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Trump Says, Putin Has Gone Absolutely Crazy; Israel Orders Gaza Evacuations Ahead of Unprecedented Attack; Trump Delays 50 Percent Tariff Against European Union Goods. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired May 26, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Trump slams Putin, saying he has gone absolutely crazy. The Kremlin fires back blaming emotional overload. This escalation coming after major Russian attacks killed dozens in Ukraine over the weekend.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Alex Marquardt. Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown are off today, and you are in The Situation Room.
We begin this hour with breaking news, Ukraine saying that this weekend, Russia launched its largest drone attack since the war erupted more than three years ago. And President Donald Trump is now taking aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin, a rare rebuke of Russia's leader.
Here's what he said on social media, quote, I've always had a good relationship with Putin, but something has happened to him. He's gone absolutely crazy. This morning, Russia then responded, accusing President Trump of, quote, emotional overload.
President Trump has become increasingly frustrated with Putin's refusal to accept a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
I want to bring in CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak and our International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson, who is in London.
Kevin, to you first. This is a significant spike in frustration towards President Putin from President Trump.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and for a president who more often than not, has offered a conciliatory tone towards Vladimir Putin. These comments really stuck out some of his harshest remarks towards Putin after this bombardment of Ukraine over the weekend.
And I think the timing here is notable. It was only a week ago, really, this hour that President Trump and President Putin were speaking by telephone. After that call, President Trump said he essentially took Putin at his word, that he was ready to reach a peace deal despite Putin not giving up any of his maximalist demands towards Ukraine.
Now, President Trump offering a very, very different tone. Listen to what he said.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm not happy with what Putin's doing. He's killing a lot of people. And I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all, okay? We're in the middle of talking and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don't like it at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: Now, this notion that Putin has changed, that the man Trump is dealing with now is very different than the person he was dealing with during his first term is something that European leaders have been warning Trump about really for months. And he hasn't necessarily internalized that point of view until now.
And I think the real question is how he plans to move forward. There's not a lot of evidence that Putin really cares what Trump or any other world leader thinks or says about him. It's all about action. And so you could question whether Trump is ready now to apply new sanctions on Moscow. He said yesterday that, yes, absolutely he would be willing to do that, but he's been saying that for weeks he has stopped short.
There's a question of whether he would supply Ukraine with new military assistance since coming into office, he has not approved any new weapons packages for Ukraine.
The third option, and I think potentially the more likely one, based on what Trump has been saying, it is that he continues to try and absolve himself of any responsibility to resolve this conflict. After that phone call with Putin, he said it would be up to Russia and Ukraine to resolve their differences. And in that message last night, he said that this was Zelenskyy, Putin and Biden's war, not Trump's. Alex?
MARQUARDT: And after that phone call, he also said he would not be applying sanctions. So, let's see if that happens now.
Nic Robertson, to you. Trump saying that something has happened to the Russian leader, but this does seem to be classic Putin, just play along and push as hard as he can.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It does, and I think this weekend has been incredibly instructive on where everyone stands, Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy. You go into the weekend on Friday, where Russia and Ukraine are having this biggest prisoner exchange ever, a thousand people on each side over the weekend, and President Trump is indicating that he thinks and is hinting that perhaps something bigger and better can be coming. But Friday night into Saturday, Russia launches 250 aerial strikes into Ukraine, 13 people killed. And then Saturday into Sunday, you get 367 strikes, killing 12 people. That was the biggest combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine since the war started. And that's the moment that Zelenskyy comes out and we hear him again to the point that, you know, we're understanding everyone's position, Zelenskyy saying, you know, the world and America included needs to say something about this, about the scale of attacks over the weekend.
Trump gets angry, it appears, with Putin and Zelenskyy, saying that Putin has gone crazy. But then, you know, Putin's answer to Trump comes Sunday night, 355 drones into Ukraine. That's the biggest number ever in terms of a mass drone strike on Ukraine since the war started. So, Putin's already given his response and they're doubling down on that. The Kremlin spokesman this morning using those terms, emotional overload and saying that Putin is just acting in Russia's best security interest.
