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CNN This Morning
Musk Sets Sights on Entitlement Spending; Spending Bill in Congress; Keith Cowing is Interviewed about Friday's SpaceX Mission; Rubio in Canada for G-7. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired March 13, 2025 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Press secretary says he will use the meeting to push for NATO countries to pay their fair share for their defense.
Federal agencies face a deadline today to turn in plans for job cuts. Every agency head was instructed to create a reduction in force and reorganization plan. This is part of President Trump's push to downsize the federal government.
At the center of those plans to cut the federal government, Elon Musk and his DOGE team. The world's richest man, fresh off selling Teslas on the South Lawn of the White House, is also trying to juggle a business empire, which is getting hammered on the stock market. Now he's setting his sights on what he has called a, quote, Ponzi scheme, Social Security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: The (INAUDIBLE) in entitlement spending, you know, which is all of the - which is most of the federal spending is entitlements. So, that - that's like the big one to eliminate because that's the sort of half trillion, maybe 600 billion or 700 billion a year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Here to talk about it, Kara Swisher, CNN contributor, host of "Pivot," and "On with Kara Swisher."
Kara, thanks so much for joining me.
KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks, Audie.
CORNISH: I know you've been hanging out at South by Southwest.
SWISHER: I have. Yes.
CORNISH: You've been busy. So that means you're out there hearing what people are saying.
SWISHER: Indeed. CORNISH: And we mentioned getting hammered by his businesses, but also, like, people are doing acts of vandalism against cybertrucks.
SWISHER: Right.
CORNISH: You once called him a heat shield. What's going on with the heat shield for Trump?
SWISHER: Well, it's not good from a business point of view. The stocks been going down precipitously, largely because of reports out of Europe and here in the United States the sales have fallen off. It's not a surprise, one, because he's a polarizing figure. And the people who buy his cars are largely people who might vote Democratic. And he's got to attract the same amount of, I guess, red state people or MAGA people to buy the cars.
Secondly, the cars haven't been innovated that much recently. And there's a lot of competitors, as you know. And so that's probably impacting at the same time.
And then, inevitably, cars that dominate tend to not dominate. And so, he hasn't been paying attention a lot at Tesla because he's focused on other things. So, that's among the many things that are happening for him. But a polarizing figure is probably at the center of it.
CORNISH: Can I ask about that clip we heard?
SWISHER: Yes.
CORNISH: Because it's one thing to talk about Social Security on Joe Rogan, right, and do the, like, what maybe, perhaps.
SWISHER: Not great. Yes.
CORNISH: It's another thing to do it on this - on the network, right, that everybody watches, especially people in that age group, right, who might be thinking about Social Security.
SWISHER: Sure is.
CORNISH: What do you make of like how far he's getting out front on this topic?
SWISHER: Well, maybe he's testing it out. Maybe he's seeing what's what. Maybe he talked to Trump about doing that. Obviously, he can do math. Entitlements are the biggest part. And, you know, he's sort of - he - he hasn't really saved almost any money compared to how big the federal government is. And so he wants to have some wins on the board and he's got to go, you know, why do you rob a bank? You go where the money is. When you're trying to cut money from the government, you have to go to entitlements. And, of course, that's what's - what's beyond the third rail. It's way beyond the third rail. But he can't help himself. He has to say what the problem is. And that is where you would cut if you actually were going to save money for the taxpayer.
CORNISH: In podcast land, Gavin Newsom, the California governor, having some interesting conversations, one with Steve Bannon about Elon Musk. Here's a sample of something they talked about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Your issues with Elon. And we haven't even gotten to that. And I - I know that's all -
STEVE BANNON: Do I have any issues - do I have any issues with Elon?
NEWSOM: Yes, I know what - you called him evil. You called him a racist. You have -
BANNON: Parasitic, illegal alien.
NEWSOM: Parasitic, illegal alien I think was your exact phrase. Your phrase, not mine. Though we may share some commonality in terms of concern about what he's doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: They also had this long conversation about California made Elon. That was what Bannon was saying. And talking about how basically the left was into oligarchs until they turned against them. Can you talk - like, what is the dynamic going on here that we're hearing out loud?
