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Quest Means Business

Trump Threatens E.U. in First Cabinet Meeting; Hamas Expected to Release Bodies of Four Israeli Hostages; Zelenskyy U.S.-Ukraine Minerals Deal a Framework; Hamas to Turn Over Four Bodies of Israeli Hostages; Bezos Makes "Significant Shift" to WAPO Opinions Section; Tech Giant Nvidia Reports Fourth Quarter Earnings; Eli Lilly Announces $27 Billion Investment in U.S. Manufacturing; Body Placed Next to Passengers on Qatar Airways Flight. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 26, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:11]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: You see the market there taking a slide towards the end of the day. I mean, nothing dramatic, but certainly

investors starting to worry about what kind of tariffs we may see in Europe and beyond. Those are the markets and these are the main events.

We were saying, Trump's newest target for tariff threats, the European Union.

And at any moment now, Hamas is expected to release the bodies of four Israeli hostages. We will have updates for you throughout the hour.

And what of all is happening in Wall Street, given NVIDIA. We will have NVIDIA earnings right after the bell. You will want to stay tuned for that.

Live from New York, it is Wednesday, February 26th. I am Paula Newton, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Good evening.

And we begin this hour with breaking news.

At any moment now we are expecting Hamas to hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages to the IDF. Now, the four men, all Israeli, died in Gaza.

And when we get word of their release, we will bring that story to you as we continue to watch the feeds.

Again, it was supposed to be happening this hour. We have not had news of it yet, but we will bring that to you as soon as we have it.

Now, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened the E.U. with a 25 percent tariff during the first full meeting of his new Cabinet. The event was open

to the media and touched upon a wide range of topics.

The President said tariffs on Canada and Mexico will now take effect in April, and that an announcement on Europe was coming soon. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will be 25 percent, generally speaking, and that will be on cars and all other things. And

European Union is a different case than Canada, a different kind of case. They've really taken advantage of us in a different way.

Let's be honest. The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, Trump also made clear that it will be up to Europe to defend Ukraine's security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much -- we are going to have Europe do that because it is in -- you know, we are talking

about Europe, it is their next door neighbor.

NATO, you can forget about. That's been -- I think that's probably the reason the whole thing started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, Trump also touted his new gold card plan, which would give wealthy foreigners a path to citizenship. Trump says he expects the cards

to be in high demand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: With the $5 million, you know that's a path to citizenship. So that's going to be its sort of a green card plus, and it is a path to

citizenship. We are going to call it the Gold Card. And I think it is going to be very treasured.

I think it is going to do very well. And we are going to start selling hopefully in about two weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Kevin Liptak is at the White House and you were there as this Cabinet meeting was ongoing, and look, a lot of news to get to. But it

really was a press conference at the end of the day featuring not just the president, but Elon Musk and with a few others chiming in, but what was so

interesting to me was to see those Cabinet members that were actually like members of an audience, maybe even props.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, they were kind of like set dressing in some ways, which is interesting because in the first Trump

administration, what he did at these Cabinet meetings is he went around the table and had all of them kind of tick through what they were doing, but

also lavish praise on him.

You didn't see that happen this time. The only person he actually called on specifically to make a presentation was Elon Musk, which I think sort of

tells you everything you need to know about where the center of power lies in this administration.

It is not around the table with the Senate confirmed members of the Cabinet, it was the man in the corner, the billionaire, Trump's largest

campaign donor, who had a lot to say about his efforts to strip out waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government.

And I think just the visuals and the atmospherics in some way told the story here. He was not, you know, within the strict apparatus of the

Cabinet which was around the table. He was sitting off to the side in between a couple of lower level aides.

He was not necessarily in the light, the television light that they had brought into the room. He was kind of operating in half shadow, which sort

of speaks to the secrecy that DOGE is operating.

He wasn't wearing a suit. He was not following the rules of Washington that every other member who was sitting around that table were following.

So I do think it sort of tells you, in a way, how this operation is unfolding. You know, heading into this meeting, there had been some

tensions simmering between some members of the Cabinet and Musk's operation over that e-mail he sent, or that the federal personnel office sent over

the weekend asking federal employees to recount their work weeks or risk termination.

[16:05:10]

Some Cabinet members had pushed back on that, telling their agencies they didn't have to respond. You know, that didn't break out in the meeting

today. We didn't see the tensions sort of open up to the cameras.

In fact, when Trump asked around the table whether anyone was unhappy with what musk was doing, it just generated some polite, maybe some nervous

laughter, he said, you know, maybe there were some people who were dissatisfied, but by and large, everyone was thrilled with what Musk was

doing.

