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U.S Envoy Meets With Zelenskyy in Kyiv for Talks on Ending War; Hamas Hands Over Bodies of Four Israeli Hostages; Elon Musk's $44 Billion Investment in X May Soon Pay Off. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 20, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, Kremlin leaders say they are literally laughing out loud at the support they are getting from President Trump. This as a U.S. envoy is in Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Brand new CNN numbers out this morning show President Trump's approval rating slipping lower since he took office. A big part of it is what the economy is doing.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And two teen, two teenagers arrested, accused of plotting an attack on a Houston High School. How that attack was thwarted.

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

BERMAN: And we are standing by for news out of Ukraine where President Trump's envoy, Keith Kellogg, is meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It comes as President Trump has made a clear, rhetorical shift toward Russia and toward Russian talking points, false talking points. President Trump has now falsely called Zelenskyy a dictator multiple times. He falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine.

A short time ago, one of Putin's key deputies, Dmitry Medvedev, posted on Elon Musk's Twitter, quote, if you had told me three months ago that these were the words of the U.S. president, I would have laughed out loud. Even the Russians can't believe how much Trump has swung their way.

We have brand new polling showing voters might be getting wary of some of President Trump's moves. His approval is now dipping below Zelenskyy's, which, of course, President Trump falsely attacked the other day. Overnight, Ukrainian forces reported a barrage of new Russian drone attacks. Kyiv was struck.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is there, but, first, let's get to Alayna Treene at the White House for the latest, I guess, on the expectations of the Kellogg-Zelenskyy meeting, Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Well, look, I'm going to start just where, you know, with this between President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy and really the 48 hours that we saw the president turn on the Ukrainian president. Look, in my conversations with White House officials, Trump administration officials, they said that this shouldn't come as a huge surprise. One, of course, is the history they have, but also this had been building for days now. The president has always kind of been skeptical of Zelenskyy, but also Ukraine and the U.S. in aiding Ukraine.

But, really, we kind of saw this all kind of hit an inflection point yesterday. I was told that, one, some of the comments that Zelenskyy had been making over recent days, particularly for not being included in the U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, had really gotten under his skin. But it hit an inflection point when Zelenskyy yesterday told reporters in Kyiv that he believed that the president lives in a disinformation space.

I was told actually that Trump, speaking with some of his aides around him while he was at Mar-a-Lago, told them that he wanted to respond directly. And that's really why you saw that Truth Social post come after where he described the Ukrainian president as a dictator. Then, of course, we saw him continue those taunts throughout the day, making a series of statements, many misleading or false, about Ukraine.

But, look, I do want to tell you what one White House official told me about all of this, just to kind of emphasize my point here. They said, quote, it's a frustration. There is a strong and legitimate feeling that this brutal war has to stop and that this pathway is being diminished through Zelenskyy's public statements.

I'd also just point your attention to what we saw Vice President J.D. Vance tell series of outlets yesterday, which is essentially that this is not the way to negotiate with the president. The idea that bad mouthing Donald Trump is going to help your negotiations. That is not really the way to deal with this president. He's not President Joe Biden, something Vance tried to emphasize in a couple media interviews.

But, look, one of the key things here as well is how the president feels like the United States shouldn't be giving as much funding to Ukraine. We heard him talk about that yesterday as well, all to say this is something that has been building for a long time. And also if you look at his past comments, even before he was president, he has shown skepticism of Zelenskyy.

Of course, this is a much bigger deal now that because he is president and they are in the middle of trying to find an off ramp to this war, John.

[07:05:03]

BERMAN: Yes, so much criticism and so many attacks on Zelenskyy, none as far as we can tell on Vladimir Putin.

Alayna Treene at the White House, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, John. Let's go right to Kyiv now, where CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is this morning. We saw U.S. Envoy Keith Kellogg walking around Kyiv yesterday. But President Trump has gone from, you know, sort of skepticism to outright aggression when it comes to Zelenskyy. What is the latest you're hearing on this meeting with Zelenskyy as Kellogg tries to have these talks?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think it's fair to say from the statement we heard from Zelenskyy last night in which he didn't seek to go back over the ground the previous day with the comments about a different disinformation space and through forwards to the meeting he's due to have today with Ukraine and Russia Envoy General Keith Kellogg here, that they're trying to perhaps to step over that enormous mess in U.S.-Ukraine relations that sprung to the surface yesterday.