It's very clear where everyone stands on this, Zelenskyy and Putin. At least, you know, Trump's put himself back in the frame here, as in what is his next move going to be, as Kevin says. The reality for Ukrainians, though, you know, Trump on the one hand saying he doesn't want to see them being killed, but on the other hand, they are the ones bearing the brunt of this at the moment and hoping that something changes significantly this time with President Trump, because he's the difference maker in all of this.
MARQUARDT: Yes. Over and over we see Russia rejecting these ceasefires and then attacks like this one over the weekend.
Nic Robertson in London, Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you both very much.
Also new this morning, Israel has issued evacuation orders for Southern and Eastern Gaza with a warning of a, quote, unprecedented attack.
It comes after deadly strikes overnight yet again, including on this school where 20 Palestinians were reportedly killed, an Israeli military official telling CNN that Israel now plans to occupy 75 percent of Gaza within two months.
Let's get straight to CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Oren Liebermann. So, Oren, Israel announcing this upcoming unprecedented attack in Southern and Eastern Gaza, it's very hard to imagine at this point what unprecedented means. And they're also laying out their plans to occupy most of Gaza. What are you hearing?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Alex, the size and scale of the evacuation order we saw earlier today from the Israel Defense Forces. The IDF is simply unprecedented in and of itself, certainly one of the largest evacuation orders we have seen recently, and perhaps since the start of the war, covering not only most of Southern Gaza, but also Eastern Gaza as well, including the city of Khan Younis, one of the most densely packed areas in Gaza, where many displaced Palestinians have already gone. Well, there will be a forced displacement again, because of this latest evacuation warning, which the IDF says will force Palestinians to the Al-Mawasi area, a narrow strip of land on the beach there. The IDF says this is after there were three rockets fired earlier today, two of which landed in Gaza, one of which was intercepted. We haven't seen those attacks begin, but certainly we'll keep watching this.
In terms of a long-term plan, an Israeli military official says, the IDFs plan is to occupy 75 percent of Gaza in two months as part of this expanded military operation with five full IDF divisions. That's tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers already operating inside of Gaza that will force Palestinians onto a narrowing piece of territory or several pieces of territory inside of Gaza.
We have already seen some of those strikes over the last few days, including overnight, where the civil defense and Gaza, as well as hospital officials tell us more than 20 Palestinians were killed on a strike on a school. Doctors say it was difficult to identify some of the bodies because of their condition, frankly, after that strike. Israel and the Israel Security Agency, the Shin Bet, say the school itself was a Hamas command and control center, and that is why it was struck.
That is part of the scale of the operations we are seeing, and we expect that to expand as this continues here, Alex.
MARQUARDT: All this as the humanitarian crisis continues and people struggle to get food in Gaza.
Our Jerusalem Bureau Chief Oren Liebermann, Oren, thank you so much.
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I want to discuss all this now with retired Army Colonel and Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman of Virginia. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us and being with us on this Memorial Day.
We have a lot to discuss. I want to ask you first about what's gone on in Ukraine in the past few days, more drones and missiles launched at Ukraine than at any other single time in the past three years since this war began. So, what do you think the message is that Russia is sending to the U.S., to Europe as they try to broker a ceasefire?
REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): Well, Alex, great to be on with you on this Memorial Day. Look, the message is clear, the Russians, Vladimir Putin, they're not intimidated by Donald Trump. I'm not sure they're taking him particularly seriously. I think that Vladimir Putin, frankly, has Donald Trump's number. He's gotten most of what he wanted before even negotiation started.
Ukraine was categorically excluded from the U.N., from NATO. And right now, the president is vacillating between completely pulling out and leaving the war to the Europeans, the Russians and the Ukrainians to some firm statements or semi-firm statements, you know, calling Putin crazy. But right now, it's frankly meaningless. MARQUARDT: I want to ask you about the president's statements, quite remarkable. We've heard frustration in the past, but this really does seem to be an escalation, at least in terms of the rhetoric, calling him crazy, writing on a Truth Social post over the weekend that something happened to him. Do you see a shift in Putin or do you think that Trump is understanding, some would say, finally, who Putin really is?
