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Quest Means Business
U.S. And Russia Wrap Up Ukraine Talks In Saudi Arabia; Air Defenses Heard Firing In Kyiv After US-Russia Talks; Elon Musk's xAI Unveils Latest Version Of Grok; Trump OK If Europe Wants To Put Troops In Ukraine; Argentina's President Faces Backlash Over Crypto Crash; New Video Shows Monday's Delta Plane Crash Landing In Canada; Japan Combats Overtourism Amid Record Visitor Numbers; Bain Capital Broadens Biotech Presence. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired February 18, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:08]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Not much going on in the markets today. Apparently still trying to parse what the Fed may do, and obviously,
some economic news on inflation.
Those are the markets., and these are the main events.
A dramatic shift in foreign policy: The United States and Russia agree to work together to end the war in Ukraine.
Elon musk debuts Grok 3, an AI Model he claims can best the competition.
And Javier Milei is in hot water over a tweet promoting a meme coin.
Live from New York, it is Tuesday, February 18th. I'm Paula Newton, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening.
So tonight, a major shift in relations between the US and Russia as the nations agree to begin restoring diplomatic ties. This coming out of talks
in Saudi Arabia that lasted for more than four hours.
Now, the US Secretary of State says the delegations agreed to work on ending the war in Ukraine. Marco Rubio also says the US and Russia would
look for ways to cooperate on the world stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, US SECRETARY OF STATE: Beginning to engage in identifying the extraordinary opportunities that exists should this conflict come to an
acceptable end, the credible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and frankly,
economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and will also improve our relations in the long term between these two important
countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the talks useful.. Crucially absent, though, from these meetings was Ukraine's
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Matthew Chance is in Riyadh for us and he has been monitoring all of these negotiations.
You've in fact been with the Russian delegation, Matthew. What are they expecting on two crucial fronts here? Right? What the negotiations may look
like towards a ceasefire, but perhaps more importantly for Russia, they want to know how this could transform the relationship with the United
States.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think that from the Russian point of view, that's what they've gone into this
negotiation trying to achieve.
Yes. It is about bringing an end to the Ukraine War and indeed, that is what US officials say they've been trying to achieve in this, to suss out
essentially whether the Russians are serious about negotiating an end to that conflict.
But the Russians are much more upfront about the idea of this being about resetting relations with the United States on a whole range of issues, of
which the Ukraine War is just one. So they're talking about economic development. Marco Rubio talking about economic development there as well,
and they are talking about cooperation. They obviously want sanctions lifted and things like that.
But even if they don't get any of those things, Paula, the Russians are already seeing this process as a win because, you know, Russia, as you well
know, has wanted for many years to be back at the top table of international diplomacy. It has achieved that as part of this process,
particularly with the prospect of a Presidential Summit between Trump and Putin on the horizon, although not yet agreed.
And also that sort of ongoing Russian objective that has been underway for many years, predating the Ukraine War of trying to you know, kind of
undermine western unity. You know, with Trump pushing so hard and so quickly for a peace agreement in Ukraine, that disunity in the West seems
to be sort of unfolding in front of the Kremlin's eyes, all of our eyes.
NEWTON: Yes, and Matthew, I will say, you have been following all of this really for the better part, I hate to remind you of a quarter century,
really, since Putin took over. In terms of what they want to come out here. Some are speculating that they're not really serious about a ceasefire at
this point in time, that there is no outline to this that is categorical, detailed, or that would actually lead to an end to this war.
CHANCE: Yes. Look, I mean, there is -- I have very little doubt that, you know, the Russians have bitten off a lot when it came to their full scale
invasion of Ukraine and they have suffered a lot in terms of losses in treasure and blood. So many tens of thousands of people, hundreds of
thousands have been killed and injured, according to the best estimates that we've had on both sides, in fact.
But at the same time, you know, Putin and the Kremlin have shown no sign at all of wavering, and they've demonstrated time and again that they are
prepared to press on with this until they reach their objectives, whatever they are.
[16:05:10]
In the meantime, as I say, that those victories of getting a seat at the top table diplomatically and you know, kind of disuniting the West are real
wins that the Kremlin is currently banking.
NEWTON: They are indeed real wins. You and I both know that in terms of what they are parsing at the Kremlin at this hour.
Matthew Chance for us with the Russian delegation, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Now, President Zelenskyy says Ukraine was surprised to be excluded from the talks in Riyadh. Mr. Zelenskyy spoke in Ankara after the US-Russia meeting
wrapped up. He is there to discuss the war with his Turkish counterpart.
