Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Rubio: Zelenskyy Should Apologize For Creating "Fiasco"; GOP Allies Rally Behind Trump After WH Clash With Zelenskyy; Zelenskyy Says U.S. Remains "Strategic Partner" Despite Clash At WH; Federal Workers Receive 2nd Email Requesting Them To Report What They Did At Work, Now On Weekly Basis; Now: Zelenskyy Meeting With U.K. Leader Starmer In London Following WH Clash With Trump; Police Investigating Deaths Of Gene Hackman And His Wife; Mexican Drug Lord Faces Charges In NY Court After 40 Years. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired March 01, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for watching and I'll see you all again next week.

[12:00:19]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello everyone, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with breaking news. Right now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. He is there to shore up support with one of Ukraine's strongest allies.

It follows a dramatic collapse of diplomacy when a meeting at the White House Friday turned into a heated exchange between Zelenskyy, President Trump, and Vice President Vance. Zelenskyy posted this morning that he still believes the U.S. remains a strategic partner despite the incident. He also defended his actions at the White House and says it doesn't have to be a deal breaker.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Do you think your relationship with Donald Trump, President Trump, after today can be salvaged?

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: Yes, of course, because it's relations more than two presidents. It's the historical relations, strong relations between our people.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: Republicans quickly came to Trump's defense. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in the room in the Oval Office, told CNN that Zelenskyy is fully to blame for the breakdown.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He said he does not think that he owes President Trump an apology for what happened inside the Oval Office today. Do you feel otherwise? MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I do. I do, because you guys don't see, you guys only saw the end. You saw what happened today. You don't see all the things that led up to this.

COLLINS: But what specifically do you want to see President Zelenskyy apologize for?

RUBIO: Well, apologize for turning this thing into the fiasco for him that it became. There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COLLINS: Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv and Senior White House Producer Betsy Klein is with the president in Florida. Nick, to you first, what has been the reaction in Ukraine?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think a sense of consternation, shock. I think many Ukrainians feel that Zelenskyy was very poorly treated during that meeting and had to address a number of mistruths from suggestions perhaps that he wasn't dressed up enough.

There was comments about him not wearing a suit and he said that he'd wear a costume, that's Russian for a suit, at the end of the war. Then he was confronted with the suggestion that Russia could be trusted in diplomacy, something that over the last decade Ukraine has extensive experience of not being the case.

And then there was a much more direct tone that JD Vance, the vice president, took with him, which caused things to deteriorate. I mean, I think many Ukrainians viewed that situation with their heads in their hands and a deep sense of existential fear for what it means for their country.

Now, where next? Well, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said today in an interview that he thinks Zelenskyy has to mend his relationship with the American president and with his inner circle, senior American officials. That is really the only way ahead, I think.

Most European officials who will be tomorrow in London, a significant number of European powers, pretty much all of NATO outside of the U.S. and Canada from what we can see reading the list of attendees, they are obviously working at bolstering Ukraine's immediate support and the possibility of trying to assist them in the event of a peacekeeping mission being needed.

But most European nations accept that the idea of confronting Russia on the battlefield without U.S. support is something they've never really had to configure themselves for. So urgent hopes that this can be remedied.

Keir Starmer, the U.K. prime minister, spoke to both Trump and Zelenskyy yesterday. Zelenskyy spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron. The phones are obviously hot. What we don't have at this stage is a sense that Trump is necessarily willing to see Zelenskyy again.

There are suggestions from many senior Republicans or his team that maybe Zelenskyy is now the problem. The simple act of trying to replace a president in wartime, impossible, frankly. That would sow chaos politically and increase the Russian narrative that indeed Zelenskyy is somehow illegitimate despite him being elected.

All hopes, I think, on tomorrow showing European unity behind Ukraine, but ultimately to the road ahead here somehow involves those horrific scenes we saw in the Oval Office leading to a reconciliation.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick.