SWISHER: Which part? Gavin chuckling it up with Bannon or which part do you want me to talk about.
CORNISH: Maybe the part about California having made Musk and now him being like a very different political figure.
SWISHER: Well, that's true. I don't think - I think California was critical to a lot of these people that are now sidling up to Trump. It's provided a place where innovation could thrive. And that's where most of these companies started. And Elon certainly ran his companies in California and has grown them there. And now that the taxes are too high or they disagree politically, or they have issues around transgender issues or whatever it happens to be for any of them, they've moved out. They've gone to tax free environments, and they want to dump on California. That's very true. Thats 100 percent true. So -
CORNISH: There's going to be a tech summit this Friday, I think.
SWISHER: Oh.
CORNISH: And I wanted to ask you about something you said about the sort of ultimate goal in - there is something called the God's view -
SWISHER: Yes.
[06:35:01]
CORNISH: That is the goal. What is that? And sort of how prominent is this idea? SWISHER: Well, the God's - there's a couple things. There's a unified
CEO theory. They've got a lot of theories in Silicon Valley. This one is a dashboard where you can see everything. And you can see the entire government, for example. It used to be you used around Uber, which was looking at everybody's rides. And you could see someone's life by looking at their Uber rides, for example, where they're going, where they're coming from, et cetera. So, you have a God's view of the whole thing. The more of a God's view you have, the better, in technology.
CORNISH: But are we going to get that out of the government? Is that the goal here? I mean Musk does have access to sensitive information.
SWISHER: He does. He does.
CORNISH: He's calling himself IT support. Like he's injected into the system, so to speak.
SWISHER: Yes, every time he diminishes himself, he - I think he knows exactly how important he is. And so I suspect he wants a God's view of the entire government. Actually, our government systems have never been joined in the way he is trying to do because for lots of reasons, inefficiency, lack of technology, and the idea that we don't want all that information in one place. We don't have a department of information like other countries do. And so we don't want to have that because we don't want the government spying on us quite that way. Of course, the government has an enormous viewpoint into every American, and that's - that could be a dangerous thing with the wrong people in charge.
CORNISH: Kara, thanks so much for talking. Looking forward to seeing you.
SWISHER: Thanks. Thank you.
CORNISH: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats have enough votes to block Republicans latest spending bill. His message to the GOP, work with Democrats to pass a short term deal so they can continue to negotiate a full year funding plan.
But the clock is ticking. Tomorrow is the deadline if Congress wants to avoid a government shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson already blaming Democrats for a potential shutdown. He was posting this online, "if Senate Democrats block an up or down vote on this, then it's crystal clear, they want to shut down the government, period, full stop." Even fellow Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has a warning to Schumer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): If you shut it down, you will impact and hurt millions and millions and millions of Americans, and you run the risk of slipping us into a recession or even all kinds of other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: Bringing back our friends, Stephen, Nia-Malika and Kevin Fry.
Kevin, you're from New York. So I want to ask you about this spat. Anytime I bring up a Fetterman quote, it's kind of like going to be oppositional, it feels like, to what Democrats are doing.
KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: Right.
CORNISH: Can you put this in some kind of context for us?
FREY: Yes, I mean, and you have to build off of what Mike Johnson put in that tweet. I mean they're also dubbing this the Schumer shutdown, in the event that this goes sideways in the next few hours.
What I find kind of fascinating here is that in the lead up to this, Democrats had viewed this as essentially kind of their key leverage point to try to extract something from the Republicans. If they let this go through, as it stands right now, through some procedural machinations, essentially overcoming the filibuster on the promise of a vote on some sort of thing, one, you have progressives are basically saying, the public won't buy that. Like, supporters won't get that. And then on top of that, you have voters who clearly are frustrated with Democrats not being aggressive enough. This is a clear opportunity for them. If they miss this -
CORNISH: Yes, but I feel like when people see kind of the House members shaking their canes, so to speak, there's been some nods to the age of the current resistance, they're not impressed, which is no shade on those people. But there is still a kind of disappointment there. So, what position are Senate Democrats really in right now?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: They're in a box politically. Let's face it, they don't have the votes to do something serious. They can vote against this continuing resolution to keep the funding going, to make a point to their supporters. The problem is, the environment has changed. If they shut down the government, what is the guarantee that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are ever going to open it up again? That - a lot of Democrats fear that they will be -
CORNISH: Wait, can you say that again.
