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Ukraine's Marks Fourth Anniversary Of Invasion; Violence Flares After Mexican Military Kills Cartel Boss; Violence Flares After Mexican Military Kills Cartel Boss; Trump's Tariff Shakeup Prompts Market Uncertainty; Trump Raises Newly Announced Global Tariffs From 10 Percent to 15 Percent; Investors Keeping Close Eye on State of the Union Address; Former U.K. Ambassador to U.S. Arrested on Epstein Ties; DOJ Files Detail Deepak Chopra's Relationship With Epstein; Parts of Peru Grappling With Heavy Rain, Floods, Landslides; Northeastern U.S. Reeling From Historic Bomb Cyclone. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 24, 2026 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:34]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. We begin in Ukraine, where it is 9:00 a.m. as the country marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion and the start of full-scale war. We are looking at the capital city of Kyiv, right now, as people are there marking this day, along with every other city in the country, it's holding a moment of silence for those lost in the conflict. The war is taking a heavy toll on Ukrainians, of course. Russian airstrikes keep killing civilians across the country, and attacks on power infrastructure is plunging hundreds of thousands of people into darkness and frigid cold.
Now, on Monday, Ukrainians attended memorials for their lost loved ones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is sending a message of strength to the country on this grim anniversary, urging Ukrainians to remember, "We fight for life, for the right to stand on our land and to breathe our own air." And he adds that Ukraine wants a strong, dignified, lasting peace.
Of course, at the same time, it's really difficult for a lot of people. They're becoming weary of this. And CNN's Clarissa Ward sat down with Ukraine's President earlier, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained what his country needs in order to sign a peace deal with Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the outskirts of Odessa at an abandoned railway station, the smell of death
hangs heavily in the air. These railroad cars once carried cargo across the country, now they hold the remains of thousands of Ukrainians. As repatriations from territories seized by Russia have increased, the arrivals have become more frequent and the numbers harder to comprehend.
WARD: More than 80,000 Ukrainians are officially missing in this war, and the vast majority of those who are missing are believed to be dead.
WARD (voice over): For thousands of families searching for their loved ones, the waiting has become its own kind of Battlefield outside the city, we meet Snizhana Shestakova, her husband, Oleg (PH), a sergeant in the Ukrainian army, went missing on October 30th, 2024 after a failed attack on
Russian positions in Donetsk.
WARD: It's the sign here that says, yes, Oleg is alive.
SNIZHANA SHESTAKOVA, WIFE OF MISSING SOLDIER (through translator): I look at it and I repeat it to myself.
WARD (through translator): Because you need to believe.
SHESTAKOVA (through translator): Yes.
WARD (through translator): That he's still alive. But most of them know very it's a profit.
SHESTAKOVA (through translator): I believe he is alive because he left saying, whatever they tell you, don't believe anyone. I will definitely return.
WARD: She says, the dog is old now he's 15 years old, and they sit and they wait together for him to come home.
WARD (voice over): Oleg's backpack still sits in the hallway. Snizhana spends her days going through their messages to each other.
OLEG, MISSING SOLDIER (through translator): I had a great day today, bunny. I'm coming home. Come meet your love.
WARD: Can you help us understand the pain of living with not knowing. It is one thing to go through, the pain of grieving, but the agony of not knowing is a unique form of cruelty.
SHESTAKOVA (through translator): It's very difficult to live through it. You know it's such a feeling, just dead inside, just dead, torn apart, in small pieces.
WARD (voice over): After four long years of war, Ukraine and its people are being stretched to the limit. Murals on the road into Kyiv celebrate the heroism of Ukrainian soldiers, but inside many apartments, families are fighting a quieter battle against the cold.
[02:05:10]
WARD: I don't know if you can hear it's almost deafening now everywhere you go in Kyiv, the sound of generators.
WARD (voice over): Relentless Russian strikes on energy infrastructure have left residents facing constant power and heating outages during the coldest winter in years.
Mamacita was Svitiana Kivirenko's dream.
WARD: Hello, hi.
WARD (voice over): Built from the ground up, a place where moms and their kids could escape the grind of war.
SVITIANA KIVIRENKO, MAMACITA FOUNDER: It feels secure. We had this nail salon. We had make up here. We had cosmetologist so mom could take --
WARD: A break.
