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Trump and Putin to Speak About a Ceasefire; NASA Astronauts Return to Earth. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 18, 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]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Chemical changes.

Also, the chemical changes that you get when you cook at a very high temperature. That's the thing. Some of the - you know, when you're talking about beef tallow, you can cook this at a higher temperature. Some of these seed oils, not as much. We don't know exactly what happens to those seed oils when you cook them at that high temperature. So, it's those three things, the omega six, omega three, the processing of these oils, and then what happens really to them when you're cooking at a very high temperature.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Always learn something new.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, this is very much in the national conversation right now, so I'm glad you're addressing it. And everyone, you can scan that QR code on your screen and then head over to cnn.com, send us your questions on the health impacts of cooking oil. Sanjay is going to be back later this week to answer them. I know there are questions on this.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It could happen at this hour, a critical phone call. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking about a proposal to pause the war in Ukraine. A proposal Ukraine has already agreed to but Russia and Putin saying no at first. Will that change?

And breaking overnight, two astronauts now headed home after their weeklong mission turned into a nine month stay in space. But before they splashed down, they have to experience the most dangerous leg of their trip home, reentering the earth's atmosphere.

And, a peek behind the scenes of one of the biggest shows on television right now. "White Lotus" fans, stick around. You can't miss this. We're speaking with one of the show's stars a bit later this hour,

I'm Sara Sidner, with John Berman. Kate Bolduan is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, it could be underway as we speak, a high-stakes phone call between the U.S. and Russia over a proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine, at least temporarily. The Kremlin says President Trump is expected to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin between now, 9:00 a.m., and 11:00 Eastern. President Trump teased the two could have, quote, "something to announce" after speaking today.

But after launching the war more than three years ago, is Putin ready for peace? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is already skeptical, but he has agreed to a 30 day ceasefire.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House, where we are standing by, Alayna, for any word of this call.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. And as you mentioned, John, we're told it's going to happen at any point between now and 11:00 a.m. Of course, that is the White House's estimate. But they are planning for it to be mid-morning today.

But look, the White House is cautiously optimistic about how this phone call is going to go. And they're very much arguing that they are closing in on these negotiations of getting a ceasefire deal between not only the United States and Russia, which we know - or, excuse me, the United States and Ukraine, which we know Ukraine has already agreed to, but getting Russia, of course, on board as well.

Now, a key thing that I am told is a key priority for this call is to determine what concessions Russia is willing to make. I remind you that we've heard this now repeatedly from top officials involved in these negotiations. People like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, Steve Witkoff, all of them saying that there are going to need to be concessions on all sides in order for this to work.

Now, one of those concessions that I'm told they are looking at, the White House is looking at, is whether or not Russia is willing to remove some troops and withdraw forces from territory that it has seized within the past three years in Ukraine.

Now, again, the White House is going into this optimistically. I know that after Steve Witkoff had met with Putin in Moscow last week, a meeting which lasted several hours, he later then flew to Florida to brief President Donald Trump on it directly. I am told that the president felt very encouraged by those talks, and that's really what led to this call today. One source familiar with this call said it was the natural next step in the progression of this.

So, again, you're hearing a lot of cautious optimism from the White House. It's something we also heard from the White House press secretary yesterday.

Take a listen to how Karoline Leavitt put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are on the 10th yard line of peace. And we've never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment. And the president, as you know, is determined to get one done. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So now, of course, the question is, what will we see happen from here? One is, will we see Russia agree to that ceasefire deal, that 30-day ceasefire proposal that the U.S. proposed and Ukraine agreed to last week? It's unclear. Everyone that I've spoken with here at the White House is trying not to put too much emphasis on that. They want to see how these talks go.

I'm also told that it is expected that discussions over a meeting in person between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will likely come up on this call as well.

[09:05:02]

But again, we really have to see whether or not the president's posture toward Russia, whether his more friendlier tone in some of the conversations he's had with them thus far is really going to pay off today. But the big goal, of course, is seeing, what are they willing to concede to and what exactly will they be able to get on a ceasefire deal at this point with the Russians?

