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Trump Takes Questions at First Cabinet Meeting of Second Term; Trump Says Cabinet Will Follow His Orders With No Exceptions; Zelenskyy Will Visit Washington on Friday to Sign Rare Earth Minerals Agreement; RFK Jr. Says HHS is Following the Measles Epidemic; Elon Musk Explains That the Email Was a Pulse Check, Not a Performance Review; Trumps Promises to Not Touch Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired February 26, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- fentanyl, it is such a big killer. And those people are never the same people. I mean, I've seen people that for the rest of their lives, they're not the same people. They're so different. It is not even believable. Dynamic people, happy people that are -- they die a miserable death and that is because of the crap that comes in through China and through Mexico and through Canada. It comes -- a lot of it comes through Canada.

The Canada, look, we support Canada, $200 billion a year in subsidies one way or the other. We let them make millions of cars. We let them send us lumber. We don't need their lumber. We're going to free up our lumber. Lee is going to do that, Head of Environmental. We're going to free up our lumber. We have the best lumber there is. We don't need their lumber. What do we need their lumber for?

When you look at the -- we subsidize them $200 billion a year. Without us, Canada can't make it. You know, Canada relies on us 95 percent. We rely on them 4 percent. Big difference. And I say Canada should be our 51st state. There's no tariffs, no nothing. And I say that, we give them military protection. They have a very small military. They spend very little money on military or NATO, they're just about last in terms of payment because they say, why should we spend on military? That's a tremendous cost. Most nations can't afford to even think about it. Why should we spend on military? The United States protects us.

And I would say that's largely true. We protect Canada. But it's not fair. It's not fair that they're not paying their way. And if they had to pay their way, they couldn't exist. When I spoke to, let's call the Prime Minister rather than the governor.

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: When I spoke to him, I said, why are we giving you $200 billion a year? He was unable to answer the question. I said, why are we letting you make millions of cars and send them in? He was unable to answer the question. Justin Trudeau, nice guy. I think he's a very good guy. I call him Governor Trudeau. He should be governor because the fact is that if we don't give them cars, we don't have to give them cars. The tariffs will make it impossible for them to sell cars into the United States. The tariffs will make it impossible for them to sell lumber or anything else into the United States.

And all I'm asking to do is breakeven or lose a little bit, but not lose $200 billion. And we love Canada. I love Canada. I love the people of Canada. And -- but honestly, it's not fair for us to be supporting Canada. And if we don't support them, they don't subsist as a nation. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, have you just made a decision on what level you'll seek on tariffs in the European Union?

TRUMP: We have made a decision. We'll be announcing it very soon, and it'll be 25 percent, generally speaking, and that'll be on cars and all other things. And European Union is a different case than Canada, different kind of case. They've really taken advantage of us in a different way. They don't accept our cars. They don't accept essentially our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not, and we accept everything of them. And we have about a $300 billion deficit with the European Union.

Now, I love the countries of Europe. I guess I'm from there at some point a long time ago, right?

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: But, indirectly -- pretty directly too, I guess. But I love the countries of Europe. I love all countries, frankly, all different. But European Union has been -- it was formed in order to screw the United States. I mean, look, let's be honest. The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it. And they've done a good job of it. But now I'm president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will happen if these countries or the E.U. retaliate?

TRUMP: They can't. I mean, they can try, but they can't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China did. They are collecting (inaudible) sir. That went into effect, China's retaliatory tariffs, on the 10th of February. Has there been any impact that you've been able to observe?

TRUMP: That's right. Now, they can do it and they can try, but the numbers can never equal what ours, because we could go off. We are the pot of gold. We are the one that everybody wants, and they can retaliate, but it cannot be a successful retaliation because we just go cold Turkey. We don't buy anymore. And if that happens, we win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you talking to Erik Prince about privatizing deportations?

TRUMP: No, I haven't. I haven't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, you're in litigation with CBS News. Is this a case that you'd like to see go to trial, or are you open to some --

TRUMP: With who?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CBS, the "60 Minutes."

TRUMP: CBS?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Well, CBS did something that was amazing. Kamala was unable to answer a question properly, and they took the question that they asked and they inserted an answer. They gave her an answer. This was two days before the election, right before the Sunday night before the election. And they wrote out a -- they put her words from another question that was asked about a half an hour later, and they put that into the question.

