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Zelenskyy Says, Trump Lives in This Disinformation Space; New Trump Order Increases Presidential Power Over Independent Agencies; Judge Denies Democratic Attempt to Block DOGE from Federal Data Systems. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 19, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Living in a disinformation space, President Zelenskyy isn't mincing his words after President Trump uses Russian talking points and falsely accuses the Ukraine of starting the war with Russia.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Power like no president has ever seen. President Trump signs a new executive order trying to seize control of agencies and parts of government created by Congress created to be independent.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And talk about being in the right place at the right time. A fiery crash on an Arizona highway leads to a stunning rescue, all caught on camera.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

All right. The breaking news, some of the breaking news we're following this morning Ukraine's President Zelenskyy speaking to reporters in Kyiv, saying that President Trump is living in a, quote, disinformation space. This is after Zelenskyy became aware, of course, that President Trump falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think I have the power to end this war. And I think it's going very well. But today I heard, oh, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Let's get over to -- let's get to Kyiv. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is standing by. Nick, talk to me about what we're hearing from President Zelenskyy this morning, because he's saying quite a bit in this, what we just heard from one of these things we just heard from him going to just add to the tension now in these whole negotiations. NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, look, it is startling to hear the president of the United States suggest that Ukraine started the war. That was an unprovoked invasion by Russia, a long telegraph by the Biden administration something was about to happen. But it is essentially this narrative that we keep hearing from the head of the White House, which I think is leaving so many here in Kyiv, deeply concerned.

And we heard from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself describing exactly what he's hearing from Trump, blaming some of that on the influence of Hungarian, Slovakian officials. They're pro-Russian, essentially. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: Now as part of that, interestingly, he referred to the polling numbers that President Trump mentioned last night, suggesting that Zelenskyy was at 4 percent. Now, that is incredibly low and untrue. Zelenskyy went on to challenge that saying, look, our polling says I have 57 percent popularity. They say they'll be doing work in the weeks ahead to show again that that remains the case.

Elections here, exceptionally fraught, frankly, and dangerous in wartime like this. Zelenskyy went on. to say that he believes that the Saudi Arabia summit essentially ended the long isolation of Putin, something imposed by the west after the invasion and many events that led up to it as well. And he also said to me in a plea essentially around what security guarantees could look like if the U.S. won't put troops on the ground and wants to pull it back from military assistance.

Well, he said, look, send us air defense, send us Patriot missiles. Every night, we're being hit around Ukraine by Russian ballistic missiles and these are simply days sometimes when we count the number of missiles we have left to intercept them and we don't have enough.

So, a really heartfelt plea here, I think, from a president who is waking up daily and finding the narrative around this war changing in ways that veer so massively from a broadly accepted truth.

Today in Kyiv, Donald Trump's presidential envoy to Ukraine and Russia, General Keith Kellogg, stepped off a train. He's got a three- day visit here. I asked him on arrival what his message was. Well, he said, look, they're here to listen and they're here to talk about security guarantees as well.

But there are big questions here frankly in Ukraine about the sustained nature of aid from the United States, and exactly where this peace track that primarily has been between the U.S. and Russia over the past 72 hours, where that leaves Ukraine, and where that leaves peace here as well.

BOLDUAN: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.

[07:05:00]

John?

BERMAN: All right. Developing this morning, trying to seize more power than any president has ever had, at least in certain areas, the president signed a new executive order trying to take the independent out of independent, giving him more direct authority of agencies created by Congress to be, yes, independent, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission.

Under this new order, the White House now says it will review or change agency budgets as necessary to advance the president's policies and priorities.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House. This is part of just a bigger move to expand presidential power.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It is. And it's the latest example really of what the president is trying to do to really push the boundaries of what the executive branch and directly his power really from the Oval Office is over a series of federal agencies. But, look, this was a sweeping order that the president signed in Florida yesterday, really directing a lot of these independent regulatory agencies to now move under the direct control of the White House. It's also something, though, John, that is likely to face a series of legal challenges, like a lot of the other executive orders we know the president has signed since taking office.

