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Vatican: Pope In Stable Condition With "Complex Clinical" Infection; Delta Plane Flips Upside-Down And Catches Fire, 18 Injured; U.S. And Russia Begin Ukraine Talks In Saudi Arabia. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 18, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Well, we're waiting actually to get the latest update here any minute now, but we did get one communique from the Vatican that said that he will be canceling an audience for the Jubilee Year this coming Sunday. Now that, of course, is something that would have come as a great disappointment to him, obviously because the Jubilee Year is such an important event and there are these masses of people coming from all over the world. We do know that he is not going to be attending that this Sunday. We know little else than that though.

We -- this complex clinical situation that he has obviously has to do with his age -- 88 years old -- and with his mobility issues. You know, this is a man largely confined to a wheelchair. And he's got -- he was missing part of a lung from a previous infection when he was a young man, so he has that sort of compromised situation.

But we don't have an update yet this morning on how his night went and if the new medication that he's taking has come into effect yet -- if it's helped him at all. This will be the third time yesterday, we understand, that they've changed course for him. He was on a medical treatment before he entered the hospital, then he was on an antibiotic treatment from last Friday. Yesterday they said that they changed the treatment once again because presumably he wasn't responding well to it.

So we're hoping that we have good news this morning that this new treatment is working for him and that we'll have some kind of update. And we don't have any idea, of course, how long he'll be in the hospital and if and when we'll see an image of him in his hospital situation.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN ANCHOR: Barbie, you mentioned the changes to his official schedule, canceling some of those events. How is -- how is the church actually making contingency plans, and does someone step in for him? How do they go about the coming weeks and months, and what does that look like?

NADEAU: Yeah. You know, I mean, the Vatican is a finely oiled machine, you know. They've got backup plan after backup plan, and then another plan. So there's always someone at the ready to take over for him. And, you know, we saw this a couple of weeks ago when he was giving a mass in the Square and he couldn't catch his breath, and he couldn't speak. He was able to just hand his prepared remarks to a cleric who was able to read it on his behalf.

So, you know, there's always a contingency plan, especially when the Pope is of this age. Of course, you know, there are always going to be issues with elderly people in general, and this is the fourth time that this pope has been hospitalized. Two years ago in June he had -- was hospitalized here for a little over 10 days. He had surgery a couple of years ago as well for colon issues.

And so, you know, his compromised health is always going to be a concern, but the Vatican is ready in any eventuality, obviously, for what could happen.

And, of course, he's hoping to pick up his pace again if he gets out of the hospital. He's a got a trip in the works, or at least in the planning stages. He's supposed to be going to Turkey at some time in the spring.

So, of course, we have no idea what the next couple of days hold but we're expecting to have some new information here in the coming hour.

TAUSCHE: And Barbie Nadeau, we will come back to you for that information as we have it. We appreciate your reporting, Barbie Nadeau, from Rome.

More now on the fiery crash of Delta Airlines passenger jet that landed upside-down at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave everything! Drop it! Come on! Don't take your phones. Put that phone away!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Eighty people were on board that flight. All of them got alive although there were at least 18 injuries and plenty of rattled nerves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN NELSON, SURVIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH: We could smell, like, jet fuel. Even now I smell like jet fuel. A lot of stress. It's amazing that we're still here.

PETE KOUKOV, SURIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH: Just feeling lucky and happy I got to give the person I didn't know sitting next to me a big hug -- that we were OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: We have more details now on the crash and how everyone managed to survive from CNN's Paula Newton. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The investigation is already underway in what was an absolutely stunning crash with an equally startling outcome. Everyone survived. That is 76 passengers, four crew, all evacuated. There are injuries but none are life- threatening.

At this point in time the officials at Toronto airport saying that they really commend their first responders and, of course, the crew and passengers.

I do want you to listen now to one of those passengers describing exactly what it was like -- listen.

NELSON: When we hit it was just a super-hard -- like, it hit the ground and the plane went sideways. And I believe we skidded, like, on our side and then flipped over on our back where we ended up. There was, like, a big fireball out of the left side of the plane. And when we got finished it was -- I was upside-down.

NEWTON: Now, survivors did explain that they thought that there was a lot of snow and ice on the runway and that will certainly be something that's looked into in this investigation, and obviously the wind speeds as well.

[05:35:05]

I was at the Toronto airport just an hour before this incident and it was more snow than I had seen in the airport in many years of going through that location. Crews were working very hard to try and clear the runways of snow.

All of this to be sorted out by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board. They are leading this investigation but working closely, certainly, with U.S. officials who are already in Toronto beginning to try and unravel exactly what happened here.

Paula Newton, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAUSCHE: Our thanks to Paula Newton.

