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Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Is Interviewed About Hamas Says It's Willing To Release U.S.-Israel Hostage Edan Alexander; Now: Hearing On Dr. Oz Nomination For Medicare & Medicaid Admin; New Canadian Pm Being Sworn In Amid Trade War. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 14, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Pamela Brown. Happening now, breaking news. Willing to release, Hamas says it's approving the release of Israel-American hostage, Edan Alexander. But Israel is accusing Hamas of manipulation.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in the Situation Room.

BROWN: And we begin this hour with breaking news. Out of the Middle East, an American hostage in Gaza is reportedly coming home.

BLITZER: Let's hope that happens. Hamas says it's willing to release U.S. Israeli citizen, Edan Alexander, and the bodies of four dual nationals. Twenty-one-year-old Alexander is the last living American hostage.

BROWN: Let's get the latest now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, what are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, let's be very clear. Hamas says that it is willing to release the Israeli soldier, Edan Alexander, who is a dual American citizen. But for now, there is no deal that would actually see him be released anytime soon. That's because this is Hamas's counterproposal to the negotiations that have been ongoing in Doha, Qatar, this weekend, following an American proposal that was made by Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy for the region.

That proposal would have seen the release of as many as half of the living hostages in Gaza, but then he downgraded that proposal to a handful of hostages. And then now Hamas has now countered, saying one living hostage as well as the bodies of four other dual nationals who have been held hostage by Hamas since October 7th. We don't know what the dual nationality would be, but it is important to note that Edan Alexander is the last remaining living American hostage, and there are four other American hostages who are dead and whose bodies are still being held by Hamas.

[11:04:59] Now, Hamas has said that in -- in responding with this counterproposal that they are responding, quote, positively to this, That they hope that this leads to negotiations that could see an end to the war in Gaza within the next 50 days. But Israel is saying something altogether very different. It says that it has accepted that proposal being made by Steve Witkoff, but accuses Hamas with this latest proposal of engaging in, quote, manipulation and psychological warfare.

We expect that that Israeli delegation that has spent much of the week in Doha will return to Israel tonight. And then tomorrow night, the Israeli prime minister will convene a select group of ministers as well as security officials to discuss the state of negotiations and figure out what their next steps will be.

For now, though, we know that as these negotiations kind of go back and forth, nothing is getting into the Gaza Strip. No food aid, no fuel, and that is raising serious concerns from human rights groups. The World Food Program now says that it has enough food stockpiles in Gaza to continue to support kitchens and bakeries for up to one month.

But already, eight of the 25 bakeries that they have been supporting have been forced to shut down due to a lack of fuel. Pam, Wolf?

BROWN: Yeah. Jeremy Diamond, thank you.

BLITZER: Very important story indeed. Other important news we're following right now up on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Senate is on the clock and under a lot of pressure as they face a midnight deadline tonight to avoid a government shutdown.

BROWN: Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he expects the GOP's stopgap bill to pass, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will support it, a move that has left some in his party absolutely fuming this morning. So let's go live now to CNN correspondent Arlette Saenz on Capitol Hill for the latest. Arlette, where do things stand ahead of this deadline?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really crunch time for these Senate Democrats as this government shutdown deadline is quickly approaching at midnight.

Now, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor just moments ago to defend his decision to reverse course and vote to avert this government shutdown in the face of intense blowback from House Democrats and the Democratic base. Here is how Schumer explained his decision, saying that a shutdown simply would have put the country in a much worse position and gave -- given Trump more power.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: The C.R. is a bad bill. But as bad as the C.R. is, I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option. They can stay in a shutdown as long as they want. There is no off-ramp unless they decide to take that off-ramp, and they won't, because this is their best tool for achieving their goal. Slash government, slash spending, and use that money for tax breaks for billionaires. So a shutdown would be the best distraction Donald Trump could ask for, so distraction from his awful agenda.

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SAENZ: Now, Republicans need the support of eight Senate Democrats in order to clear a procedural hurdle on this bill that would extend government funding until the end of September. So far, we know of two senators who have publicly said they will be on board with it. That's Chuck Schumer and John Fetterman.

And there's roughly a dozen Democratic senators who have yet to voice which way they will vote. So we're expecting that vote to take place at some point this afternoon. But once again, this is another test for the Democratic Party at a time when we have really seen these deepening divisions and fractures over the strategy of how to counter Trump in the second term.