KIVIRENKO: A break, yes, and relax.
WARD (voice over): Earlier this month, Svitiana finally had to close Mamacita.
KIVIRENKO: I died that time, really. I mean, because it's my heart, it's my dream, but it was just one day generator broke, and that's it.
WARD: You know, there's this idea that Ukrainians are just like superhuman superheroes.
KIVIRENKO: We are not -- we are not superhumans, we are not robots, we are not super people. We are human and we are breakable, unfortunately.
WARD: And do you think a lot of people are at breaking point?
KIVIRENKO: I'm sure.
WARD (voice over): For Veronika Burminova, breaking down is not an option. She is raising her 3-year-old daughter, Masha on her own. Tonight, they will climb 10 flights of stairs to reach their apartment.
VERONIKA BURMINOVA, CHARITY WORKER (through translator): Masha is a star, Masha is a good girl?
WARD (voice over): There is no power and they do not trust the elevator, even with the emergency generator.
After two months of outages, it has become a familiar routine.
BURMINOVA (through translator): Woo, we got to our floor.
WARD (voice over): Inside the apartment, Masha shows us how they keep the lights on.
WARD: That's so pretty, so pretty, and now you have light from a power bank. You have two power banks.
WARD (voice over): In the kitchen, they make tea by candlelight using a portable gas stove. Dinner is usually instant soup or noodles. But they are lucky that they still have heat.
WARD: How long can you go on like this?
BURMINOVA (through translator): Honestly, I don't know. I live in the moment but sometimes it's tough. There are days when I run out of steam and I tell her, Masha, I am not angry at you and I don't want to shout at you, I just have no more strength. Mama is tired. And she understands.
WARD (voice over): As night falls, the city goes dark. In the end, Ukraine's greatest strength may have become its heaviest burden, a nation expected to endure without end.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And CNN's Clarissa Ward also spoke with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, explained what his country needs in order to sign a peace deal with Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: For me, it still is not clear that if Russia will begin aggression against us, what I wanted very much to have in the security guarantees. My question is how partners will react on the aggression of Russia if it will be.
The answer is that it will not be. It's not the answer to me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
WARD: So, you want a very specific in writing guarantee.
ZELENSKYY: I want very -- we have good things in these guarantees. It's true between us. It's true. But I want very specific answer, what partners will be ready to do if Putin will come again? And I think this is what Ukrainians want to hear. Just want to hear. I'm sorry. It's not pressure. It's just to understand.
WARD: If you get those security guarantees, would you be willing to accept a frozen front line whereby Russia keeps the territory that they have already seized?
ZELENSKYY: We already said that we're ready for the compromise to freeze the points where we stay, the places. It's a frozen contact line. We are ready for this. It's not a very good position for us. But in any way, we have defending lines. We have these fortifications. But if Russians or partners in dialogue with Russians want just to withdraw our army from our fortifications, I mean, we can't be such, sorry, foolish guys. We are not children.
[02:10:16] WARD: What would you like to hear from President Trump tomorrow at his
State of the Union address?
ZELENSKYY: I want him to stay on our side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Let's go now to Inna Sovsun. She is a member of Ukraine's parliament, and she joins me from Berlin. Thank you so much for talking with us.
INNA SOVSUN, MEMBER OF UKRAINE'S PARLIAMENT: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: On this somber fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Many people across your country are at breaking point as the war drags on, with tens of thousands still missing. What are your thoughts on this fourth anniversary, and what's your message to those just trying to cope right now?
SOVSUN: Well, I am one of those who is trying to cope. I am one of those whose loved ones are on the front line. My partner is on the front line for four years.
Today, I woke up in the morning and I started thinking about how we survived those four years with no electricity, no light, no certainty about the future. That is, of course, extremely difficult, and we hear a lot the word resilient, how resilient the Ukrainians are. The truth is that that we didn't choose to be resilient. We were put in a situation where we didn't really have a choice but to fight back, because otherwise we just wouldn't exist.
So, it's very difficult today to talk about all of that, but I do think that one thing we can be sure of is that we are definitely not ashamed of the last four years, that we definitely stood against the much stronger enemy, and we managed to hold our territory, we managed to hold our democracy, we managed to hold to our values, and we definitely should be proud of ourselves for doing so, no matter how difficult and how exhausted all of that is.
