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CNN International: Trump Says Putin Destroying Russia by Not Making Ukraine War Deal; Republicans Divided on Trump's Jan. 6 Pardons; Trump Begins Harsh Crackdown on Immigration; 24 States Suing Over Trump Ending Birthright Citizenship; Israel Launches 'Operation Iron Wall' in West Bank; Fragile Gaza Truce Holds on Day Four of Ceasefire; Hotel Fire in Turkey Kills at Least 76 People; Russia and China Emphasize Close Ties in Virtual Summit; Prince Harry Unexpectedly Settles With Murdoch Tabloids; Record Snow in the Southern U.S. Makes for Dangerous Travel. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired January 22, 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]
JOHN E. HERBST, SENIOR DIRECTOR, ATLANTIC EURASIA CENTER: In NATO, and they require compromise from Putin. And that includes -- Trump has talked about arming Ukraine heavily once a deal is made to deter future Russian aggression, and he's talked about having a demilitarized zone between Russian and Ukrainian troops to be filled by European soldiers.
Those two aspects require Putin to give up his aim of taking effective political control of Ukraine. The Russians have said they're willing to talk, they're willing to negotiate, but they've said they've not changed their objectives, and they haven't.
Putin's going to try to pre-negotiate with Trump before sitting down to real negotiations, the conditions he does not like. But Trump can't agree with that because if he does, he's essentially giving Ukraine to Putin and he's not -- doesn't want to do that. That would make Trump look like a very weak negotiator.
So Putin needs to feel American pressure. Economic sanctions are important, that's true, but nothing will be as important as demonstrating to the Kremlin that we will make it impossible for Russia to make further additional gains on the territory of Ukraine.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": That is going to be very hard.
HERBST: That means aid; that means weapons.
SIDNER: Yeah. Hard pill for the president to swallow judging from some of his past comments. Foreign Ambassador Herbst, thank you so much for joining us. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone, and welcome everyone to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, we are live in Washington as President Trump begins his third day in office while fear and uncertainty grow across the U.S. as the new administration firms up its deportation plans. And in an unexpected twist, Prince Harry settles his legal case against Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group with the publisher issuing a full apology for the "serious intrusion." Plus, it is a snow day for millions across the southeast of the U.S. A rare winter storm brings record snow and frigid temperatures from Texas all the way down to Florida.
Day three of Donald Trump's second presidency and he is already butting heads with Congress, at issue are his sweeping pardons of almost everyone involved in the January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol. That has put Republican lawmakers in an awkward spot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: It's not my place. It's the president's sole decision and he made a decision, so I stand with him on it.
SEN. THOM TILLIS, (R-NC): It was surprising to me that it was a blanket pardon.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're talking about people that were beating officers with fire hydrants, with metal batons.
SEN. JOHN THUNE, (R-SD) MAJORITY LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE: Well, I didn't see.
PHILLIP: Is that acceptable to you?
THUNE: No.
PHILLIP: Those people were pardoned?
THUNE: No, that's not acceptable, but I didn't see it. So --
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you mean you didn't see it? There were 1,600 people that were reported.
THUNE: You're not showing me. I didn't see that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I said, it's the president's prerogative.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R-ME): I do not support the pardons if they were given, if they were given to people who committed violent crimes.
SEN. JIM BANKS, (R-IN): He won a mandate and fully support him in doing that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, I'm still going through the 200 different EOs and I've not even read through that one yet to be able to get the full details.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The deck is cleared now. Can we just stop talking about January 6th? (END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: All right. Mixed reaction there, as you saw. But Trump says he sees no problem with the pardons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aren't you sending a message that assaulting officers is OK with these pardons?
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No, the opposite. No, I'm the friend of -- I am the friend of police more than any president that's ever been in this office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: All right. Well, also looming over his first week immigration. Trump's deportation plans are starting to take shape with the swift rollout of key policies. They include a slew of deportation raids, which he now says can happen at churches and schools. Mr. Trump is already facing some pushback.
You'll remember that on Monday, he signed an executive order to start the end of birthright citizenship. That is a right granted in the Constitution. Now, 24 states and cities are suing the administration over it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have one message for President Trump. I'll see you in court. It violates our U.S. constitution. The president has overstepped his authority by a mile, and we will hold him accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Our Priscilla Alvarez takes a closer look now at the Trump administration's harsh immigration crackdown.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump's deportation plans are starting to take shape after a spate of key policies that were released on Tuesday. They included, for example, a new directive that allows immigration and customs enforcement to arrest people or take enforcement actions in or near what are called sensitive areas. That is, for example, churches, schools, hospitals.