Now, President Zelenskyy said that he wants the war to end, but added that "No one decides anything behind our backs." Europe is also, as you can
imagine, concerned about the US and Russia speaking behind its back that's why European leaders will held an Emergency Summit in Paris Monday. The
French president says he will host additional talks tomorrow.
Leigh Turner is the former British Ambassador to Ukraine, and he joins us now.
Grateful to have you on the program. What do you believe should be Ukraine's next move here? And how can Europe better support Zelenskyy, who,
by his own words, seems to be frozen out here, frozen out of his own country's future?
LEIGH TURNER, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Well, it has been a chaotic week, hasn't it, Paula? We've seen President Trump apparently
pushing for a rapid peace deal, which would be immensely damaging to Ukraine. It seems that he wants to ignore Europe and any bad peace will be
storing up massive problems for the future, including for the US.
So Zelenskyy up to now has been really quite diplomatic. He has bent over backwards not to be disrespectful about President Trump and his chaos
policies, he has said he will only meet Putin once Ukraine agrees a peace plan with the EU and the US and he has observed rather dryly, that he has
not yet seen any sign of what Trump's peace plan, if there is one, might be.
Now, as regards the Europeans, they really face a huge challenge here. The US has thrown down the gauntlet to Europe, including the UK, to raise their
game on Defense, and if they don't, the US is threatening to ignore Europe and make agreements with Russia over their heads without even consulting
Ukraine.
So there are various things Europe could do. I'd be happy to talk about it.
NEWTON: And I do want to get to that in a moment. We have no breaking news banners here. I mean, we are not talking about this in that context. And
yet I can't help but feel that that is what we are talking about here in terms of the head spinning change in US-Russia relations just over the last
few days.
I want to point out that you say that after Russia annexed Crimea, you warned Foreign Secretary, then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that, in
your words, Ukraine must be armed to the teeth because that's all Putin understands. But that categorically, I remind you, goes against the theory
of any Trump Doctrine here.
He is the one who is now agreeing with Russia that NATO flexing on its eastern borders is what caused this war, essentially blaming the victim. So
what do you do now if you're Europe? How can you step forward in this and counter what seems to be going on?
TURNER: I think the first thing is that the transatlantic relationship is in totally uncharted waters. It is not necessarily holed beneath the
waterline, but there are these major challenges and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, has talked about an emergency mindset
being required.
So I think, first of all, the Europeans have to increase their Defense expenditure. This is going to be really difficult at a time when European
electorates are worried about cost of living and energy costs and health costs and so on.
And secondly, the European governments have to explain to their electorates why this is necessary and then finally, Europeans have to try in the face
of this extraordinary, strange negotiating policy that the US administration seems to have adopted to rebuild a load-bearing relationship
between London and Washington, between Brussels and Washington.
We've got Sir Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister going to Washington next week, hoping to act as a bridge. We have the new British Ambassador in
Washington, Peter Mandelson, a former senior Labour politician. It would be interesting to see how he can get on there.
But this is all going to be extremely difficult, and it has made more difficult, as your correspondent was saying just now, by the way, that
Trump seems to be starting the negotiations by giving the Kremlin everything they want, breaking the relationship between the US and Europe,
and allowing Russia to keep some or all of the territory it has captured in Ukraine, allowing Russia to dictate terms that NATO -- that Ukraine can't
join NATO.
[16:10:23]
This is an extraordinary way to go about a negotiation.
NEWTON: Ambassador Turner, you've outlined the problem quite well. I think -- I continually ask of European officials and I ask you, okay, it is okay
to have an emergency mindset. When is that actually going to get to engagement? They need to do something and they need to do it now.
Do you believe that Keir Starmer will be the person to say, we are starting here. we are starting with committing British troops on the ground in
Ukraine, and perhaps we can change the tone and tenor of this conversation.
TURNER: I think that the Europeans do need to step up to the plate and show that they are serious about committing troops and money to defending
Ukraine. This is going to be very difficult.
We heard Sergey Lavrov today saying Russia would not accept any foreign troops as a peacekeeping force inside Ukraine. Now, just because Sergey
Lavrov says that doesn't mean it can't happen and Russia is going to have to make compromises as well in these negotiations, but it is difficult to
see the landing zone, even if we do get UK, German, maybe French, Polish troops, possibly Swedish troops, we heard, who are prepared to go to
Ukraine to uphold a peace there.
