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Secretary Hegseth, NATO Chief in Critical Meeting at Pentagon; Trump Not Happy With Russian Strikes on Kyiv; Trump Says, Global Tariffs Could Return in Two-Three Weeks. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 24, 2025 - 10:00   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: Happening now, Vladimir, stop. President Trump moments ago saying he is, quote, not happy after Russia launches a deadly wave of attacks in Ukraine. And straight ahead, what this means for peace talks as Trump's top negotiator prepares to meet with Putin.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And hurting the U.S. brand. A very stark warning from a billionaire backer of the President as Trump toys with re-escalating, the global trade war. The new reporting just coming in.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we're following the breaking news, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, meeting with NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte over at the Pentagon. This comes as Russia unleashes a deadly, very deadly attack on the Ukrainian capital, perhaps the deadliest in months that President Trump fires off a pointed rebuke of Vladimir Putin.

Let's go to CNN's Natasha Bertand over at the Pentagon. Natasha, you have late reporting on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. What are you learning?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. So, Secretary Hegseth, he is meeting right now with the NATO secretary general, and one of the people in that meeting is one of his closest advisers who has made a really rapid rise in Hegseth's inner circle, and we're learning more about him. He was until recently Hegseth's junior military assistant, but he is now one of his most senior officials. And we are learning that amidst all of this turmoil, of course, and questions about why Secretary Hegseth was using Signal to discuss sensitive military operations, we are learning that this aid to Secretary Hegseth was among the officials that was pushing to get Secretary Hegseth a computer in his office that he could actually use Signal on.

Now, this particular aide, his name is Colonel Ricky Buria. He just retired last week from the Marine Corps. He also, just after Signal gate first broke last month, he made a pretty unusual inquiry to the Defense Department's chief information officer, we're told, asking of Secretary Hegseth could be granted an exception to the DOD policy that says that Signal should not be used to discuss non-public Defense Department information.

Now, we are told, you know, that obviously Secretary Hegseth has been under a lot of scrutiny for his use of Signal, and this just raises f further questions about why he had Signal installed on a desktop computer in his office, why this particular adviser has had such a rapid rise in his inner circle, particularly, of course, as Secretary Hegseth's close circle of advisers has dramatically shrunk in recent weeks as he has become increasingly concerned about leaks, and is facing more questions about his judgment and his use and handling of sensitive and classified information, Wolf.

BLITZER: Important information, indeed. Natasha Bertrand, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And this morning, Wolf, we're getting some breaking news out of the White House, President Trump issuing a rare criticism of Vladimir Putin after those deadly Russian attacks on Ukraine's capital. This is a turn from what we heard from the president just 24 hours ago in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think Russia is ready and a lot of people said Russia wanted to go for the whole thing, and they've -- I think we have a deal with Russia. We have to get a deal with Zelenskyy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go to CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak. Kevin, the president's, not necessarily all that happy with Vladimir Putin this morning, right?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And, clearly, the president's frustrations in not being able to broker a deal to end this war now spilling over. Of course, he said he would be able to do it in the first 24 hours of his presidency. We're now reaching the a hundred day mark and there is no peace deal really in the offing.

So far, most of the president's frustrations have been directed towards Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine. But after these overnight attacks on Kyiv, the president also venting anger at Vladimir Putin, writing on Truth Social, I am not happy with the Russian strikes on Kyiv, not necessary and very bad timing. Vladimir, stop, he wrote in all capital letters, 5,000 soldiers a week are dying.

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Let's get the peace deal done.

So, you hear the president there flashing anger towards Putin. That does stand in contrast to the tweet that he put out yesterday going after Zelenskyy, his attack on Putin, 30 words long. This lengthy screed against Zelenskyy, 260 words long. Clearly, the president continuing to be frustrated on the Ukrainian side of things.

Now, we will see the president today meeting with the prime minister of Norway in the Oval Office. He's bringing with him his finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, if that name sounds familiar. He's the former Secretary General of NATO, considered something of a Trump whisperer when it comes to matters of European security, so certainly no coincidence that he will be there in the Oval Office for these very important discussions.

BLITZER: And we will have extensive coverage throughout the day, of course.

Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And as you know, Wolf, this attack on Ukraine comes just hours after President Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of harming peace negotiations.