That is a departure from longstanding policy that kept agents from working in those areas. Immigrant advocates, of course, have said and warned that doing so could stroke fear within immigrant communities and have ripple effects.
[08:05:00]
But in addition to that, on Tuesday, the Trump administration also releasing a regulation that expands a fast-track deportation procedure, essentially casting a wider net of undocumented immigrants who would be eligible for that procedure that would -- cannot prove that they have been living in the United States continuously for two years.
Taken together, all of these policies start to provide a clear picture as to how the Trump administration plans to embark on its deportation pledge. In addition to that, the White House Border Czar Tom Holman telling our Dana Bash that targeted operations are already happening, and also noting that if other undocumented immigrants are encountered over the course of those operations, then they too could be taken into detention.
So, all of this starting to ramp up with these policies. And as these operations are underway, as again, the Trump administration tries to make due on the President's campaign promise. Back to you.
WALKER: Priscilla, thank you very much. Now, President Trump wants an apology from the Episcopal Bishop of Washington after she delivered a plea to him at Tuesday's National Cathedral Prayer Service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIANN EDGAR BUDDE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF WASHINGTON: The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Well, in response, President Trump writes on Truth Social, "The so-called Bishop who spoke was a radical left hard-line Trump hater. She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our country and killed people. She's not very good at her job."
Let's bring in Attorney Raul Reyes. He is a CNN Opinion Writer who frequently focuses on immigration issues. Raul, good morning. It's good to see you. What a remarkable moment there, to see this bishop just directly address the president and make this appeal. What did you make of it? And of course, Trump's reaction to it, his criticism of her.
RAUL REYES, CNN OPINION WRITER: The criticism from the Bishop is really not surprising because what we saw during the last Trump administration was many faith leaders from the Catholic Church, Latter-day Saints, Summit Evangelical Churches, all coming forward to protest what they saw as the very inhumane policies in his last administration including, of course, family separations. The Pope recently appointed to a very high-level position in the United States a Catholic who has been quite outspoken in favor of migrants.
So, her words were not a surprise to me. It's -- I was taken aback to be honest, by the President's response, which seems -- in a way seems quite petty. But honestly, it is hard to not see many of his planned immigration enforcement actions as something of a war on children when the administration is saying they're going to go into schools, when they're saying families might be separated, and when they're saying that with the mass deportations, parents could be rounded up and their children would be taken to detention as well.
WALKER: All this playing out. So let's start with this rollback of this law or this policy, I should say, that was said in 2011 that prevents border agents from going into these sensitive locations like schools and hospitals and churches. You've already heard a lot of states and major cities basically bracing for immigration raids and also instructing city, local employees on what they can do when federal agents do arrive.
I mean, are we going to see just really tense standoffs happening outside schools and hospitals? How do you see all this playing out?
REYES: I think that's a very real possibility. The Secure Locations Policy has existed through multiple administrations of different parties. And the reason that I said Homeland Security have it, is because they decided it was really not an effective use of their resources. And the thinking behind that is, if you go into schools, for example, or hospitals in search of a parent or child who might be undocumented, you end up traumatizing many bystanders.
You end up putting teachers, nurses, or even faith leaders into a role of de facto immigration agents. Teachers are there just to teach children; they're not there to instruct children about their potential rights in case of an ICE raid or if government agents come to their facility. So it's a startling break from departure. I think this is something that will be extremely destructive and I have to believe that the American public, as we start to see potentially images of ICE agents with guns in schools, hospitals, churches, that that would be very upsetting to broad swaths of the American public.
[08:10:00]
WALKER: It has to be just terrifying to think about and make plans for, especially for many of these families. Legally though, Raul, when it comes to what some of these states can or cannot do, I mean, we've heard of sanctuary cities and the fact that there are ordinance in place that can bar city employees from actually aiding ICE agents, unless required by federal law. What does that mean then? What can states or cities legally do to oppose President Trump's immigration raids?
REYES: In legal terms, there is honestly not a lot that cities and states can do to oppose federal immigration law. When we talk about sanctuary cities, all that means is that cities and local governments, state governments are not obliged to cooperate with ICE or Homeland Security. But they are not allowed to interfere or impede with their efforts. So, for example, in a city like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, that are all -- have sanctuary policies, deportations still occur here and they have in past administrations, and they will continue to do so.