How are you going to get that far? How are you going to have a landing zone between Ukraine and Russia when for a peace deal, when Ukraine is
viscerally opposed to rewarding Russia with land for having invaded Ukraine and Russia, they have been dragged into this conflict by Vladimir Putin,
who has sacrificed hundreds of thousands of Russians in addition to slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and he has to come away
from this conflict looking like a winner.
So where that leaves any possible peace deal is hard to predict, and I think we are going to see Europe frantically trying to build bridges with
the US, frantically trying to come up with some concrete security assurances it can give Ukraine, but the precedents are not good.
We've seen that Russia has an absolutely cast iron tradition of breaking every agreement it enters into from the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 to the
Treaty it signed with Ukraine in 1997, the Partnership and Cooperation Treaty, under which it promised never to invade Ukraine and to recognize
Ukraine's boundaries.
So, of course, Ukraine will want that cast iron security guarantees.
NEWTON: As you said, that is the whole ballgame, as they say here in the United States. It is those security guarantees.
Leigh Turner, really appreciate your perspective. Thanks so much.
Now, Russia launched an extensive drone attack on Ukraine just hours before those talks in Saudi Arabia. Here, you can see smoke rising over Kyiv
following that attack. Ukraine's Air Force says Russia launched a total of 176 drones. The Air Force says it shot down more than a hundred of them,
while most others were lost from radar without doing any harm.
Now, Russia has been hitting Ukraine with near-daily aerial attacks as of late.
Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv and in the last hour, he heard air defenses firing to the sound of those drones. I want you to take a listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Let me just pause, let you hear that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: And Nick Paton Walsh is with me now.
It is really a fairly depressing scene there, given everything that was going on in Riyadh. I see you looking over your shoulder again and I ask
you, at this hour, with Ukrainians still under attack from Russia, how do you measure their resolve, given everything that they see going on around
them and excluding them quite frankly.
WALSH: Yes, it is a very sobering reminder that Ukraine, regardless of sort of the rapprochement that we saw in Riyadh between the United States and
Russia and the constant talk of peace talks here, that Ukraine is still under bombardment every single night.
And in fact, just while you were talking, we've been hearing some more distant echoes, and of course, as you mentioned, about half an hour ago,
much closer, the air defenses working.
Clearly, a continued assault on the capital here. But last night, as you mentioned, 176 drones fired at Ukraine, close to some of the record
figures, but a sign of the persistent bombardment happening here in an area where Ukraine and Russia Envoy of the Trump administration, General Keith
Kellogg, may be expected in the coming day or so. So, a startling backdrop to all of this.
[16:15:07]
The Riyadh Summit, yes, I mean, certainly a bid there for Russia to cast itself as a peer power to the United States, to get the negotiations one-
on-one with Washington that it has long sought, and that the Biden administration denied it. I mean, they didn't even speak to the Kremlin
since the start of the full on invasion in 2022.
But here, they were able to talk about beefing up their diplomatic presence in Moscow and Washington. Diplomats that were expelled by the West by
Washington because of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom with a weapons grade nerve agent and tit-for-tat expulsions followed from
Moscow.
The reasoning here was they wanted to increase and improve the functionality of their relationship, but I am sure there will be some in
Russia who view this meeting as essentially vindication of their narrative, their false narrative, that they are being sort of under potential
onslaught from NATO trying to take Ukraine under its umbrella. And that was, they say, falsely, the justification for the invasion in 2022.
The Ukraine part of that, the justification of the Trump administration for holding these talks, well, that appears to have been -- going to be given
to separate negotiating teams. It was clearly part of these discussions, but they appear to have been dominated more by the rehabilitation of the
US-Russian relationship, something which began two weeks ago with the Russian decision to sort of spontaneously release American prisoner, Marc
Fogel from their custody.
And we've had this whirlwind where many began to think, possibly Trump and Putin might even indeed meet in the days ahead. That wasn't a clean result
from this Riyadh Summit. And in fact, there is no indication that it is imminent.
But there was an angry reaction from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who simply said, look, you're clearly talking about Ukraine
without Ukraine, I paraphrase here, and he said he would be canceling his meeting or his trip tomorrow to Saudi Arabia, pre-planned, unconnected.
But I think many view the coincidence there is perhaps Ukraine hoping they might be around for the backend of the diplomacy. That US-Russia Summit is
now over, Zelenskyy is not going. The Trump Envoy to Ukraine, Kellogg, is due here pretty soon. He will be potentially outlining parts of the bones
of this peace plan to the Ukrainians, but it has been a whirlwind two weeks across Europe where the American guarantee of European security is being
questioned by the Pentagon chief.
