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Connect the World

U.S. President Promotes Gaza Plan in AI Video; Trump: I Heard Zelenskyy is Coming to U.S. on Friday; Power Starting to Return to Chile after Massive Blackout; Trump Orders New Investigation into U.S. Copper Imports; Doncic Gets Win in First Game Against His Former Team. Aired 9- 9:45a ET

Aired February 26, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: We're taking a live look at the White House, as we're told, the U.S. President and Volodymyr

Zelenskyy, have agreed to the terms of a deal over Ukrainian mineral resources.

Donald Trump says Mr. Zelenskyy could come to Washington to sign it just a week after Mr. Trump called the Ukrainian a dictator. It's 09:00 a.m. in

Washington, D.C., and it's 02:00 p.m. in London. Hello. Welcome. I'm Christina Macfarlane. This is "Connect the World".

Also coming up, thousands line the streets for the funeral of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, as the source tells CNN, an agreement has been reached to

return the bodies of four Israeli hostages from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Also ahead, outpour as Donald Trump shares an AI generated video, prompting a vision of Gaza transformed from the home of more than 2 million

Palestinians into a high-end resort. And later this morning, the U.S. President's first Cabinet meeting of his new term. And -- he is not yet

tiring of his best-known advisor, Elon Musk, will be attending.

And the stock market in New York is open in just about 30 minutes from now. Quick look at you, the DOW, the S&P, the NASDAQ all up in the green as

things stand. We will check back in later this hour. But for now, we begin in Israel, where mourners line the streets earlier for the funeral

procession of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were taken hostage in the Hamas led attack on Israel on October 7th.

At just nine-months-old Kfir was the youngest hostage taken. Their bodies were returned last week as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas. Jeremy

Diamond was at that procession a short time ago.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: What you see arriving behind me is indeed that funeral procession for Kfir, Ariel and Shiri Bibas, who

were killed in Hamas captivity. You can see hundreds of Israelis at this very junction, but thousands of Israelis have been lining this entire

procession, as we now see these vans coming through carrying the bodies of Kfir, Ariel and Shiri Bibas, their mother, they were both.

They were all three taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7th and for 16 months, so many who we've spoken to here have held out hope that

perhaps they would return alive. But instead, this is a very somber moment where so many Israelis are now devastated, as they learned last week that

they indeed returned dead from Hamas captivity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now it's the knockout for us. For this family, we can't take it. It's really difficult for us.

DIAMOND: So, you're wearing orange today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Hamas has claimed that they were killed in an Israeli air strike. The Israeli government says they were killed by Hamas captors with their

bare hands, but right now, just very somber, very emotional scenes as we watch as people bow their heads in grief and in solidarity with the Bibas

Family.

MACFARLANE: Well, meantime, an Israeli source tells CNN an agreement has been reached for Hamas to hand over the bodies of four deceased Israeli

hostages as early as today, in exchange for Israel releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. As Paula Hancocks explains, it indicated that the

Gaza ceasefire deal is holding for now.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As of this point, we understand that there will be an exchange of these prisoners and the bodies of four Israeli

hostages that according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter. But looking forward, we still do not have details of any negotiations on phase

two.

Phase one is supposed to end this weekend, so the temporary ceasefire technically ends this weekend. There were supposed to have been indirect

negotiations between Hamas and Israel since early February. That has not happened.

We're also hearing from an Israeli source familiar with the matter that the Israeli government would like to extend the first phase as long as possible

to try and get more hostages back. It is unclear and unlikely that Hamas would agree to that, but it just shows how fragile this entire three phase

hostage deal is. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

MACFARLANE: President Donald Trump is still pushing his vision to redevelop war torn Gaza into a Riviera that would be owned by the U.S., and we are

about to show you that represent -- representation that was created using artificial intelligence.

It is jarring Mr. Trump posted this AI generated video on his Truth Social account promoting the transformation of the Enclave, which is home to more

than 2 million Palestinians, into a Gulf State like resort.

