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CNN This Morning
Zelenskyy Calls For United U.S.-Europe Support Against Russia; Hamas Frees Three Hostages, Israel Releases Hundreds Of Prisoners As Ceasefire; Holds; Thousands Fired In U.S. Government As Trump, Musk Purge Federal Workers; House Budget Committee Takes First Step To Advance Trump's Agenda. Senator Schumer to Hold Call with Democratic Caucus Over Budget; Texas Measles Outbreak Rises to 48 Cases; Police Say Indiana Teen Accused of Plotting Valentine's Day School Shooting was Obsessed with the Parkland Mass Shooter. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired February 15, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It's Saturday, February 15th. I'm Victor Blackwell.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker. Good to be with you. Here's what we're working on for you this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement.
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WALKER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sends a strong message to President Donald Trump about his promise to end Russia's three-year war on Ukraine. Plus, Zelenskyy is telling European leaders their futures are on the line as well. Ahead in a live report.
BLACKWELL: For the first time in 16 months, three hostages held by Hamas, including an Israeli American, are back in Israel. We're live in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv just ahead.
WALKER: Also, President Trump's government wide firing spree hits hundreds of workers in the department tasked with managing the nation's nuclear stockpile. We're going to go in depth on the latest concerns that the government purge is putting the country at risk.
BLACKWELL: 20 million people from Arkansas to Pennsylvania facing a significant flooding threat. Today, meteorologist Allison Chinchar takes a look at the cities that could see as much as 5 inches of rain in just a few hours.
So this morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for united Europe to face Russia and its aggression and secure the future of his country. In his early morning address, Zelenskyy said Ukraine could never accept peace talks without Kyiv's involvement, a message meant for President Trump.
He also said Europe should be fully producing its own weapons and called for the creation of a European army to secure its own future.
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ZELENSKYY: Some in Europe maybe frustrated with Brussels, but let's be clear, if not Brussels, then Moscow is your decision.
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WALKER: Zelenskyy also took questions from our own Christiane Amanpour and he talked about the need for security guarantees and the future of peace talks.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Do you understand what America's position is?
ZELENSKYY: Yes.
AMANPOUR: Which is?
ZELENSKYY: I think to my mind, they are preparing atmosphere for their dialogue.
AMANPOUR: For their dialogue, which will be?
ZELENSKYY: For the dialogue between Trump and Putin. And I think this is, I mean, this is up to them, but they can discuss everything they want, but not about Ukraine without us. And that's why in this case -- that's why, especially in this case, I think it's a little bit dangerous. That's why I said that we need to talk more with the President and to talk more with his people, with his teams. Yesterday, as you said. Yes, we had good conversation and I think that I opened some new details for Vice President. That's why I said we need -- it's not waste time. It's really very important, I think diplomatic investment for the future just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
AMANPOUR: You, yes, sorry, Yes. I thought you were going to say some more things.
ZELENSKYY: Your order.
AMANPOUR: Yes, yes, yes. You just sort of. Yes, I suddenly got stomachs.
ZELENSKYY: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
AMANPOUR: You said Putin doesn't want peace. I mean, you just said it loud and clear. So what is the dialogue? And have you convinced the Americans that A, Ukraine has to at the table and B, I guess the Europeans have to convince. Did you get a commitment from President Trump that you would meet with him first? Do you have a plan to meet with the president?
ZELENSKYY: No, we have our plan, of course. It's our country, and that's why it's our plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: All right, let's go now to CNN chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt. And Alex, in his remarks, Zelenskyy said that it would be dangerous for President Trump to meet with Putin before him. He said that repeatedly. So obviously he is concerned that there would be a deal happening behind his back.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is real concern from Zelenskyy that there is a conversation that is going on between presidents Trump and Putin that doesn't involve Ukraine. There is concern among the Europeans and Ukrainians that Donald Trump is cozying up to Putin in a way that could exclude Ukraine when it comes to this -- a potential cease fire peace deal between the Russians and Ukrainians after three years of war.
[06:05:13]
Zelenskyy saying clearly, not just that there are no, there should be no conversations about Ukraine without Ukraine, but also he said that he believes that Putin is trying to push Ukraine to the side and essentially speak to Trump one on one. He predicted perhaps that Trump could show up in Moscow later this year, not just on a normal visit, but go to the Victory Day Parade on May 9, which is one of the biggest holidays of the year in Russia. So there is real concern there about how these talks are going to unfold.
