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CNN International: Trump Kickstarts New Term With a Slew of Executive Orders; Trump Pulls U.S. From Paris Climate Accords, W.H.O.; Trump Ends All Jan. 6 Cases With Pardons, Commutations; Trump Signs Executive Action to Delay TikTok Ban for 75 Days; Fire at Ski Resort in Turkey Kills at Least 66, Injures 51; Zelenskyy Address World Economic Forum in Davos. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 21, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00]

AMARA WALKER, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom". Just ahead, it is 8:00 a.m. at the White House which is under new leadership. We are live in Washington for a look at what to expect as a curtain riser on Donald Trump's second term. Also action on immigration, Trump pledges to curb illegal migration with the effect already being felt at the U.S.-Mexico border. All the details are just ahead. And the inauguration scene and felt around the world from Beijing to Kyiv. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to speak this hour.

For the first time in four years, Donald Trump is waking up inside the White House and he has a full agenda on the first full day of his second term. This morning, he heads to an interfaith service at the Washington National Cathedral. He'll also meet with white -- House and Senate Republican leaders at the White House. And then it's back to signing an avalanche of executive orders he promised to enact over the first few days of his new presidency. It's all part of what he boasts is a historic new chapter that he says will be unlike any other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Golden Age of America begins right now.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We'll be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So help me God.

TRUMP: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations, Mr. President.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Just after taking the oath of office Monday, President Trump wielded what he calls his mandate from voters. Using his landmark black Sharpie pen, he signed a torrent of executive orders in the Oval Office and also, in a carnival-like atmosphere at an arena full of supporters. Those orders included everything from rescinding dozens of Biden-era policies to his promised crackdown on immigration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next item here is the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty --

(CROWD CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Protecting women from radical gender ideologies.

TRUMP: Ooh, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: They'll have a hundred percent tariff if they so much as even think about doing what they thought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually an executive order designating the cartels and other organizations to be foreign terrorist organizations.

TRUMP: That's a big one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Let's take a closer look now at Trump's actions since returning to the White House. Our Senior White House Reporter, Kevin Liptak, has more.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump is waking up in that building behind me now, for the first time in four years, as the new Trump presidency gets underway. We're already getting a good window into how the new president will govern, wielding executive power and executive authority in unprecedented ways and testing the bounds of his presidential prerogative in highly symbolic ways, including renaming some geographical landmarks, but also in some highly consequential ways as well, including those blanket pardons for January 6th rioters.

In the President's own telling, he pardoned 1,500 of people accused of crimes on that day, including 14 far-right extremists. Full clemency for people who are already convicted, which appears to include both those accused of low-level crimes, but also those accused of violence on January 6th. In all, the president revoked 78 executive orders from the Biden era, things related to sex and gender to diversity initiatives.

The president also withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization, trying to reshape the federal workforce, putting a freeze on federal regulations and hiring, all in the attempt to bend the federal government to his will. Now, according to the White House, the president yesterday issued 42 executive orders, memoranda or proclamations, 115 personnel actions, and issued more than 200 executive actions in total.

Now today, the president will conclude the inaugural rituals with a ceremony at the National Cathedral.

[08:05:00]

He has also invited Republican Congressional leaders here to the White House for talks. Of course, the president yesterday made clear his willingness to go around Congress on issues that he thinks are most important. But there are a number of thorny issues that he will have to work with Congress on, including raising the debt limit, including some new -- complex new tax policy. All of that will have to be worked out with Congress and certainly, the leaders and President Trump will want to discuss that as they plot the next four years.

Kevin Liptak, CNN, the White House.

WALKER: As mentioned, Donald Trump wasted no time tackling one of his biggest campaign issues, immigration. One of the many executive orders he signed attempts to redefine birthright citizenship. It's a right guaranteed by the Constitution. He also signed an order declaring a national emergency at the border with Mexico. Trump is promising deportation raids in major cities across the U.S. and the administration also shut down an app that allowed migrants to legally enter the U.S. by appointment to present their asylum case.

Priscilla Alvarez joining us now live from Washington, D.C. with that part of the story. Priscilla, let's start with these promised deportation raids and the fact that there are many major U.S. cities that are bracing for this. I mean, what is the expectation moving forward?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the borders are -- Tom Homan said yesterday that those enforcement actions would begin today. What remains unanswered, however, is how they look and when exactly they'll happen. We should remind viewers that immigration and customs enforcement does carry out operations on a regular basis. They do arrest, detain, and deport immigrants in the United States if they're eligible for removal.