[09:05:00]

The video includes a golden statue of the U.S. President and a building named Trump Gaza. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has been following these

developments. And Salma honestly, it's very difficult to know how to describe this video. It is certainly controversial and a fresh push on a

vision Donald Trump has expressed before. But how has the region been reacting to this?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think bizarre is the first word that comes to mind for others it's just downright offensive. A 33 second clip,

rather posted on President Trump's Truth Social account. And I think what is particularly jarring about this is since President Trump made that

comment about owning Gaza or turning the Enclave into a Riviera, he has provided absolutely no actual plan behind it.

This is the first we're seeing, the first indication of some semblance of that vision. And it is at times comical. You have an AI generated Elon Musk

eating hummus. You have bearded men in belly dancing uniforms. You have money being thrown up in the air and President Trump in a casino.

It is absolutely difficult, as you said, to explain this video, and you have to remember that the timing of this is critical, as you know, as you

heard there from our colleague, Paula Hancocks, the ceasefire is set to expire this weekend in that video, I can't imagine how it's going to help.

MACFARLANE: And a reminder for our viewers, Salma, what would this vision spell for Gaza's more than 2 million residents?

ABDELAZIZ: And I think that's what's important, and thank you for pointing that out, because that's what's important to recognize in this video, is

where are the 2 million people who currently reside in Gaza? President Trump has answered that question to reporters by saying he wants to see

them moved out of the country, something that most international lawyers say could amount to a war crime.

But has provided no actual again plan for this removal of the Palestinian people. The Middle East, as you know, has been scrambling to provide an

alternative plan to assuage President Trump. But when you look at that video again, that 33 second AI generated clip, it is not anything

resembling the culture of the Palestinians that live in Gaza.

The bikini clad casinos on the beach are very far from the world that Gaza is in today. Again, I just can't imagine how a clip like this is being

received by diplomats right now who are trying to forge peace, but dealing with something just simply so bizarre.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, bizarre timing, bizarre video. Salma Abdelaziz, we appreciate it. Thank you. Now a dizzying week of diplomacy over Russia's

war on Ukraine takes another big term with U.S. President Donald Trump set to host his Ukrainian counterpart just a week after calling Volodymyr

Zelenskyy a dictator.

A Ukrainian official tell CNN his country has agreed to the terms of a deal with the U.S. over Ukrainian National -- Natural Resources, expected to

include those prized rare earth minerals. President Zelenskyy reportedly rejected the version of the deal initially put to him by Washington.

Now, according to the official, everything unacceptable has been removed. If he goes to Washington, Mr. Zelenskyy will be the third European leader

to meet with President Trump in a matter of days. France's Emmanuel Macron was there on Monday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was it -- will

visit tomorrow after announcing his government will boost defense spending.

Well, our Nick Paton Walsh has been following developments from Kyiv joins us now. Nick, the framework of this deal now certainly appears to be more

favorable towards Ukraine, but of course, it doesn't include that explicit security guarantee that Ukrainians are seeking. And I know President

Zelenskyy has been speaking in the last hour in a press conference there. Did he address that at all? What was he saying?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, he did talk about how point 10 of the agreements, as far as he understood,

contained language in reference to security guarantees for Ukraine, and how some of the more egregious terms in the view of Kyiv have been taken out

from this document.

But I have actually seen a draft of that text, which was current as of a few hours ago this morning, and it's important just to share with people

where they've got to in terms of the language around Ukraine's security guarantees, and there is an explicit point in point 10 which says the

government of the United States of America supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.

Participants will seek to identify any necessary steps to protect mutual investments as defined in the fund agreement. Now that is not a security

guarantee from the United States. That same the United States is fine with Ukraine trying to get some.

[09:10:00]

And so that, I think is key, it potentially is what he was referring to, fudge language that says, yes, security guarantees would be a good thing,

but not spelled out by the United States. Now reviewing the rest of the document, it does appear to be a very broad framework discussion here.

There is no headline figure as to how much the United States thinks it needs to be repaid by Ukraine.

