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Zelenskyy Accuses Trump of Repeating Disinformation; Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) is Interviewed about Zelenskyy's Comments; Increased Presidential Power over Independent Agencies; Judge Considers Dismissing Adams Case; Lawmakers Clash over Trump's Agenda. Aired 9- 9:30a ET
Aired February 19, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
JOHN STAHLBUSCH, EVP OF SALES, ABB: So, Daytona, they just electrified their parking lot. So, there - whenever their employees pull up, they'll be able to charge their vehicle. Once charging becomes more ubiquitous and it sort of gets integrated into the fabric of the everyday American, I think it will become more and more accepted, and it will be utilized more and more by everybody.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: You were telling me, this is a conscious effort to win hearts and minds of folks who pay extra for the fumes and the noise of a -
CHRIS SHIGAS, VICE PRESIDENT, ABB: Look, we're in the energy transition right now in this country. And the energy transition isn't for some people, it's for everyone. So, I think we need to have better conversations about how we use energy in the United States. And we welcome all the opinions and all the opinions out here today, because these are important decisions to make our country stronger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are watching Ryan Tuerck.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, taking the independent out of independent. President Trump with an unprecedented push for power over agencies Congress created to be independent.
And can New York City Mayor Eric Adams survived the day? The New York governor could move to force him from office, as a judge weighs in on the Justice Department effort to drop the case against him.
And, quote, "no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution." Those words from attorneys for Sean Combs, pushing to dismiss one of the charges against him, arguing a racist prosecution.
I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The most public exchange of accusations between Kyiv and Washington that we've seen yet. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashing back at President Donald Trump after Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia. In addition to asking President Trump and his team to be more truthful, his - he's accusing Donald Trump of parroting Russian disinformation. White House and Kremlin officials met this week to discuss plans to end the war, but Ukraine was not a part of that.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is joining us now from Kyiv.
Look, this is the first time we're really seeing Zelenskyy having some very strong words about the president of the United States. What are you hearing?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and look, in truth, Zelenskyy is reacting to two incorrect statements made by President Trump yesterday, that Ukraine essentially started the war, it was Russia that invaded in 2022, unprovoked, and that his poll rating is at about 4 percent. Now, you know, ultimately in wartime many argue here that a leader's poll rating isn't massively of consequence. They have to get it on the job of trying to win a war. But he argued back, Zelenskyy, that actually his poll rating is about 57 percent. And indeed some of his officials suggested that's even higher than some U.S. presidents currently in the White House.
And they've said, Zelenskyy's team, Zelenskyy himself, that they'll work in the two weeks ahead to try and put out polling to suggest that's the case. But it is remarkable to hear the stark words from President Zelenskyy today suggesting that Hungarian, Slovakian officials may be behind feeding Trump. These are pro-Russian officials in Europe feeding Trump incorrect information.
Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): I believe the United States of America helped Putin to come out of years of isolation. I would like Trump's team to be more truthful. All of this definitely doesn't affect Ukraine in a positive way. They are letting Putin out of isolation. And I think Putin and Russia are really happy because they are involved in discussions. And yesterday there were signals that they are the victims. That is something new.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Now, he said that this was essentially a disinformation space in which President Trump found himself right now. And he went on, when asked by me about security guarantees, given that the United States won't let them join NATO or send troops on the ground here, what indeed would work? And he said, listen, we urgently need anti air defense missiles here. Patriots to take out the ballistic missiles that tried to hit the capital and around the country on a nightly basis. So, a real plea for urgent help. Civilians dying because of those strikes.
But also I think for the first time here in Kyiv, seeing President Zelenskyy having to confront incorrect information put out by the White House head yesterday and doing that very much head on, what that means for the discussions ahead with Trump's Ukraine and Russia envoy, General Keith Kellogg, who arrived this morning at a railway station and said he wanted to talk security guarantees but was here primarily to listen, we don't know. I think a lot has happened prior to Kellogg's visit already between the U.S. and Russia, that summit in Riyadh, and there are very nervous minds here in Kyiv.
SIDNER: Absolutely. And that includes the people of Ukraine, very concerned about what they are hearing this morning from the president of the United States.
[09:05:04]
Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for your great reporting there in a very cold Ukraine.
