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Trump Addresses the U.S. Congress, focusing on DOGE and Trade War; Pope Francis Forgoes His Ash Wednesday Service; Jakarta Swamps Massive Floods. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 05, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: To my fellow citizens, America is back.
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Donald Trump addresses Congress for the first time since returning to office. A far-reaching speech celebrating DOGE, defending his trade war and vowing to press on with his unrelenting agenda.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us.
Well, just hours ago, Donald Trump delivered a long and boastful speech before a tense U.S. Congress and a highly divided country.
During the first annual address of his second term, the president claimed that after just 43 days, America is back and that he intends to make the country both rich and affordable again. Many of his remarks, some merely misleading, others outright false, earned raucous cheers, like his claim that he has already achieved the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded, which is not close to true.
He also wildly exaggerated the amount of wartime aid given to Ukraine, a goal of this address to pressure lawmakers into green-lighting his agenda.
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TRUMP: We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started. DOGE, perhaps you heard of - perhaps.
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CHURCH: President Trump giving a shout out there to his adviser, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who claims to be rooting out government waste and fraud to save taxpayers money.
But other moves by the Trump administration, primarily the trade wars, are expected to make Americans' lives more expensive. Mr. Trump, however, insists his new tariffs are in the country's best interest.
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TRUMP: Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs, they're about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again and it's happening and it will happen rather quickly.
There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much.
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CHURCH: Well, just how much of a disturbance and whether Americans are actually okay with that remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, President Trump made it clear that he intends to reclaim the Panama Canal and that his eyes are still set on Greenland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP):
We need Greenland for national security and even international security and we're working with everybody involved to try and get it. But we need it really for international world security and I think we're going to get it. One way or the other, we're going to get it.
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CHURCH: CNN's Jeff Zeleny has a closer look now at the President's speech.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In the first prime time address of his presidency, Donald Trump declared America's back and went on to deliver the longest presidential message to a joint session of Congress in history, topping the previous record set by Bill Clinton by a bit.
But it showed the deep divide in that chamber and indeed America. There's no question, President Trump going forward, pushing his agenda, calling for the extension of his tax cuts, calling for a litany of cultural issues he's already signed as executive orders, talking also about foreign policy, saying he received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaling the fact that they will be signing, at least in his view, a rare earth minerals deal with Ukraine that could ultimately lead to a peace process with Russia. Now there was no question the divide between Democrats and Republicans
was so clear in that chamber. Democrats rarely applauded. At the very beginning of the speech, Al Green, a Texas Democrat, interrupted the President, was ultimately thrown out of the chamber in an extraordinary move we have not seen before.
But the evening was punctuated by personal stories, the people sitting in First Lady Melania Trump's box, one story after another.
[03:05:01]
But it was the story of Mark Fogel and his 95-year-old mother, Malphine. He was the American schoolteacher in Pennsylvania released from a Russian prison last month that opened the door to a reset relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin that certainly captured the evening, the emotion, as well as some young cancer victims as well.
So now as the President enters his 44th day of his presidency, there's no question he's going full steam ahead. But the open question on legislation, will Republicans in the House and Senate so divided, will they be able to enact his agenda? Of course, that's what we'll see next.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin delivered the official Democratic response to Donald Trump's address. It was a call for bridging divides within the United States and outside of it. She warned against the Trump administration's impulse to slash and burn the federal government and the United States key relationships with allies.
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SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Change doesn't need to be chaotic or make us less safe. The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer only to rehire them two days later.
No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired. As a Cold War kid, I'm thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s.
Trump would have lost us the Cold War. President Trump loves to say peace through strength. That's actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan.
But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: And I want to bring in Lanhee Chen, who is the former policy director for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign; and Democratic strategist Caroline Heldman, who is a professor of critical theory and social justice at Occidental College. A warm welcome to you both.
CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND PROF. OF CRITICAL THEORY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: Good to see you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So in his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to power, President Trump dug in on his divisive agenda, saying, we're just getting started.
