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

rescued after a crack formed on a large chunk of ice that they were fishing on. the men began drifting out to sea in remote waters between russia and japan, before a helicopter was able to land and rescue them. not everyone wanted to be saved, though. crews said some of the more extreme fishermen refused to leave before making a catch. and this morning, a new chapter in one of the most shameful streaks in the history of competition for the 119th straight time, a golden retriever did not win best in show at the westminster dog show. a golden. a lab they've never won. this celebration of inbreeding. not ever. the champion this year was a nepo baby named monty. he was the first giant schnauzer to win, but his father was runner up in 2018, spreading the wealth here. monty's handler was crying, as was probably every mutt in the country. they're not even allowed in the best in show competition. a new hour of cnn news central starts now.

>> a show of power in the oval office. first buddy elon musk holding court alongside president trump, touting transparency as they slash the federal government workforce and some of its programs. but critics say transparency. what transparency. and what about those conflicts of interest? also, waking up at home in american history teacher who the u.s. says was wrongfully detained in russia is finally back on american soil. the warm welcome he received from the white house. and futures are mixed this morning, minutes before the first inflation report of 2025. a strong labor market accompanied with tariffs and high egg prices. which way will the report tip the scales? we will show that to you. coming up, i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan, john berman, this is cnn news central. >> this morning, the fallout

after an unusual oval office news conference from the man that some critics say is in charge, the man who was not the president. standing over the president. elon musk admits that he has said things that are not true, but basically claimed no harm, no foul. >> some of the things that i say will be incorrect and should be corrected. so nobody's going to bat a thousand. i mean, any you know, we will make mistakes, but we'll act quickly to correct any mistakes. >> so this real life image of musk next to the resolute desk came after a time magazine of sketch. time magazine sketch of musk sitting behind it. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house for the latest this morning. so how does the white house feel that that when elon. >> i think they think it went well from my conversations with white house officials and trump administration officials. and i do think i'm glad you showed that time magazine cover, because it was such a striking image to see after that, having elon musk stand at this point

behind beside the resolute desk next to the president, who is behind the resolute desk, and then really having president trump allow him to take questions or permitting him, i should say, to take questions for roughly 30 minutes. i'd also point out that this was really the first time we've had musk take questions, certainly at length, not only since the election, but since he's been given this purview of looking for fraud and waste and abuse within the federal government. and so definitely something that i found very interesting. and one thing as well is, you know, it seemed like that was almost a spur of the moment surprising thing. but when i talked to one white house official, they actually told me this on monday, a day before this happened, that they were planning to have musk be there for the signing of some of these doge related executive orders. and really, the point of this was to kind of pull back some of the mystique that has been surrounding both musk but also doge. now, another thing, i think really, that the whole point of this was about was trying to get him to answer some questions about accountability, about the unchecked power that he has, particularly given that

he is an unelected official. we know really, every day on capitol hill, reporters are getting asked questions about what doge is doing, about whether or not he has too much influence for someone who was not elected into office. so all of that really, i think trying to get him to answer questions around this, particularly as you have a lot of the courts and the judicial branch digging into and trying to challenge some of what the department of government efficiency is doing. but, john, i really think one of the most interesting moments of all of that yesterday of that session was when elon musk started talking about transparency. he said that he was calling for maximal transparency. take a listen to how he put it. >> all of our actions are maximally transparent. in fact, i don't think there's been i don't know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the doge organization. >> now, john, he also said, quote, transparency is what build is what builds trust,

insisted that all of his team's efforts were being transparent, that they were putting and publicizing what they've been doing on social media accounts on the doge website. but look, i think one of the key questions, of course, is really, what could that transparency look like in practice? because so far we haven't seen a lot of transparency as it relates to some of what doge has been doing. a lot of what we've learned of what they've been doing has come from sources inside these different agencies who are being affected by these cuts or what the policies that they're trying to implement and telling reporters like us about it. and so there's definitely still a ton of questions about accountability, about learning what they are doing. even some white house officials i know on a day to day basis don't exactly know what he's doing. so all of that, i think still some unanswered questions that we'll be looking for. john. >> white house officials say they don't know what they're doing. the people being impacted in these agencies often don't know what they're doing or don't know whether they're supposed to go to work on a given day. alayna treene at the white house, thank you very much, kate. >> and joining us right now to talk more about this is democratic congressman adam

