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CNN This Morning
Lawmakers Face Pushback From Constituents At Town Halls; Germany's Conservatives Return To Power As Far Right Surges; Zelenskyy Praises The "Absolute Heroism" Of Ukrainians. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 24, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN ANCHOR: Five-thirty-one a.m. here on the East Coast. You're looking at Nashville, Tennessee, 4:31 a.m. Central Time in Music City, USA.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kayla Tausche, in for Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Anger and frustration at town halls across the country. This week, members of Congress are likely to get an earful from voters feeling the impact of President Trump and Elon Musk's big DOGE cuts.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to subpoena him at some point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't have a voice in Congress.
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TAUSCHE: It's been just over a month since the beginning of Trump's second term, and since Elon Musk began taking a metamorphic -- metaphorical chainsaw to federal spending and jobs.
But according to CNN's latest poll, about half of Americans say that it was a bad thing for Trump to give the world's richest man such a large role in his administration. Late last week, voters in Georgia confronted Republican Congressman Rich McCormick, meeting him with questions and even some boos.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are all freaking piss off about this. You're going to hear it and feel it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is a supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tyranny is rising in the White House, and a man has declared himself our king. REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): Unless they're lying to me, and you can
say they are so. So who? Okay.
So, apparently -- so, apparently, you know more than I do.
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TAUSCHE: Joining me now, Mychael Schnell, congressional reporter for "The Hill", and Tia Mitchell, Washington bureau chief for "The Atlanta Journal Constitution".
Ladies, good to have both of you with us.
Tia, I just want to start where we heard from those voters in Roswell, Georgia, grilling Congressman McCormick. How much does what we heard just then represent the views of the electorate there?
TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yeah, I mean, I think they're very representative -- representative of the views, particularly of voters who naturally are more skeptical of Donald Trump. We know that his base remains with him, although I think even staunch, tried and true Republicans have some concerns to the way this DOGE stuff has unfolded.
But we know that at least half of the electorate, probably a little bit more, were always kind of skeptical or not supportive of Trump from the jump. And those are the types of people who came to that town hall last week and said, hey, we have questions, particularly for members of Congress, that we expect to be a checks and balances on the White House. And that's not what we're seeing right now.
TAUSCHE: So what role are Republicans taking in this? And is there some unease starting to grow, Mychael, because even some of Trump's longest allies, like Congressman Jim Jordan, have had some tough words for him. I want to play what the congressman said and get your reaction to it.
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REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): So maybe there have been some mistakes made, but I think the intensity and the focus on getting rid of the wasteful spending, the one guy who can unlock people who somehow get locked in a restroom at a national park, this is ridiculous. So the arguments I think you're seeing from the left are pretty darn -- pretty darn crazy.
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TAUSCHE: Pretty darn crazy to attack what they're doing. But he also acknowledges there have been some mistakes made in this process.
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MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: That's right, which is significant for somebody like Jim Jordan, who, as you correctly pointed out, is such a staunch supporter of President Trump. I think that this underscores the new reality that Elon Musk and DOGE are in Washington. Elon Musk has come in in a capacity that we really haven't seen someone come in in previous administrations. They have vowed to make these significant slashes to the federal bureaucracy, and they're carrying through with it.
We heard a lot about this on the campaign trail through rhetoric, but logistically, there were a lot of questions of what would this actually look like? Elon Musk's role and what he would do, how would that truly be carried out? So we're starting to see these cracks develop.
I suspect that they'll grow this week because a lot of what had happened with Elon Musk, particularly that email that went out to federal workers saying, explain what you accomplished over the past week that went out when Congress was out of session. Lawmakers come back this week. I suspect they'll get a lot of questions about it. We heard from Lisa Murkowski over the weekend who called it an absurd email. I'm curious to see if that will grow. I suspect it will.
TAUSCHE: And then you also have some of the opposition, or perhaps just wariness from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the State Department, the NTSB, which has multiple investigations going on, all of whom had supervisors tell their employees, hold off, do not respond to this. We are figuring out how to proceed.
MITCHELL: Yeah, I think it was very interesting. Kash Patel, you know, one of the most controversial and, you know, MAGA nominees to be confirmed recently told the FBI employees, hey, let's hold off. Let's -- let's figure out what this email was about.
So even in Trump world, super MAGA world, there is, you know, a little bit of dissension about the email and what it meant, because these Trump appointees, as political as they are, are facing the reality of having to manage a workforce and actually do this work. And I think a lot of them felt that the email this weekend, for many reasons, was not helpful and confusing.
TAUSCHE: And Elon Musk posting about the email and making it appear relatively innocuous, saying that, you know, many of these employees, we don't think they're checking their email regularly. They're off doing other things rather than the job that they were hired for. So perhaps this is just trying to see who is actually reading their email on a Saturday.
But all that to say, there's also a very real concern, Mychael, about the possibility that there is information about classified activities or undisclosed activities that ends up getting sent to this unclassified email address.
So what is some of the risk that's being raised about the approach here and some of the loopholes?