The figure of half a trillion was initially floated. Zelenskyy said he managed to kick out 100 billion. But Zelenskyy was also very clear in his

press conference, they will not accept $0.10 he said of the money which has been given to Ukraine so far as grants by the Biden Administration and at

times mischaracterized by the Trump Administration as a debt.

He will not accept any of that being reimbursed. That's key. I think that is a sticking point that clearly this latest draft does not necessarily

have a reference to. But bear in mind here, this is going to come down to a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy themselves.

Now we did not hear Zelenskyy stand there confidently say he was looking forward to meeting President Trump on Friday at four o'clock. We don't have

a time. We don't have confirmed details around that. We do have Trump saying he'd like it to happen. Zelenskyy would like it to happen, and

clearly Zelenskyy feels he urgently needs that meeting.

He said, to ask Trump basically about future U.S. aid and to talk about security guarantees as well. He said during that press conference,

Zelenskyy, that he was going to read the document. There clearly is continued government high level meetings addressing the exact terminology,

and it did sound from listening to Zelenskyy, this is still something of a live discussion.

There were suggestions over the past 48 hours, we've been reporting how this document had essentially taken some of the thornier, nastier bits and

parked them for later discussions or later agreements. And what I'm reading on that draft text, this is a wider, more sort of looks quite symbolic,

because there are concrete suggestions in there.

But much more positing how they'd like to continue this relationship Ukraine, accepting the need for what they refer to as a reconstruction and

investment fund, but clearly also saying half of revenues from natural resources, rare earth minerals, other things too. Some exceptions made for

certain state-owned enterprises already will contribute to this fund, which will significantly benefit the United States.

So, it's clear we're not on the point of signatures. It's pretty clear that Zelenskyy is going to Washington. He suggested you go to London afterwards.

But this is still something moving forward. And importantly, the text that we've just seen suggest that there aren't going to be explicit U.S.

security guarantees in it, just a reference that the U.S. is OK for Ukraine trying to get some somewhere Christina.

MACFARLANE: And Nick to that point, I just want to show our viewers a clip from that press conference where Zelenskyy does address those guarantees.

Let's have a quick listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: If we understand that the U.S. will be one of the countries or one of the leading countries who give

security guarantees, then this could be a success, or the first step towards the sustainable, fair peace, growth of the Ukrainian economy. Or if

it's just some sort of beginning without a vision for the end, we will make conclusions after my conversation with President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: We mentioned this meeting that may happen on Friday, a document that may be signed, and what is the urgency now for President Zelenskyy to

get back on track on terms with Donald Trump, given the speed of us alignment with Russia that we've just seen over the past week, not to

mention, of course, that controversial U.N. vote.

WALSH: I mean, there's potential to say that the meeting coming up on Friday. If indeed does happen, as both sides suggest it likely will, is one

of the most important Zelenskyy would ever hold. We've seen the impact of interpersonal relationships that Donald Trump seems to be significantly

influenced by the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a matter of hours, he seemed to drag the United States, particularly Donald Trump, back into the orbit of being a security partner for Europe,

possibly even Ukraine as well. Careful diplomacy engineered around that G7 meeting with Macron being in Washington, Canada's Justin Trudeau being here

in Kyiv and getting Zelenskyy into the same virtual briefing as Trump.

That now goes to another stage forward. Trump having said next in Macron that he wants Zelenskyy to come and sign a document in the Oval Office back

then, it seems like an age ago now, 48 hours ago, they said they were at the one-yard line when it came to getting this deal signed. From what we've

seen, they are obviously dealing now with a fine tune document, which seems to not force either side to accept things that are deeply uncomfortable to

them.

And the issue, I think more broadly, from the sort of 30,000-foot view here, is the need for this rare earth situation to be parked, to be dealt

with down the line, for the U.S. to say we are still into the idea of Ukraine security through financial assistance, perhaps, or support going

forwards, and then allow that relationship try and get back on track so that doesn't disrupt, potentially, in Washington's viewpoint, the

discussions it's having with the United States and Russia separately.