That's why people feel so threatened across the immigrant community. And two things I want to mention, just as a reality check -- number one, this president is inheriting a very stable border, a secure border, because we have seen that unauthorized entries at the border are at their lowest level since during the pandemic, when people were largely prevented from entering under Title 42.
And second, this president campaign and won around the issue of illegal immigration. But he doesn't have a mandate by any means to conduct these mass raids and deportations. CNN exit poll right after the election found that when they asked the American public what they wanted in terms of immigration solutions, 56 percent of Americans favored some type of path to legal status for people who are here with authorization, only 40 percent favored mass deportations.
So, the public is not united behind him on these extreme efforts. But the sad thing is on the ground, in reality, we will see a lot of heartbreak, a lot of confusion and chaos, and potentially some truly grim stories that will affect -- affecting the daily lives of the 11 million undocumented people here.
WALKER: Yeah, I mean, there's so much to talk about including the CBP app that provides a legal pathway for migrants to seek asylum. That is also now in the dark. Before we go, Raul, I want to talk about Trump's executive order that kind of gets the ball rolling to end birthright citizenship. Several states have sued over that, the ACLU included and other immigration rights groups.
This is in the constitution in the 14th Amendment.
REYES: Right.
WALKER: -- which says that anyone who was born in the United States, children of those born in the United States, they will be citizens. As it stands right now, whatever Trump signed, it does not make -- that doesn't reverse the birthright citizenship, right? This is going to go through the court system.
REYES: This will go through the court system. But the executive order said that within 30 days, say if a child is born to undocumented parents or someone here on a tourist or work visa, a state or county could deny them a birth certificate. So we could see in real time some type of children being born, who are like stateless persons until this works -- this all works its way through the courts.
And think of the bigger picture, although birthright citizenship has been settled law even by the supreme court for over a hundred years, as the U.S., we've seen historically, when the U.S. shuts down lawful pathways, cracks down on the border, does things like ending the CBP app, all that does is increase illegal immigration because people now have no lawful channels to enter the country. So, it usually leads to upticks in unauthorized migration. That's an unintended consequence but that is very likely.
WALKER: All right, Raul Reyes, much more talk about there, but we're going to have to leave it.
REYES: Thank you.
WALKER: Thank you so much for joining us. Well, Donald Trump continues to be peppered with questions about his decision to pardon or commute the sentences of everyone involved in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. That's over 1,500 people. At an event where he had hoped to talk about an AI -- about AI and infrastructure, the president instead found himself defending the pardons that he issued in his first hours in office. And he was especially pressed on his decision to pardon those convicted of violent acts on January 6th, including those who attacked, physically attacked police officers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER ALEXANDER, NBC NEWS REPORTER: Among those who pardoned, D.J. Rodriguez, he drove a stun gun into the neck of a D.C. police officer who was abducted by the mob that day. He later confessed on video to the FBI and pleaded guilty for his crimes. Why does he deserve a pardon?
TRUMP: Well, I don't know. Was it a pardon? Because we're looking at commutes and we're looking at pardons.
[08:15:00]
OK, well, we'll take a look at everything. At least the cases that we looked at, these were people that actually love our country, so we thought a pardon would be appropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Well, it is worth noting that though Trump says we will take a look at it, there is no mechanism for actually undoing a pardon. Once Trump hands it out, there's no going back. Well, some of the people pardoned by Trump were released on Tuesday from a Washington, D.C. Jail. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan was there, and he spoke to several of the rioters who were set free.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were a true patriot.
RACHEL POWELL, PARDONED JANUARY 6 DEFENDANT: I don't even know what to feel. I mean, I guess I should feel joy. I just -- I -- maybe I'm just shocked.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The end of a long road for Rachel Powell, pardoned by President Trump and released Tuesday from a jail here in Washington, D.C. Rachel became known as the 'pink hat lady' when footage emerged of her breaking a window at the Capitol with an ice ax during the January 6th attack. A mom to eight and a grandmother to seven, I interviewed Rachel before she began what was supposed to be a year's long prison sentence last year.
POWELL: How do I have time to plan an insurrection when my life is busy like this?
