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Future Of U.S.-Ukraine Relations In Doubt Ahead Of Trump's Address; Figure Skating Community Gathers For 'Legacy On Ice'; At Least 146 Measles Cases Reported In Texas Outbreak. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 03, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:20]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning Moscow is celebrating the Oval Office attack from President Trump on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, "The new U.S. administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision."

With us now is David Frum, staff writer for The Atlantic and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. David, nice to see you.

You write in The Atlantic a fascinating piece where you basically argue you're glad that this played out in the open --

DAVID FRUM, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC, FORMER SPEECHWRITER FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- for the world to see in the Oval Office. Why?

FRUM: To date, supporters of the Trump administration who also want to be patriotic Americans and support our allies uphold NATO depend on Ukrainian democracy. They have said that it's true that Trump looks very pro-Russian and Vance looks worse, but on the back of it they actually have a secret plan to help Ukraine.

They want to do things for Ukraine. They're trying to negotiate a deal. They're concerned about mineral rights. There's something else going on. This is not just simply pushing the United States to obey Russian foreign policy.

Well, after that meeting in the Oval Office, I think all of that is dissipated. We can now see clearly there is no agenda in the Trump administration other than to help Russia win the Ukraine war on Russia's terms.

BERMAN: You, in this piece, compare Alger Hiss favorably --

FRUM: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- to the president and vice president, and I didn't quite expect to be reading that in The Atlantic this weekend.

FRUM: Well, I didn't say anything favorable about Alger Hiss. What I pointed out was Alger Hiss who, of course, was a traitor and spy in the United States in the 1930s and '40s -- a huge uproar over that -- over the Alger Hiss case.

Now when Hiss was an active spy in the 1930s, he was not a very important person. He didn't have access to important secrets. What people were so worried about him was that Hiss was this extremely distinguished person -- a very capable lawyer -- and he rose and rose and rose in the U.S. bureaucracy. He was the kind of person you could imagine a Secretary of State or imagine as head of the CIA. And the idea that a person was loyal to Moscow would rise to those jobs -- that was terrifying in the 1940s.

But now we see this open sympathy for Moscow in the very highest jobs in the land. And again, that meeting in the Oval Office gave the lie to any claim this is about strategy. This is about pivoting to China. This is about concern for securing minerals.

This was a gang-up on the Ukrainian president as his country is at war. As his people have lost tens of thousands -- hundreds of thousands. Tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of its people to displacement. And an attack on him to serve the interests of Vladimir Putin who, as the president said, has gone through so much with Donald Trump. They talked about each other like an old married couple.

BERMAN: You brought up Vladimir Putin. Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster was on "60 MINUTES" and he basically said Putin is playing Donald Trump. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

H.R. MCMASTER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: He appeals to President Trump's sense of aggrievement, right? The -- you know, Donald's like me, you know. You've been treated so unfairly. And he's been very successful at it because he is a master manipulator and one of the best liars in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What do you think of that?

FRUM: We have not one but two former Trump national security advisers who say that President Trump is enthralled with Vladimir Putin. We have secretaries of -- past Trump secretaries of state who say that Trump is enthralled about Vladimir Putin. We have past secretaries of defense -- Trump secretaries of defense who say the same thing. Also, you just saw it on your television.

So the point of my piece is it's really time to face the problem we've got and not to pretend we have some easier problem that's easier to solve. People want to believe something different but it's not true, and you saw it on television. This president and this vice president are helping Russia achieve a foreign policy aim at the expense of American national security and Ukrainian democracy.

BERMAN: Given that, David, what could/should Volodymyr Zelenskyy have done? I'm not trying to victim blame here but given the reality that you're painting here saying that people need to come to -- come to terms --

FRUM: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- with this fact, what should Zelenskyy have done and now do?

FRUM: Um, I think that there's a suggestion of some Republicans that Zelenskyy should have engaged Trump in some way or appealed to him or flattered him.

This is the bravest living leader in the world. This is a man who turned his face to the enemy when they attacked a city and did not fly to safety. Who has faced a half-dozen or more very credible assassination threats. And a lot of people said he should just have been -- he should have just cowed to Donald Trump the way Trump's own cabinet members do.

[07:35:05]

He is a brave man fighting for a brave people, and he showed dignity, and he showed us all the truth. I think we are all, again, in Zelenskyy's debt and again, in the debt of the Ukrainian people.