CHURCH: And talking to Sean and Clarissa Ward, we heard President Zelenskyy say that security guarantees must come before any peace deal. He also made a plea to Donald Trump, saying he wants the U.S. President, "To stay on our side." Does Ukraine feel that President Trump is not on its side?
SOVSUN: On the one hand, we are very grateful to all the partners who have been helping us for all those four years, with weapons, with economic aid, with moral support, with hosting our refugees. We don't mean to sound a great ungrateful, of course, for all of that help.
At the same time, we don't see that everything is being done to save the Western civilization, because it doesn't feel like there is a sense of urgency among Western leaders, including President Trump, but also the European leaders, as to what sort of danger Russia presents to the whole western projects. He wouldn't attack Ukraine, not because he hates just Ukrainians. He
attacked us because we chose to go west, to join the European Union, to ally our values and so on and so forth. And there are lots of talks over the last couple of months that Ukraine is the first line of defense, but we don't see the second line of defense. We don't see dedication to the first line of defense, if it were -- if there was a real sense of understanding how urgent that is, not just for us, but for Ukrainians, but for the rest of the world as well.
It's not just us that Putin is attacking. He is conducting cyber warfare on other countries in European Union, in the U.S., Canada, everywhere. It's part of his hybrid war. And it has to be -- it has to be addressed.
And unfortunately, we're not seeing that. We have been very disappointed with the European Union's decision not to seize the Russian sovereign assets held in Brussels. We are, of course, very saddened to hear some statements by President Trump, who keeps on saying that Ukraine should make a deal, whichever deal, it doesn't matter. Sometimes we even hear some hints that, you know, he's blaming Ukrainians for all this war going on.
It was never a war of choice for us. It was always a war of choice for Putin, and we very much hope that President Trump will, after all, put the weight of the of the American power behind Ukraine and Western civilization altogether, and will put pressure on Putin, because now the only ones who feel pressured are the Ukrainians.
We don't see any threats of sanctions, any threats to provide Ukrainians with more weapons in case Putin doesn't agree to a peace deal, we are the only ones who have been pressured, and that just feels extremely unfair after everything that has happened.
[02:15:11]
CHURCH: Why do you think that's happening? I mean, why do you think President Trump is expecting so much more from Ukraine, but not from Russia?
SOVSUN: Very difficult for me to judge. He seems to be more willing to listen to President Putin than to the Ukrainian voices, be it the personal decision, he likes Putin more than Zelenskyy for some reason or anything else, or he doesn't understand the geopolitical value of this conflict altogether and what it means. Or is he very, you know, the deal maker, the person who thinks economically, and then he just wants to make a deal, and doesn't take into account that the political cost of that, and then the geopolitical thinking very difficult for me to judge.
I don't want to think that he's friendly with Putin, because that will undermine the whole democracy in the United States, but he's definitely more willing to listen to Putin, and then that is, of course, very scary for all of us.
CHURCH: So, how do you think this war will end? What land concessions will Ukraine be forced to make to get President Putin to agree to a cease fire?
SOVSUN: Very difficult to say. Everybody keeps on asking, how do you think the war will end? I don't know how the war will end. I know what I have to do today. I know what I have to do tomorrow, and we have to do our best just to last to the next day, to last one day longer than the Russians will.
Truly it really depends on the commitment of the partners at this point, will Europeans, after all, choose to seize the Russian frozen assets? That will be a very strong leverage that the Europeans can use to influence the outcome of the -- of the peace negotiations. Will they, you know, buy more weapons to Ukrainians? Will the U.S. start providing some other types of weapons, it's all possible, and some all that can change the outcome of the negotiations.
So, it's not a one way road, and then we definitely know that we will have to make the land concessions. It's all in the hands of many people who can shape it to a better, more fair, more just peace.
But as of right now, it seems like the accepted solution by majority of the world leaders is to freeze the contact line, even though the Americans keep on saying that Ukraine should probably give up the whole Donetsk and Luhansk region. Just want to remind to our viewers here that the Russians have invaded those regions in 2014, so 12 years ago.
So, for 12 years, they've been trying to take over this territory, and they failed to do so, given up 25 percent of the territory that we still hold after Russians failed to capture it over the last 12 years, just wouldn't be -- wouldn't be strategically smart on our side, and wouldn't make any sense if they failed to capture it. Why do we have to give it up?