He talked about the differences in the Trump orbit, some people who are more in favor of Ukraine, others who are less in favor of Ukraine. He talked about people going to Mar-a-Lago and how they need to stand with Ukraine and stand with Europe.
But the overarching message, Victor and Amara, was this is a moment where Europe essentially needs to look out for itself. He said that the U.S. essentially can no longer be counted on. This was a call to arms, literally and figuratively for the Europeans.
President Zelenskyy pointing to the speech yesterday by J.D. Vance, the American vice president, it was a real chastising of European democracies. It was a real scolding. And Zelenskyy said that Vance made clear that the relationship with Europe is after decades, is now changing, is no longer what it once was.
Here's a little bit more of what Zelenskyy had to say about the United States. Take a listen.
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ZELENSKYY: A few days ago, President Trump told me about his conversation with Putin. Not once did he mention that America needs Europe at the table. That says a lot. The old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always had.
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MARQUARDT: So, Viktor and Amara, the message there from President Zelenskyy clear, the U.S. is no longer the ally for Europe that it once was. Things are changing. Europe can only count on itself. And he made a very concrete proposal that Europe create its own military force. He called it an armed forces for Europe. So that Europe's future only depends on Europe.
Really a striking speech, a striking moment declaring essentially that the Europeans can no longer count on the United States. Victor and Amara.
WALKER: Yes, really an extraordinary moment there. Alex Marquardt, thank you very much for your reporting. And joining me now is Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group and founder of GZERO Media.
Ian, let's pick up where Alex left off there, and, you know, we heard a lot of this during Zelenskyy's time on the stage the sense of abandonment by the U.S. but also this real concern that there may be these talks, negotiations behind his back that don't include Ukraine between Trump and Putin, which might end with a deal that favors Russia. Let's listen a bit more to what he had to say there.
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J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat.
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WALKER: OK, that was not the right sound bite, but basically it was Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, you know, reiterating the fact that, you know, he knows that Putin and Trump will be talking. OK, here's the sound bite again. Let's get it right this time.
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AMANPOUR: Do you understand what America's position is?
ZELENSKYY: Yes.
AMANPOUR: Which is?
ZELENSKYY: I think, to my mind, they are preparing atmosphere for their dialogue.
AMANPOUR: For their dialogue, which will be?
ZELENSKYY: For the dialogue between Trump and Putin. And I think this is, I mean, this is up to them, but they can discuss everything they want, but not about Ukraine without us.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: I mean, is it realistic, Ian, that Zelenskyy could get a seat at the table?
IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: Yes, it's realistic. A seat at the table in determining what eventually a peace deal for Ukraine will look like. It's impossible to imagine that a peace deal would occur without Ukraine at the table. But it's also absolutely true, as Zelenskyy says, that Trump is interested in a broader conversation with Mr. Putin. He's talked about bringing the Russians back into the G7, a nonstarter for the Germans, the French, and other members, but nonetheless, something Trump's talked about.
He's talked about wanting to normalize relations between these two great countries, the United States and Russia, not the way the Europeans feel about Putin, who they consider a war criminal, and Russia that they consider a pariah.
[06:10:07]
But Trump is perfectly uninterested if he's not seeing eye to eye with the Europeans, as Vice President Vance made very clear. And so the question is, what happens if Trump and Putin meet and start talking about outcomes of Ukraine that the Ukrainians find unacceptable? Because, of course, it is also true that, as Trump says, he doesn't consider Ukraine an equal partner in peace talks.
Well, they're certainly not equal in terms of their power. If they were, then Russia wouldn't be occupying over 20 percent of the Ukrainian country. And that is the problem, is that from Trump's perspective, what merits you a seat at the table is your power.
It's not your values. It's not your status as an ally or an adversary of the United States. It's whether or not you're a big deal. And the Americans, of course, are the biggest deal on of all in the world by that metric.
WALKER: Then talk to me about the dynamics and the mood there at the Munich Security Conference this year. Just a very different feel, right, and a very different reception that we saw, you know, there were some lighthearted moments, some laughter, smiles, you know, when Zelenskyy was there on stage with Christiane Amanpour. Very different from, you know, the way J.D. Vance, the Vice president, was received.