SCHNELL: Yeah, it's all the things that you mentioned, these concerns that again, I suspect are going to grow when lawmakers return to Washington this week. And it's the unconventional-ness of, you know, we haven't seen something like this. And I think this gets back to the fact that on the campaign trail, Trump was very clear he wanted to root out waste, abuse and fraud. He wanted to slash the size of the federal government very significantly reduce it, which is all fine and good when you say it.
But then when you try to actually put that into place and when the rubber meets the road, that's when some of the difficulties emerge, which I think we're seeing at agency over agency trying to find the synergy between the specific agencies and Elon Musk, and then trying to carry out what they're actually trying to accomplish.
TAUSCHE: And then we will see this week when Congress is back, whether they decide to erect that check and balance to Elon Musk or take a continued wait and see approach.
We will see.
Mychael Schnell, Tia Mitchell, thank you both for being here. We appreciate it.
The conservatives are returning to power in Germany, with the far right making substantial gains after snap elections held on Sunday. The big issues for Germans, immigration, the economy and Donald Trump. Surging to second place was the far right AFD party, doubling its support, followed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats in third. Conservative party leader Friedrich Merz says his absolute priority as new leader is to strengthen Europe and achieve independence from the U.S.
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FRIEDRICH MERZ, LEADER OF GERMANY'S "CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC UNION" PARTY: We need to be able to act very soon so that we can do the right things domestically so that we are present in Europe, so that the world takes notice and sees that we have a reliable government.
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TAUSCHE: CNN's Melissa Bell joins us live now from Berlin.
Melissa, what is the main takeaway from Sunday's vote?
We are waiting to get Melissa Back from Berlin right now, but certainly quite a searing comment from the likely next chancellor of Germany, who suggested that the country need to seek independence from the United States and also rued the outsized role that Washington played in public opinion of late, with Vice President J.D. Vance making some very controversial comments at the Munich Security Forum just a few weeks ago.
Melissa, what do you see as the main takeaway from Sunday's vote?
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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kayla, in the end, after an extraordinary set of results last night, the Germany is going to have a more stable and faster government than anyone might have thought imaginable when we were looking at this election just a few weeks ago, or indeed in the run up to last night. And that's because the figures this morning, when you exclude the parties, that did not mean that meet that 5 percent bar to get into parliament. And you look again at the parliamentary arithmetic, it seems that the center right CDU will be able to form its traditional so-called grand coalition with the Social Democrats.
And that is a surprising result, because whilst its likely to take a few more weeks, we heard Friedrich Merz speak last night about the fact that he hoped to have a standing coalition, a functioning coalition, by Easter, that is looking this morning much more likely than it was last night.
So the main takeaway that Germany is heading towards more political stability than anyone had thought, and more than the far right leader, co-chair Alice Weidel had predicted, she said after the astonishing results that the right wing AFD had regionally last September. And again, she repeated it last night that there could be no more stable government here in Germany without them.
Still, Friedrich Merz was clear last night that firewall will stand, and yet they will manage to form a more stable coalition than they had, simply because it's going to be formed with two parties rather than the three in the coalition that collapsed at the end of last year, Kayla.
TAUSCHE: Melissa, incumbent leaders across the west have been decidedly unpopular for several years now, but outgoing chancellor Olaf Schulz did make some comments on his party's third place finish, and specifically what it means for Ukraine. Let's take a listen to that.
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OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): This legislative period has been marked by enormous challenges. Two flight hours from us, a terrible war is taking place. We and the government, led by me, have guided Germany safely, as a supporter of Ukraine, but also as someone who ensures that the war does not expand.
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TAUSCHE: What do you make of his comments, Melissa, especially given where public opinion is right now?
BELL: I think the results of last night clearly shows us that these -- this former consensus that had existed in Europe of strong social democratic parties, the strong social net that support for Ukraine, all of those issues, strong support for Brussels in the European Union, all of those issues are no longer popular with the electorate. The strong showing of the AFD, of course, last night tells us that, but so does the collapse of Olaf Scholz. Olaf Scholz, his support there is and this is something that we've seen concentrated here in the German campaign in vote of last night.
But it is fairly symptomatic of what's happening elsewhere in Europe. There is a growing and very strong rejection of the consensus that has dominated European politics since the end of World War Two, and a very strong rejection of many of the center -- centrist parties that have dominated politics for that period, too, Kayla.
TAUSCHE: Melissa Bell in Berlin -- Melissa, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Ahead on CNN this morning, making -- marking three years since Russia launched its brutal full scale invasion of Ukraine, how the West is now responding to America's sudden reversal on support for the Ukrainians.
Plus, federal workers facing a new deadline from Elon Musk: respond to his email or lose your job.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This morning, we are defending our country alone, just like yesterday. The most powerful country in the world looked on from a distance. Russia was hit with sanctions yesterday, but these are not enough to get these foreign troops off our soil. Only through solidarity and determination can this be achieved.
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TAUSCHE: That's Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy three years ago, the day after Russia invaded his country. Three years later, Ukrainians are commemorating the fallen with more than 45,000 dead and millions displaced.