So I think a very telling meeting, a really interesting kind of visual that sort of demonstrated how this administration is working one month in.

NEWTON: Yes, and given the latitude and the power that the president has given Elon Musk, obviously he wanted to make sure that in some way shape or

form, Cabinet and everyone else understood that that will continue, at least for the foreseeable future.

Kevin Liptak, grateful to you.

Now, as we were just saying, Elon Musk spoke to the Cabinet about his push to cut the government's payroll. He defended an e-mail this weekend to

federal workers, where they were told to justify their jobs.

Some agencies told their workers to ignore it. Musk said he was making a simple request.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: To be clear, like the -- I think that e-mail perhaps was best interpreted as a performance review, but

actually it was a pulse check review. Do you have a pulse? Do you have a pulse and two neurons?

So if you have a pulse and two neurons, you can reply to the e-mail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, as Kevin Liptak was just mentioning to us, at one point, the President cut Musk off and jokingly asked his Cabinet to weigh in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hey, Elon, let the cabinet speak just for a second. Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, we will roll him out of here.

Anybody unhappy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: CNN global economic analyst, Rana Foroohar is with me and no doubt you have been going through exactly what happened in that Cabinet meeting

as well.

I mean, I would say in terms of a performance appraisal, Elon Musk himself said that they got it wrong with Ebola prevention and then had to rectify

that.

Certainly, Americans would appreciate his honesty, but I am not sure what kind of a job performance review that would give him.

I do want to get your overall impressions to this, because it really is a complete retooling of government in the United States.

So what were your thoughts?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well. It really is, Paula. I mean, you just summed it up. This is somebody that is a non-governmental

official sitting in on a Cabinet meeting that's being run like an episode of "The Apprentice."

You know, it is really stunning, and it is interesting to me because, one would think that both Trump and Musk are really about commerce. But if you

look at the effect that some of this optical, but also the decisions that are being made by both the President and the way in which the DOGE

operation is being carried out, it is actually for investor confidence.

You know, you're seeing European index, stock indexes rise relative to the U.S. You're seeing -- I mean talk about Tesla. You know Elon Musk's stock

is way down, particularly in Europe thanks to his parading around supporting the AfD.

You know, and I just think that this sense of government as charade is really worrisome. And, you know, when I talk to sources in D.C., I think

that the worry is beginning to become bipartisan. And I think that you're going to see, Republicans in Congress really starting to question, gosh,

what did we sign up for here?

NEWTON: Yes, and you're starting to get that inkling in business as well. I mean, I know a lot of Americans really appreciate what just happened there.

This is what they voted for and this is what they want.

But then if they go back to their jobs and their managers are telling them, look, because of the uncertainty, we are not hiring, we are not investing,

we need to wait to see what happens here. They may feel a little bit differently about it.

I mean, look, Rana, despite the fact they weren't doing it too well in that room, I want to do some math with you because they are claiming that they

can save a trillion dollars. That's what this is all about.

And yet, if you take even just a cursory glance at the budget, you can't really cut anything significant unless you are cutting Medicare, Medicaid,

significant health programs for many Americans; Social Security, what so many Americans live on and then the Defense budget. All of that makes up 60

percent.. So what's left even if DOGE is wildly successful?

FOROOHAR: Well, you just did the math, Paula. There is not a whole lot left. You know, I am frankly skeptical about DOGE efforts and whether or

not it is actually going to have the opposite effect. You know, you're starting to see analysts from big Wall Street firms like Apollo saying,

wait a minute, are literally some of the firings just in the federal government, which has 10 million workers? Is that going to be enough to

cause a recession?

So it is almost having the opposite effect. You're seeing Republican politicians say, wait a minute, you know, we don't want to pass tax cuts at

a time when not only are you not cutting enough spending, you might even be raising spending.

[16:10:10]

So, you know, even the President's own supporters, I think are really questioning the math here as have you.

NEWTON: The other place to question the math are these so-called gold cards, which I know many people in our audience want to hear more about.

Again, math. The President isn't hiding anything here. He is saying, look, if we sell these gold cards, the path to citizenship for five million bucks

a piece, then, look, you know, we can pay down a lot of the debt, but we are not sure that there are that many millionaires in the world who

actually want to come to the United States, and we should add something that was not discussed around the Cabinet table would then have to disclose

everything they own to the IRS.

FOROOHAR: Indeed. Well, you know, one can argue under Trump whether the IRS is going to become political. That's a conversation for another time,

perhaps.

But, you know, this this idea of a gold card, frankly, Paula, it just makes the U.S. seem ever more like an emerging market. You know, this kind of

tact of, hey, oligarchic class, come on in, pay us a certain amount of price of citizenship. This is what small Caribbean nations and you know,

nations that are that are trying to make ends meet tend to do.