COLLINSON: Right. So -
CORNISH: What is the fear?
COLLINSON: So there's a fear among a lot of Democrats that if the government closes down, that gives Trump and Musk an excuse to get rid of even more federal workers. That makes those agencies even more vulnerable. So that when Congress -
CORNISH: Right. So when the lights go out -
COLLINSON: Right. So when Congress then comes back and finally refunds the government, some of the government isn't there anymore because it's given them the opportunity to shut it down. So, they're going to shut it down - CORNISH: You're saying, yes? You've heard this?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, it's something like if, you know, if it's shut down for 30 days, if there's like a furlough, then that allows Elon Musk to go in and fire more federal workers.
I mean Democrats can't, on the one hand, be arguing for the federal government, on arguing for federal workers, and then in a position to shut the government down.
I think this also speaks to the failings of Senate leadership and House leadership, right, just in general.
[06:40:06]
Schumer seemed pretty late to the game in terms of planning a strategy.
FREY: Yes.
HENDERSON: There are apparently meetings today. There are meetings yesterday.
CORNISH: Yes.
HENDERSON: But, again, I think some of this anxiety and anger is directed at them.
CORNISH: But in the meantime, you've got Bernie Sanders, AOC, they're out in the country having these giant rallies -
HENDERSON: Yes.
CORNISH: Talking about what's going on. What's the disconnect there?
COLLINSON: I think there's great frustration in the grassroots that Democrats aren't doing more. But the fact is that they don't have the votes to do any more because the election didn't go too well. That's the problem here. You can make a protest, but you can't change things. They're saying, well, we need more time so we can negotiate with Republicans to get a fair deal. The Republicans don't want a deal. All the rhetoric that the Republicans are now flinging towards the Democrats are, you want to shut the government down -
CORNISH: Right.
COLLINSON: Is what Democrats have been telling Republicans for years. So, they're loving this.
FREY: Well, and, I mean, philosophically, even beyond just the politics of the here and now, it's sort of anathema to the Democratic instincts to shut down the government.
HENDERSON: Right.
CORNISH: Yes.
FREY: And so, yes, they, in theory, have the leverage to go -
CORNISH: But branding a shutdown is - is a tricky thing.
FREY: Well, right. Exactly.
CORNISH: Yes. OK. Stay -
FREY: They have the - OK.
CORNISH: I want you to stay with us for a second because there is obviously more to talk about. But I want you guys out there to know that this Sunday the CNN original serious "United States of Scandal" is back. I make an appearance. The show host, Jake Tapper, is going to take you inside the rise and, frankly, disastrous fall of Enron.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the board members said they didn't know Ken Lay was using this line of credit like a God damn ATM machine.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: While Ken Lay was stuffing his pockets, a national tragedy suddenly gripped the nation. One that Jeffrey Skilling would use to his advantage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On September 17th of 2001, Skilling sold about $15 million in Enron stock. He said the only reason was because he was concerned about the state of the marketplace after 9/11. But he had actually attempted to make the first sale on or around September 6th, and the shares would have traded on September 11th but the market never opened that day. It was clear that Mr. Skilling was attempting to use the nation's tragedy to cover his tracks for selling stock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: You can learn more Sunday night at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific on CNN.
Next on CNN This Morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Canada for the G-7 Summit, and he could be in for a rough reception.
Plus, launch delayed. Why two astronauts will have to wait just a little longer to finally come home.
More with the group chat after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:47:17]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUNI WILLIAMS, ASTRONAUT: It was a little bit longer stay than we had expected. But, you know, both of us have trained to live and work on the International Space Station. And we've - I think we've made the - the most of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX will try again tomorrow to launch the mission that will bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to earth.
