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Trump Echoes Russian Talking Points about Ukraine War; Judge to Consider Dropping Adams Case; Russia-Ukraine Envoy Lands in Kyiv. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 19, 2025 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:34:36]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Canadian investigators have now recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Delta passenger jet that crashed, burned and flipped upside down at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. A new video shows the harrowing moments that followed.
Here's CNN's Jason Carroll with the latest.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): New video capturing the shocking moment a Delta commuter jet crash landed and flipped, leaving passengers strapped in their seats, hanging upside down Monday at Toronto's Pearson Airport.
[06:35:09]
DEBORAH FLINT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, TORONTO PEARSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: The crew of Delta Flight 4819 heroically led passengers to safety.
I thank each and every one of these heroes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave everything. Drop it. Come on.
CARROLL (voice over): Those heroes swiftly and efficiently evacuated all 76 Passengers off the aircraft after it crashed. As they crawled one by one out of the plane, passengers helped each other along the way.
PETE CARLSON, SURVIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH TO TORONTO: You could see kind of row by row, or area by area, people were checking one another out, making decisions about whether we would help one another with their straps, or if by doing that would they be landing on somebody else.
CARROLL (voice over): One passenger told "OUTFRONT" that all seemed normal as the aircraft was on its final descent, but then suddenly a hard landing. The new video, filmed from another plane on the tarmac, captures the jet erupting in flames as it skids down the runway and flips over.
JOHN NELSON, SURVIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH IN TORONTO: When we hit, it was just a super hard like - like a 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.
PETE KOUKOV, SURVIVED DELTA PLANE CRASH IN TORONTO: There was no like real indication of anything. And then, yes, we hit the ground and we were sideways and then we were upside down hanging like bats.
CARROLL (voice over): In the few days leading up to the crash, Toronto received more snow than it had the entire previous winter. But officials say it's too early to answer if that was a factor in the crash.
DEBORAH FLINT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, TORONTO PEARSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate on what caused the crash.
CARROLL (voice over): Canadian officials say 21 people on board were injured, none were life-threatening. And on Tuesday afternoon, officials said only two remained in the hospital.
The incident comes as the aviation industry is still reeling from recent accidents involving an American Airlines commuter jet and a military chopper near Washington, D.C., a medevac jet in Philadelphia, and a Bering Air flight near Nome, Alaska. Passengers on board Flight 4819 say its remarkable everyone survived.
CARLSON: I think the most powerful part of today was, there was just - just people. No countries. No nothing. It was just people together helping each other.
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SCIUTTO: Yes, what a relief for all those passengers and their families.
Now, turning to the Ukraine War.
A four-hour long meeting between U.S. and - the U.S. and Russia to discuss an end to the war there, with both countries agreeing to appoint a team to help negotiate an end to the fighting.
Earlier this morning, the Trump administration's Russia-Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for more talks there.
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KEITH KELLOGG, U.S. ENVOY FOR RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: We understand the need for security guarantees. We are - it's very clear to us the importance of the sovereignty of this nation and the independence of this nation as well. And we're going to - and part of my mission is to sit and listen and say, OK, what are your concerns? Where are we at? So we can go back to the United States, talk to President Trump and with Secretary Rubio and the rest of the team and just ensure that we are - that we get this one right.
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SCIUTTO: The Kremlin says talks between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could take place before the end of the month.
Let's bring in CNN's global affairs analyst, Kim Dozier.
First to the big picture here, regardless of what Keith Kellogg says there about the importance of security guarantees. The man that matters, the president, the commander in chief, has endorsed Russia's framing of the war. What does that mean - which is false, by the way. What does that mean for this administration's approach to these negotiations? And is it likely that they force or attempt to force Ukraine's hand?
KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, General Kellogg is going to get an earful, like you and I both have been getting from Ukrainian and European officials since Trump's comments. And I think President Zelenskyy is speaking about it right now.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DOZIER: They are bewildered. They are angry. They don't understand how President Putin apparently got inside Trump's head.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DOZIER: And I'm thinking about Trump's national security team. He's got, you know, Steve Witkoff Trump has known forever, and he's new to this. But Marco Rubio, as a senator, was strong on Russia. And Mike Waltz, as Vice President Cheney's deputy national security advisor, got to see the whole incident where Putin seemed to be reaching out to the Bush administration and then betrayed them on a number of levels, most importantly with the 2008 surprise invasion of Georgia.
[06:40:05]
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DOZIER: And Cheney's office thought that Bush hadn't been strong enough and tough enough on Putin. Waltz and Rubio both, I'm sure, will be trying to get to Trump behind closed doors to explain, you don't want to get rolled by this master manipulator. You can't trust him.
