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It's Thursday, February 20th, right now on CNN This Morning. A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move faster, he's not going to have a country left. Sounds like a threat. Doubling down, President Trump continuing to repeat Russian talking points, falsely labeling the Ukrainian president now as a dictator. Plus... The heart of an entire nation is torn. My heart is torn. Yours too.
Just a somber day in Israel. Hamas handing over the remains of four Israeli hostages, including, it's believed, two youngest victims taken on October 7th. And this. The president is committed, as he was in the first term, to rebuilding America's military. And about face. Secretary Hegseth said the U.S. would be reinvesting in the military. Now, however, he's looking for many billions of dollars to cut. Then later.
We do not back down, not now, not ever. Pushing back, New York governor vowing not to back down, as you heard there, after President Trump kills congestion pricing in New York City and tweets, long live the king. 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, Live Look, Capitol Dome there. Good morning, everyone. I'm Jim Sciutto.
In again for Casey Hunt, great to have you with us. President Trump doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on criticisms and conspiracy theories about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He refuses to have elections, is slow in the real Ukrainian polls. I mean, how can you be high with every city is being demolished? It's hard to be high. Somebody said, oh no, his polls are good. Give me a break. A dictator without elections. Zelenskyy better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Got to move, got to move fast.
No elections, right? Because of an ongoing Russian invasion. The president of the United States calling democratically elected president of an ally a dictator. It's true that the election scheduled for last spring were postponed, but that delay, which has repeatedly been authorized, we should note, by Ukraine's elected parliament, is due to the ongoing Russian invasion. President Trump's comments once again echo a key Kremlin talking point.
Unfortunately, President Trump, I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for. The American people who always support us, unfortunately, lives in this disinformation space. Just hours after Zelensky said that, Trump provided a stark example of just what that disinformation space looks like. The president posted on Truth Social, quote,
Zelensky admits that half of the money we sent him is missing, and quote, Zelensky probably wants to keep the gravy train going. Of course,
That's just not true. Zelensky has never said that. He has, however, taken issue with the way aid for Ukraine is often characterized as a blank check or pile of cash. In reality, aid to Ukraine largely takes the form of contracts given, we should note, to American companies to produce weapons and supplies here in the U.S. A report from the Center for Strategic International Studies found that in last year's aid package alone,
About 72% of this money over wall and 86% of the military aid will be spent where? Here in the United States. Hours after calling Zelensky a dictator, the president was asked about his comments and he used the opportunity to once again push for Ukraine and not Russia, which invaded Ukraine, to change its behavior. It's time for elections. Haven't had an election in a long time. It's wonderful to say, you know, we can't have an election.
But it's time for elections. Again, Ukraine is continuing to be attacked by Russia. Joining me now to discuss, Molly Ball, senior political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Isaac Dover, CNN senior reporter. Megan Hayes, Democratic strategist, former director of message planning for the Biden White House. And Joe Walsh, former Republican representative from Illinois, host of the podcast, The Social Contract. Good to have you with me. Joe, I'm going to begin with you because I know how you feel about this. I just wonder, for your party,
what it means for the U.S. president to not just overlap with some Russian talking points on the war, but straight up repeat them, repeat the Russian rationale for the invasion, repeat the Russian framing, repeat the Russian description of the elected Ukrainian president. Straight up, repeat them. What does it mean? Straight up, he's siding with Putin. Yeah. The president of the United States is siding with Vladimir Putin.
Period. We know, I know, privately, this is just pissing off Senate Republicans especially. But Jim, Trump's hold on this party is a thousand times stronger than it was before November.
So I think even among Senate Republicans, you're going to hear just a few grumbles when they should be publicly outraged about this. There are some Republican elected Republican members of Congress in the Senate and the House who are saying this quite publicly. I want to play one now from Don Bacon, who spoke on CNN just last night. Well, the president needs a do over day and start again. He took a bad turn. I think what he said is wrong.
And it's a shame. I think many Republicans, I'm not saying all, but many Republicans know what the president said today was wrong. I would ask that our president stand on the side of freedom, the side of democracy, the side of the victim, not the invader, and stick up for what's right.
