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One World with Zain Asher
CNN International: Trump Delivers Combative, Uncompromising Speech To Congress; Trump On Ukraine: "It's Time To End This Senseless War"; Democratic Senator Slotkin: Trump Will "Make You Pay". Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired March 05, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, HOST, "ONE WORLD": President Trump touting his accomplishments and taunting his rivals in a big speech to Congress.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, HOST, "ONE WORLD": One World starts right now.
Hours after his speech, the Supreme Court rejected one of Trump's first foreign policy initiatives, what the court ruled and what it could mean for
the President's agenda going forward.
ASHER: Plus, Canada and Mexico hitting back against Trump's trade war. We'll look at how markets are reacting.
GOLODRYGA: And U.S. pauses intelligence support to Ukraine. How will this affect efforts to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table?
Hello everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching One World.
"We are just getting started", those words from Donald Trump continue to ring through the halls of power today in the wake of President's address to
Congress on Tuesday night.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. But, just hours after the speech, the Supreme Court rejected his administration's request to keep billions of dollars in
foreign aid frozen. And then there is this spat with Ukraine, with the U.S. now pausing intelligence sharing, and there are signs that the tariff trade
war with Mexico and Canada may be receiving just a little bit. So, a lot of uncertainty on that front.
ASHER: Yeah. All of this coming in the wake of the nearly 100-minute speech by President Trump. That is the longest annual address to lawmakers in
modern times. He was combative. He often sounded like he was back on the campaign trail, actually, making a lot of false or incorporated (ph) claims
on topics like the economy, immigration and his political rivals as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Joe Biden, the worst President in American history. I look at the Democrats in front of me, and
I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud. The United States has sent hundreds of
billions of dollars to support Ukraine's defense. Do you want to keep it going for another five years? Yeah. Yeah. You would say. Pocahontas says
yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Pocahontas, you will recall, is the derogatory nickname Trump has given to Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
As for the Democrats, there is little they can do to stop Trump's agenda, but they did make it clear that they do not approve of it. They held up
signs of protests. Several walked out of the speech, and even one representative was thrown out for repeatedly interrupting the President's
address.
ASHER: Let's get to CNN's Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak for more. So, one of the longest speeches of its kind, Kevin, really no attempt
to reach across party lines at all. He referred to the Democrats as, those people over there, they're not going to be happy no matter what I do, no
matter what I say up here on this podium. A lot of inaccurate statements, according to our fact check. This was essentially a victory lap. He talked
about what he had accomplished in the past six weeks, but really made no mention or very little mention in terms of his vision for the future. Take
us through it, Kevin.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. This was a campaign speech at the end, including his going after a rival, talking about Joe
Biden. He mentioned him by name 12 times in that speech, and I think that gives you a sense of the type of address that the President was delivering
there. Usually, these types of speeches have at least some cursory nod to unity, but that was not included in the speech last night. In fact, those
lines that he talked about Democrats refusing to applaud, refusing to smile, were written into the actual text of the speech. So, this was never
really intended to be the kind of bringing together of the parties that a lot of presidents try to do, particularly in their first term, when they
are at their most popular.
Donald Trump, in this speech, did not lay out in any sort of detail any new policies that he plans to propose or plans to pursue over the coming year.
That's the other thing that presidents usually do in these kinds of speeches, is go to Congress and tell them specifically what he wants them
to do. Instead, I think what you heard Donald Trump doing in the speech is really ticking through what he has been doing over the last six weeks. In
his words, nothing but swift and unrelenting action, which is a true statement by any measure. But, what he didn't necessarily do, and what he
sort of glossed over, was the effect of those actions on the American public.
So, for example, on tariffs, there was no sort of conciliatory language, even though the markets had just tumbled a few hours before he walked out
there into the House chamber. He acknowledged that there would be some disruption, given what these tariffs are doing to the economy, but he
didn't lay out in any kind of detail what that disruption would look like.
[11:05:00]
Same with his efforts to sort of steam roll through the federal government. He talked about all of these initiatives that Elon Musk had been able to
cancel, calling them fraud and waste. He pointed to Elon Musk up in the First Lady's box, but he didn't necessarily go through what the effect of
canceling those programs would be in the United States, on American federal workers, on places around the world that had been benefiting from some of
this aid.