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): On her release on Tuesday, she was met by activists who gave her new clothes, new boots, and a new pink hat. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Woo, Lori (ph). Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man came from the Philadelphia jail. He got out at 3:00 a.m. That doesn't make sense. He's wearing prison shoes and Philadelphia's finest prison gear.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Pardoned January Sixers from elsewhere began arriving in Washington like William Patrick Sarsfield III, who was convicted of a felony offense of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder.
WILLIAM SARSFIELD, PARDONED JANUARY 6 DEFENDANT: Well, I was -- heard through different apps and different programs and different phone calls from people that we still had brothers and sisters that were still locked up and haven't been released. And being somebody that's been in D.C., that everybody should be released. If it's a pardon for J6ers, it's for all of us.
O'SULLIVAN: You got out of prison last night?
ROBERT MORSS, PARDONED JANUARY 6 DEFENDANT: Well, I was -- I was locked up for 3.5 years, and I was taken to the halfway house on August 29th.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Robert Morss says he was released from a halfway house in Pittsburgh late last night and came to D.C. to celebrate. Morss, a former army ranger, was found guilty of assaulting police officers among other crimes on January 6th.
MORSS: I had no intention of going anywhere near the Capitol that day. That's how crazy this got. So a lot of people were taken advantage of and we were lured into a lobster trap that January 6th was designed to be.
O'SULLIVAN: In terms of personal responsibility, do you take, I mean, do you regret?
MORSS: Completely, without a doubt. I said that in my sentencing speech. I said the words Donald Trump did not force me or coerce me to do what I did that day. I did it on my own accord.
O'SULLIVAN: What's your message to people watching this who say she shouldn't have been pardoned? None of these people should have got out of prison. They're criminals.
POWELL: OK, you know what? It's time to stop worrying about that and move forward in this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Folks there feeling very emboldened, clearly, by President Trump's pardons. And what we're expecting over the course of the next few hours and the next few days is, as these cases continue to be processed, these pardons continue to be processed, we'll see people trickling out of jails like this one in Washington, D.C. and also out of jails and prisons all over the country. Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, at the D.C. Jail.
WALKER: Donie, thank you for that. Israel's defense minister says the nation is using lessons learned from the Gaza War in its new operation in the Occupied West Bank. Israel Katz says, Operation Iron Wall, as it is being called, aims to eliminate terrorists and terror infrastructure in the Jenin Refugee Camp.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 10 people were killed on Tuesday. Palestinian officials called the operation part of an Israeli plan to gradually annex the West Bank. Now, this comes as the fragile Gaza ceasefire is entering its fourth day. Hundreds of humanitarian trucks bringing aid are entering the war-ravaged enclave.
Let's bring in CNN Anchor and Senior Global Affairs Analyst, Bianna Golodryga. She's joining us now from Tel Aviv in Israel. Bianna, good to see you. It feels like the ceasefire in Gaza just went into effect, and now we're seeing this large new Israeli operation in the West Bank. What do we need -- what do we know about what Israel is doing and why?
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, this is day two, Amara, of Operation Iron Wall, as you just noted, for the IDF in the Occupied West Bank. And as we heard from Defense Minister Katz, they're expecting this operation to extend beyond just Jenin and the refugee camp there. Israeli officials confirm also the death -- killing of 10 Palestinians in this operation thus far. They're saying it can last for days if not longer.
[08:20:00]
Taking a step back now, at the situation where we have -- saw really an unprecedented, or at least a situation we hadn't seen in a number of years, where Palestinian Authority security officials were actually fighting with local militants, as well they are combating for the past month or so, we finally saw Palestinian Authority security officials and security take a step back now and withdraw.
And hence, you've seen Israeli, the IDF forces now coming into the West Bank. And the question is, how long will they be there? The IDF and the Israeli government saying this stems from lessons learned from October 7th, to stem some of the outbreak in violence that they've seen over the course of the last few weeks. And it's come, as we've reported, of an outbreak of Israeli Jewish settler violence as well in the Occupied West Bank, and different reports from hospital authorities.
For example, in Jenin, I will quote from one doctor there who said that the hospital is completely under siege and that Palestinians had been detained inside of the hospital. IDF spokespeople have said that that was for their own security. So, a number of new steps and initiatives being taken. We're hearing more reports now from Israeli government officials coming at a time when there had been a lot of pressure from the right elements of this coalition and this government to even have more of a role for the IDF in the West Bank. Itamar Ben-Gvir, who had just stepped out and resigned from the government, had even stressed that he would like to see Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. But you've mentioned an important point because the timing here comes as we're just three days into a very fragile ceasefire and there is concern now about whether this action and this operation at all will have any impact in the West Bank and in Gaza itself, because Hamas in response to this operation, has now called for more of its forces to stand up and respond to.