BREMMER: Yes, very little applause for J.D. Vance. I mean, I was in the room and I saw when the German Minister of Defense, Pistorius, yelled out in the middle of Vance's speech, this is unacceptable. I've been coming here for 15 years. I have never seen a conversation between allies be disrupted like that before.
The Europeans see the Trump administration, see the United States today not as principally just a transactional government, though of course there will be those conversations on issues of trade and technology going forward. But they also see them as a revolutionary government, as a government that is trying to overturn the European Union and its values and principles and rule of law. And that was not only made clear from Vance's speech chastising,
lecturing the Europeans, but also from his willingness to directly afterwards meet with the leader of the AfD, the Alternatives for Deutschland. The Germans, of course, have an election coming up in a couple of weeks, and they refuse to join in a government with them because many Germans view this as a neo-Nazi party, a Euro skeptic party as well, and one that they have a firewall in not engaging with.
And yet the vice president of the United States directly after addressing the conference, went and met with them individually. I think it is important for Americans to understand just how bad a reaction the average European citizen has to that behavior from the United States.
It is so contrary to everything that the Americans have stood for since the beginning of the NATO alliance, since the beginning of the transatlantic relationship, which frankly has been had been a linchpin of collective security for the world until very recently.
WALKER: Ian Bremmer, we're going to leave it there. Thank you very much for your perspective.
BLACKWELL: Breaking news now out of the Middle East. Three Israeli hostages have been released from Gaza and are reunited with their families back in Israel. An Israeli American is among the three men who were released this morning.
Now in exchange for those men, Israel will release 369 Palestinians. They were holding prisoners. CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Tel Aviv with the latest. Nic, I see that there are still many people there behind you in Hostages Square. Give us an idea of the mood. As we remember last week, the view of the hostages. They were in such poor condition this week we're seeing a lot of smiles and tears.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: That's right. Last week I think there were shocks. Nobody expected the three men to be so emaciated, so starved, so pained looking. Not quite the same picture this week.
Look, the men, the three men, Sagui Dekel-Chen, the 36-year-old Israeli American has lost some weight a little, Yair Horn, the Argentinian-Israeli, 46 years old, he has lost weight, Sasha Troufanov, the 29-year-old Russian-Israeli, not so much. He's looking in good shape.
But yes, look, it's a roller coaster here. Everyone watching and waiting for that handover. Cheering when they got in the Red Cross vehicles. Finally after 498 days out of the hands of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on the way to freedom. A few minutes later with the IDF cheers along the roadside as they went to the IDF base.
An amazing photograph for so many of the families to see here. Sagi, Israeli American, 36 years old, embracing his wife Avital after all that time.
[06:15:04] And you know what? While he's been in captivity, their third daughter has been born. Avital gave birth to their third daughter about a year ago. So he's getting able to catch up on that tougher news for Sasha, learning that his father was killed on October 7th and for Yair, learning that his brother Etan is still being held hostage.
Now we understand and we may get to hear them in a few minutes. They're all in a helicopter. They're all on their way coming here to different hospitals to see more of their family, to get more of their treatment, to begin that long process of rehabilitation, physical checks, emotional checks, mental checks, if you will, all of that, all of that.
But the most important thing for them, reunited with their family and just beginning to build back all that lost time which never can come back. But they've got the remaining days. They're back together. And that's the emotion here. Rollercoaster as people watching it, as you say, Palestinians, 369 to be released. 333 of them were detained in Gaza. They're being released to Gaza. 36 others were life prisoners in Israeli jails. They're being released.
24 of those 36, by the way, are being expelled. They're being sent out of the country, likely to go to Egypt. The other 12 getting released. The first few we saw being released in the West Bank in the past hour. Victor. Amara.
BLACKWELL: Yes, Nic, we watching as you were speaking, some of the families, they're watching television, watching monitors and the emotion, the anticipation just palpable. Nic Robertson for us there in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much.
Still to come, thousands of federal workers have been fired by the Trump administration this week. And the firings at one agency in particular are raising some serious national security concerns.
WALKER: Plus, there's new information on the investigation into the deadly collision between a plane and a Blackhawk helicopter last month. What investigators say they have learned after examining the black boxes.