Betsy, Republicans have been, you know, very quick to fall in line behind Trump and defend him. What more are they saying?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: That's right, Fred. It was really an extraordinary fracturing of a key U.S. alliance before our very eyes. And President Trump ran and campaigned on ending Russia's war in Ukraine. And he is seeking to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Now, all of this started as he held unilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, of course, without Ukraine at the table. And now on Friday, inviting Zelenskyy to the Oval Office for a meeting that was ostensibly about securing a critical minerals deal.

[12:05:15]

And we expected President Zelenskyy to ask for U.S. security assurances. Of course, all of that devolved about 40 minutes into the otherwise pleasant meeting as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance began berating Zelenskyy for not being grateful enough, as well as repeating some Russian talking points.

Now, both sides retreated to separate rooms at the conclusion of that meeting, and Trump's team advised him against continuing on with that critical minerals deal. Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, was then dispatched to tell Zelenskyy it was time to leave.

Here's what he said about that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: His ambassador and his adviser were practically -- I mean, they were practically in tears wanting this to move forward. But Zelenskyy was still argumentative. And finally, what I said, I said, look, Mr. President, time is not on your side here.

Time is not on your side on the battlefield. Time is not on your side in terms of the world situation. And most importantly, U.S. aid and the taxpayers' tolerance is not unlimited.

(END VIDEOCLIP) KLEIN: Now, plans for that lunch, the deal signing, and a press conference were scrapped as President Trump said that Zelenskyy didn't want peace. Of course, the Russians reacting with glee. And all of this comes as U.S. support broadly for Ukraine and for Zelenskyy has waned in recent years.

President Trump's top allies on Capitol Hill were quick to praise him overwhelmingly for how he handled this meeting. And, of course, his political opponents slammed him, Kamala Harris' team, fundraising on this moment in the Oval Office.

Now, Trump is viewing this confrontation from an economic lens, and he is really transforming U.S. alliances on the global stage. But diplomats say that talks like this so often are heeded the way that we saw. What's different, completely different, is that all of this played out in front of television cameras.

Now, for his part, Trump, so mindful of stagecraft, said that he believed the episode is going to be great television. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Betsy Klein, Nick Paton Walsh, thanks to both of you.

All right, let's bring in now CNN's Matthew Chance in Moscow. Matthew, how is this incident being viewed in Russia?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I mean, despite what Betsy was saying there, actually, I've spoken to some Russian officials and they've said they were, you know, gobsmacked at the way in which these individuals, these national leaders spoke to each other, both the American and the Ukrainian leaders, not just because it was played out in public, but also because even when there's an argument, you know, it's very rarely takes these kinds of -- their kind of angry, angry tones that we saw in that spectacle in the Oval Office.

That's what they say privately, publicly, of course. Officials that have spoken out have done so in a very supportive way for the White House, basically saying that it was President Zelenskyy of Ukraine alone who is disrespectful and deserve what he got.

I mean, one former Russian president and prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who is admittedly given two very outrageous comments, particularly in the past few years, said that this -- the insolent pig he called Zelenskyy finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. So it just gives you a sense of, you know, satisfaction, glee. You might say that Russian officials behind the scenes are taking when they viewed this scene.

Another Russian official, Kirill Dmitriev, a senior envoy for the Kremlin in U.S.-Russian talks, he called it historic. And I think that talks to the idea that what we've been witnessing here isn't just an argument between two men, three men, leaders of two countries, it is also potentially an historic shift in the alliances or the positions of the United States when it comes to not just Ukraine, but its Western allies as well. And that's certainly one sense in which some Russian officials are seeing this.

Now, moving forward. The big question, I think, is what impact this will have. Yes, I mean, the question from a Russian point of view is what impact will this have on bilateral talks between the United States and Russia? Because they've already gone some way towards repairing that relationship.

Will that this now accelerate that process or will it slow it down? And that's something that is very much a question hanging over, you know, the situation here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Matthew Chance in Moscow, thanks so much.

All right, let's continue this conversation now. Joining us is Simon Shuster, he's the senior correspondent for TIME. You're in Kyiv right now. How are Ukrainians feeling today about how Zelenskyy handled himself?

[12:10:11]

SIMON SHUSTER, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, TIME: Hi. Thank you. Yes, it might surprise you to hear that Ukrainians, generally the ones I've talked to, officials, regular folks on the street, feel very proud of their president for the way he stood up to the most powerful man in the world.

