and zolan i mean, there are a lot of questions i will say in that list. declassifying details on covid origins, i think, could be. a good thing. quite valuable. >> absolutely. i mean, that's something that, you know, the public has obviously made clear that there's great interest in, and it could lead to information that could hopefully prevent the next pandemic as well. if you made that public. i do think it's important to say, too, i don't i wouldn't want the public to to come off with the impression that the government has basically hid all these secrets around this tragedy. 1992 law says that within 25 years, the government should release documents related to the tragedy, the assassination of president kennedy, 320,000 documents released. so out of 320,000 documents, 99% released. >> so far. there's a reason they want to keep some of the secret sources and methods. one of them, you don't want to expose sources in the way that cia gathers its information. thanks so much to the panel. as always. thanks to all of you for joining us. i'm jim sciutto, cnn news central starts right now.

>> an american. >> returns home. >> a teacher. >> wrongfully detained. >> in russia for over three years is back on u.s. soil. big questions this morning about how that deal came together. the terms of it to get marc fogel back home as the president is also teasing another american could be released today. >> a rare. >> and oddly informal q&a session with the doge chief in the oval office. as president trump and elon musk defend their efforts to overhaul the federal government, critics are warning the tech giant and his team are gaining too much power with too little oversight. so do you love your golden retriever? well. >> that's too bad. >> the judges. >> at the westminster dog show don't. for the 119th straight time, a lab or golden did not win. the prize goes to a nepo baby named monty. i'm john

berman with kate bolduan and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> and the breaking news overnight, american marc fogel back on u.s. soil. last night. clearly overwhelmed and clearly overcome by emotion, he stood alongside president trump with an american flag draped over his shoulders. president trump welcoming him home and to the white house. now, after three years of wrongful detention in russia. >> i feel like the luckiest man on earth right now. and, uh. i want you to know that i am not a hero in this at all. and president trump is a hero. >> this morning. we are now standing by to really find out

more. possibly another detained american to be freed in the coming hours. that was suggested by the president last night. who this person is, though, or when and or where they will be released from, that is unclear. we're also waiting to find out how this deal to free marc fogel came together. who or what russia is getting in return? the kremlin says a russian citizen is being released as part of the exchange. but as you can see, there are a lot of questions still this morning. let's get right to jennifer hansler. she's got much more on this covering it all. what are you learning about? what more are you learning about the terms of this deal to bring marc fogel home? well. >> kate, both sides of this deal being incredibly tight lipped on the details here. we know broadly, based on a statement from the white house yesterday that this exchange, as they called it, was negotiated by president trump as well as his special envoy for the middle east. steve witkoff steve witkoff was the one who actually flew to russia to retrieve marc fogel yesterday. but in terms of who or what was exchanged, both sides have really given very few

answers. president trump was asked about this last night repeatedly, and he did not give much indication about what was involved in this deal, and he teased that more details were to come. take a listen. >> the u.s. give anything. >> in return. >> no. >> not much. no. they were very nice. we were treated very nicely by russia, actually. >> what were the terms of this deal, mr. president? >> very fair, very, very fair, very reasonable. not like deals you've seen over the years meanwhile, kate, this morning the kremlin did confirm that there was a russian citizen who is going to be released. >> we heard from the kremlin spokesperson just a little while ago. he said that a citizen of the russian federation will soon return to russia, who is currently being held in the united states. however, peskov did not give any details about this person's identity. they said that they would not give that out until this person was released and back on russian soil. all of this, of course, is a major departure from the different exchanges we've seen

in the past. over the past years, under the biden administration, where we had this very tightly coordinated or almost bridge of spies exchange between the two sides, where we would see those tarmac exchanges in these third countries. this is very, very different than what we've seen in the past. all that to say, though, kate, is there is good news here that mark is returning home. he was detained over three years ago in russia for carrying a bit of cannabis, and then he was sentenced to 14 years of hard labor. this was the sentence that his family was worried would be a death sentence for him to have to carry out their case. >> and now he is spending his first. he'll be waking up for his first day back on u.s. soil. you can imagine he has a long road ahead, but what a wonderful, wonderful morning it is for him and his family. but a lot more to come today. jennifer, great to see you. thank you so much. and in just a programing note to all of you, we are going to speak to donald trump, president trump's mideast envoy, steve witkoff, who led the negotiations in this deal. he's going to be joining the show in the 8 a.m. hour. sarah. >> all right. an extraordinary show of power from inside the

