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All Eyes On Russia After Ukraine Agrees To 30-Day Ceasefire; Trump Official Worked On Influencer Gig Amid Doge Firings; Astronauts Suni Williams & Butch Wilmore Prepare To Come Home; Chef Jose Andres Turns Invasive Lionfish Creating Eco-Disaster In Cayman Islands Into a Delicacy. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired March 12, 2025 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
STEVEN PIFER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: -- put in place on countries that had joined the alliance after 1999. Just have that all go back to 1997.
That's simply not in the cards, but that's kind of the grander plan, I think, that Putin has.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: So, Ambassador, when you see President Zelenskyy saying he's expecting to see the U.S. take strong steps against Russia if they don't agree to a ceasefire.
But I think the expectation is that Russia will at least nominally agree to some kind of ceasefire. Right? It's what sort of poison pills they might attach to it.
Is Zelenskyy setting this up correctly? If the expectation is, yes, Russia is going to just attach some kind of poison pills, does he seem to have a good -- a good mastery of -- of what Russia's next step may be here?
PIFER: Yes, I think Zelenskyy is positioning himself to say, look, I have come a long way to try to meet President Trump's idea of -- of brokering a solution. We now have to see the Russians make real moves.
Bear in mind Vladimir Putin last week said he would make no concessions, no compromises. So he's got to move.
But I think also the question here is President Trump has to remember he's got a great deal of potential leverage with Putin. There are things that he could do, for example, tightening sanctions on Russia.
He could ask the G-7 to move to seize $300 billion in frozen Russia -- Russian central bank assets and transfer them to a fund to Ukraine, things that would be very painful for the Kremlin and would give them incentives to be more accommodating and be looking for more of a compromise.
Unfortunately, I -- President Trump, has not yet played that kind of leverage. But perhaps if he doesn't get a straightforward yes from the Kremlin, maybe he'll be tempted to do so. KEILAR: Trump, we've heard him time and again say to Ukraine they
don't have the cards. I mean, clearly some of the cards Ukraine has are American cards, right? They're an American ally.
But when you look at the cards that Ukraine holds in this deal, in this negotiation, how do you see those cards?
PIFER: Yes. No, I think when people look at this one, yes, Russia has more a larger population, it has a larger economy. But what they discount is Ukrainian determination and resilience.
I mean, go back to February of 2022. It was not immediately apparent that the West was going to provide any kind of large-scale military assistance to Ukraine, in part, because most assumed that Ukraine would be defeated fairly quickly.
The Ukrainians chose to fight even when they had no guarantee of Western assistance. And even when it came down to -- I mean, you had pictures of preparation, including on CNN, of Ukrainians all over the country assembling Molotov cocktails.
So at the end of the day, I think you don't discount the Ukrainian determination, one, to have a free, independent and sovereign country.
And at the end of the day, if they don't see an agreement that meets their needs, I think they're prepared to walk away from it and keep fighting, as difficult as that may be.
And that tends to be discounted by those people who look at Ukraine and say Ukraine has no cards.
KEILAR: Yes, that moment with the Russian warship, right, the "go bleep yourself" Russian warship. I think we cannot forget --
PIFER: Yes.
KEILAR: -- sort of the ethos that is -- was early in persisting in this country.
Ambassador Pifer, thank you so much for being with us.
PIFER: Thank you, Brianna.
KEILAR: Still to come, while the Trump administration moves to shrink the size of the federal workforce and make the government more efficient, one of their own is accused of using her office for a fashionable side hustle.
[14:33:43]
That of aspiring Instagram fashion influencer in a federal building. That's a -- that's a move. And we'll have the details.
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[14:38:19] SANCHEZ: While thousands of federal workers were losing their jobs and many more were being ordered to send emails justifying their employment in the name of efficiency, the main spokeswoman for the agency overseeing those layoffs was using her government office to promote her side hustle.
CNN's Kyung Lah takes a look at the OPM official's Instagram posts, which have now been deleted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks just like any other influencer video, a young woman posing in front of a camera over and over and over again, showing off her trendy but timeless professional fashion.
But she's no ordinary influencer, and that's no ordinary office. Her name is McLaurine Pinover, and she's the Trump administration's new director of communications for the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, which manages federal employees.
All of these videos were shot in her government office right here at OPM headquarters in Washington, D.C., ground zero for Trump's plan to cut thousands of workers from the federal government in the name of efficiency.