SCIUTTO: But the recent history of Trump, right, is -
DOZIER: Yes.
SCIUTTO: Is that, first of all, there aren't a lot of folks willing, it seems, to speak truth to power when it comes to Trump because they look at others who have, and they're gone, right?
DOZIER: Yes.
SCIUTTO: And Trump's attitude in his second administration seems to be, I'm not going to be hemmed in by these mainstream or deep state or old school guys, like he perceives he was during his previous administration.
So, what is the - what is the likely effectiveness, even if - if a Rubio or a Waltz goes to him and says, don't get snowed by Putin.
DOZIER: So, this is where Witkoff, as a newcomer, may be very useful because Trump is more surrounded by MAGA types now because Waltz and Rubio are also firmly in the MAGA camp. So, they may be able to make an argument to Trump that you don't want to get rolled. We've seen this guy before. Let's road test the offers he's making.
But that still - the - the opposite side of what's going to happen because of this is that the Ukrainians, Europeans, the Brits, they're all, in a way, as never before, saying, we really do have to be prepared to go it alone.
SCIUTTO: Right.
DOZIER: Because we're not going to sacrifice our democratic principles. And if Ukraine falls, we may be next.
SCIUTTO: Democratic principles and national - and national security.
DOZIER: Right.
SCIUTTO: Their own national security. And I think - I agree with you, that's the other headline from Munich is, it's not just the fear that Ukraine is being abandoned, it's that the U.S. is abandoning Europe, or preparing to. Remarkable times.
Kim Dozier, thanks so much for joining this morning.
DOZIER: Thanks.
SCIUTTO: Just after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, dismissing the case. Today a judge will consider a motion to throw out corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Plus, widespread government layoffs hitting now the national park system, raising concerns about how these parks will operate. Will they be open in peak tourist season?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How dare we - we treat the people that work in Yosemite like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It felt merciless. I - you know, I felt violated. Very disheartening.
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[06:46:57]
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STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": He may be mayor, but these are the people that actually administer the city. The resignations were from the first deputy mayor, the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, deputy mayor for operations and deputy mayor for public safety. So, at this point, the city is evidently being run by the remaining deputy mayor, 100 rats in a trench coat.
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SCIUTTO: Wow. That's scary.
New York Mayor Eric Adams' political career on the line this morning after several of his top deputies stepped down. The New York governor is now weighing whether to remove him from his post, a power the New York governor has. Today, a judge will consider a motion from the Department of Justice to drop the federal corruption case against him. That move from the DOJ set off a series of resignations, including the acting U.S. attorney who said the order amounted to a quid pro quo, getting his charges dropped in exchange for helping the Trump administration with its immigration crackdown.
Adams has denied any quid pro quo. It is something that Democrats are concerned about.
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REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): It's a deeply disturbing development. Mayor Adams has a responsibility to decisively demonstrate to the people of New York City that he has the capacity to continue to govern in the best interest of New Yorkers, as opposed to taking orders from the Trump administration.
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SCIUTTO: My panel back with me.
And, Karen Finney, I have to ask you, would it be a good thing, a good look for a Democratic governor of the state of New York, to remove him from office, or should she leave it to the voters? There's a primary coming up.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the judge's decision is going to give her a little bit of political cover. If the judge comes out and says, this is a sham, this case should have gone forward, it certainly, as I say, gives her cover.
And I think we have to remember politically, Adams has been in political trouble for a while in the city.
SCIUTTO: Yes. FINNEY: And has been losing confidence, obviously, with the individuals who left. I mean people had great confidence in those four individuals.
The challenge, though, is, in New York City, Andrew Cuomo is going to run for mayor.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
FINNEY: He has the money. He has the -
SCIUTTO: We know that? That's - that's not just theory (ph)?
FINNEY: Well, OK, he's saying he's going to.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
FINNEY: Let's put it - put it that way. He's - he's got the money. And so the question becomes, if you push Adams out, what does that do to the dynamics of the mayor's race? And who then would ascend? And who might end up being the mayor? And so there's some tension there that she's also navigating, in addition to whether or not people have confidence in Adams.
SCIUTTO: Right.
Kristen, would that give Republicans ammunition politically in the state of, you know, political interference, et cetera?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think Republicans, while the idea of Republicans winning statewide say in New York is - is still fairly farfetched, it's less farfetched than it was five, ten years ago. You saw Republicans do better than expected in the 2024 election.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
ANDERSON: And anything that is Democratic, on Democratic political conflict is something Republicans will love.
[06:50:03]
But I also think there's the question, is - is this all coming up because Mayor Adams has been accused of corruption? Because that's been around for a while now. Or is this because he's engaging with the Trump administration? He's showing up on Fox. And, to me, that doesn't feel like a reason to remove a mayor.
