Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
IDF Says Former Hostages Are Now At Israeli Military Base; Hegseth Confirmed As Defense Secretary After Tie-Breaking Vote; Advocate Groups Ordered To Stop Aiding Refugees Who Have Already Arrived In U.S.; White House Requesting Help Form State And Local Governments To Enforce Immigration Law; Trump GOP Leaders Threaten Conditions On California Disaster Aid; Southern California Braces For Rainfall Amid Wildfire Recovery; Four Former Israel Hostages Arrive At Hospital; Putin Claims "Ukraine's Crisis" May Have Been Averted Had Trump Been President. Aired 7-8a E.T.
Aired January 25, 2025 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:00:44]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Saturday, January 25th. I'm Victor Blackwell.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good to have you with us. I'm Amara Walker. We are following several developing stories this morning and we begin with breaking news out of the Middle East.
BLACKWELL: Four Israeli female hostages are now back in Israel at a military base.
WALKER: Four women are Israeli soldiers Hamas held captive for 15 months before the ceasefire and hostage deal brought about their release. The women were surrounded by both Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. They were then turned over to the Red Cross in Palestine Square in Gaza City.
In the West Bank, people there are waiting for the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners who are part of this exchange in phase one of this agreement. And IDF spokesman, Daniel Hagari, had this to say earlier this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESMAN: Hamas failed to meet its obligations to first release Israeli female civilian hostages as part of the agreement. We are determined to return, to the return of Arbel Yahud, an Israeli citizen kidnapped from Nir Oz, and also Shiri Bibas, and her two children, Kfir and Ariel, whose welfare we are extremely concerned about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond is live in Tel Aviv in hostage square. Jeremy, there are a lot of relieved people behind you for these four women. Take us there; tell us what you're seeing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, over the course of the last several hours, we have seen thousands of people gathered here at Hostage Square to watch every single emotional twist and turn of the release of these four female Israeli soldiers who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 15 months.
We saw this crowd reacting as Hamas began staging this release inside of the Gaza Strip. These are kind of stunning images of these mass Hamas militants of preparing to release these four Israeli soldiers. And then we saw this crowd react with tears of joy, with elation, as for the first time they were able to confirm with their own eyes that these four women were indeed alive as they emerged from Hamas vehicles, were then brought onto a stage inside of Gaza, and ultimately then transferred into the custody of the International Red Cross.
The Red Cross has now taken them through the Gaza Strip to an Israeli military position. And from there, Israeli soldiers took custody of them, drove them to a military base in Re'im, Israel, in the southern part of Israel, right across from the Gaza Strip, where they have been reunited with their mothers, and where we also understand they are undergoing initial medical and mental health evaluation.
And so, that is indeed what is now taking place. We see that they are starting to have their first video calls with family members who are waiting for them at a hospital on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. And that is the next step of this process. We expect that they will then get into helicopters and be taken to that hospital in order to reunited with their loved ones, having 15 months of incredible uncertainty, 15 months of anguish for their families.
The last point I want to make is just about what we have been seeing in Gaza, what we've been expecting and some uncertainty around it. And that is the fact that on day seven of this ceasefire agreement, which is today, we expected that Israel would withdraw from that Netzarim corridor separating Northern Gaza from the rest of the Gaza Strip, allowing Palestinians to return freely to the northern part of the Strip.
That has now been delayed, according to the Israeli government, over the fact that Arbel Yehud, a female civilian Israeli hostage being held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was not released today. The Israeli government has demanded her release happen today -- that did not happen. And now, there's been a back and forth over when Israel will allow Palestinians to return to Northern Gaza over the fact that she was not released.
So, that is a back and forth that we are tracking based on the impact, of course, that it will have on people inside the Gaza Strip.