Inside her office, Pinover captures video at her desk, putting on makeup, modeling new outfits to her 800 followers.
Pinover markets clothes on her account. Using what's called affiliate links, she could get a portion of any item sold through her Instagram page, like this $475 skirt or a $300 dress. But it's unclear whether she's made any money.
On February 13th, the day 20 people on her communications team lost their jobs, she posted "a moment for mixed patterns."
[14:40:00]
And the week when her agency demanded all federal employees list five things they did that week, she posted "the businesswoman's special."
As OPM spokeswoman, she defended the memo at the time as a commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce.
DONALD SHERMAN, CHIEF COUNSEL: I would be very curious if she included her efforts to promote her brand as part of the five things that she accomplished that week.
LAH: Donald Sherman, the chief counsel for an ethics watchdog group, says, more than anything, this behavior is insulting to the thousands of federal employees being fired.
SHERMAN: This Trump administration appointee is violating the public trust at the same time as she seems to be instrumental in the administration's attack on civil servants. LAH (on camera): It does look like some of this happened on the clock. We were actually looking at her account this morning, and she posted a couple of Instagram stories during normal work hours.
You can also see the time on her watch in at least one of the videos she filmed clearly during work hours.
About 15 minutes after CNN reached out to her requesting comment, her Instagram account was deleted. She declined officially to comment to CNN.
We did get comment though from a former OPM workers who told us, quote, "Are you kidding me? That's my office."
Another called it absurd and ridiculous to post fashion videos as people are being laid off.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Yikes!
Our thanks to Kyung Lah for that report.
After nearly 10-months stuck in space, two American astronauts might finally be returning home. A big step for them happening today. Stay with us.
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[14:45:58]
KEILAR: Here in just a few hours -- and we have waited a really long time to say this --
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: It's happening.
KEILAR: -- NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be one step closer to finally coming home.
A SpaceX mission set to launch this evening, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station, clearing the way for Butch and Suni's glorious return.
SANCHEZ: Glorious. We've been tracking this story now for months. And it was supposed to be a week-long trip to space, but it turned into a 10-month detour, to say the least, after safety concerns with their Boeing spacecraft.
Joining us now is retired NASA astronaut, Leroy Chiao.
Thank you so much for being with us, Leroy.
Tell us about the trip home. What does it look like? What will it feel like to them, especially after the debacle that they've experienced?
LEROY CHIAO, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, sure. Of course, it had to come as quite a surprise to them, expecting for an eight-day mission turning into nine-plus months.
But, you know, astronauts were trained to adapt to the situation, and they've done it wonderfully.
Basically, they took over for two of the Crew Nine astronauts who were taken off of their launch, unfortunately. Hopefully, they'll get rescheduled sometime soon.
And they then join the two Crew Nine-launch astronauts that went up to the station for this long duration mission.
So because President Trump asked Elon Musk if things could be speeded up, they switched spacecraft, from a brand new one that was still undergoing testing, save a few weeks, and launching -- Crew 10 is now launching on one that has already flown several times.
It will launch tonight, hopefully, in just a few hours, as you pointed out. Docking should occur early tomorrow morning.
And then, after about a week handover, Butch and Suni and the two other members of the crew that we're already up there, they'll get into that -- their Dragon spacecraft and come back to earth. So you can bet they're ready to go.
KEILAR: I sure hope they are.
And like, I know, Leroy, that they've made the best of this time, right? It's -- when you're an astronaut and then you get to astronaut a whole lot more than you expected, that's pretty cool. We know that. We've heard that from you. We've heard that from others.
But this is tough on the families, right? This is really tough. This isn't what they prepared for. They thought that their loved ones were going to be gone for, you know, just a week. And here they are, it's been all this time.
What is that adjustment like? How have they prepared for that?
CHIAO: Oh, yes. Well, absolutely. Then there's no preparation for it. This is one of the last things they thought would happen, which certainly would have been one of the last things I thought would have happened.
But you know, they know -- no doubt, huge disruption to their personal lives and their family's personal lives and probably even to their professional lives.
But you know, astronauts do like to be in space. Bu, you know, when the expectation is three, you know, or eight days or six months, nine months is even long for a long duration flight. Most of our long duration missions are around six months. And so I'm sure they are eager to get back down. SANCHEZ: Leroy, what's next for them? Do you think they're going to
get a vacation, hopefully?