SCIUTTO: Is that - do you think that's' what's behind it? I mean he does have - it's not just him, right? Several members of his administration under investigation as well.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. No, I don't think that's what's going on here. I think even though that has been discussed for a while, there is a very credible case that was moving forward. And this is - actually we saw the fallout in the DOJ about this. So, no, I don't think that's it. I think what's happening now is that Donald Trump is meddling in this and has dangled a pardon.
And the bigger context within which this sits is, the power of the presidency to issue pardons usually is kept to the end of a term. He seems to be indulging in this now as a sort of political - currying political favor. And what exactly is to stop Donald Trump from, you know, offering this kind of pardon to all sorts of people that might do his bidding?
SCIUTTO: That's a very good point. Right.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that is the question, I think, that worries people who worry about the rule of law.
SCIUTTO: Andrew Cuomo for mayor of New York?
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I'm not a huge Andrew Cuomo fan, but I think he'd be better than - than Eric Adams.
I think, you flip this around, you can also say, look, Trump is dangling pardons, as you say, and all that, but New Yorkers are watching Eric Adams seek pardon, right? I mean like there was this fantastic story where on the night before inauguration Adams gets a call at 1:00 in the morning saying, OK, you can come to the inauguration.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
FINNEY: That's right.
GOLDBERG: So, he ghosts all of his Martin Luther King Day events that he was supposed to do throughout the day in New York City, gets in a car at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and drives to Washington just so he can suck up for a pardon. New Yorkers saw that, right?
I mean, so, like, there's - there's this - you know, New Yorkers, I grew up in New York City, I love New York City, but it can be really, really parochial. And it could be that this is not so much a Trump story for a lot of these people as it is - it's an Adams story, and he's an embarrassment.
SCIUTTO: And, at the end of the day, right, New Yorkers, they - they - they look to how the city is operating, right? Is the garbage being collected? Are the rats, you know, running over my - my restaurant table?
GOLDBERG: Well, now that the deputy mayor is 100 rats -
SCIUTTO: Yes, exactly.
GOLDBERG: (INAUDIBLE) this out.
FINNEY: (INAUDIBLE) under control.
SCIUTTO: All right, thanks so much. My panel will be back.
French President Emmanuel Macron will host another round of talks with global leaders today on Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. European and Ukrainian officials were, we should note, sidelined from this week's talks between the U.S. and Russia in Saudi Arabia. Also sidelined, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has postponed his own visit to Saudi Arabia until March 10th. Zelenskyy emphasized that no deal can be made to end the war without, understandably so, Ukraine's participation.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Putin is waging this war inside Ukraine. Putin is killing Ukrainians, not Americans. And not Europeans, but Ukrainians are dying.
Our pain is immense and cannot be negotiated without us. You can meet whoever you want, but you can't talk about us without us. I make it clear that we will not accept this.
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SCIUTTO: President Trump's Russia-Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv just a few hours ago to meet with Ukrainian leaders.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us live from Kyiv.
And I wonder, do Ukrainians believe that Keith Kellogg speaks for the president here and has their interests at heart?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ultimately they have little choice, obviously, but to have faith in everything that they speak to General Keith Kellogg about during his likely three day visit here. It feeds back to the president of the United States and influences his decision.
He arrived early morning at a railway station here. And I asked him what his message would be. And he did say, look, you know, part of this is going to be about listening, but also about security guarantees. And that is something we hear again from the United States.
But at the same time, it does appear that their policy is less American military involvement. Certainly no boots on the ground here too.
But he was also asked, President Zelenskyy, in a later press conference about the remarks we heard last night from Trump. President Trump himself suggesting that Zelenskyy himself had very low poll ratings of 4 percent, and indeed also suggesting that some of the weapons sent to Ukraine had indeed gone missing. Zelenskyy responded quite, I think, forcefully here, essentially suggesting that the White House chief has around him a pretty bad information. Here's what he said.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Unfortunately, President Trump, I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people always support us, unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Now this, of course, increases that sense of tension, I think it's fair to say, between Trump and Zelenskyy on a day in which Trump's envoy finally arrives here.
[06:55:03]
Zelenskyy went on to say that the meeting in Saudi Arabia had indeed ended the long isolation of Putin. Putin, by Trump's predecessor, the Biden administration.
So, a lot of really steep questions to be answered here. The issue of security guarantees formount (ph) certainly when it comes to conversations we'll be having with General Kellogg. And really a heartfelt plea from Zelenskyy when I asked him what security guarantees look like, he said send us air defenses. If you don't want to send us boots on the ground, then use your ships. Send us patriot missiles so we can defend ourselves. Increasing air attacks nightly here in Ukraine. That's the civilian toll that so often referred to.