oval office, from a man who has not been elected or had to even face confirmation hearings. elon musk appearing next to president trump at the resolute desk. the two men defending the deep cuts they have made to government agencies and making sweeping claims of fraud among federal bureaucrats, although they have not yet provided any evidence. >> we have this unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has in a lot of ways, currently more power than any elected representative. and this is a this is not something that people want. >> musk there in a baseball cap with his his son standing there beneath him, the president and musk showing they are united and focused on the task of cutting costs. this as they look to quiet, growing concerns about whether musk has too much power when he has never been elected. as we mentioned, cnn's alayna treene is at the white house. elena, what was the big takeaway here from this meeting, which

was which was interestingly or oddly sort of casual and informal in some ways, right? >> yes. and that's exactly how i know elon musk likes to do these types of things. from the conversations i've had with people close to him. but look, i actually find and just that image of them together so striking, especially after we saw that time magazine cover come out last week with that picture of elon musk sitting behind the resolute desk. now, we saw in person a musk standing beside the resolute desk. obviously with president trump right next to him to such a striking moment, i think an image of of his growing influence that we're continuing to see grow every single day. but look, i also think a lot of this was really about the questions that musk and doge and the trump administration overall have been getting repeatedly about his power, his influence. and again, as you mentioned, as someone who is an unelected official, i mean, i know on all corners of washington, we're seeing people on capitol hill, we're seeing the courts all really challenging and being

skeptical of some of what doge is doing. and this was an opportunity for musk to stand there and take questions. it did seem almost like a surprise, spur of the moment thing, but i did talk to a white house official, sarah, on monday, who told me that they were planning this. and part of this was to kind of peel back some of the mystique that surrounds musk and doge overall. now, some reporters did ask questions to musk directly about, you know, what exactly is your formula? what is the strategy for how you are determining what to cut, where to hunt down, waste and abuse, as they call it in the government? take a listen to what he said. >> what are the two ingredients that are really necessary in order to cut the budget deficit in half from 2 trillion to 1 trillion? and it's really two things competence and caring. and if you add competence and caring, you'll cut the budget deficit in half. >> competence and caring. not really much to go off of there, sarah. but look, another very interesting part of this as well

was when he talked about transparency. he said that doge needs to be very transparent, but i would also argue that a lot of what we have learned from what musk and doge are doing so far has been through sources coming to reporters like us and telling us where these people are showing up and what they are doing. so i think there's still a lot of questions about some of that accountability. >> i think we can be we can be honest here. it hasn't been transparent. we've talked to so many federal employees who still don't understand what they are supposed to do at this point, because they're not sure what's going to happen and what the directive actually is. from the doge team. we will wait and see. thank you so much, alayna treene, for all your reporting there from the white house, john. >> all right. this morning, a top senate democrat has called for an investigation after accusing kash patel president trump's pick for fbi director, of secretly orchestrating the firing of the bureau's leadership before being confirmed for his role. a new strain of bird flu that has been spreading in cows has now infected a human. we've got new details on how to keep yourself

safe. and a new announcement from nasa. two astronauts who have been stuck in space for more than eight months might finally, finally be able to come home. >> i've got good news, and i've got bad news. what do you want first? the bad. the news is nothing even more than ever. >> what's the good news? >> we're doing another season of have i got news for you. >> have i got news for you returns saturday at nine on cnn. >> got one more. >> antwan with usps ground advantage. just like you're with us every step of the way. >> cool right on time. >> stay in the know from your