[12:35:00]

Nobody has ever even heard of it before. Nobody has ever heard of anything like this before, but they then did it, they say on numerous occasions. And the FCC is looking at it very strongly and everybody's looking at it, and I'm -- but nobody has ever seen anything. Think of it, they took her answers and they changed them. And I don't mean they changed a word or two, or they cut off a half a sentence, or they cut off a couple of words. I mean, I've had that happen too. But that you just say, you know, then they say, well, we want brevity. You know, we wanted (inaudible) time.

They took out her answer and they inserted an entirely different answer that made her sound competent and they did this and nobody has ever -- I thought I've heard of everything when it comes to that stuff. No, I've never heard of it. Nobody has ever seen. So we sued and we are in discussions of settlement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would a number be like often (ph)? What -- what's a number that you would think would be appropriate?

TRUMP: I think it's a lot.

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: I mean, it could. It could have -- it probably did affect the election. I mean, we won by a lot, as I said, too big to rig. But it probably did affect the election. You know, probably could have won by more, but I could have lost the election because of that. It's -- we have to -- we have to get to honest elections. We have to go back to paper ballots. We have to go back to voter ID, one-day election ideally, or short term, not these 48-day and 61-day elections where boxes are put in a room and, oh, let's move the boxes because we're putting in a new air conditioning system.

And you see the boxes move and then you say, well, where are all the boxes? You know, what happened to the boxes that never came back? No, our elections are extremely dishonest. We're the only country in the world that has mail-in voting and all of these different things that we put in. Nobody -- no other country in the world has it. You know, France went to -- they had some of the things that we had, and they went to same-day voting, all paper.

And you know, paper is very sophisticated. Now, it's a very sophisticated -- it's a very sophisticated form of voting right now. It's a very safe form of voting. You know, the other things for the governors, I wish the governors would do it because the paper ballots will cost 9 percent of the machines, and they're hundred percent. You know, they're -- I don't -- nothing is foolproof, but they're as close as you get. So, we'll see what happens. But on the "60 Minute" thing, nobody has ever seen anything like it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And would you link the FCC action to the litigation? I mean, does it make sense?

TRUMP: I don't think it is linked, but probably, the lawyers look at it, you know, because I know it's going along. FCC is headed by a very competent person, and you have some very competent people on the board. And so, I think they're looking at it very seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From all the deals that you've done in your life, all the people you've sat across from and negotiated with, is President Putin distinct in any way?

TRUMP: He's a very smart guy. He's a very cunning person. But, I've dealt with some people that -- I've dealt with some really bad people. But I will tell you, as far as this is concerned, we've -- you have to understand, he was -- he had no intention, in my opinion, of settling this war. I think he wanted the whole thing. When I got elected, we spoke, and I think we're going to have a deal. I can't guarantee that, you know, a deal is a deal. Lots of crazy things happen in deals, right?

But I think we're going to have a deal. If I didn't get elected, I believe he would've just continued to go through Ukraine in over a period of time. A lot of people -- a lot of people would've been killed, would've lasted for a period of time. And the reason that Ukraine and I give -- I have great respect for the Ukraine as fighters, great fighters, but without our equipment, that war would've been over like people said in a very short period of time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a time --

TRUMP: And if you remember, I gave the Javelins and the Javelins are the things that knocked out those tanks right at the beginning of the war. They said that Obama at the time gave sheets and Trump gave Javelins. Well, I was the one that did that, but I want to see it come to an end.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will he have to make concessions, President Putin?

TRUMP: Yeah, he will. He will. He's going to have to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think --

TRUMP: And I think -- I believe that because we got elected, that war will come to an end. And I also believe if we didn't get elected, if this administration didn't win the election by a lot, that war would go on for a long time. And he would want to take the whole thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What concession --

TRUMP: The big question I had is, does he want to take the whole thing? But the reason, and the Ukrainians are good fighters, I have to say. But without the equipment, without our equipment, we have the best equipment in the world. We have the best military equipment in the world. Without our equipment, that would've been over very quickly.

[12:40:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What concessions would you like to see? What concessions would you like to see?

TRUMP: Oh, I don't want to tell right now, but I can tell you that NATO, you can forget about. That's been -- I think that's probably the reason the whole thing started. And I think, J.D., we can say that. What -- do you have a statement in that? You've been very much involved.

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: I gave him the (inaudible).

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Great. Gave me the hardest question, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question from Russia.