smith of washington. he is the top democrat on the house armed services committee. it's good to see you again, congressman. i want to get your take on elon musk and what some of what elon musk said in that impromptu press conference and what he said, he found one of the things that he said is at usaid, he says that he found some officials had been taking kickbacks. quite a few people, he said, had managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth. while they are in that position. also, as you heard there, claiming that they are maximally transparent. what do you think of that? have you guys received any documentation or any? i don't know, any word of any of this fraud. he's accusing them of finding. >> look. >> it's unbelievably dishonest. >> and also, i guess, fiendishly clever. you know, just say you're transparent. >> and assume. people will believe it. >> there's no. >> evidence of transparency. and you've outlined a lot. >> of it. in your reporting leading. up to this. but yes, he makes these bold statements that are not supported by any facts. there is literally no factual. evidence presented of anyone at

usaid making tens of millions of dollars. so if he has it, he should produce it. saying it and not producing it is the exact, exact opposite of transparency. meanwhile, programs all across the world are shut down literally. people are starving to death because. >> they've shut. >> down programs that we committed to. we made a commitment to give a certain amount of money for, you know, programs in sudan and elsewhere that he just shut down without any notice to anybody breaking a contract, breaking the law, because the u.s. congress and previous president had signed it into law and having a devastating impact on individuals. and then just the cruelty of it, you have usaid employees stranded all over the world, just suddenly cut off with no help. there's nothing transparent about this process right now. but, you know, the sheriff in the oval office and say we are the most transparent thing in the world, and we're all supposed to go, well. well, he wouldn't say that if it wasn't true, would he? yes, he would., said. usaid. >> there's also, um, him being

an unelected, bureaucratic like official now going after unelected bureaucrats who he says has more have more power than you as an elected lawmaker. let me play this for you. >> 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. and it's not it does not match the will of the people. so it's just something we've got to we've got to fix. >> he says that it's something he has to fix. what is the role that you think democrats and frankly, republicans in congress should have as doge is steamrolling through. and president trump just signed an executive order giving him more power. >> yeah, i think part of the role is to be honest with the american people and what elon

musk just said, there is just flat a lie. it is the executive branch of the government. those bureaucrats that he's talking about are under the control of the president of the united states, and they're under control of the various departments in which they are assigned. president was elected. our job in congress is to pass the laws that govern their actions. it is all very constitutional. and if president trump disagrees with where they're spending money or disagrees with those departments, then he can follow the law and pass legislation to change it. or in some cases, he has control over the agencies. he can't just unilaterally block programs that congress has passed. congress has control of the purse. i think even people who aren't constitutional scholars understand that. so he is disregarding congress. in some cases, he's disregarding the courts. the courts have issued orders blocking them from cutting off any domestic programs. those domestic programs are still being cut off. so what elon musk is doing

is he's disregarding the constitution and ignoring the legislative branch and ignoring the judicial branch. and that's not transparent and it's not legal. again, if we want to have a debate about going forward, what should we spend on usaid? i think there are some programs in usaid that probably don't make sense. fine. let's talk about those. but you can't just come in and ignore the law and wipe out programs that have been passed by congress. that's what they're doing, and they're not doing it transparently. >> i'm very curious what this means for the pentagon, because and that's obviously this is the department. you have oversight over. the defense secretary has told axios that he plans to welcome elon musk and the, quote unquote, keen eye of doge in to scrutinize pentagon spending very soon. and donald trump has said that he wants to send elon musk over to look at the military. do you have a sense of what that is going to mean for the department? you have spent years supporting and having oversight over and started. >> attacking me? well, nobody knows for sure because with each department they've targeted,

they've come at it with a meat ax. i mean, on the domestic side, there's some programs out in the state of washington have seen their funds cut off. one is a program for wildfire prevention. there's a lutheran organization that has been targeted because i can't even remember what the conspiracy theory was, why they were problematic. so the answer is, when he goes to the pentagon, i don't know exactly what's going to happen. and look, government efficiency and effectiveness, we can definitely get better. and look, if you want to go into the pentagon and try to fix the requirements process and the acquisition process so we buy things more quickly, more, more effectively and more intelligently, i think that's great. but also, and i hadn't even mentioned this part, a lot of what they're doing is targeting people that just have been critical of trump. we've seen that with the cutting off of security protection for mark esper and mark milley and others, so will he go into the pentagon and simply try to fire anyone who said anything bad about trump? or will he go into the pentagon and try to make it more efficient and more effective? we don't know. and as you've pointed out, there's no