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yet. the top democrat on the senate judiciary committee, dick durbin, says he received highly credible information from multiple sources. he is asking the justice department's inspector general to look into the claims, just ahead of a critical vote by the senate judiciary committee tomorrow. let's get right to cnn's katelyn polantz for the latest on this. what are you learning, caitlin? >> john. >> this is. >> about the question of whether kash patel if and when he is. >> confirmed as fbi director, is going to go on a retribution tour against. people who worked on the cases that looked into donald trump. so all of this is breaking just a day before the senate judiciary committee is going to take a closer look at patel's nomination to be fbi director. he's already gone through some confirmation hearings. and so the votes are to come. and one of the things that's happened at those confirmation hearings is there have been a lot of questions put to him. are you going to get rid of people within the fbi just because of what they were assigned to work on, and what

dick durbin, the ranking member on the judiciary committee, is saying, is that whistleblowers came to him and essentially provided a bunch of information, notes, information about a written list, information about phone calls that were being made, all about how kash patel was trying to force out certain senior leaders at the fbi a few weeks ago. so what durbin articulated specifically is that at a meeting on january 29th, among acting fbi leadership, there was a written list that was discussed from the fbi director's advisory team talking about certain officials that should be fired or gotten rid of or sidelined at the fbi notes from that meeting that durbin says he now has say that kp that's kash patel. once movement at fbi and also additional action at the justice department. and then also in that meeting, the acting deputy

attorney general, emil bove, who is also up for a nomination to be a permanent leadership position at the fbi, was telling people that he was receiving calls from stephen miller over at the white house trying to push the idea that kash patel wanted certain people at the fbi out faster. why? this is a problem. durbin specifies that in a letter to the inspector general at the justice department wanting to kick up an investigation, there internally, saying it is unacceptable for a nominee with no current role in government, much less at the fbi, to personally direct, unjustified and potentially illegal adverse employment actions against senior career fbi leadership and other dedicated, nonpartisan law enforcement officers. so all of this coming before patel is even voted on his spokesperson say this is all anonymous sources secondhand gossip. the questions continue on as those votes are teed up. john.

>> yes they do. katelyn polantz thanks for the reporting, kate. >> coming up for us all happening right now. defense secretary pete hegseth is in europe, the first member of the new trump administration to be meeting with nato. the topic ukraine. his message everyone other than the u.s. needs to do more. and in a sure sign that spring is coming. not here yet, that's for darn sure. baseball's just around the corner cooked books. >> corporate fat cats. >> swindling socialites. >> doped up. >> cyclists. >> and yes. >> more crooked politicians. >> i have a feeling we won't. >> be running out of those anytime soon. >> a new season of united states of scandal with jake tapper, march 9th on cnn. >> so i. >> got. >> you a little. >> something. >> warming for him, tingling for her. >> should we, uh. >> experience the thrill of bringing them together? say more than i love you. say i want you with me, yours and mine.

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capetus, we finance small businesses. >> i'm anthony davis. >> i'm always dominating on the court. but one thing you may not know about me. i love pranking people. >> so i'll play with anthony davis. sunday, after nba. >> all star coverage on. tbs and stream. >> next. >> day on. >> max. >> the phoenix suns superstar kevin durant has officially etched his name among basketball's all time greats. the two time nba champion is now just the eighth player in league history to score 30,000 career

points. cnn's coy wire has much more on this. all rested up and back in the studio. my friend. just how great is kevin durant? >> so great. >> 17 seasons in the nba, 15. time all-star. >> kevin durant is now part of. >> a very short list of players who've joined this 30,000 point club. let's check out the moment he reached the mark. it was a free throw in the third quarter last night against the grizzlies. there it is. durant joining the likes of wilt chamberlain, jordan kobe kareem and the league's all time leading scorer lebron. he finished with a game high 34 points. it was a 119 112 loss to the grizzlies. but check out after the final buzzer. grizzlies star ja morant going over to kd, handing him a game ball out of a sign of respect. here he is after the game. >> true honor. >> to be in the same category as those players who helped shape the game and push the game

forward and that's always been my goal, is to get the most out of myself every day and the most out of my career. and so to be mentioned with those guys means i'm doing something right. >> let's go to the nhl instead of all star weekend, the league is hitting pause on the regular season to host the four nations face-off tournament. it features four of the world's top hockey powers canada, finland, sweden and the u.s. boston bruins teammates brad marchand and charlie mcavoy. they've developed this tightly knit friendship over their careers, but now they'll be playing against each other, and they may very well meet up in the championship game, which would be in boston a week from tomorrow. >> it really is special. we're really looking forward to it. i can't wait to take a run at this guy. finally. and yeah, it should be fun. >> i enjoy being able to compete. with him and. >> against him in practice, but it'll be it'll be really cool to to, you know, face off against him and and and be able to to share that experience you

