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Inside Politics

Trump to Putin After New Russian Strikes on Ukraine: "Vladimir, Stop"; Russia Hits Kyiv After Trump Says Zelenskyy is Harming Peace Talks; Trump: Russian Strikers "Not Necessary and Very Bad Thing"; Trump Threatens to Escalate Trade War Again by Reimposing Tariffs on Some Countries; Trump: "I Have My Own Deadline" on Ukraine Peace Deal. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 24, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today in "Inside Politics", quote Vladimir stop. That was President Trump's message to Russia. Vladimir Putin this morning a rare rebuke after Russia launched a new wave of deadly strikes on Kyiv, which came hours after the U.S. President claimed Putin was ready to make a deal. Is there still a pathway to peace?

Plus, clear as mud. President Trump seems to reverse course yet again on the trade war he launched with China and ratcheting up the fight between the White House and the courts. A Trump appointed federal judge orders a second man deported to El Salvador to be returned to the United States. Will the Trump Administration defy her too?

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and "Inside Politics". We start at the White House, where the Prime Minister of Norway is set to arrive any minute to meet with President Trump. Topping their agenda is likely to be President Trump's trade war and the latest bloodshed in Ukraine.

This morning, the president wrote on social media, quote, I am not happy with the Russian strikes on Kyiv, not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, stop. 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the peace deal done. No word yet on what the Russian President thinks about that.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny joins me from the White House. What is your sense on this meeting that he is going to have shortly behind you with the Prime Minister of Norway? I would imagine trade is going to come up, but it has to also include. What is going on in Ukraine?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: There is no doubt, Dana, it is a meeting that will cover both of those topics. It is probably safe to say that the Ukraine, a ceasefire deal that has really been, I would say, falling apart, but it was never really even coming together, at least in the eyes of Ukraine and Russia, that certainly has more urgency to it. But that message you were reading this morning, and unusually personal appeal from the U.S. President to Vladimir Putin saying Vladimir stop. We have never heard Donald Trump talk in those words, at least that I can recall. The question is, what will the response be? Yesterday in the Oval Office, yesterday evening, the president said this about the ceasefire deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think Russia is ready. And a lot of people said Russia wanted to go for the whole thing. And they -- I think we have a deal with Russia. We have to get a deal with Zelenskyy, and I hope that Zelenskyy, I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy. So far, it's been harder, but that's OK, it's all right. But I think we have a deal with both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: I think we have a deal with both. But Dana, that is very much an open question, because the administration is trying to push Ukraine into accepting a deal that favors Russia. And the bottom line to all of this is talking about a deal with the bomb still falling certainly undercuts everything.

So, when this meeting begins, Ukraine certainly will be front and center, and the prime minister will be joined by the finance minister, who is the former head of a NATO, who is someone who Donald Trump has strong relations with Jens Stoltenberg. So that will be an interesting development in this as well that we will see from the president and hear from him in the next hour, Dana.

BASH: Yeah, I'm really glad you underscored how -- I think pretty much unprecedented the direct public appeal on his social media platform was from President Trump to President Putin. It was really an extraordinary moment.

ZELENY: Right.

BASH: Thank you so much, Jeff. Appreciate it. I want to show the scene in Ukraine's capital Kyiv overnight. 70 Russian missiles and 145 drones targeted the city, striking residential buildings and civilian infrastructure. This was the search and rescue operation underway as shared by President Zelenskyy this morning.

Ukrainian emergency services say at least 9 people are dead and more than 60 are wounded. I'm joined here at the table by a wonderful group of reporters, Seung Min Kim of the Associated Press, Hans Nichols of Axios and Sabrina Rodriguez of "The Washington Post".

[12:05:00]

Hans, I want to start with you, just picking up where I kind of left off with Jeff in particular, on the way that Donald Trump approached this, this morning. And I want to put it back up on the screen, this Vladimir stop, which I think is going to be something that we're all going to be remembering as kind of a moment in his presidency. HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER OF AXIOS: Yes.