[07:05:00]
WALKER: It just goes to underscore how delicate this deal is. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much. Let's go now to CNN Correspondent Nada Bashir, who is in the West Bank. And Nada, just moments ago, we saw you with that bus with Palestinian prisoners. We know that there was supposed to be 200 Palestinians released in exchange for the four Israeli former hostages now. What do we know?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the buses carrying those prisoners have just passed by us up this road, surrounded by cars and people cheering and celebrating their return. Of course, as we know, they were transferred to the Offer prison in the occupied West Bank, where we were earlier this morning, before being escorted out. As we saw, firstly by Israeli forces from the prison, moving onwards into Beitunia, where we are now, and then being escorted by members of the Palestinian security forces here in the occupied West Bank.
Now, as you mentioned 200 Palestinian prisoners have been released today, among them 121 people who were serving life sentences at least one or more life sentences. In fact, another 79 said to be charged with severe or high charges and at least 70 who are set to be deported and what's different about this weekend as opposed to last weekend is that again, the majority of those being released today have been charged with severe charges.
Last weekend what we saw is that the majority of those prisoners and detainees who were released were in fact women. We also saw children, teenagers under the age of 18, and many of whom who were released last weekend had been held under administrative detention, meaning no charges were laid against them. So, it's a different scenario this weekend.
And of course, important to note that of course that means that we are seeing that higher number as well in prisons released because this is in exchange for female Israeli soldiers as opposed to civilians. So, under the terms of the agreement it was 30 Palestinian prisoners per Israeli civilian hostage released. When it comes to Israeli soldiers or female soldiers being released it is 50 Palestinian prisoners.
So, we've seen that number rise this week. They have moved onwards into Beitunia behind us just in the last few minutes. We know that the Palestinian authorities have been clear they don't want to see any celebrations. Last weekend, we saw huge crowds gathering in Beitunia to mark this and celebrate the occasion, many reuniting with their families and family members as they were coming down from those buses.
The security situation here has been tighter today. We've seen a larger presence by Palestinian security forces escorting the buses on the ground, and of course it has been somewhat subdued as well they've moved them further upwards into the city as opposed to in, sort of, a central meeting area, and again this has happened a lot earlier in the day.
Last weekend, we saw a huge amount of delay. In fact, prisoners weren't released until the early hours of the next morning. So, this process has moved a lot smoother this weekend, and of course this is just the second weekend that we have seen this take place. That exchange said to continue over the next four weeks again.
BLACKWELL: All right, Nada Bashir for us here in the West Bank. Thank you.
Let's turn to Capitol Hill now. A win for President Trump late last night. President, Vice President J.D. Vance cast a tie-breaking vote for the Senate to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Hegseth's confirmation process has been mired in allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement of veterans' charities, all of which he has denied.
The three Republicans joined all the Democrats in voting against that nomination.
WALKER: Former Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was one of the Republican no votes. And he issued a statement just shortly after the vote, writing, "Effective management of nearly three million military and civilian personnel and an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests. Mr. Hegseth has failed as yet to demonstrate that he will pass this test."
Now, the new administration is quickly implementing President Trump's promised crackdown on immigration. Hundreds of National Guard and military troops are deployed to the southern border, but thousands more have been ordered to the US-Mexico border. Now, the White House has also started the first deportation flights of the Trump administration. The White House Press Secretary shared images last night of migrants lined up, handcuffed and boarding a military aircraft.
BLACKWELL: Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it made 593 arrests on Friday, 538 on Thursday; those numbers are likely to rise. The source tells CNN that federal immigration removal operations could target more than two dozen cities earlier this week. And President Trump signed an executive order suspending refugee admissions to the U.S.
And last night, the White House went a step further, abruptly halting all services for refugees who are already here, including Afghans who aided the US during the war.
Let's bring in now Doris Meisner. She is a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and a former Commissioner with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Clinton. Doris, thank you for being with me.
I want to start here with your reaction to that ending advocate group's support of refugees already in the country, anything from helping them find jobs, helping them find housing, even teaching them how to use the banking system here in the U.S. What are the greater implications?
[07:10:22]
DORIS MEISNER, MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE SENIOR FELLOW: Well, the greater implications are that we have a long history as a country of welcoming and accepting refugees, and our experience with that is that refugees do very well in the United States. They become Americans quickly, they contribute to the economy, they pay taxes, and so the initial help that they get to get established and have a foothold is very important to their future success.