WALKER: Yeah. It just underscores how fragile the ceasefire is. In the meantime, Bianna, we saw some Israeli military resignations Tuesday, including the Israeli Military's Chief of Staff. Can you talk a bit about the background of that and the timing as well?
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. Herzi Halevi resigned from his post as the IDF Chief of Staff yesterday. Not necessarily a surprise given that there had been a lot of calls for resignations of those that had been in charge in their posts stemming from the disastrous failure of October 7th from a military standpoint, and obviously from an intelligence standpoint as well.
We also saw the resignation of the Chief of Southern Command as well, following that from Herzi Halevi. And in his statement yesterday, he noted that it wasn't just a military inquiry that needed to be conducted, but a wider scale inquiry and really investigating what went wrong, what led up to October 7th, and the failures there. And that' has led so many to the question of who else has yet to take responsibility or the blame or resign. And that is other members of this government, of the coalition for that specific reason and the Prime Minister himself.
So as to the timing, that is left for anyone to determine as to why this happened. Now, we do know that it's set to begin officially March 7th and that will be towards the end of phase one of this ceasefire deal, when we will see the release of 33 Israeli hostages. And then, that is when phase two will go into effect after 16 days. Now, we are -- in 13 days, we're expecting to see the resumption of negotiations and ceasefire talks between the two sides. But there's a big question here as to whether we will actually see phase two implemented because that means a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Amara?
WALKER: Bianna Golodryga with the details there from Tel Aviv. Thank you so much, Bianna. And still to come, the latest on a deadly hotel fire in Turkey that has claimed the lives of at least 76 people. We'll have more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:26:35]
WALKER: Search and rescue teams are continuing to work at the site of hotel fire in Turkey, where at least 76 people have died. The fire broke out early yesterday morning at a ski resort in the country's north. Dozens have been injured, and CNN Turk is reporting that 14 members of the same family were among the victims. The country's president has declared today a day of mourning. For more now, let's go to Jomana Karadsheh who's following the story live from London. Jomana, what more do we know about the victims of this awful fire?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know Amara, in the last 24 hours or so, we started seeing the photos and the names of the victims of this devastating fire begin to emerge and circulate on social media and across. Turkish media, as you mentioned, families, entire families amongst the victims. One family, according to our affiliate CNN Turk, lost 14 members. That's a mother, her husband, her three children, and nine other relatives who all perished in this fire.
And unfortunately, this was expected because, in Turkey right now, people are marking the winter break for schools. A lot of families do take their children and go on holiday to the ski resorts. And Kartalkaya is one of those popular resorts in the northwestern part of the country in the Bolu Mountains. And this has happened -- this happened at 3:30 in the morning when this fire broke out in the Grand Kartal Hotel.
So you can imagine, a lot of people would've been sleeping at that time. There were more than 230 guests and hotel staff at that 12- storey hotel when it was engulfed by this fire. It took the emergency response nearly an hour to get to this because, we understand according to some reports that this was a hard to reach area for them. So it took them about an hour to get there and try and put out the fire.
But we are hearing, this really terrifying testimony coming from survivors and eyewitnesses, describing this panic, as you can imagine, with people trying to escape the flames, people jumping out of windows, at least two people were killed as a result of jumping out of the windows according to Turkish officials. Then you see these images of bedsheets tied together, people throwing them out of the window, trying to climb out of this hotel. Absolutely devastating.
And you have a whole nation today that is in mourning. We're seeing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Bolu today, attending the funerals that are beginning to take place, Amara.
WALKER: Just incredibly tragic. Also hearing these stories of people losing entire families and the desperation of people trying to jump out the window to their deaths escaping this fire, just awful. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you very much for that report.
And still to come, Donald Trump is facing a very different foreign policy landscape now than he did during his first term in the White House. Diplomatic relations between China and Russia are the closest they have been in years. What does that mean then for the U.S. And Prince Harry settles his lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's tabloid group. We're going to explain this twist in the long-running legal drama.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:32:50]
WALKER: Welcome back. As Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House, he faces a new kind of foreign policy challenge, a more united group of U.S. adversaries. And the President has made recent remarks that raise questions about his relationship with the leaders of both Russia and China.