The trouble is, Meghan Hayes, it's not just rhetoric, it's the policy. Trump is signaling he's going to end USAID for Ukraine and more broadly, it seems, for Europe as a whole. What are Democrats doing to prevent that from happening?
I don't know that they're doing a lot. I'm not sure that there is a lot to be done. I think that the way that you solve these things is with elections. This is another thing elections have consequences. He was very clear about this when he met with Zelensky during the election. He was very clear that he was not on his side. And it's just, it's a shame because we are, you know,
The Biden administration, agree or disagree, they created a coalition of over 50 allies that supported Ukraine. They've always had their back. And it's, you know, Putin is not just going to go after Ukraine. It's going to be Poland next. There are other people. It's just he's going to keep going if we let him. And I just feel very much like the president is giving them carte blanche to do that. And siding with Putin is not what we believe in as a democracy. And it's really unfortunate to watch this all happen.
And listen, to your point, this is not just talk. I speak to leaders, officials in Eastern Europe, and they say quite openly, we're next. The Estonians say, we're next if Ukraine falls. Malibu, former Congressman Tom Malinowski, he tweeted a number of legislative options Congress has to attempt to prevent some of these steps, things like not appropriating money to remove U.S. troops from Europe, things like that. But
We've seen the Republican-controlled Congress bend to pretty much everything Trump wants to do with a few occasional dissenters. Is there any indication that Congress would stand in the way?
- No, I don't think so. I think what we saw with the Senate debate over Ukraine aid about a year ago, that while there are more senior Republican senators who are quite disturbed by what Trump is doing, the younger generation, which at that time a year ago was led by Senator J.D. Vance,
It takes a very different view of this conflict and a very different view of the U.S. role in the world and a very different view of the transatlantic relationship. And so, you know, you have an administration that Megan is exactly right. He was very clear about this during the campaign that he did not endorse the Biden administration strategy of being wholly on the side of the Ukrainians in this conflict.
There are people around him who take the view that this is what's needed to end the conflict, is for America not to be so clearly taking sides in order to be seen as an honest broker by both parties, in order to come to some kind of end to this conflict. I'm not saying that's a correct view, but it is a view. And we now see the president...
pursuing exactly what he said he would do in the campaign. And it is of course disruptive and disturbing to people who believed in America's traditional alliances and our traditional role as advocates of freedom in the world.
It's quite a remarkable idea to say honest broker when we're talking about an invasion. David Frum tweeted a comment about Neville Chamberlain, of course, infamous, right, for attempting to make a deal with Hitler, saying that even Neville Chamberlain, to do him justice, quoting Frum here, never amplified under his own byline Hitler's propaganda against
The checks, Trump is amplifying the Kremlin propaganda here. Isaac, we have a new CNN poll out today, which we're gonna detail later this hour, which does show that his approval rating is underwater, but still one of the highest approval ratings he had going back to his last term. The Afghanistan withdrawal greatly hurt Joe Biden, and by the way, was a source of enormous Republican criticism of Joe Biden.
Does Trump risk an Afghanistan, in effect, if he abandons Ukraine? Perhaps. I think what happened with Joe Biden was a specific circumstance around Afghanistan, which is his whole...
thought that he put forward to the American people in 2020 is that he was competent. He knew how the world worked. He could do things. And then the withdrawal from Afghanistan in those couple of days was so messy. The Marines who were killed, it felt like, oh, you're not competent. It hit at the same time, roughly as when the Delta variant came back for COVID. So that was something that he never really recovered from starting from August of 2021. This is a
bigger question about what kind of world we're going to be coming into perhaps. And look, there may be withdrawals. Let's see what it looks like if we do have Donald Trump try to withdraw troops from Europe or, uh,
change what the situation is with the war in Ukraine. So it may be that logistically, and it may just be people confronting the idea that what does it mean when America doesn't stand with its allies anymore? What does it mean when America is saying, okay, if a powerful country invades another country, then the other country is the one that needs to give in and how people process that.