So, the President really kind of going through what he was doing, but not really going any deeper than that. It was interesting the breakdown of how
much time he spent on various policies in the speech. The first, of course, was domestic policy that's typical in these speeches, immigration, and
economy. He also talked pretty extensively about his return to the White House, his electoral victory, which happened last November, really trying
to use this as a valedictory moment in a room that is now majority Republican.
He also talked about foreign policy, not very extensively. He barely mentioned the war in Israel. He did discuss the war in Ukraine. He did sort
of adopt a more conciliatory tone towards Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he had received the message that he had sent to him earlier in the day. And we do
understand now, in talking to American officials this morning, that there does seem to be some progress there. The two sides coming back together for
talks. So, certainly that's a space to watch going forward.
ASHER: All right. Kevin Liptak live for us there. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, Republicans loved what they heard from President Trump.
Joining us now is Texas Republican Congressman Pete Sessions. He is a Co- Chair of the DOGE Caucus, a group that is dedicated to working with Elon Musk to shrink the government. Congressman, thank you so much for joining
us. And I do want to pick up where Kevin left off, specifically as it refers to Ukraine. We did hear some conciliatory language from the
President last night, where it looks like there may be progress made on a rare earth mineral deal.
But, when you hear now with the CIA Director confirming that intelligence sharing has been paused for now, 24 hours after weapons have been paused as
well, you said this a few days ago, "I don't envision in the short run where it would be our best interest, and I know it would not be for
Europe's best interest to switch partnerships and begin trusting the Russians, which I do not." So, help me, help us, make sense, of what this
administration is doing right now to Ukraine.
REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): It's my understanding that there have been an extensive amount of backroom discussions, private discussions, which are
always necessary, not just in diplomacy, but trying to set the stage, in this case, of a new President, a new Secretary of State, a new FBI
Director, a brand new CIA Director, and perhaps more importantly, a new department, a Pentagon Chief.
What we're going through is a viewpoint where the President, and I think he is consistent, and I need to keep listing also, wants this war to end right
now. And I think that from his perspective, there is nothing wrong with his position, except I want to make sure that we do this where there is a
position of strength. So, what happened is, there was this public, what I call lapse, this dialog that was not favorable, I don't think, to President
Zelenskyy, and I don't think it was favorable to the Ukrainian people, where evidently he came in not prepared for Donald Trump, perhaps he had
been coached, perhaps not, and took a stand that was adversarial not just to the United States, but the one that would end the war.
I have been a person that believes that the strength of all of us together, including NATO, including the United States and Ukraine, was in Europe's
best interest and in America's best interest. So, it happened. A quick change is what's happened. The President is still after Europe to take up
more of their own defense, Europe to step up to the plate, as he was eight years ago, that I think is very favorable. But --
GOLODRYGA: But --
SESSIONS: -- it is true. As you suggest, I did believe that I -- that United States should stand strong behind Ukraine to get a better deal. If
this comes down to where there is a pause, as opposed to a win or a loss, I think the United States needs to see it for what that is.
GOLODRYGA: But, you do understand the optics, not to mention the real-life consequences of giving Russia concessions by suggesting that you're going
to be removing offensive cyber operations, perhaps even lifting sanctions, making clear that Ukraine cannot join NATO, and also punishing Ukraine, our
ally, a democratic country that was illegally invaded.
[11:10:00]
You do realize the optics that this sends, because it doesn't square with the message that you just sent.
SESSIONS: Well, my message that I sent, I've been consistent throughout these years, is to say that I believe that strength and the position that
the United States would have with Europe, with Ukraine, was the best answer. This script got changed, and that the President went for resolution
peace, and then I think he attempted to find a way to still have the United States involved, not with our troops, but certainly through needing to make
sure that we got these minerals, these minerals that are very important to not just the United States, but that Russia not get them.
So, I think it was a two-sided delivery that the President has. He was trying to give some assurance to Ukraine that we would buy their rare earth
minerals, but that he wanted the war to end. And I think we're all slow to the take. I know I have been slow to the take to listen that this is going
to be something that would be interesting.
Now, last time I was on, we also had the former head of NATO Wesley Clark on, who said, I think we need to listen. This is a bigger ball game that
President Trump is attempting to change, and that is the Russia-China relationship also. So, I promised I would listen and study that. I'm still
doing that. I think there is more to this effort than just Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump. I think it is about a larger effort to move, move Russia away
from China.