transparency on this. we're just going to find out as it happens. and that is against our constitutional democracy. and. >> and and when it comes and when it comes to the funding of the military, can't think of anything more dangerous than not knowing, not having and just taking a meat ax to it. well. >> sorry, but one thing more dangerous would be cutting off food for starving people, which which is what we're doing by shutting down usaid programs. >> yeah. congressman adam smith, thank you for coming in, sarah. >> all right. ahead. american teacher mark fogel has been released from a russian prison in exchange for an unknown russian citizen. what we've learned about this deal and the potential release of another american detainee in russia today. plus, flu cases are surging into the millions as this flu season is on track to be the most severe in more than a decade. we're paging doctor gupta to try and keep you safe. that's ahead.

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trial today at stamps.com. >> have i got news for you is back for another season. >> roy wood jr., amber. >> ruffin and michael ian black are finding the funny in the week's biggest stories. to give you all four years of. >> something to talk about. >> if we alive. >> have i got news for you saturday at nine on cnn the first of what is now expected to be at least two american detainees arrived back on u.s. >> soil last night. the remarkable moment happening outside the white house. an american teacher, marc fogel, was greeted by president trump after spending three years in a russian prison. >> very difficult to articulate how proud i am of you and how proud i am and what you've done. i've been tracking my military. >> a white house official told cnn last night. another american will be coming in today. beyond those details, they say it will be a surprise. the white house also so far vague on how this deal to free fogel came together

and who or what russia is actually getting in return. cnn's jennifer hansler has more on this story. what are you learning? russia has said it was in exchange, as what has happened with far many presidents over the years. what are you hearing about how this all went down? >> well, sara, both sides are being incredibly tight lipped on the details here of this exchange. we know broadly that this was negotiated by president trump and his special envoy for the middle east, steve witkoff wittkopf himself flew to russia yesterday to retrieve marc fogel. but in terms of the details of who or what russia is getting in this exchange, we don't really know at this point. president trump was repeatedly asked last night when he welcomed fogel to the white house. he indicated he would give more details today, but was mostly tight lipped on on what exactly happened here. his pick for special envoy for hostage affairs. adam boehler told cnn last night that this was a nonviolent person, but he again

didn't give many details. take a listen here. >> this was a unilateral decision. >> it means. >> for us we make and give thoughts to other people that are nonviolent from a russia perspective. and so it means the president is open to things now because this was a first step. one way or the other. >> and sara, we heard from the kremlin this morning saying they are expecting a russian citizen who had been held in u.s. custody to be released in the coming days. they also would not divulge the identity until this person is back on russian soil. but of course, all of this is a major departure from the exchanges we've seen over the past few years under the biden administration, where we had this very tightly coordinated, synchronized exchange in a third country, almost the bridge of spies happening across the tarmac there. we have yet to see many details, anything about also who is coming out today. we said we are told that we will get more details once this is finally happened. once that second american is out of custody, wherever this person is. but a lot remains uncertain

here. but at the same time, sara, the one thing that is clear is that marc fogel is happy to be home and he will be starting his journey towards re-acclimation, towards resuming his normal life after three years in russian detention there. sara. >> yeah, there's still a lot of questions about how it happened. we know donald trump has has criticized other presidents for the way they exchange and who they exchanged for. but the one thing that we know is the family doesn't care how it happened. they are glad to see fogel back home. jennifer hansler, thank you so much. and just a programing note here. we will be speaking to envoy steve witkoff here on cnn news central in just a few moments. john berman will be speaking to him. ahead. kate. >> elon musk taking questions for the first time since launching doge, admits he said things that aren't true about the very programs he is cutting, and he's still cutting them. what he's targeting next and the additional powers of the president just gave him. and it is a battle over immigration enforcement and the first amendment. more than two dozen faith groups are suing the trump

