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Senate Confirms Kash Patel As Trump's FBI Director; Zelenskyy: Meeting With U.S. Envoy Kellogg Was "Productive"; Canada Gets Revenge On Team USA In 4 Nations Final. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 21, 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]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Five twenty-nine a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Las Vegas -- probably still hopping at 2:29 a.m. Pacific time out there this morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Friday.

Staunch Trump supporter and conservative firebrand Kash Patel confirmed to lead the FBI. The Senate voting mostly along party lines. Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joined Democrats to vote against his confirmation. Democrats were fiercely opposed to Patel's nomination warning that he'll use the position to seek retribution against President Trump's political enemies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Think about what you will tell your constituents -- more important, your family -- maybe your grandchildren -- about why you picked and voted for this person who will so completely and utterly disgrace this office and so such grave damage to our nation's justice system.

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): Kash Patel, mark my words, will cause evil in this building behind us, and Republicans who vote for him will rue that day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: During his Senate confirmation hearing Patel assured lawmakers he won't politicize the bureau.

Joining us now Jackie Kucinich, Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe. Jackie, good morning to you.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Good morning.

HUNT: Thank you so much for being here.

So Patel, like all these other Trump nominees -- he did get some opposition but he's sailing through and put in that seat.

What was the thinking behind, I mean, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting against him, and what is the future for the bureau?

KUCINICH: So one of the things that Susan Collins cited was that this really should be a staunchly apolitical position and that -- which is why it's a 10-year post in theory. It's supposed to span several administrations in order to keep it out of politics. That is -- instead, when someone like a Christopher Wray, who was another Trump appointee, was known as someone who kind of eschewed politics and stayed away from it. However, this is a very different departure from that.

Kash Patel, as we know, is a Trump loyalist. He's someone who said all sorts of things when Trump was inside and outside of office and -- which is why you're hearing so much concern from Democrats and, as you mentioned, some corners of the Republican Party.

HUNT: Yeah.

Jackie, let's talk kind of big picture here because the other thing that we saw unfold yesterday on the CPAC stage -- I mean, we showed everyone Elon Musk with the chainsaw --

KUCINICH: Interesting.

HUNT: -- which was a moment. But the big picture issue that put Donald Trump and J.D. Vance that -- over the top was inflation, right? Americans feel -- felt like everything cost too much and they were unhappy with the Biden administration about it.

We have seen signs that inflation is on the way back up here in the early days of the Trump administration. There are some things that they've done that business leaders say is going to be inflationary. The tariffs is the most obvious example but there are other examples as well.

J.D. Vance was on stage at CPAC yesterday talking about the bring prices down project and how fast that may or may not work. Let's watch what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the first interviews I did -- it was I think six or seven days after the inauguration and somebody asked me well, it's been six days. What have you gotten --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yeah.

VANCE: -- done to fix the inflation --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

VANCE: -- prices created by Joe Biden? And I'm like well, first of all, it's been six days. We've done a lot in six days. But it's going to take some time to fix what Joe Biden broke over four years. And we know it is -- it is easy unfortunately to burn the house down. It takes a little bit of time to build it back up. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: But, of course, the reality, Jackie, is that the Biden administration absolutely -- I mean, inflation was raging early in his term. They did do some things to tamp it down later on and it had been trending in the right direction to the point that Jerome Powell was starting to cut interest rates --

KUCINICH: Right.

HUNT: -- instead of continuing to raise them. And now we're trending in the other direction.

How long are Americans going to put up with it?

KUCINICH: So you could only blame the last administration so long and you can only blame things that -- policies that were implemented in -- with the former administration so long. So we'll have to see when they've finally -- when they've finally had enough. Perhaps it will be the midterms. And maybe prices will go down. We don't know at this point.

I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe all the things they are saying will happen. The policies that are currently being put into order. A lot of economists have a lot of concerns about whether this will actually bring prices down for Americans.

But when it comes to those kitchen table issues as the Biden administration found out you can only say so much. If people don't feel like their lives are getting better, they tend to take their politicians to task for it.

[05:35:00]

HUNT: Yeah. And, I mean, there was a really interesting number in our CNN poll that we put out yesterday looking at Trump's approval rating. And there was a list of issues -- has Donald Trump gone too far, done too much? And only 11 percent of people thought he had done too much to lower prices, right? Everyone wants -- seems to want him to do more.

KUCINICH: Right. Your personal economy is what a lot of people vote on.

HUNT: Right, for sure. And, in fact, I think we have that list.

Jackie, the other -- the other thing -- and this is, of course -- there you go -- gone too far. The number of people that think he's gone too far, 11 percent. Been about right, only 30 percent. And 62 percent of Americans say, like, he's not done enough on this.

