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Isa Soares Tonight
Donald Trump Says The U.S. Won't Put Up With Resistance From Volodymyr Zelenskyy; Israel Says It Will Block Aid Going Into Gaza Until Hamas Agrees To Ceasefire Extension; Pope Francis Suffers Two Episodes Of Acute Respiratory Failure; Some White House Officials Suggest Zelenskyy To Resign; Trump Announces Microchip Investment. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired March 03, 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, Ukraine's uncertain future. Europe looks
to chart a path forward as Donald Trump says U.S. won't put up with resistance from Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We have the very latest.
A ceasefire on a knife's edge. Israel says it will block humanitarian aid until Hamas agrees to new terms. Plus, in the last few moments, Pope
Francis suffers two episodes of acute respiratory failure. We'll be live in Rome with the very latest, of course, on the pontiff's health.
We begin tonight, though, in Europe, where leaders have been working on a plan to secure Ukraine's future, creating a coalition of the willing, in a
bid, of course, to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin. But just as their plan is coming together, U.S. President Donald Trump is continuing
his attacks against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a new statement on social media, as you can see there, Mr. Trump said the U.S. will, quote, "not put up", his words, with perceived resistance by
Mr. Zelenskyy to ending the conflict with Russia. He also criticized, as you can see there, European leaders. He says it is what I was saying. This
guy doesn't want there to be peace as long as he has America's backing and Europe.
In the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, he writes, "stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. -- probably, not a great statement to
have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?" He writes. Well, meantime, French President Emmanuel Macron is
telling French media that he and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are proposing a month-long truce in Ukraine as they work on a peace plan.
Though, the U.K.'s Armed Forces Minister says there is no agreement just yet. Earlier today, Mr. Starmer addressed the House of Commons about the
Oval Office clash -- we can remember that on Friday on the show as he walks, of course, a delicate tightrope to support both Ukraine and the
United States. Just take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: What happened in his subsequent meeting with President Zelenskyy is something nothing nobody in
this House wants to see. But I do want to be crystal clear. We must strengthen our relationship with America for our security, for our
technology, for our trade and investment. They are and always will be indispensable, and we will never choose between either side of the
Atlantic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, my first guest is a member of President Macron's political party, joining us live from Paris is French MP Eleonore Caroit. Eleonore,
really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us on the show. We have seen, as we've just mentioned there, the pictures over the weekend really
speak for themselves.
A true kind of show of force as well as support for President Zelenskyy coming from European leaders as well as Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, I
should add. Give us a sense of the French plan here, this month-long ceasefire. What more can you tell us about this?
ELEONORE CAROIT, FRENCH MP, RENAISSANCE PARTY: Sure, so, we had also a debate this afternoon at the French National Assembly on this very topic.
And there was a relative unity of different parties, and the plan that was presented by President Macron in one of France's major newspaper, "Le
Figaro" is a two-step sort of plan that would include a one-month truce, whereby there would be a ceasefire of air combat, sea combat and also
attacks on energy centers.
And then after this one month, where parties will show their willingness to talk and to discuss, and where we would have some leverage also with
regards to Russia, then real discussions to actually achieve the peace that we want for Ukraine, which is a long and lasting peace, and a peace that
will stand over time.
SOARES: Eleonore, let me just ask you about this, because I saw -- and we just mentioned there, Luke Pollard, the U.K.'s Armed Forces Minister said
this morning there was no agreement yet between the U.K. and France on this truce in Ukraine.
[14:05:00]
Give us a sense on who does France have on board from this coalition of the willing that we've been hearing, Prime Minister Starmer. And it's not to
say the U.K. won't be on board, but just who's on -- who's on board with this idea with this one-month ceasefire proposal?
CAROIT: I think this is a fair question because we've heard a lot over the weekend since this very shocking discussion between President Zelenskyy and
President Trump in the Oval Office on Friday. There's been a lot that has been said, and not that much that has been proposed, not that much concrete
proposals. And that's exactly what Ukraine wants and needs.
So, I think the discussions that took place yesterday in London were a very good step forward. And this is not to say that there has been an agreement
on what the plan should be, but President Macron made this proposal. We shall see now who are the willing, the parties, the countries that will
actually adhere to this plan, whether it will be changed slightly.
There's also a lot of other discussions that need to take place, such as how we Europeans are going to be able to finance even further Ukraine's war
effort and our own defense. But I think what's really important to keep as a general idea is that we've moved from a show of support and talk to
action and to proposals.
SOARES: Yes, and we'll talk about the financing in just a moment, because there's something that we've discussed here on the show. But just a --
you've mentioned the first phase, would then the second phase would then that involve peacekeepers. How many are we talking about? How many does
France think are needed to create really, Eleonore, a deterrence here for Putin?
CAROIT: Absolutely, those are all fair questions. But it is too early --
SOARES: Too early --
CAROIT: To determine. And I think the other important point here is France has been saying for months now, if not for years, that we needed to
strengthen our capacity and that we could not rely on the U.S. on their protection. And this is something we've said even under the Biden
administration.