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>> we have. >> the power. >> a.u. collision saturday after nba all star coverage on tnt and now streaming on max. >> so this morning elon musk is promising transparency as his effort continues to try to gut the federal government 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 felt like people are going to be shy about saying that. they'll say it immediately. you know. >> you yourself. >> yes. but. transparency is what builds trust, not simply somebody asserting trust, not somebody saying they're trustworthy, but transparency. so you can see everything that's going on. >> now attorneys are now suing to block musk and his teams from gaining access to sensitive government data. one of those attorneys is our friend norm eisen. he is with us this morning. ambassador, thank you so much for being with us. you

heard elon musk there say that he doesn't think anyone is more transparent than his team. how transparent do you think they are? >> um. >> about as transparent. >> john. >> uh. >> as a. >> locked vault. door or. >> a moonless. >> night. >> elon musk. >> has as. great business interests as, uh. >> anyone ever. >> to have these extraordinary powers even greater than donald trump's. >> where is his financial. >> disclosure form? can we see it? there's no transparency there. what is he doing to control his conflicts of interest, where his businesses are being regulated or even investigated by. >> the. >> very government. >> agencies he's cutting? what protections are in place? no

transparency there. does he have waivers? there's legal limits on this, john. does he have waivers from the administration? well, we don't know that. no transparency there. has he been recused stepping away. so it's not transparent. it's the opposite of transparency. it's opacity. and it's a profoundly dangerous for the american government, which is why we've been getting our court orders like the one blocking musk out of the treasury department systems. he has no business there. >> um, insofar as his disclosures, he's a temporary, unpaid government worker, which i guess means that we never actually have to see his financial disclosure. and in terms of the conflict of interest with his businesses, this is how he responded to that. listen. >> does that present a conflict of interest for you? >> no, because you'd have to look at the individual contract and say, first of all, i'm not the one, you know, filing the contract. it's the people at

spacex or something that will be voting for the contract. and i'd like to say, if you see any contract where the where it was awarded to spacex and it wasn't by far the best value for money for the taxpayer, let me know, because every one of them was. >> so he's not filing the paperwork for the contract, so there's no conflict well, does he does he also fly every rocket up into space? >> john, it's a business. space-x tesla x, his social media platform. these are businesses and he has a financial interest in the business. when somebody has a financial interest in a business that creates a potential conflict, we don't know if there's a conflict of interest or not because there's been no transparency. we don't have the financial disclosure forms. we don't have the waiver forms, if any. we don't know if he's recused. that is stepped away.

uh, his doge crew is operating. they come in in the dark of night. we don't know what they're doing. and he's not just a special government employee. he may be the single most powerful government official. uh, in addition to or even beyond president trump in this administration. and under the constitution, that means that he needs to follow the law. he needs to follow the rules, and it has to start with transparency. and there's questions about whether serious constitutional questions about whether somebody with this power can even be called a special government employee. so, it's problematic from top to bottom. >> ambassador norm eisen, thanks so much for being with us, getting some new information now about the release of american marc fogel from russia. we'll be right back.

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$500 on select adjustable mattress sets. >> can't fool myself. it was the most exciting time. in the world. >> his life. >> has truly. >> joyful moments. >> and. >> some really. >> difficult moments. >> you only cross. >> an. >> artist like luther. >> vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther never too much. >> elon musk in the oval office, right next to standing over almost president donald trump talking about maximum transparency that he says is happening with his doge government efficiency effort. listen to this. >> 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. 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. >> joining us right now, cnn political commentators paul begala and scott jennings. paul, we just had democratic congressman adam smith on and in playing and in playing that for him. he said that that is just a bold faced lie. i mean, the facts are that they have not been maximally transparent. you call that oval office press conference yesterday surreal. but what of it? >> well, it was. >> first off, just the optics. the president of the united states, donald trump. >> was sitting. >> his supposed. >> aide, mr. musk, was standing. trump's literally looking up at him. i've never seen trump so deferential. well, once. >> when he was with putin. >> so this is a weird dynamic. where trump seems to really. >> be. >> happy to. >> hand off power to. >> this guy. >> and i suppose that's fine. >> but my bigger problem. >> was the talk about fraud and corruption. >> donald trump's only experience with. fraud is. committing it. he's a convicted felon for committing fraud,