But Lanhee, why hasn't Trump tackled his biggest promise to American voters to bring down prices on day one? That was what he said that he would do. Instead, the cost of living is going up. Consumer confidence is down. Markets are tanking.
And Trump's tariffs threaten to raise prices even higher for consumers. So why isn't he focusing more on the one issue every American is worrying about?
LANHEE CHEN, FORMER MITT ROMNEY POLICY DIRECTOR: Well, I think the focus so far has been on issues that speak to his voter base. I think that's where the focus has been.
It's been on immigration policy, for example. It's been on cultural issues, the continuing battle on DEI, for example.
So I think that the reality is that if you look at where the administration has been so far, where the executive action has been, where the president is focused, it has been on those issues that are quite interesting or quite palatable to the Republican base.
I think the broader cost of living issues, those are going to be things the administration is going to have to take head on, because ultimately, those are the issues that will drive support for the Republican Party in the long run. Obviously, Donald Trump will not run again.
And so it's a question of how Republicans down the road get impacted by the ability or inability of this administration to deal with those cost of living issues.
CHURCH: And Caroline, how would you assess President Trump's efforts during his address to sell his controversial tariffs, his aggressive cuts to federal jobs and services, and his Ukraine agenda to anxious Americans who worry about where all this is going?
HELDMAN: Well, Rosemary, he definitely wasn't trying to pitch to independents or to Democrats. This was a red meat, you know, it felt like a campaign speech for his MAGA base. And he did not go into how his tariffs are going to bring down everyday prices.
In fact, we know that they're not. The CEO of Target, the CEO of Best Buy, folks are coming out and saying prices might go up as quickly as next week because of these tariffs. We get a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables from Mexico, 60 percent of our crude oil is coming from Canada.
And so it is as you know, the "Wall Street Journal" put it a conservative publication. It is dumb to put these tariffs on a stark trade wars. It makes no sense in terms of bringing down the price of eggs, the price of gas.
And you brought up Ukraine. I mean, he it was great at the end that he brought up that Zelenskyy does want to broker some type of a deal. But the only way he's able to do that is because European countries stepped up and offered him the security arrangements that we refuse to offer him.
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CHURCH: And Lanhee, the White House apparently fielded calls all day long from Republicans leading up to the address. They were critical of these tariffs, concerned about a possible global trade war and rising prices for consumers. But Trump is still digging in despite this.
And I mean, this still impacts his base. So how can he be so sure this will end well for him, for the United States and for struggling Americans?
CHEN: Well, look, tariffs are something that President Trump has believed in for a long time. If you go back to even the time before he was president, if you go back to some of his earliest public writings from the 1980s and 1990s, this is a policy position and a belief that President Trump has had for many decades.
And so, you know, I think this is really about his desire to advance a policy agenda that is meaningful to him personally. Now, the economic impacts, we're going to have to see what happens in terms of the impact on prices, in terms of the ability to broker a longer term trade deal with, let's say, China or the United Kingdom. These are all questions that are open ones.
But in terms of why he's proceeding with the tariff agenda, let's be absolutely clear. This is because Donald Trump believes in tariffs. And it is a long held belief and one that he is executing on now as president.
CHURCH: And Caroline, we saw some drama at the start from Congressman Al Green, who was removed after disrupting Trump's speech. But why are Democrats not pushing back more cohesively on these tariffs and on the aggressive cuts to federal jobs and services that are having an impact across the country and indeed the world?
The Democrats seem confused about how to respond. They're struggling with that message, aren't they?
HELDMAN: They absolutely are, Rosemary. There is no cohesion or leadership. There are kind of bright, shining stars.
Elissa Slotkin being one who gave the response. I think she did a reasonable job of making it about middle class Americans. And she tried to strike a bipartisan tone, which is interesting, given how divided things are right now and how much Trump trolled the Democrats.
But you're right. There's not a whole lot they can do. They're essentially using protest tactics because they're out of power in each branch of government.
And let's be clear. Donald Trump does not have a mandate. 54 percent of Americans are very or somewhat concerned about his agenda. 51 percent think we're in a constitutional crisis.