More tumult, meanwhile, and turnover at federal agencies as President Donald Trump and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency continue attempting sweeping changes to the government.

The latest career official caught up in their efforts, the Social Security Administration's acting commissioner Michelle King. Sources telling the Associated Press that King stepped down from her role over the weekend after refusing to provide DOGE staffers with access to Social Security recipient information. King is one of several high- ranking officials who has expressed concern about DOGE staffer having access to sensitive government databases. The group also accessed a critical Treasury payment system and has

attempted to get access to the Internal Revenue system's taxpayer data.

One of Trump's top aides is attempting to assuage any concerns about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CO-ANCHOR, "AMERICA REPORTS": Can you give assurances to people who faithfully pay their taxes in this country that DOGE isn't just going to go randomly sifting through the records and maybe come across the personal private records of a lot of Americans?

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: I can give absolute, 100 percent assurance. I give you complete and total assurance on that point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Joining me now, national political reporter for The Hill, Julia Manchester. Julia, good morning.

JULIA MANCHESTER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Good morning, Kayla.

TAUSCHE: Thank you for being here.

Looking at what has happened in just the last month since the inauguration and the different agencies and parts of the federal workforce that DOGE has targeted, originally it was thought to be very specific, very -- you know, surgical targeted, but now it's become a very sweeping operation.

I'm wondering what do you see and what do your sources see as the strategy here?

MANCHESTER: Well look, that's a big concern I think obviously among Democrats but even some Republicans about the strategy itself. Look, four Republicans and just generally people who want to cut down on what they say is maybe fat or bloat in our federal government -- you know, they think that maybe you target that stuff and then leave it alone essentially.

But there is this feeling that this is way too sweeping. There isn't that pinpointed of a strategy. It is essentially going on there and kind of getting rid of a ton of people without much of a strategy. Not -- you know, not much thinking about it if you will. So there's a lot of concern that there isn't really a ton of pinpointing there when it comes to DOGE. That they are sort of doing this blindly.

There's also a concern that maybe someone like Elon Musk, the private sector, doesn't understand where -- how to do this. How to approach the federal government without much experience in that realm. TAUSCHE: You know, you mentioned the qualms that some lawmakers have. I've heard from some GOP lawmakers who have said that their offices have been flooded with calls from constituents with a number of concerns. But one of them that they hear repeatedly now is why does Elon Musk have my Social Security number? Why does Elon Musk have my taxpayer I.D.?

You heard Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff to the president, trying to give some assurances on those fronts, but how much is this actually unsettling Republicans in Trump's own party?

MANCHESTER: It's unsettling because like you said, these Republicans are getting calls from their constituents because they turn on the news, they read newspapers, and they hear things like Social Security I.D. number, IRS. They are concerned that someone who Democrats are painting as someone who doesn't necessarily have experience in this realm has access to their Social Security information -- their very personal information.

There's also concerns about who is DOGE? Who's working in DOGE? Who are these staffers that are going in and conducting research and essentially doing DOGE's bidding? I think there's a lot of unknowns there and that's what's concerning.

On top of that, a lot of these lawmakers -- and it's not just here in Washington, D.C. and the greater Washington, D.C. area -- a lot of these lawmakers have constituents who work in the federal government and their concerns about -- they're concerned about their own livelihoods, their own jobs, and what that looks like. How maybe their own communities' economy are impacted by this? So I think it goes much broader than this concern about personal information but also how their livelihoods are impacted outside of that.

TAUSCHE: I also want to ask you about the nuclear weapons staff that the Trump administration fired but then quickly tried to rehire.

[05:40:00]

Listen to what Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I mean, over the weekend hundreds of people who guard our nuclear stockpiles were let go and fired. And then they realized oops, that might be really dangerous and brought them back.

I mean, this is what's going on when you do things like this instead of simply saying OK, we want to make some budget cuts. We want to make things more efficient. Let's work to do this. Let's have some goals --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: So she's raising concerns about some of these Energy Department employees who were let go. They had oversight of the nuclear weapons stockpile. Very specialized skills and information. This idea that Elon Musk and these private sector employees that he

has come in with the mantra of move fast and break things --

MANCHESTER: Right.

TAUSCHE: -- what happens when they need to put it back together?

MANCHESTER: Well, that's the concern that there isn't really a targeted, pinpointed strategy in place. That they are doing this almost blindly, just looking to sort of check things off of a list. That they aren't thinking about the repercussions going forward.

And we obviously heard from Amy Klobuchar and Democrats. But like I said, there are some Republicans who may agree with DOGE and DOGE's mission and theory. Of course, Republicans and even some Democrats want to cut down on the size of the federal government. But I think there's a question of how it's done, the speed at which it's done, and the caution in which it's deployed.