BLACKWELL: Somebody called it a Saturday Soaker, Arkansas to Pennsylvania. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the inches of rain on tap for tens of millions of people.
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WALKER: Firings continue at the federal level with officials taking aim at probationary workers. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, more than 200,000 people have worked with the federal government for less than one year.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Renee Marsh has more on the agencies gutted by the Trump administration. Rene, Good morning.
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RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Victor, labor unions representing federal employees are still trying to get their hands around the full scope and scale of the Trump administration's government wide firings. But so far we know more than a thousand were fired from Veterans Affairs. Trump's VA Secretary Doug Collins, said it would save the agency $98 million a year. 2,000 were dismissed at the Energy Department, nearly 1,300 at the Centers for Disease Control, 2,200 at the Interior Department and 3,400 at the Forest Service.
And that's an agency that manages the nation's public forests and grasslands to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.
Now, Trump has talked a lot about clearing forest floors to combat wildfires. And while the firefighting unit of the Forest Service was not laid off, employees with desk jobs and those who clear trails were.
And at a time when wildfires have become more frequent and intense, those employees often serve as reserve crews that the agency can tap into when they need more manpower. One Forest Service source tells me now they may likely have to rely on backup from private contractors, which comes at a much higher cost.
And at the VA, one of the employees fired worked at a vet center that's a community based clinic that helps vets seeking mental health care. And at the Department of Energy, hundreds of staffers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency tasked with managing the nation's nuclear stockpile, were also dismissed.
But the agency made an about face and began rescinding terminations after senators expressed concerns about the critical nature of these employees and the impact on national security. Amara and Victor.
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BLACKWELL: All right, Renee, thanks so much. Joining me now, Associated Press reporter Meg Kinnard. Meg, good morning to you. Let's talk about this shift now from DOGE because week one, two, three focused on USAID, the entire agency, the Financial Protection Bureau as well now going after people because of their time in the position, not on performance, not really even the job role. It seems to hit different for these departments.
MEG KINNARD, REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hey, Victor, it's really good to be back with you. And I think you're absolutely right. We've kind of seen, as you note, a shift in the way that DOGE and the way that these cuts are happening. And I've heard directly and also so tangentially from some of those probationary employees, people who are, as we've all been at one point in our lives, new on a job, just kind of getting their feet under them. And then now all of a, you know, just kidding, we're not going to be needing you anymore.
[06:25:04] And I think what we're also seeing, too, and it's important that Rene just hit on this, all of the details of exactly how this is affecting some of these agencies, the real world implications of where these cuts are happening and what that could mean for the rest of us as Americans to see some of these jobs go away.
It's always important to have that context. But really kind of putting it all together for these employees who may have been looking forward to a long career in government, at least for now, it doesn't look like that's going to be happening.
BLACKWELL: It also is important to point out that new in a position in the probationary element there does not mean new in the federal government. They might have worked years in another position, but might be two or three months on this job. So that's one point to say as well.
Rene mentioned the hundreds of staffers released terminated the National Nuclear Security Agency charged with securing the U.S. nuclear stockpiles. One source told CNN, quote, no one has taken any time to understand what we do and the importance of our work to the national security. And now they're starting to rescind some of those terminations.
Are there any of the national security Republicans on Capitol Hill saying you got to pull out the scalpel instead of the chainsaw here?
KINNARD: We are really starting to kind of get that sense from some Republicans on Capitol Hill that maybe while holistically in the big picture, they really do agree with making some cuts in spending and in the federal overall, maybe kind of slow down and be more careful about it.
And so as more and more of them start to speak out, I think we kind of see the contrast between a new administration putting its imprimatur of this is a big picture of what I would like to do, as in President Trump's perspective.
But then also the Republicans who have to go back to their districts and talk to some of their constituents who, let's not forget, 80 percent of the federal workforce is outside of Washington. They're out in these districts, they're out in states. And so a lot of those are represented by Republicans. And they're going to be having to kind of wade between the administration whose big picture priorities they might really support, but then also their constituents who are being affected by this.