BERMAN: What do you think of the reaction the last couple of days from the White House? They seem to be trying to put out all the positive response from right-wing media to what happened in the Oval Office, but might there be a sense of -- I'm going to misquote Shakespeare -- though doth protest too much? They're trying to get it out a little more than might be if they were merely neutral here.

FRUM: Yeah, and look at the line of defense of the president. No one has said look, he stood up for American interests in pillaging Ukraine and getting these -- has taken $500 billion out of a country with a -- you know, that is at war and facing a huge reconstruction bill. What they keep saying -- he was so manly. He was such a boss, as his -- as his crypto adviser said of him.

And I think you know what? I don't have time for your psychosexual anxieties. You may feel inadequate in your masculinity and for some puffed up person on television to bully a valiant leader fighting for a valiant people. But I think every true American watched that scene and felt shame.

BERMAN: David Frum, appreciate you being with us this morning.

And, of course, the president addresses Congress. You can follow CNN for complete coverage of this address. It starts Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. on CNN -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So several flights in Texas had to be diverted to a small regional airport in Waco after experiencing severe turbulence. It was just yesterday. Five people from one of the flights had to be taken to the hospital.

The severe weather that caused the turbulence is now expected to move through the region with storms expected across the South for the next couple of days.

Let's get over to CNN's Derek Van Dam tracking all of this for us in the new CNN extreme weather center. Derek, what's the very latest?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, that's right, Kate.

Today is the day. We've been working very hard on this new studio. So through this augmented reality you are going to see this studio bring you the great visual details of all the types of extreme weather and climate phenomenon around the world. So we're going to seamlessly integrate live video and coverage from the field of this extreme weather. So from fires, to floods, to hurricanes, to tornadoes we're going to bring maps to life.

And today is a perfect example of what we are able to do and what we will do going forward.

A severe -- multi-day severe weather outbreak is set to impact the Deep South going forward. This, by the way, is for tomorrow. And we're highlighting the Deep South but let's talk about what's actually going to happen today because a very impactful storm system is setting up across much of the nation's midsection.

So we've got all the threats -- blizzard conditions across the Plains, severe storms developing in advance, and extreme fire danger is setting up across portions of New Mexico and western Texas. This is all thanks to this powerful cold front. The seasons starting to combine and fight each other, really -- spring and winter.

So we're going to draw in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and get that rotation in the atmosphere and the potential for tornados -- especially tomorrow is highlighted across this area. Heads up Shreveport, Little Rock, Memphis. This time tomorrow afternoon -- Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. -- that's when we anticipate the worst of the weather. And then that front advances eastward placing the severe weather threat along the Eastern Seaboard for Wednesday.

So again, a multi-day severe weather threat. Today, Oklahoma City, Wichita Falls, to Dallas a slight risk. It becomes enhanced tomorrow where you see that shading of orange. And then that chance of severe weather advances to the East Coast.

Today's threat for tornadoes -- or rather, tomorrow's threat will be greatest where you see this shading here directly between Shreveport and Jackson. We'll be monitoring this very closely for the potential, Kate, of winds in excess of 111 miles per hour. The spring tornado season just starting to ramp up.

BOLDUAN: Geez, Louise. You've got a lot to be tracking and it's going to be great for you and the team --

VAN DAM: Absolutely. BOLDUAN: -- to be using all of these new technologies to bring this to everybody.

Thank you much, Derek.

VAN DAM: Definitely.

BOLDUAN: I really appreciate it -- John.

VAN DAM: OK, Kate.

BERMAN: It's like the matrix. Where is the line between reality and imagination there?

BOLDUAN: I don't even know is Derek even a real man anymore.

BERMAN: I don't know. There is no spoon. All right.

VAN DAM: (Laughing).

BOLDUAN: (Laughing).

BERMAN: This morning more winning for the new look Lakers. CNN sports anchor Coy Wire is here with us in reality. Coy, you're definitely there. I know you're there.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: There's lots of glitches in this system though, John. I'll do my best for you this morning.

Hey, LeBron, Luka, and the Lakers looking lovely lately. They are 7-2 -- now the two seed in the West since that Doncic trade.

LeBron needing just 18 points against the Clippers to become the first in NBA history to reach 50,000 regular and postseason points. Luka to LeBron like Brady to Moss -- touchdown. LeBron finished with 17. So it looks like the landmark will be breached tomorrow night.