can watch marchand and team canada take on sweden tonight coverage starting at 7:00 eastern on our sister channels tnt, trutv and streaming on max. >> we're keeping it all boston for our boy, john berman this morning, kate. the calendar may say it's only february, but the boys of summer are getting warmed up as red sox pitchers and catchers have their first workouts today at fenway south in sunny fort myers, florida. spring training games begin next friday. opening day is set for march 27th. it's good, kate, that you kept john out of this segment because he would have waxed poetic about his red sox or cried for the rest of the show. your whole rundown would have been completely blown up. >> oh, not like he doesn't do it every day anyway. blowing up the rundown. but i did get a woohoo from backstage. but you know what? i like the idea of, like, spring training. we should take the entire. we should take the entire network. the entire show should go to warmer, warmer climates during the spring time. it's good to see you. >> i in. >> exactly. >> so, you know, john had just peeked around the corner because

he cannot stay out of it. he has to. >> stay. >> back there on every sports story involving anything to do with boston. >> or it's even wider. like you say the word massachusetts. he jumps out. he's like, what? you said my name? >> yeah. it literally what he does. he is scowling back there at the both of us. we can take it, though, can't we? we'll take him, kate. all right. coming up. transparency. elon musk saying that's a driving goal for doge during a pretty wild oval office meeting. an unusual one, to say the least. but he will. but the question that is sort of put to him, where is the transparency and where is it when it comes to his own finances? we will talk about that. plus, cnn talks to farmers who are really concerned that they could be put out of business because of the bird flu. >> it's like a. >> death sentence. you know, you lose your car, you lose. you don't have any eggs for 3 to 4 months at least. it's a it's a

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get. keep your business growing. go to shipstation.com to start your free trial today. >> the lead. >> with. jake tapper. >> today at four on cnn all right, elon musk, the richest person in the world, is leading efforts to make massive cuts to federal agencies. >> but critics are warning there is a dangerous lack of transparency for his department of government efficiency, never mind potential conflicts of interest. musk defended himself in the oval office yesterday with the president nodding along right next to him. >> all of our actions are are

fully public, so if you see anything you say, like, wait a second. hey, you know that doesn't that seems like maybe that's, you know, there's a conflict there. i it's not like people are going to be shy about saying that. they'll say it immediately. you. >> including you yourself. >> yes. but. what transparency is what builds trust, not simply somebody asserting trust. it's not somebody saying they're trustworthy, but transparency. so you can see everything that's going on. >> that is not how federal employees and some of the recipients of federal contracts and grants see it, that we've spoken to them ad nauseam over the past couple of weeks. they say that they are being kept in the dark about what doge is doing. and when it comes to being transparent about its own finances. those are not being shared. the white house says the billionaire will not file a public financial disclosure, raising some more concerns about the potential conflict of interest. he's got a whole bunch of government contracts. cnn's madigan is joining me now. what do you know about this

report and why it is kind of being kept secret? >> well, sarah, i don't think we've. >> ever seen anything like this. you have the richest. >> person on the planet taking a powerful role in the federal. >> government, in a. position that is not senate confirmed. there's just enormous. >> potential conflicts. >> of interest. and yet. >> the public. >> is not going to see what elon musk's finances really. >> look like. a white house official. >> telling cnn's alayna treene that musk, as an unpaid. >> special government. >> employee who is not a commissioned officer, he will file a confidential financial disclosure report per the norm. now, this is because of a bit of a loophole in the ethics law, because musk is not being paid, he gets to file this in secret. unlike the trump cabinet officials who have been senate confirmed, and they've made their finances public. and arguably they actually have a less influential role. i talked to richard painter, the white house ethics czar under george w

bush, and he told me this is a big problem because of musk's power here. he says that eventually a judge should make that disclosure when it's made public. and just look at elon musk's business empire here, right? i mean, spacex gets defense contracts, tesla benefits from tax credits from the government, right? we have neuralink. it relies on fda approval. x.ai, the a.i. startup that's going to be influenced by a.i. regulation. and then you also have the social media company x. it's getting into payments just as elon musk is sort of presiding over the gutting of the primary financial federal regulator, the cfpb, when it comes to payments. and look, elon musk, i mean, his net worth has skyrocketed since the election november 5th. it was $264 million. it's more than $100 billion higher today at nearly $400 billion. >> just quickly what is