Foreign policy is not usually the kind of thing that voters or Americans pay deep, deep attention to, but these are fundamental questions about what America is. - Listen, they don't pay attention until it affects their lives, right? You know, I mean, look at 9/11 as an example, right? We don't have to worry about what's happening in that part of the world. Of course, it came to touch.
Touch Americans lives, sadly. Stay with us. Much more to discuss coming up. As I just teed up there, President Trump's approval rating. A new CNN poll shows what Americans think of the job he's doing. Plus, a heartbreaking return home. Israel now has custody of the bodies of four hostages taken on October 7th. It's said, sadly, to include the bodies of the two youngest victims. And how Ukrainians are feeling about the U.S. pushing them out of peace talks.
I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast, Terms of Service. What do we want our digital legacy to be?
And how do we ensure our loved ones have the tools to manage it? Here to talk to me about this is Elaine Casket. She's a psychologist and an expert on all the data that does not get buried with you. It's not just the stuff that we put out there about ourselves. It's the stuff that the world puts out there about us. Follow CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.
This is the cost of food. This is the cost of your basics. Every single thing is up. Eggs up 48%. Cookies up 27%. Look at what's going on. Butter up 31%. And this is just the beginning. It's a disaster.
That was President Trump on the campaign trail. But now that he's been in office for a month, a new CNN poll shows a large percent of Americans, 62% in fact, believe he has not done enough to bring prices down. Roughly half say Trump has gone too far as well in cutting government programs. The president addressed those cuts yesterday.
There's even under consideration a new concept where we give 20% of the Doge savings to American citizens and 20% goes to paying down debt because the numbers are incredible, Elon. So many billions of dollars, billions, hundreds of billions.
He likes to send checks. We know that. You remember back in COVID relief early days, he made sure his name was on those checks. But Joe Walsh, on the numbers there regarding where prices are, and the thing is, economists don't believe prices are coming down anytime soon, nor does the Fed. Is that a political risk for him? Yes. And I apologize, Jim. I can't move past what we just talked about in the last segment. Donald Trump is saying everything Vladimir Putin would say. Mm-hmm.
And you mentioned the American people generally don't care about what's going on over there. The American president right now could be a plant, could be a Russian asset. I mean, think about that. Here I am. I know it's early in the morning to say something like that. But think about that. And if the American people don't care about that, that Putin might have something on Trump, that he's an asset, that he's a plant, that he's doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin. If the American people don't care about that.
Well, the thing is, listen. I'm sorry to get us off the topic. We don't have evidence of that. I mean, the point about their positions being aligned is a different one. Everything he's done, everything he's said for eight or nine years is exactly what Vladimir Putin would say and want him to do. Now, Trump may very well believe that, right? May believe that that's a better path. And I wonder, Megan Hayes, do you worry that a lot of Americans agree with him on that?
You know what? I don't care about Ukraine. I don't care about Europe. I don't care about the international order. Does he have possibly the politics right? So I don't necessarily think people don't care about it. I think they care more about their cost of groceries than they care about Ukraine. And I think that's the problem. And I think that was the disconnect during the campaign. The Democrats did not lay out a message of why both things can be true and why both things are important. And if you're not bringing down their cost of groceries and listening to their kitchen table issues, they cannot worry about
the aid that's being spent in Ukraine. That seems outrageous to them, which I fully understand. If you can't afford eggs to feed your family, you're not going to be willing to have money going to Ukraine, where a country you probably don't know where is on a map and never been there. I get that and I agree with that, but your job as a candidate is to show and explain to the American people. Right, and the Democrats did not do that effectively. That's the thing, the Democrats and Biden among them
did not do sufficiently, right? Which is to explain why they believe this is important rather than say, in effect, take it for granted, right? This is important, just trust me. We thought that people would hold on to a democracy message and why democracy is important, really underestimating how bad people were really hurting in their kitchen table issues. So, I mean, Isaac, when you look at these numbers here, do you see the makings of, beyond their feeling about prices, I mean, Trump's approval rating is still underwater. Right.
Right, and our poll has language in it that says his numbers are better than they've ever been for him, but they're also worse than any other president. So by the Trump standard, Trump is doing a little bit better than he was in his first term. By any other standard, he's doing notably worse. The question about prices is not just that they haven't gone down or that they have gone up. It's that he has not. He's been president for a month and three days now.