VANCE: I mean, look, as the president said, we're not going to do the negotiation in public with the American media. He's going to do it in private with the President of Russia, with the President of Ukraine and with other leaders. And I think that's how this has to go. I think that I just want to push back against some of the criticism I've seen of the administration on this, because every single time the president engages in diplomacy, you guys preemptively accuse him of conceding to Russia. He hasn't conceded anything to anyone. He's doing the job of a --

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': And we have been monitoring a very lengthy cabinet meeting, President Trump's first cabinet meeting of this administration. There is a lot to digest, a lot to get to, a lot to fact check, including and especially some of the last things that he said about CBS, not to mention other very big questions about what Elon Musk is doing. He definitely was the star of the show, particularly at the beginning.

I want to go right to Jeff Zeleny at the White House. Jeff, again, there are a lot of things that we are going to get to in our discussion here and our -- not just our analysis, but again, our fact check. But I do want to start effectively where this meeting started about an hour ago, which is where Elon Musk was asked to present what he was doing. The idea that the richest man in the world was standing up, holding court in the cabinet room, dressed in his dark MAGA outfit. And his allegation that what they are doing is, he says, not to purge people or it was not, in his words, a performance review. He claimed it was a pulse check.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Dana, it was extraordinary. Elon Musk did not have a seat at the table. That was reserved for confirmed cabinet secretaries and those who are awaiting confirmation, as well as a handful of senior staff. But he was center stage. There is no doubt about it.

And that fact is not unusual. We have seen senior advisors to many presidents in a cabinet meeting, but never have I heard one be asked to speak and be given the floor like this. The cabinet of this administration was essentially the backdrop for another wide-ranging press conference we have seen the president do. But on Elon Musk, once again, this is the second time we've heard him talk extensively about his plans.

But of course, since we saw him in the Oval Office a couple weeks ago, so much has changed, largely that email that he sent out over the weekend and that of course, has caused some of the first rifts between some departments, some agency heads, and of the administration, and certainly the federal workforce. But the president asked him to defend that and clearly made the very obvious point that he's on the same page with Elon Musk, that he does believe he called it a pulse check.

He said that a million people answered this response, this email, which means more than a million did not answer it. And he said they're looking for fraud in the system. But also, reporters asked the president and asked cabinet secretaries if there was any dissent on this topic. This is what the president said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Elon, let the cabinet speak just for a second.

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: Anybody is unhappy with it? If you are, we'll throw them out of here.

(LAUGH)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Is anybody unhappy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So that laughter there belie the obvious point that cabinet secretaries, of course, work for the president. So there is no one going to be voicing dissent, at least in that room. It's unclear how long this cabinet meeting will actually last. If it is a question-and- answer session with reporters the entire time, or if the president actually going to hear advice from members of this cabinet. Certainly in nearly an hour, it was about four minutes short of an hour before we dipped out. There was no room for dissent.

The vice president spoke at the very end there. But the president went on to say that the million people who did not respond to those emails maybe on the bubble. And we do know that mass layoffs are coming. As we speak, agencies are reviewing plans. But one other separate piece of news, the president at the very beginning, he said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be coming here to the White House on Friday, but again, making no security guarantees from the U.S., Dana.

BASH: Yeah. He said that's going to be up to Europe to secure Ukraine's --

ZELENY: Right.

BASH: -- to give Ukraine security. But also did say as part of this land deal that they're talking about, that U.S. personnel would be there, made this sort of suggestion that perhaps there would be some fortification, if you will, just with business people.

[12:45:13]

But when it comes to actual security, that would be up to Europe. OK. Thank you so much, Jeff.

Now, let's get to our Daniel Dale. Daniel, you were listening closely. There are so many things I want to ask you about. Can we just start with one of the things that we heard at the end there, because this was just completely factually inaccurate. Suggesting -- saying point blank, and I'm pulling it up here, that CBS completely took her answers -- Kamala Harris' answers in the "60 Minutes" interview that Donald Trump is suing over and changed them.

There were questions and there was some controversy around it, but the idea that they just completely changed her answers, we now see the transcript. It's available, thanks to the FCC. It's not true.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, that's a good fact check, Dana. There was just so much in this cabinet meeting. So let me run through some of the big ones. We heard this claim again from the president. He's been saying it over and over in the past week, that the U.S. has provided Ukraine with $350 billion worth of aid, and that this is about three times what Europe collectively has provided. That is not true.