It is a very divided country. He is acting like he has overwhelming support and he doesn't. And when prices start going up, you know what Lanhee is saying, that he believes in tariffs.
Yes, I used to believe in Santa Claus, but I don't go in and act like tariffs aren't going to raise prices when they are. I think Donald Trump is in real trouble if he can't bring basic prices down for everyday Americans.
CHURCH: Caroline Heldman, Lanhee Chen, many thanks to you both for joining us. I appreciate it.
CHEN: Thank you.
HELDMAN: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So how did Americans watching President Trump's speech feel about his message and his policies at this point in his presidency?
A CNN poll reveals most people thought the address was relatively good, with 44 percent having a very positive response and 25 percent feeling somewhat positive about what he said, 31 percent had a negative view of the president's address.
Many of those watching seem to feel Mr. Trump is doing a good job leading the country. 66 percent of those polled said they feel his policies will move the U.S. in the right direction, with 34 percent saying he's taking the nation in the wrong direction.
The Trump tariffs are drawing a strong response from Canada. We'll hear from the foreign minister about how the country is fighting back. That's just ahead.
Plus, Trump and Zelenskyy seemingly back on friendly terms after Friday's regrettable Oval Office meeting. What the U.S. president had to say about the war in Ukraine. That's just ahead.
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CHURCH: Donald Trump is defending his tariff policies, promising they will make America rich again. The U.S. president told members of Congress he would bring back
fairness to international trade and promote American industry after imposing new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China on Monday. Mr. Trump says he's preparing to match tariffs of other countries dollar for dollar starting April 2nd.
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TRUMP: If you don't make your product in America, however, under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and in some cases a rather large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using them against those other countries. We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on earth, and we will not let that happen any longer.
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CHURCH: U.S. financial markets are not on board with the Trump tariffs. The Dow fell more than 600 points for a second day on Tuesday.
And let's bring up the U.S. futures now. You can see all in positive territory. The Dow up nearly 0.6 percent there.
A source tells CNN President Trump will speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the day ahead, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says the president could announce a deal to end or scale back the new tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
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In the meantime, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says she will announce retaliatory tariffs and other measures against the U.S. on Sunday. China has already outlined tariffs up to 15 percent on a long list of American goods.
And Canada is imposing 25 percent tariffs on more than $100 billion worth of U.S. imports. Here's Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister.
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MELANIE JOLY, CANADIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER: Well, the president of the United States decided to launch a trade war against its biggest trading partner, against its biggest ally and its best neighbor. And we did nothing wrong.
We never -- we think that these are unjustified tariffs. And at the end of the day, what is really sad is for all of those of us that are watching right now, well, this will cost American jobs. This will cost more at the pump for Americans.
And this will cost more for Americans also at the groceries. We will be united and we will fight back and we will win. And that's why today we announced $155 billion worth of tariffs against American merchandise coming to Canada. We're targeting products from the U.S. that are linked to our friends within the Republican Party that can make pressure to the Trump administration. And we don't want to do this.
We want this to be over. But at the same time, we are under an existential threat.
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CHURCH: China is hitting back at the U.S. with tariffs against a long list of American products. So let's go live to CNN's Steven Jiang, who joins us from Beijing.
So Steven, how's China reacting to President Trump's address? And what is the latest on Beijing hitting back with its own retaliatory tariffs?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Rosemary, Chinese officials on Wednesday reiterated what they said earlier about these tariffs targeting China, with foreign ministry officials insisting that if the U.S. wants to harm Chinese interests, then China will fight till the end.
And accompanying these feisty words, of course, has been a package of countermeasures from Beijing, including, as you mentioned, slapping an additional 10 to 15 percent of tariffs on a whole range of American goods, including many agricultural products, but also slapping multiple U.S. companies. Although no household names just yet on that list, with new export control restrictions, not to mention suspending imports of American logs and soybeans.
Now, it's worth noting that a lot of these measures actually target American farmers. That's a group, of course, who got a shout out from President Trump doing that address with him saying how his tariffs would greatly help American farmers and how they all love his tariffs.