TAUSCHE: You've now seen defections -- voluntary defections by some of these officials in acting roles who have a lot of heartburn about the way that DOGE is going about this.

We mentioned the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration. There were senior officials at the Treasury Department who had very acute agita over the attempt to get access to those systems. You have Department of Justice officials --

MANCHESTER: Yeah.

TAUSCHE: -- HHS officials.

At what point do you think the alarm would have been properly sounded? Because at this point it seems that broadly, Republicans and the Trump administration have said those are career officials. We don't mind if they leave.

MANCHESTER: Right. And, I mean, the problem is if they're career officials leaving, they understand how these departments work. They understand the -- understand the ins and outs. They're not just political appointees. They've been there for years, sometimes decades. So them leaving creates a massive vacuum or could create a massive vacuum in knowledge and how these departments are run.

So a lot of concern as to what happens because without that presence, without that knowledge, where do these departments go from there? I mean, if they're cutting down on the size of these departments, the size of staffing, I'm assuming that in many cases a lot of these officials aren't going to be replaced. So how do -- how are these departments run going forward?

TAUSCHE: The ramifications we will be learning about for some time to come.

MANCHESTER: Right -- it's so vague.

TAUSCHE: Julia Manchester from The Hill. Julia, thank you so much.

MANCHESTER: Thank you.

TAUSCHE: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING peace talks underway in Saudi Arabia. Russia and the U.S. trying to bring an end to the war in Ukraine without Ukraine at the table.

Plus, the U.S. and Canada set to face off in the 4 Nations final.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:47:25]

TAUSCHE: Right now talks underway between top diplomats from the U.S. and Russia over how to end the conflict in Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. is keen to determine the Kremlin's intent, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says the meeting aims to end what he called an abnormal period between two "great powers."

But key players are not even at the table, including NATO and Ukraine's leader. Instead, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with the Turkish president in the coming hours.

CNN's Matthew Chance spoke with one of the Russian diplomats in Riyadh earlier who says he already met with members of Trump's team ahead of these talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: What has that team promised you here? Have you -- have they given you an indication about what they're going to give you?

KIRILL DMITRIEV, CEO, RUSSIAN DIRECT INVESTMENT FUND: No. I think the promise is let's get dialogue. Let's figure out the best solution for our countries, for other countries, and for the global community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Let's go now to CNN's Fred Pleitgen live in Moscow. Fred, U.S. and Russian delegations have now been in discussions for more than 2 1/2 hours. What do you believe that Russia is willing to concede in those talks?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Kayla -- it's 2 1/2 hours. They took a short break and apparently now they're back to negotiating is the latest that we have from -- there from Saudi Arabia.

But I was able to ask the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday before he departed for Saudi Arabia at a press conference what exactly the Russians would be willing to give in terms of negotiations, especially when it comes to territory in Ukraine?

And the answer I got from was not very much. He launched into a tirade about the Ukrainians. About all the crimes they had allegedly committed. And essentially was saying that the Russians are not willing to give back any of the territory that they currently occupy on the Ukrainian side of the border. And, of course, that's something that could make negotiations fairly difficult.

And one of the things that we've been hearing here over the past couple of days in Moscow as these talks have been drawing closer is that the Russians do say that there are lot of things that they consider red lines for themselves.

There is, for instance, the territory that Ukraine still holds on the Russian side of the border in the Kursk region where the Russians also say they don't want that to be a bargaining chip. They don't want that to be any part of any negotiations that they might have with Kyiv. They want to take that back militarily. So that obviously complicated things as well.

And then finally, they also say that they don't want Ukraine to become a member of NATO. They don't want that to be on the table either. So those talks certainly will be quite difficult.

[05:50:00]

But if we look at what is going on today it was quite interesting because Kirill Dmitriev, that gentleman that Matthew interviewed yesterday -- he earlier today said look, all of these talks right now are exploratory. The U.S. and Russia have not spoken to each other for an extended period of time. Right now they're sort of trying to feel each other out and see what's going on. See to what extent they're willing to go and which directly they're willing to go.

And you sort of see that the U.S. and the Russians seem to have different emphasis -- points of emphasis if you will. The Trump administration, of course, has been speaking about the fact that the president wants to end the war in Ukraine as fast as possible. For the Russians though, it does seem as though everything is a little bit broader than that.

Yesterday one of the main negotiators, Yuri Ushakov -- when he landed in Saudi Arabia, he was asked what the goals of these negotiations are, and he said that it was clearly a normalization of the relations between Russia and the United States. Now, of course, that could take a while. But that, for the Russians, indicates that the Ukraine was is part of it.