KUCINICH: Right.

HUNT: They are pointing to what they want to do in Congress as part of this, right? Lowering taxes -- business taxes to try to juice the economy, et cetera. But actually doing that is not going to be so easy. We've already seen them disagree about it.

Let's watch what Mike Johnson had to say --

KUCINICH: Yeah.

HUNT: -- about what's next in Congress for the president's agenda. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB FINNERTY, NEWSMAX ANCHOR AND HOST: And we keep hearing about this one big, beautiful bill. Tell me how big, how beautiful.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Oh, it's going to be so big. I shouldn't do it in that voice. But it's going to be a big, beautiful bill and it has to be by necessity because that gives us the highest probability of success remembering that I have a small margin in the House.

FINNERTY: One.

JOHNSON: One. And I have one vote for much of this. What could go wrong, Rob? It's going to be fine.

FINNERTY: Right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It's going to be fun.

KUCINICH: It'll -- it's great. What could go wrong?

I mean, there -- I mean, there's lots of reasons why Mike Johnson would want one bill. You only have to pass it once in theory.

HUNT: (INAUDIBLE) when he's running around Washington saying, like, don't make me do this twice.

KUCINICH: Well, don't make me do this twice because he has such a small margin. Well, right now, his biggest problem is the Senate, right, because the Senate is not. And Trump is trying to pressure the Senate to do it. It doesn't look like that's the path that they're going down.

But, I mean, poor Mike Johnson. I mean, and he says it there that, you know, you can -- you can see it all over his face that, you know, he knows reality will come to Mike Johnson in the form of votes every time he goes to that floor.

HUNT: Yeah. Well, and I think it's worth underscoring too that the reason he only -- every time he has to do the vote -- yes, it's hard. But getting all of his Republicans on board involves all of the different policy things the Senate wants to split up, right?

KUCINICH: Exactly. And the other thing is, like, Democrats really aren't feeling very charitable these days to help him get things over the line. And I think that there is going to be a lot of them that just kind of sit back and watch the chaos happen on the right side of the aisle as they fight over the various minutia. Taxes -- Republicans that want to remove things and Republicans who want to put things in -- they're going to watch the show. They're not going to raise any help -- any hands to help them.

HUNT: Yeah.

All right, Jackie Kucinich. Thanks very much for being with us this morning.

KUCINICH: Have a great weekend.

HUNT: All right.

Ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING Ukraine's president meets with America's envoy but is the relationship between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy already damaged beyond repair?

Plus, Team USA versus Canada in a hockey matchup for the ages. The thrilling overtime finish. We'll show you that.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:42:40]

HUNT: All right, welcome back.

A new barrage of Russian strikes in Ukraine. Ukraine's Air Force says that Russia has launched more than 160 drones and missiles across the country overnight targeting Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and other cities.

This all unfolding as sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is pushing back against using the phrase "Russian aggression" in an upcoming G7 statement marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

President Trump is blaming Ukraine for the war, and he even went as far as calling Zelenskyy a dictator.

In the middle of this growing rift between the White House and Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy met U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday.

Our Nick Paton Walsh has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH KELLOGG, U.S. ENVOY: How are you, sir? (INAUDIBLE).

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): This is the closest Ukraine has got to President Trump's noisy push for peace. President Zelenskyy has wanted to meet U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg for weeks, just not on a day like today with the U.S.-Ukraine relationship crumbling around them making what they actually discussed matter less and less. WALSH: Well, we're not leaving the presidency after being told that

we're not expected to get a press conference or statements. Not the suggestion that either man looking for publicity. And we are being told that format is the request of the American side team (PH).

WALSH (voiceover): The last 48 hours have seen Ukraine standing with its main backer in freefall, but their fight against an advancing Russian aggressor has not stopped even if the garish rhetoric around it seemed to drown the dying out.

Trump falsely saying Ukraine started the war and its leader was deeply unpopular, refusing elections.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A dictator without elections. Zelenskyy better move fast or he's not going to have a country left.

WALSH (voiceover): And then adding Zelenskyy was asleep when he was meant to meet Trump's treasury secretary in Kyiv.

TRUMP: Essentially, they told him no and Zelenskyy was sleeping and unavailable to meet him. He traveled many hours on the train, which is a dangerous trip.

WALSH (voiceover): For clarity, here is Zelenskyy meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during that visit, both visibly awake. And here they are again, neither apparently asleep.

[05:45:00]

But the litany of untruths from Trump continues perhaps designed to pressure Ukraine into a deal over rare earth minerals that Bessent brought with him.

Trump's national security adviser pressing again the need for a deal.

