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Inside Politics
Trump Says "America Will Not Put Up With" Zelenskyy Much Longer; Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Announces Run For NYC Mayor; 1 Dead, 20 Hospitalized In West Texas Measles Outbreak. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired March 03, 2025 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:32:50]
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: The White House has become an arm of the Kremlin. Every single day, you hear from the National Security Adviser, from the President of the United States, from his entire national security team, Kremlin talking points.
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DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Strong words there from Senator Chris Murphy who joined me on State of the Union yesterday. President Trump's fondness for Vladimir Putin, bad blood with Zelenskyy, it all goes back years. In 2019, Trump was impeached after pressuring Zelenskyy to investigate the Bidens during a call about providing military aid.
Alexander Vindman was the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert. He was on the line for that phone call and ultimately testified before Congress. You see it there.
He is now the author of a new book, "The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine", and joins me now with the latest.
Wow, this could not be more timely, this book coming out. Alex, thank you for being here. I just want to start with you, where we started the program, which is another escalation by President Trump when it comes to Zelenskyy, this statement on his social media.
"This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and this is the key. And America will not put up with it for much longer." And again, the statement he was referring to was Zelenskyy saying that we could be very far away from a ceasefire deal.
LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN (RET.), FORMER DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, NATONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I think Trump is doubling down on regime change, not talking about Putin. The Biden administration, right or wrong, day late, dollar short, called Putin a dictator. They're now talking about regime change in Ukraine, our ally, and not the inveterate enemy that has threatened us with nuclear weapons, that has been aggressively attacking us internally here.
And it's a shocking turn of events that this is an administration that is in line, according to the Russians and according to the Kremlin's own statements, with their policies. Their views of the world are converging and breaking -- burning bridges as soon as they get to them with our allies. It's --
BASH: Can you talk -- you said regime change. What you're referring to is the pressure. Mike Waltz did it with me on State of the Union yesterday. We're hearing it elsewhere. The pressure on Zelenskyy to resign. Is that what you're referring to?
[12:35:09]
VINDMAN: That's exactly what I'm referring to. I think, you know, Lindsey Graham mentioned it almost immediately afterwards. Then it got picked up by the White House. Marco Rubio kind of alluded to something similar Mike Waltz.
These are supposed to be the adults in the second administration. I mean, they're all, you know, sycophants to a certain extent. They knew when they were shining up, they would have to bend over backwards to not just do what the president wants, but kind of, you know, suck up to him.
So they're -- in order to do that, they need to go ahead and damn the person that somehow slighted him. Zelenskyy, who was in that room to sign a deal, a deal that both he and President Trump wanted, but was not in a position to look weak. Why? Because he's a leader of a nation at war. He is talking to his own troops on the ground --
BASH: So you don't think he had any choice but to push back?
VINDMAN: He had no choice to push back on the most egregious developments that occurred in that meeting. It wasn't just the fact that, you know, President Trump was looking for a thank you. It wasn't just the fact that, you know, Zelenskyy had to pander like or flatter like, you know, the other Western diplomats that have come through because they know that's an effective way to communicate.
The reason he pushed back is because Trump was saying or just said that Zelenskyy was a dictator. He was saying that Russia was not the aggressor. And Zelenskyy had just finished showing him pictures of troops that were being abused, the POWs, and talked about 20,000 children that were kidnapped.
He could not accept a situation in which the narrative was completely changing, and he's a leader of a country that's the subject of those attacks. He had no choice.
BASH: In its sort of, I don't know, in a vacuum or just generally speaking, you're OK with this minerals deal, the economic deal.
VINDMAN: Sure.
BASH: Do you think that Zelenskyy is right to demand security guarantees along with it from the U.S.?