elizabeth warren saying. you had a conversation with her. she has been big over the consumer protection bureau. >> yeah, i mean, it was basically her brainchild. she has been leading the defense of the cfpb. she told me that, listen, the republicans have control of both houses of congress and the white house. and she said if the republicans thought that they could get enough votes, they could get rid of the cfpb right now. so why don't the republicans do that? because it's popular. she's arguing that, look, this is bipartisan, right? republicans, democrats, independents. no one wants to get ripped off by their bank, by their credit card company, by their mortgage lender. the cfpb, nearly $20 billion in consumer relief. almost 200 million people have been helped. but look, this agency is clearly under siege right now. >> it is. all right, matt egan, thank you so much. i really appreciate it. john. >> all right. with us now, cnn political commentator and former white house communications director under donald trump, alyssa farah. griffin. so you were the communications director. you know, michael deaver, who worked in the reagan white house, deputy chief of

staff in charge of photo ops. you largely did that, too. so what do you make? let's put the photo up so people can see the images of elon musk standing over donald trump at the oval office. maybe i can build a diorama to show you, um, what do you make of this image? >> listen. >> this is unlike. >> anything we've seen. i'm down. >> to the adorable kid. with elon musk. >> but i actually see it a little different because i think. >> some. folks are like, this is showing. >> elon is. >> really the one in charge, not. donald trump. >> what trump is. >> doing by putting elon. >> in charge of so. >> much of overseeing. >> the. >> federal government and these massive cuts, is he's giving himself distance from when they inevitably become unpopular. these cuts that are made, he is delegating right now. he's not going to own if he wants. he hopes he will not own. if people are really mad down the road when they say, oh, great, we don't have this resource that we once had because of elon. donald trump said his high water mark, he's the most popular he's ever been, but only 23% of americans want to see elon musk have massive control over the government. he's extraordinarily unpopular. so i actually see it more as there's been scrutiny around doge and some of these cuts. there have

been some wrong information that's been put out. he brought elon in and said, you need to answer for it, and you're just going to stand here and take questions until you can. it's kind of vintage donald trump. he loves an oval office presser, and he loves to kind of catch people off guard and put them on the spot to defend what they're doing. >> a little good cop bad cop action going on. >> there, i think. so. >> um, there was an exchange in there which i think has significance, given what's happened in the last few days about whether the trump administration and the president will obey judges rulings on some of the actions that musk and his team have taken. let's listen to that exchange. >> if a judge does block one of your policies. >> part of your. >> agenda. >> will you abide by that ruling? will you comply? >> i always abide by the courts, and then i'll have to appeal it. but then what he's done is he slowed down the momentum and it gives crooked people more time to cover up the books. the answer is i always abide by the courts, always abide by them, and will appeal. but appeals take a long time. >> all right. do you believe him? and is it true he always abides by the court? but but, b,

the second thing is there's been a lot of question because jd vance, elon musk have floated this notion of ignoring judges. >> yeah, this seems to be a bit of a walking back of the jd, vance remarks. that got a lot of scrutiny. i think that, broadly speaking, donald trump really wants to stretch the power of the executive to the fullest extent that he can. he really wants to push the limits of what he's able to do in office. because he was frustrated in his first term, he felt like he was stopped by the courts. he felt like he was stopped by congress. so he's going to push the limits. but i actually saw this as pretty notable because we've been throwing around the term constitutional crisis, which is what would happen if he defied the courts. i think he's saying that for the time being, he is going to appeal. he's going to go through the system as is. but he also may simply be holding his fire for a ruling that he cares more about. >> yeah. i mean, at least for now. he walked it back behind that line of a constitutional. >> crisis for now. >> but they weren't far from it. with jd vance and others talking about floating judges. one other thing. and again, your role as communications director is helpful here. the white house kicked the ap or won't let them in to a couple photo ops. the

associated press in the white house, because the associated press is still calling that body of water south of alabama and mississippi and louisiana, they call it the gulf of mexico, because the ap services like institutions all around the world who still call the gulf of mexico donald trump, the president has changed the name on u.s. maps to the gulf of america. but he wouldn't let the ap. they wouldn't let the ap in because of this action. >> well, you've seen some big companies like google has changed it to gulf of america in the united states that have come to a heel at donald trump's, you know, beck and call. this is this is it petty? yes. it's what i would expect from donald trump. he's also traditionally, the associated press gets the first question in the press briefing room for decades because they were the first seat holders. that's no longer the case. they're turning to new media first. so i think it's basically him saying, you know, he's in charge. he's going to play by the rules that he wants to. does it really matter? not necessarily, but he doesn't. he this is something that would very much irk him. and i think he wants it in the ap style guide, because that's what a lot of news organizations follow.