MICHAEL WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The war has to end and what comes with that? What comes with that should be, at some point, elections. What comes with that should be peace. What comes with that is prosperity that we just offered.

WALSH (voiceover): Two presidents, one in dire need of the other's help. The other apparently keen to leave him that way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: When asked who President Trump believes is responsible for Russia's war on Ukraine this is what the president's national security adviser had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTZ: His frustration with President Zelenskyy is -- that you heard is multifold. One, there needs to be a deep appreciation for what the American people, what the American taxpayer, what President Trump did in his first term and what we've done since. So some of the rhetoric coming out of Kyiv frankly, and insults to President Trump were unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: After meeting with the U.S. envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg, President Zelenskyy told Ukrainians the meeting gave him "hope."

So where do we go from here? CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier is here with more on that. Kim, good morning.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning.

HUNT: Wonderful to see you.

Where do we go from here? I mean, Zelenskyy clearly has angered President Trump in the way that he has been dealing with this in public. Has it been the right strategy? How is it impacting things?

DOZIER: Well, hopefully, Keith Kellogg in his meetings with Zelenskyy will have put some flesh on the bones on this rare earth minerals deal that national security adviser Waltz said the president wants him to sign. But the deal, as reported, only includes giving over rights to 50 percent of their minerals for past aid given by the Biden administration. It doesn't say anything about future aid. So Zelenskyy had wanted more details.

But what has to happen next is the temperature needs to cool down between these two men. And that's what having the British prime minister and the French president visiting in the coming week -- they're going to be briefing Trump on, as a European official told me, Europe's plan for taking responsibility for defending itself and its ideas for moving forward in Ukraine.

So hopefully, those two leaders will be able to change Trump's mind on some of this and correct him about things like calling Zelenskyy a dictator.

HUNT: Can we talk for a second about -- well, let's stay on this for a second. I want to ask you about the G7 statement and the back-and- forth there.

But Macron, in particular, has had an up-and-down -- or, like, a relationship with Trump over the years that has had its -- had its moments. What has he learned about dealing with Trump that might inform how he'll approach this situation when he comes to Washington as we think -- as we expect that he will now?

DOZIER: To be collaborative and to point out what they're paying for and what they're willing to do. Because if you seem insulting or like you're lecturing Trump he shuts off. Also, the British prime minister is coming with the offer of peacekeeping troops. That's -- so they're both going to be coming with firm, concrete offers of here's what we will do. Here's the skin we will put in the game. And they'll also remind him what they've already spent because Trump seems unaware of some of that.

HUNT: Interesting. So let's talk about the G7 statement because again, we -- the idea that we are reporting that it's the Americans that are trying to remove a reference to Russian aggression -- I mean, I -- it's --

DOZIER: Yeah.

HUNT: When I came in and sat down and looked at that this morning I was -- I said, "I'm sorry, what?"

DOZIER: What? Yeah, yeah.

HUNT: Yeah.

DOZIER: It shows how far Putin has able -- has been able to get inside Trump's head that he believes that this wasn't aggression. You've had Russian media bragging that the hour-and-a-half-long phone call is where Trump got some of these ideas. And things that Putin told him he is now repeating verbatim to the world according to Russian media. And the fact that they don't report anything unless the government approves of it shows you this is all part of a piece.

And it also shows me that the administration officials -- like Waltz, like Rubio, who in their Capitol Hill days were very tough on Russia and both of them called this a war of aggression by Russia -- aren't able to get him to change his mind yet.

HUNT: It is pretty remarkable.

[05:50:00]

And there -- I want to play one clip from the Senate floor yesterday from a senator -- someone who is not in the administration, so still kind of in the position Rubio used to be in -- and that's Senator Thom Tillis who may face a tricky re-election coming up and a concern perhaps about a primary challenge as well.

But this is what he said on the floor about Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Whoever believes that there is any space for Vladimir Putin and the future of a stable globe better go to Ukraine. They better go to Europe. They better invest the time to understand that this man is a cancer and the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So you can -- you can almost hear the emotion there.

DOZIER: Yeah.

HUNT: And, of course, this is the cover -- we talked about this earlier in the show -- of the New York Post this morning. And they say President Trump, "This Is A Dictator" and it's Putin's picture.

DOZIER: Yeah.

HUNT: It's not Zelenskyy.

So there is some dissent in the Republican ranks here --

DOZIER: Yeah, even among MAGA world. People are trying to get through to Trump on the channels that they know he listens to to say don't get snowed by this guy. Don't be a sucker. Vladimir Putin is a manipulator who you can't trust.