John.
BERMAN: All right, with us now is Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado, on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee.
Congressman, great to have you here in person.
We just heard President Zelenskyy say that Donald Trump, President Trump, has taken Russia out of isolation. He also said directly that President Trump lives in a world of disinformation.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): Unfortunately, President Trump, I have great respect for him as the leader of a nation that we have great respect for. The American people always support us. Unfortunately, lives in this disinformation space.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: What do you think about that, Congressman?
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, Donald Trump not only lives in a world of Russian propaganda and disinformation, but he lives in an era of - in a world of personal grievance, right? So much of what he does revolves around perceived slights, perceived personal grievances. The problem with that is that when you are dealing with national security, matters of peace and war, literally the security of the European continent and the American people, dealing with all of these matters based on personal grievance is extremely dangerous for Americans.
BERMAN: We heard from Sergey Lavrov, one of the negotiators in Saudi Arabia, who said, quote, "Trump, I think, is the first western leader to publicly and openly say that the cause of Ukrainian conflict was the efforts of the previous administration to expand NATO. No western leader has actually said that before. So that is already a signal that he understands our position." CROW: Well, if we have Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov agreeing with
Donald Trump or saying that, you know, he understands them, there's a couple of things going on there. Number one, Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov are war criminals. They are liars. And they are the ones that started this war. And they are never to be trusted.
Like, we've known Putin for a long time. He's been on the scene for decades. We know that he lies. We know that he's aggressive. We know that he can never be trusted, and he breaks promises over and over and over again. So, if Donald Trump thinks that he can placate them, that he can try to make some deal that actually isn't backed by security guarantees and power, he is lying to himself.
BERMAN: Based on the statements that we've heard from Lavrov, from Putin, from President Trump, if I just played those two in a vacuum, whose side would you say that President Trump is on?
CROW: Well, I mean, clearly you have to think that Donald Trump is moving towards the Russians, right? Theres a long history, actually, of Donald Trump saying things to - to appease Vladimir Putin, echoing Russian propaganda. He is surrounded by people in his administration that echo Russian propaganda.
You have Tucker Carlson, whose people are in every facet of the Trump administration, his supporters, even his family members. And Tucker Carlson literally went to Russia to sit down with Vladimir Putin and to disseminate his propaganda.
So, it's very dangerous for us. And that's why the American people need to understand what's going on with their national security right now in that Ukraine is not - Ukraine is not a charity case for us. We're just not doing this out of the goodness of our heart. We support Ukraine because U.S. national security and our economy rely on it.
BERMAN: Where are your Republican colleagues this morning who were very much supportive of President Zelenskyy and Ukraine when Russia invaded almost three years ago -
CROW: Yes.
BERMAN: Have traditionally been very hard on Russia, and before that, the Soviet Union?
CROW: Well, I just got back from the Munich Security Conference, which is the world's largest international security conference. And I went on a bipartisan congressional delegation with dozens of members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats. So, I spent a lot of time. We fly over there together. We go out to dinner together. And they will voice to me privately that they are deeply concerned with this rhetoric, deeply concerned with the approach of the Trump administration, how they have sidelined Ukraine in these negotiations and the message that sends.
But unfortunately, its private, right. We need them to come out in public. We need courage. We need them to push back. Unfortunately, I'm not holding my breath here because I have learned in my time in Congress not to expect courage from so many of these Republicans.
BERMAN: Look, you're a veteran. You know, you've served. If you were a Ukrainian soldier right now on the front lines trying to push Russia out of your country, how would you feel if the president of the United States, who had been supportive - a president had been supportive of their efforts, just said that - that you started the war?
CROW: Yes. Well, I mean, I have been to war. I know what it's like to be in those foxholes. The loneliness, the desperation. And I don't need to actually guess what those Ukrainians on the front lines are thinking. I talk to them. I know them. I'm friends with them and their families. They - they are in despair right now in so many ways. They're not stopping fighting. Don't get me wrong, right. They feel lonely. They feel abandoned by their friends and their allies because of the rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration.
But one thing I've also learned about the Ukrainian people is, they don't stop, right?
[09:10:01]
They are tough as nails. They are courageous. They are brave. And they're not going to stop.
