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U.S. & Russian Delegations To Meet In Turkey To Discuss "Operational Issues" Related To Embassies and Consulates; USDA Details New Plan To Tackle Bird Flu, Lower Egg Prices; Rep. Debbie Dingell (D- MI) Discusses Dem Strategy Amid Voter Backlash To Trump's Firings & Trump Slamming "Wall Street Journal" As It Repeatedly Attacks Tariffs. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 26, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: -- here in Moscow have to spend some of their time, you know, cleaning the embassy corridors because they don't have any cleaning staff.

And so, you know, everybody is pulling together here in Moscow to try to keep the embassy running.

They're talking now, finally, about rebuilding those diplomatic links and getting the infrastructure back in place again so at least they can really start talking again in earnest -- Jessica?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: All right. Matthew Chance, with the very latest, thank you so much for that reporting.

Still to come, the Trump administration outlining a new strategy on how to mitigate the spread of bird flu. We'll tell you what's in their plan. And when officials say you could start to see lower prices on eggs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:10]

DEAN: The Trump administration is laying out a new five-point plan to combat bird flu and attempt to lower the price of eggs. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the strategy involves investing in vaccine research and shoring up biosecurity measures like restricting access to farms.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: But a huge question many of us have is, when will eggs actually get cheaper?

Here's what she said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE ROLLINS, U.S. AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: We are seeing probably even a little bit more increase up until Easter, which is actually normal because so many eggs are used around Easter. We also have only been in 30 days. I've been in 13 days.

We are going -- it's going to take a little while to -- to get through, I think, the next month or two, but hopefully by summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell, is here with more details.

Meg, walk us through this five-point plan. What's in it?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, you know, they talk about needing to control the spread of bird flu. But really, this is a plan laid out in a "Wall Street Journal" op-ed that she calls "My Plan to Lower Egg Prices."

So their plan to do that is through trying to control bird flu. There's a lot of health experts who would say we really need to control bird flu for the potential pandemic potential of this virus.

But looking at it from the egg perspective, she noted in this op-ed that perhaps within three to six months they're hoping to see the price of eggs come under control.

On average, they're up to almost $5 a dozen nationally. That's up almost 20 percent in the last month -- over month alone in January.

So these egg prices are rising. And a lot of that is because farmers need to cull or kill birds that are infected with H5N1 and others in their flocks to prevent the spread.

And also because this is such a contagious and deadly virus for birds and chickens that that is the most humane way to do it in addition to trying to prevent further spread.

So since 2022, the agriculture secretary notes that 166 million laying hens have been culled. That can be contributing to what we're seeing here.

So this five-point plan, she says, will invest up to $1 billion to try to bring down the price of eggs, including $500 million to -- trying to help poultry producers implement what they call "gold standard biosecurity measures."

So things like washing off vehicles before they enter farms, making sure that workers wear protective gear and take showers before they go in certain areas, trying to help farmers with vulnerabilities from wild birds, for example.

They also are dedicating $400 million in this plan, they say, to increase financial support for farmers. And they say, as part of this plan, they will devote $100 million to research and development for vaccines and therapeutics for chickens.

Guys, this has been a debate, should we vaccinate chickens? So far, we haven't done that. There are trade implications to doing that that make that a very complicated thing to do, but that is something they're considering as well.

Maybe by summer, they say, this should have an impact on egg prices.

DEAN: And, Meg, as you walk through all of those points, where are the challenges in putting that plan into action?

TIRRELL: Well, you know, a lot of this is suggested things. This is additional funding. So part of the issue with all of the U.S. response to bird flu has been getting the cooperation of states and farmers within those states.

And so we've got a national milk testing strategy, for example, that's supposed to be a surveillance system to see where this is in cows. We are starting to bring more states on board to that, but it's an incredibly slow process.

We're seeing problems with the delay of that, where this virus is getting out ahead of our ability to track it in cows. And we're seeing more and more cases spread then into dairy workers and into people. And some of those have been severe.

SANCHEZ: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for the update.

[13:38:45]

House Republicans are facing angry questions over recent job cuts by DOGE. What have Democrats heard about the president and Elon Musk's efforts to overhaul the federal government? Well discuss with one next.

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[13:43:06]

SANCHEZ: Republican members of Congress are facing angry questions at town halls over President Trump and Elon Musk's sweeping cuts to federal jobs and programs.

What are Democrats hearing from their voters, and what is their current strategy in these opening weeks of the Trump administration?

Let's discuss with Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

Obviously, you have these Republicans hearing from constituents. You've also been hearing from constituents. What did they share with you?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Well, I've been a lot of places and, quite frankly, a lot of Democrats are hearing from equally angry constituents who are very concerned about what is happening and wanting to know what Democrats are doing and why aren't they doing more. Which I think Democrats are trying to raise the human stories so people understand what the impact of some of what is happening. I think there's total chaos right now. By the way, very intentional. Total chaos. We have to be targeted and effective.

But I'm going to tell you, I don't care if you're a Republican or Democrat, there are a lot of angry people right now about a number of things that are being impacted by grants being frozen or eliminated.

SANCHEZ: The argument from supporters of DOGE is that the federal government, as the president put it, is bloated and overgrown, that spending levels are unsustainable, that the country would go, de facto, bankrupt, as Elon Musk put it, without drastic changes to spending.

Where do you think DOGE should focus then? Where should we see cuts?