And it sounds like he's been showed -- shown pictures of dead Russian troops. I bet you that the British and the French leader will be bringing in lots of visual aids to show him here's what's happened to Ukrainians. Russians are regularly now executing Ukrainian soldiers, according to human rights reports, instead of making them POWs. They'll remind him of the rapes, et cetera in Bucha. All of those things that happened.

The reason that Putin is a war criminal and considered as such by most of the Western world.

HUNT: Kim Dozier, thanks very much for your analysis. I appreciate it.

DOZIER: Thanks.

HUNT: All right, time now for sports. Canada gets revenge on Team USA in an overtime thriller in hockey's first-ever 4 Nations championship. There actually is some politics in this story --

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah.

HUNT: -- but I am happy to have Andy Scholes --

SCHOLES: Yeah.

HUNT: -- here to talk about the sports of it all. Good morning, Andy.

SCHOLES: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.

So the 4 Nations tournament -- you know, it was supposed to be just an all-star exhibition but, I mean, it really turned into an Olympic gold medal-type atmosphere. Both the U.S. and Canada, you know, wanting to win this game very badly.

And President Trump even calling the team before to give them a pep talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm a hockey fan. I love hockey. The talent and the skill that you have is crazy. And just go out and have a good time tonight. And I just want to wish you a lot of luck. You really are a skilled team of people and it's an honor to talk to you. And get out there and there's no pressure whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah, and an awesome moment before the game in Boston as the crowd at TD Garden was just singing the National Anthem together.

Now, Canada would take an early lead, but Auston Matthews would find Brady Tkachuk for the equalizer. The game would end up going to overtime tied at two. And the U.S. had a great chance to win it but Jordan Binnington blocked Matthews, then he snags Tkachuk's rebound shot. Binnington, 31 saves -- none more important that those two for Canada.

And then moments later Connor McDavid wide open, proving why he's the best player in the world with the game winner. Canada goes nuts as they win the 4 Nations title.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONNOR MCDAVID, FORWARD, TEAM CANADA: Just to see the reaction and just knowing what it means to us. I know it's just a quick tournament and it's not an Olympic gold medal or anything like that, but it means the world to our group, as you can see. Everybody battled so hard all week. So yeah, it was special.

NATHAN MACKINNON, FORWARD, TEAM CANADA: Connor is the best player in our game and for him to put it in like that in such an intense atmosphere -- obviously in a hostile environment for Canadians was special. And yeah, hopefully, he can do that again next year, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrating the win on X afterwards, saying, "You can't take our country -- and you can't take our game."

All right. In the NBA, meanwhile, brutal news for the San Antonio Spurs. Victor Wembanyama is going to miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. The condition is a form of a blood clot. The Spurs do expect Wemby to make a full recovery and be ready for next season. But a really tough blow to the team and Wemby, who was on the way to winning Defensive Player of the Year.

And after the news, the Spurs -- they did go out and beat the Suns 120-109. That game was in Austin, Texas.

LeBron and the Lakers, meanwhile, rebounding from Wednesday's loss to the Hornets. King James pouring in 40 points in the 110-102 win. LeBron becoming the first player ever to have multiple 40-point games after turning 40 years old. The only other person to do it, Michael Jordan, who has one.

And Kasie, before we go, I did want to mention -- you know, this 5:50 sports segment on CNN. It's been a staple for 12 years. And due to programming and scheduling changes it's not going to be every morning anymore. But Brian Kargus, Brian Pepoon, John Lynch have been waking up for years helping make us do great sports segments in the morning, and I just wanted to give them a shoutout.

[05:55:00]

HUNT: I love that, Andy. And honestly, it has been one of my favorite parts of the show having you, Coy, Carolyn. And, of course, I know there's so many people behind the scenes that you named that have just been great.

This is actually -- we're going to talk more about it at the end of the next hour, but this is going to be my last CNN THIS MORNING WITH KASIE HUNT. I'm moving to 4:00 p.m. as well. And I'm really sorry to see us go but I know whatever you have next in store it's going to be great.

SCHOLES: Yeah, I'll see you in the afternoon, Kasie. How about that?

HUNT: Please, do. I love that. Thank you, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

HUNT: Always great to see you. Have a great weekend.

SCHOLES: You, too.

HUNT: All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING the end of an era. Former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell confirming that this term in the Senate will be his last.

Plus, DOGE slashing government jobs. The claims being made by Elon Musk aren't adding up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: People ask, like, how can you find waste --

FINNERTY: Yeah.

MUSK: -- and, like, PC. I'm like look, it's like being in a room and just -- the walls, the roofs, and the floor are all targets. So it's like you're going to close your eyes and go shoot in any direction because you can't miss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)