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The Situation Room

Trump Administration to Roll Back Pollution Regulation Policy; Interview With Jose Andres; Trump to Get Involved in Warner Bros. Discovery Bidding?; Mass Shooting Investigation in Canada. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 12, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:01]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say police arrived within minutes, but found six victims already dead at the school, at least 27 injured. The suspect, identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, was also found dead in the school of a self-inflicted injury.

Two other victims, Rootselaar's mother and a sibling, were found dead at a nearby home. Police say a long gun and a modified handgun were used and disclosed that authorities were called to the suspect's home several times for mental health emergencies and firearms offenses, and they are no closer to settling on a motive.

DWAYNE MCDONALD, BRITISH COLUMBIA ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER: There's been much speculation within the community regarding the relationship between the shooter and some of the victims. All of that remains part of the active and ongoing investigation.

NEWTON: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, visibly shaken and teary-eyed, expressing the profound grief now felt right across the country.

MARK CARNEY, INCOMING CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: It's obviously a very difficult day for the nation this morning. Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you. Canada stands by you.

NEWTON: Authorities are now surging resources to the area, including investigative support. Local leaders describe the community as stricken, as Canada enters a full week of official mourning.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And our deepest condolences to the families of those murdered.

Paula Newton, thank you very much for that report. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:13]

BLITZER: This just in.

We have new reporting on President Trump's potential involvement in the battle over who might take over Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN's parent company. President Trump previously said he would probably get involved, his word, probably.

Joining us now, CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter.

So, Brian, what's your latest reporting?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. Good to see you.

Wolf, the Trump administration does not release White House visitor logs. So it's not always well known who is meeting with President Trump on any given day. But two sources tell CNN that Trump met early last week with paramount CEO David Ellison. This was not the first time the two men have met. Ellison has had a friendly relationship with the Trump administration.

But Ellison was back at the White House last week for what I'm told are two wide-ranging conversations with the president. And that's intriguing for two reasons. First, Ellison is continuing to push a hostile takeover bid for CNN and the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Ellison's offering $30 per share for all of WBD. But WBD has been rejecting that offer and has been moving forward with the Netflix deal that was announced back in December. Trump administration regulators are currently reviewing the Netflix deal. That process is going to take months.

But when that deal was announced back in December, Trump said he would probably be personally involved with the deal. More recently, though, he changed his tune. And I believe he changed his tune just a day or two after the most recent meeting with Ellisons.

Let me show you both clips. Here's Trump in December and then again last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not involved in that. I will be probably involved, maybe involved in the decision. It depends. You have some good companies bidding on it. I think the people that have run CNN for the last long period of time are a disgrace.

I haven't been involved. I must say, I guess I'm considered to be a very strong president. I have been called by both sides. It's the two sides. But I have decided I shouldn't be involved. The Justice Department will handle it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: So you can hear the president saying there that he's been called by both sides. And as I'm reporting here, he met personally with Ellison just last week, right before that interview was taped last Wednesday.

So the president now saying he will not be involved in this regulatory review that involves, of course, one of the biggest media companies on the planet. But, previously, he has said he expects to be involved, a very curious change from the president.

And, by the way, just this morning, a big announcement from the Justice Department. The official in charge of anti-trust review that's looking at the Netflix deal, Gail Slater, she is suddenly announcing she is stepping down from the Justice Department -- Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Interesting.

All right, Brian Stelter, thank you very, very much.

And just ahead: From war zones to disaster areas, the World Central Kitchen has never slowed down its mission of feeding those in need. Up next, we will ask the nonprofit's founder, the celebrity chef Jose Andres, about his organization's latest truly incredible milestone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:31]

BLITZER: Happening now: The Trump administration is preparing to make a truly stunning reversal that will have an unprecedented impact on climate policy.

Today, the EPA plans to repeal its own conclusion that greenhouse gases warm the planet's climate and that those gases are a threat to public health. The decision will strip the government of its most powerful method of controlling pollution and fighting climate change.

CNN's Rene Marsh is here with me in THE SITUATION ROOM right now.

What exactly is the Trump administration doing today, Rene?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so, today, this afternoon, in just a matter of about an hour-and-a-half or so, they will officially announce the repeal of the Obama era endangerment finding.