There has not been anything that he's done to address prices. He's talked about a lot of things. There's been a lot of executive orders, a lot of press conferences, a lot of this stuff. But as for actual actions that are directed towards lowering prices, there haven't been any. And that's, again, as prices have gone up and stayed up. And in fact, his policies, upcoming in the view of economists, are inflationary. A tax cut is
is inflationary and tariffs are inflationary. So how does he square that circle? - No, I think that those are the numbers in the poll that pose the most risk to Trump going forward. This idea that he's focused on the wrong things because look, a lot of Americans
bought the idea during the election that the reason you're suffering, the reason you're struggling is 'cause we're spending all this money on foreign countries, foreign aid, giving away the store, being played for suckers, sending it all to Ukraine. Numerically that wasn't true in the sense that the amounts that we're,
spending, you know, the amounts that Elon Musk is getting out of this doge effort. They're pennies compared to the federal budget. They're not enough to send thousands of dollars to every American. And what I think people are seeing now is that the idea that by tearing down this foreign aid structure or by taking away the money we were sending from Ukraine, the idea that that would make everybody's lives better doesn't seem to be happening.
doesn't seem to be bearing fruit. And that is the thing that I think. And it's early. We should know it. It's a month in, right? People are giving him time. People are looking at this saying he's been president for a month. Let's see how this plays out. Let's see if Elon is successful. Let's see if I end up benefiting. They're going to give him that honeymoon, but they're going to get impatient pretty quickly. The issue with the checks is not only that it's not clear how much money...
The Doge process is actually saving at this point. They've been confused by some of the cuts they've made. They've claimed there was one thing they said was an $8 billion cut. It was an $8 million cut. That's a big difference. That's a big rounding error. But it's also we're going to go into this budget process next month where it looks like we're going to increase deficit spending. Even if you are going to send checks out to America, is it going to be the expense of not actually reducing the deficit? Or they'll just make up the numbers.
We've seen it happen before. Congress is good at doing that. Joe Walsh knows that. Stand by. We will have you back in sad news. Just a painful day in Israel. The bodies of four slain hostages cross over from Gaza, their final journey home. Hamas displaying four black caskets before transferring them over to the Red Cross. Why is this particularly sad news?
because the remains are said to include the youngest of the 250 people kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th. There they are there, Kafir Babass, Ariel Babass. Kafir, just nine months old at the time of capture, Ariel, four years old. The handoff was also said to include the bodies of their mother, Shiri, as well as 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz. The remains are now being transferred to a forensic institute in Tel Aviv. You can see the convoy there.
Some Israelis are still holding out hope going forward. So Shiri and the kids became a symbol. I'm sure they are, doesn't want it, but yeah, I'm still hope that they will be alive.
well that kibbutz suffered so much on the day october 7th cnn international diplomatic editor nick robertson is in jerusalem nick tell us i mean the faces of those two young babies become became really powerful faces of october 7th the youngest victims there their smiles you see their pictures everywhere in israel tell us about the impact of of the hope that they might have survived disappearing
Yeah, and I think as well another image that's sort of seared into the collective memory of this country is that of Shiri trying to protect Kefir and Ariel as she's being hauled off by Hamas. She's got her arms around them. She's covering them in a blanket. She's holding them, carrying her sons here.
And that fear, that look on her face, and then the whole trauma of their captivity and the Hamas saying that they had died as a result of Israeli bombing, the IDF not able to confirm that in any way. And the country followed it on a roller coaster, emotionally all the time, hoping against hope that they would be released, that their names would come up.