BERMAN: We could learn very shortly. Alayna Treene, standing by at the White House. Needless to say, keep us posted, Alayna.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, we are going to continue to discuss all of this.

Joining me now are CNN political commentators Paul Begala and the S.E. Cupp, both here, not live and in person, except for you. Thank you, S.E.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'm here.

SIDNER: Paul, I need you to - I need you to get in here. We'll work on that, I promise.

All right, let -

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATORS: I know, I love hanging out with y'all. I'm coming.

SIDNER: I mean we've got coffee. We've got free food. What is there not to like?

Let's start here.

We were just hearing from Alayna Treene about this phone call that could happen literally at any minute now, between 9:00 and 11:00 according to - to the Russians. This phone call between Trump and Putin.

First to you, S.E., what would you expect to hear in normal times when there is a war going on from a U.S. president talking to Putin himself, who has started this war and is refusing the ceasefire deal that is on the table, that Ukraine has already agreed to.

CUPP: Yes, we want the ceasefire. We want to hear a withdrawal strategy. We know that for all of their posturing, Russia doesn't want a ceasefire. They don't want to withdraw.

Their troops are decimated. Vladimir Putin wants a respectable way to leave this. And he is hoping that comes with concessions. Well, you can keep this part of Ukraine.

SIDNER: Right.

CUPP: And that part. And this nuclear reactor.

I'm worried that Trump will give it to him as part of the so-called art of the deal.

SIDNER: Paul, when you hear this, you know, give it to him talk, and - and especially when you're talking about Zaporizhzhia, the plant that basically gives electricity to - to all of Ukraine, how likely is it that Donald Trump uses a stick, not just a carrot, with Putin?

BEGALA: Well, with Putin, he seems to only have carrots. It is pathetic. And I don't understand it. America is the greatest, richest, freest, mightiest country in the history of the world, and Russia has a crap (ph) military, a crummy economy and a corrupt leader, OK. Our defense budget is $850 billion. Putin is $126 billion. And - and he's lost tens of thousands of troops in Ukraine fighting against the forces of freedom. His entire economy is $2 trillion, OK. Ours is $23.5 trillion. If he were a state, if Russia were a state, which I don't advocate, it would be half the economic power of California. It would be less than Texas. It would be less than Florida.

So, why on earth is our great country, the strongest, freest country in the world, kowtowing to this gas station with nuclear weapons, as - as John McCain once called Russia? I can't stand it. The greatest lesson in life, weakness invites aggression. That's true for superpowers. By the way, I've been married 35 years. It's true in marriage. It's true in raising kids, training dogs, coaching basketball. Weakness invites aggression. Why are we so weak?

SIDNER: Your wife is over there cheering.

BEGALA: Oh, yes, believe me. I'm the Neville Chamberlain in the marriage.

CUPP: We're talking tougher to our allies. I mean, it is bananas. We are talking tougher to Greenland. We're talking tougher to Panama. We're talking tougher to Canada than we are to one of our arch enemies.

SIDNER: And certainly those countries have noticed, and they are responding, fighting back, if you will.

Let's move on to - to immigration.

Tom Homan, this is Trump's immigration czar, says, and I'm quoting here, "we're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think." He is referring to deporting what they say are gang members out of Venezuela.

Whether they are or not at this point, how is this the party of law and order?

CUPP: Yes, that's a good question. And I need to see where this goes next, because none of this is surprising. Trump didn't listen to judges in his own trials. He does not care, nor does he have any respect or sense of what the separation of powers mean for our democracy. So, none of this is surprising.

What happens next? Do congressional Republicans just let him do this? Because that might feel good in the moment, but down the line history books are going to write this correctly and they'll be on the wrong side of it. And what happens when the next guy gets in? And that guy's a Democrat and wants to do all of this railroading too?

