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Russia Announces Unilateral Three-Day Ceasefire in Ukraine; Border Czar Defends Deportations Including Three American Kids; Trump Compares First and Second Terms in Atlantic Interview. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 28, 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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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, a possible ceasefire, the very latest on what we're learning right now in Russia's latest offer, and whether Ukraine will accept it.

And the immigration cracked down escalates. How the Trump administration is defending the deportation of three American children, along with their mothers. One child was just two years old, another four-year-old boy has stage four cancer.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Pamela Brown is off today. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with breaking news. Russia's announcing a temporary cease fire in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has unilaterally declared a three day truce and has called Kyiv to follow suit.

We're tracking all the latest developments from the Kremlin to the White House. Let's begin with CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen who is joining us live from Moscow right now. Fred, what are you hearing from the Kremlin this morning?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf. Well, the Kremlin announced this three-day ceasefire earlier today, and it's all centered around the May 9th celebrations that center around the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II over Nazi Germany.

You can see here in Moscow that they are already setting up a lot of flags and also signs like this one that actually says victory in Russian, pavieta (ph), because, of course, 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany, it is an even bigger celebration. And the Russians have said for humanitarian reasons, they are declaring a unilateral ceasefire, and as you put it, are calling on the Ukrainians to do the exact same thing.

Now, of course, all of this also comes in the context of that diplomatic initiative that President Trump has launched, which has run apparently into some roadblocks. We know that over the weekend, President Trump was asked whether or not he trusts Vladimir Putin and said, look, I'll tell you in two weeks. He also said that he was disappointed by the Russians launching missiles towards Ukrainian cities.

The Russians, for their part, are saying that they already, at any time, to talk to the Ukrainians face-to-face or calling on the Ukrainians to do the same thing. They also said or the Ukrainians said, Wolf, that they believe that the ceasefire needs to be unconditional and otherwise would only be the Russians playing games, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for us, Fred, thank you very much.

I want to bring in CNN White House Reporter Alayna Treene. Alayna, Ukraine says the ceasefire has to be unconditional. What are you hearing from the Trump administration?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Look, Wolf, the Trump administration and the White House is making clear today that this is not enough from Russia. White House press secretary earlier this morning said he wants a permanent deal. And while he's optimistic about the future of talks, he's also being realistic. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He wants to see a permanent ceasefire. I understand Vladimir Putin this morning offered a temporary ceasefire. The president has made it clear he wants to see a permanent ceasefire first to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed. And while he remains optimistic, he can strike a deal. He's also being realistic as well, and both leaders need to come to the table to negotiate their way out of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Wolf, I think what's really important to note here is that the president's tone on all of this has really shifted in recent days. He's been far more critical of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days than arguably he has been this entire term so far. Notably, on Saturday, after he had met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy right before Pope Francis' funeral he made clear that perhaps maybe Putin doesn't want to end the war. He said maybe he's just tapping me along.

So, it's clear that Trump is increasingly frustrated behind closed doors with this, and, really, from my conversations with Trump administration officials, they argue that the next few days, this week is going to be very critical in determining whether or not an actual deal is possible.

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you very, very much.

I want to go to CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood. Kylie, this morning, Ukraine is responding, its foreign minister says, and I'm quoting now, if Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately.

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How is the temporary ceasefire being viewed at the State Department?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, before the ceasefire was announced, Secretary of State Rubio said yesterday on NBC that this week, the administration is going to make a determination as to whether they want to continue being involved in these talks with the Ukrainians and the Russians.

That is something that we've heard from this administration over the last few weeks, multiple times, continuing to put pressure on both sides to effectively stay at the table and engage. But this ceasefire today that Russia is announcing, a senior administration official echoed what the White House said earlier today in explaining to me that they don't view what Russia has announced here as meaningful.

So, the determination that the Trump administration is going to have to make, according to the secretary of state over the next week, is not going to be influenced by what Russia has announced today. In fact, it's going to be influenced by what happens going forward, these talks about this U.S. framework that they have put on the table, discuss with the Ukrainians, discuss with the Russians. We know that there are a lot of those elements in the peace plan that the U.S. has put forth that the Ukrainians are willing to engage on substantively. We'll have to see if Russia is willing to do so as well.