And I spoke also last weekend with Sharon Lifshitz, the daughter of Oded. And she told me, too, that just hoping against hope, that the reports, the rumors were not true, that they would come back. And I think we're seeing this playing out today, the somber ceremony as the Red Cross is handed over to the IDF.
these caskets now wrapped in Israeli flags now, as you say, on that convoy. All along that convoy route, you are seeing people coming out, Israelis at intersections, standing there waving flags, showing their respect. And in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where when there's been live hostages released, there's been jubilation. It's been a very, very somber day. And I think that really speaks to
The fate of that family, but also the fate of their community near Oz, 74 hostages taken, 117 people murdered or taken hostage, more than a quarter of the kibbutz, and that kibbutz among all of them, the IDF didn't get there until after Hamas and the other groups had left. That sense of that community lost out in so many ways. All of that adds up, Jim.
And there still hasn't been a full-scale investigation, right, of the IDF response and the intelligence failures leading up as well. Just so many threads coming together there. Nick Robertson in Jerusalem, thanks so much. Coming up, the largest federal agency of them all, now under the Doge microscope, the coats that could be coming to the U.S. military, plus a storied maritime icon, the SS United States prepares for its final chapter. One of the five things you have to see this morning.
I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. People all over the place are experiencing jealousy because their partner is clicking too many hearts on the wrong person's profile. Psychologist and jealousy expert, Dr. Jolie Hamilton, with some research and advice that I think we could all use. We're getting real about a messy emotion, something all of us face at some point or another. What's the research? What do they tell us? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.
31 minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning. Federal workers are marching in protest over the wave of layoffs hitting agencies nationwide, we should note. Last night they demonstrated outside the D.C. office of SpaceX, which is, of course, one of Elon Musk's companies. I will now engage in the time-honored peaceful civil disobedience.
That's former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Clue getting arrested at a Huntington Beach City Council meeting on Tuesday. He was speaking out against plans to install a MAGA plaque at a California library. Who tells CNN he was charged with a misdemeanor for disruption and was held for just about four hours.
Now, after months of delays, the SS United States ocean liner is finally on the move. The historic vessel began its journey out of Philadelphia and down the Delaware River. It's being towed to the Florida Panhandle, where it will become the world's largest artificial reef. You've been very good. LeBron!
LeBron, look out! Look out below! That was big. Vintage LeBron there. Check out that dunk. Going strong at 40 years old, scoring 16 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter last night. The Lakers, however, coughed up a double-digit lead, were upset by the Charlotte Hornets. 197 in their return from the All-Star break. Still a pretty nice dunk. These Otters do not have a sled in their enclosure in Knoxville, Tennessee.
But that didn't stop them from having some fun in the snow this week. They do look like they're having fun. Knoxville's red pandas enjoyed apples as they chilled in the snow. Who doesn't like cute animals in the morning?
Ahead on CNN this morning, something far more serious, a blow up between President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In public, how Ukraine is reacting to a U.S. president falsely declaring their elected leader a dictator. Plus, the Pentagon is now bracing to become the next department to face budget cuts under the Trump administration. Big words. Let's cut our military budget in half and we can do that. And I think we'll be able to do it.
The future of Ukraine is not really bright right now because of everything we hear in news from Trump. The biggest disappointment and fear for me to understand that these three years was a waste of time. We lose a lot of people, friends, relatives, and nothing changed. Sad words there to hear. Right now, President Trump's Ukraine envoy is in Kyiv.
for a face-to-face meeting with the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky and Trump are trading barbs in the media this week. Zelensky claiming Trump lives in a misinformation space. Trump falsely claiming Zelensky is a dictator. The Trump administration opened peace talks with Russia without Ukraine, which Russia invaded, at that negotiating table.
An issue simmering beneath the surface, Ukraine's valuable deposits of rare earth minerals. The Trump administration wants access to them, ownership of them as payback for U.S. military assistance to Ukraine. Zelensky refused to sign those rights away. Trump spoke about the issue last night on Air Force One.
We told them that the dealers will do something for the rare earth and some oil, etc., etc. Then that would be all right. And they agreed to it, more or less. And then Scott Bessett actually went there and was treated rather rudely because essentially they told him no. And Zelinsky was sleeping and unavailable to meet him. He went there to get a document signed.
And when he got there, he came back empty. They wouldn't sign the document. I'm going to resurrect it or things are not going to make him too happy. Joining me now is CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh from Kiva. Nick, I wonder, what do Ukrainians think of a U.S. president demanding half of their country's natural resources as payback for military assistance to defend themselves?