Kellogg himself obviously here at a very complex time now. He was here, he said, to listen to talk about security guarantees. This is really the first detailed contact the Ukrainians are having with the Trump administration about the peace deal that Trump says is so utterly vital.

And we have not only the president of Ukraine being called a dictator falsely, he is refusing elections but because his country is a war that is not abnormal. They would require a lot of months of work to make that happen here. And he's also refused the rare earth mineral deal, which was offered about two weeks ago by the U.

S. Treasury secretary. President Trump saying on Air Force One last night that Zelenskyy was asleep when Bessent's tried to have the deal signed and that it meets. Well, that's not true. There was a press conference that they held here. I'm sure Zelenskyy went to sleep at some point during Bessent's visit that lasted over a day, but that's not abnormal too for a wartime commander.

So, many mistruths being used here, and I think the ultimate goal seems to be to undermine the position of Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the aim of that, to try and get him to sign up to a deal that is not in Ukraine's favor in the way that he would like possibly. Is it simply to undermine him and introduce a different personality who Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump would prefer to deal with? We'll see that in the months ahead.

But this rare earth minerals deal increasingly coming to the surface again. We understand from sources familiar with the document, just to clarify here, this is not about future aid. This was a deal proposed to pay the U.S. back for the aid the Biden administration gave. That's already tens of billions, a startling figure. And the document too, we understand, had a couple of pages of legalese, then it's laid out specific assets and resources that the U.S. had its mind on. Very transactional, very different, and leaving very many Ukrainians here deeply existentially worried about their fight on the frontline.

Look, let's not forget hundreds dying daily in the pitch battles on the frontline where Russia is winning. That is often lost in the talk here, the bickering between world leaders, but it's the fundamental thing that leaves Ukrainians awake at night. SIDNER: Yes, there's truly fear for those in the midst of this war and with this wartime president. We will see what happens with these meetings. I know you will keep on it.

Thank you so much for reporting there live for us from Kyiv, our Nick Paton Walsh.

All right, back here in the U.S. breaking overnight, new CNN polling showing America is still split on the job that President Trump is doing one month into his second term. 47 percent of Americans say they approve of the job he's doing, a slight dip since November -- sorry, December, and a sign that the optimism many expressed after his November victory could be dissipating. A majority of Americans feel he isn't doing enough to address the high prices of everyday goods, and 52 percent say he's gone too far in using his presidential power.

We should note that despite the low approval rating, this is still better than any number he reached at any point in his first four years in office. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, breaking overnight, a somber scene as the bodies of four hostages are returned to Israel, including the two young children who have become a symbol of Hamas' depravity from October 7th. We have more on that.

And big cuts at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asks for more than $800 billion off the ledgers a week after calling for an increase in funding.

And dangerous cold is about to set in across the United States. More than 100 new records are expected to be set from the Dakotas to the Gulf Coast. It is negative 22 degrees, I am told, in North Dakota right now, negative 42 degrees.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, an emotional and somber moment for Israel and the world. The bodies of four Israeli hostages returned home. It's the first time Hamas has released deceased captives. All other bodies recovered until now have been retrieved in IDF operations in Gaza. Those today are said to include Shiri Bibas and her two young children, Ariel and Kafir. Kafir is the youngest captive in the terror attack. He was just nine months old when he was stolen from his home. Ariel was just four years old at the time.

Their faces, their images, their photographs have become symbols of Hamas' depravity and the brutality of October 7th.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Jerusalem following this now for us. Hey there, Nick.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think the image of Shiri Bibas clutching Kafir and Ariel in her arms trying to shield them in a blanket as, Hamas was leading away on October 7th, 2023. That fear in her face, that image is seared into the Israeli consciousness here.

[07:15:03]

And the whole country has followed this family, hoping against hope that they would come back alive. Hearing Hamas say that they had actually been killed in an Israeli airstrike in late 2023, watching the video as Hamas used Yarden, the husband who was in captivity as well separately held, to give a propaganda video under duress, making these allegations against the Israeli government. The IDF unable to say with clarity whether or not they've been killed the whole country, each time a little bit of video came out, each time a hostage was released, hoping that there would be news about the Bibas family. And today at that forensic laboratory institute where the caskets will finally arrived over the day, that's where the country will find out whether or not what Hamas is saying about the Bibas family being dead. We'll find out if it's true.