BROWN: All right. Arlette Saenz, live for us from Capitol Hill. Very busy day up there today. Thanks so much.

BLITZER: All right. I want to continue our -- our news coverage right now with Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. I want to get, first of all, to the Senate -- I want to get to the Senate this vote that's upcoming to try to prevent a federal government shutdown.

But before we do that, I want to get your reaction to the news, potential news, of Hamas saying it's willing now to release American hostage Edan Alexander. What's your reaction to that?

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Well, thanks, Wolf. Good to be with you. Well, that's obviously good news that we're able to get the Israeli- American hostage home. And, you know, obviously, we'd like more alive hostages. But I know it's also good news that the families are going to be getting some of the bodies back of hostages that did not make it. And so that's -- that's good news. It extends the ceasefire, which is also good news. I was disappointed, quite frankly, that the administration was, you know, directly engaging with Hamas and talking to them directly.

[11:09:54]

They had a Hamas envoy, which they've now sidelined, where he said, you know, Hamas are some pretty good people. I think he may have said that on your program, if I'm -- if I'm correct. And so I'm glad that person's been sidelined. I can only imagine if the Biden administration had said Hamas are some good, you know, pretty -- pretty fine people. But this is -- this is a good news day for those families. It's a good news day for Israel. And hopefully we can extend the ceasefire by continuing to get hostages out. Yes.

BLITZER: As you point out, the U.S. government has considered Hamas to be a terrorist organization for many administrations, Democratic and Republican. And this is the first time that there have been direct talks between a U.S. official and a Hamas official. And that was a significant development. With this release, though, potential release of Edan Alexander suggests to you, Congressman, that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire will in fact be extended now?

MOSKOWITZ: Yes, that's what it appears, it appears that's part -- part of the deal is that they'll extend the ceasefire, which is good for -- for both sides. Again, the focus has been getting the hostages out. And then obviously, once we get the hostages out, having a ceasefire in exchange for that and then turning to the next steps.

But we can't even talk about the next steps. The Israelis are not prepared to talk about the next steps until their hostages are home and the bodies of the hostages that didn't make it are also home for proper -- proper burial. So, again, this is a good news day. We're getting an Israeli-American hostage out. Hopefully, it appears that's what the deal is. Hopefully Hamas makes good on that deal and getting an extension of the ceasefire.

BLITZER: Let's see if that happens. I want to turn, while I have you, Congressman, to Ukraine. This morning, two Trump administration sources were telling CNN that the special U.S. envoy, Steve Witkoff, has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. This comes as Putin is raising some serious doubts about the 30-day ceasefire proposal brokered by the U.S., laying out tough conditions and demanding concessions from Ukraine. First of all, do you believe Putin is actually interested in peace?

MOSKOWITZ: No. And -- and if he was, he would have immediately agreed to the 30-day ceasefire. I mean, look, let me say this. I'm happy that the administration has figured out that Ukraine is our ally and that we should be tougher on Russia, Iran and North Korea than we are being on Canada, Ukraine and Greenland. And so I'm glad they've taken that step. I'm glad the administration is now intelligent, sharing again with Ukraine, and I'm glad they've unpaused the aid to Ukraine.

So I'm glad they reversed course on all those things. But look, they made a 30-day ceasefire deal with Ukraine. Ukraine accepted that, showing Ukraine was ready for peace and secessions. If Russia doesn't accept it just for 30 days, then they have ulterior motives. And that's what we're seeing from Russia. They want conditions. They want concessions. Why? It's a 30-day ceasefire. It's very simple.

The President has laid it out. He got Ukraine to agree to it. And if Russia doesn't agree to it, then the administration needs to see that it is Russia that wants to continue the war, to continue the killings, as the President says. And then we should understand that we're going to have to back Ukraine with the E.U., with the rest of the world to put more pressure on Putin to accept the deal.

BLITZER: On another very sensitive issue, Congressman, while I have you here in Washington, as you know, Senate Democrats today will vote on the GOP government funding bill, the continuing resolution supposedly designed to prevent a federal government shutdown at midnight tonight. House Democrats voted overwhelmingly against that legislation. The top Senate Democrat now, Chuck Schumer, as you know, he says he will support it. Is Schumer giving in too easily? What's your reaction to Schumer's surprise announcement last night?