The question is, what happens? Do judges have any authority when Trump decides, I have total authority and total immunity? Literally, I'm asking earnestly, what happens next?

SIDNER: I want to let you, speaking of members of Congress, I want to let you hear a little bit of John Berman's interview with Congressman - or Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. Here's what he said when he was asked about the potential constitutional crisis and the Constitution when it comes to what is happening with these deportations.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Did I overstep in any way by asking you questions about the Constitution?

[09:10:00]

You know that. And you know there was no -- there was no --

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): And I gave you my opinion and you refused to take it.

BERMAN: I listened to your opinion very much. I was asking for your opinion.

BURCHETT: I gave you my opinion, brother.

BERMAN: OK.

BURCHETT: I gave you my opinion.

BERMAN: All right.

BURCHETT: I gave you my opinion.

BERMAN: I appreciate it.

BURCHETT: And you refused to take it.

BERMAN: I believe for the last several minutes we've been taking it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So, his opinion was that these are criminals. Why are you taking the criminal side? What do you say to that, Paul?

BEGALA: Well, we need to deport criminals. By the way, Barack Obama deported a million more people in his first term than Donald Trump did in his. So, everybody wants to deport criminals, particularly if these are, in fact, gangsters.

You don't need to violate the Constitution to do that. I'm not entirely sure Trump is violating it. I don't want to be unfair to him. That's going to be litigated. But you don't need that. You don't need to reach back to the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which is about a country invading us, in order to get rid of gangsters who have come here illegally. You don't need to do it.

So, why is he doing it? Because he's got an all-out, all fronts assault on our Constitution. He has completely neutered Congress, Article One. You know, you can see that every day.

SIDNER: Yes.

BEGALA: And he controls Article Two, because he won the election fair and square. I'm not an election denier, I'm a Democrat. And now he's going after Article Three, the judiciary. And to me, that's what's frightening. On all fronts, whether it's the free press, whether it's law firms, or the voice of America, on all fronts he seems to be attacking our constitutional freedoms.

SIDNER: OK.

BEGALA: And this is just one part of it.

SIDNER: So, Paul -

BEGALA: We kind of ginger about it. It's interesting.

SIDNER: Paul, here is the question that democrats around the country are asking, what are you, Democrats, going to do about it? Why can't there be a message that is stronger? Who is leading the Democratic Party? Because right now you guys are way underwater when it comes to how the public is viewing the way the Democrats are responding to the Trump administration and what it's doing.

BEGALA: Oh, yes, I saw that CNN poll. We have the Democrats favorable at 29. And I thought, who's the 29? I mean I've been a Democrat all my adult life. I love the Democratic Party.

SIDNER: Do you think it should be lower? BEGALA: Y Es, I mean, it should be two, OK. But here's why. The Democrats are out of power. They look powerless because they are powerless. This is what happens when you lose. This is what happens.

Now, we only lost to Trump by 1.5 percent, closer in the swing states, but this is what - so Democrats have to win.

The good news for Democrats is, all across the country in special elections they are winning. They're winning - they won a seat in eastern Iowa that Trump won by 21 points. The Democrat just won by 3.5. So, they had a 25 point swing in a couple of months. They're winning in Minnesota. They're winning in New York. They're winning all across the country. And that's what's happening at the grassroots. Now, in Washington, forget it. So, I - what - my view is like, let's not wait for Superman, let's just put on a cape ourselves.

SIDNER: And there we have it. S.E. is taking deep breaths here. Very deep breaths. Unfortunately, we'll have to discuss this off camera.

Thank you both so much. Paul Begala, S.E. Cupp, it's always a pleasure.

BEGALA: OK, I'm coming up there. I'm on my way.

SIDNER: Please. You are welcome to come here. John will not hurt you, I promise.

Speaking of John.

John.

BERMAN: All right, there is breaking news. Ceasefire, apparently over. New airstrikes overnight in Gaza. What Israel is now demanding.