business records. >> fraud. and so he. >> doesn't give a. >> rip snort about fraud. give me. >> a break. if you. >> care about fraud, if you care about corruption, you don't fire the inspectors general. right. these are folks who have saved the taxpayers. $70 billion a. >> year in. >> waste, fraud, and abuse. >> you don't. >> fire the head of the office. >> of government ethics. >> if you care about fraud and ethics. >> you don't. >> gut the fbi. you don't cripple the department of justice. you don't close the consumer. >> financial protection. >> board, which saves. >> taxpayers and consumers billions. >> and billions of dollars. >> so this is it's a the fraud. >> here is them saying they're going after corruption. this is all about transferring wealth from the working class to the billionaire class. it's government of the billionaires, by the billionaires. and for the billionaires, that's really what's going on here. >> given that, what do you think of that press conference, scott? >> well. >> look, elon musk. >> who doesn't need. >> to do this, has, you know, he could be doing anything else. he's got companies. he's the richest guy in the world. >> don't need to do this. he

has. >> decided to give his own time to a government of a country that he loves, that has given him all this opportunity. i take him at his word that he wants to be transparent, that he invites transparency. obviously, everybody in the english speaking world, media is looking into him every single day. i would have no fear if i were him about congress, about congress. >> he hasn't been asking. >> questions and looking into it, i think. i think they are. >> the definition of it is he's not been on the front end of this so far. he has not been transparent. i mean, there may be they. >> are making routine announcements about the things they are finding, and they are inviting questions about the things they are finding every single day. >> but by definition, he's not being transparent. they're not there. they're not providing data for the things that they say they have found evidence of. they just aren't. there is. >> i mean, the white house has. >> provided you can make announcements. and he also did admit that he actually. >> you just don't believe it. i mean, they are providing information. you just choose not to believe that it's true. >> i don't think i don't think anyone should just believe that it's true. do you think that people have taken kickbacks of tens of millions of dollars from

usaid? >> here's what. >> i think. do you believe that? >> i think every year. >> no. but don't accuse me of just. >> i'm just. i'm just asking you. do you do you believe that there is any level of fraud, waste, fraud and abuse? >> no, no, no, that's not what you're asking me. and i'm going to ask the questions. don't accuse me of just. >> like so and so. if you believe that, do you believe that it's possible that they are finding and producing information about it? of course. >> that wasn't my question. well, the question was by definition, they're not being transparent. they can continue to be successful. >> what do you want them to do? >> provide data. if they're firing. if they're providing data that they have found people everyone would want to know. if someone has received kickbacks to the tune of tens of millions. >> i don't disagree with you. i love the idea of data. i love the announcements. i love them putting out regular reports of what they're doing. and i love the idea of congress also bringing them up to report to congress on what they're finding, because ultimately, congress needs to be engaged in this as well. i have no problem with that, and i don't think they do either. and that's what i heard in his press conference yesterday. >> okay. um, the way things are going, paul, if even if elon

musk would drop a claim of transparency and even if elon musk would just tell you i'm not going to even invite transparency, and it's just going to be the way that it's going to be. i mean, what what is that going to change? because the way it is going is doge is moving forward. donald trump is supporting it. donald trump is giving him more power, and democrats do seem to be caught flat footed by everything that's coming through. >> well, democrats aren't in charge, republicans are in charge. and the congress of the united states, which the founders made article one. and gave them the power of the purse. the republicans who run the congress have ceded that power unconstitutionally to an unelected, conflicted billionaire, and to and to and to mr. trump as well. our duly elected president. that's the problem here. if you want to cut federal spending, believe me, right behind me, i got a copy of a balanced budget. i helped bill clinton write. okay, we cut president clinton, reduced the federal workforce by 351,000 people. trump actually increased it. how did we do it? the old

fashioned way, the constitutional way? we went to the congress. we passed the federal workforce restructuring act of 1994. we had buyouts. we had, but we had a process where experts were doing it and where the congress was writing a law that the executive was obeying. now you have a guy, mr. musk, the richest man in the world, scott says. i'm sure he is. he got rich off of the viewers of this program who pay their taxes. you remember solyndra when scott and his buddies, when obama was president, were squealing like a pig stuck under a gate because obama had subsidized a solar company that same program subsidized tesla $465 million of your mama's tax money. going to mr. musk. now, he paid it back. it was a good deal. >> but let me get to something. let me get to something. >> get even richer off the federal government. >> let me get to something more right now, which is republicans appear uneasy with doge scott and how musk is going about it so far. and greer has done some great reporting, speaking to a whole bunch of republicans who went on the record to say, don

bacon said on the shutting down usaid. instead of getting rid of everything, let's look at it selectively. don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, blake. more on firing federal workers. we need to do a better job of bringing them in instead of vilifying them. bill cassidy on nih funding. i'm in active conversations with folks back home, and it's an issue unnamed and unnamed republican lawmakers saying if this was a democratic administration with the same things happening, people would be lit up about it. do these people have have valid points? >> sure. i mean, look, i think any member of congress should be asking questions about this. it's their right to do that. it's their job to do that. on don bacon's point don't throw the baby out with the bathwater on usaid. marco rubio agrees. he has made numerous statements that he supports u.s. foreign aid, that he's going to continue to do that. but we're not going to continue to spend the money on the projects that are patently, objectively ridiculous. i think that's something that most voters would support. i do think the trump administration ultimately will and should benefit from some engagement with congress. here.