But what we're waiting to see is how this looks under the Trump Administration, of course, because they have touted that it'll happen at a wider scale. Now, sources tell me that they still intend to focus on public safety and national security threats, but what is different than the Biden Administration is that anyone else that they encounter, who is undocumented, could also be swept up.

Now, also a reminder that ICE has very limited resources. They're almost at capacity when it comes to the detention space. They only have about 6,000 agents who are doing this work. So, part of what the Trump Administration has said that they're going to do is essentially try to bolster those resources through other agencies as they try to, again, look for and arrest those undocumented immigrants. So again, Amara, we're still waiting to see what this will culminate into, but certainly, cities are preparing. I spoke to the Denver mayor who has been a target of both Homan and President Donald Trump, and he told me that they are bracing for what this crackdown looks like. And they have done multiple tabletop exercises to see how they would essentially respond to multiple scenarios including, for example, the possibility of ICE agents going into what they call sensitive locations like schools and churches.

WALKER: Including sending out notices to city and state employees on how to react, when they do encounter these kinds of situations. But obviously, there are going to be legal challenges if there already have not been some filed. Which ones are we looking at here? I'd imagine the attempts to redefine birthright citizenship is going to get a lot of legal challenges.

ALVAREZ: Yeah, and actually that's the point. I have been talking to Trump allies and now Trump officials, who told me that the idea behind this executive order was to start a legal fight. They think that this is going to go all the way up to the supreme court, and they want the supreme court to decide on this matter about birthright citizenship and who is eligible and who should benefit from birthright citizenship.

So in this case, different than others, when challenges may present a hurdle to the immigration agenda, they want this legal fight. And as you mentioned, the ACLU has already sued on this. Now, we also saw another legal filing that wasn't an existing case with former President Biden's asylum restrictions, and that legal filing was essentially challenging the end of that border app that you were talking about. The reason this border app is important is because there have been asylum restrictions for those crossing the border illegally. But, what they did have as an option is applying to schedule appointment to a legal port of entry to make their claim.

Well, that option is off the table. It was the one thing that lawyers thought was keeping any of these restrictions alive. So now, with the border effectively shut off to asylum seekers, there has been a legal filing to get a status conference before that judge immediately. So, we'll wait to see when that happens.

[08:10:00]

But of course, as we saw in Trump's first term, there are going to be legal challenges to many of these executive actions. But what's different from Trump's first term is that Trump officials are very prepared for this. They have been preparing for the last four years, and they anticipated that there would be these challenges. So, I'm told that they very deliberately and carefully wrote each one of these executive orders to try to withstand those challenges.

But certainly, Amara, regardless those take time to make their ways through the courts. And so far, these actions will likely have vast implications, not only for those immigrants in the United States, but also for those around the world seeking to come to the U.S. WALKER: You're right though, with Trump's second term, he knows exactly what to expect and what he wants specifically in this term. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.

And perhaps the most eye-catching thing that Trump did in his first hours in office was to grant pardons and commutations that will soon free every person sent to prison for the January 6, 2021 insurrection in the Capitol. He signed pardons for more than a thousand January 6th convicts. He had promised to free some of the -- some being the key word here, of the January 6th rioters, but his actions went further than many had expected.

Among those pardoned, people who broke windows and doors using batons and bats to get into the Capitol and others who beat police officers with metal poles and fire extinguishers. Trump also commuted the sentences of several far-right extremists, some of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy for planning to overthrow the U.S. government. They will now all walk free.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So, this is January 6th. These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Full pardon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Full pardon and commutations.