ASHER: I do want to start by talking about the effect of tariffs on the American people. I want to play you a little bit of what we heard from
Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan just yesterday. She talked about how some of Donald Trump's policies are there to only enrich his billionaire
friends, as well as the effects of these new tariffs on ordinary Americans. I'm going to play the soundbite and then we can talk about it on the back
end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He is on the hunt to
find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America, and to do that, he is going to make you pay in every part of your life. His
tariffs on allies like Canada will raise prices on energy, lumber and cars, and start a trade war that will hurt manufacturing and farmers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The President spoke a lot about immigration, about transgender politics, about -- a little bit about the war in Ukraine, obviously, he
read that letter from President Zelenskyy, but not that much about rising prices. He mentioned tariffs a little bit, but not much about the effect on
ordinary Americans. He mentioned that there could be a little bit of disturbance, in his words, but you have to remember that one of the main
reasons why Donald Trump got voted into office this time around was because of the economy, was because of inflation, because of his promises to lower
prices on ordinary Americans.
Given that context, should he have mentioned the economy and the effects of these tariffs on ordinary Americans and what he is doing to lower prices?
Should he have mentioned that more in his speech to Congress last night?
SESSIONS: I think it's important to understand that when you're Donald Trump and you see yourself being attacked, which he was, that was
completely unfair to say this is about billionaires. This was not about billionaires. It is about a reciprocation between the United States and
other nations, where they have tariffs on the United States that keep American products from being sold in their countries. And so, what Donald
Trump is trying to do is level the playing field. Will that level playing field result in some products being delivered that will be more expensive?
Yes, probably. I think he sees the longer move, and that is where we sustain the tax code that we do, inviting American entrepreneurship to take
up the making of these products.
But, it clearly, and I will be the first to say this, this is a change of policy. This is a change of direction, but we also know what was going to
happen in the other form, and that is America's ability to pay its bills, to be the leading currency in the world, and to sustain what we were doing
was not going to happen.
So, I am delighted to listen, to learn, to try and articulate.
[11:15:00]
Is this pretty going through change? It is not. Change is difficult. But, will we be on the other side, I think rather rapidly, of saying America has
a brighter future? Yes, I think that is true, because we have children and grandchildren. We also need to make sure that make this American Dream
also.
GOLODRYGA: As we said earlier this morning, the Supreme Court, in a five- four decision, rejected President Trump's request to keep billions of dollars in approved foreign aid frozen. We should note the high court did
not immediately say when this money must be released, but it does allow the White House to continue to dispute this issue in the lower courts.
As somebody who is co-chair of the DOGE Caucus, do you take this as a loss on your part? These are efforts that you been working together with Elon
Musk on. And what are some of the takeaways from you in terms of this rapid, at times ad hoc approach to slashing funding? Do you think that
there is a lesson to be learned here, now that we've heard the Supreme Court weigh in against this particular issue?
SESSIONS: I think I take it as a definite opportunity for myself to not only work closer with what might be OMB, DOGE, but to be able to highlight
these efforts. We have been, here in Congress, seeing rapid fire by this administration, not only the apex of this, but Social Security, EPA, all
these issues, and we are attempting to not only gather information that would be more than anecdotal evidence. It would be direct information. And
I think the Supreme Court and all courts need to see that we're going to make progress on behalf the American people by making sure they understand
the whole story.
And I think I have failed in that effort, and I know that I've got to do a better job. This happened in a town hall meeting that I promised that I
would come back, I would be very specific, and I would make sure the American people, meaning them in the 17th District of Texas, understood
what we're talking about and why it's important, and I think I still have that obligation, and I intend to do it.
GOLODRYGA: Well, we'd love to come with you if you'd allow us to one of these town hall meetings --
SESSIONS: Yes ma'am.
GOLODRYGA: -- as well.
Republican Congressman Pete Sessions, thank you so much --
ASHER: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: -- for your time.
SESSIONS: You bet.
ASHER: And we'll have more on the fallout from President Trump's joint address to Congress. In the next hour, we're going to be speaking to
Democratic Congressman Gabe Amo from Rhode Island to get his reaction as well. So, what does Donald Trump hope to get out of provoking America's
three biggest trading partners? We will take a closer look at that question after this short break.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, President Trump says justice is coming for a suspect in the 2021 Kabul airport terror attack that claimed the lives of 13 U.S.
service members and dozens of Afghan civilians. We'll have the details next.