But it was a big night for Doncic. Not looking out of shape now, John. Look at this -- drain-o. There is one, two -- count 'em -- three of this team-high 29.

[07:40:00]

The Lakers were up just five with 30 to go. But look at LeBron -- 40 years old flying in for the monster block. The Lakers holding on for the 108-102 win.

Luka says he didn't even think they played that well. But clearly, they are starting to click.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUKA DONCIC, POINT GUARD, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: And I think everybody knows what to do. Everybody knows their role. Everybody knows where to be. So I think we -- obviously we're not there yet but we're getting better. REPORTER: Are you enjoying playing in this building? The fans

certainly seem to be appreciating the effort.

DONCIC: Hell, yeah. It's nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right, now we're going to turn to a figure skating community here a little more than a month after the tragic plane and helicopter crash that took the lives of 67 people -- 28 members of the U.S. Figure Skating community. Emotions were on full display in Washington, D.C. yesterday for Legacy on Ice. It's a tribute co-hosted by Olympic champions Brian Boitano and Kristi Yamaguchi.

One of the most emotional moments, John, came as Maxim Naumov there -- his parents died in the crash -- collapsed to his knees after he skated to one of their favorite songs. Naumov had finished fourth place at the National Championships just days before the tragedy.

It was a two-hour event featuring some of the biggest names in figure skating. Moving tributes to the legacies of those lost, John. And the whole point was to help raise funds for the families of those who were affected by this and first responders. The sports community to come together as the sports communities can do so well in tough times like this.

BERMAN: That was quite a night. It was something to see.

Coy Wire, thank you very much -- Kate.

WIRE: You got it.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Israel says it will block Gaza humanitarian aid until Hamas agrees to new conditions. What this means now for the ceasefire deal.

And people running for their lives in a restaurant in Boston and the off-duty police officer who saved the day.

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[07:46:45]

BOLDUAN: Hollywood's biggest night, the Oscars, capping off a busy awards season last night, and the biggest winner of the night, "Anora."

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister in Los Angeles. It's still -- do you ever sleep when the -- on these nights? I can never tell when you are up so early for us after what was another epically long Oscars. But regardless, get us up to speed.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I tell you, Kate, about two to three hours of sleep. And as I was driving in, Oscar parties literally being cleaned up as I was on my way in. But we are here and excited to talk about the Oscars. As you said, the big winner of the night was "Anora."

Let's take a look at what else went down last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG RYAN, ACTRESS: "Anora."

WAGMEISTER (voiceover): It was "Anora's" night. The raunchy R-rated story of a sex worker who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch and battles his disapproving family took five awards including Best Picture.

SEAN BAKER, DIRECTOR, "ANORA": I want to thank the sex worker community. They have -- they have shared their stories. They have shared their life experience with me over the years. My deepest respect.

MIKEY MADISON, WINNER, BEST ACTRESS, "ANORA": Wow. This is very surreal.

WAGMEISTER (voiceover): The film's star, Mikey Madison, winning Best Actress and depriving industry veteran and frontrunner Demi Moore of her first Oscar.

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, 97TH ACADEMY AWARDS: You know, "Anora" is having a good night -- yeah.

WAGMEISTER (voiceover): The film leading to host Conan O'Brien's only political joke of the night.

O'BRIEN: I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.

ADRIEN BRODY, WINNER, BEST ACTOR, "THE BRUTALIST": I pray for a healthier and a happier, and a more inclusive world.

WAGMEISTER (voiceover): Calling out antisemitism and racism, Adrien Brody became the 11th person in Oscars history to win twice for Best Actor, beating Timothee Chalamet who won the SAG Award a week ago.

ZOE SALDANA, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, "EMILIA PEREZ": Mommy! My mom is here.

WAGMEISTER (voiceover): Zoe Saldana completed her award season sweep taking Best Supporting Actress for "Emilia Perez" and honoring her immigrant parents.

SALDANA: And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last.

WAGMEISTER (voiceover): Saldana's co-star Karla Sofia Gascon attended the Oscars after a series of offensive tweets from years ago derailed her Best Actress campaign.

O'BRIEN: And Karla, if you are going to tweet about the Oscars remember my name is Jimmy Kimmel. WAGMEISTER (voiceover): O'Brien getting rave reviews for a hilarious

monologue.