In many ways, one person told me it reminds her of the way that Volodymyr Zelenskyy stood up to Putin early in the invasion and earlier in his presidency. You know, he has a backbone. And in many ways, Ukrainians expect him to take a strong position, to represent them around the world with his head held high.

But, of course, the flip side of that -- those feelings of pride here in Kyiv is fear, fear of what the consequences will be of this exchange in the Oval Office and what it will mean for Ukraine's ability to continue fighting and ultimately survive this horrific invasion.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, upon further evaluating all that transpired yesterday for the world to see, it was Vice President JD Vance who kind of chimed in, right, saying to Zelenskyy he was disrespectful, that he hasn't said thank you in that visit. But CNN has counted at least 33 occasions in which Zelenskyy has said thank you to a variety of American leaders.

Following his exit, however, yesterday from the White House, he posted thanks to the White House, Congress, and so many others. These are, you know, some of the other thank yous that he has given to America over this three-year war.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ZELENSKYY: Thank you so much, Mr. President. And, of course, thanks to my partners in support, thanks Congress, and thanks from our just ordinary people to your ordinary people, Americans.

Financial assistance is also critically important, and I would like to thank you, thank you very much. Thank you for both financial packages you have already provided us with and the ones you may be willing to decide on.

Your money is not charity. It's an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.

First of all, thank you for your help, leadership, for your support, and really for this new package. It's great. Thank you very much from our people. And I'm so happy that, you know, we have such strong relations with our people, that our people during these -- all these challenges, they go shoulder to shoulder. I'm very thankful to American people.

Today's discussions in the White House and in Congress across both parties and both chambers with a speaker were very productive. And I thank you for the bipartisan support.

Mr. President, thank you for your strong support, for the decision that are helping us protect Ukraine and Ukrainians as a whole. We deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side by side from the very first moments of this terrible Russian invasion.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: So do Ukrainians, you know, feel that that meeting that devolved at the White House yesterday was about a lack of gratitude or what do they think is at the core?

SHUSTER: They definitely don't think it's about -- it's a question of gratitude. You know, they think that the core of it is a disrespect that was shown to their president, to President Zelenskyy, and that he responded to that.

Now, this issue of Zelenskyy being insufficiently grateful actually has come up over the years. You know, while I was working on a book about Zelenskyy's biography, you know, my reporting showed that these conversations, similar exchanges, often very heated, were taking place behind closed doors between Zelenskyy and various Western leaders, including President Joe Biden, where, you know, sometimes the Western leaders, his foreign allies were expressing frustration that, hey, why are you always demanding more, more weapons, more support?

Maybe take a pause and show gratitude for what we have already given you. These kinds of conversations have been taking place for a while, but you have to understand where Zelenskyy is coming from. You know, he has the urgency of his soldiers who are dying on the front lines, communicating with him and telling him we need the support now.

We need the ammunition. We need the weapons. He's getting that from his own Armed Forces. He's feeling the pressure from his own citizens to represent them and get the international support that Ukraine needs.

[12:15:03]

So, you know, it's hard for him to be always polite, calm and take things slow. He needs to demand what Ukraine needs to survive.

WHITFIELD: So you saw in Zelenskyy yesterday at the Oval Office the same Zelenskyy that you profiled for the book, you know, the showman inside the invasion that shook the world. Do you feel that he was consistent with the Volodymyr Zelenskyy that you met?

SHUSTER: Very much so. I mean, in some ways, this episode was classic Zelenskyy. You know, he is often blunt. He's very direct. He doesn't do well with the kind of niceties of diplomatic protocol.

He doesn't like being talked down to. No one does. But he is particularly known for talking back and demanding the respect as a leader of Ukraine that he be spoken to by other leaders as an equal. Even if his partners may have nuclear weapons, far larger economies, he thinks that as Ukraine's leader, he deserves to be treated with the respect of an equal by -- even the president of the United States and really any country in the world.

WHITFIELD: All right, Simon Shuster, we'll leave it there now. Thank you so much.