BASH: And perhaps with regard to what he's trying to do to end the war.

NICHOLS: Well, there are two media questions here. One, will Vladimir stop? Will Putin actually heed this call? And the risk for Trump is that if he doesn't, then he loses some credibility, and he loses a little bit of his authority, right, especially in this negotiation. The second question, maybe more troubling, is, does Putin have full operational command and control of all the forces on his ground?

And that's the messy part of diplomacy. That's the messy part of waging war. And you know, in general diplomacy, we can all look back through historical examples. Diplomacy gets incredibly difficult towards the very end, but it's usually in private, and this is all playing out in public, which is truly remarkable.

BASH: Do you think it's about Russia not having operational control or Putin --

NICHOLS: Or Putin pressing.

BASH: Yes.

NICHOLS: We don't know, right? And that's one of the things about this. Again, normally you have these incredibly tense conversations that whether or not you the Dayton Accords to end the war in the Balkans, or whatever knowledge you want to use, and yet here it's all in public.

BASH: Which is why I want to remind our viewers of what Then Former President Trump said during the campaign to take the White House back again, about his relationship with Putin and his promise to get a deal done to end this war very quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If it's not solved, I will have it solved in 24 hours with Zelenskyy and with Putin. And there's a very easy negotiation to take place, but I don't want to tell you what it is, because then I can't use that negotiation. It will never work. But there's a very easy negotiation to take place.

That is a war that's dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president, if I win when I'm president elect. And what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other. I'll get them together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Turns out, it's not so easy.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BASH: It's really, really hard. KIM: Right. And Donald Trump has leaned on so much of his, you know, so called prowess when it comes to deal making, and that's what you're seeing here. He talked about his ability to bring the two sides together of a very vicious, complicated war on day one, and ended even before you assume the Oval Office.

Now, while he's been in office, he's backed off those comments a little bit. He said it was he was being sarcastic, obviously, faced with the realities of governing here in -- and faced with the realities of a very complicated war. However, this is something that he's doing elsewhere to look, if you look at trade, he's talking about his good relationship with Xi Jinping.

But what is that relationship getting us right now? There is no sort of resolution in sight as it relates to the trade war between China. You know, maybe I think we know by now that oftentimes Trump is not meant to be taken literally. But this is a promise that he has repeatedly made, that he was this grand deal maker.

That he has all these great relationships, that he could solve these world's problems. And you see, you know now that he's back in office, those promises are not coming to fruition.

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER OF THE WASHINGTON POST: And the reality is, we see Trump every day go back and forth. Just yesterday, we were hearing him be critical of Zelenskyy. Then today we're seeing this Vladimir stop comment. And the reality is to Hans' broader point, if nothing happens, if Putin doesn't change course, if Putin is not responsive to this, this hits Trump's credibility.

And it also does when we've already heard him launch threats against Russia. You know, early in May -- early in March, he had talked about, oh, threatening large scale sanctions. Then later in March, he threatened secondary tariffs on countries buying oil from Russia. None of those things have come to fruition.

So, at this point, it's a question of, OK, if you want to get a deal and you're going to have to pressure Russia, are you going to follow through on doing that? And I think it's an open question, if Trump will do that.

NICHOLS: Look, the big leverage they have is the price of oil, and as oil goes lower, Vladimir Putin is in a much more difficult position. So that's why these secondary tariffs, not sanctions, right? We're all used to secondary sanctions. Secondary tariffs are a hugely escalatory matter.

They have done that on Venezuela. We'll see if they decide to do this on Russia. But that's really the leverage, and -- Trump has some leverage --

BASH: It's all about oil, and it is all about the land, which includes the oil. What land the Russians will keep, what land the Ukrainians will give up, if any. And I want you to listen to what President Zelenskyy said today while traveling in South Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: After the United States proposal, other papers appeared, and I believe that today, this format, this document, is on President Trump's desk.