SOARES: Yes --
CAROIT: But we've been saying -- we've been saying it a bit alone. And the one thing we all need to keep in mind is that we can't act alone. We need
to act as Europeans. We need to act with our allies. And we are extremely pleased to see that the U.K. is also assuming the leadership that it should
be assuming, and this is also pretty new.
SOARES: And I remember where President Macron made the suggestion of boots on the ground, I don't know if it was last year or the year before last,
but I remember the backlash he got just for even proposing that. But in terms of presenting this plan, I know ministers are meeting, I think it's
Thursday, Eleonore, do you have a sense of a timeline when this will be presented? Are we talking weeks here? Give us a sense of that.
CAROIT: Again, it's very difficult to say, but you're right.
SOARES: Yes --
CAROIT: There's an important -- there's an important meeting of the European Council that will take place on Thursday. I understand that Sir
Keir Starmer was invited to this meeting and other Prime Ministers were as well. The idea is really to focus on our efforts on drafting a plan that
can then lead to the talks that need to take place for this truce to happen, or, you know, it can be a slightly different plan, but we need to
be --
SOARES: Yes --
CAROIT: A formal proposal. And perhaps, another important point, if I may, is that we should not fall into the trap that Russia is trying to put to
us, which is to break up with the U.S., this is absolutely not what is at stake here. We have to ensure that we continue to work hand-in-hand with
them. So, it's also a very complex situation, but we need to -- we need to move forward in the right direction.
SOARES: And keep that relationship with the United States, because I'm guessing that -- and I think I heard Prime Minister Starmer today saying in
the House of Commons that whatever plan still needs the U.S. kind of backstop, is France in agreement about that?
CAROIT: France has the same perspective on the need --
SOARES: Yes --
CAROIT: To keep the U.S. on board. But I think what is important for us, it's a matter of timing, right?
SOARES: Yes --
CAROIT: We need to -- in a medium to short-time frame, be able to ensure our own safety. That is something that we absolutely must do. Saying this
does not mean that we're going to stop working with the -- with the U.S. or --
SOARES: Yes --
CAROIT: Again, stop this relationship. And we do need them for the time being, but we need to work towards that objective, which is to be capable
of securing the European continent on our own.
SOARES: Let me get your take of what we heard -- we played a little -- we showed a little clip of that on just on Truth Social from President Trump,
who said today, "it is what I was saying" -- he says, Eleonore, "this guy doesn't want there to be peace as long as he has America's backing. In
Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. -- probably not a great statement to
have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?"
[14:10:00]
Just your reaction to those words. Of course, it comes on the heels of the meetings we've seen over the weekend. That show of support and solidarity.
CAROIT: I think they're extremely provocative. And you just have to think about it. We're talking about Ukraine, about a country that has been
fighting against an invader for over three years. We're talking about men, women, children dying every day. So, I think it's totally disrespectful and
also not in line with the reality.
The reality is Ukraine -- Ukrainians are the first ones that want to stop the war, but they want to ensure that when the war is over, they'll have
their sovereignty back, they'll have their country back, and they will also be reassured that the peace will last, because we've had the experience of
Minsk one and Minsk --
SOARES: Yes --
CAROIT: Two that were agreements that were not respected by Russia. So, I totally understand that Russian word is questioned by Ukrainians, and that
they need a proof of their willingness to actually achieve peace, and they also need security guarantees from Europeans and from the U.S.
SOARES: Eleonore, really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us as soon as there are of course, any more developments on this plan, do come
back to us. Great to get you back on the show. Thank you very much, Eleonore.
CAROIT: Thanks for having me. Have a good night.
SOARES: Thank you, good night. Well, let's get the view from Ukraine with our CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, who
is joining us live from Kyiv. And Nick, you and I were in a bit of shock like much of the world when the news broke on Friday when we saw what
happened between President Zelenskyy and President Trump, it seems.
There's still plenty of bad blood between them, especially following on from that comment that we heard from President Trump on Truth Social. Just
give us a sense, Nick, of now that the dust has kind of settled on the comments, what the reaction has been there.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: I mean, there's really no time for the dust to settle at all. One moment you think perhaps
things are on an even keel after that European summit. And you know, now we are again with Trump, saying America, it won't stand for it much longer.
We did hear in the hours before that Truth Social post, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also on social media, saying "we're working together with America and our
European partners, and very much hope for U.S. support on the path to peace. Peace is needed as soon as possible." Now, I should point out that,
that is not an abnormal thing to hear from Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
And indeed, President Trump was looking, I think, at the "Associated Press" headline of an article when he posted that statement on Truth Social, but
probably didn't choose to address the wider comments from Zelenskyy during his first public appearance with reporters on Sunday night in London, where
he talked about how Ukraine doesn't just want peace today, Ukraine wants peace even at the start of the war. Never wanted this to happen in the
first place.