We've had the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, call the United States' key western democratic allies, totalitarians who are afraid
of their own voters. A lot of things have been turned on their head. And what I think out of Riyadh, we saw a bid by three of the more powerful
Trump aides, Cabinet members, to try and steady the ship, to tell Ukraine it is important in peace talks, to remind Europe they are seminal to this
as well.
It is remarkable quite how much the world has changed in just the last 14 days -- Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, Nick and in some ways, even worse than Ukraine could have imagined.
Our Nick Paton Walsh live for us in Kyiv. Appreciate it.
Now the Trump administration is reinstating government workers who manage nuclear weapons. We will talk to a former US Energy Secretary about the
indiscriminate cuts to his former agency.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:20:49]
NEWTON: Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company has released the latest version of its AI model. The company claims Grok 3 can outperform
competitors from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and DeepSeek. It is also, though more expensive. People with a premium X subscription means they are already
paying will have access to it for $40.00 a month. That's twice what other US companies charge.
China's DeepSeek offers no paid plans.
Clare Duffy is in New York to hopefully explain all of this to us. I think what I am most interested in is what seems to be its competitive advantage,
if any. I mean, how is it different from all of the other language models?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Paula, what all of the big AI companies are trying to do right now is to create these advanced reasoning
capabilities, the ability for their models to think through and answer more complex, longer questions and this is xAI's entry into that category.
The company said that Grok 3 is going to have new features like the advanced reasoning capability that it calls Big Brain, advanced web
searching, potentially a new voice capability that should be coming in the coming weeks and these are all features that we have seen from other AI
labs.
Now, Grok 3 supposedly outperforms, as you said, models from OpenAI, Gemini, DeepSeek, Anthropic, but those claims haven't been independently
verified and we didn't hear how the model compares to other top reasoning models like OpenAI's O3 Mini and DeepSeek R1. The comparison was to other
models from those companies.
I will say too that Grok, you know, Elon Musk has positioned this as sort of philosophically and tonally different from some of the other models. He
is referred to Grok as the anti-woke AI chatbot.
And so I think in many ways, he is hoping that the platform is going to continue to perform just because users like the way that it speaks to them
better than some of the models from these other companies that maybe are more careful about the sort of safety features on those models.
NEWTON: Well, it will be interesting to see just what the uptake is on this one, especially given that he has also made a bid, I guess, now rejected
for ChatGPT, which would be a direct competitor.
Clare Duffy for us. Appreciate it.
Now Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, meanwhile, is continuing to burrow its US Federal agencies. Sources say Michelle King,
the acting head of Social Security Administration resigned after refusing to share data with them. The agency provides pensions and disability
payments to more than 70 million Americans.
The Trump administration scrambled this weekend, in fact, also to reinstate key workers at the Energy Department, given what they had included there.
They say that they at first fired 300 people, but then they also said that that number was closer to 50.
Now, we are told that the workers were abruptly let go, even though some actually oversee nuclear weapons and how they are designed and inspected.
Ernest Moniz was the US Energy Secretary in the Obama administration. He joins us now from Boston. Good to have you here.
You know, you have warned for years that the US needs to modernize, safeguard its nuclear infrastructure, safeguard that nuclear stockpile, and
it will be expensive. It will also require expertise.
What do you see as the effects of this recent shakeup, even though you know the details are disputed.
ERNEST MONIZ FORMER US ENERGY SECRETARY IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Well, first let me say that I think most people, frankly, in the united states
and many in the government do not realize that about half of the budget of the Department of Energy is used to maintain our nuclear weapons, to design
them, to take them apart, put them back together to assure that nuclear materials internationally are under good, good control to keep our nuclear
Navy projecting itself across the globe.
So when the firing of well over 300 people from that group was announced, we were very, very concerned because, as you say, we are right now in the
midst of a need to modernize the nuclear weapons system and in particular, the facilities at the Department of Energy are very old. They go way back
into the Cold War.
[16:25:10]
So, it is expensive, and it needs real expertise in our laboratories, in our facilities and at DoE headquarters where the federal workforce has to
oversee all of this activity.
NEWTON: Are you worried about the damage already done? I mean, the Trump administration argues that these are administrative staff, and yet it must
be difficult to recruit and retain this kind of expertise in the first place.
MONIZ: You're absolutely correct. It is obvious that our universities, for example, do not give degrees in nuclear weapons. So these are all people
who are trained. The Department of Energy is the repository really for nuclear security knowledge in the United States and my concern is that even
though, most of the positions that were dismissed, the people who were dismissed from those positions have been called back.