And the race for governor of California getting crowded and getting interesting. Katie Porter is in. The question remains, will former Vice President Kamala Harris join the race?

And new behind the scenes details of the HBO series "The White Lotus."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Old friends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Long time friends, not old friends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, what does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It means we're not dead yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:10]

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, after a nine month long delay, two American astronauts are finally coming home. NASA's Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore said their final goodbyes onboard the International Space Station. And overnight, they undocked. They touch down tonight off the coast.

CNN's Ed Lavandera with a look at their journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally headed home again.

They launched into space more than nine months ago on the first crewed test mission for the Boeing Starliner. It was their third trip to the International Space Station.

The pair left the Space Station early this morning after a handoff, swapping duties with the crew that replaced them. The astronauts are now returning back to earth in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that has been docked at the International Space Station since September, along with another NASA astronaut, Nick Hague, and a Russian cosmonaut.

The four are scheduled to splash down in the gulf waters near Florida this evening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get going.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Wilmore and Williams lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on June 5, 2024. The journey was supposed to be a weeklong mission on the International Space Station.

SUNI WILLIAMS, NASA ASTRONAUT: We're just happy as can be to be up in space.

LAVANDERA (voice over): But complications derailed the plan. It started with helium leaks and thruster misfirings on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, and NASA determined the Starliner was not safe for their return flight. Turning a mission that was supposed to last less than ten days into 286 days in space.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have claimed that the Biden administration left the American astronauts stranded in space.

BUTCH WILMORE, NASA ASTRONAUT: We don't feel abandoned.

[09:20:00]

We don't feel stuck. We don't feel stranded. LAVANDERA (voice over): But last month, the two astronauts denied

those claims in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

WILMORE: We come prepared. We come committed. That is what your human space flight program is.

LAVANDERA (voice over): During more than nine months in space, the pair seems to have made the most of the situation during their time in the orbiting laboratory.

WILLIAMS: We've had opportunities to do all sorts of science, spacewalks. So, it's been - it's been a pretty exciting time that - for us up here.

Butch and I knew this was a test flight.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Williams and Wilmore say they've taken it all in stride.

WILLIAMS: Every day is fun.

LAVANDERA (voice over): The journey into space, complete with all the mishaps, as well as the mission, can make the return, some former astronauts say, a reminder of all the things humans have in common.

GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT WHO SPENT 95 DAYS IN SPACE: When you look out the window and you see the entire planet earth, and you realize that all the things that divide us, like politics, gender, religion, nationality, are - kind of pale in comparison to the fact that we all live together in one planet.

WILLIAMS: You can look at things a lot differently when you're up in space.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Ed Lavandera, CNN, at the Johnson Space Senter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, I had to do it for the future of the country. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is in damage control, defending his decision to break with his party to keep the government open.

And the Federal Reserve kicking off a two-day meeting as new Trump economic policies have them questioning their next move.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:05]

SIDNER: President Trump has revoked Secret Service protection for Hunter Biden and his sister Ashley, effective immediately, he says in a Truth Social post. The president objected to the number of agents that he claims went with Hunter Biden on a trip to South Africa. No word from former President Biden's office on this. Dash cam video showing a 500-gallon propane tank exploding during a

fire in Nebraska. Crews say they showed up to put out the initial fire, but decided to stay back because they thought they heard the tank's pressure valve making a weird noise. The explosion happened shortly after that. Luckily, nobody - whoa, there it is. No one hurt because the firefighters were smart. They knew not to get too close. The dangers of the fires near propane tanks, quite obvious to you all this morning.

And a five-minute charge taking you 250 miles in an EV. The electric vehicle company in China called BYD says its new system can do just that. By comparison, Tesla's superchargers take 15 minutes to charge for a range of about 200 miles. The company is calling the system the Super E Platform, and it marks a major innovation in the electric car market.

All right, ahead, Trump's tariffs are driving up prices and concerns of an economic slowdown as the Federal Reserve kicks off a two-day meeting. What it could mean for businesses and for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)