Zelenskyy, realizing this -- writing this in a social media post, quote: Three years of resistance. Three years of gratitude. Three years of absolute heroism of Ukrainians. I am proud of Ukraine.
He also addressed allies gathering today in Kyiv.
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ZELENSKYY: This year should be the year of the beginning of a real, lasting peace. Putin will not give us this peace. He will not give it to us in exchange for something. We must gain peace with strength, wisdom and unity. Through our cooperation, peace cannot simply be declared in one hour. It cannot be declared in one day -- today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.
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TAUSCHE: But Zelenskyy is facing mounting pressure not only from the front lines, but also directly from the Trump administration to repay the U.S. for its financial aid and military support.
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STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: So this agreement is much about repayment for all that we have done on behalf of the Ukrainian people. And -- and that's the way the president sees it.
I expect to see a deal signed this week. You saw President Zelenskyy waver in his commitment towards that. A week ago, the president sent a message to him. He's not wavering anymore.
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TAUSCHE: Joining us now is CNN's Kim Dozier.
Kim, this mineral deal is one that Zelenskyy, as Trump's foreign envoy mentioned, had previously resisted. He didn't want to give away some of the most valuable assets from the country.
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But what does it entail now and why the change of heart?
KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, he's agreeing to work and negotiate on this deal. He's not saying no to it. But with the current terms, he told the country yesterday in a press conference that the current terms are extortionate and would require ten generations of Ukrainians to pay it off. It would essentially require, according to him, a $2 payback for every dollar that the U.S. invested.
And so far, there's no promise of future military support. Essentially, the Trump administration is billing him for everything the Biden administration decided to give. And in a very real sense, sort of victim blaming, holding Ukraine responsible for the damage and for holding off Russian aggression. And, you know, Russian troops and firepower.
So at this point, yes, he is moving ahead with the negotiations, but he hasn't said yes. And he's trying to drive for a better bargain. Meanwhile, gathering all of his European allies around him to ask them, what should I do? Which way should I go? But behind closed doors.
TAUSCHE: And we're looking now at live pictures from Kyiv, where many of those European leaders are gathered. The head of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen. You also have outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But that summit is happening as President Macron of France arrived in the U.S. last night to meet with Trump. And the U.K. prime minister is arriving next week.
Generally, what do these European leaders believe they can accomplish? And what do you see as feasible in this moment for American foreign policy?
DOZIER: Well, these are the two countries that have traditionally been the closest to the United States. And Trump has a relationship with Macron. It's been up and down, but Macron knows him well enough to not come in with a lecture.
I spoke to one European official who said Macron is going to come in with a very collaborative conversation. He's going to present to Trump that -- what Europe is planning to do for its own security, and also with the plans that France and the U.K. both have talked about publicly bringing their own troops into Ukraine as guarantors of any future peace in, in any sort of peace deal that is minted with Moscow, so that if Moscow wants to invade in future, this would be a trigger that would trigger all of NATO. If they attack Ukraine, they'd be attacking NATO troops, too.
TAUSCHE: There are some Democrats weighing in as well. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen spoke about the U.S. position on the world stage at this moment. I'd love to get your reaction after we hear from the senator.
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SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): And allies and others from around the world who believe in freedom and democracy, they're wondering whether this is just rhetoric or whether this is a real shift. My warning to them is I think this is reality. I think Trump is much closer ideologically to Putin and other autocrats around the world than he is to democratic countries.
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TAUSCHE: Kim, how much of Trump's recent posturing and positioning on Ukraine and on the West more broadly, do you believe is just simply his transactional nature, trying to get this summit with Putin on the books, or do you think that this is truly a step change for how the U.S. will be seen in the world?
DOZIER: Well, this is a man who's never spent a lot of time lecturing the public on democracy. Unlike President Biden and European leaders are clearly signaling that they are seeing a permanent break. The first time he was elected, they passed it off as an unfortunate fluke. I've talked to diplomats who say, now that you've elected him again, we know that this is a permanent feature, not a bug of American society, that you like this kind of a leader.
And as you saw from the incoming German chancellor, the leader of the Christian Democrats said overnight that Europe has to be prepared and planned to go it alone without the United States. They really think that we're seeing a permanent departure from the Pax Americana, where the U.S. provides for European security, and they've got to stand on their own because they can't count on who's going to be in the White House next.
TAUSCHE: Kim Dozier, our thanks to you this morning. We appreciate it.
Up ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, the CIA assessing the damage, how the agency is examining whether the White House's efforts to slash their payroll may have exposed undercover agents.
Plus, federal employees against the clock to justify their jobs to the world's richest man.
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JORDAN: The arguments I think you're seeing from the left are pretty darn -- pretty darn crazy. I can name five things. I did. So anyone can name five. But if you're some federal worker working remote, you should be able to name those things too.
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TAUSCHE: It's Monday, February 24th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
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SEN. JOHN CURTIS (R-UT): These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages.
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TAUSCHE: Can you answer the question? What did you do at work last week?
Federal workers have just hours left to justify their jobs to Elon Musk or lose them.
Plus, this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's getting rid of the DEI.