SHUSTER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, back in this country, federal employees are once again being told to defend what they accomplished at work this week in a new round of e-mails from Elon Musk. And as this as the Social Security administration announces major cuts to its workforce.

And new details in the death investigation into Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife. What the actor's pacemaker is revealing about when he likely died.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:21:32]

WHITFIELD: A second email went out last night telling federal employees to report what they didn't work over the past week. This latest email carried the title, "What Did You Do Last Week? Part II". And informed those federal workers that documenting their work will now be a weekly requirement. According to a union representative, the emails went out to workers in multiple government agencies.

CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz is joining us now with more on this. Arlette, so what more can you tell us?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it's round two for these federal workers who are being asked to detail their accomplishments for the week. These emails started to go out to various agencies on Friday night. There are at least nine agencies and departments that we know of where employees began to receive these emails. That includes the Bureau of Prisons, Veterans Affairs, and the Education Department. And in this email, it asks them to provide the five bullet points of what they accomplished and to copy in their managers. Now, what's a little different from the email that went out this week compared to that initial email from last Saturday, is that this is now saying that this will be a weekly requirement with employees required to submit their accomplishments by 11:59 p.m. on Monday night.

It's unclear whether there are any repercussions if people do not submit. But it does come after there was mass confusion with that initial email. You'll remember Elon Musk had posted on X that failure to respond would essentially signal resignation.

Later, right before the Monday deadline this past week, OPM sent guidance saying that it was simply voluntaries. But there's a lot of questions for these federal workers going forward. Now, I'm told that this morning that at least one agency, the State Department, actually sent an email to their employees instructing them not to respond.

State Department leadership had sent this email saying that it would be the department leadership that will continue to respond on behalf of its workforce and employees until otherwise rescinded. The State Department was one of a few departments who had told their employees not to respond earlier in the week.

There is a shift at one of those agencies that previously had told employees not to respond. The Pentagon actually, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, sent out a memo yesterday asking all civilian employees to respond to this email once they receive it on Monday.

So there's a lot of different information, a lot of different instructions for federal workers at this moment as they're trying to figure out how exactly to approach this ask that's coming from the federal government.

WHITFIELD: All right. Arlette Saenz, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right, world leaders are rallying behind Ukrainian President Zelenskyy after that heated Oval Office meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance. But here at home, Republicans and Democrats are starkly divided on who is to blame for that hostile meeting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:28:52]

WHITFIELD: All right, just moments ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arriving there at 10 Downing Street in London. And he was greeted with both a handshake and, you're going to see, a hug from the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. I mean, this is a critical meeting at the prime minister's residence as it comes one day after a contrasting visit at the White House.

Where it did start off with a handshake with President Trump. But then in the Oval Office devolved into something else. And this meeting with Keir Starmer happening a day ahead of a meeting between Zelenskyy and European leaders at a summit.

Let's go to Nic Robertson who's outside at 10 Downing Street. All right, well, you saw it live as it unfolded really just moments ago, just seconds before we came out of the break there. Talk to us about that greeting and what is at stake.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Hugely important. Very symbolic. Mostly when leaders pull up here with a few exceptions, they pull up right at the steps of Downing Street. They get a handshake on the door step and they bound inside.

[12:30:06]

It was different with President Zelenskyy. Carefully choreographed. His vehicle pulled up dozens of yards short of the -- of the doorway at number 10. He came out. He walked up the street. He walked up on the side of the journalist, didn't answer their questions.

And then Keir Starmer came out of Downing Street, met him halfway down the street, a huge hug. And you have to know that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is not one that throws hugs around casually. This meant something. This for President Zelenskyy on the rebound from that fractious meeting in the White House. Clearly, the symbolism, the strength of the symbolism, the way it was coordinated and choreographed, sent to show a very strong message that Keir Starmer, the British government, the British people.

In fact, judging by the cheers that went up outside Downing Street when President Zelenskyy drove in, very strong support for President Zelenskyy standing on the steps, taking photographs, not answering the questions, again, handshake after handshake there with the Prime Minister. So this a very important bilateral meeting for President Zelenskyy. It will set up and coordinate what is discussed with the European leaders tomorrow.