This action is very short-sighted because it, in fact, makes it far more difficult for what has been an extremely successful program and effort over many, many years that the United States has in providing protection to people that are in deep need. They actually help us much more than we help them, but it's an even street.
BLACKWELL: I'm going to be speaking with Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Raz Baraka next hour about an ICE raid in his city that he says was executed without a warrant. There was a military veteran who was detained. How much does the how of this mass deportation impact the sustainability of it, not just the legal sustainability of it, but the political sustainability of it?
MEISNER: Well, that's a very important question that we need to see, watch how it plays out in order to give the answer. The administration, the new administration has certainly succeeded in what it said it was going to do, which was shock and awe, and start right immediately. But these operations, in the scheme of things, are not going to be removing millions of people from the country in the way that President Trump has spoken about.
There will need to be considerably greater resources, more time to build up the infrastructure that's required. They're trying to make their point right now, but the real test is whether over the longer term they can build up the infrastructure and resources that are needed, as well as withstand legal challenges to what it is they're doing because they are very vulnerable on a range of measures that have been announced in these executive orders, and the pushback coming from court challenges will be considerable.
BLACKWELL: Well, let's talk about one of those, and that's asylum seekers. The U.S. is signatory to international protocol on the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, has codified it into federal law as well. Some of these controls on the border and access to entry points. Does that still allow for the U.S. to adhere to its own law as it relates to people being able to pursue asylum, seek asylum in the U.S.?
MEISNER: No, it doesn't. I mean, the administration is flouting those laws and that will be challenged in court. The effort to cut off entirely access to political asylum, especially at the southwest border, violates U.S. law. Now, the Biden administration tightened those restrictions considerably, but it did still allow people ways to access asylum. This administration is saying no, none, whatsoever.
BLACKWELL: Is there any evidence, because we saw some of this in the first Trump administration, the first Trump term, that the rhetoric that the controls placed on immigration via executive that they are impacting the travel to the U.S., the underlying causes of the migration that the countries in the Northern Triangle are addressing these elements so that these people don't come to the U.S. borders? MEISNER: Well, we haven't heard anything from this administration yet
about the causes of the migration and ways to work effectively with countries in the hemisphere. The prior administration was making very considerable breakthrough efforts to work with countries in the region for cooperation all along the routes, including the causes, but also tackling the immediate issues of smugglers and cartels and the exploitation.
[07:15:20]
The prior administration had put a network of offices into place throughout the hemisphere where people could apply for protection and asylum closer to home. That's all been erased by the current administration. So, there will certainly be a wait-and-see period right now; that always happens when new policies go into place.
But ultimately, the reasons for these migrations are not being -- they will continue. And so, a broader policy that really deals with if there's a regional issue and ultimately leads to cooperation among countries is essential and we're not seeing any signs of that.
BLACKWELL: Doris Meisner, day five of the second Trump term, and he has a lot more in his immigration to-do list. Thanks so much for being with us.
WALKER: All right, we want to show you some images that we just got in of two helicopters. That is one of them carrying the four female Israeli soldiers who were just released from captivity leaving the Reem military base in southern Israel. They are now headed to a hospital outside of Tel Aviv.
This is about a 20-minute flight from this military base to the hospital, where they will get a medical assessment and eventually reunited with their families. But obviously, extremely joyous moment for the families who have been waiting for 15 months for this moment to be reunited with these young women; three of them being 20 years old, the other 19 years old, to begin this new chapter in their lives.
Just images there of these four former Israeli hostages now being flown to a hospital outside Tel Aviv.
Meantime, we're going to talk more about that major win for President Trump. A razor-thin Senate vote confirms Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Vice President J.D. Vance cast the historic tie-breaking vote, but questions are still lingering over Hegseth's controversial past and his experience.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:22:10]
WALKER: For only the second time in history, a vice president broke a tie for a cabinet nominee. And now, Pete Hegseth is confirmed as Department of Defense Secretary with a 51 to 50 vote in the Senate. And the source tells CNN he will be sworn in sometime this morning. Now, not all Republicans are happy with the outcome. Former Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell issued a scathing rebuke of Hegseth's promise to restore a "warrior culture" to the Pentagon saying that will not happen by trading one set of culture wars for another.