TRUMP: Full pardon? We have about six commutations in there. We are doing further research. Maybe it'll stay that way or it'll go to full pardon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Let's bring in CNN's Senior Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz, who was outside the Washington Jail. I do want to talk about what we're going to see in the coming days in terms of those people, who were convicted of January 6th crimes to walk out. But in terms of the scope and scale, I mean, that was really stunning to a lot of people because we heard a lot from Republicans on Capitol Hill who also said that the expectation was that it would not -- it would only apply to the non-violent offenders.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And talking to people involved in these cases, who knew them very well, there really were two groups here. There are non-violent misdemeanor defendants. The expectation had always been that Trump would pardon those. And then there was the group of violent offenders, people who attacked police, were deeply violent. Some who brought weapons or used different items as weapons, flagpoles, flagpoles with spears on top, things like that. Those people were also convicted in the Capitol riot and have also been pardoned by President Donald Trump. That was not expected when he issued that pardon last night. It does cover the more than a thousand people who were convicted of crimes related to January 6th. There's also 14 people. That's another group who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy, the most serious of any of the charges here. People that were part of the two extremist groups, the Oath Keepers, and Proud Boys, those people do not get full pardons. Instead, their sentences are commuted, so they're let out of jail and they still have some of their rights restricted, so they're not fully pardoned of their crimes, but they get to leave jail as well.

What's happening right now this morning, is here at the D.C. Jail in Washington, just a few miles from the Capitol building, there are people being held here who are either awaiting their final sentence or were awaiting proceedings in their cases in court, or being awaiting being transferred to a Bureau of Prisons facility elsewhere in the country. Those people are being released and they're being -- they're able to walk out of the jail. And so we are waiting to see some of them.

Two of the people that were released last night had just been sentenced on Friday, and the judge immediately sent them to jail. Two men, one who had tried to tear a baton out of a police officer's hands during the Capitol riot, and another man who was with him who threw a chair at the police line and it hit a police officer's riot shield. So that's just an example of the people who are getting to leave today and will no longer have to face justice in the criminal justice system in the United States.

WALKER: Incredible that some of them were sentenced on Friday.

[08:15:00]

So they're essentially going to serve, what, four days before they get to walk out of jail. Katelyn, talk to me about what kind of reception some of these, who've been convicted in January 6th, what they've been seeing as they walk out of jail, because there are people who've been gathering outside for days, weeks, months now, in support of who they see as their heroes.

POLANTZ: Yeah, these January 6th people and their supporters are very, very happy to see people being able to leave the jail. There are some supporters here. There's one person I saw wearing a Make America Great Again hat here outside of the jail. It's not as packed of a scene as it was last night after the pardons were issued, and when there was that first expectation of people being released. But this is a scene at the D.C. Jail that even if this is not where everybody is in prison, because there are people who've been serving their time, who will be released now in Bureau of Prisons facilities around the country. This is a local jail, so not a Bureau of Prison facility.

There are people who have been supporters or family members of people who have been held here at various points, who have held vigil outside of this jail for months and months. The mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed during the Capitol riot by a police officer's bullet during the melee. She rents a house along with the wife of the first person to go to trial and be convicted. That man's name is Guy Reffitt. He also received a pardon. They rent a house and have been holding or helping people stay in D.C. and are often out here outside of the jail, essentially making sure that their spouses or their family members' names are still remembered. But these people will be leaving jail soon if they're being held here.

WALKER: Remarkable scenes, remarkable days ahead. Katelyn Polantz, thank you for your reporting. Well, the police officers who were guarding the Capitol on January 6th, the ones who were doing their jobs, they're expressing anger and frustration at Trump's action. Among them is Officer Michael Fanone, who you can see in this spot, shadow right there. Fanone was beaten and attacked with a TASER by Trump supporters on that day. He was blunt in his criticism of Trump and Trump's supporters when he spoke to CNN last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FANONE, FORMER METROPOLITAN POLICE OFFICER: Oh, I have been betrayed by my country. Rest assured, I have been betrayed by my country and I've been betrayed by those that supported Donald Trump. Tonight, six individuals who assaulted me as I did my job on January 6th, as did hundreds of other law enforcement officers, will now walk free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And for those of you who may recall, Michael Fanone, he was tased in the neck. He had a heart attack as a result of that attack. And as I understand it, that attacker, the one of five he mentioned was sentenced to 12 years, 12.5 years in prison, is now walking free. Joining me now is Larry Sabato. He's the Founder and Director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

Larry, let's start with that. I mean, these sweeping pardons of nearly 1,600 January 6th rioters. Of course, it's horrifying for victims like Michael Fanone. He's also concerned about the safety of his own family, but also for the people in this country who believe in law and order, perhaps not for the party though that believes in law and order, or is for law and order. Your take?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, first of all, these pardons are absolutely outrageous. People can't believe what Trump has done, including some people who voted for him and others who supported him. This directly contradicts what Trump's own vice president said just last week, which is that the very senior insurrectionists who beat up police officers would not be included in these pardons. And yet, that's exactly what has happened, either the pardons or the commutations.