This is not something the U.S. has typically done. But frankly, if the U.S. is looking more and more like an emerging market, from political

instability to soaring debt and deficits that are not being contained because of the math that we just talked about to the way in which it is

almost as though Trump and Musk together are turning America into America, Inc., I would say.

We are seeing a country increasingly being run like a company, and it is worrisome.

NEWTON: Yes, and America Inc. would take better care of the books, I would say.

You had Elon Musk saying that America will go bankrupt. But then there was no point -- you know, as you pointed out, there is no matching. You know,

we are going to have very expensive tax cuts. But at the same time, we want to get hold of the -- anyhow, we will continue to follow whatever goes on,

on Capitol Hill with those budget machinations as well.

Rana Foroohar, as always, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Now any moment, the bodies of four Israeli hostages are expected to be released from Gaza. Forensic experts will work to confirm the identities of

the remains. Once that is done, Israel will turn over hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Now, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office says the hostage release will not include, "Hamas ceremonies." It is the last handover scheduled under the

first phase of the ceasefire.

Now, the future of that deal is far from certain.

Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv for us.

And Jeremy, again, another painful time for families here who again, perhaps before the last couple of weeks, would think that forensic

examinations would really just be a technicality. They are not. And on top of their grief, they do have to wait for those results.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right and that's because the body of Shiri Bibas last week was supposed to be handed over alongside those of

her sons, Kfir and Ariel. All three of them were buried today in Southern Israel, but only after Hamas initially handed over the wrong body that did

not match Shiri Bibas' DNA.

It took nearly 48 hours for Hamas to hand over the correct body of Shiri Bibas, who was taken hostage on October 7th alongside her two little

redheaded babies.

Following that, on Saturday, you saw the Hamas release the last living hostages as part of phase one of this ceasefire agreement between Israel

and Hamas. But Israel then threw a wrench into the process, refusing to release 620 Palestinian prisoners who were scheduled to be released on

Saturday, accusing Hamas of humiliating displays of the hostages during the release ceremonies.

It has since been several days of real, agonizing uncertainty in both Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, as people have been awaiting in Israel the

release of those four bodies of hostages and in the West Bank and Gaza, the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been held

without trial or charge.

But today, in the last few hours, in fact, Israel and Hamas have now indeed reached an agreement to see the release this evening of four bodies of

Israeli hostages.

I want to name them out for you. They are: Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mantzur. We will not see any ceremonies on the

Gaza side, at least regarding the release of those four bodies as per the agreement reached today between Israel and Hamas.

Instead, we expect as early as this hour, any minute now, really, that Hamas will hand over those bodies quietly to the International Red Cross

inside of Gaza. They will then be taken to the Kerem Shalom Crossing between Gaza and Israel, where Israeli forensic experts are waiting in

order to verify the identity of those bodies before they are actually taken into Israel.

And so that process is likely to unfold over the course of several hours, and only after Israel has verified that these hostages are indeed who Hamas

says they are, will Israel begin to release those hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

[16:15:38]

But what comes next, Paula, is really more uncertainty. That's because Israel and Hamas have only barely begun to negotiate over what could come

next, whether that is an extension of the first phase of this agreement with additional hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, or

negotiations that could actually lead to phases two and three, which, of course, would involve the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza, the

end of the war, the release of the remaining hostages, and if Israel has its way, it would also mean an end to Hamas rule in Gaza.

And indeed that is and likely will continue to be the major sticking point between these two sides and very difficult to see in this moment right now,

how exactly they get over that impasse, Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, very difficult to see how they go forward with the second phase of this. But in the meantime, we do await that turn over that is

supposed to happen within this hour at 11:16 PM in the evening there in Tel Aviv.

So actually, Jeremy, we are just hearing -- we are just hearing right now that in fact those bodies have been turned over, that the Red Cross is now

confirming that those bodies are on their way.

So we are just listening now that they are on their way to an expected meeting point in order to actually go through with this release. Jeremy, I

think you can go off the air, you're getting information.

DIAMOND: Just to clarify there -- yes, just to clarify there, Paula, what we are learning from the Israeli military right now, I just got this

message saying the Red Cross is on their way to the handover point, meaning they do not yet have the -- confirmed the identities of these hostages, but

they are saying that the Red Cross is on the way to the handover point.

It is a little bit unclear from the wording of this statement whether or not that means that the Red Cross has those bodies, as we were hearing

already, that they were on their way to that point or whether they in fact have the bodies and they are on the way to the point to hand them over to

the Israeli military.

So just a little bit of caution here as, as we are seeing quite a different choreography than what we usually do. Usually we have eyes on either living

hostages or on the caskets carrying those hostages before they are handed over to the Red Cross.