Let's talk more about this with Larry Sabato, the Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Larry, it's great to see you again. You and I have talked about this for weeks. You know, we watched as his viability, Hegseth's viability was on shaky ground, and now he is set to be sworn in this morning as the new Defense Secretary.
I just want to first get your reaction. I know you have a lot to say.
LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, it is the norm. A new president usually gets almost all or all of his cabinet picks because people say he's entitled to the team that he wants. Having said that, I would challenge people to look at a list of just the Republican Secretaries of Defense in recent times; they're a very distinguished bunch: Dick Cheney, General Mattis from Trump's first term, so many others that have served and served with great distinction.
They have been people who have run large organizations, who've had long experience in dealing with the military, who could credibly run an $850 billion a year department, covering several million people. With all due respect to Pete Hegseth, he doesn't have any of that. He really doesn't. The giveaway, Amara, was what Mitch McConnell said and people can say oh well he's just disaffected with Trump.
Look at the record he's almost always voted with Trump, and he's done what Trump wanted, but this nomination offended him so greatly in terms of Hegseth's lack of experience and competence that he voted no and the other two were significant too obviously. Senator Susan Collins of Maine she represents a blue state, she's coming up in two years. Senator Lisa Murkowski from a much more conservative state, but she's very independent and Alaskans seem to respect that. But all the others voted for him. All the others voted for him.
WALKER: Right. Well, you mentioned though, past defense secretaries, I do have a short list. And what you're going to see is, you know, his Hegseth's nomination is quite the departure from his predecessor's confirmation votes. You can just see here on this graphic that each of them was confirmed by a landslide vote, except for Hegseth, right? A razor-thin margin, 51 to 50. It was the second time in history that a VP had to break the tie.
I mean, some might say this is just a sign of the times. It's a polarized environment or does it say something more, you know, obviously, about his credibility, even from the Republicans who voted for him?
SABATO: Well, we are in a polarized time. Nobody could deny that. But this is more about Hegseth. There's only been one nominee in modern times who's been rejected by the Senate for Secretary of Defense, former Senator John Tower back in 1989, by the way for sexual harassment and heavy drinking among other things, a little parallel there.
But Tower had a lot of experience. I think what people are looking at here and analyzing is why Trump picked him, and Trump picked him because he presents a good image and Trump cares about that. But mainly, he picked him because he really doesn't have much knowledge and he's going to do exactly what Trump tells him to do. He is a total loyalist.
And it becomes important because the military is involved here. I think people are getting the drift of this even after just one week of Donald Trump.
WALKER: The scale and scope of his responsibilities and the consequences are just going to be tremendous. I do want to ask you about President Trump's first trip as president. He went to North Carolina, but what stuck out to me was his trip to California and how things played out between him and the Democratic governor.
I mean, obviously, they've traded a lot of barbs between each other. And you can see there, Governor Newsom, greeting Trump pretty warmly there on the tarmac. There was no communication between him and the White House, but he still showed up.
And it looks like, you know, he got some kind of promises from Trump, at least, to get help from the government in some ways. We'll see how that plays out in terms of disaster assistance. But Gavin Newsom obviously knows how to work President Trump.
Do you think a lot of Democratic leaders in various states are watching this as kind of an outline on how they should be dealing with President Trump moving forward?
[07:27:19]
SABATO: Well, I'm sure they're looking at it, but I think most of them already know. People have figured out Trump to a certain degree, and you need to flatter him. You need to treat him with great deference and respect, whether you really believe that or not.
And look, Newsom and Trump are both politicians. They know they have to work together on some things. What was really shocking about this to me and many others is that for the first time that I can remember, aid for a terrible natural disaster, massive disaster, was being conditioned, or so Trump said, on political actions for example passing a tough voter I.D. requirement.
What does that have to do with, with the fires in California, what it has to do with is strengthening Republicans in California making it easier for Republicans to vote and more difficult for Democrats to vote. Well, you know what, they ought to be two separate things and we used to separate natural disasters from normal political concern.