There is clearly a lot of uncertainty in the future and we could very well see earlier retirements. These are people who are quite attractive in the
private sector. We have a major Defense establishment for example, uh, and these people, I think, are very patriotic and dedicated to what they are
doing in terms of maintaining safety and security of our nuclear stockpile, of our nuclear materials.
And so I think we have to essentially rebuild confidence in this group that we are in this for many decades in terms of rebuilding the infrastructure
and maintaining without nuclear testing, I might add for 35 years, almost 35 years these very, very destructive weapons if they had to be used.
DEAN: Yes, which if we all needed the reminder, it poses an existential threat to all of us, potentially.
I do want to get to what is in the news today. You know, in terms of Russia perhaps resuming what are more fulsome diplomatic relations with the United
States, maybe even across business lines. Russia itself has crossed -- trampled the red line when it comes to nuclear threats. You've said that
yourself.
Do you have concerns that the Trump administration is actually now rewarding Russia for its belligerent behavior on the nuclear front?
MONIZ: Well, of course, there are many, many issues around the resumed discussions with Russia, and I won't get into the dynamics with regard to
Europe and Ukraine.
But on the nuclear issue specifically, on the one hand, Russia and President Putin have clearly crossed a number of red lines in terms of
saber rattling with nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear weapon state. This is a very complex dynamic.
But on the other hand, I also have to remind everyone that for many decades, we did maintain the nuclear peace precisely because of discussions
and negotiations with the Soviet Union first and then post-Cold War with Russia.
So somehow we have to be able to chew gum and walk at the same time. That is, we need to have dialogue on the shared responsibilities between Russia
and the United States and I would add, China increasingly in that dynamic so that we can pursue our mutual interest in maintaining nuclear weapons in
a safe and secure way, making sure they're not used by accident, if you like and to maintain the nuclear nonproliferation regime globally, which
depends upon our acting responsibly.
NEWTON: Yes, I would say a lot at stake there, as you outlined. I am not sure that Russia is actually walking the walk on that right now, but we
will continue to keep an eye on it, especially as it ramps up, apparently, any diplomacy there with the United States.
Ernest Moniz always good to have you. Thanks so much.
MONIZ: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now, thousands of investors in Argentina are furious after a cryptocurrency promoted by President Javier Milei said its share price --
saw its share price soar and then tank.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:32:38]
NEWTON: Hello, I'm Paula Newton, and there's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when we'll tell you why the president of Argentina is facing
impeachment calls after plugging a cryptocurrency online, and investigators at Toronto's international airport are trying to figure out why a passenger
jet flipped upside down.
We'll bring you the latest but before that, it's the headlines this hour.
Top American and Russian officials held talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says both
countries will appoint teams to negotiate a resolution to the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meantime, was not invited to the
talks. He warns his country will not give in to what he calls Russia's ultimatums.
We're learning new details about the next hostage release from Gaza. Hamas says it will return the dead bodies of four Israelis Thursday, including
the youngest hostages, Kfir and Ariel Bibas. Israel has not publicly confirmed their deaths. Hamas says it will also release six living hostages
Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Pope Francis has been diagnosed with pneumonia in both of his lungs. The Vatican says this latest health complication poses a, quote, "complex
picture for treatment." The 88-year-old pontiff was initially admitted to the hospital last week with bronchitis.
Returning to our top story now, the U.S. and Russia agree to begin restoring diplomatic relations. This coming out of talks in Saudi Arabia
that lasted for more than four hours. The U.S. Secretary of State says the delegations agreed to work on ending the war in Ukraine. Trump was asked
about European troops potentially being stationed in Ukraine after the war. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you support stationing European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine as part of this peace deal?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they want to do that, that's great. I'm all for it. If they want to do that, I think that's --
that would be fine. I mean, I know France has mentioned it, others have mentioned it, U.K. has mentioned it. But, yes, well, if we have a peace
deal. I think having troops over there for -- from the standpoint of Europe. We won't have to put any over there because, you know, we're very
far away. But having troops over there would be fine. I would not object to it at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:35:01]
NEWTON: Kevin Liptak has been monitoring all of this, and he joins us now.
I mean, Kevin, what do you make of this? Because Europe would seem to indicate that, look, you're the one who put this on the table in the first
place. Ukraine wants security guarantees, and now you're saying, fine, as if it's just an add on, like we're going to have dessert at the end of a
meal.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, I think it all goes to show sort of how agnostic President Trump has been about what
exactly the conclusion of this war that he has been pressing for will actually look like. He hasn't actually specified what he wants to see as
part of that deal beyond the fighting coming to an end. So you hear a reporter there at Mar-a-Lago raise this prospect of European peacekeeping
troops, and the president says he's all for it.