And I think another important part of the stagecraft, the diplomatic stagecraft that's going on in the U.K. at the moment. Remember just two days ago when Keir Starmer sat next to President Trump, handed him a letter of invitation from King Charles to come to the U.K. for a meeting. Well, guess what? President Zelenskyy is going to go to one of King Charles' residence here just outside of London, expected to do that to -- tomorrow, expected to meet and be hosted by King Charles III.

That -- that, again, is designed, it appears to show the strength of support by the U.K. for President Zelenskyy at this time. And I think we're going to hear more things coming from government officials here about how they plan to immediately continue to bolster the military support for -- for Ukraine at this time.

WHITFIELD: And, Nic, Keir Starmer perhaps put on display his posture very early on, even when he was at the Oval Office. There were a couple of times where he actually corrected President Trump, saying, no, it's Russia that was the aggressor. And then number two, our aid to Ukraine has been a gift. There was no condition because President Trump had said, you know, the Europeans, you know, essentially got a deal that they're going to be paid back. And Starmer corrected him on that, at least from the point of view of the U.K. so does that posture speak volumes about what this meeting might be like for Zelenskyy today there at 10 Downing Street?

ROBERTSON: I think it does. There are two things to say about Starmer's responses when he was sitting next to President Trump in the Oval Office, there was a high bar set earlier in the week by Emmanuel Macron, who had also corrected President Trump when again, he said that the Europeans were getting, were -- were -- were giving their money to Ukraine as a -- as a loan. And he was corrected by Macron.

So in a way, Starmer, who was having his first meeting with President Trump as president in the White House, really had to measure up, you know, for diplomacy, for political standing, for all of those reasons. But that was -- and that's what we'll hear from here. It is a very important sign that the U.K. and Europe are going to find ways to support Zelenskyy and have to step up and fill some of the gap that it appears the United States may vacate and -- and may potentially do it in a short space of time.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much outside 10 Downing Street. Keep us posted on the meeting there.

So before Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump at the White House yesterday, before it turned acrimonious between these leaders, a bipartisan group of senators right there meeting with the Ukrainian president, all smiles and handshakes there. Senators from both parties seem to be very happy to see him and have their meetings with him before Zelenskyy made his way to the White House. But then after Zelenskyy's White House meeting with Trump kind of devolved and -- and turned hostile. Lawmakers were divided on who was to blame for the meltdown, with Republicans rallying around the President and Democrats criticizing Trump and Vice President Vance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): The President of the United States is a coward, who is Vladimir Putin's puppet. The Vice President of the United States is a pogue and a coward. Who is Donald Trump's puppet? And so what we just witnessed was a meeting in the Oval Office between two cowardly puppets and a hero.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Somebody asked me, am I embarrassed about Trump? I have never been more proud of the President. I was very proud of J.D. Vance standing up for our country. We want to be helpful. What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don't know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:35:19]

WHITFIELD: Next hour, I'll be talking to Congressman Seth Moulton to see if he has any different thoughts now that he's had at least one night to -- to think over all that transpired yesterday. Joining me right now is Margaret Talev. She is a senior contributor for Axios and a professor. I always like to add that. OK, so, Margaret, good to see you again. So this -- this critical response, you know, from Senator Lindsey Graham was immediate. I mean, even before Zelenskyy had actually exited the White House. What have you learned about whether any of this immediate Trump support was planned or choreographed to make sure that they're all, you know, aligned?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS: Now, Fred, I think a lot of people are asking those questions today just because there were so many elements moving so swiftly. And Zelenskyy, you could see the moment with the cameras rolling when he sort of thought, huh, this is not what I thought I was coming to. But I think it's important to note that for many weeks and months, a lot of long standing hard GOP support for Ukraine has been eroding or -- or at least softening since Donald Trump's election and since we've seen a shift in messaging and -- and polling.

And so you see, folks like, you'll remember Speaker Mike Johnson was a steadfast, strong reporter -- supporter of Ukraine, and has shifted over a period of time to align more closely with the President's position. Folks like Senator Ron Johnson, Lindsey Graham's move yesterday did surprise many people because he, although very close to Trump and strongly allied with him, will sometimes use that strong alliance to take a contradictory posture or to tell the President, I disagree with you, usually on military or national security issues.