Tonight, of course we do not because of this agreement over the ceremonies, so a little bit of uncertainty, but we know that the Red Cross is at least

on their way. That means that this process has gotten started and again, that Israel will want to first verify the identity of those hostage bodies

before they confirm to their families that they are indeed, in Israeli hands.

NEWTON: Yes, Jeremy, I am grateful for the clarity as we continue to watch this and actually get some precise information.

Jeremy Diamond for us, we will continue to keep in contact with you throughout the hour. Appreciate it.

Still to come for us, it is now confirmed, Donald Trump says vol Zelenskyy will come to the White House on Friday to sign a deal on natural resources.

We will have reaction from Kyiv next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:21]

NEWTON: U.S. President Donald Trump says his Ukrainian counterpart will come to the White House on Friday to sign a deal on natural resources. The

U.S. wants access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals. The deal is part of wider negotiations to end Russia's invasion, and involves a reconstruction

fund for Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists the proposed deal is a framework. He wants to discuss it further with President Trump in person.

Now, a draft of the text obtained by CNN shows it doesn't provide Kyiv with explicit security guarantees.

Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv now, and I am asking you to do maybe the impossible to just clarify, given the press conference that we had with

Zelenskyy earlier and what we heard in the Cabinet meeting with Donald Trump on exactly where are we here? And is President Zelenskyy expected to

arrive in Washington on Friday?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I will answer your last question, yes, Trump has confirmed that now two days in a

row. So that's pretty clear he thinks that's going to happen and Zelenskyy indeed talked about going. So yes, we can expect them to meet I think in

Washington on Friday.

Zelenskyy even talked about going to London after that visit, so that seems on track. The question is what state will the deal be in when they meet? It

looks pretty good as well, frankly. Trump again sounding positive, and Zelenskyy with a press conference here sounding some queries about this.

But ultimately this comes down to the very two separate perceptions about what this deal is about. Trump says this is about repaying the United

States for debt incurred by Ukraine from the Biden administration's grants that were given to Ukraine and Kyiv.

Now, that is entirely different perception to Ukraine and Zelenskyy, who says this is never going to be about -- he won't allow $0.10 of this deal

to be about reimbursing the United States because, correctly, he states, these were grants. That's the first dispute.

The second is whether this deal can indeed contain security guarantees. Well, Trump has said in the Cabinet meeting he held that there will be no

security guarantees, but broadly, very much was his terminology beyond very much, sorry, that may be a nod towards what he then went on to say, which

is security guarantees will be provided by European powers, maybe with the United States providing some kind of logistical assistance.

Zelenskyy was clear he needed to see security guarantees, and he will be bringing those up when he meets Trump. The draft of the document that we've

seen, well, the language around that and the point 10 that Zelenskyy spoke about in his press conference, well, that's pretty loose.

Zelenskyy said he was encouraged by that point, but it basically says the U.S. is going to support Ukraine in trying to get security guarantees for

itself, very different to actually providing it themselves.

The document also refers to itself as a framework for a reconstruction and investment fund in Ukraine, but it basically says it is going to leave all

the complex parts of that deal to a fund agreement, work on which will begin as soon as this first framework is signed.

So a lot of it kicked down the road. Look, ultimately we are dealing with two very different viewpoints here. Ukraine urgently needing security

guarantees from what used to be its main ally and financial backer, the United States, and wanting to be sure that if it signs up to giving up part

of its mineral wealth in the future, it is getting something out of it now.

Trump, very keen on the idea that it is no longer going to be beholden to providing security to Ukraine, and that this deal is going to be repaying

some of the money, which Trump sees as debt, which was given as grants by the Biden administration.

Those two paths are pretty irreconcilable, and so this document is trying to find a way between them. It seems to do that reasonably well that both

sides are talking about it positively. And the meeting on Friday is what it really all boils down to.

If Trump and Zelenskyy can forge a relationship, if Zelenskyy can make Trump feel that he is somebody who wants to help, if he can try and pull

Trump slightly away from what seems to be the orbit of Vladimir Putin we've seen him slipping into over the past weeks, that's ultimately going to be a

huge victory for here in Kyiv.

[16:25:16]

But none of it is assured, and frankly, I think for many in Ukraine, the fact that what we've been hearing from the White House two days in a row is

consistent has been a huge relief, and the idea that this Friday meeting is going to happen is also very important, too. What comes of it, we will have

to wait and see -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, clearly, President Zelenskyy betting that if he is in the White House, that he will have better luck in terms of, as you said,

bringing the President back into Ukraine's orbit.

Nick Paton Walsh for us in Kyiv. Appreciate it.