>> for all the talk of free speech that you hear from trump and musk and vance and others, you know, they say they're defenders of it. but the ap does something like you're out. >> correct. and i think he's going to find i mean, they're the biggest wire service in the world that it benefits him to be in the good graces of the ap and to give them access to what he's doing so they can cover it. >> sa'ar griffin, great to see you. thank you very much, kate. >> winter storm number one of the week. done. now on to storm number two. about to hit the midwest and the northeast today. parts of virginia recorded over a foot of snow yesterday. students at virginia tech, they're making the best of it with the maybe the scariest, largest snowball fight of all time. looked like a scene from movies gone by. anyway, seen as derek van dam is tracking what what what has happened and what is about to come. you can comment also on virginia tech that was like this. i would have been terrified had i seen that many people coming at me with snowballs. but regardless., from from. >> one midwesterner. >> to. >> another midwesterner, i

think. >> that was a pretty. solid snowball fight. >> so i throw a. >> snowball, and i. >> know you do too, kate, because. >> i've seen. >> i've seen your work. we come from a cold, hardy place. and you. >> know what? we we. >> know how to pack. >> them properly. >> right? >> so look, d.c. got some of that snow as well. and here's that fresh coating of snow on the national mall. get this. this is actually one of the snowiest seasons in the last five years. and we've had more snow to date than we have over the past two years combined. so it's an impressive amount of snow. we added just under a half a foot of snow from this parade of storms that is marching from the west coast to the east coast. >> so storm. >> number one done. storm number two, currently in progress. storm number three is waiting in its wings. so let's talk about storm number two, because this is bringing that wide swath of snow across the plains and into the midwest. chicago, now is your time to shine. you have had more snow in new orleans than you have had in chicago in the entire winter season so far, but today it is going to change as the snowflakes are knocking on

your doorstep. here's the latest radar zooming into the windy city. you can see them just entering the western suburbs of chicago, but it is snowing properly from omaha to kansas city, where we anticipate anywhere from 3 to 7in of snowfall. by the way, a severe threat and flash flood threat on the southern side of this system as well. so we're tracking all kinds of weather. kate. snowfall. i'd throw it right. >> at the camera. all kinds of weather. and then you would have to be paying for that camera. it is great to see you, derek. thank you so much, sarah. >> all right. thank you guys. the bird flu has farmers scrambling to try and protect their poultry stocks across the united states. and of course it's not just affecting farmers. it's also affecting you sending the price of eggs soaring. cnn's jason carroll traveled to a small farm in rural new york to see what poultry farmers are being forced to do to try and save their farms and their livestock. >> so these are our two year. >> old birds that. >> are out here in a winter

house, and they're venturing outside today. >> farmers like tom warren have been keeping a more watchful eye on their chickens these days. >> we'll just have to see what happens. >> it's kind of what we're going to. >> do. >> all right. and hope for the best. >> warren owns stone and thistle farm, a small. >> farm located in the foothills. >> of the catskill mountains. more than a three hour drive from new york city. but with the threat of avian flu, the city seems closer than ever. new york's governor temporarily shut down live poultry markets in new york city, long island, and westchester county as a precautionary measure. after several cases of bird flu were recently discovered. >> over the last week, inspectors have detected seven cases of. >> bird flu in poultry. >> cases of bird flu were also found at the queens zoo, and possible cases are under investigation. at the bronx zoo. last month, a commercial duck farm in long island was forced to euthanize more than 100,000 ducks after a bird flu outbreak