BLACKWELL: Yes, it's important fact there. Let's talk about the House now. Speaker Johnson believes that their budget blueprint will be passed by the end of the month. So that's a couple of weeks from now. Let's get one example from Freshman Republican Congressman Rob Bresnahan is in northeast Pennsylvania. He ran on kind of boilerplate cutting spending from his campaign. We need to stop the reckless spending, get inflation under control, cut taxes.
Friday, he posted this. I ran for Congress under a promise of always doing what is best for the people of northeastern Pennsylvania. If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it. Take us inside this intra party fight over what to cut.
KINNARD: This is a tough road ahead, perhaps for House Speaker Johnson, because as we've known, as we've all been talking about for several years, he really has had to wade between those further to the right, perhaps members of his party in his caucus and balancing through what he thinks can pass.
And so now as the House is looking toward really trying to make massive cuts to account for some of the spending that they would like to implement in terms of what President Trump wants to spend at the border and in military funding, trying to convince the members within his caucus, OK, these are the places that we're going to be needing to try to make these cuts to try to balance out getting tax cuts through.
That is a tough family conversation for a lot of the Republicans and looking toward those next couple of weeks where he says, OK, we think we're really going to be able to get this through. It'll be a very interesting conversation. Forget about the Democrats with whom they might have to have some of this going on too, but just within the Republicans themselves.
BLACKWELL: So let's talk about the Democrats family conversation. They're going to have one today. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is going to have a call with Democrats about how to approach the Republican Senate proposals, $175 million that Senator Lindsey Graham put in the plan for border security. What are they navigating?
KINNARD: Yes, they definitely are having some tough conversations, too. But with Chuck Schumer coming to his caucus on Senate Democrats side earlier this week and saying, OK, these are all of the different ways that we as Democrats are going to try to be messaging against Republicans. We have messaging, we have legislation, we have these committee meetings that we're going to be having and also potentially litigation if that's where we feel like it needs to go.
So while Chuck Schumer has indicated that he believes Democrats, at least from the Senate side, will be on board with trying to get through some sort of a bipartisan funding measure, as we come up on that deadline for government funding as well, they are certainly indicating that it's not going to be easy for Republicans. They're not going to make that a glide path for anything to go through.
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And they're going to make clear those differences that they have between the Republicans as who obviously now are in control of both chambers and the White House. And so, that's where Senate Democrats are really trying to make their message get across.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Meg Kinnard, thank you.
AMARA WALKER, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Still to come, a Texas measles outbreak may be linked to new cases in a different state. What you need to know when we come back.
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WALKER: And here are some of the top stories we are following this morning. Health officials in New Mexico have declared a measles outbreak after two more adults tested positive, bringing the total to three cases this week.
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While no hospitalizations have been reported, concerns are growing over the possible connection to an outbreak in a nearby Texas County. New Mexico is offering free measles vaccinations to help contain the spread. A white Kansas City man has pleaded guilty after accepting a plea deal for shooting a black teenager in 2023, when the teen mistakenly rang his doorbell.
Authorities say 86-year-old Andrew Lester shot Ralph Yarl twice, once in the head, once in the arm. Yarl survived the shooting and has since graduated from high school. Lester had been set to stand trial next week on first-degree assault and armed criminal action charges. As part of a plea deal, Lester pleaded guilty to second degree assault. He will be sentenced on March 7th.
And later today, Hong Kong's panda twin cubs are stepping into the spotlight, making their much-anticipated public debut. CNN got a sneak peek at the six-month old duo, born in August to Ying Ying, who became the oldest giant panda on record to give birth. Now, they're on the move, walking, playing and even testing their climbing skills.
BLACKWELL: Investigators are piecing together what led to that deadly mid-air collision between a Blackhawk helicopter and a commercial jet over D.C., this was on January 29th. The early findings suggest the helicopter's altitude gauge may have been inaccurate. CNN's Pete Muntean has more of the new details.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Major new details from this very revealing briefing by the National Transportation Safety Board, the first it has held since the week of that January 29th mid- air collision over Washington D.C. Also, the first time the NTSB has detailed the data it was able to pull from the black box on board the U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter.
Key findings from the NTSB included, they now believe that the crew of the Blackhawk helicopter was wearing night vision goggles, which may have actually limited their view, leading up to that mid-air collision. Also, the NTSB detailed a discrepancy captured by the cockpit voice recorder on board the helicopter, in which the crew disagreed on the altitude of the helicopter in the moments leading up to the crash.