Of course, a meeting between Donald Trump -- between the president and the president of Russia Vladimir Putin also very important for them. But they also want sanctions relief, and they also want a normalization of diplomatic and economic relations between the U.S. and Russia, Kayla.

TAUSHCE: And we will see whether the needle moved on any of those items during their multiple hours of negotiations in Riyadh.

Fred Pleitgen in Moscow. Fred, thank you.

It is time now for sports. It'll be Team USA versus Team Canada in the championship game of hockey's 4 Nations Face-Off.

Carolyn Manno has this morning's CNN sports update. Good morning, Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kayla.

So round one of the USA-Canada rivalry was electric this past Saturday if you saw it. The teams got into three fights in the first nine seconds of play. And fans are going to be treated to round two on Thursday thanks to Canada's win over Finland yesterday.

Canada went into the game needing a win in regulation to advance to that final and they came out firing. Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon scoring 46 seconds apart in the opening five minutes of the game.

And it looked like it was going to be a blowout until Esa Lindell got Finland on the board with under six minutes left in the third. And then back-to-back goals by Mikael Granlund with under two minutes left cut the game to 4-3. So it was Canada's captain Sidney Crosby in the end putting a comeback attempt on ice with an empty net goal securing the 5-3 win and a rematch with the Americans for the title.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATHAN MACKINNON, CENTER, TEAM CANADA: The Americans -- we -- you know, we'd love to play them again. You know, we feel like we could beat those guys. And, you know, we plan on playing a little better Thursday.

JON COOPER, COACH, TEAM CANADA: I'm really looking forward to the game. This is why we came here. And regardless if other people out there say we're the underdogs -- I mean, everybody in that room thinks we have a really chance -- a really good chance to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: As you heard, Team USA had already clinched a spot in the championship game before the puck dropped for last night's game against Sweden. Chris Crider gave the Americans the lead just 35 seconds into the game.

And the game featured a pretty scary moment too when Brady Tkachuk crashed into the goal post. He didn't take another shift in the game for precautionary reasons. Sweden's Gus Nyquist tying it up later in the first. And then Jesper Bratt, after that, would put the Swedes in the lead for the goal about six minutes later. So that would end up being the game-winner.

After the 2-1 loss, USA's head coach Mike Sullivan looking ahead to facing Canada with the title on the line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE SULLIVAN, HEAD COACH, TEAM USA: There's a lot of pride at stake, um, and it will be a hard-fought battle. That's what I would anticipate. So I think it's a great celebration of hockey -- it really is. I mean, it's -- there's some of the generational talents on both sides. It's so awesome from my standpoint, you know. I feel like I get the best seat in the house being behind the bench.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: A showdown of epic proportion for hockey fans. USA-Canada rematch set for Thursday night at 8:00 Eastern in Boston.

Lastly this morning, the man -- potentially the top pick in this year's upcoming NFL Draft, has a warning for teams who might be thinking about passing on him in April. After winning the Davey O'Brien award on Monday, which is given to the nation's top quarterback, Miami's Cam Ward was answering questions about his decision to skip the second half of his team's bowl game against Iowa State.

And he told the Associated Press, "You're either going to draft me or you're not. If you don't draft me, that's your fault. You've got to remember you're the same team that's got to play me for the rest of my career, and I'll remember that."

So there's nothing really on the line for Miami in the Pop-Tart Bowl, Kayla, back in December. He said that decision not to risk injury in the second half was determined by the coaching staff ahead of time.

But Tennessee, with the top pick in the draft, picking either quarterback and they might regret it if they don't take Ward.

Kayla, back to you.

TAUSCHE: They've got two months until draft day to figure it out.

Carolyn Manno, thank you. We appreciate it.

Up ahead on CNN THIS MORNING a search for answers over how a Delta Airlines plane with 80 people on board crashed and flipped upside- down.

[05:55:00]

Plus, top deputies in Eric Adams' administration step down as calls intensify for the embattled mayor to resign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, (D) NEW YORK CITY: And they're the largest voices out there that is calling for me to step down is the public advocate. Can you imagine turning the city over to him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

TAUSCHE: It's Tuesday, February 18. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELSON: And we hit the ground, and we were sideways. And then we were upside-down hanging like bats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: "Hanging like bats." A plane crashes and flips upside-down during landing. Miraculously, no one died. The latest on that investigation.

Plus --

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VOLODYMRY ZELENSKYY, UKRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We cannot recognize anything or any agreements about us without us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Not invited. Kyiv and Europe left out of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Senior U.S. and Russian officials meeting right now in Saudi Arabia.

Then later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Trump has directed Elon Musk and the DOGE team to identify fraud at the Social Security Administration.