BLITZER: All right, good point. Kylie Atwood, thank you very, very much.

There's more breaking news. This morning, President Trump's borders are holds a special White House briefing as the administration ramps up its immigration crackdown. Over the weekend, ICE announced the arrest of nearly 800 people in Florida and in Louisiana. Civil rights groups say last week's deportations included three American children, all U.S. citizens, one of them is battling cancer.

Let's go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. She's joining us from the White House right now. Priscilla, you were at that briefing. What did Tom Homan say this morning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, the White House is certainly highlighting the progress that they have made and say they have made along the U.S.-Mexico border, where the numbers have plummeted over recent months. But of course, as you just mentioned, all of this is happening against the backdrop of what we are learning about three U.S. citizen children who were sent back to Honduras with their mothers.

Now, these are two separate cases. This is both -- in both cases, according to court filings, these mothers have been going to routine ICE check-ins when they were detained and then later removed to Honduras. Now, when that occurred, when they were detained, they were given the option to be removed with their children and they opted for that.

But the attorneys in these cases say that there was very little time to make any decisions or have conversations with relatives. And so they're raising the alarm again about the lack of due process.

Now, when I asked the White House border czar about this, he said again that this was the decision of the mothers. Take a listen.

TOM HOMAN, TRUMP BORDER CZAR: If you choose to have U.S. citizen child knowing you're in this country legally, you put yourself in that position, you put your family in that position. What we did is remove children with their mothers who requested the children to depart with them. This was a parental decision. Parental one -- parenting 101. The mothers made that choice.

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ALVAREZ: Now, if you recall, the White House border czar was asked about this before President Trump took office, in which he said that there wouldn't be family separation, rather the families would be removed together.

Now, I did also ask about the number of deportations so far under this administration. He said there were 139,000. Now, that is slightly less than the Biden administration at the same time last year, but the difference being that there are far less border crossings, therefore, less easy repatriations, rather the administration still moving forward and moving forward quickly when it comes to deportations of those who are arrested in the interior of the United States. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Priscilla, thank you, Priscilla Alvarez reporting for us, I appreciate it.

Also new this morning, a very revealing interview with President Trump in The Atlantic Magazine laying out why his second term is so much more different than his first term. The president also admitting that he regrets some things from his first four years in the White House, but says he's having more fun this time around.

CNN Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston is joining us right now. Marc. What are the big takeaways from this Atlantic article?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, the fact that he did the interview with The Atlantic, as our viewers recall, The Atlantic was the news organization that broke the Signal gate story that really called into question how sensitive information was being used and processed with Pete Hegseth, and, of course, others in the administration.

But what I found interesting was The Atlantic asked, how does a second term compare to your first term? And this is what Donald Trump says, because I think it says a lot about Donald Trump. The first time I had two things to do, run the country and survive. I had all these crooked guys. And the second time, I run the country and the world.

And I don't think that there's too many people that could argue that Donald Trump right now is not running the world. We have seen world leaders kowtow to him even before he was sworn in as president. We saw world leaders showing up in Mar-a-Lago to try to get on his good side.

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So, Donald Trump seems to be having some fun, but they've had four years, Wolf, four years to prepare to try to take over this federal government. And they were prepared to take over this federal government.

BLITZER: A very, very long article. Donald Trump is enjoying this doubt. That's the no doubt title of the article in The Atlantic.

The president also tells the magazine that he's spoken with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, about that Signal chat fallout. Tell us what he said.

PRESTON: Yes, sure. You know, someone would call this the kiss of death. I would say, Pete Hegseth has just one more step before he could potentially get pushed out of office, excuse me, pushed out of his position. But Donald Trump was asked about Pete Hegseth, and the Signal gate controversy, and Donald Trump said, I think he's going to get it together. Now, imagine that, saying that about your defense secretary. I think he's going to get it together. I had a talk with him, a positive talk, but I had a talk with him.

You know, my parents used to have talks with me. I didn't always get it together, but I'm sure Pete Hegseth will take that advice very sharply.

BLITZER: I'm sure you always listen to your parents and you were a very good boy.

PRESTON: I was. Yes, well sometimes.

BLITZER: The new CNN polling that is just out is giving us a better idea of what Americans think of Trump's job performance as he closes in this week on 100 days in office. And it's not necessarily good news for the White House. Break down the latest numbers for us.