VINDMAN: I think what he's trying to do is, you know, what the subtitle of the book says. He wants to make sure the U.S. doesn't continue to deceive itself about Russia and doesn't continue to betray Ukraine. The only lasting peace for Ukraine is one in which there are some sort of security guarantees on the back end, that the Europeans, that the U.S. is going to be there to ensure that Russia doesn't take a pause and reinvade.
Why? Because Russia has broken a score of different agreements that it had with Ukraine at various times over the course of 30-plus years. That's the only thing that prevents a spiraling of the relationship further down the road, and he knows that. So I don't think he was absolutely set on getting a deal then, but he wanted it to be a topic of discussion.
Mainly, he was holding his ground, defending the narrative that Russians are the aggressors, Ukraine is defending itself.
BASH: Yes, which shouldn't be up for discussion, but it is. Thank you so much. It's good to see you.
"The Folly of Realism", this is Alexander Vindman's book. Terrific.
VINDMAN: Thank you.
BASH: Thank you for being here.
VINDMAN: Thanks for having me on.
BASH: Coming up, what's old is new again. There is a familiar face getting into the race to be the mayor of New York City, and the question is, are voters ready for a Cuomo comeback?
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BASH: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo now wants to be the mayor of New York City. The Democrat served as New York's governor from 2011 to 2021 when he resigned after 11 women accused him of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct.
The allegations range from unwanted kissing and explicit comments about women's sex lives and appearance to groping and aid. Cuomo has denied those allegations.
During his first campaign event over the weekend, he portrayed New York City as a city in need of saving.
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ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: We need more police in our subways, more police in our high crime areas, more police to stop the number of recidivists. Because nothing works if people don't feel safe and public safety is still job one. (END VIDEOCLIP)
BASH: CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins me now live from New York. So his attempt at a comeback, it's not a surprise. We've seen this coming for a while. The question now is going to be whether people in New York City, the voters there, are ready to embrace him.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Dana, they're going to have the last word. Voters here in New York will get to decide in the upcoming June primary. But one thing is clear, and that's that Cuomo is entering this race with near universal name recognition. He doesn't necessarily have to introduce himself to New Yorkers. They know exactly who he is.
He's also entering a race that's so far made up of candidates that are not nearly as well-known as he is and not nearly as popular as the current mayor, Mayor Eric Adams, despite the fact that he has been embroiled in several scandals in the last year.
Now, he also enters the race with very high negatives, mainly the sexual harassment scandal that resulted in his resignation in 2021, his handling of the COVID pandemic, which has been subject of state and federal investigations. There's also the $5 million book deal that he got while the pandemic was happening, which raised serious ethical questions.
And then, Dana, of course, there's the 10-year record of his time as governor. And that is what opponents are pouncing on since this weekend, when he officially made his campaign announcement.
[12:45:11]
He's already gotten some endorsements. Congressman Ritchie Torres is endorsing him for mayor. He's also got some union support here in New York City. So the question is whether those challengers are going to be able to effectively remind New Yorkers of the voter, of the record that he had while he was in office.
This whole idea that New York City is in crisis right now, his opponents say part of the reason why the city is in crisis is because of policies that went into effect when he was in office. So we'll see if that actually translates to the voters. Despite the scandals and despite his time out of office, some of the early polling in this race shows that Cuomo is still very popular among residents here in New York City.
BASH: Yes, I mean, if you're running in New York City to be mayor and the entire message, at least at the beginning, is I want to make the city more livable for you and safer, you know, that's going to be interesting to see the opponents try to push back on.
Thank you, Gloria. I'm sure we're going to be talking a lot about this over the next several months.
And coming up, Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is weighing in on the measles vaccine amid an outbreak in Texas. You're going to want to hear what he has to say about that, next.
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BASH: As the measles outbreak in Texas grows to nearly 150 cases, anti-vaccine activist turned Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a new message to parents. He's choosing his words very carefully in a new opinion piece that he posted on FoxNews.com.
Part of what he said, "The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons".