Now Jeff Bezos is giving "The Washington Post" opinion section a makeover. From now on, he says it will focus on personal liberties and free markets.

We will explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: Hello, I am Paula Newton, and there is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when we will be digging into the biggest earnings release of the

season, NVIDIA and Zepbound maker, Eli Lilly just announced a huge investment in U.S. manufacturing that's during a White House visit. It is

the latest company trying to build goodwill with President Trump.

Before that, though, the headlines this hour.

President Trump held the first official Cabinet meeting of his new administration. He said tariffs on Mexico and Canada are still in the

works, though the rollout date has been moved to April.

He also confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to visit the White House Friday. Zelenskyy is expected to sign an agreement on

natural resources and reconstruction.

Actress, Michelle Trachtenberg has died at the age of 39. She is known for her childhood roles in films like "Harriet the Spy" and shows like "Gossip

Girl" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Police say she was found unresponsive in her New York City apartment, and there appears to be no criminal intent.

Authorities say millions of dollars' worth of Nike shoes have been stolen in a series of heists in California and Arizona. These have been targeting

freight trains running through the desert regions connecting the two states. At least 10 robberies have been reported since last March.

And we want to go back to our top story. The bodies of four Israeli hostages are expected to be released from Gaza any moment. The Israeli

Prime Minister's office says the Red Cross is headed to the meeting point, where it will receive the remains once their identities are verified,

Israel will turn over hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. It's the last exchange scheduled under the first phase of the ceasefire. The future of

any deal, though, is now uncertain.

Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and he joins me now.

You've been watching this with us for this entire first phase, significantly in the last few days, as Israel has decided to halt the

release of those Palestinian prisoners. So if we do get through this in the next few hours and the days, where do you see this going next? Because you

had said you were quite pessimistic to see anything happening in terms of there being a deal on a second phase.

AARON DAVID MILLER, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Yes. Yes, I was. Pessimism or optimism, I'm just making my

assessment based on the realities I ascribe to both Hamas and the current government of Israel. And thanks for having me. Look, I think the first

phase quite unexpectedly, I think, went much smoother than anybody would have anticipated. I don't think there was ever a sense on the part of the

Biden administration, those who negotiated a deal, that there was any real specificity or a great deal of hope, that you would actually get through a

second phase.

And the government of Israel has, frankly, I think, given Hamas three choices. Number one, capitulate, expel your senior leadership. Stop the

war. Number two, extend the first phase. Hostages for prisoners and the surging of humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Or three, if you reject one

and two, we're going to resume the war.

And I would bet, and I don't like making predictions, Paula. But I bet, given the fact that Ramadan, holy month, is to occur at the end of February

or early March, when Saudi clerics sight the first new moon, that Hamas will probably agree to extend that first phase. I think Hamas wants a quiet

Ramadan for their constituencies. Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Beyond that, I think all bets are off.

I just think the lift of freeing all the hostages and ending the war and the Israeli commitment to withdraw their forces from Gaza and ending the

war, I think neither side is willing and able to do that.

NEWTON: It would be something to at least be able to extend, as you said, that first phase giving relief certainly to Palestinians in Gaza and

obviously some hope to the families of the hostages. But do you believe that -- because the Middle East envoy for the United States, Steve Witkoff,

has now delayed his trip there until next week, are they waiting for any kind of tacit approval from the White House here, or is this pretty much

Netanyahu in the driver's seat?

MILLER: No, I mean, well, Netanyahu is in the driver's seat. I think the -- frankly, I would include myself, I think the media really missed the big

takeaway from Netanyahu's visit to Washington. It was all I think hidden amidst the president's frankly ridiculous proposal to depopulate Gaza and

then turn it into a riviera. The real story of that visit was the emerging bromance between Netanyahu and Trump.

I don't think neither of them liked one another, but for any number of reasons the Trump administration has agreed to give the Israelis remarkable

margin for dealing with phase two. I think Wittkof will travel. I think the delay had to do more with the fact that Zelenskyy is due here, and Steven

Witkoff is going to be spread pretty thin. He's going to also be involved, as we saw from the Riyadh meetings, along with Rubio and Waltz, he's going

to be deeply involved in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

And that creates a sort of a problem if the Middle East piece of this goes into a crisis. But I suspect phase one will conclude probably by tomorrow

after the Israelis identify, forensics identify that the four hostages who are now deceased are who the Israelis are expecting them to be.

NEWTON: Yes. And we do have to note as well that Israel is back at the West Bank, in Jenin, and that is also likely something that the Trump White

House is not dealing with, at least not right now.

[16:35:07]

We thank you, Aaron David Miller, for us. Appreciate your insights.