And I think, you know, it's notable because these aren't American troops. And so as long as, in his view, Europe is sort of shouldering what he
thinks should be its fair share of keeping the peace in Ukraine, he comes out in support of it.
But I think there was also a notable moment just a few moments ago when a different reporter asked if he would support the idea that has been pressed
by Russia of new elections in Ukraine. And he went on to talk about President Zelenskyy having a low approval, saying that cities have been
decimated there, and saying that yes, he did support this Russian press to have new elections in the Ukraine.
Of course they have been postponed because of martial law there. But the fear that you hear, including among Republicans here in Washington, is that
Russia could use those elections to meddle to try and install a puppet of their own regime in Kyiv. So you hear the president here kind of going
through point by point the potential outcomes of a ceasefire and peace talks with Russia sort of going along with whatever the latest suggestion
is.
But I do think its notable, he said, you know, after speaking to Marco Rubio and other members of his team who were in Riyadh today, saying that
now he says he's much more confident in a deal coming together with the Russians that would eventually bring this war to an end.
NEWTON: Yes, it almost seems as if he's already skipped to the end of this whereas the beginning and the middle much tougher. We don't even know if
we're on a road to a ceasefire, let alone a peace deal.
Kevin Liptak, thanks for monitoring that for us. Appreciate it.
Now, Argentina's President Javier Milei is heading to Washington this week, in part to meet with Elon Musk. Milei has previously claimed that Musk is a
fan of his famed chainsaw approach to slashing government jobs and spending. Milei is mired, though, in a scandal back home for promoting a
little known cryptocurrency called $LIBRA. Its price soared after his endorsement and then collapsed.
Cecilia Dominguez joins us now from Buenos Aires.
I think bottom line is everyone is wondering, is this really a risk to him or his presidency, given what he's accused of?
CECILIA DOMINGUEZ, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, Argentina's president, as you said, Javier Milei is definitely facing a political
controversy that includes calls for impeachment after promoting a cryptocurrency whose name is $LIBRA and whose value rose and then collapsed
within hours.
It all started when President Milei posted a link to the $LIBRA cryptocurrency project and wrote that it was a private initiative dedicated
to boosting Argentina's economy. Within about three hours, the cryptocurrency saw a sharp rise in its price only to crash later causing
losses for thousands of investors as observed on trading application sites.
Hours later, the president deleted the post and said that he had no ties to the project and that he was not aware of the details of the project that's
why he decided not to continue spreading it. After that, the presidency announced an investigation into the matter, which involves the Anti-
corruption Office.
The news, as you can imagine, has caused a major scandal in Argentina especially because of the reactions. The opposition is calling for
impeachment, as I said, and also is accusing Milei of promoting a scam, an allegation that the presidency has denied.
There is also an ongoing investigation, which is very important right now to shed some light on what happened. In fact, because of these reactions
that I mentioned, President Milei sat for an interview last night with a local news outlet and said that he has nothing to hide. He has not made any
money with this project and that he is not afraid of any impeachment threats -- Paula.
NEWTON: All right. We will continue to follow this, especially as he appears in the United States in the coming days. Thanks so much. Appreciate
it.
Now, coming up, we were upside down hanging like bats. Passengers recount their terrifying experience on board the Delta flight, which crashed and
flipped over at the Toronto airport. We'll have that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:43:08]
NEWTON: Investigations are underway at Toronto Pearson Airport to understand what led to a Delta flight crash -- that led to a Delta flight
that crashed, caught fire and flipped over while attempting to land.
Now miraculously all of the 80 passengers and crew survived Monday's crash. Delta says that of the 21 people taken to hospital, most, in fact only two
now, remain in hospital and most have been released.
Jason Carroll has our story now from Toronto.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New video capturing the shocking moment a Delta commuter jet crash landed and flipped upside
down Monday at Toronto's Pearson Airport.
DEBORA FLINT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, GREATER TORONTO AIRPORTS AUTHORITY: The crew of Delta Flight 4819 heroically led passengers to safety. I thank each
and every one of these heroes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave everything. Drop it. Come on.
CARROLL: Those heroes swiftly and efficiently evacuated all 76 passengers off the aircraft after it crashed. As they crawled one by one out of the
plane passengers helped each other along the way.
PETE CARLSON, SURVIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH: You could see kind of row by row or area by area people were checking one another out, making decisions
about whether we would help one another with their straps, or if by doing that, would they be landing on somebody else?