So that did feel like a big one. You know, we did see some Republican critics of -- of the President on this yesterday, aligning so closely with Ukraine, like Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska. We saw Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick say, hey, everyone's emotions are understandable. Let's please come back to the negotiating table. But you cannot overlook the role that American opinion has in all of this.

Two-thirds of Americans have a favorable opinion of Ukraine, but we saw, just before the end of the year, public opinion flip with now slightly more Americans say they wanting -- they want the -- the war to end quickly. And I don't know what that means, like end quickly and give everything to Russia or end quickly and somehow everything will be OK. But that flip in public opinion was driven by Republicans saying, we don't support this anymore. And that's what you see reflected here.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I mean, this is all taking place just a few days now ahead of the State of the Union. The -- the President, you know, Republicans seem to be in lockstep with him. But of course, there's a lot of consternation from, as you mentioned, at least a couple of GOP members who are saying, wait a minute. You know, we're still backing -- by the way, we're looking at live pictures right now of -- of this meeting between the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer and President Zelenskyy there. I don't think. Are we able to hear it? We're -- we're going to try. We're going to try and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: So important for Ukraine, so important for Europe, and so important for the United Kingdom. So I'm much looking forward to our discussions here this afternoon. Thank you very much for making the time today.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: With pleasure. Thank you very much. Keir. Mr. Prime Minister, happy to be here. And really, I saw a lot of people and I want to thank you people of the United Kingdom, such big support from the very beginning of this war. Thank for your team. And I'm very happy that His Majesty the King accepted my meeting tomorrow. And I'm thankful that you organized such great summit for tomorrow. And we -- we are very happy in Ukraine that we have such strategic partners. We sign with you historic document.

Yes. We have only with you such documents with the United Kingdom. So we're happy and we count on your support and really, really -- we're really happy that we have such -- such partners and such friends.

STARMER: Fantastic.

ZELENSKYY: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much, media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:39:57]

TAPPER: OK. So, Margaret, I'm not sure if you were able to hear. It is hard to hear, but from what we could tell right there, President Zelenskyy profusely saying thank you to the U.K., to the team, and he also is saying thanks ahead of the meeting with European leaders tomorrow. And, of course, Keir Starmer with his posture there, looking very welcome and excited that -- that they are going to be move forward -- moving forward with this relationship. I mean, gigantic contrast from what we saw yesterday at the White House. I mean, there's been a lot of evaluation of -- of what happened. What's really at the bottom? Does it have something to do with the relationship between Zelenskyy and -- and Trump that goes, you know, very far back from the phone call, you know, and beyond?

Is it because Trump had said all week that there was going to be a deal, the table was set up, lunch no longer happened, and that perhaps his feathers were ruffled, that, you know, Zelenskyy was not going to, you know, sign this deal? I mean, how does the President move forward, especially with this State of the Union address coming up on Tuesday? Does he make reference to relations, to what's happening, or just as he was about to board a plane last night on his way to Florida, he says, you know, you saw what I saw. He's not so certain what kind of support is going to be going, by the way, of Ukraine in the near future.

TALEV: Yes, I -- I do think that joint address to Congress next Tuesday, we're going to hear President Trump articulate his view of the U.S.'s role in the world and the U.S.'s obligations to allies. But I also think that what's going on certainly appears to be much bigger than him having his feathers rustled -- ruffled because he thought it was OK for him and the Vice President to criticize Zelenskyy, but not Zelenskyy to push back. So that -- that seems like it's bigger than that. And, you know, what it certainly looks like is that the President views these longstanding 75, 80-year, post-World War II alliances as no longer necessarily serving his view of the interests of the United States and potentially him looking at a couple of superpowers, including the United States, getting to determine their sort of spheres of influences.

Look at what he said about Panama or Greenland or Canada for that matter. This is meant to at least broadcast the idea that he is articulating a view that the U.S. calls the shots that are in the U.S.'s interest and is not necessarily bound by these decades of expectations and -- and relationships and multilateral alliances. How far will he take that? How far will voters let him take it? How far will Republicans in Congress who believe in those alliances and have believed in them for their entire careers take it?