[09:15:00]

So much moving simultaneously, but you have to be in no doubt. The last 10 days have been pretty horrific for those here in Ukraine who originally

need U.S. support, who are dying on the front lines as Russia slowly advances. We're getting a glimmer of hope here that this document may

provide a sort of gentle third path between both sides here to get them out of this massive conundrum, frankly.

And then also, too, we need that cementing of Trump, Zelenskyy rapprochement by their meeting in person and basically Trump deciding that

he wants to help Zelenskyy, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, important to remember how all of this is playing back home, of course, in Ukraine for the Ukrainian people. And Nick Paton Walsh

there live from Kyiv. Thanks, Nick. Now, a couple of hours from now, President Trump will be holding his first cabinet meeting of his term in

office, or this term in office, I should say.

And in a sign, he's not tiring of his trusted advisor, Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, will be attending the meeting, even though he's not an

official member of the cabinet. It's unclear whether we'll see any sign of the apparent tension that's been brewing behind the scenes.

We're hearing from a Trump Administration official that there's been, quote, some annoyance over Musk's surprise demand that federal workers

justify their value as employees. Let's cross over to our Alayna Treene, who's at the White House. Alayna worth mentioning again.

I think that Elon Musk is not a cabinet member, not vetted by Congress, and someone who I think Donald Trump is increasingly struggling to contain, not

that he would admit that publicly. So, what do you think we can expect from this cabinet meeting today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, I think there's no question that you know, Elon Musk influence is only growing and being more

solidified by his presence and attendance at that cabinet meeting this morning, particularly as you mentioned, given the fact that he is not one

of those members.

He is a special government employee. He is not Senate confirmed. But look, we did hear from the Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt. Moments ago, I

spoke with her as well some other reporters. And she said part of the reason he is attending is because so much of what Musk is doing, so much

what the cabinet is doing, I should say, is tied to what Musk is doing and DOGE.

Again, just really elevating what his position and his stance in all of this and in this administration. But the interesting thing as well is the

timing of this cabinet meeting. Not only is it the president's first gathering of all of the cabinet officials, some of whom aren't even

confirmed by the Senate yet.

But it also comes as we have some reporting, and we're learning that some of these cabinet secretaries are growing frustrated and annoyed with how

Elon Musk is carrying out his different attempts to really massively reduce the size of the federal government.

And I heard a lot of this from Trump Administration officials and White House officials following that email that Musk had sent over the weekend,

or DOGE had sent over the weekend, asking all government employees to send a list of five things they had done the week before, and then he warned if

they don't do that, they would be terminated and fired.

And that's really the part of this where I'm told that there was some grading on behalf of the cabinet officials and top administration officials

as well. It's really this question of who has the authority to make these firing decisions, because it should be the cabinet secretaries that have

the power.

And this is where that frustration was really brewing. I'm told where, essentially, a lot of these people, like I said, were just sworn in. Some

of them haven't been sworn in yet. They're still assessing the needs of their agency, the types of people that they need to support them and they

want the power to make these decisions.

And that's really where a lot of this is coming from. I also should note, of course, that I had learned that many of these cabinet officials as well,

were caught off guard from that. So that's where some of this is stemming from. But look, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that

the person who Elon Musk is not getting under the skin of, is the one person who really matters in all of this, and that is President Donald

Trump.

We have seen him repeatedly saying that he agrees with that recent move, that Musk has moved he has been really supportive of all that Musk is

doing. I'm told that personally, he wants these cuts to be swift. He wants that chainsaw approach that, you know, kind of cut and ask questions later,

approach that we've seen Musk and DOGE take.

And then we also saw him post this morning, Donald Trump about Elon Musk. He said that he thanks him in a Truth social post. He also said that

nothing has changed, and run Elon run just kind of giving him more of that encouragement. So, we'll be standing by, of course, for what exactly

happens in that meeting at 11:00 a.m. today, and what more we can learn from some of the dynamics that are playing by behind the scenes.