PRESTON: No, Wolf, it really isn't. You know, we'll see Donald Trump over the next couple days. We'll see him in Michigan tomorrow night talking about his 100 days. He's supposedly having fun in the White House. He said to be selling us. But if you look at these numbers right now, they are just dismal right now. He has lost seven points in just the last couple of months. In 60 days, he has now gone underwater, as we show right there. But where is he losing the support from? He's losing it from independents on just about every issue.

Let's just look at the issues right here that we have seen his drop, almost every issue from three points, a drop in foreign policy to a nine point drop in inflation. He is not polling well, Donald Trump. If you look at immigration as well right there, at 45 percent, and that's supposed to be his number one issue, Wolf.

BLITZER: Mark Preston, I appreciate it very much, as we always do, and you are a very good boy still.

PRESTON: I appreciate that.

BLITZER: That's my opinion.

All right, there's more breaking news we're following right now, a race to restore power in both Spain and Portugal after a massive outage knocked out electricity across large swaths of the two countries. Flights of major airports have been canceled or delayed. Portugal's flag carrier told travelers not to come to the airport until further notice. Police are also urging people to avoid any unnecessary travel because traffic lights are shut off. Officials say it could be several hours before power is restored in those two countries.

The cause of the sudden blackout is still unknown. We'll stay on top of this and update you when we get more information.

Still ahead, we'll ask Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke about President Trump's poll numbers and how he feels about the first 100 days in office.

And later, how are Democratic voters feeling about their representatives? Do they want them to take on Trump or work with him? Rahm Emanuel will be here to discuss. We'll discuss all of this and a lot more coming up right here in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: As President Trump near his 100 days in office this week, his approval rating is taking a major hit. A new CNN poll shows just 41 percent approve of the way he's handling his job. That's the lowest of any president at this point in their term in at least 70 years, going back to the Eisenhower administration. On many key issues, immigration, managing the government, foreign affairs, the economy, inflation and tariffs, his approval rating is under 50 percent.

Joining us now is Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana. He sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Appropriations Committee. He was also the interior secretary during the first Trump administration. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

I'm not calling you Mr. Secretary. I'm calling you Congressman because that's what you are right now.

REP. RYAN ZINKE (R-MT): Great to be with you as always.

BLITZER: You can call me Wolf.

All right, looking at these low approval numbers right now, and I know you're a member of Congress, so you're interested in politics, does the president need to change course dramatically right now?

ZINKE: Well, the president is doing exactly what he said he would do, and I think it's mixed. I think where he is done exceptional is on immigration. We have solved that problem to a degree. Now, we're attending to removing the gangs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Tariffs brought uncertainty to the market. You know, look --

BLITZER: If you take a look at these numbers on specific issues, on immigration, he's only got a 45 percent approval rating right now. So, he's got to work harder.

ZINKE: He's got to work harder. But also, are our streets safer? And the answer is yes.

Remember, there's a reason why 10,000 Mexicans are patrolling the southern border and why the Royal Mounties are patrolling the northern border is because it was President Trump's policy. We're making the streets safer by removing, you know, the villainous individuals that are involved in crime, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, et cetera.

So, I think on immigration, he's doing exactly what he said he would do. The economy is fickle, you know? The economy, you know, people are hurting and people are hurting in Montana. And tariffs, you know --

BLITZER: Do you think the tariffs, the trade war that he's launched against so many countries around the world is a disaster?

ZINKE: I wouldn't say a disaster. President Trump has a tendency to do the shotgun but he also looks for the deal. You know, I am more of a surgical -- I'm former of SEAL Team 6.

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I like the surgical, you know, hit or rather than a broad shotgun. But we do it --

BLITZER: Because you say farmers at the agricultural field in your state of Montana is suffering big time.

ZINKE: Well -- but if the end result is this. We can't be vulnerable to fickle allies or adversaries for key components of the economy. We're talking about, you know, solar cells. We're talking about critical minerals, the things that drive the technology part, and we found ourselves to become vulnerable.

And it first started, you know, as the lowest price is the best value. You know, over time, you know, probably Nike, other companies started it. We will manufacture in China where we can get, you know, the best, quote, value on price. But it also comes at a cost. It comes at a cost environmentally.