Mr. Trump is threatening Beijing with more tariffs, and he says he will consider new sanctions on Moscow for its war on Ukraine if Putin fails to come to the negotiating table. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Just hours after President Donald Trump's inauguration, Kremlin-controlled TV already poking fun at the new U.S. leader and Trump's pledge to end the war in Ukraine on day one.
In the U.S., they call the expression 'Stop the war in 24 hours' a bright example of Trump's hyperbole, the host says. But Trump himself says he intends to keep his promise and that his meeting with Putin is soon ahead.
The tone on state TV very different than before the inauguration, like in December, when Trump had criticized the Biden administration's decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles to fire into Russia. More absolutely sensational news, the anchor said then, Donald Trump condemned the use of ATACMS for attacks on the territory of Russia.
Shortly after taking office, President Trump who claims to have good relations with Putin, appeared surprisingly critical of the Russian leader.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 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.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): But Putin unfazed, showing whom he considers to be his most important ally and friend, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, even after Xi took the rare step of calling Trump shortly before the inauguration. Xi and Putin now making clear in a virtual summit, China and Russia will stand together no matter what Trump does.
[08:35:00]
These connections are self-sufficient and independent of domestic political factors and the current global situation, Putin said.
This year, I am ready together with you to elevate Chinese-Russian relations to a new level, Xi added, to counter external uncertainties by preserving stability and resilience of Chinese-Russian relations.
As Ukraine continues to lose ground in many sectors of the vast frontline, Ukraine's president speaking at the Davos Economic Forum appeared concerned about whether Kyiv's allies can achieve what Ukraine would consider a just peace. If there are weak guarantees, uncertainty, only words, then you will only get words from Russia and he will come back with war again.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: All right, Fred, thank you. Let's get more now on the U.S. president's renewed China tariff threat. Here's CNN's Marc Stewart.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Trump tariff threat is something that has been looming over Beijing for months. If we look at past history, China has taken on a tit-for-tat approach. You do something to hurt us, we'll do something to hurt you back. During its daily press briefing, China was diplomatic but did not rule anything out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAO NING, SPOKESPERSON, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: We always believe that there is no winner in a trade war or tariff war. China will always firmly safeguard its national interests.
STEWART (voice-over): If you look back to 2019, during the first Trump administration, China retaliated after the U.S. imposed tariffs, part of a trade war between the world's two largest economies. China has been long aware of potential tariffs and has taken action. In recent years, it has expanded its focus beyond the U.S., exporting more goods to Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: The prospect of more tariffs may be concerning to investors as stocks in China and Hong Kong saw a dip.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
WALKER: Marc, thank you. Let's take a closer look now at Moscow and Beijing's strategic relationship and what that might mean for the Trump administration. David Sanger is a CNN Political and National Security Analyst, and the author of "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West." He's joining me now.
David, it's great to see you this morning. Let me start with Trump's comments yesterday on his intent to impose a 10 percent tariff on imported Chinese goods on February 1st, not 60 percent tariff which is what he had promised during his campaign. And he said that it was in response to China's role on the fentanyl crisis here in the U.S. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I had that talk with President Xi the other day too, of China. I said, we don't want that crap in our country. We're talking about a tariff of 10 percent on China based on the fact that they're sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How soon --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How soon on those tariffs?
TRUMP: Probably February 1st is the date we're looking at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: And David, as you know, as most economists are saying, tariffs are going to raise prices on American goods and that could be inflationary which would contradict Trump's promise to bring down inflation. So, how is this all going to work out for Trump then?
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, really good question, Amara, and thanks for having me on, because tariffs are usually imposed to write some kind of economic good. So for example, the Chinese are subsidizing the production of all kinds of commercial semiconductors. You could imagine a targeted tariff that was meant to equalize that, and that would make sense.
What the president is discussing here, though, is a tariff to make up for what is basically a political difference over how to deal with fentanyl. I think the Biden administration officials were able to get a good deal of Chinese cooperation, not as much as they wanted, to limit this. And you could imagine, sanctions of some kind against the companies, the individuals, any state operation that was bringing in the fentanyl. But if you are doing a tariff, what you're doing is basically making the American consumers pay for what the Chinese are doing wrong.
WALKER: And regarding this budding relationship between China's President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin, they had -- they held their, I guess now it's an annual call, talking about their ties. But how does this complicate Trump's plans to end the war in Ukraine?