MILLER: Thanks, Paula.

NEWTON: Now, Jeff Bezos, the owner of the "Washington Post," is making big changes to its opinion section. The billionaire announced on X, "We are

going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars, personal liberties and free markets." He went on to say, "We'll cover other

topics, too, of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others."

The paper's opinion editor has quit rather than go along with the changes. Its top economics reporter called the move, quote, "a massive encroachment

by the owner."

Hadas Gold is in New York for us, and you'll certainly give us the significance of this. But on the face of it, obviously it really doesn't

sound like free speech in the opinion section, I would say.

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Jeff Bezos as the owner of "The Washington Post," as we're seeing him today, is almost

unrecognizable to the Jeff Bezos as the owner of "The Washington Post" as we knew him under the first Trump administration, under then editor Marty

Baron when there was definitely a sense that "The Washington Post," you know, that's when they adopted the slogan "Democracy dies in darkness,"

when they were known in the sort of race with "The New York Times" about aggressive reporting on the Trump administration.

It's a different sort of Jeff Bezos now. It's been described as his, you know, taking charge of this opinions page as more of a libertarian "Wall

Street Journal"-esque. But really, what this is a sign of is Jeff Bezos getting his hands deep into the inner machinations of "The Washington Post"

and how they work day to day. This is different than what he was doing before.

Now we saw this started months ago when he spiked the presidential endorsement, the planned endorsement of Kamala Harris. That, of course, led

to resignations, 250,000 subscribers canceling their subscriptions. We've seen top reporters leaving "The Washington Post." And of course, we've seen

a different stance from Jeff Bezos overall when it comes to President Trump. We saw him, of course, in the inauguration on the front row. He

donated money. Amazon is producing a Melania documentary.

Now, Bezos himself is saying that they're making this change because he believes that the ideas of personal liberties and free markets are

underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinions, saying, you know, the idea of an opinions page, of a newspaper needing to cover all,

you know, being so wide-ranging, that's old. And now we can focus on this. But we are seeing, of course, negative reactions from the newsroom and from

the opinion side.

As you noted, the opinions page editor David Shipley decided to resign rather than go along with this. We've seen other columnists posting, you

know, shock at this change. And we've seen from reporters, as you noted, Jeff Stein, he's one of the top reporters at "The Washington Post," saying

that this is a massive encroachment and saying that so far they haven't felt this encroachment on the newsroom side of things, on the journalists

who cover the news, the news reporters, but that if Bezos tries interfering with the news side, that he will be quitting immediately and letting you

know.

We're seeing other sort of resignations and cutting of ties, former top editor Cameron Barr, who's still working on sort of a contract basis with

the newspaper, saying that he is now severing all ties for the company because of this, calling it an unacceptable erosion of its commitment to

publishing a healthy diversity of opinions.

But who is liking this? It's Trump world. Elon Musk tweeting back at Jeff Bezos, bravo.

NEWTON: I guess that one word does say it all in a newsroom that has its share of turmoil right now.

Hadas Gold, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Now the drugmaker Eli Lilly is planning to invest $27 billion in U.S. manufacturing. The company's CEO says the decision was influenced by the

Trump administration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:41:45]

NEWTON: Nvidia is forecasting higher than expected revenue for the first three months of the year. The chip maker just reported its latest earnings.

Now of course it's a bellwether for A.I. investments. The sector has been turbulent since the Chinese startup DeepSeek claimed to have built a more

efficient A.I. model.

Clare Duffy is in New York.

I mean, look, the rearview mirror looks good. What's ahead in the next quarter looks good, and yet to much more to these results.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, it's really interesting, Paula, because we're seeing the stock price kind of waver in after-hours trading.

And I think that's a reflection of just how high the expectations were going into this earnings report. As you said Nvidia really is a bellwether

for the entire tech industry because it's the A.I. sweetheart. It is the company that is making many, many of the chips that are driving this A.I.

wave.

And so this is a really important earnings report. And look, the results are great. The results are really strong. We saw revenue for the quarter up

78 percent. Income up 80 percent. These are really strong results. But this comes after a year when we've seen quarter after quarter of really strong

results in Nvidia blowing investors out of the water. And so I think that we may be seeing in the stock reaction some, you know, the reality check

that investors are hoping for even more from this company.

And in particular, amid these questions around DeepSeek, which showed that you could run a more efficient A.I. model, and that raised big questions

about whether these U.S. tech giants, the Apples, the Googles, the Microsofts of the world are overspending on A.I. infrastructure. And if we

were to see a pullback in that spending, that would really hit Nvidia's bottom line because that is the company that they're buying many of these

chips from.