hit the facility. to prevent further spread. wild birds are the likely source of the avian flu on farms. it's a big concern for small farmers such as warren, whose livestock and poultry are partially raised outside where they have free range to roam. >> we just hope, i mean, for us it's mostly, uh, we can do a few things to prevent or reduce the risk hazard. >> what can you do? >> well, like i said, we keep our feeders indoors, so that deters wild birds from coming down into the place. >> you're very pragmatic about the whole thing. >> getting agitated about it isn't going to benefit me or the chickens or the farm business. so we take as many precautions as we can. >> precautions such as no one permitted on the farm if they've been to another farm, own a bird, or have had contact with birds is why we did. daniel bryan's interview over zoom. >> you can't. see it, smell it, or, you know, you have no idea where the bird flu is until

it's too late. yes, i am worried. >> bryan is a third generation poultry farmer who has dodged avian flu outbreaks in 2014 and 2022. he says an outbreak could be financially devastating for small farms like his and warren's. >> it's like a death sentence. you know, you lose your car, you lose. you don't have any eggs for 3 to 4 months at least. it's it's a nightmare, but it basically puts you out of business. a smaller farm. >> is that something. >> that you could survive if you had to shut down for that? >> um, yeah. i'm going to survive. it's the chickens that aren't going to survive. but, um. no, but it would be difficult. it would hurt our business astronomically. >> his message to consumers during all this. poultry and eggs remain safe when prepared properly. >> would you like to hold her? >> uh, no. >> no. >> warren says his eggs and chickens are selling. and his well-trained dogs help keep the wild birds at bay. for now. >> it's probably unlikely that we would contract it, but it's

still a crapshoot. i mean, we there's a limit to what we can do to control it. >> what do you think your odds are? >> i'm not much of a betting man, so. >> okay. >> i have no idea what our odds are. i mean, we've managed to get through a couple of years with, uh, avian influenza around without any problems, and we can just hope that we'll make it through a couple more years, and then i'm going to retire. >> jason carroll, cnn, east meredith, new york. >> so who is really calling the shots? that's the question from one foreign official this morning, as allies are beginning to wonder which statements from u.s. officials they can trust and who is really in charge. in more than 100 fishermen were rescued after getting stranded on a chunk of ice. why? some of them did not want to be saved.

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shots? let's get to cnn's natasha bertrand, who is in belgium following all of this traveling where the where the defense secretary is this morning. natasha, what are you hearing about all this? >> we are just getting word in, kate that secretary hegseth did just have his very first meeting with his ukrainian counterpart. rustem umerov here at nato headquarters, just ahead of the ukraine defense contact group, which is that forum that coordinates military assistance to ukraine amongst roughly 50 countries. and it's really significant that they met here on the sidelines because, again, this is their first meeting. it is still completely unclear whether during this forum today, pete hegseth is going to commit additional u.s. aid to ukraine. and i should also note just the stark difference that we are seeing between the meeting that henk smith had with umarov and the meeting that umarov had with the uk defense minister. in that meeting, the readout was very

effusive. umarov said that the uk was a strategic ally. he posted a photo of them shaking hands. the readout that we got from umarov, the defense minister, following the meeting with pete hegseth, was much more brief. it was a single sentence. it said that it was his first meeting with the new secretary of defense, and he posted a photo of them kind of just standing side by side, not shaking hands. so you already kind of get a sense that the uk appears to be kind of supplanting the u.s. here in terms of who is the who is ukraine's biggest western ally at this moment. the forum here today that is coordinating all of that military aid, that is going to be chaired by the uk and not by the u.s. for the very first time since that forum was founded. so all of this together really paints the picture of the u.s. wants to step back here, and they want europe and nato to step forward. they want them to spend more money. that is something that pete hegseth is expected to be telling allies here today, and they want them to provide more military assistance to the ukrainians, the ukrainians. they are getting

the message here. they are, of course, trying to, you know, speak more with their european and nato counterparts. but at the same time, they're extremely wary of this. and ukrainian president zelenskyy has said many times that while he, of course, appreciates his european allies and he appreciates their willingness to provide some kind of security assurances to the ukrainians during this brutal war, nothing can really replace american leadership. and so it's going to be very interesting to hear from pete hegseth in just about an hour or so when he gives opening remarks here at this forum about channeling all of that military aid to the ukrainians. kate. >> yeah, it's great to see you. glad you're there. we'll be listening in to see what the secretary of defense has to say this morning. natasha. thank you. sarah. >> all right. joining us now to discuss cnn political and national security analyst david sanger. thank you so much for being here. let's start with what is happening where pete hegseth is meeting with some of his european counterparts. president trump said that he could end the war in ukraine in