MACFARLANE: The dynamics of perhaps the body language in the room as well. We'll wait for that. Alayna Treene for now thanks very much. Now, still to

come, the very latest on how Pope Francis is doing as he remains in hospital with chronic respiratory issues. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Pope Francis is said to have had a peaceful night and is sitting up in hospital, according to Vatican officials. They say,

the 88-year-old pontiff remains in critical but stable condition. He was admitted to hospital in Rome 13 days ago for a respiratory infection and is

now also receiving treatment for pneumonia in both lungs.

The Catholic faithful gathered at nearby St. Peter's Square late Tuesday to pray for the Holy Father. Let's head to Roman, our Ben Wedeman, who is

joining us live and Ben. Any new developments on the pope's condition since the last Vatican bulletin?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not particularly the latest thing we heard from a Vatican source is that, no, he's not in bed.

He's not bedridden. He's sitting up in an armchair that he is eating solid food and that he continues to receive supplemental oxygen.

But not as it was the case on Saturday when he had a respiratory asthmatic crisis, but rather at lower concentrations and flows of oxygen. So, it does

appear that his condition has stabilized for the time being. We're not hearing about what his activities have been over the last 24 hours.

It seems that the news is delayed always by 24 hours, because yesterday evening, we found out what he did on Monday. And on Monday he did meet with

two senior Vatican officials, the most senior people outside of his circle of secretaries he met with since he was admitted to hospital 13 days ago.

He signed off on some decrees relating to the naming of possible future saints. So, he does seem to be resuming some of his activity. But by and

large, it appears that Vatican officials as well as the medical staff are being very cautious in terms of saying anything about how his condition

will be going forward.

Critical but stable certainly is better than what we saw over the weekend, when we saw an asthmatic attack the need for blood transfusions, but at

this point, they're still being very cautious here at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, obvious. For obvious reason. Ben, thank you very much for the update for now. Now, electric power is starting to return to Chile,

after a massive outage plunged most of the country into darkness and chaos for hours. Officials say 90 percent of homes and businesses affected by the

blackout have now restored their electricity.

Some 8 million homes were impacted, and daily life across much of the country came to a standstill when the power outage struck Tuesday

afternoon. CNN's Patrick Oppmann has been following the story for us. Patrick, do we know yet what triggered the outage and what the impact was

on the country?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is under investigation at this moment. All we know at this point is that a high transmission line in the

Atacama Desert that supplies electricity to the capital Santiago apparently had some sort of disruption.

[09:25:00]

We don't know what caused that. Officials have not been able to determine that just yet. They say they are trying to figure out exactly how this took

place that led this virtually nationwide power out, that led to these really surreal scenes over the last 24 hours, of people in Chile trying to

drive on the streets without traffic lights, people being stuck in elevators, people being stuck in shops where, you know, they use electric

doors to get in and out.

Of course, those were working, and this had a massive, massive impact across virtually the entire country. So, while power is being restored, you

can certainly understand why trains would be so upset that one of the largest, if not the largest power outages ever to take place.

The government officials are blaming local power companies. But of course, everyone is going to be under a lot of pressure to figure out what

happened, what caused Chile to essentially go for hours and hours, virtually the entire day, most of the day on Tuesday to be without power,

and then, you know, now that it's been restored, exactly, how are they going to prevent this from happening again in the future?

MACFARLANE: Yeah, some 8 million people affected. It is quite extraordinary. Thanks very much for now, Patrick. OK, still to come,

America is bracing for steep tariffs on steel and aluminum next month. One industry leader says the impact could be brutal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London, and you are watching "Connect the World". Here are your headlines. Ukraine's Prime

Minister says his country and the U.S. have prepared a final version of a natural resources deal. U.S. President Donald Trump says he expects

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who he called a dictator just last week, to fly to Washington in the coming days to sign it.

The deal reportedly grants the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, and includes U.S. funding for Ukraine's reconstruction. In

Israel, thousands of mourners line the streets for the funeral possession of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were taken hostage in the Hamas-led

attack on Israel on October 7th.