[08:40:00]
Does he use China to leverage Putin and apply pressure on Putin?
SANGER: Well, first of all, the relationship between China and Russia which has been nurtured along now for a number of years, really blossomed during the Biden period. So, it's the newest and biggest change in geopolitics since President Trump left office in 2021. And it has really changed the landscape.
My suspicion is, it has changed the landscape more than he and his aides have probably yet gotten a chance to appreciate. Putin and Xi have met 50 or 60 times. President Biden met Putin only once, met Xi a handful of, of times during his presidency. They have expanded this relationship now to include Iran and North Korea, both of which are supplying Russia in the war in Ukraine. Obviously, North Korea supplying troops, Iran supplying drones and other technology.
And China has been helping rebuild the Russian military again with technology. So the big question really is, does President Trump have a strategy to divide Russia and China, or are things like tariffs applied to both of them going to drive them together?
WALKER: So, what will this mean for his promise which he obviously broke immediately, to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours? And also, I do want to mention, I was quite surprised to hear Trump in the Oval Office when he was signing his executive orders, criticizing Putin and saying that, he is destroying Russia by not making a deal. But how does ending the Ukraine war come into play then with this stronger relationship that has changed the landscape between China and Russia?
SANGER: Well, one thing that the president might want to try to go do is convince the Chinese early on that their affiliation with the Ukraine war is hurting their own cause, that it's costing them, it's costing them reputationally, it's costing them financially. And they may decide they don't care, that what's most important to them is to develop an alternative approach to guiding the world to what the United States and the West have. And for that, they need the two major nuclear powers to come together -- two other major nuclear powers, and that would be China and Russia.
The second big part of this would be the president's criticism of Putin, which we certainly didn't hear very much of in the first term. And I think this was an effort to gain some leverage to say, Hey, look, this is ruining your economy and ultimately will come to ruin your very own power base within Russia. I'm not sure that Putin necessarily was looking for the lecture, but it's an interesting approach and certainly suggests that there isn't quite the connection between Putin and the president that we saw at the end of his last term.
WALKER: Lastly, before we go, David, I just wanted to get your take on Zelenskyy's address, the Ukrainian president's address to the European leaders at -- in Davos yesterday, where he said, Look, please continue to support Ukraine, stand firm against Russia. But he also echoed Trump's demands that NATO pay up more, that they more than double their pledged defense spending to 5 percent of the GDP. What was he up to here?
SANGER: It's really interesting because the core of Zelenskyy's argument has been, if Russia is successful in Ukraine, they're coming for Europe next. And that is bolstered a little bit by having Donald Trump in office because Mr. Trump has made clear that he's not certain that he would come to the aid of any NATO ally who is attacked, particularly if they're not paying what he calls dues, but which everybody else would call their contribution to the common defense.
Every American president that I've covered, and I've covered five, has wanted Europe to go pay more and the Europeans have now moved their way (ph), or most of the countries are paying 2 percent of GDP. President Trump is right that that amount is not going to allow them to build a defensive structure that would really be a deterrent to Russia. If you talk to European leaders, they understand they're going to need to spend more. [08:45:00]
They have not spent the political capital to build a base for doing that. And this is going to be the really interesting tension between Washington and Europe in the next -- in the next few years.
WALKER: Always an enlightening conversation. David Sanger, good to have you. Thank you again.
SANGER: Great to be with you.
WALKER: Thanks, David. Well, a trial long in the making with a surprise ending. Prince Harry unexpectedly settles his long-running lawsuit against a group of tabloids owned by Rupert Murdoch. We're going to go live to London with more, after this.
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WALKER: Prince Harry's long battle against a group of tabloids owned by Rupert Murdoch took an unexpected turn after he chose to settle the case before the trial began. Now, Prince Harry accused news group -- newspapers of illegally obtaining information on his family. His barrister said the tabloids offered a full and unequivocal apology, and will pay substantial damages.
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DAVID SHERBORNE, PRINCE HARRY'S BARRISTER: Today, he lies are laid bare. Today, the cover-ups are exposed and today proves that no one stands above the law. The time for accountability has arrived.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Let's get more on this story. Max Foster joining us now live from London. Yes, a surprising turn of events, Max. Do we know why Prince Harry decided to settle in this case? And have we heard from "The Sun" yet?