But according to many experts, that's simply not the case as shown how they've been targeted by these countermeasures from Beijing. But experts also say so far, the Chinese reactions seem to be relatively restrained, leaving some wiggle room for further negotiations because the assessment from Beijing officials and experts is Trump is still in a deal-making mode trying to reach a broader trade deal with China.
So it is against this backdrop of escalating trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies and also even a potential full-blown trade war that makes the newly revealed Chinese growth target all the more noteworthy.
On Wednesday morning at the opening session of their annual gathering of the rubber-stamp parliament, Chinese officials said their growth target for 2025 is quote-unquote around five percent. That is very ambitious given the strong economic headwinds they're facing both domestically but increasingly externally because of the new Trump tariffs.
But that is really a defiant show of confidence on their part. But that also explains why the Chinese have raised their budget deficit to its highest levels in decades to around four percent of its GDP as they prepare to ramp up spending to really counter the impact of these fresh Trump tariffs targeting China. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Steven Jiang in Beijing. Many thanks for that live report. I appreciate it.
Well, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issuing a mea culpa of sorts following Friday's heated Oval Office meeting. And according to Donald Trump, he's also sent the U.S. President a letter. The details from his address to Congress just ahead.
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CHURCH: Lasting nearly 100 minutes, U.S. President Donald Trump's Tuesday night's speech to Congress is the longest annual address in modern history.
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CHURCH,: As expected, for a speech that long, Mr. Trump remarked on a wide range of topics. Key among them is his administration's foreign policy objectives, especially as it pertains to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The President did not mince words when it came to Europe's handling of the war in its own backyard.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict with no end in sight. The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine's defense with no security.
Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine by far. Think of that. They've spent more buying Russian oil and gas than they have defending.
And we've spent perhaps $350 billion like taking candy from a baby. That's what happened. And they've spent $100 billion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Clare.
President Trump says that Russia and Ukraine are signaling they are ready for peace. But I do want to start with fact-checking his numbers there on what the U.S. and Europe have spent on Ukraine so far. What did you find? CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, I think, look,
aside from the fact that perhaps Ukraine will be relieved that his ire is directed more against Europe and frankly his predecessors than against them in this speech, there is something to unpack in these numbers. I think the $350 billion number, we've talked about it before, we don't know where it comes from.
The U.S.' own data by the Congressional Research Office says that it spent about $174 billion on Ukraine via five separate funding bills. That's financial, humanitarian, military assistance, all grouped together. So the $350 billion, we're just not sure where he has taken that number from.
On the issue of whether Europe spends more on buying Russian fossil fuels than it does on Ukraine's defense, there's definitely more nuance to this. Europe has, as we know, dramatically reduced the amount in terms of volumes of Russian fossil fuels that it imports. There is an exception when it comes to liquefied natural gas there, but overall volumes are down.
But obviously we've seen prices go up on aggregate since the start of the Ukraine war. So the values, in some cases, have gone up. So certainly this will be something that Europe may have to focus on.
We know that E.U. leaders are meeting for an extraordinary meeting in Brussels tomorrow. And the fact remains, of course, as well, if we look at the Russian budget, that Russian revenues from oil and gas went up some 26 percent last year after falling by a similar amount in 2023.
So clearly, this is still an area of funding that Russia relies on to fund its war machine. And so something for the Europeans to look at there.
So look, this is something that President Trump is using, I think, to put pressure on the Europeans and certainly in the Russian media. That's something that they are picking up on as well, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And Clare, that address to Congress came, of course, just 24 hours after President Trump announced he was cutting off military aid to Ukraine. Is there a chance that that decision will be reversed?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, I think, look, the sense was that after what happened in the Oval Office on Friday, that Ukraine needed to come forward with a gesture that would somehow placate the Trump administration. There were those calling for an apology.
What we got was a post on X from President Zelenskyy on Tuesday talking about how much they value the U.S. and how much they've helped Ukraine, calling the situation in the Oval Office regrettable.