But look, Nvidia signaled positive signs, as you said, positive outlook for the coming three months of this year. It also said that it has sold

billions of dollars' worth of its Blackwell chips, its latest A.I. chips in this first quarter of its availability. So all signs are looking good. But

shareholders, I think, are wary about this entire industry, this entire sector.

NEWTON: Yes. And it's those margins at Nvidia that have just been eye- popping that investors will see if they can actually protect that, not just for one quarter, but going forward.

Clare Duffy, thanks for bringing us the latest on those numbers. Appreciate it.

Now, drugmaker Eli Lilly plans to build four new plants in the United States. The company says its a $27 billion investment in domestic

manufacturing. One of the new sites will make injectables, like those weight loss drugs that we've heard so much about, like Mounjaro and

Zepbound.

Now Eli Lilly CEO says the U.S. policy environment is contributing to the company's plans. President Trump has threatened a 25 percent tariff on

pharmaceuticals. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke at today's announcement saying things are going to plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: Eli Lilly is doing exactly what the president was hoping would happen. It is this administration that

understands that our American workforce needs our great companies and the great companies of the world to come back home, to build factories here, to

produce those great jobs here, to create the manufacturing trade craft that we need back in America to employ our Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:45:00]

NEWTON: Meg Tirrell has been following all of this for us.

I want to ask you, how significant is this investment? Because certainly the Trump administration is taking credit for it and does see it kind of as

a renaissance in pharmaceutical manufacturing in the U.S.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it's a really major investment and four new plants is a really big deal. And this is part of an

expansion in the United States Lilly has been touting going back to 2020 and really that they attribute to a tax environment created by the first

Trump administration, which they're saying they need to have extended at the end of this year under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

They say if that's not extended, they wouldn't be able to follow through with this plan on the same scale. And so this is really significant not

just for the Washington component of it, as they are clearly responding to the threats of tariffs from President Trump. He has said he would put 25

percent tariffs on goods, including pharmaceuticals, perhaps starting as early as April. But it's also significant because Eli Lilly makes two of

these incredibly popular weight loss and diabetes drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro.

And they've just ended a shortage of those medicines that lasted two years. Millions of people are on these medicines. It's been difficult to keep up

with demand. The CEO of Eli Lilly told me that they are running their factories around the world 24-7, 365 days a year. He said there's not one

hour that any of these machines aren't working. So they need to not only expand capacity, but they need to create redundancies so that if there are

supply chain disruptions, we won't have drug shortages.

That's also important for our sort of security. As we saw during COVID, we rely on other countries a lot for drug production. Now that's mainly for

generic drugs and especially antibiotics. But this is a start, at least, to reshoring drug manufacturing, which has been a big priority.

NEWTON: And in terms of that reshoring, I mean, what kind of a timetable are we looking at here? And it is interesting, the fact that Eli Lilly is

saying, look, whatever is going on in Capitol Hill, we need them to get those tax cuts through, for those tax cuts to be extended, we need a better

regulatory environment for us to continue with this investment.

TIRRELL: Yes, it was a really direct answer when I said, well, if they don't extend that Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of this year, are you

still going to go forward with this, and he said, we're going to have to take a close look, because it wouldn't make sense if they don't extend

that. So, you know, we're really seeing this push pull going on.

In terms of the timeframe, they are starting to break ground they say this year and within five years they say these plants should be starting to

produce medicines. But an interesting aspect of this is they haven't chosen the locations yet. They're actually soliciting interest from states to put

these plants in those states. They say overall they should create about 13,000 jobs.

NEWTON: Yes. And we're looking at some of the locations where these proposed facilities might be. And I'm sure there's a lot of jockeying and a

lot of pressure on those people on Capitol Hill to make sure the regulatory environment is favorable as well.

Meg Tirrell, appreciate you keeping us up to date on this.

Now, a passenger on a Qatar Airways flight passed away mid-flight. We'll tell you about the couple that says they were made to sit next to the body

for the rest of the trip.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:36]

NEWTON: An Australian couple was on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha when the unimaginable happened. A fellow passenger collapsed in the

aisle and died. Then the crew placed the body next to the couple. They told CNN affiliate 9 Network about the traumatic experience. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER COLIN, PASSENGER ON QATAR AIRWAYS FLIGHT: There has to be a protocol that then looks after the customers that are on board.

MITCHELL RING, PASSENGER ON QATAR AIRWAYS FLIGHT: And there was another situation at the end when we landed, they told us in our area to stay in

our seats. And then the ambulance officers and the police came in, and then the ambulance officers started pulling the blankets off the lady right

beside me. I was there and I got to see her face. Yes, it wasn't nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Mary Schiavo is in Washington, D.C.