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[11:20:00]
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ASHER: All right. In his address to Congress last night, Donald Trump doubled down on his tariff agenda, saying the tariffs in Canada, Mexico and
China will, in his words, make America rich again.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. The President will talk tariffs later Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now, that call could end in a deal
to put a stop to the tariff war, or it could just end setting the stage for more tariffs to kick in next month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: On April 2, reciprocal tariffs kick in, and whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That's reciprocal back and forth.
Whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they do non-monetary targets to keep us out of their market, then we will do non-monetary barriers to keep
them out of our market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: The trade war is taking a toll on Wall Street. On Tuesday, the Dow fell by more than 600 points for the second day in a row. Right now,
the markets are a bit flat, perhaps this stemming from some news and headlines made by the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick earlier this
morning, suggesting that there will be yet more news coming from the White House on tariffs this afternoon.
ASHER: Let's bring in Vanessa Yurkevich to discuss this. So, Vanessa, what a difference today makes, right, because yesterday we saw the Dow down as
much as 500, 600 points at one point. Now, as Bianna mentioned, the Dow is pretty much flat. And of course, we saw the Commerce Secretary on TV, on
Bloomberg Television yesterday, saying that there could be a deal between the U.S. and Canada or the U.S. and Mexico as soon as this afternoon. But
still, Vanessa, there is so much uncertainty. I mean, President Trump in his address to Congress yesterday talked about the markets perhaps seeing a
little bit of disturbance that won't last long. But, talk to us about the overall climate of uncertainty that we're in.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And markets are down right now, but earlier this morning, they were very much
mixed, and I think that sort of mixed sense of what we're seeing in the markets is based on the mixed messaging that investors are getting from the
President last night who, you played that clip, he said he seemed to say he would be willing to escalate the trade war, and then Howard Lutnick this
morning on Bloomberg saying essentially that there could be a middle ground and that there could be some exemptions, particularly for the auto
industry. Listen to what he said earlier today on Bloomberg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: The President is listening to the offers from Mexico and Canada. He is thinking about trying to do something
in the middle. He is thinking about it. We're talking about it. We're going to -- when I leave here, I'm going to go talk about it with him. And I
think early this afternoon or this afternoon, we expect to make an announcement. And my thinking is it's going to be somewhere in the middle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: Right. So, that could be the more news that you're talking about. Later this afternoon, we'll have to wait and see what the President
says, and that will, of course, translate to what we see in the markets. Also investors this morning parsing through some economic data. We got
private sector payroll data, which shows that hiring in the private sector actually slowed this month to about 77,000 jobs added. We'll also have the
big government jobs report on Friday that investors, the Trump administration, and the President will be watching very closely.
But, this trade war is really where it was left yesterday. Those tariffs on Mexico and Canada, 25 percent and additional 10 percent on China, they
stand. And then, of course, the reciprocal tariffs that we have been seeing from China and from Canada hitting. You can see there, U.S. agriculture,
very hard. They're very, very pointed on U.S. agriculture in particular. We heard from President Trump last night, who said that farmers are going to
have to feel a little bit of pain in the beginning, and this is something that they experienced in 2018 during the first term of President Trump,
when there was a trade war as well with China, so much so that the U.S. government had to sort of bail out farmers with payments to help subsidize
all of the money that they were losing on their crop.
[11:25:00]
But, there is a lot of questions that remain in terms of where this will go. It could certainly heat up, or in this call with Trudeau, at some point
today, there could be a backing off of tariffs. But, everyone is watching this so closely, from investors to the administration, to other countries,
to consumers. How will this impact us? We know guys that, through one estimate, these tariffs will stand to cost American families about $1,200
more every single year that they are in effect. That is no small change for American families who have been struggling with higher prices, particularly
at the grocery store, something that President Trump mentioned that he would tackle on day one.
ASHER: Yeah. That doesn't sound like a small disturbance to me.
GOLODRYGA: To be a fly on the wall during that call between President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau. Vanessa Yurkevich, good to see you.
Well, a source tells CNN that the suspect allegedly involved in the planning of the Abbey Gate bombing during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from
Afghanistan has arrived in the U.S. Mohammad Sharifullah was captured overseas. The bombing at Kabul airport killed 13 U.S. service members and
at least 170 Afghan civilians.
ASHER: In his speech to Congress on Tuesday night, President Trump announced that a, quote, "top terrorist was being transported", and he
thanked Pakistan for helping in his capture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way
here to face the swift sword of American justice. And I want to thank especially the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Zachary Cohen joins us now live from Washington, D.C. Zachary, this was news last night. What more do we know about this
apprehension?