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, to be fair to Harry, in any -- in a civil case, civil cases are meant to end up with a settlement out of court. That's where they're ultimately going. Harry had said he wanted his day in court and he wanted to hold power to account. He's not -- he wasn't really pursuing the reporters in this case, he was pursuing the leaders of the organization, right up to the top they said, which would mean Rupert Murdoch and the culture that existed in his newspapers and their awareness, frankly, that this sort of illegal activity was going on.
But, there is a figure, as we understand it, it's something like eight figures, an eight-figure payment out to Prince Harry, a huge amount of money. So he will -- he settled on that. His lawyers would've advised him to settle on that, and they've got the full apology that they say they wanted. There are still some questions about the evidence that would've come out in the trial, which certainly his lawyers had told me, they wanted to use to push for criminal prosecution.
That now won't be coming out. But it is a huge triumph as far as they're concerned. And Prince Harry seems very happy with this result.
WALKER: All right, Max Foster, thanks for following the story for us, live for us there in London. Still to come, record-breaking snow across the southern U.S. is disrupting travel. This is Mobile, Alabama.
[08:50:00]
Authorities there warning people to stay off the dangerously icy roads. We're going to have more, straight ahead.
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WALKER: Well, people across the U.S. South and Gulf Coast will try to dig out after record snowfall in places not used to a deep freeze. Drone video shows parts of New Orleans -- yes, this is New Orleans. It's hard to believe. It's buried in snow right now, and southern Louisiana experiencing a first ever blizzard warning. A lot of people going, what's that? Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi are operating under states of emergency.
First responders are urging people to stay off the icy and hazardous roads. At least nine people are believed to have died due to the dangerous conditions, putting the region really at a standstill. To Houston now, where CNN Senior National Correspondent, Ed Lavandera, is joining me. Ed, snowy in Houston.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We -- city experienced quite a snow event yesterday and this is in a region of the country from Texas to the Carolinas, used to getting reports of tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, that sort of thing. This is not what they're used to seeing. And so, it is come as a welcome event in many ways, something incredibly unique and -- but it is causing some havoc in some places.
For the last two days, schools have been closed. Airports have been shut down. Here in Houston, the airport is starting to come back online here in the next few hours, but schools remain closed. And the concern now that the skies have cleared up and the snow has stopped falling, is that overnight here in Texas and in much of the south, temperatures remained below freezing. So, all that snowfall that fell here on the ground has really hardened up and iced over. So they're really urging people to continue staying at home.
Remember, as I mentioned, this is a part of the country that is just not well prepared for these types of events. In fact, here in the Houston area, the State of Texas had to bring in snowplows from other parts of the state to help them get through the last 24 hours. So here, the concern is the roadways and city officials are continuing to tell people to just stay at home and continue enjoying the day from home.
WALKER: Yeah, I'm in Atlanta, Ed, and it's just remarkable to see more snowfall come down and dealing with the roads, driving in for me this morning, it looked like I was driving on an ice skating rink. I got in safely, obviously, but tell me more about the challenges that officials are facing and trying to keep people off the roads are -- is -- it looks like, I see a few cars there behind you, but it looks mostly empty.
LAVANDERA: Yeah. the, the concern, what officials and emergency officials are telling people is that, in many places, the road looks pretty good and you think, oh, there's nothing there. And the way the ice is kind of left on the street is -- can kind of almost like look hidden at some point. So, it can be very difficult to see. The hope here is that, in the next few hours, the sun comes up a little bit higher, the temperatures get above freezing and all of this will slowly and -- or quickly, melt off and make everything a lot safer.
So really, that is what they're doing, is just kind of waiting these temperatures out and let nature do its thing.
[08:55:00]
WALKER: Yep. Ed Lavandera, and I think a lot of people are hoping that the kids can get back to school quickly as well. My kids are at home for the second day in a row. A lot of people not happy about that as well. All right. Good to see you, Ed. Thank you.
She became an accidental frequent flyer by making three trips between New Zealand and Australia in 24 hours. That might not sound unusual except she is a cat. Mittens, the cat, was supposed to take a one-way trip between Christchurch in New Zealand to her owner's new home in Melbourne, Australia. Her owners waited for Mittens for three hours before being told that her cat had accidentally been left on the airplane, and the plane had returned to New Zealand. Mittens was met on arrival and put on yet another flight back to Melbourne. She was unharmed and according to her owner, is now the cuddliest she has ever been. Yeah, frequent flyer miles, a lot of miles there for that cat.
Thanks for joining me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" with Eleni Giokos is next.
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