And I think that was then transmitted via a letter to Donald Trump that he talked about in that speech. And it seems that perhaps it was enough.
We don't know yet. We've had no announcement. But he said that he appreciated it. So we'll watch that there.
But I think overall, Rosemary, this episode has rattled Ukraine. President Zelenskyy said Ukraine should not have to guess how much military aid it's getting.
And I think also, as I said, one of many things that is now putting pressure on Europeans to really step up when it comes to their own defense spending and aid for Ukraine when it's clear that for the U.S. aid is a negotiating position.
CHURCH: Clare Sebastian in London. Many thanks for that live report. I appreciate it.
So what happens next and what might peace look like for Ukraine? Well, earlier, I asked Quentin Peel, former foreign editor at the "Financial Times," to weigh in on those pressing questions.
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QUENTIN PEEL, FORMER FOREIGN EDITOR, "FINANCIAL TIMES": I think that's the great unknown, because throughout this whole discussion, we really have very little detail on what the Russians are prepared to offer and what they're prepared to accept.
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All we heard from President Trump in this speech was that they are ready for peace. But the whole question is, you know, what's that peace going to look like on the ground? Will there be any form of serious security guarantee from the Europeans alone, perhaps, or will America be prepared to back that up if Russia actually finds that it's not prepared to stop fighting?
CHURCH: And Russia's President Putin, meantime, has been enjoying Trump's pause in U.S. military aid to Ukraine and, of course, his treatment of President Zelenskyy and especially that fierce exchange in the Oval Office. What message does that send Russia, especially with Trump appearing to align himself with Putin? And what peace, as you touched on here, is Russia offering for Ukraine?
PEEL: I think that Vladimir Putin will be absolutely delighted at the turn of events. It actually sounds frequently as if Donald Trump is echoing the sort of propaganda lines that the Russians use themselves. So I think that what this says to Russia is that they could actually carry on pushing forward and that if there is a real suspension of American supplies to Ukraine, that will make a big difference in two or three months' time.
So what is the incentive for Russia to actually negotiate seriously?
The other thing Russia's made very clear up till now, and nobody seems to really be making a big thing of this, is that they do not accept the idea that NATO forces, European NATO forces, would be the peacekeepers in Ukraine. That is still completely unresolved.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: During his speech, President Trump took a moment to spotlight Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was wrongfully detained for more than three years in Russia.
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TRUMP: Last summer, I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malfeen, that we would bring her boy safely back home. After 22 days in office, I did just that, and they are here tonight.
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CHURCH: Fogel returned to the U.S. last month through a deal negotiated by the president and his advisors. His release marked the start of U.S. talks with Russia. Fogel was one of First Lady Melania Trump's 15 guests, all of whom represented key Trump administration policies and accomplishments.
Well Donald Trump also used his speech to claim voters gave him a mandate for bold and profound change. This despite the fact he won last year's election by one of the slimmest margins in U.S. history. CNN's Daniel Dale gives us a fact check of some of the president's other statements.
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DANIEL DALE, CNN SR. DATA REPORTER: President Trump was, believe it or not, marginally more careful with the facts tonight than he usually is. He was on script, so this was not like one of the usual ad-libbing rally speeches or debates with like 30 false claims.
But by the standard of any politician in Washington who is not Donald Trump, that was still an extremely dishonest speech. I counted at least 13 flat false claims, and that is a preliminary count that doesn't include a whole bunch of additional misleading or uncorroborated claims.
He, for example, repeated his false claim that foreign countries like China pay his tariffs, though Americans make those tariff payments. He wildly exaggerated figures on inflation and immigration under President Biden. He claimed to have terminated something called the Green New Scam, even though the Green New Deal congressional resolution was never actually passed, and Trump has not repealed the big environmental law that President Biden did pass.
There's a lot more, as you said, you can read our full list on CNN.com, but now I want to go into detail on an important and eye- catching claim that was highly misleading.
The president talked at length about millions of people being listed as alive in a social security database, even though they're obviously dead. Listen.