It is incredibly heartbreaking for the family but for the country as well. And that's why we've seen so many people along the roadside today coming out as this convoy has traveled through the country, coming out, waving their flags, hostages square, normally a place of celebration when live hostages are released. Today, a somber and far, far different place.

We're also learning that Hamas will release six living hostages on Saturday, double the numbers that they previously released. Interestingly, two of those hostages to be released have been held by Hamas for over ten years. They were taken long before October 7th. So, some joy returning to Israel over the weekend, but today, very somber day.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Nic, thank you very much. We'll be continuing to follow how it all unfolds throughout Israel today. Thank you very much. John?

BERMAN: Just wrenching images.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, Elon Musk could be getting his money's worth. The value of Twitter is dramatically increasing as he gets closer to President Trump.

And new details from an internal FAA memo obtained by CNN. It warns employees that Elon Musk and his team are on the way.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, since crushing its value after taking it over, Elon Musk might be breaking even on Twitter or X. He paid $44 billion for it in 2022, and the changes he made sent the company's valuation into a kind of a tailspin, but it might be out of that tailspin.

CNN Tech Writer Clare Duffy is here. So what's going on?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, it's kind of insane because, you know, $44 billion was always considered likely an overpayment for Twitter when he made that deal in October 2022. Then just back in December, three months ago, Fidelity valued the company at just 30 percent of what he paid for it, $12.3 billion. But now, Bloomberg is reporting that Musk is in talks to raise funding for X at a valuation of $44 billion.

And I think the thing that nobody was betting on when Musk took this platform over is the way that he would use it to get close to Trump, to help Trump get reelected, as he did over the summer. And now X has really become the place to be to follow what's happening inside of the White House. Musk is using it to broadcast what he's doing inside of the government at DOGE. Trump is using the platform again to talk about what he cares about. And so it really is the place to be for that conversation in a way that it really hasn't been in the past few years. It had been replaced by Twitter lookalike platforms. TikTok had become a really important place to follow the news.

But, again, X is sort of back at the center of the conversation, and I think that is really what's playing into this renewed valuation.

BERMAN: Anything about the business itself, the Twitter business itself that's changed?

DUFFY: Yes. So, we are seeing some advertisers returning to the platforms, big names like Apple and Amazon have said they will start advertising again on X. But I think there's a question about whether they're doing that to be close to Trump's first buddy, Elon Musk, or whether it really is a place that lots of advertisers will return to.

We are still seeing lots of hate speech and extremism on this platform, and there are many ways in which I think that X will never be what Twitter was again. We still see users camping to other platforms. Some of the platform's core features like its Twitter spaces feature continue to have glitches in really important moments, like when Elon Musk was interviewing Trump around the election. There was a massive glitch and they had to shut that down.

And so I do think that it's unlikely that this platform will return to its former self and I think big questions about whether this valuation is really a reflection of the fundamentals or just of Musk's position in the White House.

BERMAN: Access is everything. Clare Duffy, great to see you, thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead today, President Trump's envoy to Ukraine will meet with President Zelenskyy after President Trump called him a dictator.

And a massive budget cut ordered at the Defense Department just a day after President Trump endorsed more money for the military. What is exactly going on here at the Pentagon? We'll discuss.

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[07:25:00]

SIDNER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting today with U.S. envoy to Russia and Ukraine's Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, all of it shrouded by a presidential rift playing out in an incredibly public way. President Trump has gone on the attack against President Zelenskyy now calling him a dictator just hours after Zelenskyy accused Trump of living in a disinformation space.

CNN Anchor and Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto is joining me now. Look, Russian leadership has been very clear. They cannot believe their ears and celebrating these words now. What are we expecting now from Kellogg as he's in this precarious position in Kyiv?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it's not clear how senior or influential Kellogg's role is in all this for the Trump administration. He was not central to those talks in Riyadh between U.S. and Russian officials. It appears that his role is purely as a conduit between the administration and Ukraine specifically as opposed to at the table for the more broad U.S.-Russia talks. That's one thing. And that's a sad development for Ukraine, frankly, because in the Trump administration, Kellogg has been one of the bigger champions of defending Ukraine.

[07:30:01]

Of course, the other thing that's happening is that if his role is dialogue, that dialogue is really happening in the public sphere now between Zelenskyy.