[12:10:00]

Anything that contradicts our values or our constitution cannot be in any agreements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, he's talking about specific -- well, a lot of things on the table, but specifically, right now, the question is about Crimea.

KIM: Right.

BASH: Which is not -- which has been in Russian hands for what, a decade?

NICHOLS: Yes --

BASH: Yeah, as we talk about this, I just want to tell our viewers what they're looking at. This is the Prime Minister of Norway, who is arriving at the White House now. Let's pause and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President --

TRUMP: I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That's exactly what we were talking about the question for our audience who couldn't hear it from a reporter was whether or not he thinks that Vladimir Putin will listen to President Trump's plea to stop his answer. Trump's answer was, I do.

KIM: Right. And to our discussion earlier, I don't know how he should be able to get that confidence when there has been no progress in terms of what you know Putin is willing to do, what the sides are willing to do to resolve the war. I'm going back to what we're just talking about in terms of the Crimea issue.

President Zelenskyy has made it clear from the outset that that is not an option for -- in part of any sort of peace deal. And I also think it's still remarkable, even though not surprising, about how the president and his aides continue to sort of distort the history of what has happened here.

Obviously, Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, but this week of Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, has blamed Obama for essentially letting Crimea be.

BASH: Yeah. And let's put up on the screen, just so people have a sense of the geography here, the map of what we're talking about.

KIM: Right. And what the president has also said repeatedly as it relates to this latest invasion by Russia, he has repeatedly blamed Ukraine and Zelenskyy for starting the war, which we know is not true. So, while there it at the same time that there is little progress towards ending this conflict in Ukraine, the White House is not sending a clear picture of -- or -- they're painting a distorted picture of what actually happened over the last several years.

RODRIGUEZ: And I think I mean another piece to this that, that we haven't brought up here is the fact that just earlier this week, we were hearing Vice President Vance also put on the table that the U.S. could walk away from this that, oh well, if they don't agree to something, if we can't get Ukraine and Russia to agree, then we're just going to walk away from it.

So that's another added layer here. Again, it's Trump going back and forth between criticizing Zelenskyy, criticizing Putin now expressing a confidence that we don't know where that's coming from, because we haven't seen indicators from Putin that he's going to agree to it.

And then there's just this other question of, oh, he didn't do it in the 24 hours, like he said he would on the campaign trail. Now, is there a question of, are they just going to wipe their hands clean of it and say, OK, we have a lot of other things to deal with, and are going to take a step back from these negotiations.

BASH: Yeah, the bands threaten -- threat to walk away, doubling down on what Marco Rubio did last week. I believe. All right, everybody standby, because tariffs are in effect, tariffs are paused, tariffs are coming back. Well, no one can really keep track. Is this the art of the deal? We'll discuss next.

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[12:15:00]

BASH: Well president's mixed messaging on tariffs has confused and spooked markets and nearly every U.S. trading partner since President Trump's quote, Liberation Day tariff announcement on April 2nd, he has paused tariffs on 90 days, excluding China, exempted some electronics from tariffs.

He considered exemptions for automakers, but he has also threatened to re impose the quote, reciprocal tariffs in the coming weeks. Now, if that is confusing for you to follow, you are not alone. The president also said this at the White House yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In the end, I think what's going to happen is we're going to have great deals. And by the way, if we don't have a deal with a company or a country, we're going to set the tariff. We just set the tariff. It's something that we think that will happen, I'd say over the next couple of weeks. When you say I think so, over the next two, three weeks, we'll be setting the number, and we're going to pick, could be for China too. Could be for China. Well, we're dealing with almost all of them, too many to fully deal with, but we're going to be fair to them, but we're dealing with a lot of countries right now, and could be with China, but maybe we'll make a special, you know, deal, and we'll see what it will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. One example of why this is so hard to follow, and Sabrina, we really cannot say it more loudly in a more robust way. How big of a deal this trade war that he's launched is all of the repercussions, economic repercussions, of course, number one, political repercussions.