So, freezing the contact line is probably the solution that everybody can agree to right now. But again, it's not enough to freeze the conflict, because I don't want ever again to wake up at four in the morning with the air raid alert blaring in the city, and not understanding what is happening and why and what attack are we under again.
CHURCH: Inna Sovsun, thank you so much for joining us as You and indeed all of Ukraine and the world marks this fourth anniversary the invasion of your country. Thank you for talking with us.
SOVSU: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, Mexico is grappling with unrest after its military brought down the country's most wanted drug lord. We will talk about what this means for the criminal landscape in Mexico and far beyond.
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[02:23:49]
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. A calculated decision to take out Mexico's most wanted drug lord has set off a wave of violence across the country and left many tourists stranded, but some major carriers say they expect to resume flights to and from Mexico in the hours ahead. Americans flooding the U.S. State Department's crisis hotline had been told to seek shelter and stay put.
Mexico deployed thousands of troops amid the unrest, its president says they're maintaining peace and security and that life is getting back to normal. That's after the Mexican military killed the notorious kingpin known as El Mencho. He was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and you can see it operates across almost all of Mexico. The U.S. calls it one of the five most dangerous criminal organizations in the world, and has labeled it a foreign terrorist organization.
Since Sunday, its members have clashed with security forces, ignited fires and set up hundreds of roadblocks. There are growing worries that chaos could become an all-out turf war among drug traffickers, or that the cartels could declare a narco war against the Mexican government.
[02:25:09]
Whoever takes control of the cartel will have a huge impact on drug trafficking in the Americas. CNN's Valeria Leon shows us the impact of the unrest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scorched vehicles in the streets of Jalisco. This is a war like scene left behind by the violence that erupted after the killing of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho, residents of Puerto Vallarta fear tourists will flee the country's third most visited destination.
SALVADOR, TOUR GUIDE IN PUERTO VALLARTA (through translator): We've been eagerly waiting for spring break and Easter because that's when business really picks up, we can earn extra money for our families, but now we don't know what's going to happen. We live off tourism.
LEON (voice-over): Flights to the beach town were canceled through Monday, paralyzing the airport. Businesses looted and vandalized, prompting a state of emergency declared by the governor of Jalisco.
President Claudia Sheinbaum assured the public on Monday that this situation is under control.
CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT: The most important thing is to guarantee peace, security and tranquility throughout Mexico, and that is what is being done.
LEON (voice-over): Mexico's defense secretary provided details about the operation that led to the capture of the infamous leader and founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Authorities say they tracked the movements of one of El Mencho's romantic partners, which led them to Nemesio Oseguera.
RICARDO TREVILLA, MEXICAN DEFENSE SECRETARY (through translator): On February 20th, for central military intelligence work, a trusted associate was located one of the romantic partners of El Mencho who transported her to a facility in the town of Tapalpa, Jalisco.
LEON (voice-over): Mexican army ground personnel carried out the operation with the country's National Guard, authorities said and sustained casualties after criminal groups launched counter attacks.
OMAR GARCIA HARFUCH, PUBLIC SECURITY SECRETARY (through translator): 27 cowardly attacks against authorities were recorded. In Jalisco alone, there were six attacks in which 25 National Guard members lost their lives.
LEON (voice-over): Emerging from the chaos, young residents are sending a message to authorities.
CAMILA GONZALEZ, JALISCO RESIDENT (through translator): I hope authorities can secure the areas that were most affected so we can feel safer.
LEON (voice-over): 2,500 army troops have been deployed to the state of Jalisco to maintain order. The federal government confirmed. And as calm slowly returns, residents are still taking precautions.
BLANCA GUADALUPE, WORKER IN JALISCO (through translator): If anything happens, I close my business if we hear anything at all, we shut down.
LEON (voice-over): Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Our next guest has warned of a power vacuum forming in Mexico. Van der Brown is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Appreciate you joining us.
Thank you.
CHURCH: So, let's talk about that power vacuum now that El Mencho has been killed and we're seeing this violence play out across parts of Mexico. What do you see happening next? And is this an indication that his cartel didn't have a succession plan in place?