MOSKOWITZ: Well, let me -- let me say this, you know, I voted against the C.R. for a couple of reasons. One is I -- I had an amendment that would have protected Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Very simple amendment. It just said that the administration didn't have the authority to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And the Republicans refused to take my amendment.

So when Democrats say that we think the C.R. is a prelude to those cuts, Republicans have an opportunity to say, no, it isn't because we'll take the amendment. And they didn't. So that was one of the reasons I voted against it. Another reason I voted against it is I do think it's time we stop funding the government by C.R.s. We got to get back to appropriation bills. But let's not forget, Republicans themselves removed their own speaker over passing a C.R.

And the last time we had a big government shutdown, it was all done by Republicans. Six weeks, Trump was president and Republicans shut down their own government for six weeks. Now, listen, no one wants a government shutdown. Democrats don't want a government shutdown. I think a majority of Republicans don't want a government shutdown. But usually we come up with a bipartisan agreement.

[11:14:58]

That wasn't this. This is a partisan agreement. They didn't talk to us. They didn't get any of the things we would have liked to get into the bill. And so, yes, I'd like to see the Senate for a period of time, you know, throw down on cloture. If this was Mitch McConnell, Mitch McConnell would not be giving any votes on cloture. Mitch McConnell didn't even do that when it came to a Supreme Court seat. He made sure that Barack Obama couldn't refill that Supreme Court seat. And here I think we're giving in too easy on cloture.

That doesn't mean we don't make a deal quickly. It just means that we were, you know, he invoked cloture, Schumer invoked cloture and then immediately said that he would provide the votes. And so that was very confusing to House Democrats on our side. Why even say you're going to invoke cloture and then immediately back down? The Trump people know how to negotiate, OK. And now what they do is they smell weakness. That's what they smell. They smell weakness.

Now, that doesn't mean some of Schumer's points are not incorrect, that, yes, Trump and Elon would use it an opportunity to continue to wreak havoc. But this is the only opportunity Democrats have until September on reconciliation where they don't need our votes to try to get some bipartisan deal here.

BLITZER: Very quickly, before I let you go, Congressman, I want to get your reaction to what Trump said on Wednesday. He's getting a lot of negative reaction from both the American Jewish community and the American Muslim community. Palestinians and Jews are very critical of what Trump said. He said this. You're going to have some very bad things happen and people are going to blame the Democrats. And Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I'm concerned. You know, he's become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He's not Jewish anymore. He's a Palestinian, OK. What's your reaction to that?

MOSKOWITZ: Well, Schumer is Jewish and he's not a Palestinian. And listen, you know, with everything that's going on in the -- with the Jewish community and anti-Semitism right now from the left and the right, you know, I don't know that we need non-Jews deciding who is Jewish and who isn't, as if there's some litmus test.

You know, right now, quite frankly, the Jewish community needs as many allies as possible as we still have students being assaulted on their way to college campuses, as we still have stores being targeted because they're Jewish, having nothing to do with Israel, as Jewish people are seeing that they have less and less allies, people they thought they had that, in fact, they worked on issues for other people, other causes.

And now the Jewish community is looking around, trying to figure out where our friends are. And so, look, now is not the time to start carving up of who's Jewish and who's not. Chuck Schumer is Jewish. And, you know, look, this is just more trolling from the President.

BLITZER: It's hard to believe the president of the United States would say something like that. Congressman Jared Moskowitz, as usual, thanks so much for joining us.

MOSKOWITZ: Is it hard to believe -- Is it hard to believe, Wolf?

BLITZER: It's hard to believe he would say Chuck Schumer, who's a well-known American Jew, he's now saying he's no longer a Jew, he's a Palestinian. It's hard to believe that a president would say that. You don't think that's hard to believe?

MOSKOWITZ: I think it's hard to believe that a president would say that. I don't think it's hard to believe that this president would say that.

BLITZER: All right, Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida, thanks so much for joining us. Pamela?