It'd be nice to get back to that, but I don't think we are in the next four years.
WALKER: Yes, well we'll see if that disaster aid gets to California with or without strings attached. Larry Sabato, it's always great to have you. Thank you. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: We'll talk more about President Trump's visit to fire- ravaged Pacific Palisades, pledged that quick rebuilding effort and federal aid, but as you heard from Amara and Larry's conversation, didn't miss the opportunity to slam past disaster responses.
Also, what he had to say about FEMA. And Ukraine claims responsibility for a drone strike on one of Russia's largest oil refineries. Russia's response and what is next in the escalating conflict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:33:23]
WALKER: President Donald Trump spent Friday touring disaster areas on opposite sides of the U.S. while taking aim at FEMA's response. He was in western North Carolina where residents there are still trying to rebuild after Hurricane Helene last September. Trump suggested possibly eliminating FEMA and leaving disaster response up to the states.
BLACKWELL: Well, later in the day, the president toured areas devastated by the wildfires in Southern California. And despite the conflicts in the past, President Trump, California governor Gavin Newsom, they showed courtesy to one another during the visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): You were there for us during COVID. I don't forget that. And I have all the expectations that we'll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We will. We're going to get it done. Tremendous numbers of lives have been affected. A lot of real estate's been affected. Nobody's ever probably seen anything like this.
You can almost say since the Second World War, when you think of it -- I mean, nothing like this has happened. And we're going to get it fixed, so we'll get it permanently fixed, so it can't happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: This weekend, Southern California is expecting its first rainfall of the year. Now, that could help in the fight against the wildfires. It also, though, could trigger a different disaster, mudslides.
WALKER: That's right. CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking this for us. So, how much rain are we talking about, and what are we seeing?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. You know, compared to some other states, these numbers may not seem all that high, but they're high enough to trigger some of these concerns from the National Weather Service. So, we take a look here. You can already start to see some of that moisture starting to spread into portions of central California. This is gradually going to shift farther south as we go through the
day today and really help out a lot of these spot fires, and the wildfires that we have in effect in some of those areas. Looking at the winds, yes, here's the thing, we are still going to be looking at some of those wind gusts 20 to 30 miles per hour before that system comes in. It's a better flow, it's more of an onshore flow, so it's got more moisture to it than the Santa Ana winds would, but the concern is do those strong winds kind of create worse fires? Do they spread the fires before the rain ends up coming in as we go latter into the day.
Now, we talked about the potential for too much rain. Here's the areas where we're looking at the flood watches. This is where, again, you have a lot of those burn scar areas from the fires. When you get that rain that comes in, especially if it's a lot of it in a short period of time, that can lead to mudslide and debris flows over on top of those burn scar areas. You'll see, as we go through the day today, it starts off kind of isolated very spotty with the shower activity, then it really starts to become more widespread and fill in as we go through the day, Sunday.
A lot of these areas will still be looking at the chance for rain through at least the first-half of Monday. Most of these, you're looking at about a half an inch of rain on paper. That doesn't sound like much. There could be a few areas that pick up maybe as much as an inch and a half total, but you have to understand, even that small amount is enough to trigger problems just because of how dry the ground already is.
There's also some snow packs. Some of these areas could end up picking up several inches of snow, especially once you get say, 35 or 4,500 feet in elevation. Some spots could even pick up as much as a foot.
WALKER: Let's hope these rains will be more helpful than not. Allison Chinchar, thank you. Let's take you back to Israel now, and Bianna Golodryga is live outside the hospital where the four former Israeli hostages are landing now. Bianna, what's the latest?
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm actually not at the hospital but we are getting images now of the helicopters making their way to Belenson Hospital. As we reported last week, there were one of six hospitals that these four hostages would be taken to that have been prepared to take these hostages in, depending on each case-by- case status in terms of their health.
Belenson is where all four of these female hostages will be admitted. And as we see, one helicopter has already landed. We are waiting for two helicopters to transport these four hostages into what will be a cordoned-off private wing, where these hostages, along with their families, will have their own rooms, their own privacy, and be spending at least, according to the Department of Health here in Israel.