VANDA FELBAB-BROWN, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Well, I don't think that we can interpret the current violence as indicating anything about succession. What is extraordinary about the current violence is that it's essentially a reaction against the state. It's a demonstrative power play against states and society. There is no material point to it, as yet, this violence will add in a matter of days, we are already seeing it happen.
But then a different kind of violence may start, and it's violence within the cartel over succession or violence within Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and its rivals, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and smaller groups, and that violence could last months or even years. This is where the vacuum would emerge.
CHURCH: So, how big a prize is El Mencho show for Mexico and indeed the United States, and now that they've killed him, what's their likely next move, given, eventually, another leader will take over his cartel, but it's interesting, they've started at the top, and will they be working down do you think from there?
FELBAB-BROWN: Well, that's one of the big questions. And in fact, along with the killing of El Manchu, one of his important logistical lieutenants was killed as well. That is good, because a key problem with the strategy that has been in place over the past 30 years and frankly, longer, is that it is often only the so called heads of the cartels, the top bosses, maybe few lieutenants underneath them, that are killed, but the cartel or its splinter groups always manage to regenerate new leadership.
[02:30:00]
And the bad consequence of high-value targeting has been that it stimulates violence within the cartels, among the cartels, against society and leads to unsustainable political momentum where the polity does not want to continue with the necessary struggle against the criminal groups.
Now, El Mencho is a big prize. He was one of the most important drug traffickers in Mexico and in the world. But his removal alone will have very little impact -- positive impact on criminality in Mexico, on the flow of drugs to the United States, even as it will perhaps morally feel to be an important move because he was a bad, evil man.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": So, how will the death of El Mencho impact his own cartel and, of course, others and this fight for the turf, really, for drug traffickers?
FELBAB-BROWN: Well, that remains to be seen. I mean, I think what is striking about the violence taking place on Sunday is that it really has taken place just about across Mexico. The different intensities and, of course, some hotspots like Jalisco and Michoacan being more intense than others. But there has long been an assessment by many analysts that the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion is just a conglomeration of pretty loose cells that are franchised to larger headquarters run by El Mencho.
And that does not seem to be the case. Why would very loose cells bother to expand ammunition, personnel, run into actual physical confrontations with military personnel if there were not some strong loyalty to the leadership and much greater tightness among the cells that has been often assumed?
Now, the big question is, is there a succession line? Will it be obeyed? Will it be straightforward? If yes, then perhaps after the initial violence, Mexico will remain essentially in the same criminal disposition that it is right now, a lot of violence, but no amplification.
If there is no clear line of succession, then we can see big augmentation in violence within the cartel as it splinters, as lieutenants fight over leadership, and between Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and other groups like Sinaloa Cartel. And potentially, we could see really dramatic violence lasting for a very long time.
Now, we are in a really interesting moment in Mexico where the United States, over the past two years, decapitated the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel as well. So that cartel, one of the most powerful criminal groups in Mexico, in the world, is also going through intense internal civil war, in which Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion played an important role.
And so, we can potentially see very large reconfiguration of criminal landscapes in the country and with global ramifications.
CHURCH: Vanda Felbab-Brown, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
FELBAB-BROWN: Thank you.
CHURCH: Of course. Still to come, new tariffs from the Trump administration are weighing on Wall Street. We will tell you how the announcement affected U.S. stocks. That's just here.
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[02:38:07]
CHURCH: Time for a check of some of the Asia-Pacific stock markets. You can see there, the Hang Seng has dropped 1.78 percent. The Nikkei is up nearly one percent.
The Kospi up more than two percent. Let's take a look now at U.S. Futures ahead of trading for Tuesday, all three in positive territory. We'll see what happens in the coming hours. We are waiting to see how U.S. markets perform in the coming hours after the Dow closed down roughly 1.7 percent on Monday.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more on the uncertainty that prompted the market moves.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Nervousness on Wall Street, Monday, as traders entered a new phase or new reality of trade uncertainty. The Dow tumbling more than 800 points, 823 points to be exact. The S&P and the Nasdaq falling by one percent. We saw a lot of investors moving their money into gold, considered a safe haven. That asset was trading at more than $5,200 an ounce for most of the day.
And this comes after President Trump indicated on Truth Social that he would be willing to escalate the trade war against countries that "did not play nice" and he believed he had the authority to do so without congressional approval. Now, this all started on Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against President Trump's use of tariffs, tariffs under IEEPA, that emergency power, striking them down, saying that it is illegal.