The instructor pilot said the altitude was at 400 feet, while the pilot flying said at the same time, the altitude was at 300 feet. Remember, the limitation on the route for helicopters through the National Airport Airspace is 200 feet. The NTSB is confident that the radar altimeter on board that helicopter read 278 feet at the time of the collision.
That's a piece of equipment that bounces a radar beam out the ground. That beam bounces back to the aircraft, gives a readout of its height above the ground. Although, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy says it's not totally clear if the crew was referencing that instrument or using the standard altimeter that is used that reads air pressure.
And I want you to listen now to how she explained this to me, that this may have been a discrepancy, and it's something that the NTSB is now looking into.
JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NTSB: Yes, I think that's going to take a significant amount of work. I mean, we have a very experienced team in the recorder's lab, I'm very impressed with their work, but it's going to take some time, they're going to have to work with manufacturers of the equipment, the army and others to really understand what was going on.
MUNTEAN: Is it possible here that the Blackhawk crew did not have the holistic full picture of what altitude they were actually at?
HOMENDY: It's certainly possible. And that's something we're looking at.
MUNTEAN: One more major finding here that radio transmissions from the air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport may have actually been missed in some cases by the crew of the Blackhawk helicopter, specifically, an instruction from the tower to the helicopter to pass by the approaching American Airlines flight 5342.
The NTSB says the crew of the Blackhawk helicopter may have keyed the microphone button at the exact same time that they were getting that instruction from the tower, effectively blocking that transmission for eight-tenths of a second. This is something that the NTSB, of course, is looking into now, this investigation in total could take more than a year to complete.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right, Pete, thank you. We hear it all the time, see something? Say something. Coming up, how an anonymous phone call to a tip line may have prevented a school shooting in Indiana on Valentine's Day.
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WALKER: The Indiana teen accused of planning a Valentine's Day mass shooting is set for a bond-hearing on Tuesday.
BLACKWELL: CNN has learned that 18-year-old Trinity Shockley is now -- has an attorney and is currently in jail without bond. Now, police say someone reported the teen was obsessed with the Parkland Shooting in Florida and had access to a rifle. Here's CNN's law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild with more.
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WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is a very good example of the importance of see something, say something. Police say that February 11th, they learned through a tip that went to the FBI's Sandy Hook tip line that this teenager, Trinity Shockley, 18 years old, was planning a Valentine's Day shooting at their high school.
Trinity Shockley is transgender, often went by the name Jamie. It is not clear which pronouns they used. But police say what they learned through the course of this investigation was that, according to a tipster, Shockley had access to an AR-15.
[06:45:00]
The tipster told police that they had recently bought a bulletproof vest, and that they had a real obsession with the shooter who killed 17 people and wounded 17 people at the -- at Parkland, at the high school in Parkland, Florida, seven years ago on Valentine's Day. Here's more from the Mooresville police chief.
KERRY BUCKNER, POLICE CHIEF, MOORESVILLE, INDIANA: Nothing ever happens in Mooresville, it's a small town. But to think that somebody was plotting to hurt a lot of individuals or kids, I mean, future leaders of this country or whoever is pretty disturbing. The pictures in her room were -- they looked like family photographs, like you would put of your kids, but they were all of people that had committed mass shootings.
WILD: There are so many questions here, chief among them is why this happened. And the affidavit has quite a bit of detail. What the affidavit points out is that Shockley was grieving the recent death of their mother, had been bullied at school after being hit by a drunk driver, and felt guilt after learning that, that drunk driver later took their own life.
And further, the really big theme here is that what police have learned is that Shockley had a real fixation on mass shooters. In fact, in Shockley's bedroom, they found a collage of photos of other mass shooters. And what became very clear through the course of this investigation was that Shockley was particularly obsessed with, again, that shooter who carried out that massacre in Parkland, Florida, seven years ago.
Trinity Shockley is in custody without bond. But again, the big message here is, if there is concerning behavior, if people are talking about plotting a mass shooting, if there's any indication, police say bring it to them immediately because they can act quickly. And in this case, they say they can use that information to avoid tragedy. Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.
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WALKER: Whitney, thank you. And still to come, millions of people are under a severe weather threat this morning. We'll have more on what those areas can expect.