Frankly, in the future, when Republicans talk about their anti-crime law and order party, the proper response will be to laugh, to laugh very loudly. They've eliminated that issue for themselves. And even more so, this suggests that this party and the Trump Administration, the second Trump Administration is rapidly becoming authoritarian, and we're seeing that at the border as well.

[08:20:00] So, be warned, there's going to be a lot more of this for four long years.

WALKER: You have to be, so concerned for, the, the former D.C. officers like Michael Fanone and others who defended the Capitol on that day, testified in the January 6th hearings, and are now terrified for their safety and for their loved ones. What happens to them and how will there be retaliation from some of these January 6th rioters? But there's also been outrage on both sides really. But -- for what President Biden did at the last minute and his issuing of pre-emptive pardons as well, that includes members of the January 6th Committee and his own family members. What is your reaction to that? Because the view is that we're seeing an abuse of pardon power on both sides?

SABATO: Well, personally, I'd like to see a constitutional amendment dramatically scaling back the presidential pardoning power because both sides have in fact abused it. But by no means, can you say what Biden did is the equivalent of what Donald Trump has done. It's just in a completely separate category, really a separate universe. I certainly don't agree with Biden's pardons of now six of his close family members, starting with Hunter Biden and adding those five other family members minutes before he left office.

Biden has maybe done his family a great favor, but he did his party a terrible disservice and the country a terrible disservice because it's made it more difficult for Democrats to criticize what Donald Trump has done. So while it'll never happen, I think it would be a good idea to have a constitutional amendment limiting the pardoning power. Frankly, this last 24 hours or near 24 hours has really brought into question the American Republic, whether it's going to survive, whether its rules will still be intact at the end of the Trump Administration. This ought to be a concern for everybody, maybe more important even than the price of a dozen eggs.

WALKER: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there -- yeah, there's so much concern, about what happens, in the future now. Regarding the flurry of the executive orders that we saw President Trump sign on immigration, rescinding Biden's orders, pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords, and the World Health Organization, which of these do you see to be, I guess, the most consequential that we will feel the impacts pretty quickly as well?

SABATO: Well, you don't feel climate change quickly, but in the long term, the survival of Earth depends on taking dramatic action and the Paris Agreement pretty much allowed countries to do that, or urged countries to do that, or required countries to do that depending on how you interpret it. And that's gone.

And of course, withdrawing from the World Health Organization and so many other things that he signed and this list of fairly extreme executive orders, some of them are done by every president, but not to this degree and certainly not covering this wide range of subjects. And this is just the first day. He said he wanted to be a dictator on the first day, he's very close to that. Very close to it.

WALKER: Larry Sabato, thank you for the conversation. Appreciate it. SABATO: Thank you so much. Always enjoy it.

WALKER: Same here. Thanks, Larry. Still to come, how China is responding to a new Trump presidency. We are live in Beijing, just ahead. Also, dozens are killed and injured in a huge fire at a ski resort in Turkey, the latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:26:10]

WALKER: With a stroke of a pen, Donald Trump signed a slew of executive orders on his first day in office, that could extend far beyond American policy. Hungary's far-right Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, praised the move saying those new orders will transform "the entire world." The U.S. president didn't levy any new tariffs on day one as he had threatened, but he threatened to impose them against Mexico and Canada on February 1st.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump had pledged to end Russia's war on Ukraine 24 hours after taking his oath of office. Well, that clearly won't happen. He didn't even mention Ukraine in his inaugural address. President Trump says he plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon, however. And on Monday, the new president signed an executive order to delay enforcing a federal ban on the Chinese-owned social media app, TikTok. But he also suggested that he wants it to be at least half owned by U.S. investors.

CNN's Marc Stewart joining me now live from Beijing with more. Marc, Trump has focused a lot of his energy and bluster on China during the campaign. Where do relations stand with Beijing at this point?

MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, for the moment, China is very much focused on diplomacy 101 between the United States and China, really promoting a forward-focused positive message, talking about a mutually beneficial relationship between these two nations. In fact, it was just on Friday when President Trump and President Xi talked on the phone, President Xi talked about having a new starting point.

But this is a very fragile relationship. And if we look at the incoming administration, if we look at Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, both of those men have made some very critical comments about China. Even Xi Jinping and President Trump have had, in the past, a bit of a rocky road. At one point, they were having chocolate cake together at Mar-a-Lago. But then these issues of trade and COVID response came, and things kind of hit a stalemate.

