be extended.
Israel has been delaying the release of some 620 prisoners who were set to be released on Saturday following the last release of living hostages from
Gaza. Four bodies of hostages are scheduled to be released on Thursday, but Hamas, for now, says that it will not engage in negotiations over the
second phase nor release those bodies until Israel releases those 620 prisoners, calling it a violation of the deal so far.
We know that Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy for the Middle East, he is set to arrive in Israel on Wednesday and travel throughout the region to
see whether or not a deal can be reached to extend phase one and get into phase two of this fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And still to come tonight, a potential deadline looms from some U.S. government workers as they and their bosses try to decipher a DOGE
directive. And one White House communication that has U.S. intel officials concerned. We'll bring you both those stories after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:35:00]
SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. Let me show you these live pictures coming to us from the White House. That is the East Room there in the White House.
It's 2:36 there. We are waiting. You see the French flag, the U.S. flags. Waiting to hear from President Macron and President Trump and their press
conference. We saw little earlier remarks before their -- behind the door - - closed doors meeting.
And we saw, you know, that relationship between them, they know each other well, of course, from the first term. And we heard President Macron very --
being very strong on what he sees as his mission to the White House. And that is very clear, and that is to focus on Ukraine and bringing U.S. back
-- the Trump administration back to support of Ukraine and obviously the Western Alliance.
We heard earlier from President Macron saying that he would tell Trump not to, and I'm quoting him here, "not to be weak in the face of Putin." Of
course, we've also seen leaders, European leaders arriving -- European and Canada's leader arriving in Kyiv to mark what is a grim milestone today,
that is three years, of course, since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.
And we've seen a show of solidarity in Kyiv, but it's been overshadowed, as you have seen, as we have reported here on the show, by what seems to be a
growing rift between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
Of course, if you remember, as we look at these live pictures from the White House, we wait for this press conference to begin, Trump -- President
Trump falsely accusing President Macron of being a dictator, and then even starting the war.
Today, we heard President Trump basically saying that your troops may go into Ukraine as peacekeepers, that Putin will be OK with that. But then, we
also saw an interesting exchange between Putin -- President -- pardon, President Macron and President Trump, where Macron kind of interrupts Trump
to try and correct him on European assistance to Ukraine. So, very interesting to see that exchange play out and the clarity of President
Macron as he tries to reel President Trump back in to try and support Ukraine.
This, as President Trump takes to social media, to Truth Social, to talk about this minerals, earth mineral deal, of course, that he's waiting from
Ukraine. We'll be across these live images as soon as they get underway. We will, of course, bring them to you.
But we do want to stay -- keep our eyes on that, but I do want to stay in Washington for the time being, because there is a standoff between the
president and President Trump's cost cutting agency, DOGE, and huge parts of U.S. government caught right in the middle, federal workers whose jobs
are on the line and the clock is ticking.
Over the weekend, if you remember, employees were asked by the Office of Personnel Management to explain what work they did last week. Elon Musk,
who is overseeing DOGE, posted on social media, failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. And the -- oh, my goodness. Let me say that
correctly, and the deadline comes in about 10 hours.
There's already a legal challenge by federal unions saying the demand is unlawful. A hearing is set for Thursday.
[14:40:00]
And now, for the first time, Trump appointees appear to contradict Musk. Some agencies have advised workers to hold off or pause on responding,
while others said comply, even one reversed its guidance to wait for clarity.
One thing, though, for certain all USAID employees, with a few exceptions, were placed on leave one minute before midnight on Sunday, and that action
was upheld by a court ruling last week. The disruption to federal health agencies is so severe that you could have deadly consequences. This what
some officials are saying. Natasha Bertrand has the very latest for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This directive from OPM is really setting up a showdown between federal agencies across the
U.S. government and Elon Musk and DOGE. As employees are scrambling to figure out just exactly how they should respond. But several agencies are
telling their employees that they should hold off on responding to this OPM directive, which came out late Saturday night, instructing employees to
respond with five bullet points about what they got done last week.
And that is because several agencies across the federal government, including the FBI, DOD, State Department, Department of Energy, they're
saying that it is up to them to determine who is. at their agencies and who ultimately gets fired.
Now, senior DOD officials have been telling me all weekend that this really upended the last couple days for them as they scrambled to determine what
exactly to tell their employees about how to respond to this OPM e-mail.
In fact, the Department of Defense actually sent out an e-mail to its workforce just yesterday saying that they should hit pause on responding
because it is up to the Department of Defense to determine who is going to be employed here. But still, officials are still concerned, of course, that
if they don't take action and they don't respond to this OPM e-mail by tonight, then they could face adverse consequences.
Part of the problem here, of course, is that many officials work in very sensitive areas. And so, responding to an e-mail with anything substantive
about what they did last week or in their job writ large could include things that are classified, could include things that are, you know,
legally, you know, not able to be transmitted on the internet.