TRUMP: 3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139, 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them because it just keeps getting paid and paid and nobody does, and it really hurts social security and hurts our country.
And one person is listed at 360 years of age, more than a hundred years older than our country.
DALE: I've spoken to conservative experts about this claim and they've noted, Jake, that the president is leaving out something absolutely critical to understanding this issue. Here's what he failed to explain.
These numbers are not the numbers of dead people who are actually getting paid social security checks. Trump was referring to a legitimate problem with some deaths not being marked in the social security database, but that doesn't mean people listed as being 150, 200, 300 are actually getting money.
[03:40:08]
And that's because social security already has a system in place to automatically cut off people who are listed as being 115 or older.
Now, two years ago, an inspector general looked into this. She found there were about 19 million people, 100 or older, who were not marked as deceased. But critically, she also found that only 44,000 of these people were actually receiving payments. And one conservative expert told me even those 44k are likely legit payments, since at the time there were about 86,000 living Americans age 100 or older.
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CHURCH: Still to come, the Vatican issues an update on Pope Francis while he fights double pneumonia in hospital. We'll take you live to Rome for the latest.
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CHURCH: Chaos in Serbia's parliament as opposition lawmakers threw smoke grenades and used pepper spray inside the chamber. Three lawmakers, including a pregnant woman, were injured in the scuffle. One of them suffered a stroke.
The move was meant to protest against the government and show support for student demonstrators. Serbia's political crisis started when the canopy of a train station collapsed in November, killing 15 people. The tragedy has come to serve as a symbol of what many see as corruption at the heart of the Serbian state.
Ash Wednesday services are set to begin soon in Vatican City, where Pope Francis will be notably absent as he continues to fight double pneumonia in hospital.
Let's go to CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman now. He joins us from Rome. So Ben, what's the latest on the Pope's health? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, this
will be the first time that Pope Francis does not attend Ash Wednesday ceremonies. According to the Vatican this morning, he rested well overnight and woke up shortly after 8 a.m. local time, about an hour and 45 minutes ago. That's the morning bulletin, which is always just one line.
But what we heard Tuesday evening was that the Pope is in stable condition, that he continues to receive oxygen through a mask, which makes breathing easier for him and allows him to sleep better.
But keep in mind that on Monday he did have two episodes of what the Vatican described as acute respiratory failure. Now, yesterday they said that he spent the day praying and resting, that he received the Eucharist or communion, but there was no mention of any form of work, any sort of meeting.
So certainly it does appear that the Pope remains in a difficult health situation. This is day 20 of his stay here at Rome's Gemelli Hospital. The Vatican, in fact, is saying that he's not out of danger yet and that his medical condition remains complex.
Therefore there's no indication at this point when he's going to be getting out of hospital or whether the medical treatment he is receiving is actually allowing his situation to improve.
Last week we were talking for several days of slight improvements day after day, but we haven't heard that phrase for several days now. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Ben Wedeman, joining us live from Rome with that update. I appreciate it.
Well the Trump administration has rejected a long-awaited plan for post-war Gaza that was proposed and endorsed by Arab leaders. A spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council says President Trump stands by his vision and they look forward to further talks.
Officials from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE unveiled their proposal on Tuesday. Under their plan, Gaza's two million Palestinians would be allowed to stay, while President Trump's plan would expel them from the enclave.
The U.S. President touched on the war in Gaza during his speech to Congress. CNN's Paula Hancocks has the details from Abu Dhabi.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump gave a very brief mention of a region that he has been talking about and dealing with significantly over the past six weeks.
President Trump called the Middle East a rough neighborhood. Also saying we are bringing back our hostages from Gaza. Now that's all he mentioned about the hostages, bearing in mind the
realities on the ground. That ceasefire-hostage deal is very much on hold at this point.
Israel wanting to extend phase one of a three-phase deal that had been agreed upon to try and secure more hostage releases. Hamas wanting to go back to the agreed deal so that Israel has to pull its military out of Gaza and also there's a permanent ceasefire.
[03:50:00]
The reality on the ground in Gaza is that no humanitarian aid has gone in since Sunday as Israel has halted that until Hamas agreed to its demands.