O'BRIEN: We have some footage of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos arriving tonight on the red carpet. This is great. Let's see if we can get out there -- and here he comes. And, yeah, there he is.

ARIANA GRANDE AND CYNTHIA ERIVO: Singing "Defying Gravity."

WAGMEISTER (voiceover): The night kicked off with the wickedly good performance. Nominees Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande may not have won Oscars, but their voices certainly struck gold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:50:08]

WAGMEISTER: Gosh, I get chills every time that she hits that note perfectly.

Now, we also had a lot of fun on the red carpet. I got serenaded by "Wicked's" Jeff Goldblum. And Adrien Brody, who won for Best Actor -- he crashed one -- or sorry, Halle Berry crashed Adrien Brody's red carpet interview with "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD" planting a kiss on him.

And if you don't understand this reference, one of the most famous moments in Oscar history was more than 20 years ago -- right there we see it. When Adrien Brody won his first Best Actor Oscar he gave Halle Berry a surprise kiss. She was shocked in 2004, and it didn't go over well. But now we're seeing her have some fun with it. So everything comes full circle, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, I guess so. And by the way, they both look exactly the same age as they did 20 years ago, which is also something -- I think something we should note there.

WAGMEISTER: We need whatever they're having, Kate, OK?

BOLDUAN: Exactly. I will -- I will take any Meg Ryan reference like that one any day of the week.

It's good to see you. Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning state police and the New York attorney general investigating the death of an inmate at a facility across the street from where a different inmate died after being beaten by correctional officers in December. Six of those prison workers were indicted on murder charges.

Let's get right to CNN's Polo Sandoval who has been covering all of this. What's the latest?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we've been covering it since December with that first incident. This latest one, John, reportedly happening on Saturday. And what's really fueling those concerns, as you point out, happening right across the street from where the death of Robert Brooks was reported just under three months ago.

Let's get to the latest on this latest incident according to The New York Times, who actually had an opportunity to speak to nine inmates at the Mid-State Correctional Facility, most of whom agreed to have their names used in that coverage.

Those inmates telling the Times that one of their fellow inmates, a 22-year-old man, was beaten to death over the weekend. Now The New York Times could not verify those accounts, so we went to the New York State Department of Corrections.

I want to read you a portion of a statement that they've actually released here. The department saying, "An incarcerated individual was taken to Mid-State Correctional Facility to an outside hospital and declared dead a short time later."

The New York State Police confirming they have launched an investigation into this death. The New York state attorney general also saying, John, that they are conducting a preliminary assessment into this latest weekend incident.

But now the latest on the case of Robert Brooks as we've reported and some video that is extremely difficult to watch. This was video from body-worn cameras. It was actually taken from that December incident. And it shows that handcuffed man repeatedly beaten. We now know that six prison employees suspected of being involved in this separate case were indicted on murder charges. After that was announced a special prosecutor handling this case, Bill Fitpatrick, saying that Brooks was left with severe damage -- brain damage, I should say, and eventually choked on his own blood due to the severity of his internal injuries. The indictment listing that he was beaten at least three times, according to the charges.

Now those six prison employees who are currently being charged with murder, John -- they were in court last month. They pleaded not guilty to murder. So we're certainly going to see that case play out in the courts.

But certainly adding to what has been clearly a mounting crisis for the New York state prison system with multiple prisoner deaths.

BERMAN: All right, Polo Sandoval. Thank you very much.

SANDOVAL: Yeah.

BERMAN: Keep us posted on all of this.

SANDOVAL: Yeah.

BERMAN: All right. This morning a small community in Oregon is searching for a missing 2-year-old boy last seen playing in the front yard of his home on Saturday. A 1990s gold station wagon was seen near the home before 2-year-old Dane Paulsen disappeared. It is considered to be a vehicle -- the car is -- a vehicle of interest by police though the county sheriff said there's no evidence the vehicle was directly involved with the boy's disappearance. Also new this morning Boston authorities are investigating an attack inside a Chick-fil-A restaurant. Surveillance video shows people running for their lives after an attacker ran in chasing two people with a knife. An off-duty officer stepped in to stop the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COX, BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: And the off-duty officer identified himself as a police officer and instructed him to drop the weapon at which point the individual did not comply. The officer discharged his weapon to stop the threat and the individual was struck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I support the police, yeah. I mean, he had to do what he had to do. Fortunately, there was -- nobody else got hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The suspect was later taken to the hospital and died.