And new this morning, a U.S. official tells CNN that Trump's special envoy is set to meet with Putin sometime tomorrow in Russia, as the White House pushes for an end to this conflict.

So, let's go live now to Moscow and CNN Senior International correspondent Fred Pleitgen. Fred, what do we know about Steve Witkoff's upcoming meeting with Putin and how the tone might change after this attack on Kyiv?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Russians so far, Pamela, have not confirmed that meeting is actually taking place. However, they have floated that it is something that could happen and that we will be informed by the Kremlin if and when that meeting does take place. But, of course, that's the same kind of messaging that we've heard from the Russians in the previous couple of meetings that Steve Witkoff has had with Vladimir Putin, each of which, of course, lasted.

For several hours what we're feeling on the ground, despite what happened overnight and despite that post that we saw from President Trump there, is that there is still a lot of optimism on the part of the Russians that a deal can be achieved. However, the Russians don't appear to be in as much of a hurry as the Trump administration is.

I spoke to a senior Russian senator earlier today and he said one of the things that the Kremlin has been saying also that they believe that the Trump administration and the Putin administration see eye-to- eye, as far as what they call the root conflict or the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine are concerned.

For the Russians, they say that they are not going to be pressured into any sort of agreements. However, they also want to see the fighting in Ukraine. And for them, there are two issues that are of the utmost importance. One of them, of course, is the territories that the Russians have taken from the Ukrainians. They want to keep almost all of those. But then also the question of whether Ukraine will ever be in NATO. And there, again, the Russians do believe that their positions are very close to those of the Trump administration. Pamela? BROWN: All right. Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And turning down to the latest in President Trump's trade war, he's teasing yet another major escalation and threatening to restart the clock on a slew of tariffs. Listen.

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TRUMP: 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, wouldn't you say? I think so. Over the next two, three weeks, we'll be setting the number.

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BLITZER: All right. Let's go to CNN's Matt Eagan, who is monitoring all of this in New York for us. Matt, we're learning another billionaire Trump supporter has a warning about all of these trade wars.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Wolf. That's right. This warning is coming from Ken Griffin. He's a billionaire backer of the presidents, and he is a leader on Wall Street. And Griffin is saying that he's concerned that the president's agenda, that the trade war has hurt the nation's standing in the world and is doing damage to the American brand. Take a listen to what Griffin said.

KEN GRIFFIN, CEO, CITADEL: The United States was more than just a nation. It's a brand, it's a universal brand. It was like an aspiration for most of the world. And we're eroding that brand right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

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EGAN: And here's why this matters. For the longest time, one of America's superpowers has been its ability to borrow cheaply. Investors for decades have decided to park their money in U.S. assets and U.S. debt. And the past few months of chaos out of Washington has changed all of that. And, Wolf, there will be an economic cost here.

BLITZER: And, Matt, we're also getting some new reaction from China this morning after President Trump's latest trade overtures. What is Beijing saying?

EGAN: Well, Wolf, there was a lot of excitement on Wall Street about hopes and signs of de-escalation coming out of Washington when it came to this trade war.

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The president even said that the two sides are talking about trade every day, but Beijing is rejecting that, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry calling that fake news. And he said, to my knowledge, China and the United States have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue, let alone reached any agreements.

And so the fact that the two sides can't even agree on whether or not they're talking says a lot about where we are right now. The two biggest economies in the world remain in a full blown trade war. And, Wolf, the longer this trade war goes on, the bigger the damage to the economy.

BLITZER: All right. Matt Egan reporting for us, Matt, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Wolf, happening now, mourners are once again gathering at St. Peter's Basilica to pay their respects to Pope Francis. The Vatican says more than 50,000 people have viewed him lying in state so far. And next hour, the celebration of Francis' life continues with the prayer service in Rome that will include readings of his speeches.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Rome. So, Ben, tell us more about what's happening there today.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we're seeing, Pam and Wolf, is more people coming constantly to file through St. Peter's Basilica, to pay their last respects to Pope Francis. Now, the latest we've heard from the Vatican press office was that between 11:00 A.M. yesterday morning when the gates -- when the doors opened to the basilica for the public until 1:00 P.M. local time, two hours ago, 61,000 people had passed through.

Now, initially, when they were announcing the hours for when people could file through the basilica, they said it would be open until midnight. But what happened was there's so many people waiting outside to get inside, that there was just one hour between 6:00 and 7:00 A.M. local time when they closed the doors, did a quick cleanup job, opened them up again to allow people in.