VINDMAN: Look, there's been no shift in Putin. He's been the same person he's been for decades. He uses violence and aggression and warfare throughout the region to cow his neighbors. And what we're seeing is a very slow and painful learning process by this president.
And what's really odd to me is that this is not -- you know, this, this is the start of a new administration, but this is the second Trump administration. And so, up to this point, Putin has largely gotten what he wanted from Donald Trump, which is chaos in the United States and an eroding in our values and sort of internal rot, which is exactly what he is after.
And where we are now, my thought has always been, it's going to take between three to six months, so we're now at the five-month mark, nearly a five month mark for this administration to figure out the Russians are not interested in peace, they're not going to be our friends, and that the only way to end this war is to apply pressure to the Russians and not just the Ukrainians, which is the policy at this point.
MARQUARDT: Do you think that American pressure is going to come, whether it's in sanctions or any other kind of pressure?
VINDMAN: Well, I think so, and I say that for, for two reasons. One, you know, you have these statements and it's hard to say where the president is because he changes his mind based on the last person he speaks to. But there's also enormous support and pressure building from inside the Congress. We've had briefings in recent weeks where my colleagues on the Republican side, at least behind closed doors in a classified setting have been very firm on their support for Ukraine.
And so, if you have that kind of bipartisan, bicameral support from the House and the Senate and you have the president finally learning very painfully that the Russians are not going to be our friends and you need to apply to the Russians, that's -- we may get to where we ought to have been at the very start of this administration.
MARQUARDT: Congressman, I want to ask you about what we're hearing out of Israel. They're saying that they're planning to occupy 75 percent of the Gaza Strip within the next two months, concentrating these 2 million Palestinians who live there into the remaining quarter of Gaza. What's your reaction?
VINDMAN: Look, my reaction is, you know, the Israelis obviously are fighting a long war against Hamas and Hezbollah and Iranian proxies in the region, and they have a right to defend themselves. But at the same time, I'm concerned about the humanitarian cost. Earlier today, I watched an Israeli hostage talk about how, as a hostage, she feared the bombings that were coming from Israeli forces in their assault on Gaza, as much as anything else. And obviously there are still hostages being held and my focus, and I think most people's focus is on getting the hostages back and creating an environment for a longer term piece. That includes providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
MARQUARDT: Right, which is still struggling to get in.
[10:15:00]
Before I let you go, I want to ask you about this significant reorganization, restructuring, slimming down of the National Security Council at the White House. You, of course, served on the NSC during the first Trump administration. We have reported that more than 100 NSC staffers are being put on leave. Many of them are detailees who are being sent back to their home agencies.
In your opinion, how will a much smaller NSC, where we understand the decision-making is going to be primarily concentrated at the very top, how is that going to affect American national security?
VINDMAN: Well look, the National Security Council, the NSC, is sort of the pinnacle. It's the top of the pyramid where all of the other departments and agencies and national security complex feed into the White House. And you're getting rid of really the most experienced folks in national security that come from departments, agencies. My understanding is that scores of active duty, military, you know, these are nonpartisan folks that are experts in their field that have devoted their lives, true patriots to this country, and they're being sent back as well.
And what's left is, you know, political, partisan political folks. And you think about at the very top what you have, you have folks like Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard that are completely and totally unqualified for those positions. They don't have any experience. Their judgment is lacking and their sole qualification is blind obedience and loyalty to this president.
And that is highly concerning. And when you get rid of all that expertise and judgment, and you have only the sort of partisan political folks, that's a recipe for disaster, especially when you're looking at a dangerous world and potential ramp up of issues with Russia and Middle East and in the Pacific.
MARQUARDT: I mean, meanwhile, we have Secretary of State Marco Rubio juggling the job of interim national security adviser as well, a very difficult juggling act.
Congressman Vindman, thank you so much for joining us today.
VINDMAN: Thank you, Alex.