a day. but instead of doing that, what are you seeing happening here as hegseth meets with these european leaders? >> well. >> what we're seeing, as you. >> saw from. >> natasha's report. >> is this beginning set of of opening paris era, where hegseth, who obviously was a great critic of the u.s. support, doesn't want to get too far out ahead of president trump because they're all aware that the policy can shift overnight on a trump declaration. mr. hegseth nor marco rubio, the secretary of state, seems to have been consulted with the declaration a few days ago that the united states was going to take gaza. so if that's the case, you can imagine their concern here. at the same time, there's been a hostage release, which is a piece of terrific news. there's clearly a lot of behind the scenes conversation

underway with the russians. and the question is, what kind of deal would this look like? and would there be a real security guarantee for the ukrainians if russia decided to pause for a few years and then pick up the war? >> there was something else very concerning to the ukrainians for certain. those who have been dealing with this war, living and dying in it, where trump said, look, ukraine could become russian. so there are a lot of a lot of concerns as they're listening to some of the language and watching what is happening in these meetings. you just mentioned this, and so i want to jump on this in front of the king of jordan, trump once again doubled down, tripled down, saying that the u.s. will take over gaza. and then a reporter asked an important question. here is donald trump's response. >> there is nothing tubi. it's gaza. it's it's a war torn area. we're going to take it. we're going to hold it. we're going to cherish it.

>> mr. president, take. >> it under what authority? it is sovereign. >> territory under the u.s. authority. >> what is he talking about? under the u.s. authority? what is he talking about? >> i have no idea. it is. you know, there's argument about whether or not this is palestinian land. israeli land. but until last week, nobody was ever discussing that. it was u.s. territory. and, you know, one of the strange things that we sort of did not have on our, on our, in our playing cards for the trump second, uh term was this sort of territorial interest, expansion and ambition. now i understand why he might want control of the panama canal, which at least there's a historical link to the united states. i can understand the security reasons that he might be interested in control over greenland, even

though the u.s. has no territorial claim. there. um, i'm befuddled, sarah, and i've been doing this stuff for a few years. by why the united states would want to own the problem in gaza uh, and he has not really explained this, and we can't get an explanation out of his foreign, uh, his national security staff. now, i'm in paris right now with vice president vance, and they certainly have not touched the subject. he was here for an artificial intelligence summit. uh, but we're certainly not getting any explanation of the legal basis of this from the administration. >> i do want to sort of further ask you, because part of the plan he has said, is to take gaza and then move out. the 2 million some palestinians who call gaza their home and homeland. and i just want to take a moment to to read the oxford dictionary's definition of ethnic cleansing, the mass

expulsion of or killing of members of an unwanted ethnic or religious group in a society. doesn't what trump is suggesting fall into the definition, potentially, of this? >> but potentially it does, and potentially it also violates the geneva conventions, which the united states is a signatory to, which bans the movement of the involuntary movement of, uh, large numbers of or entire populations. now, it's interesting because after his initial statement, reporters asked the new press secretary whether or not this would be a permanent move. and she said, no, no, the president meant only temporarily. and then yesterday he said, no, they do not have a right to return. so we have not even seen a description of what he plans to do. now, his explanation is they will so like

their housing in their new homes, which he has suggested would be in jordan and egypt, that they won't want to come back. but he also seemed to suggest they didn't have a right to come back. and i think that may run into the core of the resistance. >> yeah, and we know that jordan has already responded that they are not welcoming the idea of having palestinians move to their territories. they already. >> even after the. >> king, even. >> after their. >> yeah. that's right. all right. david sanger, thank you so much for joining us from your trip there with the vice president, john. >> all right. ward, this morning, the nasa astronauts butch wilmore and suni williams may come home sooner than expected, although that's all relative because they were initially supposed to come home last summer before there were issues with their boeing spacecraft. now, because there have been some switches and schedules, they couldn't come back in early march, a couple of weeks earlier than planned. more than 100 fishermen had to be

re