Remember, 90 percent of the world's plastic comes from four rivers in China. And when a company is going to China and pay child wages and without environmental regulation, it costs us all.

But you know, looking at it now, fast forward, where we are in the economy, we don't manufacture as much as we should, with onus (ph), as we should, and all of a sudden we find ourselves vulnerable to the foreign --

BLITZER: On this issue, Congressman, of the economy, his approval numbers on the economy, and they used to say it's the economy, stupid, going into an election, as you know, on the economy, his numbers hit an all time CNN low at this point, just 39 percent support the way he's handling the economy, largely stems from his decision to impose all these tariffs. And you said, and you've just said again, you're willing to give the president more time to execute his tariff strategy. But as time running out, you know, a lot of your fellow Republicans in the House, they're very nervous looking ahead to the election that's coming up.

ZINKE: Well, because America is not doing well economically. You look at the bond market, for instance, and there's two big decisions coming up. One is can we control the spending? We don't have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. And the bond market doesn't lie. When we're borrowing so much money, when we're facing the debt, we are now in the north range, it's a concern to us all.

And if the bond market goes up for Americans, what does that mean? It means home mortgages are more expensive. It means interest rates are more expensive. Access to capital becomes tighter. That's a big, big issue.

So I think the headwinds on this, we need to make sure that tariffs are effective and short-lived. And, secondly, we have to show that we can control our spending. If we do those two things, I think the economy will start to pick up.

BLITZER: While I have you, Congressman, I'll turn to the war on Ukraine right now. Russia is proposing, as you know, a three-day ceasefire for next month. This comes as the White House tries to negotiate a permanent ceasefire, which would have Ukraine cede significant chunks of its territory to Russia. Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton calls that proposal surrender and says it will embolden China and other rogue states to do the same thing. Your response?

ZIINKE: Well, I think the ceasefire is nothing more than a holiday for Russia. Let's be clear.

BLITZER: The three-day ceasefire that he's proposing?

ZINKE: It is.

BLITZER: So, you think the U.S. and Ukraine should reject it?

ZINKE: You know, I'm always for a ceasefire, but I don't think it's meaningful. I think it's just a small holiday. And --

BLITZER: It's a start, though.

ZINKE: It's a start, you know, because there's less killing. But at the end of the day, a permanent peace, I think a permanent piece would mean Crimea Peninsula would stay with Russia, probably a land bridge between -- BLITZER: Are you okay with Crimea, part of Ukraine for a long, long time, being given over to Russia?

ZINKE: Well, it was Russia's for about 800 years. In the context, that's their only freshwater port. It's analogous to the Mississippi River to us. So, I think on the Crimea Peninsula, which is largely Russian --

BLITZER: But you know that when Gorbachev signed that agreement, and I was in Moscow at the time, ending the Soviet Union after 70 years of communist rule, he promised all the former republics of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine and all the other republics of the then- Soviet Union, they would be independent and free and wouldn't have to worry about their territory. And now take a look at Russia under Putin is threatening to annex parts of Ukraine.

ZINKE: Well, let's be clear. Putin is a war criminal. I think he's the face of a war criminal. I don't think he also perceived that Ukraine would be moving into NATO. That was a problem for Russia, or limit their access to the Black Sea. And, you know, also what I think probably drove it was Afghanistan, that the U.S. position was weak. He looked at an opportunity and he took it.

So, you know, again, I think at the end of the day --

BLITZER: well, you don't think Crimea should be handed over to Russia as a permanent part of Russia?

ZINKE: When my belief is, I think Crimean Peninsula is a part of Russia right now. And I don't think it's going to be --

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BLITZER: So, you would take it away from Ukraine?

ZINKE: I would probably -- if in order to have peace, this is what I'd probably do. I'd probably have a land bridge in the Crimean Peninsula and I'd make it demilitarized on it because I value trade more --

BLITZER: I don't think they're going to be welcoming you in Ukraine anytime soon as a result of that.

Congressman Zinke, as usual, thanks very much for joining us.

ZINKE: A pleasure.

BLITZER: All right. We'll have much more news right after this.

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BLITZER: Let's get back to our breaking news this morning. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, unilaterally declaring a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine, starting May 8th. This comes just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and just days after Russia launched intensified.