Yeah, I mean, it is extraordinary over the past two days, really, just to speak to Ukrainians who are oftentimes struggling to catch up with the things they're hearing from the Trump administration. We've understood from various sources familiar with the proposal offer that indeed it wasn't just
pay back for future aid, it was essentially the Trump administration saying, well, you owe us for the stuff that the Biden administration gave you. Give us access to your rare earth minerals. And that document, 16 pages long, two or three pages legalese, and then a dozen pages of specific places and assets that they had in mind. So quite specific.
The notion that Zelensky was asleep, that President Donald Trump said there and didn't meet Besant, well, that's not true. There was a joint press conference they gave, an extensive one. I'm sure at some point during the time Besant was here, Zelensky went to sleep, and I'm sure Besant did too. But it's an extraordinary comment to make, suggesting that essentially Zelensky himself
has rejected that deal. He has said, yes, I wouldn't sign it. I have to guarantee Ukraine's interest. It wasn't a ready legal document. They haven't rejected it outright, but I'm sure they want to see better terms there. And they've said publicly they want to see security guarantees as part of that. Zelensky said to me yesterday, look, if you don't give us boots on the ground, you won't give us more military aid necessarily to fight. Then give us air defenses to defend our skies. Ukraine hit
constantly at the moment. And so there's growing concern here about the phrase dictator being used around Zelensky, about how he's refusing elections. Yes, Ukraine has not had elections during wartime. That isn't far from abnormal in European history when countries have indeed been attacked. And we've seen European leaders come to his aid, essentially, the British suggesting that they didn't have elections throughout
World War II because they were under bombardment and we've heard European leaders too come forwards and say they do not believe that Ukraine is run by a dictator and some suggesting that's in fact Vladimir Putin, the one man who Trump is very eager to not criticize it seems at the moment. So a startling turn in foreign policy for the United States here. A lot of bewildering rhetoric. The future of Ukraine's mineral resources on the table here. Essentially I think their arm twisted.
if they want to keep the aid that will keep them fighting. But above all, you know, you heard at the start there, ordinary Ukrainians, people are dying as I'm talking to you now here, hundreds a day on the front lines. That is often missing from the discussion here, the sort of Twitter burns we're seeing between world leaders and statements at press conferences. And I think that is going to hold more clearly into view as we see Western support here, particularly from the Trump administration falter. Jim? And we've seen, you know, as those talks and discussion of talks
have been happening. Russia has been amping up its air attacks, as we know you are witnessing very much yourself there on the ground at Nick Payton Walsh in Kyiv. Thanks so much. Coming up next on CNN this morning, we're going to continue our conversation about President Trump calling Ukraine's president a dictator. Russians are now praising Trump as he further distances himself
from Ukraine despite Russia's ongoing invasion. Plus, fierce pushback after the White House tweets out "Long live the King" with a picture of President Trump, well, there you see it, wearing a crown. New York hasn't labored under a king in over 250 years. And we are not. We sure as hell are not gonna start now.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is ordering the military to prepare for drastic spending cuts. On Tuesday, Hegseth sent a memo asking Pentagon leaders to draft proposals for an 8% budget cut
Every year for the next five years, there is a disconnect here. The day after Hegseth sent the memo, President Trump endorsed a House Republican budget plan that raises military spending by some $100 billion. Here's Hegseth himself just last week calling for an increase in military spending. Well, I think the U.S. needs to spend more than the Biden administration was willing to, who historically underinvested in the capabilities of our military.
Listen, any defense secretary would be lying if they said they didn't want more. You always want more. But we live in fiscally constrained times where we need to be responsible with taxpayer dollars. We're $37 trillion in debt. That's a national security liability as well.