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: It absolutely was news. And I'm learning that the CIA actually is the one that provided intelligence to
Pakistan that led to the arrest of Mohammad Sharifullah. And look, this is -- as you mentioned, he has arrived back in the United States, we're told
by a source, where he will face criminal -- the criminal court process and criminal court proceedings as he has to deal with these criminal charges
for his alleged role in planning the Abbey Gate bombing that, as you mentioned, killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan
civilians. So, we will have to wait and see he is charged with planning and conspiring to provide material to a terrorist organization.
The indictment that was unsealed last night as well against him, outlining these criminal charges, makes very clear that that criminal -- terrorist
organization was ISIS-K, and by his own admission, Mohammad Sharifullah was interviewed by the FBI and told them that he was recruited by ISIS-K back
in 2016. So, he has been someone who has been on the intelligence community, the U.S. intelligence community's radar for a while, but he was
approached about getting involved in this bombing plot that ultimately played out at the Abbey Gate.
And look, according to Sharifullah, he was more of a lookout, a scout. He is somebody who conducted surveillance around the site, around the airport,
essentially identified a route in which the bomber could avoid American and Taliban checkpoints. But, at the end of the day, look, the Trump
administration and Trump himself holding this up as a major victory in the early days of his second administration.
We heard a little bit of that this morning as well from several top officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was really
celebrating this as something that only Donald Trump could do, and really his point of the fact that Joe Biden had three years to do something
similar, and didn't. Take a listen to what he said on Fox News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I want to be very clear, under this administration, we had our leadership, Director Ratcliffe and others in
CENTCOM and the military passing information to the Pakistanis who helped us action it after this President was elected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So, obviously the arrest is a reflection of an intelligence sharing and intelligence collaboration success with Pakistan. But, it's also a --
there is political undertones here to Trump trying to use this to really draw a contrast with his predecessor, Joe Biden.
So, we're going to have to see how the court process plays out and how these charges, if they ultimately result in a conviction. But, in Virginia,
this alleged terrorist will -- have to stand in -- on trial.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Zachary Cohen, thank you so much.
ASHER: All right. Still ahead, a looming deadline, a budget battle is underway in Congress to avoid a government shutdown, which could happen as
early as next week. We'll have a report from Capitol Hill ahead.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, the fallout continues after that tense Oval Office exchange between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents. We'll talk to an expert
about the back and forth between the two leaders, when we return.
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[11:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Welcome back to One World. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. Here are some of the international headlines we are watching today.
The Vatican says Pope Francis slept well last night and continues to be treated with supplemental oxygen. This just days after he suffered two
episodes of acute respiratory failure. The 88-year-old will miss today's Ash Wednesday service. The pontiff has been in a Rome hospital battling
double pneumonia for almost three weeks.
ASHER: The U.S. has rejected a plan drawn up by Arab leaders to rebuild Gaza once the war is over. The $53 billion proposal would allow Gaza's two
million residents to remain in the Enclave during its reconstruction. U.S. President Trump is standing by his vision for Gaza, which includes removing
Palestinians and creating a Riviera which the U.S. owns.
GOLODRYGA: And more tariffs on America's trading partners could be coming. During his address to Congress last night, President Trump promised new
reciprocal tariffs will take effect early next month. He singled out countries such as India, South Korea and Brazil, which he accused of using
tariffs against the United States for decades.
ASHER: A group of House conservatives will meet with President Trump today on the contentious issue of government funding. The U.S. government faces a
shutdown on March 14th if lawmakers cannot agree on a budget. Top Democrats in the House and Senate are opposed to a Republican plan for a six-month
funding extension through the end of September.
CNN's Lauren Fox reports from Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, with just a little over a week until that government funding deadline, this meeting today between
members of the conservative wing of the House Republican Conference and the President will be essential to whether or not Speaker Mike Johnson can push
his plan through to pass a spending bill that would go until the end of September. Now, this is just a stop-gap funding measure that would continue
funding at current levels, with some exceptions.
[11:35:00]
But, it is something that Democrats are already thumbing their nose at, arguing that they will not accept a deal like this that goes all the way to
the end of September, instead arguing they want to negotiate these fuller year individual bills, and instead would prefer just a shorter term stop-
gap measure to keep the government funded, in part, because they argue they are worried that Donald Trump and the Trump administration will take too
much latitude in how that money gets spent in the months ahead, if they agree to that one-year stop-gap measure.