BROWN: Yeah. He -- he -- Trump has had a history, too, of questioning how Jewish people are. And this is just another example. It's very bizarre.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Happening right now, a key Senate confirmation hearing is underway for Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Trump's pick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid. Right now, we have Meg Terrell live for us covering this. Meg, we could see some tough questions today. Where could Oz face some pushback?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're expecting a lot of things across the gamut here, really, and this really just got underway. We're in the beginnings of the questions from senators. Senator Ron Wyden right now is questioning Dr. Oz about a variety of things, but including his approach to Medicaid.

There's a lot of concerns, obviously, over potential cuts to Medicaid. That's one of the major health care programs overseen by the CMS administrator and CMS as a whole. Wyden asked if he was committed to protecting Medicaid and whether he'd commit to opposing cuts to it.

Wyden said, you know, Dr. Oz wouldn't say yes or no to that question. What Dr. Oz said is he would protect it by making sure that it's viable. Also, we heard in his opening statement, Dr. Oz reference, of course, the way most of us became familiar with him. His own TV show. Here's what he said about that.

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DR. MEHMET OZ, NOMINEE FOR ADMINISTRATOR OF MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES: And all of these culminated in the creation of the Dr. Oz Show. We hosted health advocates from all walks of life and we did it well, which is why we won 10 Emmy Awards for outstanding work over the 13 years of the program. I share my story with you for a simple reason to highlight that everything I have done in my life, educationally and professionally, has prepared me for this precise moment in time, which I believe offers a monumental opportunity and a challenge for us at CMS.

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[11:20:05]

TIRRELL: The Dr. Oz show, though, guys, he's gotten to be known in the medical community for pushing sometimes dubious claims about products, including supplements. And we are expecting questions around that today, including questions from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who wrote in a letter ahead of the hearing to Dr. Oz that, quote, she's troubled by his advocacy for completely privatizing Medicare and his deep financial ties to health care companies that receive significant payments from CMS.

I should also note, guys, that I have had conversations with health care policy folks across the aisle, including Andy Slavitt, who served in the Obama administration, who said he's talked with Dr. Oz and had great conversations. So he's a bit of a more nuanced candidate than we've seen.

BROWN: All right, Meg Tirrell, thanks so much.

BLITZER: And still ahead, Pamela, we're awaiting the swearing in of the newly elected prime minister of Canada after President Trump's tariffs shock their economy.

BROWN: Plus, another example of how Trump's effort to shrink the federal government is causing aftershocks in the rest of the economy. A pillar of the medical research community says it must cut two thousand jobs. What does that actually mean? You're in The Situation Room.

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[11:25:51]

BLITZER: There's breaking news we're following. In just moments, the new prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, will be sworn in. And this comes as President Trump escalates his trade war with America's northern neighbor.

BROWN: And just days ago, Carney said that he's ready to sit down with Trump under a position where there's respect for Canadian sovereignty. Let's go live to CNN correspondent, Paula Newton. Paula, this is a tense time for a change in leadership in Canada. What more are you learning about Carney's first actions?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, many people will be stunned just by some of the language being used as you see him now, Mark Carney being sworn in as prime minister. That is a live shot right now. And it is quite a transition from almost a decade of Justin Trudeau in power. Now, Mark Carney does represent the same Liberal Party. But as I said, the language right now being used is that this is more like a wartime cabinet being sworn in right now.

And the issue, of course, is not just the terror for which many American allies now seem to be swept up in, but it also has to do with Donald Trump speaking about Canada would be better off being the 51st state, something that Canadian politicians and Canadians themselves are taking quite seriously and see it in a threatening manner. I want you to listen now to what Mark Carney, now Canada's prime minister, new one, has said about that. Listen.

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MARK CARNEY, INCOMING CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: His majesty's Canadian government has rightly retaliated and is rightly retaliating with our own tariffs that will have maximum impact in the United States and minimum impact here in Canada. And my government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: You are hearing the applause there. This is a certain anti- Americanism, certainly a passionate nationalism that Mark Carney, as you see there, will continue to lean into how. He is actually going abroad to both the U.K. and France to go and shore up allies. Normally, one of his first trips would be to the White House. As we know so far, that will not be happening. A reminder, Canadians will head to the polls as well for a national election in the coming weeks.

BLITZER: Yes, lots going on. Paul Newton reporting for us. Paula, thank you very, very much.

[11:28:04]

And up next, one of the most respected sources for medical research here in the United States, Johns Hopkins University, my alma mater, says it must cut 2,000 jobs after the Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid. Stay with us.

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