they have ideas about how to move fast and to get this under control, because that's what they think their political mandate is. they're not interested in waiting around, because that's what most of the politicians do all the time. we wait, we wait, we wait, and then nothing happens. they're making things happen. congress will catch up to them. and ultimately, what's the goal? a smaller government that spends less, that spends more efficiently, and that doesn't send your tax dollars all over the world for patently ridiculous stuff, and a bureaucracy that doesn't have its boot on the throat of the american people or american business. that's a good outcome. if we get there, are they going to break a few eggs along the way? probably, but i think they have the political leash to do it. i think that's what the election meant in november. >> scott, paul, thank you so much, john. >> all right. the breaking news this morning, american teacher mark fogel is back in the united states. welcome home by president trump at the white house overnight 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. >> u.s. special envoy for the middle east. steve witkoff traveled to moscow to help negotiate fogel's release. and he joins us now. thank you for being with us, mr. witkoff. how did it come to pass that you were on your jet to moscow to secure the release of marc fogel? >> well. >> thank you for. >> having me, john. we, um, we had some reach. >> out several days. >> ago. >> people approached. >> us, me and, uh, me, and this case, and said that there might be an opportunity to get marc fogel out. >> i talked. >> to the president, his national security advisor, his chief of staff, susie wiles and john ratcliffe, and the president directed me to go over there and completed if we could. and that's. that's what happened. we ended up, thank god, with a good result. >> did you meet with vladimir putin? >> i don't i don't want to talk about that right now.

>> i think this should be much more about the president. what happened in the first two and a half weeks of his presidency? uh, this opportunity mark languished there for three and a half years. and he shouldn't. have he should have been out, you know, before. but he's out now. his family is grateful. he is as happy a human being as you're going to find as as the country will find out. >> and he's extraordinarily. >> grateful to the president, our president, president trump, and also to president putin and and everybody else who played a role in this. >> it is wonderful that he is home. and he was there for far too long. but why isn't it important whether or not you spoke to vladimir putin? >> i'm not. i'm not saying it's important or it's not important. i'm just saying it's just not something that i'm going to talk about right now. >> um, who is being released in exchange? what is the identity of the russian individual in the united states? if there is one that will be released?

>> well, i think whatever we're going to have, whatever is going to happen, we'll know it later today. and, um, i guess there's been some hints at it. i'm not really familiar with it, but. >> i'm sure we'll. >> we'll all know about it soon. >> politico reporting. it might be might be alexander vinnik, who was a, i guess they say, a russian crypto guy who pled guilty to money laundering charges. does that sound right to you? >> you know, it's not it's not that's not something i'm familiar with. so i don't want to comment. >> secretary of state marco rubio says it wouldn't be a one for one exchange. but if there is a russian individual being released, isn't that a one for one exchange? >> again? um, i'm not i'm not trying to be obstreperous with you. i'm just more saying that i'm familiar with what happened yesterday. i'm familiar with marc fogel and everything that he, uh, all that we discussed on the plane. and that's what i'm. that's what i'm here to comment on. and i'm happy to

tell you more, if that's what you want to talk about. >> i believe me, i'm asking a lot of questions about the marc fogel exchange, which i think is of extreme interest to the american people, especially because what it might mean going forward, do you believe there will be more americans released? and in exchange for what? in for what? >> well, john, i would say to you that the president's policy on americans that are held abroad is that we leave nobody behind. it's very, very similar to the military credo leave nobody back on the battlefield. and that's how he feels. and so i think that you'll see a president who is extraordinarily proactive in seeking all hostages to be released, who are being held in foreign countries. that's what adam boehler does. he's the special envoy for in that sector. and i think you're beginning to see a lot of results. there are people who have been held for far too long, and they haven't, and people haven't paid attention to them in prior administrations. and