And just to characterize the essential difference here about peace, Kyiv wants to see a peace in their mind that is sustainable, that is not just a
pause that allows Russia to refit its military and then invade again like they've seen in their-- in their parlance, with much factual evidence that
Russia has violated 25 deals or ceasefires over the past decade.
So, that is also an opinion shared by the European allies of Ukraine, who too, want to see security guarantees or a position of strength that could
hold a sustained peace. There seems to be a different approach from the Trump administration, who feel that peace is something they want just now,
possibly a reflection of Trump's idea that he could get it to happen in 24- 48 hours when he came to power.
That's clearly not happening. And instead, we have seen over the past hours this remarkable increased pressure upon Zelenskyy, questioning his
viability as a President, even suggesting he should indeed resign. A very complex idea, and we've been speaking to Ukrainian officials and analysts
about exactly what that would even look like if someone -- if Zelenskyy agreed, how he would even replace a President in wartime?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with.
MIKE WALTZ, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: President Zelenskyy truly did his country a real disservice.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Or someone else needs to lead the country to do that.
WALSH (voice-over): It's not what you need in wartime, but buoyed by Europe's London summit, President Zelenskyy seemed unmoved.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT, UKRAINE (through translator): It is not enough to simply hold elections. You would have to prevent me from
participating in the elections.
WALSH (on camera): Now, if Zelenskyy to resign, and that's a big if, the constitution says the speaker of here, the parliament takes over his job
with pretty much all of his powers until there's new elections.
(voice-over): That's this man, Ruslan Stefanchuk, his personal approval rating, and it's not recently even been measured, so they would need a vote
fast. And to do that legally, to lift martial law, and so, a full peace.
[14:15:00]
(on camera): How chaotic would elections be if they were called right now?
OLHA ALVAZOVSK, OPORA: It's impossible because it will be unconstitutional. Everything what we have because of war, we need to change
before elections. We need to reload all freedoms, freedoms of movement, freedom of speech, we need to have competitive electoral process.
WALSH (voice-over): Ukraine's deputy elections chief, asked by us five days ago, said they would need in peacetime a minimum of six months to
technically arrange a vote.
SERHIY DUBOVYK, DEPUTY HEAD, UKRAINE'S CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION (through translator): We could hold elections, but these elections would not meet
internationally recognized standards, and could call into question the results obtained in this elections. I would like to appeal to our foreign
partners when they talk about elections in Ukraine, they should take into account the necessary preparatory period. This is a country under martial
law, a country where everything is aimed at defense.
WALSH: He added the money used to reform and prepare often came from USAID, which is in doubt now too. And then there is the question of, if the
nightly drone strikes and violence stops, who gets to actually vote? There are an estimated 7 million Ukrainians abroad who would need to cast
ballots, and a million in the military who would need peace to leave their posts.
Finally, Ukraine has a tortured history of Russian electoral manipulation. In 2004, during the orange revolution was the first rejection of Moscow's
meddling in elections, with peaceful protests forcing a rerun and pro- western democratic reform in the future.
ALVAZOVSK: Without strong legitimacy, this state will not survive because Russia will destroy the reputation of the legitimacy, and then we will be
the failed state.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're trying to solve a problem --
WALSH: Another instance of disconnect between Washington's vision and Ukraine's actual plight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: So, clearly, the short answer is replacing Zelenskyy is nigh-on impossible during wartime, unless you want to spark a political crisis
which would undermine, frankly, legitimacy of wartime government here, crippled the frontlines, endless problems. The key one of which you simply
couldn't engineer a peace in those circumstances.
So, a lot really resting on the potential for the Trump administration to move on past this talking point about whether Zelenskyy can stay in office
and deal with the fact of who they have here, because the idea of him suddenly being switched out by somebody they prefer, well, simply isn't
going to happen. Isa?
SOARES: Nick Paton Walsh for us in Kyiv this hour. Thanks, Nick. Now, I want to take you to United States because the first lady of the United
States Melania Trump was just making her first public remarks since her husband's return to office. I think we have live images while she was
speaking just there.
The first lady is sporting -- supporting a bill aimed at protecting Americans from deepfake and revenge pornography, and Trump is holding a
roundtable discussion for the take it out, down at. We are -- we were seeing the first lady Melania Trump, this is called Takedown Act, this is
her really supporting a bill aimed at protecting Americans from deepfake as well as revenge pornography.
As you all well know, in the past year or so, targets of A.I.-generated and nonconsensual pornography images have ranged from very prominent women such
as Taylor Swift and Republican, Alexandria -- sorry, Ocasio-Cortez to high school girls. And the bill that was introduced there, you next to the first
lady was a Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
I think he's sitting to her left from what I saw on the camera, would basically criminalize the publication of nonconsensual intimate imagery,
including A.I.-generated kind of deepfake pornography. And basically and critically here would require social media and similar websites have in
place procedures to remove such content upon notification from a victim.