We also know that the third congregation of cardinals took place this morning. So, preparations are moving ahead for the funeral and, of course, importantly the conclave that will follow it, although we don't know at this point when that conclave will be. Pam?

BROWN: All right. Ben Wedeman, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And today in Israel, it's Yom HaShoah ve-laG'vurah, Remembrance Day of the Holocaust and Heroism.

Sirens wailed across Israel as people stopped in the streets on this Jewish Memorial Day. For two minutes, life paused as Israelis honored the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II and the families decimated by the atrocities. Let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us now live from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, walk us through this very, very somber and important day of a remembrance.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, for those who haven't been in Israel on this Holocaust Remembrance Day, it really is a remarkable site. At 10:00 A.M., the entire country essentially goes to a standstill. People who are driving on the highway stopped in the middle of the highway, get out of their vehicles and stand in silence for two minutes as that siren wails in the distance.

And indeed beyond that, we have, of course, a series of remembrance events at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Israel and the Holocaust Museum, as well as many officials traveling to Auschwitz for the march of the living, commemorating those who were killed in that concentration camp, and, of course, also the survivors of that Holocaust.

The Israeli prime minister addressed this Holocaust remembrance ceremony last night at Yad Vashem, and he used his remarks to compare Hamas to the Nazis. He said that Israel is determined to destroy them and used these remarks as a call for Israel to continue its war in Gaza and continue until the defeat of Hamas and the return of the hostages.

Meanwhile, we are also hearing from the families of hostages, including the family of Omri Miran, who appeared in a Hamas hostage video released last night on the eve of this Holocaust Remembrance Day. His family is saying that the fact that this video is emerging on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, they say, when we say never again, an Israeli citizen cries out for help from Hamas' tunnels, calling it a moral failure in their view for the state of Israel. Wolf?

BLITZER: A very somber day in Israel, of course. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thank you very much, Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, we should note that you are the son of Holocaust survivors. Your grandparents died in the Holocaust and you've been attending like last night at the Holocaust of Memorial Museum events.

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BLITZER: It's been a very, very somber week, not only in Israel, but here in Washington as well. Earlier in the week, I went to a very moving ceremony, remembering the Warsaw Ghetto uprising that was hosted by the Polish embassy in Washington, together with the University of Southern California's Show of Foundation, and it was very moving for me as a son of Polish shoes. They survived. They met after the war, came to Buffalo, New York, where I was -- where I grew up, of course. But all four of my grandparents, I never knew them because they were killed during the Holocaust. But it was very special at the Polish embassy, very special, this dinner last night at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Washington. It's just very, very personal for me as well. BROWN: And you went back and visited the sites where your grandparents were killed.

BLITZER: Yes, I did. It was very moving when I did that about a year- and-a-half or so ago, that march of the living from Auschwitz to Birkenau. And I saw what was going on. I was in a -- at one point, I was in a crematorium where the Polish guide was telling us about it. He knew who I was. And he showed me an oven where he said, this is where your grandfather was killed in this oven, because my dad was from -- my grandpa. My grandparents and my father were from a town right near Auschwitz, and all the Jews in that town were taken to this specific crematorium. It was just a very, very moving experience.

BROWN: Just hearing you say that, it's emotional. It's absolutely --

BLITZER: The whole week has been very emotional.

BROWN: -- important to remember this day.

We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Let's get back to our top story, the very deadly Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Vladimir Putin's overnight barrage on the Ukrainian Capitol is drawing new reaction from President Trump today. He posted on a social media site, and I'm quoting now, Vladimir, stop. Let's get the peace deal done, end quote.

Joining us now, retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark. He's the former NATO supreme allied commander. General Clark, thanks so much for joining us.

Do you think a post from President Trump on social media will actually wind up stopping Putin from launching more attacks on civilians, like in Kyiv, for example, where civilian men, women, and children were just killed in big numbers?

GEN. WELSEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, I think it would be very surprising if President Trump's tweet would have any real impact on President Putin. President Putin sees an opportunity. He sees the United States preparing to turn its back on Europe and especially on Ukraine and walk away. So, this is the moment for Putin. Really, it's what he's been waiting for.