The $350 billion number is not true, nor is the idea that the U.S. has provided way more than Europe. So according to a think tank in Germany that closely tracks this aid, it is Europe that has collectively provided more aid to Ukraine than the U.S. has. In terms of aid committed, it's about double, about $260 billion for Europe to about $125 billion for the U.S. In terms of aid allocated, its narrower, but Europe still leads.

The president also repeated this claim. He's been saying over and over that the U.S. ranks 40th out of 40 in some education rankings. I specifically asked the White House what those rankings were. They were not able to point to any of them. It appears not to exist. In fact, the U.S. is above average in reading and science, and below average, though far from last, in math rankings even of wealthy countries.

He said the U.S. is the only country with mail-in voting. It simply isn't. He said the U.S. took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China in the tariffs he imposed in the first term. In fact, Americans paid those tariffs. Americans made those tariff payments. And it's not true that Trump was the first president to impose tariffs on China.

He said that, we lose 300,000 people to fentanyl deaths every year. In fact, it's about 60,000 deaths per year, still a tragedy, of course, horrible. But nowhere close to what he's saying. He said the European Union does not take American farm products. In fact, it is the fourth biggest market for U.S. agricultural exports of $13 billion per year. He offered another alternate history of the European Union's formation, saying it was formed to screw, take advantage of the U.S. In fact, it was formed with U.S. support, so not even close to correct.

And so, I don't even know where to go from here. He said there was no inflation when he left office. It was low, but it existed, about 1.4 percent. He said a lot of the U.S. fentanyl comes from Canada. In fact, 0.2 percent, about 43 pounds worth came from Canada, so just a tiny number. And he repeated this claim we heard a lot during his presidency, saying that President Obama merely provided Ukraine with sheets. He used to say pillows and sheets, rather than actual military aid.

In fact, the Obama Administration provided things like counter-mortar radars, armored Humvees, tactical drones. So, it was not simply pillows and sheets. And I'll give you one more. He said that, you know, the million people who didn't respond to this email, this five things that you did last week email from Elon Musk team may not exist. I guess it's possible the U.S. government is paying some people who don't exist. But I think it's important to note that we had numerous agency heads, department heads telling their employees not to respond. So the simpler explanation is that people were instructed not to do this rather than them being, you know, fictional, non-existent human beings. BASH: Yeah, that was one of the things I was going to ask you about.

That is definitely something that when all is said and done, we're going to want the receipts on, suggestions that the people who have not responded maybe don't exist, as you said. There was one other doozy, which was the allegation that there were social security checks going to people who are 150 years old. Those people got older during the cabinet meeting today. Apparently they're 200 years old. So, there is that.

Daniel, thank you so much for that. Before I go to my fabulous reporters and colleagues here at the table, I do want to play something that happened after we dipped out, which is the HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, talking about measles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: -- epidemic every day. I think there's 124 people who have contracted measles at this point, mainly in Gaines County, Texas. Mainly we're told in the Mennonite community, there are two people who have died but we're watching it.

[12:50:00]

And there are about 20 people hospitalized, mainly for quarantine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. So that was RFK Jr. just commenting on what we, especially Sanjay Gupta has been reporting on extensively going on in Texas. OK. So now here at the table, we have CNN's David Chalian, Zolan Kanno- Youngs of the New York Times, Nia-Malika Henderson of CNN and Bloomberg.

David, before we start, I do want to just run the sound bite of Elon Musk, what he was saying about the pulse check, not a performance review.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: I think that email perhaps was misinterpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review. So we think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can't respond. And some people who are not real people, like they're literally fictional individuals that are collecting paycheck. Well, somebody's collecting paychecks on a fictional individual. So we're just literally trying to figure out, are these people real? Are they alive? And can they write an email? David?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: I've lost count now of the how many different interpretations, justifications, explanations, clarifications there are of this policy that has gone out over the weekend about this email because to me, it just smacks of showing this was not clear, that a lot of the work that is happening that is coming out in haphazard fashion or certainly sort of like with a meat cleaver instead of a scalpel.

And even if there is much fat to be trimmed inside the government, I don't think you're going to get an argument from anyone that there is a lot of that to get trimmed. The way in which they're going about doing it, just by following their own actions that need clarification every day suggests that this is not like a well-operationalized plan here. And I will just note, on the pulse check, Dana, they are now taking the argument that Elon Musk in the Oval Office just two weeks ago was making about social security recipients, and just transferring it now to the federal workforce.