So, that is the challenge for Speaker Johnson. He is likely going to have to pass this with almost all Republican votes, and given the fact he has
such a narrow majority, he can only afford to lose one Republican. Traditionally, a lot of his conservatives balk at the idea of supporting
these stop-gap measures. So, it will be really interesting to see whether or not Donald Trump can make the difference on this meeting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: The U.S. has now apparently paused both intelligence sharing and weapon shipments to Ukraine. This according to statements from CIA Director
John Ratcliffe and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. The CIA Director says Donald Trump had a real question about whether Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was committed to the peace process after last Friday's intense Oval Office encounter between the two leaders.
GOLODRYGA: But, the Director expressed hope that the pause would soon be lifted following a letter from the Ukrainian President. The U.S. President
spoke about that letter during his address to Congress Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine, by far. Think of that. Earlier today,
I received an important letter from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The letter reads, "Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as
possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians", he said. "My team and I stand ready to work under President
Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and
independence."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: For more on the fast-moving developments, let's bring in Alina Polyakova. She is the President and CEO at the Center for European Policy
Analysis, and joins us live now from Washington, D.C.
Alina, thank you so much for being with us. So, obviously you watched the President's speech to Congress last night. You heard him read that letter
from President Zelenskyy, essentially saying that Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table, that they are basically ready, more or less, to
make some kind of a deal. They're ready to work with the United States. Obviously in that Oval Office meeting we saw last Friday, President Trump
pointed out to Zelenskyy that he doesn't hold the cards, right, that he doesn't have that much leverage. Once the minerals deal is signed, once the
two leaders come together and signed that minerals deals, does Zelenskyy have any leverage left at all? He didn't have much leverage to begin with.
But, after that deal is signed, what leverage does he have after that?
ALINA POLYAKOVA, PRESIDENT & CEO, CENTER FOR EUROPEAN POLICY ANALYSIS: I think that's the million dollar question, to be honest with you. And to be
clear, Ukraine has been ready to negotiate. They tried to negotiate with the Russians. Zelenskyy tried to have a direct line with Putin before the
full-scale invasion happened, and the Russians never came to the negotiating table in good faith, which, of course, is important, and there
is no indication that they're doing so now.
So, what we have seen is a policy pressure from the U.S. administration on Ukraine to give up rights to its mineral deposits, very rich mineral
deposits. But, what are the asks we have of the Russian side? I haven't heard the White House ask the Russians to give up anything. I haven't heard
for any compromises. So, I think that's the big question. What are we asking the Russians to compromise on? The Ukrainians are obviously ready.
They want to stop this war. They didn't start it. So, what are we asking for from the Russians?
GOLODRYGA: Alina, put into perspective for us the optics and the real-life consequences 24 hours after withholding or pausing military aid, announcing
that intelligence sharing, which one could argue is even more crucial for saving Ukrainian lives and giving them some more intelligence as to where
Russian assets may be, once that has now been at least temporarily frozen, what message does that send to both Ukrainians and to Russia and Vladimir
Putin?
POLYAKOVA: I think it's a very unfortunate set of actions that this administration has taken. Of course, the United States has provided the
mass amount of military assistance to Ukraine. Europe has actually provided more, as a whole, in terms of support for Ukraine, when you factor in
economic assistance. But, there is no one that can fill the gap immediately to what the U.S. will leave behind by stopping military supplies to
Ukraine. We understand that Ukrainians have stockpiles supplies.
[11:40:00]
So, it's not that they will lose complete capability to defend themselves immediately, but most experts anticipate over the next several months, by
the summer, unless this freeze is lifted, they will run short on critical air defense interceptor missiles, missiles for the Patriot systems that
only the U.S. has and can provide. So, it's a very, very critical and urgent situation. And the intelligence sharing, I think, is another hit.
And Ukrainians, to be clear, were very enthusiastic about President Trump that he would bring a different kind of leadership than we saw with the
Biden administration, which they interpreted as too slow and too incremental. And I think now what they're seeing is that President Trump is
really pressuring Ukraine to probably accept a deal of capitulation that will favor the Russian side and that will leave the United States, I think,
deeply, deeply vulnerable, will be seen as unreliable by many of our allies. We already are being seen as unreliable, unfortunately, by many
allies across the world, and it will only empower China to do much more and much faster in terms of its military ambitions on Taiwan.