I mean, clearly this is a traumatic event for everyone, but obviously a woman died on this airplane. I mean, how tragic that her family learns of

this and how all this happened. And yet we also have this issue of this couple that was clearly also totally distressed by what they went through.

I mean, look, there are laws. Each country has their own law. But reporting a death on an aircraft, the airline you tell us needs to report to the

country of their flag. Does that actually affect how this is handled on the airplane? Does each airline have its own protocol?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Each airline has its own protocol. You're exactly right. In terms of reporting and what to do once the plane

lands, and who's going to take over the investigation, take control of the remains, et cetera, that's handled by the law where the plane lands. For

example, whether the police come on board to question people, I mean, they have to rule out unnatural causes, any foul play, or whether the passengers

get off first is largely will have something to do with the law enforcement and medical personnel where you land.

But what happens up there in the air at 40,000 feet is within the airlines' discretion. Airlines have their own guidelines. For example, some airlines

actually fly with body bags. Airlines also have a service that they subscribe to. It's called different things. One of them, for example, is

called Medlink. And they can call from the plane, they call in the air and ask them, you know, what to do, how much CPR should they do, what kinds of

medical treatment can they do, what should they do for the person when they're in distress before they pass.

But once they pass, most airlines guidelines say to put the passenger in a seat away from other passengers. And if there is no such seat to return the

passenger to the passenger seat, cover them with blankets or, you know, anything, and then try to move the other passengers away.

Now, in this instance, it didn't seem like at least that what was reported that they made much effort to move the passengers away from the deceased

person. But that's pretty much that's kind of the standard rules for the airlines' procedure. And by the way, if they are traveling with body bags,

they're not supposed to zip the body bag over the head in case there's a mistake. After all, only a coroner or a medical professional doctor could

pronounce someone dead. So the on-board rules are kind of loosey-goosey.

NEWTON: I have -- literally I hadn't thought of most of what you just brought up there. And we go back to the couple here that obviously was in

distress, traumatized already by obviously saddened that there was a death on the airplane. And then obviously, it seems that, you know, what they

were going through wasn't taken into consideration at all.

I mean, did you find any common sense of this under any circumstances?

SCHIAVO: No. Especially since it didn't seem to be a lot of effort to try to shield the other passengers from this occurrence. And surprisingly, this

happens, you know, around the world. I mean, you think about airline services city, and it's about 1 in 5 million passengers according to one

study or one in maybe 10 million, according to another. So that means every year this is happening, you know, perhaps as many as 100 or 200 times a

year around the world.

So you would think there would be more, you know, more ability to deal with this. But now, with planes so full, you know, the planes, you know, in the

olden days, we'd fly around and we could have a whole row to ourselves to snooze, or at least in my olden days. Now they're so full that they may not

be able to find a seat. And that's why most airlines say, then the person will be in their assigned seat.

[16:55:09]

It's interesting, one airline had a procedure that they would try to move that deceased person to first class. The seats are bigger, more away from

the rest of the plane, but it didn't seem like there was a lot of effort made here, at least how it was reported in the media.

NEWTON: Do you think that the couple here just has any recourse? I mean, given the fact that even when they were there, then, you know, the

emergency personnel came on board and they started dealing with the deceased passenger, and they seemed to have to just stay in their seats and

stay put.

SCHIAVO: That's right. And again, that varies from time to time. Some of -- I've worked on a few of these cases, and sometimes they get everybody off.

And then the authorities and the medical personnel come on board. But other times when you have an emergency like this, they say, everybody stay put

and allow the authorities and medical personnel to do their work first. So it varies.

And then whether people can, you know, have any recourse, it depends if it's an in-country flight or an international flight. On an international

flight, treaties govern the whole flight. And treaties say you really don't have a claim unless you first suffer a personal injury. So there have been

cases where people have been hurt in the process of trying to assist someone who was, you know, ill or in extremis.

But where you just have emotional distress, no, likely they don't have a legal claim, but the airline should try to help them.

NEWTON: Yes. What an incredible story and obviously so sad for the family of that woman and obviously the distress that was caused to the passengers.

Mary Schiavo, you certainly explained a lot there that I did not know. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

NEWTON: And that does it for QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Paula Newton. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: An international hunt is on for an American woman accused of killing her wife before fleeing the United States. What

surveillance video reveals about the moments before the alleged murder. Plus, national security chatrooms allegedly used to send sexually explicit

messages and now the new director of National Intelligence says more than 100 people in these spy agencies will be fired over, quote, "really

horrific behavior," unquote.

And leading this hour, the Trump administration today taking new steps towards mass firings, sending agencies a memo detailing how they should --

END