DINGELL: Look, I wouldn't care if we were to take a program and put together something and not just take a meat cleaver and chop everything. But what he is doing and the way he's doing it -- besides the fact that he's got access to way much to personal data. We have no idea how it's being used and how it may be used in the future. That's to one side.

[13:45:05]

But when you look at the programs, you look at the nuclear security safety programs that people we're fired and they had to be hired back.

When you look, you were talking about the bird flu earlier. They have fired people at the CDC. We're not tracking it. What are they doing as they find a new Covid virus in China? And we're not part of the World Health Organization.

I could go department by department. Safety. I mean, there are a ton of safety issues from the number of near plane crashes to the ones that we have seen in recent weeks.

There -- look, I'll start with the Defense Department. I'm sure there's lots of waste there, but let's do it in a targeted, effective way, not a meat ax that's hurting people in -- every day.

SANCHEZ: I want to ask you about Republicans' spending blueprint. The House passed this sort of outline for spending yesterday, and they've argued that what they passed technically, technically doesn't mention Medicaid, which the president says he wants to preserve.

Though they are proposing some $880 billion in cuts that can come from reducing Inflation Reduction Act spending. Do you believe them? Do you think Medicaid is inevitably going to be hit by these cuts they are calling for?

DINGELL: Look, I'm going to be very clear. You've already seen things that have come from the Republicans and the targets that have been given to different committees. Energy and Commerce, which I sit on, has that $880,000 figure that you we're -- billion figure that you we're just talking about. There is no way to -- the way that it's been laid out right now, to not cut Medicaid.

And if you cut Medicaid -- the president, that's why the president is saying it, because it's the largest payer for long term care in this country. It pays for children's health care, that should be able to go to the doctor when they're sick, for people with disabilities.

I'm very worried about what their intent is. They haven't spelled it out. But you -- the budget they passed last night, they've not spelled out how they're going to get there. And all the tea leaves say you're only going to get there by cutting Medicaid.

SANCHEZ: To be clear, there are certain Senate Republicans that have argued that they would not support any bill that might come out of the House that would touch Medicaid. So it's still not determined whether that kind of effort would move forward.

I do want to get your thoughts on Trump criticizing the "Wall Street Journal" after an op-ed pointed to evidence that autoworkers in your home state would be hurt by tariffs on Canada and Mexico on imports from those countries.

You've previously told me that you are not opposed to some tariffs as a way to extract certain concessions from our neighbors. Do you agree with Trump, though, that the threat to auto workers specifically is overblown?

DINGELL: You've got to understand the auto industry. Sometimes we ask simple questions that are complicated. People don't understand how intertwined, because of USMCA, the North American continent is.

You can have parts that are in an automobile that will go across the border four or five times. If you're going to put significant tariffs on -- and by the way, I keep telling you we should be treating Canada different than Mexico.

Because China keeps -- wants to go to Mexico, build a plant and then market that product as North American. And we shouldn't be there.

But if you're going to do tariffs like that -- and I don't believe in doing them across the board -- you need to give the automobile makers time to do product plans that take that into account.

You can't take a meat ax and you can't do it without giving -- the companies need certainty. You've got to give them time to do their product planning.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, we have to leave the conversation there. I appreciate you sharing your point of view.

DINGELL: Thank you.

[13:48:58] SANCHEZ: Still ahead for us, a couple is speaking out after they we're seated next to the body of a woman who died on their flight. Hear their claims about the airline's response to this shocking ordeal.

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[13:53:34]

SANCHEZ: A measles outbreak in west Texas has now turned deadly. A spokesperson for the city of Lubbock says the patient who died was a school-aged child who had not been vaccinated. It's the first measles death in the United States in a decade.

This outbreak has grown to 124 cases in west Texas and nine cases in eastern New Mexico. Doctors are urging everyone to make sure they are vaccinated for measles. It requires two shots to fully protect against the virus.

Jessica?

DEAN: An Australian couple says they're dealing with trauma after seeing a woman die on their flight and then having her dead body, covered in blankets, seated next to them for hours.

CNN's Marc Stewart has this story.

We do want to warn you, this story has some disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So this happened around 10 hours into what is roughly a 14-hour flight between Melbourne, Australia, and Doha, Qatar.

According to a passenger on board the flight, a female passenger collapsed in the aisle. Attempts were made to revive her. Unfortunately, she didn't survive.

A device was used to try to move the corpse toward the business class section, but the aisle was too narrow. So the woman's body was then placed in a seat, covered in a blanket, next to a husband and wife heading on vacation to Venice. This created an uncomfortable situation.

Let's listen to Jennifer Collins, who was traveling with her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:55:03]

JENNIFER COLLINS, QATAR AIRWAYS PASSENGER: Yes, I'm not a great flier at the best of times. But when my husband turned around and said, move, move, we got to move, I was really shocked.

And I said, are they going to, you know, put her there? And luckily, a lady behind me on the other aisle, she said, darling, darling, come here, a lovely English lady.

And I sat next to her. But, so Mitch was across the aisle then from me for the rest of the flight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: At one point in time, one airline had a special compartment on some of its planes in an event like this to discreetly store a body.

As far as the couple, they say they are trying to process all of this.

Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Still ahead, the president revealing some members of his cabinet, quote, "disagree a little bit" with Elon Musk. This, as CNN reports that Musk's directives to federal workers have begun to grate on some cabinet secretaries. We'll have more on that next.

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