[12:20:00]

I mean, it just goes on and on and on. Yes, he promised he would do this. Yes, this has been the thing that he's wanted to do since the beginning of Trump time. But the way that it is happening continues to astound and confuse and confound just about everybody.

RODRIGUEZ: 100 percent. I mean, I we've talked about this before. I covered trade during the first Trump term.

BASH: Yeah.

RODRIGUEZ: He's long wanted to do this, and he was reined in more so in that first term. But this is no longer just about tariffs. This is about the implementation of them. This is about one day. Yes, one day, no, oh, 90 days pause. Actually, wait, no, maybe two and three weeks from now.

Oh, he's going to negotiate deals in 90 days with 90 countries. I mean, there are right now, people at home have no idea what exactly is going on, and people who are making financial decisions in this country, investors on Wall Street, people across the country and in global markets around the world don't know what's going on, because he is no longer a reliable messenger.

One day, he's saying he's going to do one thing, and the next, it's another. And that's the big problem here. It's no longer about -- concerns about what exactly the fallout and ramifications are of the tariffs. It's about the fact that this half hazard approach has people saying, how can we make decisions for a year from now when we don't know what he's going to say a day from now?

BASH: Yeah. And globally, the answer to that has started to be. We're going to just not deal with America, or not deal with U.S. companies, or we're going to sort of, you know, take our business elsewhere, and that is the big concern among a lot of U.S. business people and people who are involved at the highest levels of the U.S. economy. Ken Griffin.

NICHOLS: Yeah. BASH: He is a well-known hedge fund guy. He is the CEO of Citadel. It's really a massive hedge fund. He has long been a Republican donor. He didn't love Donald Trump, and then he ended up supporting him at the end of the day after he initially supported Ron DeSantis. I want you to listen to what he said about this trade war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN GRIFFIN, CITADEL CEO: The president and the secretary of treasury and the secretary of commerce need to be very thoughtful that when you have a brand, you need to behave in a way that respects that brand, that strengthens that brand, because when you tarnish that brand, it can be a lifetime to repair the damage that has been done.

If you use the euro as a reference currency, we become 20 percent poor in four weeks. There's not only being made in that environment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: We're actually going to go right to the cabinet room. The president was just asked about Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: -- 1500, I know. So, say 5000 we have, Mr. Prime Minister, we have about 5000 young people a week that are dying in that ridiculous war. And you know, I started out because I didn't like all the money that we were paying, and then I realized how many people were dying, and that's by far the more important element right now.

I'm saying we can save thousands of people, and I don't like that it takes long at all, but I think they both want to make peace. I do believe so, there's a lot of hatred there. There's a lot of very bad blood, a lot of distrust. But I think we're going to -- I hope we're going to get there for the sake of a lot of young people that are dying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- for when --

TRUMP: I have my own deadline. I have my own deadline, and we want it to be fast. And the Prime Minister is helping us. He wants it to be fast too. And I think everybody in this, you know, at this time in NATO, they want to see this thing happen. So, we have a deadline, and after that we have a -- we're going to have a very much different attitude, but I think it has a very good chance of getting done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- an important ally to the U.S. what can Norway do?

TRUMP: Just keep doing what they're doing. We have a very good relationship with Norway. Great Leader, great people. I know many of the people in Norway, and it's truly -- it's an incredible country, so all they have to do is keep doing what they're doing. I think is probably the best answer I can give, yeah. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the Former Secretary General of NATO is here --

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How important is the NATO defense alive, Mr. President? Is it sacrosanct from your perspective?

TRUMP: Well, it's a very interesting question. It's certainly very important for Europe, and I think without us, it wouldn't be as nearly as powerful. And as the former secretary general, who did a great job, can tell you, we played, I played when I was there a very big role in making sure that NATO is funded by the 28 at that time, they had 28 countries, including us, because many of the countries weren't paid, and they ended up being paid, you would say.