My panel is back. I mean, so I'm not really sure what he's saying there, honestly --
CARL HULSE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: This is --
BASH: -- which maybe is the point.
HULSE: Well, this is the difference between being the outside agitator and being in charge of something and having some accountability. You know, a kid died, right, from measles and --
BASH: Who wasn't vaccinated, apparently.
HULSE: Right. And this is, you know, not something that happens a lot in the United States in recent decades. So I think, you know, he's trying to show that, hey, you know, go get vaccination, but also keeping his option open that he's skeptical of vaccines.
But I think, you know, he promised those senators and especially one in particular, Bill Cassidy, you know, that he was going to be doing the right things on vaccines. And I think he's trying to figure that out.
BASH: And Jasmine, you know, talk to RFK Jr.'s allies and they will tell you -- they've said to me many times, you know, all the Democrats talked about during the confirmation hearings is the measles and no one's talking about the measles. And then here we are, you know, just like days into his tenure.
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes.
BASH: And there is an actual measles outbreak. So he does have to toe this line.
WRIGHT: Yes, there's going to be a test. I mean, this is a test for him. And I think you kind of see him really talking out both sides of his mouth. On one side, he's saying, you know, that vaccines are important.
The other side, he's saying it's a personal choice. One side, he's saying that they help the community. The other side -- in the same op- ed, he says, you know, but vitamin A is also something that people can take for their immune systems.
And so I think he's really trying to walk a fine line here, not angering the base that brought him to this point, the MAHA base, that is very energized, that is kind of hanging on both his and now Trump's every word when it comes to vaccines, but also knowing that he has a duty to try to minimize, at minimum, this outbreak and any other outbreak that could come.
BASH: You mentioned Senator Bill Cassidy. He's a medical doctor from Louisiana. He saved RFK Jr.'s nomination by saying that he would vote yes and got some promises from RFK Jr. Manu spoke to Senator Cassidy within the last few days. Let's watch.
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SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R), LOUISIANA: I will watch carefully for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote.
I'm very concerned about the measles outbreak. And so -- and I'm strongly encouraging people to get vaccinated. The vaccine is safe. They need to speak to their physician --
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Should RFK say that, though? Should RFK --
CASSIDY: I think everybody should be able to say that.
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BASH: And see --
RAJU: That seems to happen a lot.
BASH: And see.
RAJU: Especially these days. You know, he is in a difficult spot. He gave that vote that essentially if he voted no, RFK Jr. would not have been the HHS secretary. He is facing re-election. He's facing a Republican primary.
He's already been targeted by the right because of his vote to convict Donald Trump in the second impeachment trial. But he's also a medical doctor. He knows full well how important vaccines are. And the way that RFK Jr. danced around that during the confirmation hearings gave him a lot of pause, gave him a lot of concerns.
And RFK Jr. did commit to him about that they would -- he would not try to undermine vaccines. And I've been asking him repeatedly about some of these early actions, whether it was RFK Jr. initially downplaying the vaccines in that Cabinet meeting and also the cancelation of these meetings about including --
BASH: Yes. RAJU: -- one of those full vaccines.
BASH: I'm glad you brought that up.
RAJU: And there's -- it's unclear what --
BASH: Because it's an outside advisory group --
RAJU: Yes.
BASH: -- in -- at the FDA.
[12:55:10]
RAJU: Yes. And, look, if those kind of actions continue to be a pattern, perhaps you'll see them not running into an elevator, maybe running to the cameras and speaking out in opposition.
BASH: Yes. I mean, boy, this is just the beginning of many more conversations about this. It was great to see you all. Happy birthday.
WRIGHT: Thank you.
BASH: Thank you again for spending it with us.
WRIGHT: Thank you.
BASH: And be sure to tune in tomorrow on Inside Politics, which you should watch every day, but especially tomorrow ahead of Donald Trump's joint address to Congress. Senate Majority Leader John Thune will join me right here at the table.
Thank you for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts after the break.
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