But for the moment, Amara, Beijing is really savoring this solid point in this very complicated relationship between two nations that have some very profound political differences.

WALKER: Been complicated keeping up with Trump's stance on TikTok. How does that situation factor into all of this? STEWART: Well, President Trump, as you know, made some comments that alluded to the fact that perhaps potential future tariffs would hinge on a TikTok deal. The government has been asked about this now twice during daily press briefings. and the response is pretty much very similar, very open-ended statements saying that it's up to the company, a company in general speaking terms. It's up to TikTok, ByteDance, to decide what is best. However, it must fall in line with Chinese laws and regulation.

But here is what's interesting, something that we have observed from being here in China. This idea of a 50'50 split between America -- an American company and a Chinese company is not being met with a lot of enthusiasm by Chinese citizens. Some feel that if this agreement would move forward, essentially, it would be the U.S. robbing from China. So we have this 90-day period and as far as where the storyline goes, Amara, it's very hard to tell.

WALKER: Yeah, a lot of uncertainty there. Marc Stewart, thank you very much, with a view from Beijing.

[08:30:00]

Well, the death toll in a fire that broke out overnight inside a hotel restaurant at a ski resort in Turkey has jumped significantly. The Turkish interior minister now says at least 66 people were killed and another 51 injured. It happened in Bolu Province in Northwest Turkey. Flames ripped through the roof and top floors of this popular winter vacation spot. Authorities say some tried to escape by tying bedsheets together. They say two people in a panic died after jumping out of the hotel. What sparked the fire remains unclear.

Still to come. Why the Ukrainian president is expressing some optimism about Donald Trump's return to the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to address the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland shortly. His comments will come after Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office. Zelenskyy described Trump's inauguration as a day of change and hope. One of Trump's promises was to end the war in Ukraine in just 24 hours.

Well, shortly after his inauguration, here's what the President had to say when asked about that possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He has told me he wants to make a deal. I mean, he wants to make -- Zelenskyy wants to make a deal. I don't know if Putin does. He might not. I don't know. He should make a deal. I think he's destroying Russia by not making a deal. I think Russia is going to be in big trouble. You take a look at their economy; you take a look at the inflation in Russia. So, I would -- I would hope. I got along with him great. And I would hope he wants to make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: Nick Paton Walsh is following the developments from Kyiv. before we talk about what we expect to hear from Zelenskyy today, I guess, you got to read between the lines and also the -- what we heard Trump say there in the Oval Office that, you know, that he needs to make a deal referring to Zelenskyy and putting the onus on him, but also the fact that Trump didn't even mention Ukraine in his inauguration address.

[08:35:00]

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, it was interesting to see the inaugural address pass with mentions, frankly, of going to Mars taking precedence of Ukraine and Russia, which together merited no mention in the inaugural speech. But when asked about the topic, I frankly have to say we see a very different President Trump than many perhaps who got accustomed to when dealing with Russia in his first term.

Those comments you just heard about how, frankly, horribly it's going for the Kremlin head, about the economic damage being done to Russia that should ferment his desire to make a deal. Remember Russia' is experiencing nearly double-digit inflation, because of its economy overheating the huge injection of cash from Russia's reserves into an economy to facilitate death payouts from those who got killed fighting against Ukraine in the occupation here and also to assist recruitment into Russia's military where Donald Trump also mentioned 700,000 people according to Western officials, Russians have been killed or injured since the start of a war.

A war that Trump said too in those comments, many thought would last a week, but is now edging towards its fourth year. He painted a very bleak picture of Russia's conduct, its performance in this war, I think suggesting that all those factors combined should push Vladimir Putin towards a deal. And again, he referenced how he believes he has a strong personal relationship with Vladimir Putin. Essentially, I think a deal maker here trying to lay out what he thinks is Russia's position of weakness and the United States' desire to see this wrapped up reasonably quickly.

Now, he also made references to America's allies, particularly those in Europe, how he believes they should, for some cases, double their contribution towards their defense to about 5 percent. Many are contributing just over 2 percent at the moment, saying that the U.S. has contributed $200 billion more towards Ukraine's defense than the European allies And Europe is not separated from Ukraine by an not ocean like the United States is. So many familiar points raised by Trump suggesting too that he would never even have allowed the war to even start over three years ago -- nearly three years ago now.