BERMAN: They fight like hell.
All right, Congressman Jason Crow, nice to see you in person. Appreciate you being here.
CROW: Good to see you.
BERMAN: Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the brand-new power play likely teeing up another legal fight. President Trump, in a new executive order, is now trying to exert new control over independent government agencies. Agencies that were created by Congress to not come under a president's thumb. These are agencies like the SEC, the FCC, the FTC, alphabet soup, but independent, all focused on protecting consumers, tasked with things like regulating Wall Street, regulating communications, radio, TV, cable. Also tasked with, again, protecting consumers.
The White House now wants to require these agencies to submit proposed regulation changes for White House review first to make sure it's all in line with the president's policies and priorities.
CNN's Alayna Treene has more from the White House for us.
What is the latest right now, Alayna, on how they see this rolling out now?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Kate, I mean, just to also give the big picture here with this sweeping executive order that we saw the president sign yesterday, I mean, this is just the latest example, really, of both president Donald Trump himself, but also many of his close allies within the White House and the Trump administration more broadly to try and centralize the power of the White House and really push the boundaries for the power of the executive branch. This has long been a goal, not only of the presidents, we saw him do this during his first administration, but also several of his allies, including people like Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, who, actually, with this executive order, is going to have a sweeping and supervising authority over some of these agencies.
But just to get into your exact question about what exactly this order is doing, it's essentially trying to bring in independent agencies, agencies that we should be clear that Congress decades ago established to be separate from direct White House control. It would essentially bring these independent regulatory agencies underneath White House control.
As you mentioned, you said, a lot of these are agencies that do regulations as it relates to trade, the economy, communications, including the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Security and Exchange Commission, all things, again, that have traditionally operated independently from the executive branch.
Now, to get to my point about how all of this is really going back to, you know, Donald Trump's efforts to really give more power, expand the power of the executive branch, we kind of heard him, you know, suggest some of this while signing this executive order yesterday.
Take a listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't forget, I got elected on the basis of making our government stronger and smaller, because we had millions of people that, obviously, they're paying millions of people that shouldn't be paid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: Now, Kate, also just to get into some of the nitty gritty of this order, you mentioned some of this, but it requires that independent agencies submit their proposed regulations to the White House specifically to ensure, in part, that this aligns with the president's overall agenda. It's similar to what we've seen with other executive orders, really the president trying to reshape the workforce and the government in his image.
One other quick thing as well is that this is very likely to face big legal challenges, potentially even the Supreme Court, like with other orders as well that have faced legal pushback. This actually might be a fight that the Trump administration wants to be at the Supreme Court so they could ultimately try and change the laws around this and give him more power than presidents and his predecessors had previously had.
Kate. BOLDUAN: Alayna, thank you very much.
Sara.
SIDNER: All right, ahead, Republicans in both the House and Senate are determined to pass the president's agenda, but there are competing plans headed for a potential showdown.
And a federal judge gives DOGE the green light, delivering a blow to Democrats' efforts to block federal data from Elon Musk's team.
Plus, Pope Francis said to be in good spirits as he remains in a hospital battling pneumonia in both lungs. An update on the pope's health is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:18:52]
SIDNER: Hours from now a federal judge will consider the Justice Department's controversial motion to dismiss the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. A move that had the top prosecutor on the case accusing Adams and the Trump administration of a quid pro quo. This will be the first public face-off since seven federal prosecutors resigned in protest, and four deputy mayors departed city hall.
And it comes just after Governor Kathy Hochul's meeting with Democratic and city leaders Tuesday, discussing a, quote, "path forward," which could include removing Adams from office.
CNN correspondent Kara Scannell outside the court today.
This is a big day, especially with what has been going on surrounding this case. What are you going to learn today in court and what are you expecting?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Sara, this is a big moment in this case. And we're here today because of the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Both lawyers from the Justice Department and the Adams team will be in court today. And the judge has already said what he wants them to discuss.