Now, the order suggests that the president's power expands to direct control over the nation's, you know, communications, financial, trade, regulatory agencies, again, all agencies that Congress designed to be independent of the executive branch. Some of these agencies, you ticked through some of them, but I'm going to read them again for you, includes the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Now, some context on these as well. We know that a lot of these agencies were created and designed to protect American consumers. We know you know, they regulate big banks, they regulate stocks, they also can have fines on different companies, media fines, for example, so very broad power that these different agencies have. And, again, they've all operated independently as part of something that Congress and Donald Trump's previous predecessors have designed them to be.

Now, all of this, again, has really been the latest push in a broader effort by the president and his Trump administration to really broaden and centralize the power of the executive branch. This is something that the president kind of addressed when discussing this executive order yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Don't forget, I got elected on the basis of making our government stronger and smaller. Because we have millions of people that, obviously, they're paying millions of people that shouldn't be paid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Just quickly here too, John, one really interesting part of all of this is where Russell Vought, Donald Trump's budget director, but also a key architect of Project 2025 comes into this. Essentially, this order would direct Russell Vought to have broad supervising power over these different independent agencies. It also would give him power to withhold funding for any projects or initiatives that conflict with Trump's policies and priorities.

So, again, a massive change here and one that could potentially set up a Supreme Court fight over this that could ultimately, if Donald Trump's administration is successful, give him far more sweeping powers than we've seen presidents before him have. John?

BERMAN: Alayna Treene, the effort is quite clear. Thank you so much for your reporting. Sara?

SIDNER: Alright, President Trump has signed an executive order designed to expand access to and reduce the cost of in vitro fertilization, or IVF. The order pushes for a full list of policy recommendations within 90 days.

During the campaign, Trump called himself the father of IVF. He and other Republicans stressed the need for IVF support after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last year that frozen embryos are children and anyone who destroys or damages them could face wrongful death liability. No word yet on how much of Trump's IVF plan would cost or how it would be paid for.

All right, ahead, Elon Musk says he loves President Trump, and Trump gave that love right back when the two sat down for a joint interview. And while the two were professing their love for one another, there was chaos within the government after thousands are fired by DOGE.

And new details on the challenges first responders face when they arrive to the scene of that Delta Airlines plane crash in Toronto, why rescuing passengers were not their first priority.

And ASAP Rocky makes a beeline for Yana after a jury finds him innocent of felony assault charges.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

SIDNER: A legal blow to state Democrats and a win for Elon Musk. Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan has denied a request from multiple blue state attorneys general to temporarily cut off DOGE's access to federal data as Musk and his team slash agencies and fire thousands of employees. It is abundantly clear that President Trump is loving what DOGE is doing. He praised his billionaire buddy in a joint interview with Fox News. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You write a beautiful executive and you sign it and you assume it's going to be done but it's not. What he does is he takes it and with his hundred geniuses, he's got some very brilliant young people working for him that dress much worse than him actually.

[07:15:01]

They dress in just T-shirts. You wouldn't know they have a 180 --

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Wait a minute, so he's your tech support.

TRUMP: No, he is, but he's much more than that.

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA AND SPACEX: I actually am tech support though, but that's --

TRUMP: He gets it done. He's a leader.

MUSK: Yes.

TRUMP: He really is. He gets it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: It was a love fest with a backhanded compliment.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is with me now. This gave us a real look into how Trump feels about DOGE and about Musk at this point in time.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It does, Sara. One of the things that is so striking about this is that people really are having a hard time -- even though Trump is out there talking about DOGE and Musk is appearing in the Oval Office, people are having a hard time understanding what DOGE is and what DOGE does, especially in the legal context.

So, you're seeing right now, not just Judge Tanya Chutkan, that judge very much loathed by Trump, who had presided over his criminal case in Washington, D.C. Now she's saying, I can't step in right now to curtail the work that DOGE is doing at agencies accessing data systems, potentially being involved in hiring decisions or personnel decisions across the government. She can't do it because nobody has enough information to show that they have imminent irreparable harm. It is hard to get a court to step in at an early stage and pause something the executive branch is doing. And so that's why you're seeing judges like Judge Chutkan say, I have to stay hands off at this point.

By my account, she's the fourth judge in Washington, D.C., to not step in on a temporary basis like this to curtail DOGE's work, either work with computer systems or other work they're doing, accessing data at agencies. But Judge Chutkan does have some strong words for the lawyers from the Justice Department representing the administration. She is saying in this case, when she is ruling that she can't block things, she is saying that the court is aware that DOGE's unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents. It remains uncertain when and how the catalog of state programs that plaintiffs identify will suffer.