The SpaceX Dragon was set to launch last night. That was scrubbed 45 minutes before liftoff because of a hydraulic issue. Of course, delays are nothing new for Wilmore and Williams because their stay on the International Space Station was supposed to last a week, and it's been more than nine months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUNI WILLIAMS, ASTRONAUT: You do what's right for the team. And what was right for the team is to stay up here and be expedition crew members for the International Space Station. So, you know, you have to just pivot. You have to change your plan and then go with it and make the best of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now, Keith Cowing, former astrobiologist for NASA. And he's also the editor of NASAWatch.com.
So, can you talk about what went wrong last time, what we can expect?
KEITH COWING, EDITOR, NASAWATCH.COM: From what I understand, it was a hydraulic clamp. That's something on the ground that holds on to the rocket until it's not supposed to, and it goes off like this and the rocket takes off. You got to make sure those things let loose or they don't go anywhere.
CORNISH: Yes.
Our own Anderson Cooper was able to talk with Butch Wilmore last night and asked about what went wrong, like back in June when they were actually approaching the International Space Station.
Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUTCH WILMORE, ASTRONAUT: We had some thrusters that were failing as we were coming up on our rendezvous. Unexpected, of course. We never expect to have a couple of thruster failures, but in total we had five thrusters to fail.
We took manual control. We did the best we could to maintain position, had to point at the station because of our sensors. If we'd have lost sensors contact with the - with the station itself, then we probably would not have been able to dock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Sorry, correction there, so that is from February. But it sounds like they had come closer to disaster than we all realized.
COWING: It might not be disaster in that, got to go home.
CORNISH: Yes.
COWING: Because normally they don't train for the automatic thing where you hit the button and it just does it. They trained for everything that goes wrong. And they, as you saw Butch go through the methodical list of things, he was kind of at the point at which they say, yes, back off.
CORNISH: Yes.
You know, President Trump and Elon Musk have blamed the Biden administration, saying that they abandoned these astronauts at the space station. And I want to ask you about that. What has been the difference under the Trump administration for NASA? Where are they feeling it?
COWING: Well, right now they're like any other part of the federal government. People are really wondering if they're going to have a job tomorrow. They're starting to cancel things that, you know, there's no more chief scientist.
[06:50:02]
CORNISH: Say that again.
COWING: There's no more chief scientist.
CORNISH: There's no more chief scientist at NASA.
COWING: She's - she's gone. She's gone.
CORNISH: OK, what else?
COWING: They're closing a lot of the, of course, the DEI stuff that's everywhere in the government.
CORNISH: But what does that look like?
COWING: Well, it means, as the agency has tried to become more representative of everybody, younger people -
CORNISH: Yes.
COWING: It's - that's just being swept away. So, you now have a -
CORNISH: Right. Because I grew up looking at astronauts and thinking, OK, I might be, you know -
COWING: Well, you know -
CORNISH: May (INAUDIBLE) like whoever.
COWING: Well, let's put it that way. I was playing around with them about two weeks ago at the website saying, hey, all right, you're wiping things off. Here's a page from 1978 that shows the astronauts - the first selection with women, minorities, men, black, the whole look like America thing. And I thought, hey, let's see if they'll take this down. So, I put it on my website. Hey, take this down. Six hours later it was taken down, and it's still down.
So, if you go search for a picture of the first astronaut selection that had women and blacks and, you know, people of Asian extraction, you get a 404. It's been like that for weeks now.
CORNISH: Error message.
COWING: Yes.
CORNISH: History erased.
COWING: So, I'm in the eighth grade and I'm trying to do a study on NASA, I don't get an answer.
CORNISH: Because -
COWING: Of this. Whatever it is.
CORNISH: Yes.
What are some of the concerns that folks are having in the department that you're hearing in your reporting?
COWING: Well, I went through a bit of a similar thing when I worked at NASA back in the day. And, you know, you're wondering if you'll have a job tomorrow. And that's a real fear. It's pervasive here in Washington. Most of the people feel that they - a lot of people can retire but have stayed on, you know, they will build a space station for food. I mean that's a - it's - it's their life.
CORNISH: Yes, they're passionate. Yes.
COWING: It is. Really. Just -
CORNISH: And you can't just - you can't just go do it for SpaceX though?
COWING: Yes. Yes, well, they'd rather do it where they are because they're - they're doing it for the American people. And you get to really do things that you can't do at a company, where there's a bottom line that really drives everything. And there's some people that are just, this is their life. They grew up like I did, wanting to work for NASA.