We don't know, Fred. We are in uncharted territory right now. And the reason that so many people around the world are gasping from what they saw yesterday is because it's not just good T.V. as -- as the President sort of said yesterday, it could have profound implications for what it means to be an American and for how the world works going forward.

WHITFIELD: All right. Margaret Talev, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

TALEV: Thank you.

[12:43:24]

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, investigators have revealed just how long now actor Gene Hackman was likely dead before he and his wife were found in their home. New details on the investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. As authorities in New Mexico investigate the mysterious deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, longtime friends say what they've heard so far just doesn't fit what they know of the couple. They too are awaiting answers about what happened after the couple and one of their dogs were found dead in the secluded home in Santa Fe this week. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is joining us live from Santa Fe with the very latest. What are you hearing?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we have two new revelations that are now informing this investigation. One of them is that Gene Hackman was likely dead for nine days before he and his wife were found. That's according to data from his pacemaker analyzed by medical investigators here in New Mexico. And the second piece of information is that both him and Arakawa tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning, one of the concerns that authorities were looking for.

This is also on top of that, they had -- they told us yesterday, neither of them had signs of external trauma to their bodies. And at this point, Fred, foul play is not suspected. But the sheriff did say that they're not ruling it out completely. We did have access to a search warrant yesterday with lots of information, including some theories that the deputies that responded to the call had.

As they made their way through their house, they found both Gene Hackman and his wife in separate rooms of the house. One of theories is that they could have fallen at different times in these different rooms. They also collected different kinds of medication from the house, according to the warrant. That's two different kinds of prescriptions. One of them for high blood pressure, one of them for heart condition, as well as Tylenol.

[12:49:58]

One of the things that the deputies are saying here, Fred, is that usually you construct a scene from the last time that people were seen. And this is an investigation going the other way around, a reverse timeline being built from the time of death all the way into the events that led to their deaths. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Vargas Jones in New Mexico, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. It's been a 40-year long struggle to bring notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero to justice here in the U.S. But this week, Quintero and 28 other fugitive cartel members were extradited from Mexico to the U.S. CNN's Rafael Romo is joining me now with more on all this.

[12:55:16]

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. In my many years covering Mexican justice and Mexican criminal organizations, I have never seen anything like this. Normally, Mexican officials allow an alleged drug trafficker or defendant to be sent to the United States. But it almost always happens by using legal procedure known as extradition as part of security agreements between the two countries.

This time it was different. Mexican officials say that 29 Mexican nationals now in the United States were not extradited, but sent after the U.S. government made a formal written request for the defendants to be tried on American soil under Mexican security law. One of the alleged drug traffickers stands out, Rafael Caro Quintero, who Mexican authorities consider to be the founder of the Guadalajara cartel, was allegedly involved in the 1985 kidnapping, torture and killing of Enrique Kiki Camarena Salazar, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, an attack -- dramatized in the Netflix Show "Narcos."

The 72-year-old Caro Quintero pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him Friday before a judge in Brooklyn. As he entered the courtroom, he wore handcuffs belonging to Kiki Camarena, according to a law enforcement official. In announcing the first court appearance in this country, a federal prosecutor said if convicted, he expects Caro Quintero will face the harshest of punishment for the crimes he allegedly committed.

I also had an opportunity to talk to Michael Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, who told me that the transfer of such a large group of defendants is a huge blow to Mexican organized crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL VIGIL, FMR. CHIEF OF INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS/DEA: One of the things that drug traffickers fear the most is being sent to the United States whether they're expelled or they're extradited. They fear this because coming here, they no longer have access to their criminal infrastructures, which means that they can no longer bribe, they can no longer intimidate or threaten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: According to Mexican officials, more than 3,500 members of the Mexican law enforcement agencies and the military, 342 vehicles and 20 aircraft were involved in the operation to transport all 29 defendants to different cities in the United States, including Chicago, Houston, New York and Washington, D.C. Quite a massive operation.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. That was big. All right. Rafael Romo, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)