And this is important, it is something that we have seen the first lady take on. She unveiled the best platform in -- during President Trump's
first term. So, we are seeing her again today front and center, speaking for the first time, of course, since her husband took office. We'll keep an
ear out for what she says, and if there's anything noteworthy, important to bring you, of course, we will bring it to your attention.
Still to come tonight, a big turn in the health of Pope Francis. We're live in Rome with the very latest for you. Also ahead, a delicate truce between
Israel and Hamas hangs by a thread after Israel blocks humanitarian aid into Gaza. We have a live report for you from Tel Aviv coming up.
[14:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: We are following breaking news about the health of Pope Francis. The Vatican says the pope has had two episodes of acute respiratory
failure, and this comes after he was taken off ventilation just at the weekend. The 88-year-old pontiff has been treated for double pneumonia.
Pope Francis was admitted to hospital in Rome on February 14th with respiratory issues.
Let's get the very latest from our correspondent Christopher Lamb. And Christopher, I mean, it seemed like it's a very complicated afternoon to
bring us up-to-date with the very latest.
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Isa, it's a concerning development for Pope Francis in his battle with pneumonia. We are told
about these two episodes of acute respiratory failure caused by an accumulation of mucus in the lungs, which a Vatican source says is a direct
consequence of the pneumonia that the pope is suffering.
Francis has been in the Gemelli Hospital for 18 days with pneumonia in both lungs. And today, we were told that he is back on this non-invasive machine
ventilator, that is oxygen through a mask that he had been on this past Friday after a similar crisis, but have been taken off. So, a concerning
update. I think the real worry is the frequency with which we're hearing about these respiratory crisis that the pope is battling.
And this after today, of course, there is still concern and worry in the Vatican for the pope. People are gathering tonight behind me in Saint
Peter's to pray for the pope as they have been doing every evening throughout the last several days. We don't know how long Francis is going
to be in the hospital. The prognosis for the pope remains reserved, i.e., it's too soon to tell.
The hope is that there can be some improvement. I've been following this for a number of days now, and there have been times when things have been
going better and things have been going worse. It's been a real roller- coaster to follow this health crisis of Pope Francis. His health, though, clearly does lie in the balance. We are expecting a further update from the
Vatican tomorrow. Isa.
SOARES: I know you will stay across it, as you have been doing for the past two weeks, Christopher, really appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Now, the U.N. and aid groups are slamming an Israeli move to block the entry of vital aid into Gaza until Hamas agrees to new terms for an
extension of the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
[14:25:00]
Egypt calls it the politicization of humanitarian aid. The first phase of the ceasefire expired on Saturday, and Israel missed a deadline last month
to start phase two talks. The Israeli Prime Minister says the proposed extension is an idea put forward by U.S.-Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
So far, there's been no word from the Trump administration. Let's get the latest from our Jeremy Diamond who joins us from Tel Aviv. And Jeremy,
apologies if I have to interject, we are expecting to hear from President Trump at any moment. Just but first, just help us understand here these
new conditions that Israel is calling for because as we said that first stage, a first phase of the ceasefire is over. Is this an entirely new deal
that the U.S. and Israel calling for here?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, what the Israeli government seems to be trying to accomplish here is getting more
hostages out without having to make the difficult decision or engage in the difficult negotiations over an end to the war and the withdrawal of all
Israeli troops from Gaza.
What Israel is looking for here is effectively some kind of extension of the phase one ceasefire, with new conditions that would see half of the
living and dead hostages still remaining inside of Gaza, still being held by Hamas to see them released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners,
presumably, but also a seven-week ceasefire, something that would take this ceasefire through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as well as the Jewish
holiday of Passover, which ends in mid-April.
What Israel does not want to do here is engage in the ceasefire as previously prescribed, meaning engaging in negotiations right now to reach
phases two and three, which is exactly what Hamas is saying, that it is willing to do. A number of countries and humanitarian organizations raising
concerns about this move by Israel to restrict, block effectively entirely the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, unless Hamas agrees to these new
conditions.
Egypt, which is one of the key mediators, of course, has accused Israel of using humanitarian aid as a, quote, tool of blackmail. And then we've heard
concerns from the United Nations, from humanitarian aid organizations, that what Israel is doing here amounts to a violation of international law. And
it is not the first time, of course, that Israel has been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war.
In this case, they are also seemingly using it as a diplomatic tool to try and pressure Hamas into accepting these new conditions. Now, in terms of
the United States, remember, Netanyahu said this is Witkoff's plan, to see the release of half of the hostages in exchange for seven more weeks of
ceasefire.
The White House hasn't actually confirmed that. What they have said, though -- and this is a statement from the National Security Council spokesman
saying that they will support Israel's decision on next steps, given, quote, "Hamas has indicated it's no longer interested in a negotiated
ceasefire." So, certainly no criticism and in fact, support for Israel's move to block all humanitarian aid to the 2 million people living inside of
Gaza unless Hamas accepts these conditions.