So what is it, up or down? The proposed cuts would slash tens of billions of dollars from the budget in just the first year. It would be the largest decrease in the DOD budget in more than a decade. Our panel is back now. Help me understand this, Joe Walsh. Republicans have said, and Trump has said, and Hegs has said just last week, increase the budget. Now they're saying cut it by 40%. What's the truth? I don't think they know what they're doing. I think this is all to
pave the way again for Elon Musk to escort into another major agency, we're not gonna cut the defense budget by half over the next five years. That's crazy. - Okay, but Megan, listen, we know the Pentagon spends, wastes a lot of money. I mean, this goes back like, you know, to years and years, like the $800 toilets. I mean, this has been a thing for a long time. So you can imagine there's some political support for at least finding waste, right?
Oh, absolutely. But I think there's political support for finding waste in all these agencies. I think it's the way that they're doing it. And I think a lot of these members are going to have issues with cutting military bases and personnel and also goods and services made in their districts. Those are big moneymakers for these people's districts. That's a big barrier. So I think that's where we hit the third rail on this. Yeah, no question. They always talk about jobs from these contracts. As do lobbyists, I think. Stay with us because we're going to have more to talk about. While the relationship between President Trump and President Zelenskyy
is unraveling before our eyes. The Kremlin is taking note as top officials in Russia hail the change from the U.S. president. Trump has, I think, for the, is the first Western leader to publicly address
openly say that the cause of the Ukrainian conflict was the efforts of the previous administration to expand NATO. And no Western leader has actually said that before.
Just a note there, Sergey Lavrov, days before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, said it was not going to invade Ukraine. Just a note about his credibility. Joining me now to speak about all this, Angela Stent, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. So we have Russians celebrating Trump's comments because, well, in fact, they're pretty much the same, right? Their description of the war, their description of the Ukrainian war.
president. Tell us, does Russia see a victory in this with Trump as president? Oh, certainly. I mean, we know that the Kremlin wanted Donald Trump to win the election. I think in their wildest dreams, they wouldn't have thought that all of this would happen so quickly, that they'd be rehabilitated and that he would essentially tell us their talking points. He's repeating their talking points. And then now attack
mocking Zelensky completely groundlessly. I think they're just, you know, they've been opening the champagne and vodka bottles for a few weeks now, but particularly this week. Let me ask you this, because there is quite open disagreement between the U.S. now and its closest allies in Europe, who are, like Zelensky, publicly contradicting President Trump. Can Europe stand up to Russia without the U.S.?
it's going to be very difficult for them. I mean, they haven't spent enough on defense, you know, at least in the past 30 years, if not more. And they can try and help Ukraine. They want to do it. But without the U.S., it's going to be very difficult for Ukraine to continue this war. And make no mistake, Putin is not interested in any peace deal with Ukraine. He's interested in what he's getting, which is international rehabilitation, lifting of sanctions,
and no US support for Ukraine. When you speak to, when I speak, and I'm sure it's similar for you, to the leaders of Eastern European countries, those closest to Russia, and by the way, who lived under Russian power just quite recently, just a generation ago as part of the Warsaw Pact or the Soviet Union, they say they could be Russia's next target, right? If Russia wins in Ukraine, that it might very well attack them.
Do you believe that that is a fair fear?
I think it is a fair fear. It's not an immediate fear, but I think if Russia prevails in Ukraine and is able to subordinate it, get rid of Zelensky and have a pro-Russian government, Putin's not going to stop there. He's been explicit. He wants to restore what he believes are rightfully Russian lands, and that includes certainly the three Baltic states. But he's gone further than that. He's talked about Eastern Europe, too.
Yeah, no question. There have been a small number of Republican voices here in the U.S. willing to contradict Trump's rewriting of history, really, of the Ukraine invasion. Do you believe that Congress has a power to hem in this retreat from Ukraine, retreat from Europe, or as commander-in-chief, does the president have the ability to do it if he wants to do it?
Well, I mean, Congress does have some powers, but it's unclear whether they're going to exercise them. And we have even, you know, our secretary of state who said completely different things, Marco Rubio, when he was a senator about Ukraine, that he does now. But, you know, Trump has a very expansive view of what executive power is. And he's trying to make sure that Congress couldn't contradict what he wants to do.