CHIAO: Well, I hope so. I'm sure they accrued some vacation time while they're up there.
(LAUGHTER)
CHIAO: So well-deserved. They've sucked it up for the agency and for the country. And you know, they deserve it. So I hope they get a long vacation.
SANCHEZ: Leroy Chiao, always appreciate you coming on. Thanks, Leroy.
CHIAO: My pleasure. Thank you.
[14:49:25]
SANCHEZ: Coming up, it's a highly invasive species wreaking havoc on coral reefs across the Caribbean. I got a firsthand look at how conservationists and some world famous chefs are trying to creatively tame the venomous lionfish.
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KEILAR: On top of pressures, like climate change and pollution, coral reefs across the Caribbean are now threatened by an underwater invasion. It's a venomous fish with no natural predators that can produce hundreds of thousands of offspring in just a few days.
SANCHEZ: It's believed that the Indo-Pacific lionfish got to the Caribbean via aquarium owners who thought they were cute but couldn't ultimately keep them and didn't want to destroy them.
So they unintentionally created an ecological nightmare by releasing these creatures into the waters of the Caribbean.
Fortunately, a world renowned chef and an ocean conservationist in the Cayman Islands have found a potential solution to put them on the menu.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Beneath the surface in the Cayman Islands, divers are on a mission fighting an invasive predator, Pacific red lionfish.
CAYMEN JASON WASHINGTON, OCEAN CONSERVATIONIST: They consume all the juvenile reef fish that maintain the healthy balance of algae on our reefs. If we don't remove them, they will devastate swathes of our precious coral reef.
SANCHEZ (on camera): And they don't have any natural predators, so there's nothing going after them in the water?
WASHINGTON: You have to actually go down underwater, whether you're freediving or scuba diving, and remove these fish one at a time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of as exciting as it gets.
[14:55:01]
SANCHEZ (voice-over): For over 15 years, Chef Jose Andres and Cayman Jason Washington have led this annual call.
JOSE ANDRES, CHEF & RESTAURANTER: So these guys are -- are like lions. They -- they will -- they will eat the reef away.
SANCHEZ: Filling this problem into a sumptuous Catalan stew.
ANDRES: It's amazing. It's very good.
SANCHEZ: The goal is to raise awareness and create demand. The more patrons request lionfish, the more restaurants provide it, meaning fewer of them on the reef.
ANDRES: The only thing we have to do is put it on the menus of the restaurants. Every time we put it on, the menu just goes. We never have enough.
WASHINGTON: More importantly, they're doing something good for the environment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: So you may have heard there's only one way to catch lionfish, and that is to spear them, which is part of the fun. But you have to be careful because their spines are venomous.
And that also goes into the way that you prepare them as well. So don't try it at home.
But next time you're at your favorite seafood restaurant, ask for the lionfish. Even if they don't have any. If enough people ask, they might actually put them on the menu.
KEILAR: Wait, so they could spear me as I'm trying to prepare them?
SANCHEZ: Wait, what?
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: You're saying while you're preparing them, you have to watch out for the spines.
SANCHEZ: So you put them -- as you see there, you put them in some kind of receptacle where you don't touch the spines. You put them on ice. After about 20 minutes to an hour, the venom goes away.
KEILAR: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Like the protein that causes the venomous reaction fades. So then you can cut the spines off and fry it. KEILAR: I generally have at least 20 minutes from the time the fish is
caught to prepare.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
KEILAR: OK, one more question.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
KEILAR: If it's not like Jose Andres preparing the fish, is it still going to be delicious?
SANCHEZ: I think --
KEILAR: Like if I cook it?
SANCHEZ: I think so. It's a -- it's a white fish. it's flaky. And I feel like fish generally speaking -- and I'm no chef. Certainly not Jose Andres level chef. I could hardly make pop tarts.
But most fish are kind of like sponges. They absorb whatever you put in them. So a lot of butter, you know?
KEILAR: A lot of butter.
SANCHEZ: A lot of butter. Always works.
KEILAR: I'm on board. OK, got it.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
So when we come back, there's a warning from one of the country's largest banks. Why JPMorgan Chase now says there's a 40 percent chance, a 40 percent chance of the U.S. falling into a recession this year. The details, minutes away.
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