And so, to respond with actually what they have been doing could actually put U.S. national security at risk, given that it's unclear just how secure
this e-mail system actually is. And so, all of this confusion is culminating in a lot of anger and frustration, especially here at the
Defense Department, as officials are trying to figure out who they actually report to. Is it their direct supervisors here, as has been the case for so
long, or is it actually OPM and Elon Musk? That is the question facing every employee really now inside the federal government.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, thanks to Natasha there. As Natasha Bertrand just reported, an unclassified White House e-mail is causing concern among U.S.
intelligence officials. The CIA is conducting a review to assess any potential damage from a message that identified officers and could have
exposed people working undercover, a source told CNN. Katie Bo Lillis has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Earlier this month, the CIA sent a highly unusual e-mail to the White House. It was trying to be responsive to one of
President Trump's executive orders about downsizing the federal government, and it sent over a list of probationary employees listed by first name and
last initial, identifying them for potential cuts.
The problem was that they sent this e-mail over an unclassified network, potentially exposing the list of foreign government hackers. Current and
former officials told us that this risked not only making it impossible to send some individual officers into undercover roles in places like maybe
even Beijing, it also risked exposing the jobs themselves as CIA jobs.
In a lot of cases, CIA jobs are disguised publicly as State Department roles in foreign embassies. If a foreign government was able to learn that
a given role was actually a CIA role, they might be able to reconstruct who had met with past occupants of that job. So, it risked exposing CIA assets
and maybe even endangering them according to our sources.
So, now, what we've learned is that the CIA is conducting a formal damage assessment to determine the potential harm that could take place from a
counterintelligence perspective if this information were to be hacked or exposed in any way.
This really underscores the depth of concern from at least some current CIA officials that Trump's kind of move fast and break stuff approach to
cutting the U.S. government may be creating some unique counterintelligence risks when applied to the CIA. This anxiety extends beyond just the e-mail.
Some officers on the agency's seventh floor are also quietly discussing how mass firings and the buyouts that have already been offered to staff risk
creating a group of disgruntled former employees who might be motivated to take what they know to a foreign intelligence service.
[14:45:00]
Remember, unlike most other fired federal employees, anyone fired by the CIA has had access to classified information about the agency's operations
and tradecraft. As one U.S. official put it to me very bluntly, you take whatever number of employees who are going to get cut loose, and they have
knowledge of sensitive programs, that by definition is an insider risk. You're just rolling the dice. that these folks are going to honor their
secrecy agreement and not volunteer to a hostile intelligence service.
This isn't a new concern, it's something that the CIA thinks about anytime it fires somebody. This was something agency leaders worried about when a
top aide to the agency's deputy director was indicted for fraud in 2009 after putting personal expenses on an agency credit card and was fired.
But ultimately, there's not much that the CIA can do legally to monitor former employees or to mitigate this risk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And our thanks to Katie Bo Lillis for that report. New Zealand is raising the alarm over Chinese warships armed with, quote, "extremely
capable weapons" operating near its waters. Chinese ships have held live fire drills over the past few days in the Tasman Sea between Australia and
New Zealand.
Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Saturday that while China's drills complied with international law, Beijing could have given
more notice. For its part, China's defense ministry slammed Australia for, quote, "hyping up" the drills and making unreasonable accusations. The
drills pushed passenger planes to change course midflight.
New Zealand's defense minister told Radio New Zealand, we are certainly -- we've certainly never seen a task force or task group of this capability
undertaking that sort of work. The weapons they have are extremely capable. One has 112 vertical launch cells and has reported anti-ship ballistic
missile range of 540 nautical miles.
We are staying across our story. We're also staying across images from the White House, if we bring you those, as we wait, of course, to hear from
President Trump and President Macron, we'll bring you that as soon as it gets on the way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Let me take you straight to Washington, where U.S. President Donald Trump is speaking with President Macron.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We've been together quite often, but not that often in the White House. We honored the president, first lady of France
not so long ago. There was a beautiful evening and we will not soon forget it. It was a beautiful day and evening, and many fond memories.
[14:50:00]
I also want to thank Emmanuel for hosting me in Paris last December after a historic election win to witness the reopening of the spectacular Notre
Dame Cathedral, where you did an outstanding job and bringing it back together. That was a sad day watching that burn. And five years later, you
had it up and it was they say more beautiful than it was before. So, I think that's a great achievement. That was not easy.
France is America's oldest ally. Our cherished partnership has been a force for freedom, prosperity, and peace from the very beginning. We're now
working on some very interesting developments. One in particular is, you know, the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In the American Revolution, French support helped us to seize our destiny as an independent nation. In the First and Second World Wars our citizens
shed blood together on the battlefields of Europe, and I'll never forget joining President Macron six years ago in the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
That was some day.
The purpose of our meeting today is to end another battle, a really horrible one, a war, something that we haven't seen since the Second World
War, that is ravaging European soil, the deadliest and most destructive conflict that one can imagine. I've seen the pictures. I've seen the
satellite photos and lots of other photos, and it's a horrible thing that's happening.
Thousands of people are dying a week. This very day is the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, which would never have happened if
I was president. That was not going to happen. The horrors of this gruesome and bloody war can scarcely be overestimated. Hundreds of thousands of
people, Russians and Ukrainians in particular, have needlessly died.