ASHER: Yeah. It's interesting. Obviously, you bring up what this does to Russia in terms of emboldening Russia and also emboldening China as well.
Up until last week, Zelenskyy had held firm that Ukraine would only agree to peace if its security was guaranteed. That is what Zelenskyy was saying,
otherwise, that it was going to fight on.
The fact that you now have this about-face, I mean, obviously that benefits Vladimir Putin enormously. What incentive does Vladimir Putin now have to
come to the negotiating table in good faith? I mean, why not just sort of strengthen his position on the battlefield first and then come to the
negotiating table a lot later, once his position has been strengthened?
POLYAKOVA: That is exactly what the Russians are doing. You've seen a massive increase in Russian attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure,
and we have also stopped support for Ukraine's civilian energy infrastructure, the energy grid the Russians have been attacking for three
years on the civilian side, we've also stopped that, to be clear. So, the Russians are doing that. They're doing exactly what you said. They're
strengthening their position.
They see a huge historic opportunity here to rewrite the security order, not just for Ukraine, but for all of Europe, because for the Russian side,
the big strategic objective has never changed. It's not about some hundreds kilometers or miles of territory that they want to occupy forever from
Ukraine. That's not what they're looking for. They're looking for decision- making power over Ukraine and over Europe, and as a result, to be at the table with the United States, maybe with China in terms of carving out the
world. Those kinds of pacts, we know from history, have only led to human suffering and oppression for decades and decades, and it's not stable.
These kinds of regimes don't tend to be stable.
So, I think, to my mind, these are the big questions we need to be thinking about. And I see -- again, I see no incentive for the Kremlin to stop
pushing militarily until they see what else the White House might be able to give them. We've heard some reporting as well that the White House is
actively considering removing some economic sanctions, which, of course, the Kremlin has wanted for a long time. So, we are taking all kinds of
steps to give up our own cards for ourselves in a much weaker negotiating positions, and it's not clear to me why we're doing that before we know
what the Russians will be giving up on their end.
ASHER: All right. Alina Polyakova live for us. Thank you so much for sharing your insight. Appreciate it.
GOLODRYGA: Thanks, Alina.
Well, you can call them fibs, whoppers or --
ASHER: Or just lies.
GOLODRYGA: -- or just lies. But, we found more than a few in Donald Trump's address to Congress, the longest ever by a modern President. Our fact
checker sits -- sets the record straight, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. It's not for the first time Donald Trump delivered a speech littered with false and misleading claims on Tuesday.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. Our fact-checker Daniel Dale had a very long night and found many of the President's numbers and his speech to Congress didn't add
up. He shared his findings with Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In a 99-minute speech, particularly one given by President Trump, there is going to be some fact checking that needs to be
done.
So, let's bring in CNN's Daniel Dale, who has been very busy checking all the facts. Daniel, I know you can't do everything in that 99-minute --
DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Correct.
TAPPER: -- speech, but give us some of the highlights.
DALE: Jake, President Trump was, believe it or not, marginally more careful with the facts tonight than he usually is. He was on script. So, this was
not like one of the usual adlibbing rally speeches or debates with like 30 false claims, but by the standard of any politician in Washington who is
not Donald Trump, that was still an extremely dishonest speech.
I counted at least 13 flat false claims, and that is a preliminary count that doesn't include a whole bunch of additional misleading or
uncorroborated claims. He, for example, repeated this false claim that foreign countries like China pay his tariffs, though Americans make those
tariff payments. He wildly exaggerated figures on inflation and immigration under President Biden. He claimed to have terminated something called the
Green New Scam, even though the Green New Deal congressional resolution was never actually passed, and Trump has not repealed the big environmental law
that President Biden did pass. There is a lot more, as you said. You can read our full list on cnn.com.
But, now I want to go into detail on an important and eye-catching claim that was highly misleading. The President talked at length about millions
of people being listed as alive in a Social Security database, even though they're obviously dead. Listen.
TRUMP: 3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139, 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149, and money is being paid to many of them because it just
keeps getting paid and paid and nobody does, and it really hurts Social Security and hurts our country. And one person is listed at 360 years of
age, more than 100 years older than our country.
DALE: I've spoken to conservative experts about this claim, and they've noted, Jake, that the President is leaving out something absolutely
critical to understanding this issue. Here is what he failed to explain. These numbers are not the numbers of dead people who are actually getting
paid Social Security checks. Trump was referring to a legitimate problem with some deaths not being marked in the Social Security database. But,
that doesn't mean people listed as being 150, 200, 300 are actually getting money, and that's because Social Security already has a system in place to
automatically cut off people who are listed as being 115 or older.