CARROLL: One passenger said all seemed normal as the aircraft was on its final descent, but then suddenly a hard landing.
JOHN NELSON, SURVIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH: When we hit, it was just a super hard, like hit the ground and the plane went sideways. And I believe we
skidded like on our side and then flipped over on our back. Where we ended up, there was like a big fireball.
PETE KOUKOV, SURVIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH: There was no like real indication of anything and then, yes, we hit the ground and we were sideways. And then
we were upside down, hanging like bats.
CARROLL: In the few days leading up to the crash, Toronto received more snow than it had the entire previous winter.
[16:45:03]
But officials say it's too early to answer if that was a factor in the crash.
FLINT: This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate on what caused the crash.
CARROLL: Canadian officials say 21 people on board were injured, none were life threatening. And on Tuesday afternoon, officials said only two
remained in the hospital.
The incident comes as the aviation industry is still reeling from recent accidents involving an American Airlines commuter jet and a military
chopper near Washington, D.C., a medevac jet in Philadelphia and a Bering Air Flight near Nome, Alaska. Passengers on board Flight 4819 say it's
remarkable everyone survived.
CARLSON: I think the most powerful part of today was there was just people. No countries, no nothing. It was just people together helping each other.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Thanks to Jason Carroll for that report.
Now, the U.S. investment firm Bain Capital is broadening its reach in the biotech sphere. The company's senior adviser spoke with Richard Quest about
investing under the current Trump administration.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Japan's economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter. GDP expanded 2.8 percent year over year, blowing past an expected 1 percent
rise. Tourism is in fact contributing to the growth. Last year, Japan saw a record 36.8 million visitors. That's a 174 percent increase from just the
decade earlier.
Now, the crowds at some destinations have led to complaints of overtourism. Officials tried to combat the problem near Mount Fuji last year, erecting a
view blocking barrier, charging a tourist tax and capping the daily number of climbers.
Richard Quest hosted a panel in Tokyo earlier this week. They discussed how Japan is handling the influx of visitors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOJI TAKAHASHI, EXECUTIVE SENIOR VP, JAPAN NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANIZATION: Many people are concentrated on the big cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka.
But at the same time, it made a problem of over tourism. And many people are concentrated on the particular place and the particular time. So a
little bit friction between the travelers and the local residents.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: But that is an example of success.
[16:50:03]
That is the downside of being successful, isn't it? How do you cope with it?
TAKAHASHI: Yes. So, some way we have, the best way is encouraging the foreign tourists going to the rural areas, not only the big cities, and
also the economical optimization by introduction of the tax or entry fee or regulation.
MICHAEL DYKES, APAC MARKET MANAGEMENT VP, EXPEDIA GROUP: Well, let's be fair to Japan as well. It's not just a Japan problem. Overtourism is a
global issue. I think 80 percent of travelers go to just 10 percent of tourist destinations. And so one of the things that we've been doing,
certainly in partnership with GNTO, of course, is marketing these alternative destinations, for sure, but also thinking about detour tourism.
So if you have someone who's going to a specific destination, we may market to you to go to a similar but close by location. Example might be let's go
to Fukuoka if you're visiting Tokyo anyway, or if you're going to Phuket in Thailand, I would encourage you to go to Krabi as well. We're seeing 60
percent of our travelers are quite interested in this, what we're calling detour tourism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, Bain Capital is looking to increase its stake in Japan. Earlier this month, the U.S. investment firm announced a deal to shell out
more than $3 billion for Japanese pharmaceutical company Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation.
Richard Quest spoke to Bain Capital's senior adviser Steve Pagliuca after broadening -- about broadening its biotech reach.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE PAGLIUCA, SENIOR ADVISER, BAIN CAPITAL: I think we are in a positive, perfect storm for biotech now. You know, the human genome was mapped about
20 years ago, so that's an incredible dynamic. And, you know what it costs? It costs $2 billion to $3 billion to map the genome. You can now get your
genetic information for $100. So the cost have come down dramatically.
So number one, the genomes are met. Number two, A.I. has come and computing power has increased dramatically. Analytic power has increased
dramatically. You put that together with the understanding of the human body and the genome, you can bring out drugs faster in a better way. And
now we have companies blending A.I. and biotech together, both from a discovery standpoint and also from, will it work in a human standpoint?
QUEST: So where are you focusing? What sort of medications and drugs are you looking at? What is the -- I know that the nirvana in a sense is a
solution for Alzheimer's or any form of deficiency. Brain deficiency.