[09:30:00]

Their bodies were returned last week as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas at just nine months old, Kfir was the youngest hostage taken.

President Trump is preparing to hold his first cabinet meeting since resuming office. A White House official says the president will check in

with agency heads to ensure that they're quote, rowing in the right direction.

Elon Musk is also expected to attend despite his role in government being unofficial. Pope Francis spent another peaceful night in hospital and is

sitting up in an armchair today as he continues treatment for double pneumonia, the Vatican says. He was admitted to the hospital 13 days ago.

Despite showing slight improvement, the pope remains in critical but stable position. That was or not quite the opening power. We'll be back to say, oh

no. We can see the indices just here, the DOW, the NASDAQ, the S&P 500 still all up in the green. Understandably, investors have been worried in

part by the U.S. President's aggressive trade policies.

A 25 percent tariff on aluminum and steel is on track to take effect next month, and the CEO of one of the United States largest aluminum makers is

warning that the move could wipe out tens of thousands of American jobs. CNN's Business Reporter Matt Egan is live for us in New York. So Matt, how

big of an impact is this expected to have?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Christina, this warning from the Alcoa CEO is really stark. Listen, he's talking about tariffs. We know that the

president views tariffs as a way to protect American workers and U.S. industry. But here you have the CEO of one of the largest U.S. aluminum

companies saying that it's going to do the exact opposite.

The Alcoa CEO is warning that this 25 percent tariff that's set to go into effect in the coming weeks would kill 100,000 jobs in the United States. He

sees 20,000 jobs directly in the aluminum industry. That's pretty significant. That's about 12 percent of the total workforce in that sector,

and 80,000 indirectly here.

That's in some of the industries that are supported by aluminum, like manufacturing and construction. And listen this CEO. He did not mince any

words here. He flat out, said, this is bad for the aluminum industry. It's bad for American workers. And what's key here is that the U.S. imports a

lot of aluminum.

$27 billion last year alone, most of that comes from Canada, which is what has concerned the Alcoa CEO. That's why he wants an exemption from these

tariffs for aluminum that comes from Canada. But it's not just Canada, right? The U.S. also imports from Mexico and China, the UAE and South

Korea.

The White House is pushing back against the Alcoa CEO, saying that one international aluminum companies, they flood the United States with cheap

imports. And two, this is a national security issue, and that tariffs are going to help reshore some of these jobs back to the United States.

I would just note though, that the Alcoa CEO, he was kind of skeptical about the idea of reshoring jobs. He noted during an industry conference

yesterday that these are decisions that are made with a 20- or 40-year time horizon. And that there's just so much uncertainty right now about trade

policy that it's really not clear whether or not tariffs alone would cause the company to bring jobs back to the United States, Christina.

MACFARLANE: And in addition, we're also hearing that Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into the copper industry as well. Does that mean

we could see more tariffs on the way there too?

EGAN: Yeah, we could look. It's pretty hard to keep track of all of the different tariffs that have been floated or threatened or set in motion or

actually implemented and piled back, let alone the retaliation from other countries that have been threaten. But yes, the latest is copper.

You can see copper's futures moving 2 percent higher this morning, and that is because the president did sign an executive order that launched an

investigation into the copper industry, and it does raise the possibility that, in addition to steel, in addition to aluminum, that there could be

tariffs on copper.

Look, one of the issues here is, of course, is what's going to happen to prices. The fact that copper prices are up 2 percent this morning reflects

that concern that tariffs could increase prices and look consumers in the United States, they are getting increasingly worried about tariffs.

We saw that consumer confidence plunged in February for the most in 3.5 years, and consumers have really ramped up their expectations for prices.

[09:35:00]

They're now expecting a 6 percent increase in prices over the next 12 months, that is an acceleration of what people were expecting back in

January, when it was 5.2 percent this survey from the Conference Board. They pointed to two big reasons for this expectation of higher prices.