Hamas, for its part is also calling this blackmail, and they are insisting that they are willing to engage in negotiations to get to phase two and
three. But they, for now at least, are saying no to this new proposal laid out by the Israeli government.
SOARES: And in the meantime, tomorrow, I think we're expecting an Arab summit taking place in Cairo. We shall see what comes out of that, what
reaction we get. Jeremy Diamond there for us in Tel Aviv, appreciate it. Thank you. And still to come tonight, last week's Oval Office blow-up has
left the U.S.-Ukraine relationship well, in limbo pretty much.
Is there a path back to negotiations? And what could America's next move be? Plus, support for Ukraine is shrinking among Republican voters. We
crush the numbers -- crunch, I should say, not crush. We crunch the numbers just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:32:41]
SOARES: Welcome back everyone. European leaders are embracing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while some top Trump administration officials
are suggesting he may need to step down in the wake of last week's disastrous White House meeting.
The minerals deal, remember that, that was left unsigned. Well, that is still on hold. The major question moving forward now, what does President
Trump need to see from Ukraine that would convince the United States to return to the bargaining table?
On a social media post today, Mr. Trump said the U.S. will not put up with what it perceives as resistance from Mr. Zelenskyy to a peace deal with
Russia. He was referring to President Zelenskyy's comment over the weekend that an end to the war is still very, very far away.
Meantime, the U.S. national security adviser echoed some other members of the Trump administration who say Ukraine's leader may need to be replaced
in order to bring an end to the bloodshed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE WALTZ, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war. And if it
becomes apparent that President Zelenskyy's either personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting in his
country, then I think we have a real issue on our hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Let's get more from our senior White House reporter, Kevin Liptak. And, Kevin, we are expecting, I don't know if we've got images to bring up,
to see President Trump any moment now. So, I might have to interject if he does come to the podium.
But, let me try -- see if we can get some clarity on your end from what you're hearing on what President Trump, the Trump administration, would
like to see from President Zelenskyy and from Ukraine right now, what would convince him to sign on this deal and to at least start off with this
minerals deal?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. What you hear from American officials is they want an apology from Zelenskyy and they have
been actually pretty frank about that in the open. They want an expression of regret, which is actually quite alarming when you think about it.
Zelenskyy was here at the White House to try and convince the Americans to sign on to some security guarantees. Obviously, that meeting went south
about 40 minutes in, and now they want Zelenskyy essentially to come before a camera and say that he's sorry for what happened.
[14:35:00]
You heard the national security adviser, Mike Waltz, say on Fox News this morning that they do want an expression of regret. And so, I don't know
that that's necessarily in the cards. We already heard Zelenskyy over the weekend refused to apologize for what happened. In his view, he is not to
blame for the fracas that occurred in the Oval Office.
But I do think it does underscore the point that despite Waltz's assertion that Zelenskyy might not be the right person to lead Ukraine, despite other
American officials suggesting that he may have to resign, they do think that the door still is cracked open somewhat for this minerals deal to
actually be signed.
You know, this is something that they had to scrap on Friday, but they don't necessarily think it's off the table completely. But certainly, the
ill will that was generated at the end of last week has not necessarily gone anywhere. You heard Donald Trump say himself in that post this
morning. That Zelenskyy was still, in his view, saying all of the wrong things.
And so, there will still be some work to be done to try and repair this relationship. And what we understand is happening here at the White House
today is that Trump is meeting with Waltz and other members of his national security team to try and plot what exactly those next steps will look like.
And they're not necessarily ruling out pausing American assistance to Ukraine, which would be an enormous step for them to take, it's something
that has sort of been lingering in the ether since Trump took office. But this meeting on Friday could be the impetus for that to actually take hold
and actually happen.
SOARES: Yes, especially when we know -- when we see European leaders supporting President Zelenskyy just over the weekend and the importance, of
course, of keeping that alliance, many of them NATO countries.
We are expecting to see President Trump at any moment. Just before we see him though, give us a sense what we're likely to hear from him in the next
few moments, Kevin.
LIPTAK: Yes, this is an announcement. It's unrelated to Ukraine on its surface. It's about a manufacture of semiconductor chips in the United
States. And so, he will be alongside the executive of the Taiwanese chip maker, TSMC, they have announced that they will invest $100 billion in the
United States to start manufacturing some of their chips here.
This is an effort that actually began during the Biden administration, and I think you'll remember Biden and his team were so intently focused on
trying to move the manufacture of this critical technology into the United States. This company has already built an enormous plant in Arizona. I went
there with Biden actually. It's a huge facility to try and manufacture some of these chips here in the United States.
So, what you'll see Trump doing is sort of taking that -- taking what the Biden administration started and running with it with the CEO of this
company by his side, announcing this major investment. But I do think it's interesting that Trump actually sort of lambasted the Biden
administration's approach to this very topic, saying that this bill that Biden passed, the CHIPS bill, to help lure these companies in was the wrong
approach. He said that tariffs could have had the same effect, but now, of course, you see the president sort of basking in the results of that bill.