PAGLIUCA: Really, Bain Capital per see has a very large biotech presence. I also personally invest in biotech as a Bain Capital partner. And biotech
really covers the whole waterfront. So it'll have effects on the central nervous system. It will have effects on hereditary diseases, which you can
go in and edit out. And it will have effects on the heart and the cardiovascular system and cancer, which is a huge killer, as you know.
QUEST: Now one of the advantages of you is that you're global.
PAGLIUCA: Yes.
QUEST: And therefore you can see the relative positions of countries. Europe we know is behind. Would you agree?
PAGLIUCA: Yes.
QUEST: The China is a me, too. And is yet to (INAUDIBLE). Is the U.S. still the innovator?
PAGLIUCA: I think the U.S. is still the innovator for a number of reasons. One, it's a very large market for the products when they first come out.
Two, in Boston, they learned a lesson in Boston. Thirty years ago they lost high tech to California. Boston decided they were not going to lose
biotech. The government came in with $2 billion of financing funds to grow biotech. It is now the center of the universe. Boston is the Silicon Valley
of biotech. The ecosystem is incredible. The great professors are there. The great companies are there. Companies like Vertex is worth over $100
billion now.
QUEST: So -- because I was with President Macron in France, at his A.I. summit, and he basically says that the task is for Europe to catch up. The
task is for Europe to become a player. And I would say this part of the world as well. Is that feasible?
PAGLIUCA: Well, they're going to have to change a lot of things. It is much easier to have business formation in the U.S. It's much easier to not have
all the regulations. When you're in Europe, it's supposed to be a common market, but there are really 27 different sets of rules. When I talk to
folks in Europe, they have to apply for a license in Germany, a license in -- you have to even go to court to get a business started.
So there's a long way from being, let's say, a, a monetary union, you know, versus a real common market and they're not the common market stage yet.
The U.S. has that huge advantage.
QUEST: When you look at what the current administration is doing in terms of deregulation, my guess is, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's sort of a
split feeling that you have. On the one hand, one likes the idea of deregulation, it will release the animal spirits, but there's a purpose for
regulation and that's to stop things going off the rails.
PAGLIUCA: Absolutely. You definitely need regulation. You need it for biotech. You need it for A.I.
[16:55:02]
But I think it's gone too far where it has become checking the checkers, checking the checkers and making things take way too long. So hopefully the
current administration will strip some of that away and we can still bring out safe and efficacious products in a timely manner. Much more timely than
having the FDA take forever to get them approved or to get them out of the market.
QUEST: Do you worry that what we're seeing is throwing the baby out with the bathwater in many of the quite strong decisions taken in the early
days?
PAGLIUCA: You know, I can't comment on this. It's very its very early. Obviously, the election was won. Consumers wanted change. You know, the
voters wanted change. Whether it's too much change at that time will tell. But it's definitely shaking things up, for sure.
QUEST: It is. And you're feeling that, are you?
PAGLIUCA: You definitely feel it. Every day there's a different tariff and a different plan. There is --
QUEST: How would -- how do you handle it? You just sort of work your way through it?
PAGLIUCA: You know, the beauty about the United States is the people can triumph over the government. So we've had, you know, right-wing
governments, left-wing governments, the people in the United States have a way of operating business. It's business friendly in general. There's a
heavy work ethic. So we can kind of navigate, most people can navigate around the different political situations.
And, you know, this one is really shaking things up for sure. So we'll see. It remains to be seen what happens.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And we will be right back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Well, they didn't move much, but U.S. markets did end the session in the green. The S&P 500 rallied to a fresh record close, gaining nearly a
quarter of a percent. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq, as you can see there, edged into positive territory. I do mean edge after little movement.
Intel helped pull the Nasdaq higher as shares popped 16 percent after the "Wall Street Journal" said the chip maker could be broken up and bought by
TSMC and Broadcom. TSMC is interested in Intel's factories, while Broadcom might make a play for its product business.
And we'll continue to keep an eye on that for you, as well as developments as the president was speaking at Mar-a-Lago.
That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for us. I'm Paula Newton. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour President Trump follows through on a signature campaign promise. Just moments ago, he signed an executive order to expand access to IVF
treatments, making them more affordable. I'm going to talk to the senator from Alabama who influenced his decision momentarily.
Plus, chaos in the New York City mayor's office. Eric Adams headed for a public faceoff with the state's governor over whether Adams will be removed
from power. The fallout ahead.
And breaking this hour a big victory in court for DOGE.
END