Angela Stent, so good to have you on this morning. Thanks so much. Thank you. Speaking of battles, this one at home, a battle brewing between President Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The Trump administration yesterday killed New York City's congestion pricing, a newly implemented tolling program, and
that aims to raise money for infrastructure projects, but also address what is really nasty traffic in central New York, if you've spent any time there in the last several years. When Trump announced his plans to get rid of it, he posted what on social media? This, quote, congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan and all of New York is saved. Long live the king.
What did the White House do? Well, it went on its official ex-account to reshare that message along with this image of Trump wearing a crowd and those words, long live the king. That prompted the New York governor to fire back. New York hasn't labored under a king in over 250 years. We are not, we sure as hell are not going to start now. The streets of this city where battles were fought, we stood up to a king.
And we won then. In case you don't know New Yorkers, we're in a fight. I almost felt like she was going to quote Alexander Hamilton at one point there. Maybe break into song. Isaac, you covered New York politics yourself for some time. Where does this go from here? It goes to court, and we'll see what happens. I
The first time that congestion pricing was part of my coverage was in 2006 when Mike Bloomberg proposed it then. This is a long, ongoing process. It has roiled a lot of New Yorkers for a long time. It also, in the weeks that it has been implemented, has, as you said, changed the way traffic looks in the city. And with a plan to raise a lot of money, billions, $15 billion into the
Metropolitan Transit Authority Fund, which would be for improving infrastructure and also for safety on the subways. New Yorkers and their elected leaders, well, I mean, obviously New Yorkers are complaining. New Yorkers are good at that. But they do have local representatives who implemented this plan. Joe Walsh, I thought the Republican Party was for
local leadership, local authority, let the states decide, et cetera. No, now the Republican Party is all about embracing the king. I don't know the first thing about congestive pricing, Isaac. I'd love to talk to you about it. I
I don't think this is funny and I don't think it's trolling. When the president of the United States refers to him as a king and the White House doubles down on that, we don't have kings in America. And I think the American people would be wise to take this kind of stuff
Because it's coupled, right, with a vast expansion of executive power via executive order and so on. When Joe Biden was president, there was a whole dark Brandon thing and the White House aides would post images of him with laser shooting out of his eyes. Nobody thought Joe Biden actually had laser shooting out of his eyes. Donald Trump is acting in a way that is disingenuous.
centering more and more power on his own presidency and just doing and overriding what other people want. And it's not it's not in a vacuum. It is an example of like what we should focus on. Right. I mean, the tweet is one thing. An image is one thing. But look at the moves, the decisions, etc. Megan, I want to ask you about Democratic response to this. Quoting the Illinois governor Pritzker. Here's how he responded.
We don't have kings in America, and I don't intend to bend the knee to one. If you think I'm overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this. It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. Does that argument land?
So I'm not sure that Lance's speech was part of the State of the State Address, which was very compelling, the back half of that speech. And a lot of things that happened in Illinois that the people actually rose up and kind of put this...
the Nazi, they were, a march and stuff. So it was a very compelling moment in time. I do think that Democrats are going to have a problem with messaging here. We don't, we're not good at messaging about democracy. And I think that this is what really doesn't land well with people. And I think, again, it goes back to how people are feeling about their kitchen table issues. They don't understand the importance of some of the
Democratic views because it doesn't, it has not impacted them in a way. At least not yet. Exactly. And so I think that it will have to come hit them at home before they act. Molly, what about conservative voices who are not happy with this? I'm thinking of, you know, for instance, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which every once in a while will say, well, he's gone too far. Does that have an impact on Trump's thinking?
- Not perceptibly. And I think he's consolidated his power within the Republican Party. Look, I mean, I think the Democrats are in a tough spot here because I've heard from a lot of Democratic activist members of the Democratic base, even elected officials, that they like what Pritzker is doing because he is stepping forward and he is, in his words, sounding the alarm. And there's a concern among a lot of Democrats
that they have to get ahead of what's happening and channel the angst that so many people are feeling. And they look at particularly the leaders on Capitol Hill and feel like sort of, you know, where are they? Where are they? And well, we'll see. It's early. Thanks so much to all of you. I think I owe you a coffee at this point. And thanks to all of you for joining us. I hope you get your coffee soon. I'm Jim Sciutto, CNN News Central starts now.