[12:25:00]

And the secretary general was very nice about it, as far as I was concerned. Other presidents went in, they made a speech, and they left, and that kept going on. And you know, in the meantime, they had no money, and the United States was paying far more than its fair share.

You could say that they were paying. I actually said sometimes it looked like 100 percent and it was unfair, and the two of us worked very well together, and we took care of the situation. Yeah, please. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- statistics are showing that the U.S. actually has a trade surplus with the Norway. And are you going to be looking into that and see which of the countries are actually in a trade circle?

TRUMP: Yeah, well, with the United States, almost everybody has a surplus. It's really an amazing -- it's an amazing phenomenon. Now there's a surplus of a couple of billion dollars. I think you have with us. I congratulate you. That's right. We got to get a little bit of that for ourselves, maybe. But they do have a surplus. Norway has a surplus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- in the current situation, analysts have pointed out that the U.S. actually need allies. Do you consider Norway as a possible ally in the situation?

TRUMP: I think Norway has always been an ally. They've been somebody we've been very close to, very friendly with, maybe more so now with me than other people, but I think Norway has always been a great ally, yeah -- always been a friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what it's very strange question, because the U.S. is our lead ally, and we build on a relationship with you. Talk about now, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Yeah.

JONAS GAHR STOERE, PRIME MINISTER OF NORWAY: It's of high relevance, and I'm very happy that we have secretary of state and secretary of -- defense.

TRUMP: Right.

STOERE: So, this is a very strong fight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it was a question about ally in the tariff situation, specifically.

STOERE: Tariffs?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Oh, well, that's we're talking about a little bit different subject. Then we're talking about a different type of ally. No, in this case, he would be very much inclined to be an ally of Norway because he wants to make the best business deal possible in Norway, and the Norwegians are great business people.

They're great traders. They're great, very smart nation, very well managed nation, has been for a long time, and in particular now with this leadership. But we will be talking about trade and other things, and I think we're going to come to a conclusion very quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Mr. Prime Minister, I was wondering whether you think that Donald Trump, for his effort in Ukraine otherwise deserves to be nominated for local defense.

STOERE: Well, I salute President Trump for having been taking very important initiatives to get this country towards and which both parties deserve. We need to have a ceasefire, save lives and move towards something which is more secure for Europe, for the people concerned and that -- on that we work together.

And I look forward to, you know, go into some details, because we are at a critical moment on that price, you know, that is a committee taking care of that which is completely working on its own terms. And I cannot vote on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --

TRUMP: Thank you very much for that question. I like that question. Yeah, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- can you clarify with whom the U.S. is speaking with China? They're saying it's fake news that trade talks are happening.

TRUMP: Well, they had a meeting this morning, so I can't tell you. It doesn't matter who they, is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we've been meeting with China. And so, I think you have Jeff as usual. I think you have your reporting -- Thank you very much. We'll see you. We'll see you inside. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Thank you -- everybody -- Thank you --

(END VIDEOTAPE) BASH: We've been watching President Trump with members of his Cabinet and the Prime Minister of Norway taking some questions from reporters. The most important subject that they talked about, of course, continues to be Russia and Ukraine, and what is going to happen right now that the President Trump, is clearly very frustrated with the Russian President because of the massive strikes that they launch from Russia inside Ukraine, on residential neighborhoods in Kyiv.

The president was talking about the loss of life, the thousands of people who have been killed, and then the question about the deadline that President Trump might have put on the parties, both in Ukraine and on Russia. And his response was, I have my own deadline. But of course, he said he wants the deal, whatever it is to be great, Seung Min.

KIM: Yeah. I mean, I think that I have my own deadline. And declining to reveal what that deadline is, is notable.

[12:30:00]