Later on Friday, President Trump imposed a 10 percent global tariff under something called Section 122, which would put those tariffs in place for 150 days. Over the weekend, President Trump ratcheted up that percentage to 15 percent, which is the maximum under Section 122, and that is in place for the next 150 days. The only way that it could be extended is with congressional approval.
[02:40:00]
President Trump indicating on Truth Social that he believed he did not need congressional approval to put any tariffs in place going forward, and that had investors very nervous, potentially thinking that we could be up for another Supreme Court fight or challenge, which is certainly something that would fuel a lot of economic uncertainty.
There was also a report that came out that indicated that there were significant A.I. advancements. Investors, again, worried just how overpriced some of these A.I. stocks are, so you saw some sell-offs in tech-related stocks also on Monday. Now, investors are looking forward to actually the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Normally, this would be an address that wouldn't really move markets, but they are watching for any indication that President Trump may give of ways that he is trying to increase tariffs on countries or escalate the trade war. Of course, we will have to wait and see, but this is a time when our investors are looking for any direction or any certainty in a time where uncertainty seems to be the name of the game.
Back to you.
CHURCH: President Trump is set to deliver his State of the Union address to the American public on Tuesday, and he is already indicating it might take some time to cover his lengthy agenda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have a country that's now doing well. We have the greatest economy we've ever had. We have the most activity we've ever had. I'm making a speech tomorrow night, and you'll be hearing me say that. It's going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Many Americans don't seem to share President Trump's optimistic tone, as many remain dissatisfied with key issues like the cost of living. In a recent CNN poll, 63 percent say they disapprove of his job performance.
President Trump hopes to shift public sentiment toward his policies, but his address comes as his administration weighs potential strikes on Iran and battles the fallout from the Epstein Files, a partial government shutdown, and backlash against federal immigration enforcement.
And you can watch special coverage of President Trump's State of the Union address right here on CNN. It begins Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Washington, 9 a.m. Wednesday in Hong Kong.
London police have made another high-profile arrest amid the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. What they're saying about the former British Ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson. Back with that and more in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:47:18]
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. London Police say the former British Ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, has been released on bail. He was arrested Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid the growing Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Mandelson is accused of passing sensitive government information to the convicted sex offender while he was the U.K.'s Business Secretary.
Police have not confirmed the specifics of the investigation that led to his arrest. Mandelson has not publicly commented on the allegations, and previously apologized for his association with Epstein.
Support appears to be growing to remove the former Prince Andrew from the British Order of Royal Succession. According to Australia's national broadcaster, the prime minister has written a letter to his British counterpart, Keir Starmer, backing that idea. And a spokesperson says New Zealand's prime minister also supports the move.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released after questioning.
A CNN review of Justice Department files shows best-selling author and wellness guru, Deepak Chopra once had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. They were in frequent contact between 2016 and 2019, exchanged hundreds of messages, and had a number of in-person interactions during that time. CNN's MJ Lee has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Best-selling author and wellness guru, Deepak Chopra had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, discussing with the convicted child sex offender spirituality and sex, visiting his homes and bantering about women's appearance. According to a CNN review of the Epstein Files, Chopra and Epstein were in frequent contact between 2016 and 2019, the year that Epstein was arrested on charges of operating a sex trafficking ring and sexually abusing underage girls with Chopra telling Epstein in the summer of 2017, I'm deeply grateful for our friendship.
Chopra has not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor. In a statement posted on X after the latest release of the Epstein Files, Chopra said, "I was never involved in, nor did I participate in any criminal or exploitative conduct. Any contact I had was limited and unrelated to abusive activity. Some past email exchanges have surfaced that reflect poor judgment in tone. I regret that and understand how they read today." [02:50:00]
But CNN found that Chopra's interactions with Epstein were not limited, with hundreds of messages between the two men in the Epstein Files. The pair arranged to see each other in multiple cities with messages indicating that Chopra visited Epstein in his New York City townhouse, West Palm Beach home, as well as his Paris apartment. They frequently discussed everything from spirituality to health and wellness to mutual friends, and at times, girls.