So, this is a case brought by several attorneys general in various states against DOGE's trying to limit Elon Musk's role and responsibility and abilities in the federal government. Judge Chutkan says, it's possible they have a pretty good case. It's just something that she can't work with right now in court.

But she also said something very important, Sara. She told the Justice Department lawyers, they have to be careful what they represent to her. We've seen lawyers from the Justice Department scrambling to nail down the language on exactly what DOGE is when they're trying to explain it in court, and she had to remind these lawyers that they must be truthful in her order yesterday.

SIDNER: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for the reporting there. John?

BERMAN: All right. Here are some quotes, time for him to go. Eric Adams is a traitor, 100 percent compromised. That's what some New Yorkers told the Times, as the fate of New York City Mayor Eric Adams hangs in the balance.

And a setback for America in the area of defense, defense compromised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOAH HANIFIN, TEAM USA DEFENSEMAN: I don't know if there's going to be three fights off the start. I mean, we'll see how it gets going, but I'm sure the intensity will be the same. The passion will be the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: This morning, something of a setback for USA Hockey Team gearing up for an epic rematch tomorrow against Canada. Now, Team USA, which won the last game, will be taking the ice down three players.

CNN's Carolyn Manno is here with more. And there's like an update on these players. They seem a mess.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Kate. Dealing with a little bit of injury and the details on Charlie McAvoy's injury has been kept to a minimum, but this is really significant. Not having him team Canada on the receiving end of a few punishing hits from the Bruins defenseman this past weekend. So, that'll be tough to come back from.

McAvoy will miss the matchup after being admitted to the hospital. The 27-year-old was hurt during last Thursday's game against Finland, reporting a shoulder injury after that game. Head coach Mike Sullivan spoke about a star player who also happens to be his son-in-law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE SULLIVAN, TEAM USA HEAD COACH: I'm disappointed for him because, you know, first and foremost, he's a great kid and he's a terrific hockey player and I know this meant a lot to him. So, under all the circumstances, he's in good spirits. I know he's disappointed. He won't have the opportunity to compete in the championship game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Kate alluded to it, but the first game last Saturday night between the pair was must-see T.V. The Americans got the best of the Canadians in a 3-1 win, which featured three fights in the first nine seconds. Those happened right after the crowd in Montreal booed throughout the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. This time, the team square off on American ice in Boston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK EICHEL, TEAM USA FORWARD: It's a game seven, right, like it's for everything. And, yes, I mean, I think it's, you know -- you're going to see desperate hockey. You're going to see everything you saw in the first game and more, I imagine.

HANIFIN: When we started this term and this is the game we want to be a part of. We want to be in this final game. And to be able to do it against Canada makes it even more special. So, you know, last Saturday was probably the most fun I've ever had in a hockey game and I'm sure it'll repeat itself again here Thursday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Hockey fans are not going to miss this highly anticipated showdown. The puck drops tomorrow night at 8:00 P.M. Eastern in Boston.

[07:25:00]

And keep an eye on the status of Team USA's Tkachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady, both nursing injuries as well. The expectation is that they will be available for the championship game. And, Kate, this hits at the right time on the sports calendar to not a ton else going on. So, I feel like everybody is excited about the USA-Canada rivalry.

BOLDUAN: We'll love --

MANNO: We love it.

BOLDUAN: We love a good rematch. Apparently, they had never had more fun on the ice than when they're beating each other up in the first nine seconds.

MANNO: It's going to be good.

BOLDUAN: And in the term desperate hockey is something like I'm in. I don't know what it looks like, but we're going to find out pretty soon.

MANNO: Okay, good. I'm into it.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Carolyn.

MANNO: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Sara?

SIDNER: It looks like a whole bunch of fights in the first few seconds of the game. I think that's what desperate hockey is all about.

All right, an incredible rescue caught on camera. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, here, here. Get out of the way, get out of the way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I hit it two more times and it broke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You see good Samaritans and that police officer trying to rescue someone in a terrible accident, which led to the entire truck being on fire. How they saved a woman's life after this accident, that's ahead.

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[07:30:00]