So at first, it was social security recipients are either 200 years old or they are dead. And now, it's that the people in the federal workforce are either fictionalized or dead and collecting a paycheck.

BASH: Can we just, before I move on, just look at that image, David? Can we put that back up? Can we just talk about this for a second?

CHALIAN: Well, as you noted, you know, this is the world's richest man who is standing there sort of lording over the cabinet table. I mean, he -- obviously Donald Trump, he's not doing that without full --

BASH: Yeah, he was asked to do it.

CHALIAN: -- ability to do so from the president and the president, clearly in this first month of this administration into six weeks now or what have you, finds Musk serving a very critical role for him, either as a shield or as the guy who can take most of the heat. And that he clearly likes the actions that Musk is taking.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The lack of clarity also extends to those within the administration with this action to ask federal employees to report what they had been doing for their work. We know that when this email initially went out, that top administration officials, leadership and cabinet agencies also were caught off guard in some instances and that there were conflicting messages. DOJ saying, actually, follow our protocol, don't follow Elon Musk. Also Homeland Security leadership reaching out --

BASH: Yeah.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- and saying in some cases, hey, to not follow this. So, I was also struck by the comment where Trump today said that those who did not respond could be on the bubble, especially since there were those in the administration who were directed in some cases not to respond. This -- all of this will add to the confusion, the lack of clarity, and really the panic in some cases.

BASH: And I just -- I do want to turn because there were so many other topics.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah.

BASH: -- and we're almost out of time. You're not going to see a 'Read My Lips' moment. For those of you who are maybe too young --

HENDERSON: Yeah.

BASH: That is a reference to George H. W. Bush who said read my lips, no new taxes. And then there were, and then he lost. This is in response to a question about Medicaid and the cuts that were involved, or are a part of the broader blueprint that the House Republicans passed yesterday. He said, again, there will not be cuts, but the question that was not asked, which is your question and all of our questions, is if you're not going to make cuts to Medicaid, where are you going to get the cuts to reduce the deficit elsewhere? But, I think that that is going to be a moment that people are going to bookmark.

HENDERSON: Yeah. And particularly, Republicans who are going to be on the other end of these questions about how are you cutting $880 billion? And why are you giving all of this money to corporations and rich people? That's been the argument the Democrats have made. It's a pretty good argument for them to make and take to average Americans.

[12:55:00]

One of the things he did say though, is he said, there won't be cuts, but we will eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, right? So, you know, we know that this whole topic of waste, fraud, and abuse has been used to take a sledgehammer to the federal government. So, it could be that they're able to make this argument that there are all these dead people that are receiving Medicaid and 350 year olds who are receiving Medicaid benefits. So we'll see, but it's going to be a key argument.

BASH: And he said that Lee Zeldin at the EPA is going to cut 65 percent from environmental. I assume that means from the EPA workforce, which is -- and just the EPA programs as well, which is another bit of news.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

CHALIAN: Which I'll just note on the foreign policy front.

BASH: Yeah.

CHALIAN: They are saying that Putin is going to have to make concessions --

BASH: Thank you.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yeah.

BASH: That was big.

CHALIAN: This on the eve of Zelenskyy's now confirmed visit to the White House on Friday, I thought was noteworthy. I mean, he was pressed about Putin as somebody he sits across the table with, but then specifically asked, will he have to make concessions here? And Trump said, yes.

BASH: He said, yeah, he will, but wouldn't say what. I'm glad you brought that up. That's -- that was a very important moment because we've only seen the sort of rhetoric and the push go towards Ukraine and the opposite towards Russia.

KANNO-YOUNGS: I also just thought, I mean, looking at this broadly, this meeting, it was just such a reminder again of how much loyalty is sort of the top, you know, characteristic, the top thing that matters in this administration. Each time a question was asked of a different cabinet official or just asked to the room, you would see Trump turn to the cabinet official and almost put them on the spot. And in that moment, it was like a mini loyalty test, almost assessing what their answer would be.

He did with Pete Hegseth when asked about the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, and if generals who oversaw it would be ousted. Waited to see his answer, then followed up and almost gave what he wanted the answer to be.

BASH: You all are incredible. I wish we had much more time to talk about it, but you know what, we have 24 hours on this network, so don't go anywhere because "CNN News Central" will start after the break. Thank you for watching "Inside Politics."

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