So, I think we're beginning to see the formulation of Trump diplomacy here. Those comments more harsh on Putin than I think many would've expected him, judging on the closeness (ph) of relationship in the first term, perhaps a bid to come at this from what Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said should be a position of strength. Zelenskyy has relentlessly, I think, tried to play to Trump's character here by suggesting that he is a strong man, a strong leader, and that if the United States projects enough power here, projects the sort of resolve we've seen in terms of the practical application of aid that the Biden Administration gave towards Ukraine, that if Trump continues with that and also suggests that he's not willing to accept a weak deal here, that that could lead to the sort of hope, you mentioned Zelenskyy was referring to.

Clearly, Kyiv is happy at the possibility of diplomacy. They may not say so all the time publicly perhaps, but their battlefield progress is, well, they're really suffering, frankly, from a persistent Russian advance, slow, incremental, but frankly, at this point, it seems irreversible Russia moving along the eastern frontline to take villages of little consequence, but when seen in the hole, do amount to a slow, not quite strategic yet, but significant gain by Russia in the east and Ukraine struggling with manpower issues there that are increasingly becoming acute.

So the clock loudly ticking on Ukraine's war effort. But I think many will have seen those Trump comments, I think perhaps provoked as they were by questions rather than offered in a unilateral speech, as perhaps comforting. This is not somebody immediately pandering to Vladimir Putin. Clearly pointing out in very stark, unprecedented terms for Donald Trump at least, exactly what damage this is doing to Russia's economy and to its society as a whole. And I think that economic case he's trying to make to perhaps the elite around Vladimir Putin, who will be acutely feeling the impact of sanctions, perhaps part of the Trump strategy here.

WALKER: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much. We'll be awaiting Zelenskyy remarks in Davos and of course, when he speaks, we'll get that live. Nick, thank you.

With more now on the start of the second Trump Administration, the flurry of executive orders, what might happen next, what all this means. Let's bring in CNN's Senior Politics Reporter, Stephen Collinson. Stephen, let's start with the sweeping pardons for the January 6th rioters and just how stunning the scale and scope of it is given that this was expected.

[08:40:00]

It was promised by Trump, but the expectation was that it would not include the violent offenders.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah. And there'd been some indications from Trump that he would make a distinction between violence vendors, people who beat up police officers, and people who were demonstrating, who were peacefully demonstrating, even though they trespassed inside the U.S. Capitol. I think what this shows us is that Trump believes he has massive leeway. He can do exactly what he wants in his second term.

This is an abrogation of the rule of law. All of these people went through a legal process. They were tried by a judge and jury, they were found guilty, and many of them had long prison sentences ahead of them. It sends a message, I think, that violence is a legitimate tool if you have a president in office who supports your actions, and that is something that will have long reverberations through the U.S. legal system.

Having said that, it could end up being quite unpopular. Polls before this show that majority of Americans didn't want this kind of blanket amnesty for January 6th offenders. But I think it's a sign of Trump's confidence and strength that he's willing to sweep all this under the carpet and whitewash history, as troubling as that may be, in the first few hours of his administration.

WALKER: This split screen, this juxtaposition where you have the incoming president who issued the sweeping party pardons for the January 6th rioters. And on the other side, the outgoing president, Joe Biden, issuing pre-emptive pardons for those on the January 6th Committee, and of course, others as well including his own family members. But it goes to show, first of all, that the tragically different views that people have on a set of facts, but it also underscores the powers of the presidency that the pardon power. And there's also been outrage towards Biden and his, many also say is an abuse of his pardon power.

COLLINSON: That's right. The pardon power is among the most unfettered presidential powers. It has long been controversial. We've seen presidents pardon members of their family or politically connected people for a long time. But what happened this week, I think is something different. First of all, Biden started issuing pre-emptive pardons. The justification for that was that there were vulnerable people like Dr. Anthony Fauci, for example, who looked like they were going to be the target of criminal action potentially in the second Trump term.

So Biden was absolving these people in advance to protect them. And he said that was brought on because of the way that Trump wields power. But then when he talks about pre-emptively pardoning members of his family, who haven't been convicted or accused of any crime by the justice authorities, that gets into a very gray area because potentially, you now have a president whereby Trump or any president could push a member of their family or their administration to break the law in the full knowledge that they can be absolved completely for any transgressions when they leave office. That's a massive expansion of presidential power.