That was issued in 2009. And it essentially determined that six greenhouse gases are harmful to human health, gases like carbon dioxide, methane. It's what gave EPA the legal authority to put limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, power plants, the fossil fuel industry.

The Trump administration also this afternoon is expected to repeal vehicle emission rules. But, really, what's happening here, Wolf, is, this effectively erases the federal limits on this sort of pollution, greenhouse gases.

And scientists are warning. They are saying this will devastate the global fight in climate -- in the climate crisis. It will also have an impact on human health. Many scientists and science has shown that it's not only harmful, but in some cases it's leading to death of people, these greenhouse gases and the pollution associated with it.

[11:45:05]

But with all of this happening -- and this is a huge move, the most significant move, the most significant move of the Trump administration so far as it relates to reversing climate policy -- we should expect that this is going to face some legal challenges almost immediately.

If you remember back to 2002 and -- I'm sorry -- 2007 and 2022, the Supreme Court said that the EPA actually does have the authority to regulate these greenhouse gases. So you can expect that advocates will be taking this through the courts.

But we should also note just the context in which all of this is happening. We are getting off the 10 hottest years that the planet has seen. Many states and countries, for that matter, have been dealing with just astronomical costs of the effect of these extreme weather events.

And so this is all happening within that context.

BLITZER: Yes, huge story, and excellent reporting. Thanks very much, Rene Marsh, for that.

MARSH: Sure.

BLITZER: Happening now: World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit organization founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, has reached a major milestone in its effort to provide meals for people affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: The organization says it is now providing one million hot meals a day to people and families across the Palestinian enclave.

Chef Jose Andres joins us now.

Wow, what an accomplishment. Your organization has set up multiple field kitchens, mobile bakeries. It's working with dozens of community kitchens on the ground in Gaza. Day to day, tell us what goes into making this many meals a reality.

JOSE ANDRES, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Well, I was just talking to all the team members in Gaza through a Zoom call.

And it's like a bittersweet celebration. We said a few months ago that we would reach a million meals. And we did it. We are -- we have done more than 265 million meals in Gaza since the beginning of this conflict. And we are doing it through six main kitchens, the World Central Kitchen, more than 60 partner kitchens and restaurants that also we are supporting in the short term, on top of that, bakeries.

So, every day is the same, trying to adapt to the situation, trying to keep bringing more trucks in. And while we are today, in a way, because the team in Gaza is very happy celebrating one million, I want to remind everybody we need more. The people of Gaza need more, need more food, need more tents, need fuel, need medication, need medical care.

More is more in this moment. So, yes, we are as an organization and then it's others doing their part. World Central Kitchen has reached one million, but I keep telling the world we need more. The people of Palestine today need more.

BLITZER: I know, Chef Andres, you and your organization -- it's a wonderful organization -- have responded to numerous humanitarian crises and climate disasters around the world. How has the situation inside Gaza been different?

ANDRES: Well, obviously, the situation has been different for a lot of reasons.

We were inside Ukraine from the very beginning, but, there, we don't have an issue of making sure that food flows freely, that the fuel flows freely, that the kitchens flow freely. And even we have been adapting and learning the systems and working around all the roadblocks that very often not only World Central Kitchen, but other humanitarian organizations, faced.

We must be adapting all the time. From the very beginning, our kitchens, they have been moving. They have been moving over the last two years. Our map of kitchens from the very beginning to our map today is completely different.

So, this is what has been making for every NGO the delivery of aid very difficult. It's ever-changing. And what you can do, obviously, you try to complain to the people that are in control of that. But what you do is adapt.

Why? Because the people of Gaza cannot afford that we stop doing what everybody must be doing to bring relief at every area into Gaza.

BROWN: And seven aid workers, as we know, that worked for World Central Kitchen were killed in Gaza in April of 2024. You visited Gaza last year. How has the situation there changed following the cease- fire?

ANDRES: Well, the cease-fire obviously has bring certain level of tranquility. And, for that, I applaud the initiative of President Trump.

But the cease-fire must be a true cease-fire. We need to make sure that no more civilians die, that no more humanitarians die, that no more press, nobody else is youths, men and women trying to survive another day is hit.