But I think a real sense of Zelenskyy standing certainly up for Ukraine's interests here, knocking aside the notion of his polling being so low. He said it was 57 percent and they'd be presenting in the weeks ahead data to consolidate that.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
WALSH: Elections are very tricky issue to contemplate during wartime. But that sense, I think, of increasingly fraught relationship building, particularly after Saudi Arabia.
Jim.
SCIUTTO: And Russia, of course, a long history of interfering in Ukrainian elections.
Nick Paton Walsh, in Kyiv, thanks so much.
Fifty-five minutes past the hour and here's your morning roundup.
Pope Francis diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs following a CT scan on Tuesday. The Vatican says the tests continue to indicate a, quote, "complex picture" for the 88 year old pontiff. Despite that diagnosis, the Vatican says the pope remains in good spirits.
Federal prosecutors have charged seven Chilean men with stealing millions in valuables from NFL and NBA players' homes. This selfie allegedly shows some of the men inside the home of a Milwaukee Bucks player holding his collection of watches. The alleged victims also include the Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow and the Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (January 20, 1961): Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: That speech by President John F. Kennedy, one of the many in the archives of his presidential library in Boston. But the library abruptly closed on Tuesday after a wave of federal employee firings.
Trump's latest target for cuts, the national park system. One thousand newly hired National Park Service employees were fired just over the past week, with peak season just around the corner. Permanent staff cuts will leave many national parks understaffed, forcing them to make tough decisions about when they stay open, also about public safety. Local rangers say they're already feeling the impact.
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ANDREA TOWNSEND, FIRED FROM YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK: It's devastating to lose this opportunity that I worked so hard for. And I know the same is true for so many other people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems like a cheap shot.
BRIAN GIBBS, FIRED FROM EFFIGY MOUNDS NATIONAL MONUMENT: Very challenging to lose a stable income and to lose my insurance and to try and, you know, feel that I can comfortably, confidently take care of my - my family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Panel back with me.
And, Kristen, this strikes me as one of those, this will touch the lives of voters decisions here, right? You want to turn up with your family at Yellowstone, and there's no one there to check your ticket.
ANDERSON: And I think it's also because this is mostly outside of this beltway bubble, that this has the potential for more resonance, right? When you test how to feel - people feel, favorably or unfavorably about a range of different federal agencies.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
ANDERSON: I mean the national parks are something that is so unifying and brings people together. And again, it's outside of this bubble.
And so, do I think that most Americans feel a ton of sympathy for someone who has a white collar, middle management job in the bureaucracy, who now is going to be furloughed? I really don't think that your average voter has as much sympathy. But for, hey, what are you doing to these folks who are working at these parks?
SCIUTTO: Yes.
ANDERSON: The local rangers.
SCIUTTO: Park rangers.
ANDERSON: Am I going to be able to go on my vacation? I do think that there's a (INAUDIBLE) there.
SCIUTTO: And by the way, they would care if that person in the office in Washington is signing a check for them. I might just say -
FINNEY: Yes.
SCIUTTO: That might - that might factor into their thoughts, but -
ANDERSON: I - yes, for sure. But I just - in terms of the -
SCIUTTO: I hear you.
ANDERSON: Yes.
SCIUTTO: I hear you.
FINNEY: But I think what we're learning, though, is that the people who work in our federal government aren't just these white collar bureaucrats. They are people who work in our parks service or at the national libraries or VA centers, or Social Security Administration centers around the country.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Americans are getting an education on what the federal government actually does.
FINNEY: Yes.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And it's happening in real.
FINNEY: And they're people you know in your community.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And - and they are people you know in your community. The - actually, the majority of federal workforce is not in Washington, D.C.
SCIUTTO: A lot of Republican lawmakers have made that very point, that the majority are in, and they might very well be in my home district you've heard from some Republican senators.
GOLDBERG: Yes, I mean, there's a, you know, there's a medical research stuff in Alabama where people are freaking out about the cuts to all that.
I do think it's funny, though, because this goes - this is sort of like the shutdown fights we get in Washington every whatever - you know, too often. It is - there are all these stories saying, Americans will - the backlash will come when they close down the national parks. SCIUTTO: Right.
[07:00:01]
GOLDBERG: There's a cautionary tale there for Republicans, and we've all made it, and I understand it. There's a cautionary tale for Democrats there.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GOLDBERG: If Americans don't notice the federal government is being slashed until it affects the national parks, it means the federal government is doing a lot of things that Americans aren't paying any attention to at all.
SCIUTTO: Yes. And that's - listen, and there will be some cuts, frankly, that the American people welcome.
Thanks so much to all of you for joining me this morning. I'll buy your coffee. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Jim Sciutto. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.