WALKER: Yeah.

COLLINSON: And really does raise questions about how the presidency can be constrained.

WALKER: Absolutely. Also, what really stuck out to me yesterday was this image of these tech billionaires flanking President Trump, the three richest men in the world -- Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, alongside the other CEOs, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai. It was stunning in many ways to see this and it also reminded me of President Biden's farewell address on Wednesday from the Oval Office, warning of an oligarchy. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America, of extreme wealth powered influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well. Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I mean, Stephen, how real are these dangers of power being concentrated in the hands of a few tech billionaires? That's what an oligarchy is.

COLLINSON: It's very significant and it's amazing to see this gathering of Silicon Valley power around Trump in the last few months. Most of these executive and these companies were far more open to the arguments of the Democratic Party for many years.

[08:45:00]

But I think it's a sign of power and willingness to let corporate interests inside his administration, that we saw those tech executives right behind Trump when he was giving his inaugural address. It's a sign of where power really is in the United States right now and how, if you're a billionaire, you have far more influence than just an ordinary citizen who has one vote.

Trump's argument is that these are the smartest people in the world. Someone like Elon Musk is an innovator and a genius, and these people are needed to keep the U.S. competitive edge in issues like AI and quantum computing against competitors, especially China. And I do think that's a fair argument.

The problem is that all of these barons of tech are controlling the channels of information that will judge whether Trump's presidency is a success or otherwise. And now, they have huge vested interests, financial interests, and personal interests in shaping the coverage of Trump's presidency on their social network.

WALKER: Stephen, apologies, but I'm going to have to cut you off there. We do have Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking in Davos, Switzerland now. Let's listen in.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: But who's actually watching Europe at the moment? That's the key question for Europe, and it's not just about just about ideas, it's about people, first of all, about how they will live in a world that's constantly changing. 20 hours ago, President Trump's inauguration took place in Washington and now, everyone is waiting to see what he will do next.

His first executive orders have already shown clear priorities. Most of the world is now thinking, so what's going to happen to their relationship with America? What will happen to alliances, to support, to trade? How does President Trump plan to end wars? But no one is asking these kinds of questions about Europe, and we need to be honest about that. When we in Europe look at the United States as our ally, it is clear, they are an indispensable ally. In times of war, everyone worries, will the United States stay with them?

And every ally worry about that, but does anyone in the United States worry that Europe might abandon them someday, might stop being their ally? The answer is no. Washington does not believe Europe can bring them something that is really substantial. And I remember really, I remember last year's Asia Security Summit in Singapore, the Shangri-La Dialogue and there, representatives of the United States delegation openly said their top security priority is in the Pacific region. The second is the Middle East and the Gulf, and only the third is Europe. And that was under the previous administration.

And will President Trump even notice Europe? Does he see NATO as necessary and will he respect E.U. institutions? Ladies and gentlemen, Europe can't afford to be second or third in line for its allies. If that happens, the world will start moving forward without Europe, and that's a world that will not be comfortable or beneficial for all Europeans. Europe needs to compete for the top spot in priorities, alliances, and technological development. And we are at yet another turning point, which some see as a problem for Europe, but others call a chance.

Europe must establish itself as a strong global player, as an indispensable player. Let's not forget, there is no ocean separating European countries from Russia, and the European leaders should remember these battles involving North Korean soldiers are now happening in places geographically closer to Davos than to Pyongyang.

[08:50:00]

Russia is turning into a version of North Korea, a country where human life means nothing, but they have nuclear weapons and a burning decide to make their neighbors' lives miserable. Even though Russia's overall economic potential is way smaller than Europe's, it produces several times more ammo and military equipment than all of Europe combined. And that's exactly -- that's exactly the path of wars Moscow chooses to take.

Putin signed the new strategic deal with Iran. He already had a comprehensive treaty with North Korea. Whom do they make such deals against? Against you, against us, against Europe, against America. We must not forget about it. It's not by chance that our (ph) strategic priorities and our priorities must match the challenge in politics and in defense and in economy. Such threats can only be countered and only countered together.

Even when it comes to army size, Russia can field about 1.3 million or maybe 1.5 million troops. We've got more than 800,000 in our military. Second after us comes France with over 200,000, then Germany, Italy and U.K., everyone else has less. This isn't a situation where one country can secure itself alone. It's about all of us standing together to mean something.