CORNISH: Yes.
COWING: It was the biggest deal in your life.
CORNISH: Yes, of course.
COWING: I mean - and now they're being told that they may or may not have a job. And it's not because of anything they did. It's just like, your last - just, whatever. They're just going to riff (ph) reduction in force to reach some number that's supposed to accomplish something. And all of the plans and the advisory committees and all the people who have the smarts to figure out where to go, they're all being thrown out, too.
So, I don't know what's going to be left of NASA -
CORNISH: Yes.
COWING: Especially the science, which is why we do this in the first place. That's going to get gutted by 50, 60 percent soon.
CORNISH: Keith Cowing, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time.
If you are getting ready for work, it is 51 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to get your day going.
Investigators in the Dominican Republic say more people have been on the beach where a U.S. college student was last seen. The 20-year-old vanished a week ago early in the morning. Police are now asking anybody who was on the beach at that time to come forward with information.
And the Department of Veterans Affairs has cut an office that was designed to help minority veterans. It was focused on disparities and how the government provides benefits. The office was created under former President Biden.
And just in time for spring college application season, the federal student aid website had technical issues for hours on Wednesday. This left hundreds unable to complete applications that are required for financial aid. The Associated Press reports that software developers and IT workers were among those the department laid off the day before.
And Rahm Emanuel has his eyes on the White House. According to "Politico" he was - according to "Politico." He was former chief of staff, of course, under President Obama, Chicago's mayor and ambassador to Japan. He told "Politico" he's not done with public service, and he's hoping public service is not done with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: If I have something to say, I've never been shy. I'll say it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Since returning from Tokyo in January, Emanuel has been on a slew of political podcasts. He's now a senior political and global affairs commentator here at CNN.
And Secretary of State Marco Rubio may face a chilly reception at the G-7 Summit of foreign ministers in Canada. Canada's foreign minister, Melanie Joly, plans to deliver a warning to her European counterparts about the U.S., saying, if the U.S. can start a trade war with its closest friend, then nobody is safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIE JOLY, CANADIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER: We buy more from American businesses than the U.K., France, China and Japan combined. So, when President Trump actually imposes 25 percent tariffs against our economy and starts a trade war, he is actually going after his own American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. So, I recall some of the questioning for Rubio on the way in. People were asking him, like, is the U.S. going to try and make Canada the 51st state? He actually had to clarify that that is not what he planned to talk about. But like, this is - this is what's - the table is set with.
COLLINSON: Right. And look at the political moment tomorrow. A new Canadian prime minister takes office. Mark Carney. He's expected to call a general election almost as soon as he takes power, trying to build on this momentum his liberal party has managed to build up in opposition to Trump.
[06:55:11]
CORNISH: Yes.
COLLINSON: But more than that, this is a real issue in Canada. People feel that their independence and their separate existence from the United States is under threat. So, they will bring it up.
CORNISH: Is under threat. Yes. Greenland just had an election. Same thing.
HENDERSON: Yes.
COLLINSON: Yes.
CORNISH: It became a talking point. And all of a sudden Denmark was like watching the Greenland election because they were talking about independence.
HENDERSON: Yes, that's right. I mean it has sparked this nationalism in new pride among these folks, in these different countries because of the way that Donald Trump is consistently - I mean, particularly with Canada, I mean he keeps talking about this idea of the 51st state. So, of course, Rubio was asked about it. And of course folks at the - at the G-7 meeting are kind of going to talk about what America is now on the global stage because it isn't what it was just a few years ago.
FREY: And you see, I think "Politico" was reporting that the foreign minister is going to go so far as to basically say, we're a canary in the coal mine, as their warning to the other G-7 leaders about how the U.S. might treat you.
I recall back when Biden went to his first G-7 after being inaugurated, and basically his message is, America is back. And there was relief amongst all of the G-7 allies.
CORNISH: Right.
FREY: And this kind of whipsaw that these allies are now experiencing with the U.S. after this election.
CORNISH: Yes. But at the same time, I mean, I think that, in the Trump administration, there's been a little bit of an energy of, like, we're not here to make friends.