Now, two years ago, an inspector general looked into this. She found there were about 19 million people 100 or older who were not marked as deceased.
But, critically, she also found that only 44,000 of these people were actually receiving payments. And one conservative expert told me, even
those 44k are likely legit payments, since at the time, there were about 86,000 living Americans age 100 or older.
Now, let's listen to something the President said about the war in Ukraine.
TRUMP: Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine, by far.
[11:50:00]
Think of that. They've spent more buying Russian oil and gas than they have defending, and we've spent perhaps $350 billion like taking candy from a
baby. That's what happened, and they've spent $100 billion.
DALE: Those are fictional numbers, and this is a fictional narrative. President Trump keeps telling the story about how the U.S. has sent Ukraine
way more than Europe has collectively. In fact, Europe has committed and provided more aid to Ukraine during this war than the U.S. has. So, Trump
said the U.S. has spent maybe $350 billion and Europe $100 billion. Well, a German think tank that closely tracks this issue found the U.S. has
committed about $126 billion, actually allocated about $121 billion. So, way less than $350 billion. He said Europe has spent $100 billion. Well,
the think tank found Europe had committed $263 billion. So, way more, actually allocated about $140 billion.
Now, you can get different numbers with different counting methodologies, but nobody legitimate. Even the U.S. government itself has gotten anywhere
close to that $350 billion figure that President Trump keeps using, Jake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Just ahead on One World, we will be fact checking what President Trump had to say about the climate crisis and U.S. contributions
to the Paris Climate Accord. That's next on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I terminated the ridiculous Green New Scam. I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate Accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars that
other countries were not paying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: The U.S. President there announcing a second U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, but his claim that the deal was costing
America trillions of dollars is not accurate.
ASHER: Now, President Joe Biden pledged billions of dollars towards international climate financing, but the U.S. contribution since then has
been a lot lower than that, because Congress appropriated far less money, and what President Trump calls the Green New Scam was a raft of clean
energy pledges that Congress passed under Joe Biden.
Right now, we are joined live by CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir. I mean, he talked about U.S.'s climate policies a lot. I mean, he
mentioned that the fact that the Paris Climate Accord of belonging to that was costing the U.S. trillions of dollars, which turned out to be false, of
course. But, he did mention also drill, baby, drill, and a raft of new oil and gas pledges.
[11:55:00]
Just talk to us about what some of these changes mean for the U.S.'s ability going forward to tackle climate change, Bill.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what he says and there is the reality, and of course, there is a huge gulf there between
those things. He is painting this real -- alternative reality about the energy transition that doesn't match up with facts at all.
Let's play one more shot from the address to Congress, and we'll fact check it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We ended all of Biden's environmental restrictions that were making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And importantly, we
ended the last administration's insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEIR: There never, ever was an electric vehicle mandate at the federal level. California had a plan to get off of new internal combustion cars
over the next decade, but there is no federal mandate on this. And China is electrifying at such a dizzying pace. It's really the global markets that
the U.S. is now being forced to dip out of. There are hundreds of electric car companies in China now. They have a national plan to get it down to a
few dozen global super powers. So, at a certain point, it was obvious that humanity was not going back to the horse, and we've reached that escape
velocity with the internal combustion engine. That's where all the momentum is going.
Now, as far as incentives under the Joe Biden administration, the Inflation Reduction Act was a lot more carrots than sticks, a lot more incentives for
investors than punishment for polluters, and the reality of that is really bearing out. And regardless of Trump's promises, we have a chart, this is
the Department of Energy is projecting, this is new utility scale electricity generation this year to be installed, over 63 gigawatts. So,
one gigawatt is like one full size nuclear power plant, for example, services hundreds of thousands of home, 63 gigawatts and 90 -- over 90
percent of it is solar, batteries and wind. Only four gigawatts of natural gas. So, renewables are the future of utility scale electricity in the U.S.
Regardless of what he is talking about with drill, baby, drill, oil markets are already saturated with American oil. There is not a lot of appetite to
drill more, given -- well, the prices now are coming down, thanks to OPEC. So, I think people were looking for facts and ideas last night from the
President on this topic. Got new.
ASHER: All right. Bill Weir live for us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Well, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Stay with us. We've got another hour of One World right after this short break. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