For now, thankfully, the influence of Iran's regime is weakening. This gives hope for Syria and Lebanon, and they should too become examples of how life can recover after war. And Ukraine has already stepping in to support the new Syria. Our ministers have been to Damascus and we've launched a food aid program for Syria called 'Food from Ukraine' and we are getting our partners involved to invest in these delivers and in building food production facilities.

And Europe could totally step in as a security donor for Syria, time to stop getting headaches from that direction. And Europe together with America should put pay (ph) to the Iranian threat.

Next, right now, it's not clear whether Europe will even have a seat at the table when the war against our country ends. And we see how much influence China has on Russia. And we are -- and we are deeply grateful to Europe for all the support it has given our country during this war. But will President Trump listen to Europe? Or will he negotiate with Russia and China without Europe?

Europe needs to learn how -- how to fully take care of itself, so that the world can't afford to ignore it. It's vital to maintain unity in Europe because the world doesn't care about just Budapest or Brussels. It cares about Europe as a whole. And we need a United European security and defense policy, and all European countries must be willing, willing to spend as much on security as it truly needed, not just as much as they have gotten used to during years of neglect.

If it takes 5 percent of GDP to cover defense, then so be it. 5 percent it is, and there is no need to play with people's emotions that defense should be compensated at the expense of medicine or pensions or something else. That's really not fair. We have already -- we have already set up models of cooperation for Ukraine's defense that can make all of Europe stronger. We are building drones, building drones together, including some totally unique ones that no one else in the world has.

And we are producing artillery together and in Ukraine, and it's much cheaper and faster than in any other country in the world. And investing now in Ukrainian drones production is investing not only in security of Europe, but the ability of Europe to be a security guarantor for other vital regions.

[08:55:00]

And we need to start building air defense systems together, ones that can actually handle all types of cruise and ballistic missiles. Europe needs its own version of the Iron Dome, something that can deal with any kind of threat. We can't rely on goodwill from a few capitals when it comes to Europe's security and whether it's Washington bailing Paris, London, Rome, or after Putin kicks the bucket, some imaginary Democrat in Moscow someday. And we need -- and we need to make sure no European country is dependent on a single energy supply, especially not Russia.

Right now, things are on our side. President Trump is going to export more energy, but Europe needs to step up and do more long-term work to secure real energy independence. You can't keep buying gas from Moscow while also expecting security guarantees, help and backup from the Americans. That's just wrong. For example, the prime minister of Slovakia is not seeking access to the U.S. gas, but does not lose hope to enjoy U.S. security umbrella. And Europe must have a seat at the table when deals about war and peace are made. And I'm not just talking about Ukraine here. This should be the standard. Europe deserves to be more than just bystander, with its leaders reduced to -- reduced to posting on X after an agreement has already been made. Europe needs to shape the terms of those deals.

Next, we need a completely new bolder approach to tech companies and technological development. If we waste time, Europe will lose this century. And now, Europe is falling behind in the development of artificial intelligence. Already, TikTok's algorithms are more powerful than some governments. Already, the fate of small countries depends more on their owns of tech company than on their laws. Already, Europe is not leading in the global tech race, falling behind both America and China.

This isn't some minor issue. It's about weakness, first, technological and economic, then political. And Europe is often more focused on regulation than on freedom. But when smart regulation is needed, Brussels hesitates. We should ensure maximum tech development in Europe and together make all significant decisions for the whole Europe. From weapons production to tech development, Europe must lead and Europe must become the most attractive market in the world. And that's achievable.

And finally -- finally, Europe must be able to guarantee peace. Peace and security for everybody, for itself, and for others, for those in the world who matter to Europe. Europe deserves to be strong. And for this, Europe needs the E.U. and NATO. Is this is possible without Ukraine and without a just end to Russia's war against Ukraine? I'm certain the answer is no. Only real security guarantees for us will serve as real security guarantees for everyone in Europe. And we must ensure that America also sees us as essential.

For that to happen, America's focus must shift to Europe, so that one day in Washington, they will say all eyes on Europe and not because of war, but because of the opportunities in Europe. Europe needs to know how to defend itself. Hundreds of millions of people with it (ph) Europe, to see its landmarks, to learn from its cultural heritage, millions in the world dream of living like the Europeans do. And will we be able to keep it and pass it to our children?

[09:00:00]