But I think in his view, any kind of foreign investment into the United States is a good investment.
SOARES: Yes. And I wouldn't be surprised if he sells it as his own idea. Kevin Liptak, appreciate it. We'll keep our eyes peeled, of course, on that
live shot. As soon as we see the president, we will bring that to viewers' attention.
In the meantime, I want to go back to Ukraine and what we've been reporting, because on the campaign trail Donald Trump repeatedly made the
promise that if elected, he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just day one. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Russians and Ukrainians, I want them to stop dying. And I'll have that done in 24 hours.
After we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled.
I will have that war settled between Putin and Zelenskyy as president-elect before I take office on January 20th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, it wasn't 24 hours, it's now 42 days into his presidency. The war now in its fourth-year rages on. I'm going to leave that for just a
moment. We'll go to Harry in just a moment. And here's President Trump.
TRUMP: Thank you very much. This is a very big day for a lot of reasons. But this gentleman is a very unique man. That's I think I could say in the
world of ships certainly, but in the world pretty much of business. Nobody's done what he's done, very -- for those of you that are into that
world you would say, wow, he's a legend, but he is a legend. And it's an honor to be with you. Very great honor. Thank you
C. C. WEI, CEO, TSMC: Appreciate it.
[14:40:00]
TRUMP: Thank you very much. Welcoming from TSMC, which is the biggest there is at a level that you can't even calculate, frankly. C. C. Wei to
the White House for a very historic announcement. This is a tremendous thing for our country and hopefully for his company. We're also pleased to
be joined by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House A.I. And sip -- the crypto czar, David Sacks, another two very highly respected people.
It's great to have you guys involved.
And, David, thank you very much for coming on. David is sort of the king of intellect in that world. We have some good people.
Today, Taiwan Semiconductor is announcing that they will be investing at least $100 billion in new capital in the United States over the next short
period of time to build state of the art semiconductor manufacturing facilities. I think mostly it's going to be in Arizona, which is what I
understand, which is a great state. I like it because I won it. But I won most of them, actually. But I did -- we won it, and we won it big.
The most powerful A.I. chips in the world will be made right here in America, and it'll be a big percentage of the chips made by his company,
but as you know, they're based mostly in Taiwan. And they're far and away the biggest. There's nobody even close.
This $100 billion in new investment will go into building five cutting edge fabrication facilities in the great state that we just discussed, Arizona.
And we'll create thousands of jobs, many thousands of jobs, and high paying jobs. In total, today's announcement brings Taiwan Semiconductor
investments to about $165 billion. They've started.
Already among the largest new foreign direct investments in the United States, Apple, as you know, made a big announcement last week of $500
billion. And we have some others that have announced. We have many that want to announce. But I don't have time to do all of these announcements, I
tell you, but for you, I'm doing the announcement.
C. C. WEI: Thank you.
TRUMP: This will create hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity and boost America's dominance in artificial intelligence and
beyond. Semiconductors are the backbone of the 21st century economy, and really, without the semiconductors, there is no economy.
Powering everything from A.I. to automobiles to advanced manufacturing, and we must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right
here in American factories with American skill and American labor, and that's exactly what we're doing. As you know, Taiwan pretty much has a
monopoly on that market. And I think pretty much is not a term that's even appropriate. They do have a monopoly. And this is a tremendous move by the
most powerful company in the world. It's a matter of economic security. It's also a matter of national security for us.
And at the same time Mr. Wei will be able to diversify and have his tremendous presence in another place and a safe -- very safe place. And I
want to thank Taiwan Semiconductor for doing the announcement and I'd like to ask Mr. Wei to say a few words, if you might, and I'd also like to ask
Howard and David, you can say a couple of words, but maybe you should go first because right now, he's the most important man in the room. I'm
sorry, fellas, please.
WEI: Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Great honor. Thank you.
WEI: I'm a little bit nervous. So, I have to pull out of my piece of paper. Mr. President, Secretary Lutnick. And, David, I didn't know your
title, but -- OK. First, I want to say thank you to Mr. President to give me this opportunity to announce our big project in the U.S.
TSMC is the world's largest chip manufacturing funded by Dr. Morris Chang in --
SOARES: We're going to leave the CEO of TSMC for just a moment, but I'm going to start off with what we heard from the president saying it's a big
day because TSMC, as you can see there, that's the CEO, this is a Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company, which basically produces chips for
companies such as Apple, Intel, and NVIDIA.
What we heard there from the president is that TSMC is investing $100 billion in the United States to build semiconductor facilities, as you
heard from the president, mostly in Arizona. He spoke of new investment, including five facilities in Arizona, "many thousands of jobs," I'm quoting
him here, "high paid jobs" were his words. And so, far, he said that TSMC have made about $175 billion in total in investment.