[11:50:11] So, obviously, for us, the seven was a big loss. But I want to remind everybody the situation in Gaza has been one of the deadliest humanitarian situations, where many humanitarians, hundreds of them of different organizations, have perished in a very complicated -- so, let's hope that this phase of peace is a true cease-fire with a true peace deal.

Where we can give hope to the people of Gaza on looking at the future with hope, where reconstruction can start today, not under missiles and bombs that keep falling on them, but with trucks and people and supporting them with everything they need to rebuild Gaza to what we hope will be a better future.

BLITZER: Let's hope.

And, Chef Andres, as you correctly point out, World Central Kitchen has also provided a lot of meals for people, including children inside of Ukraine, amid Russia's war on that country. What are the greatest obstacles for continuing to provide aid in Ukraine right now?

ANDRES: Well, I want to remind everybody that Ukraine is one of the biggest producers of food in the world.

They feed with the grain and cereal they produce more than 500 million people every year. So the cease-fire and the peace in Ukraine is important, not only for Ukrainians, that they deserve it, and they are under attack, but also to make sure that everybody around the world that needs food is able to be fed.

But inside Ukraine, the problem is not lack of food, but is the lack of infrastructure sometimes. And that's what World Central Kitchen keeps doing, near the -- obviously the front lines, but also inside Kyiv, where right now people are going through a huge drop on temperatures in one of the coldest winters ever, and that where World Central Kitchen and other stations, we have increased the output of hot meals, because, believe it or not, when you are in a building, in a big city, you cannot make a fire inside your apartment.

Therefore, these hot meals sometimes is the only, only source of heat that many people in Ukraine in every major city are facing. Russia must be stopping their constant missile attack. So, I hope that the cease-fire is near, that the peace deal is near, and where Ukrainian civilians will not be every day under constant attack of ballistic missiles and drones.

This must stop immediately. And I hope, like, under the leadership of President Trump, he will tell Putin, this must stop now. No more children in Ukraine can keep dying under Russian bombs.

BROWN: And you talk about the food and the importance of it in Ukraine right now and beyond. You have been on the ground for so many of these disasters.

How have you seen food help people beyond just the sustenance?

ANDRES: Well, in the way World Central Kitchen does it is what we are doing right now in Gaza. We need to be thinking of a reconstruction.

Obviously, giving food to the people are hungry short term is what is needed. But how do we do true reconstruction? People, for example, in Gaza, nobody has been at work. The vast majority are not receiving salary. You can have food in the markets, but people will not have money to buy to feed their families.

But it's important we do reconstruction. How we do it? If we are able to be supporting more restaurants as we keep rebuilding, like we are doing in Ukraine, we keep supporting them, they can keep employing people. They can keep being -- paying the people.

In the process, you cover the short needs of hospitals needing food, refugees needing food, et cetera, et cetera. You see, the $1 to solve the hunger, short-term hunger problems is also the $1 that you create economic stability by giving jobs and keep moving the economy forward.

This is very much the World Central Kitchen way. And this is the way we should be doing it everywhere.

BLITZER: And, finally, Chef Andres, how can people who are watching right now and others get involved with World Central Kitchen if they want to help feed these families, especially these young children?

ANDRES: You know, you can go to the WorldCentralKitchen.org organization if what you care is about food and water or other things, like the pallets we are sending to Ukraine to make sure the hospitals have heat in this very harsh winter.

But we are not the only organization. There are others who do God's work. Make sure, make sure that you find which one is the type of organization you really want to support. Make sure that you are 100 percent sure that they are doing the job that they are telling you they're doing.

And the rest is -- everything else will happen. Here, we are. But there, again, in Gaza and Ukraine, in so many other parts of the world, Sudan, that is forgotten right now, there are very -- few very good organizations doing God's work. This is where the support of every American should be going.

[11:55:00]

BLITZER: Chef Andres, we're grateful to you and to World Central Kitchen for all you are doing. Thanks so much for joining us.

BROWN: Thank you so much for everything.

ANDRES: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: And, to our viewers, thanks so much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN. We will see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning 10:00 a.m. Eastern for two hours.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts right after a short break.