[09:20:00]
This is Judge Dale Ho. He's a Biden appointee. He's been on the bench since 2023. He's asked them to come in and have the Justice Department prepared to explain the reasoning behind their motion to dismiss because prosecutors have said it is not based on the strength of the evidence in the case, but it is because they believe there was political reasoning behind the prosecution in the first place, and also because they say that these corruption charges are interfering in Adams ability to run the city, including in carrying out Trump's immigration agenda. So, the judge is saying he wants the prosecutors to be able to explain
that. He wants Adams' team to explain why he has agreed to this deal, because the prosecutors have said that if, in November, they reevaluate this case after the mayoral election, they could potentially revive the charges.
Now, as you said, eight prosecutors have now resigned in this, in what one has called a quid pro quo, another a corrupt bargain. Adams' lawyers have denied there is any quid pro quo. But all of this is going to be on the table.
Now, what will be missing in the courtroom is the voice of the prosecutors who have resigned. And so the question here is, what does the judge do next? Is it a situation where he decides to appoint an independent lawyer to argue what is effectively the other side of this, to raise some of the issues that the departing prosecutors have raised, and questions that they have in this case? Ultimately, it's going to come down to whether the judge thinks that dismissing this case is in the public's interest. And we're not sure if we're going to get a decision on that today, but certainly we're going to hear a lot more details come out in a court of law from what we have seen spill out in the public.
Sara.
SIDNER: And you never know if more resignations are on the way. There are at least a dozen people surrounding the mayor and the mayor's office who have resigned over all this.
Kara Scannell, thank you so much. It will be an interesting day in court.
John.
BERMAN: All right, new this morning, clashes on Capitol Hill as Republican Senate and Republican House lawmakers work on competing strategies to advance President Trump's agenda through Congress. But the Senate may be moving first and more quickly. Let's get to Lauren Fox, who's on Capitol Hill for the very latest on this.
So, where do things stand?
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let me set the stage up here on Capitol Hill. Right now, in the House of Representatives, they are on a week-long recess. Before the break, they were able to pass out of their committee a budget resolution that gives a blueprint, really a guide for what they could do through a process in the United States Senate that would allow them to advance Trump's agenda.
Now, the House wants to move forward with one big bill. Essentially what they would include is a roadmap to include tax reform and a renewal of those 2017 tax cuts that expire at the end of the year. They also want to raise the debt ceiling for two years, as well as provide more money for the border and defense, and give a roadmap to billions of dollars in cuts. In the Senate, they are going a very different route. They are in town this week. And we heard last night they are already trying to advance their own bill on the floor. This is another budget resolution that is very different than the one that the House advanced out of committee. What the Senate wants to do is they essentially want to just create these two different bills. They want to deal with tax later. So, their budget blueprint provides really an outline for them to just deal with immigration at this moment, and defense. They are not dealing with the debt ceiling. They are not trying to get into tax reform in this package. Instead, this is just a budget resolution to get them sort of the bare minimum, get Trump the money that he wants to have in this moment. And they say that this is the best way forward because they're starting to believe that perhaps the house won't have the votes, given the narrow majority to pass their blueprint.
We should remind people at home that Republicans control the House. Republicans control the Senate. But they have two very different views of what Trump needs in this moment.
So, the Senate, we expect, will move forward with this budget resolution in upcoming days. Will likely pass it by the end of the week. Then they will have to do the hard work of trying to pass what is known in the United States Senate, and I apologize for using the word, a reconciliation bill, which essentially just gives them the ability to pass legislation with a simple majority threshold in the United States Senate, rather than a 60 vote threshold, which, of course, would require Democratic votes. They'll be able to do this with just Republican votes, John, and that's the most important thing here.
BERMAN: Yes, it is complicated, but simply right now it's easy to say the Senate and the House, the Republicans, not on the same page. And when it comes to control in the House, the question is, is it a capital c control or a small c control? We'll see if they have either.
Lauren Fox, great to see you. Terrific explanation.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, a new legal battle over DOGE. Tax and business groups now suing to block the DOGE team from gaining access to sensitive IRS data.
[09:25:05]
And ASAP Rocky is a free man. The emotional reaction inside court and the moment he learned the verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BOLDUAN: A legal win for Elon Musk. A federal judge has now denied a request from 14 state attorneys general to at least temporarily stop DOGE from accessing closely guarded government data.
[09:30:01]
Significant in and of itself. Also significant for what this judge's decision could lay the groundwork for going - going ahead as DOGE is diving into every.