[14:45:00]
And he called it tremendous move by TSMC, which, of course, in terms of semiconductors, he said it's the backbone of the 21st century economy,
A.I., advanced manufacturing and so forth. We're going to leave that for just a moment because I want to go to our Kevin Liptak who joins me now.
And, Kevin, I'm hoping you're still with me. The president called it a historic announcement. What is not clear is whether those $100 billion,
whether that includes the $65 billion that had already been made under, I believe, the Biden administration. That's not clear at this point.
LIPTAK: No, not clear at all. But I do think, you know, what is evident from the president's speech there is that he does share a lot of the
concerns that the Biden administration had about foreign manufacture of these semiconductor chips. Both the Trump officials and Biden officials
have been saying that this is sort of a critical industry that needs to be moved onto American shores, both for national security reasons, but also
sort of for the economic supply chain factors that you saw play out during the pandemic, most notably.
And so, I thought it was interesting there. But you know, he doesn't mention Biden at all in that speech. We certainly wouldn't have expected
him to. But it is true that so much of this investment was made possible by the CHIPS acts that Biden signed. Even in the final months and weeks of his
administration, this company, TSMC, was receiving billions of dollars of grants through the CHIPS acts that Biden put into effect, and which Trump
criticized as a candidate.
And so, you know, this is just how politics goes often in the United States, a previous president's accomplishments can easily be taken and
heralded by his successor. That happens all the time, but certainly, I think, we're seeing part of that play out today.
SOARES: Yes. And of course, I think it was about a week ago, we saw Apple CEO Tim Cook as well meeting with Trump at the White House announcing a
major deal, I think investing something like $500 billion in the United States. We are going to keep our eyes peeled for what is happening there at
the White House. As soon as we hear more from President Trump, we will come back and hoping that he takes questions. So, we'll -- do stay with us,
Kevin, for that.
In the meantime, we're going to take a short break. We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:00]
SOARES: German police say they've arrested a suspect after a car rammed into a crowd in the City of Mannheim. The ramming killed at least two
people and injured 10 others. I'm going to leave the story there for just a moment because President Trump is speaking. Let's return to the White
House.
TRUMP: But it'll get bigger and bigger with time. Knowing this gentleman, it'll get bigger and bigger. There'll be no stopping him.
Yes, Brian, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In addition to the job, you talked about national security, and that's one thing I think a lot of Americans don't understand.
Explain the national security aspect of this.
TRUMP: Well, without the chips and semiconductors, nothing runs today. You can't buy a car without them. You get a radio, a television, nothing, you
can't get anything. And we thought it was very important, obviously, business wise, but we thought even in terms of national security to have
this large percentage of the chips, semiconductors and other things that they make, the most important product.
And not a product that you can really copy. It takes years and years. You know, on the needle of a pin is total genius. I mean, they can put things -
- I mean, something the size of the needle, the point of a pin, they put information that is just not even believable. So, if you would see this,
it's just really something. Yes, Brian?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more aspect to that. Honda announced they're coming to Indiana because of the tariffs.
TRUMP: That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once again, they're bringing in additional jobs and the fact (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Well, Honda is coming. And I told you about Apple, they're going to be starting to build massively here, $500 billion. And we have many other
companies going to be announced, but we had many that have already announced. And now, it's going to be great. It's looking really strong. I
don't think this country's ever seen anything like we're seeing right now.
Now, the tariffs, as you know, will start a week earlier than -- the reciprocal, which is going to be on a couple of weeks earlier. Reciprocal
starts -- reciprocal tariffs start on April 2nd. And I wanted to make it April 1st, but I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to go April Fool's Day
because that costs me -- that costs a lot of money, but -- that one day. But so, we're going April 2nd. But very importantly, tomorrow, tariffs 25
percent on Canada and 25 percent on Mexico, and that'll start. So, they're going to have a tariff.
So, what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs. In other
words, you build -- and this is exactly what Mr. Wei is doing, by building here, otherwise, they'll build -- if they did them in Taiwan to send them
here, they'll have 25 percent or 30 percent or 50 percent or whatever the number may be, someday it'll go only up. But by doing it here, he has no
tariff. So, he's way ahead of the game.
And I would just say this to people in Canada or Mexico, if they're going to build car plants, the people that are doing them are much better off
building here, because we have the market. We're the market where they sell the most. And so, I think it's going to be very exciting. Very exciting for
the automobile companies, very exciting for -- I can think of any -- as an example North Carolina, they had the great -- I used to go there to buy
furniture for hotels, and it's been wiped out. That business all went to other countries. And now, it's all going to come back into North Carolina,
the furniture manufacturing business. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the Ukraine minerals deal not dead or can it be revived? What --
TRUMP: Well, I'll let you know. We're making a speech. You probably heard about it tomorrow night. So, I'll let you know tomorrow night. But no, I
don't think so. I think it's -- look, it's a great deal for us because, you know, Biden very, very foolishly, stupidly, frankly, gave $300 billion and
$350 billion more accurately to a country to fight and to try and do things, and you know what happened? We get nothing. We get nothing. Just
gave it out of -- we could have rebuilt our entire U.S. Navy with $350 billion. Think of it. $350 billion. We could have rebuilt our U.S. Navy.