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BLACKWELL: Millions of people are under severe weather threats this weekend, which could bring flash flooding, high winds, maybe tornadoes.
WALKER: And that's in addition to the Winter weather many are already having to deal with. This was in Skokie, Illinois, yesterday, where first responders had to tackle a huge water main break in a flooded and ice-covered street. Let's turn to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Let's talk about the flash flooding threat, first of all, and where that threat is the greatest.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, so, it's a level four of four. It does not get higher than this. And they don't issue those very often. I want to emphasize that like these are incredibly rare. They're issued only about 4 percent of the days throughout the year. So, this is definitely something to take serious.
So, we look at that system as a whole. It's already starting to rain. You've got rain, you've got snow, you've even got some thunderstorms, and yes, even some ice component mixed in here. So, you can see that huge system as a whole. The stronger storms are going to be limited towards the southern tier of this, and then the cold air, that's where we're going to see more of that snow and wintry mix is on the northern side.
We talked about that potential for the flooding here. And here's the thing we talked about, again it only happens on 4 percent of the days, but it accounts for a significant amount of the fatalities as well as the damage. Even though again, these are issued so rarely throughout the year, it's going to be this pink color here.
But I want to emphasize, even if you live, say, in the yellow or the red-shaded area, you still have that potential for the flooding as we go through the rest of the day and into the early morning hours tomorrow. In addition to flooding, you also have potential for severe thunderstorms. We're talking damaging winds and yes, even some tornadoes.
This is going to be focused more across the southern, like the lower Mississippi Valley and the southeastern portion. Again, the timeline here is really going to be focused this evening and then through the overnight hours. So, make sure you have a way of getting some of those emergency alerts as we go through the overnight hours. By tomorrow, this system continues to shift off into the mid-Atlantic and eventually into the northeast.
BLACKWELL: OK, thanks, Allison.
WALKER: Thank you, Allison.
BLACKWELL: A company in South Carolina is using real feathers to make bow-ties that are showing up on the red carpets now at today's start small, think big.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN ROSS, CO-FOUNDER, BRACKISH: I was searching for a gift that could incorporate a touch of the outdoors when the day for my wedding was coming up, I went to the drawing board of how to incorporate feathers. One day, I happened to lay a turkey feather next to a bow-tie, and I saw the shape that fit the bow-tie shape, was the aha light bulb moment of the turkey feather bow-tie.
JEFF PLOTNER, CO-FOUNDER, BRACKISH: Then gifted these feather bow- ties to myself and the other groomsmen. I called up Ben, and said, hey, I think you got a really good idea that more people need to see. We started with this one bow-tie design and we have expanded to well over 400 different designs.
ROSS: All of our products here at Brackish are made from feathers, and they range from peacocks and guineas to turkeys and quail. No bird is ever harmed for us to obtain a single feather. Our feathers are sourced in two different ways, through the molt or byproduct of the industries that we're already harvesting those birds to go to the farm to table movement.
PLOTNER: We have a small team that's hand-making everything, and there is no substitute for hand-selecting every feather one-by-one, and it makes every single piece that we make very personal and unique.
ROSS: To repurpose the beauty of mother nature is one of the core things that we do here at Brackish.
PLOTNER: So, we've had our products seen at the Oscars on the red carpet with Bill Murray to Blake Lively, Andy Samberg, Don Cheadle.
ROSS: We'll continue to push the form, fashion and feather boundaries until somebody says stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: So, how was your Valentine's Day? I think it was good.
BLACKWELL: It was good, yes, OK.
WALKER: Raised eyebrows, beautiful smile --
BLACKWELL: Hey --
WALKER: Do you even still have a bow is the question? Like some people do something special with them. Well, it turns out breakups turn to increase around Valentine's Day, and that is according to the dating app Bumble.
BLACKWELL: If you happen to be one of those recently going through a breakup, the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore will help you enact a little revenge of your own. You can help conservation efforts at the same time for 5 bucks, the zoo will let you name a pot of elephant pooh --
WALKER: I like that --
BLACKWELL: After an X. The donation to the zoo will get you a certificate showing a close-up of the pile, and you can present that to your ex or really anybody if you choose.
WALKER: I'm sure people will just post it on social media --