They're recommending at least four days of a hospital stay to be evaluated through all kind of testing and slowly get a sense of whether or not they are able to go home. This is going to be, indeed, a very, very long recovery process. These hospitals and these medical staff have learned from the last release of hostages back in November of 2023.
Remember, that was only after 50-plus days of how to treat these hostages, what to spend more time focusing on. And one of the biggest takeaways and lessons they learned and errors that they made was allowing these hostages to have access to the public and cameras too much. So, that will look different this time around.
They're going to leave everything up to the parents in terms of releasing statements and updates about their daughters. This is a united front. All of these families of the hostages have been in on this together in terms of the fight to get their families home and also putting out statements, especially the parents of these five female IDF observers.
In the release today, four of them were released: Nama Levi, Karina Areyev, and the two that are not, however, the one that is not, Agam Berger, is expected hopefully to be released in the next wave of hostages to be released. But Daniela Gilboa also released and Karina Areyev today.
So, their family members have, we've been told, the Israeli government has released photos of their reunion with their parents and they are quite moving, indeed. One can imagine how long these families have waited to see their daughters. So, we will wait to see how much access.
Last week, we had quite a bit of access and very closely we were able to watch how these trucks were driving by with the female hostages in them. Last week, I think this is a bit more cordoned off this time around, but we do see from the camera there that angle of these hostages coming out of the helicopter. We're expecting a second helicopter to land as well. Back to you guys.
[07:39:36]
BLACKWELL: Yes, Bianna, those pictures, I hope we can turn around those pretty quickly for our audience because seeing these expressions on the faces of these families from the moment that you were with one family and they were watching on television to having her back in their arms. I mean, it really does give you chills to now know that they are together.
We're watching the helicopter take-off the landing pad outside the hospital there where they have now been, these four women are now being checked out of the hospital. And here's a video from this morning when you were with one family, watching as they saw her on that stage. Hopefully, in control room, how long, hopefully we can get those pictures up to see them together again.
It really is just amazing. And you heard from one uncle his description of the cries from her mother. Give us that element for the viewers who are just joining us.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, it was quite something to see Razi, who is the uncle of Daniela Gilboa, just moments after seeing his niece for the first time in 15 and a half months alive in front of the world stage there to see along with those three other hostages, to then see him take a phone call from his sister. He put it on speakerphone so everyone else in the room could hear.
And there were just joys of emotion and screams that only a mother can understand from another mother. I don't speak Hebrew, but trust me, Victor, I understood every single thing she said in that phone call, and then when I spoke with him later, he described it as her giving birth all over again.
Imagine that having the opportunity after the 15 and a half months of hell that these girls and women experienced in these tunnels and we're going to get much more information as to as to what they actually endured, I would imagine in the months to come. But to know that they now have the opportunity to see, to hug, to never let their daughters go again is how one mother described it to me -- a second chance at life, really.
WALKER: Exactly. Perhaps, it feels like a rebirth for these former Israeli hostages, you know, now coming out and experiencing this freedom after 15 months to be with their families and their loved ones again. Bianna Golodryga, thank you so much for your report.
And we'll, of course, stay on top of the story with you as we get more word on the hostages, the former hostages reuniting with their families.
We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:46:57]
BLACKWELL: The Ukrainian military claims its drones hit one of Russia's largest oil refineries Thursday night. A video of the attack shows people running from a huge explosion that lit up the night sky over Russia. Ukrainian forces said in a statement Friday that the attacks weakened Russia's military capabilities, and they will continue. Now, Russia responded by saying this, that they intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones on Friday, and they added that there were no reported injuries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that "crisis" in Ukraine might have been prevented if President Trump was in power at the time.
WALKER: Well, Trump has long claimed during his campaign that the war in Ukraine would not have happened under his watch but this marks the first time that Putin has suggested the same sentiment while also repeating Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow with more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin has lavished praise on President Trump while urging meeting between the two leaders to discuss Ukraine and other issues. In an interview on Russian state television, Putin insisted that he, "always had an exclusively professional and business-like relationship with Trump," a U.S. leader he appears to hold in very high esteem. Take a listen.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): He is not only a smart person, he is a pragmatic person. And I can hardly imagine the decisions will be made that will harm the American economy. Therefore, most likely, it would be better for us to meet and talk calmly about all those areas that are of interest to both the U.S. and Russia. We are ready, but this primarily depends on the decision and choice of the current administration.