An entire generation of Ukrainians and Russian men has been decimated. 1000-year-old cities have been turned into rubble. Those beautiful spires
that you used to see there, they were most beautiful in the world, they say, are lying in heaps of rubble, blasted to smithereens. It's time to end
this bloodletting and restore peace. And I think we're going to do it. We've had some great conversations, including with Russia.
Since my return to the White House, we've made more progress toward that goal in one month than occurred in the past three years. And I've spoken
with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy, and again, a lot of good things toward peace are happening, moving it, I think, pretty quickly.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff conducted successful talks
in Saudi Arabia with the delegation from Russia, and I'd like to thank the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the king, and Mohammed, great people. They're
really working hard to get this done.
Our focus is on achieving a ceasefire as soon as possible, and ultimately a permanent peace. My meeting with President Macron today was another
important step forward in that sphere because he's been very much involved right from the beginning in trying to get it over with and we're going to
get it done.
I believe that Emmanuel agrees with me on many of the most important issues. Chief among them is this the right time. It may be the only time,
you know. That's a very interesting and horrible situation and that could evolve into a Third World War. We're not going to let that happen. It
should have never started, but it did. And what a mess. What a horrible, bloody mess.
I'm also pleased that President Macron agrees that the cost and burden of securing the peace must be borne by the nations of Europe, not alone by the
United States. And Europe must take that central role in assuring long-term security of Ukraine, which they want to do. And that's not a very big step.
A big step is what's going to happen over the next few weeks.
The United States has put up far more aid for Ukraine than any other nation. Hundreds of billions of dollars. We've spent more than $300
billion. And Europe has spent about $100 billion, that's a big difference. And at some point, we should equalize. But hopefully, we won't have to
worry about that. We have other things happening that maybe take that out of the realm of necessity.
[14:55:00]
And while we've given vast amounts of military aid and money in form of grants, much of Europe's contribution has been economic relief structured
as loans for which they'll be repaid. Like the Europeans, I believe that taxpayers and the United States also deserve to recoup the colossal amounts
of money that we've sent.
The previous administration never even thought of that. They didn't think of a lot of things. Like, why did they let it start in the first place?
That is why we must have an agreement with Ukraine on critical minerals and rare earths and various other things as security.
And I think that that's happening. I think we've made a lot of progress. I had a report just given to me before walking in that we've made, Emmanuel,
a great deal of progress toward getting that. I've been elected by the American people to restore common sense to Washington and indeed to the
world and I believe strongly that it's in the best interest of the United States, the best interest in Europe, the best interest of Ukraine and
indeed the best interest of Russia to stop the killing now and bring the world to peace.
My administration is making a decisive break with the foreign policy values of the past administration and frankly, the past. I ran against a very
foolish foreign policy establishment and their recklessness has led to the death of many, many people.
Under our administration, we're forging a new path that promotes peace around the world. And when I left office for the first administration,
first term, we had no wars, we had no problems, we didn't have October 7th with Israel, we didn't have Russia and Ukraine going at it, we didn't have
the problems in other parts of the Middle East, we didn't have inflation. It was a whole different world.
And you know, what else we didn't have? Millions of people pouring through our borders. Many of them criminals released from other nations and put
right into our land. Murderers and drug dealers, gangs. We didn't have any of that. It's a different time. But now, we have it and we're fixing it.
We'll fix it all up. We'll get it done as quickly as possible. And we've made a great deal of progress.
People are saying it was the best month for a president in our country's history. I hope that's right. But I feel it's right. We've done a lot of
things in a very short period of time. Four weeks.
As I've said before, it's my hope that my greatest legacy, however, will be as a peacemaker and a unifier. I want to bring peace, not war. I thank
President Macron for joining us today in this urgent work we're doing. We have some wonderful people up front right here that have worked so hard.
Steve Witkoff, thank you very much. Michael Waltz, thank you. Scott, thank you very much. And J. D., thank you. They've really done a job. They worked
very hard. It's like -- it's a real passion to get this war ended.
And I'd like to -- now we invite Emmanuel to say a few words, and then we'll take questions. And again, Emmanuel, it's a great honor to have you
with us at the White House. Thank you very much. Please.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, dear Donald. Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, mad.
MACRON (through translator): Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be saying a few words in French. Thank you very much, Mr. President, dear Donald, for your
hospitality and for this visit.
As you mentioned, we have had the opportunity to meet over the past few years since your first term, we've been able to discuss matters in Paris
and also here at the White House. And it has always been a great joy to do that, and I would like to commend you. And thank you, Mr. President, for
extending this friendship to France and taking part in the ceremony at Notre Dame that you mentioned before, it was a great honor for the French
people to reopen the cathedral to the rest of the world, and your presence was a testament to that friendship.
As the president said, this friendship dates back to the Revolutionary War, since the beginning of the United States. And whenever we've needed to,
we've been able to come together and be on the right side. We've been able to be united, to defend peace and sovereignty. Namely, in the Two World
Wars that marked the 20th century, from Lafayette to Pershing and to the many Americans who landed on Omaha Beach.
And we spoke earlier before, and you mentioned that one of those gentlemen was able to visit you here, one of the veterans.
This part of history, which puts us in the --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00]
END