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket with 21 Starlink satellites. Thirteen of those are equipped with direct-to-cell capabilities. The launch marks the fifth flight of the rocket's first state booster landing aboard the SpaceX drone ship stationed in the Atlantic -- Kate.

[07:55:08]

BOLDUAN: So there is a new measles case in a new state this morning to talk about. Health officials in Pennsylvania sounding the alarm after the first confirmed case of the disease there. And they're now contact tracing after the unvaccinated child in Montgomery County got sick. Officials say that the -- say that the child recently did travel through New York's JFK Airport.

So this new case comes as the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas is getting worse, now up to 146 confirmed cases across nine counties. One child has died there. At least 20 people have been hospitalized. And most of the cases in Texas are among children.

Joining us right now is Dr. Megan Ranney, the dean of Yale's School of Public Health. It's good to see you again, Doctor. Thank you for coming in.

We have this outbreak in Texas that we have been tracking, and it is getting worse. Now we have one -- a new case now confirmed in Pennsylvania.

What do you see in this outbreak where -- and where it stands right now?

DR. MEGAN RANNY, DEAN, YALE'S SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN (via Webex by Cisco): Look, it's too early to say whether that case in Pennsylvania is one of the random cases that we see every year where there's an unvaccinated kid who is exposed to a traveler who is also unvaccinated. And whether that case in Pennsylvania is just going to stop because

the people in the community around them are vaccinated -- real herd immunity. Or whether the case in Pennsylvania is a canary in a coal mine for the spreading of this Texas outbreak far beyond Texas and New Mexico to the rest of the United States.

You know, I and other physicians and public health experts are concerned, Kate, because our level of measles vaccination in kids in the United States has dropped below the level that we need to protect our communities, meaning that the outbreak that we've seen in Texas could be a spark to a fire across the United States.

BOLDUAN: And what is happening, if we focus in on Texas, especially, it's a classic case of making -- it's a classic case of why public health matters and a coordinated public health effort matters so much to contain and stop something before it becomes an outbreak that we're seeing now.

The controversial now Secretary of Health and Human Services RFK Jr. -- he faced backlash last week for essentially shoulder-shrugging about this outbreak saying that it was not unusual. But also -- and also not taking the opportunity when asked about it to push people to make sure that their kids are vaccinated.

He is now -- I'll get your take because he now seems to be taking a step closer, I guess, to maybe promoting getting measles vaccinations. He wrote an opinion piece that was just put out overnight saying this. "The decision to vaccinate is a person one," he wrote. "Vaccines are -- vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons."

What do you think of his messaging?

RANNY: I would have preferred to see messaging that came out very clearly to say that measles -- that the measles vaccine is one of the vaccines that has been most studied in the history of the world. It is tremendously safe and it is unbelievably effective.

And that if you are not vaccinated and you live in Texas -- or as we've now seen in Pennsylvania and elsewhere -- this is the moment to get yourself and your family vaccinated -- not just for your child who, if unvaccinated, if they catch measles and has a one in five chance of being hospitalized and a one in 1,000 chance of dying. So certainly get vaccinated for your kid.

But also get vaccinated for your neighbor, or grandmother with cancer, for your friend down the street who is unable to adequately respond to the measles vaccine, and for the babies who are not yet old enough to get measles.

I would have loved to have seen that message. But as you say, the message that we got yesterday is better than what we heard last week.

BOLDUAN: One thing that we know, and you've know -- you know this very well is that childhood vaccination rates are on a decline, and you say this is a result of that. I mean, with that being the case what is next, do you think?

RANNY: So there are two ways that this can go. So childhood vaccination rates are on the decline but let's be clear that the vast majority of parents in the United States understand that vaccines are the safest way to prevent your children from diseases that used to kill kids in the United States.

As a practicing emergency physician I have personally watched the disappearance of diseases as we've developed vaccines. You know, I've been practicing for about 20 years. When I talk to doctors who are bit older than me, they've seen disappearance of many more diseases thanks to great vaccination. And most parents understand that. Unfortunately, about 10 to 20 percent of parents are vaccine skeptical.

I worry that we're going to have to have these kind of outbreaks to get folks to revaccinate their kids.