CHANCE: Well, those remarks coming after President Trump said he would meet Putin immediately to bring a rapid end to the conflict in Ukraine. Earlier, Trump told Putin over social media to make a deal about Ukraine and to end what he called this ridiculous war or face increased U.S. sanctions.
Putin's response has essentially been to agree in principle to talks but also to flatter the U.S. president. In his state TV interview, Putin called his relationship with Trump trustworthy and added that he agreed with the U.S. president that "if his presidency had not been stolen in 2020, maybe the crisis in Ukraine would not have happened."
Putin, of course, launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when Joe Biden was U.S. President. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you. Two giant pandas made their debut at the Smithsonian's National Zoo yesterday.
BLACKWELL: Our CNN's David Culver was given exclusive access. That's later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:54:09]
BLACKWELL: All right, we've got live pictures as we continue our breaking news coverage of the release of four hostages. And now, we've also got in the information about the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners that have now reached Ramallah after the second trade of this ceasefire.
We are waiting to go to our Jeremy Daimond who's live in Israel at the hospital. We just got in some details about the reunion of these families. They have, after 15 and a half months, they are in the arms of their parents, these four women.
Our Bianna Golodryga tells us that they will now be undergoing medical checks and treatment for, as it's suggested, at least four days to make sure that these women are healthy enough to now go back to their homes and, and resume their lives. WALKER: Obviously, a time of just utter joy for the families of these
four former Israeli hostages, female soldiers, three of them to be 20 years old and one being 19 years old. Let's go now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond who's live there outside the hospital where those four Israeli hostages were just released from captivity. We saw their helicopters land. They're at the hospital now. Bring us up to date, Jeremy.
DIAMOND: Yes, we just saw an incredible moment here as hundreds of people greeted those four female Israeli soldiers who were just freed from Hamas captivity after more than 15 months, getting a hero's welcome here in Israel. We saw two military helicopters land right behind me. You can see that one of them is still stationed on the helicopter.
Shortly thereafter, they erected barriers here to give privacy to these four women as they experienced their first moments of freedom. They were then taken in vans and taken around right through this road to the hospital, where we expect them to have those emotional reunions with their families.
They've already met their mothers at that military base in Re'im in southern Israel, where they were able to be reunited, and more family members are here awaiting their return.
We were at Hostage Square moments earlier, and what we saw there as well was the fact that it's not just the families of these four women who have been awaiting their return, but really this entire country. And in addition to that, we have also heard these chants for all of the hostages to be freed, a reminder of the remaining hostages still held in Gaza.
And of the urging that Israelis have given to their governments, many of them, to complete this ceasefire agreement to go forward to ensure that all of the remaining Israeli hostages can return from the Gaza Strip.
WALKER: Extraordinary to see these pictures of these reunions. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for being there. First of all, what Victor is coming up next, what do you have?
BLACKWELL: All right. So, the Biden administration was the first to have a chief diversity and inclusion officer, and now it may be the last, with federal agencies being told to eliminate all DEI offices and positions within 60 days. Michael Leach, who had that White House role, is here to explain the impact it could have across the country.
Also, we're going to Chicago. We're going to Newark, New Jersey. These are cities with large immigrant populations dealing with anxieties over the ramp up in immigration enforcement. Congresswoman Delia Ramirez joins us on the impact in the city she represents, and I'll speak with the mayor of Newark, Raz Baraka, about a raid he says terrorized his constituents.
And also, remembering Kobe Bryant, five years after his sudden and tragic death. You're going to hear from a fellow NBA legend, Tracy McGrady on his legacy and new CNN documentary on Kobe's life, it premieres tonight.
BLACKWELL: All right, have a great show.
WALKER: Thank you very much. It all starts after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)