FREY: Yes.
CORNISH: That the idea is to rebalance the relationships with other nations looking at trade deficits, things like that. And to that point, aren't they accomplishing that? They are forcing everyone to look at their relationship and to be more honest about what America is getting out of it and what they're getting out of it.
COLLINSON: True. If you look at Europe, for example, Trump, in his first term, managed to unleash more military spending. Now Europe is completely changing its strategic expectations that it's had for 80 years.
CORNISH: Yes. Right.
COLLINSON: The question is -
CORNISH: Out of fear, not out of cooperation.
COLLINSON: Right. And, sure, Europe should be spending a lot more money on its own defense. Why is the United States still the primary vessel of defense for Europe eight decades after the Second World War?
CORNISH: Yes.
COLLINSON: But does this make the United States stronger if Europe goes its own way? There's a reason why Europe hasn't developed its own defense industry, because the United States didn't want it to, because it wanted to be interoperable with American systems.
FREY: Right
CORNISH: Yes. And one more thought about this. I'm fascinated by Carney because he is a banker.
HENDERSON: Yes.
CORNISH: And he helped the U.K. navigate a crisis.
HENDERSON: Yes.
CORNISH: He helped Canada navigate a crisis. They brought in a turnaround guy.
HENDERSON: Yes. Yes. I mean this is a business guy. And we'll see what Trump's reaction is. He, of course, soured on Justin Trudeau. This is a businessman, a handsome businessman. And we know that -
CORNISH: Nia just adding that in.
HENDERSON: Yes, and -
CORNISH: No, I love it. I love it.
HENDERSON: I - just something that Donald Trump thinks about, right? So, I think it matters that this is a handsome guy.
CORNISH: OK. I want to talk to you guys about what you're keeping on - an eye on this week. And I'll tell you what I'm keeping an eye on. Although now that Nia-Malika said this about the new Canadian leader, we know what she's keeping an eye on.
HENDERSON: Yes.
CORNISH: But I want to ask you if there's anything else that you think people should pay attention to in the next day.
HENDERSON: Yes, listen, I think the big - the big conversation is around this shutdown and what it means for the Democrat Party.
CORNISH: So, the potential for shutdowns.
FREY: Yes.
HENDERSON: The potential for a shutdown. What Schumer does. Who are the Democrats that end up helping Republicans on to pass this thing?
CORNISH: Yes, because only one Democrat helped pass it in the House.
HENDERSON: Yes, that's right. And here you have people like Fetterman. Who else joins him as a sort of centrist center of the party.
FREY: I would say, kind of building off of that, when it comes to kind of what the Democratic brand is. This week, today and tomorrow, Democrats are meeting out in Virginia. Their kind of annual retreat. I'm going there this afternoon just to get a sense, are they finding what their message is? Are they honing in on one yet in terms of how they counter Trump?
CORNISH: Yes.
FREY: We'll see if there are any answer to that.
HENDERSON: But Shapiro's going to be there.
CORNISH: I know.
HENDERSON: Shapiro is going to be there. Whitmer is going to be there.
CORNISH: And also post-election, they're not being a clear leader, so to speak, which happens to any party.
FREY: Yes.
CORNISH: So, yes.
Stephen Collinson.
COLLINSON: I'm going to be looking at whether Donald Trump's vaunted relationship with Vladimir Putin now actually delivers. Lots of international meetings today and tomorrow about this ceasefire proposal. Can - the ball is now in Putin's court on this ceasefire. Can Trump leverage what has been a very controversial relationship with Putin to try and make him make some concessions because so far it's all been about Ukraine making concessions.
CORNISH: Yes, it's one thing to get people to the table, right, almost by any means necessary. It's another thing to actually close the deal. And that's what he's pitched to the American people.
I want to thank you guys for hanging out with me. We talked about so many things. I think we started with soybean farmers -
HENDERSON: That's right.
CORNISH: And here we are at the Kremlin. So, I appreciate you.
And thank you so much for waking up with us.
[07:00:00]
I'm Audie Cornish. Please stay with CNN. We've got all the headlines coming up at "CNN NEWS CENTRAL," which is going to start right now.