One, of course, is egg prices, and that's being driven by bird flu, but the other is tariffs, and just this concern and uncertainty over all of these

import taxes that could be on the way. So, we've got to pay very close attention to this, because Christina, look, we know the cost of living is

just the number one concern among many Americans right now, and it's hard to see how all of these tariffs are going to make that situation any

better.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, certainly seems to be impacting their pockets, their baseline. Matt, we appreciate it. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks Christina.

MACFARLANE: Now, the fallout continues from that mass email sent by Elon Musk and the Office of Personal Management threatening the jobs of U.S.

federal employees. When asked to clarify the matter, here's what President Trump had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you clarify, hopefully once and for all, what your expectations are with this email to federal employees? What are you going

to use that information for? And do you see it as voluntary, like OPM has said, or mandatory?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, it's somewhat voluntary, but it's also if you don't answer, I guess you get

fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, meanwhile, the public outcry against the move is growing louder. CNN's Tom Foreman has details on the backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you OK with the chaos being created?

REP. MARK ALFORD (R-MO): Government employees are going to be let go. That's just the reality of it.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shouted down at town halls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, let's restore some order.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, yelling at me is not going to get any answer, OK.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Protested on their way to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We lost ten percent of our workforce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up and let him talk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will not, sir.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Republican lawmakers are being hammered by voters, including their own. Over the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE,

which is chain sawing federal jobs in blue and red states alike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, I think we should just be using a scalpel.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And some elected leaders are now pushing back on DOGE's unelected cutter in chief.

SEN. JOHN CURTIS (R-UT): If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it's like, please put a dose of compassion in this. These are real people.

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): When you have a president who can affect somebody's business or somebody's livelihood. It just needs to be done with

deliberation.

FOREMAN (voice-over): For weeks, the parade of departing workers has been growing, from the FAA to the IRS, from health agencies to the Small

Business Administration, from Veterans Affairs to the National Parks and more. And when Elon Musk demanded this past weekend that all remaining

workers justify their employment in an email or be fired. President Trump initially was all for it.

TRUMP: I thought it was great, because we have people that don't show up to work, and nobody even knows if they work for the government.

FOREMAN (voice-over): But around a dozen departments in Trump's own administration effectively told their workers to ignore Musk. Trump

appeared to back down, treating party bosses to put the best face on a bad situation.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I think the vast majority of the American people understand and applaud and appreciate the DOGE effort.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Polls indeed show voters want less government waste. But a slim majority now think DOGE has gone too far. By the hour, it seems

more GOP Congress members are subtly backing the resistance.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): If I were a Senate confirm head of a department and I had somebody from the outside undermining my ability to manage and

demonstrate there's one leader in every department I'd have a problem with it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (on camera): To be sure, none of these Republican lawmakers want to directly oppose Donald Trump or his plans, but they do see that his plans

are now costing them in a way that many clearly did not expect. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

MACFARLANE: Well, Luka Doncic led the Lakers to a victory over his former side last night, but afterwards, he sounded a little more relieved than

anything. We've got more in the highlights after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. All eyes were on Los Angeles last night as Luka Doncic got the win over his former team, the Dallas Mavericks. He didn't

have the best shooting night by his standards, reportedly. And said afterwards, I'm just glad it's over. Amanda Davies is joining me now. I'm

sure that is true. It must have been a little bit weird for the Slovenian star.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. You've got to really feel for him. It was only 3.5 weeks ago that he admitted he was as shocked as anyone when he

found out he was being traded from Dallas Mavericks to L.A. He has been doing all he can to embrace his new home, but as you're settling in,

getting to grips with a new city, a new team, all the eyes on him.

The team you don't want to be up against is the team who you have so many good memories with these talks about his teammates as family members. But

he did his best. He said he hadn't got much sleep ahead of the game. That was very much what he was hoping to do today.

But we've got all the action in terms of how we did, how his teammates did, and how they reacted to it, just in a couple of minutes in "World Sport".

MACFARLANE: Looking forward to that, I think I would forget which Jersey I was wearing if I were in the game. Join Amanda, after this quick break for

more on "World Sport".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END