Now what the U.S. President did was to look to the Abraham Accords. These are the accords and deals that he secured in his first term which normalized relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations including the UAE. He called that one of the most groundbreaking peace agreements in generations saying that he wants to build on that foundation.
Now President Trump has made no secret of the fact he would like to see normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has said that will only happen when there is the creation of a Palestinian state. Something which the Israeli Prime Minister has repeatedly rejected.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
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CHURCH: Still to come heavy rains are bringing misery to thousands of people in Indonesia and more is on the way. We'll have details after this.
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CHURCH: Millions of people along Australia's eastern coast are bracing for what could be the first cyclone in the region in 50 years. Tropical cyclone Alfred is expected to cross the coast south of the Queensland capital of Brisbane early Friday potentially at high tide.
Residents there are sandbagging their homes and stocking up on food and bottled water amid warnings of potential flooding. The cyclone currently has the strength of a category one Atlantic hurricane.
Experts say the worst of it could impact popular tourist beaches from the Gold Coast to northern New South Wales. Officials say cyclone Alfred was about 400 kilometers or 250 miles off the coast and moving west with powerful winds.
Well torrential rain in Indonesia's capital has caused catastrophic flooding forcing thousands of people to flee from their homes and the forecast won't be offering much relief anytime soon. Derek van Dam has details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Indonesia's capital Jakarta struck by flooding following heavy rains since Monday. These were the scenes Tuesday as thousands of people were evacuated and transported on rescue boats.
UNKNOWN (through translator): I was going to work at around half past eight in the morning and I saw the floods already high and inside these offices. The water level was at around my knee.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Indonesia's disaster agency reporting the torrential downpour has left more than 1,000 homes and many cars completely submerged in and around Jakarta.
[03:55:03]
The country's weather agency warning heavy rain is expected to continue through next week. Thousands are being housed in makeshift shelters including schools, mosques and churches as the government works to quickly set up emergency shelters. Many people had to abandon their belongings.
UNKNOWN (through translator): The floods this time came pretty fast and we were not able to salvage our stuff especially in my shops and all my belongings at home are gone.
VAN DAM (voice-over): The greater Jakarta metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people and is no stranger to disasters like these. But local media reports say the flooding is the worst since the 2020 floods that killed at least 60 people.
Derek Van Dam, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Indonesia isn't the only country dealing with dire flooding. Spain's tourist hotspot the Canary Islands were hit by a sudden rainstorm Monday. Dramatic footage shows a Good Samaritan rescuing a woman whose car was swept away with her in it.
Spain's national weather agency has issued a red alert as heavy rains are expected to continue this week.
The world's largest iceberg has run aground after drifting close to Antarctica for nearly five years. The British Antarctic Survey says the iceberg named A23a has stopped off the coast of South Georgia, a British overseas territory in the Atlantic Ocean.
It originally split from an ice shelf in the late 1980s and rested on a seabed for more than 30 years until ocean currents made it drift away in 2020.
Experts feared it would block access to feeding grounds for seals and penguins. That's no longer a concern since it's sitting roughly 90 kilometers from shore right now. Now locals must worry about it melting and forming smaller icebergs which could pose a problem.
Well a rare piece of art by Banksy sold for $5.5 million on Tuesday. This reimagining of a painting by the late Scottish artist Jack Ventriano was owned by the co-founder of the band Blink 182, Mark Hopus.
A specialist at Sotheby's says while people loved Ventriano's work, it wasn't accepted into the art world similar to Banksy's work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACKIE HAYDEN-CLARK, CONTEMPORARY ART SPECIALIST AT SOTHEBY'S: It's rare for a work of this quality to come to market and this one really has all the best ingredients. A fabulous owner, it's hand-painted, impeccable exhibition history and its subject is more urgent now than ever before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Hopus says part of the proceeds from the sale will go to the California Wildfire Foundation and medical charities.
I want to thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day.
"CNN Newsroom" with Rahel Solomon is next after a short break.
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