On at least two occasions, Chopra who is now 79-years-old, invited Epstein to bring his girls on trips according to the files. If you want to use a fake name, bring your girls Chopra wrote in a 2017 email asking Epstein to come to Israel. The files show Epstein's passport identified him as a convicted sex offender. Chopra followed up with a subsequent note, your girls would love it as would you.
The same year, asking Epstein to join a workshop that he was hosting in Switzerland, Chopra again encouraged Epstein to come with your girls. Once discussing former Saudi Princess, Ameera Al-Taweel, Chopra described her as being very sweet like your girls. The DOJ's Epstein Files also contain videos of Chopra, including guided meditation and discussions about spirituality.
DEEPAK CHOPRA, MIND AND BODY EXPERT: Be aware, right now, of the space around you.
LEE: None of the videos that CNN reviewed feature Epstein or appear to be made specifically for him. In one of their more philosophical exchanges in 2017, Epstein asked Chopra, did you find me a cute Israeli? Chopra responded, universe is human construct. Cute girls are aware when they make noises. He later added, God is a construct, cute girls are real.
And in one 2016 exchange that began with a link to a TED talk about the end of physics, Chopra wrote to Epstein, statistics is like a girl in a bikini, what she reveals is obvious, what she conceals is more interesting.
CNN has reached out to a spokesperson for Chopra for comment. The files show Chopra often showed warmth and respect towards Epstein, affectionately signing off some of his messages with love or XO.
And the Epstein files show that Chopra and Epstein were in touch in the months leading up to Epstein's arrest in 2019, with Epstein more than once lamenting the bad press that he was receiving at the time. And Chopra responded by encouraging Epstein to meditate.
MJ Lee, CNN, Washington, D.C.
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CHURCH: And we want to note that Chopra has denied any criminal contact and that the presence of someone's name in the Epstein Files is not indicative of wrongdoing. "CNN Newsroom" continues after a short break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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CHURCH: Nearly half of Peru is under a state of emergency amid heavy rain, flash floods and landslides. The storm is destroying homes and roads, burying vehicles and leaving countless families without shelter. One regional governor is calling on the national government to send heavy machinery to accelerate recovery efforts. Weather forecasts predict rainfall across Peru's coastal and mountainous regions through Wednesday.
In the northeastern U.S., cities from Virginia to Maine are reeling from a powerful winter storm that broke records across the region as it swept in with heavy snow and extreme winds. The bomb cyclone is now heading out to sea, but not before bringing blizzard conditions and blanketing several states with more than two feet of snow.
Providence, Rhode Island saw the most snowfall, more than three feet. This drone footage from Massachusetts shows the storm's fury as hurricane-force gusts hammered the coast and took down power lines. CNN's Bill Weir was in New York City as the snow piled up, and he filed this report earlier.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Scandinavian proverb tells us there is no bad weather, just inadequate clothing. And few places prove it, like New York's Times Square in a bomb cyclone blizzard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew it was going to snow, but we didn't expect it to be like that.
WEIR: Right, right. Is it hampering your vacation, your holiday? It's making it better? But while it can be fun for tourists from London and kids sprung from school, this kind of wet, heavy and sudden emergency can be a nightmare for commuters, and the governors and mayors elected to look out for them, especially those still fresh on the job like Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey.
GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL, (D) NEW JERSEY: The entire state of New Jersey, all 21 counties, is under a blizzard warning for the first time in 30 years.
WEIR (voice-over): New York struggled to clear sidewalks during a brutally cold January. So now, new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani hopes to recruit thousands of paid volunteer shovelers by offering a raise of more than $10 an hour.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK CITY: As of today, they can now deploy 1,800 New Yorkers per shift. Due to the historic nature of this blizzard, we've increased pay to $30 per hour.
WEIR (voice-over): But places with less manpower and even more white stuff are now at the mercy of the melt. And until it comes, Providence, Rhode Island has to figure out what to do with a record- shattering 33 inches.
GOV. DAN MCKEE, (D) RHODE ISLAND: The number one key for me, when this is all said and done, is that everybody was safe. And for that to happen, we need to continue to have the cooperation from the people who live in the state to stay off the roads and then check with your neighbors.
WEIR (voice-over): Dozens of small towns across the Northeast are wrestling with two wet feet. And Boston will cancel school for the second day as they dig out of the blizzard of '26.
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CHURCH: Thanks for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with two more hours of "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stay with us.
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