This gives him a clear feel to bring pressure to bear against Ukraine population, like this missile strike, and also to go to his allies, China, North Korea, Iran, say, give me more, give me more, this is the moment, we can go. We know there are exercises being prepared for this summer in Belarus, rumors of brigades being ready to attack court from Belarus and Leningrad to open that gate. This is a really perilous time for Europe and it's the opposite time to be pulling back.

What President Trump should be saying is, since you did this, I am reinforcing U.S. military assistance to Kyiv, and you can forget about it. We're going to stay with it until you realize that you're not going to win militarily. That's what it's going to take to bring peace to Ukraine.

BLITZER: And the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy said this morning, that last night's Russian attack on Kyiv was aimed at pressuring the United States. What do you think he means by that?

CLARK: Well, I think he understands that President Trump wants an agreement and he wants an agreement before the end of the month. That's what all the scuttlebutt is, at least. And this is what he's really talked about from the time he was campaigning to get a quick agreement. So, if you want a quick agreement in diplomacy, you're going to get a bad agreement.

And so this is the kind of pressure that Mr. Putin's putting on President Trump. I know President Trump believes he has a relationship with Mr. Putin, but it's not the kind of relationship that he might think. Putin has worked tirelessly really since he first became prime minister and then president back in the late 1990s to try to restore the space and the security that he thought he had in the Soviet Union. So he wants Ukraine. He wants the Baltics. He wants Eastern Europe back under the Russian thumb. And so it's not just about Ukraine. It's not just about this peace agreement. And I hope that the administration will read this strike for what it is. It's a thumbing your nose really at U.S. efforts.

BLITZER: A prominent Russian lawmaker, General, says his country will prioritize its national interests despite pressure from the U.S. What does that tell you about the Russian approach to these peace talks?

CLARK: It says that it really -- Russia's going to go ahead and do what it wants. So, diplomacy is another facet of aggression in this case. So, they're using military force, they're using talks, they'll say one thing, they'll take it back. If they get a concession, then they'll say, give us another concession.

You know, the United States has already conceded that Ukraine won't be in NATO. They've conceded that they're not going to get back their territories. The United States lately has said apparently that that the U.S. will recognize that Russia now owns Ukraine.

Certainly, our European allies don't agree with this. It's a big violation of international law. But Russia doesn't care about those things. Russia does what's in its interest, its interest, who's interest, and Russia's interest, is to take over Ukraine, the Baltics and have the security dominion over Europe and push the United States out.

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So, when I hear statements from the administration that we're going to turn our back and we're focusing on Asia and we're really worried about the Mexican border, that just is a perfectly congruent situation for what Russia's interests are. And my question would be, why are we accommodating Russian interests? I mean, for a hundred years, we've understood that freedom and democracy, the economy in Europe is critical to America's national security. We fought two wars over this. We had an alliance and everything. What's changed suddenly?

So, I think we're at a real great point here in the next few days, maybe weeks on U.S. commitment to Europe, and I think if we back away, we'll be looking at major conflict in Europe.

BLITZER: And it looks like the Trump administration is ready to concede that Crimea, which is, of course, part of Ukraine and has been, will be allowed to be taken over officially and formally by Russia as part of some sort of ceasefire deal, a very significant development if, in fact, that happens.

All of this comes, General, as the U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is meeting today with NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte over at the Pentagon. You're the former NATO supreme allied commander. Take us inside a meeting like this one. How are these two leaders trying to navigate such a very sensitive and explosive moment in a very uncertain relationship?

CLARK: Well, I think Secretary Hegseth has got marching orders from President Trump and he's made those orders clear publicly and I'm sure privately. That is the United States focus is on the Mexican border, South America maybe, maybe Canada, and on China, not interested in Europe. We're going to do what we can in the Middle East and get rid of the Houthis. That would be the secretary's approach.

And so NATO Secretary General Rutte is going to have to try to really charm him into seeing a different way of looking at the world. But I think it's not really about persuading Secretary Hegseth. I don't think he has an independent view of geostrategy. I think he's simply reflecting the priorities that President Trump has given him.

As he said recently in an interview, his job is to protect President Trump, not U.S. national efforts. He said to protect President Trump. So, he's going to do really what he's told, and that's what he is being told. Get us out of Europe, focus on Asia and the borders.

BLITZER: All right. General Wesley Clark, as always, thank you very much for joining us.

And we'll be right back.

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