So, he gave it away as fast as the money could be gone. And what we're doing is getting that all back and a lot more than that. And what we need
is very important for this business that we're talking about here, with chips and semiconductors and everything else, we need rare earths. And the
deal we have is we have the finest rare earths (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what do you need to see from President Zelenskyy to restart these negotiations?
TRUMP: Well, I just think he should be more appreciative, because this country has stuck with them through thick and thin. We've given them much
more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us, because as you know, that's right there, that's the border. This country really was like
the fence on the border. It was very important to Europe. And I'm not knocking Europe. I'm saying that just -- they were a lot smarter than Joe
Biden, because Joe Biden didn't have a clue. He just gave money, hand over fist.
[14:55:00]
And they should have been able to equalize with us. In other words, if we gave a dollar, they should have given. Well, we gave $350 billion, they
probably gave $100. But on top of it all, they get their money back because they're doing it in the form of a loan, and it's a secured loan.
So, when I saw that, which I've known about for a little while, I said, it's time for us to be smart. At the same time, it's great for them because
they get us in the country taking the rare earth, which is going to fuel this big engine and especially the engine that we've in a very short time
created and we get something and we're in the -- we're there, we have a presence there.
With all of that being said, I want one thing to happen, I want all of those young people to stop being killed. They're being killed by the
thousands, every single week. Last week, 2,700 were killed. ,2700 young, in this case, just about all young boys from Ukraine and from Russia. And
that's not young people from the United States, but it's on a human basis. I want to see it stop.
The money is one thing, but the death. And they're losing thousands of soldiers a week. And that's not including the people that get killed every
time a town goes down or a missile goes into a town. And we -- and I want to see it stop. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you considering canceling military aid to Ukraine? And can we get a reaction to what the prime minister said that your
administration is bringing U.S. (INAUDIBLE) in alignment with Moscow's?
TRUMP: So, this is a deal that should have never happened. This is a deal that would have never happened. And it didn't happen for four years. It
didn't happen. It was never even close to happening. If I were president, it would not have happened. And October 7th would have happened -- would
not have happened in Israel, and inflation wouldn't have happened. And Afghanistan, disastrous. The way they withdrew, not the fact that they
withdrew, but the way they withdrew, would have never happened and we would have had Bagram right now instead of China having it.
It was one hour away from where China makes their nuclear weapons. We would have kept Bagram, one of the biggest air bases in the world. All of these
things happened and it's a shame. But it is what it is and now we're here. I want to see it end fast. I don't want to see this go on for years and
years.
Now, President Zelenskyy supposedly made a statement today in AP, I'm not a big fan of AP. So, maybe it was an incorrect statement, but he said he
thinks the war's going to go on for a long time, and he better not be right about that. That's all I'm saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For this project (ph), could this minimize the impact of the U.S. with chips should China decide to isolate Taiwan or China
decide to take Taiwan?
TRUMP: Well, it's a very interesting point. It's a great question, actually, but this would certainly -- I can't say minimize, that would be a
catastrophic event, obviously, but it will at least give us a position where we have -- in this very important business, we would have a very big
part of it in the United States. So, we would have a big impact if something should happen with Taiwan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russian sanctions, are you looking at relieving Russian sanctions if there is a peace deal?
TRUMP: Well, we're going to make deals with everybody to get this war, including Europe and European nations. And they've acted very well. You
know, they're good people. I know most of them are friends of mine, the heads of state, the heads of the various countries, prime ministers from
the -- I got four prime ministers -- four prime ministers and five presidents called me over the last two days and they want to work it out.
They want to get it worked out.
And I think they're also -- you know, they're talking money, but the money is less important than the deaths. We're talking thousands of young people
a week. And people would say, why do I care about Ukraine young people? Why do I care about -- and not all young, but they're pretty young.
You know, Ukraine is running a little bit low, and they're getting older. They're recruiting older people. It's a very, very sad thing that's
happening over there. And we want to get it finished. We want to stop the death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the tariffs, is there any room left for Canada and Mexico to make a deal before midnight? And should we expect those Chinese
tariffs, the extra 10 percent, to take effect?
TRUMP: No room left for Mexico or for Canada. No, the tariffs, you know, they're all set. They go into effect tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, just to follow up on my colleagues' question.
TRUMP: And just so you understand, vast amounts of fentanyl have poured into our country from Mexico. And as you know, also from China where it
goes to Mexico and goes to Canada and China also had an additional 10. So, it's 10 plus 10. And it comes in from Canada and it comes in from Mexico.
And that's a very important thing to say.
Yes, please go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) if you're going to suspend military aid to Ukraine. Have you made that decision?
TRUMP: Well, I haven't even talked about that right now. I mean, right now, we'll see what happens. A lot of things are happening right now --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00]
END