MARQUARDT: Still ahead, how the European Union is responding to President Trump's back and forth on tariffs. He's now delaying the 50 percent tariff that he threatened just a few days ago.
And later, an American is now facing charges over an alleged plot to fire bomb the U.S. embassy in Israel. Details ahead live in The Situation Room.
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MARQUARDT: Happening now, President Trump is hitting pause on a massive 50 percent tariff on goods from the European Union, which was supposed to go into effect on June 1st. It's now scheduled to drop on July 9th.
Let's get straight to CNN's Clare Sebastian in London. So, Clare, President Trump says that a phone call over the weekend with the head of the E.U. Commission led to this poll.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alex, this followed just several days after he made that threat, not only to move the deadline forward to June 1st, as you say, but to ramp up the original reciprocal tariff of 20 percent to 50 percent.
So, the call was described as a very nice call by President Trump. I sort of underline that the E.U. Commission chief described it as a good call. And if the point was, as the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said over the weekend to light a fire under the European Union, it appears to have worked. They are now promising to fast track talks.
They're saying there's a new impetus, as the words of a spokesperson this morning. And that is, I think, partly because this was only a partial reversal that was achieved from this call. The deadline has been pushed back to the original July 9th, but the 50 percent tariff threat remains in place. And that would, of course, be a huge problem for the European Union, and especially sectors that export heavily to the U.S., like pharmaceuticals and aerospace.
So, I think, look they are treading now extremely carefully. We see a very conciliatory tone certainly from the E.U. Commission chief on X after her call, saying Europe is ready to advance, talk swiftly and decisively. They aren't giving much away publicly. And the contacts will continue as soon as this afternoon between the E.U. trade commissioner, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. So, they are now really on guard with this and pushing forward to try to get some kind of, quote the Irish T-shirt, realistic and reasonable deal. Because I think if the U.K.-U.S. deal was anything to go by, it's likely that some tariffs will remain in place even if they do reach a deal in the next 44 days. Alex?
MARQUARDT: Yes, a lot at stake. They are massive trading partners. Clare Sebastian in London, thank you so much.
This morning, an American man is in custody after being arrested for allegedly plotting to fire bomb the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, in Israel. The Justice Department says that the suspects spat on an embassy guard before fleeing, leaving behind a backpack containing three Molotov cocktails.
For more on this, CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz is joining us now. So, Katelyn, this is an American citizen in Israel threatening to allegedly attack the American embassy. What more do we know about him?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, an American man, also a German citizen, but he was born in Colorado and had been in the U.S. until this year essentially. And then in February, that's when he leaves the U.S. and he ends up ultimately in Israel. The man's name is Joseph Neumeyer.
Joseph Neumeyer then about a week ago was outside of the Israeli embassy in Tel Aviv walking a guard -- walks up to him, taps him on the shoulder. He starts -- he spits at him. He starts swearing at the guard, and then the guard tries to grab his backpack to get him not to flee.
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And the man flees and the guard standing there holding the backpack can smell alcohol coming from it, and according to the court record that we have now from the Eastern District of New York, sees a bottle with a black cloth at the top of the back backpack. When they looked in the backpack, there were three improvised explosive devices, allegedly three Molotov cocktails with ethanol or alcohol in them that this man had.
And then when they looked further at this man, Joseph Neumeyer, his social media posts not just said on that day, join me as I burn down the embassy in Tel Aviv, but he also, in March, had been posting about killing Donald Trump and killing Elon Musk.
So, all of this now is going to be in court, in federal court in Brooklyn. He is back in the U.S. Israel did send him through JFK Airport and he has appeared in court. But we're going to wait to see exactly what charges emanate from this. It is quite a significant case and a scary situation in Israel.
MARQUARDT: It really is. We should note the embassy is in Jerusalem, but the embassy does have offices in Tel Aviv, which is what we're talking about. It's still a very disturbing story.
Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much.
Up next, we're learning a key witness is now not expected to testify in the Sean Diddy Combs trial when it resumes tomorrow. We'll have the details ahead. You're in The Situation Room.
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