that's not going to be the way that the trump administration works. and that's at the direction of president trump. >> um, so your day job in connection with the trump administration is as special middle east envoy. and yesterday, president trump met with king abdullah of jordan. this is after saying that jordan was going to accept palestinians from gaza. king abdullah put out a statement after that meeting and said, i reiterated jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of palestinians in gaza and the west bank. this is the unified arab position rebuilding gaza without displacing the palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all. so why wasn't the president able to convince king abdullah to accept the palestinians in a move that seems to be a key part of his plan to take ownership of gaza? >> well, you know, john, normally i would have been there, but i was on a plane with mark fogel, so that prevented me

from being there. but i would say this i would say that the president has been very clear he cares about the palestinian people. what he what he what he also cares about is that we don't repeat the same mistakes we've made for the last five decades. so we've rebuilt gaza, destroyed it, rebuilt it, destroyed it. and i don't know how many times that's happened. and the president is focused on a much different and more cogent pathway. he believes in, in the palestinian people having a better place to live, having hope and aspirations for a better life for them and their children. what every parent would want. and going back to a place that's going to take anywhere between 10 and 20 years to successfully and correctly and efficiently redevelop it makes no sense at this point in time. that is his policy. and candidly, i agree with it and so do many responsible people. you would never, if there was this sort of destruction in any major city in the united states, no

one would be allowed to cross the dividing line and go back in. and because it's inherently dangerous there, there's unexploded munitions all over the place, dangerous latent conditions. and it's it's it's i was there i went there personally to inspect. so this is not secondhand information. i actually was in the tunnels. i've seen how much destruction there is. something needs to be done. a different approach. and president trump is focused on a different approach that will work. >> steve witkoff we appreciate you being with us. congratulations on the release of marc fogel. it is great to have him back in the united states. sarah. >> all right, breaking news. it's not good. inflation has hit a 3% for the first time since june, pushing the cost of living higher. how president trump is responding to this this morning and 27 religious groups now taking the trump administration to court over a

fight of faith and immigration, challenging i.s.i.s. presence at their places of worship. >> oh, what. >> a good. >> time we. >> will. >> have. you can make it happen again voltaren for. >> long lasting arthritis. >> pain relief. >> for nations facing. >> off through the maple. >> leaf. >> because this. >> game is our.

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>> one. >> so right now the flu season is in full swing and it is hitting americans hard. cnn's dr. sanjay gupta is back with us today to answer all of your questions about the flu that we asked earlier this week. great to see you, sanjay. thank you so much. let's jump right into it. jeff from arizona said he got vaccinated. he still got the flu. and his question then is why can't we get a better match between the vaccine and the strains that are actually out there? >> yeah. >> this this is a. >> common question. and one of the. >> things to keep in mind. >> is when. >> they're making. >> the flu vaccine, they're sort of trying to predict what. >> the flu is going. >> to look like the. >> following year. >> the flu virus, the ones that. >> are. >> predominantly circulating, that's constantly changing. so there's some predictive sort of stuff that goes into this. and sometimes they get it closer to to the match strain versus other years. let me show you. we went back in time and sort of looked over the last several years at how effective the flu vaccine is. and you'll see, for

example, in 2010, it was close to 60% effective. that meant people were less likely to get sick, go to the icu or die as a result of getting the flu vaccine. but in other years, you know, it's it's hovered as low as 29, 19%, 42% so far this year. so it's going to be most effective for people who are at highest risk. but part of the issue is that there's, again, different strains circulating. so this year, h1n1 and h3n2, h3n2 are the predominant strains that are circulating. seems to be more effective against that first one, h1n1. but that's part of the problem. it's trying to predict what's going to be circulating in the future. >> and then in the moment, we know this has already been a pretty intense flu season. nancy asks, since the flu is still going around, should you get the flu shot? if you have not already? or is that just if you or is it kind of like past the point of no return? what do you think? >> no, you should. i mean, here's one thing to keep in mind. people have different conceptions of sort of when the

peak of flu season would be. so let me take you back sort of to look at the the most common months that you're going to see flu activity over the last 40 years. so this is going back to 1982. you can take a look there. i mean, february, where we are now, that is the peak month for flu. so that's just something to keep in mind. and again this is going back sort of giving you an average over 40 years. get the flu vaccine. it takes about two weeks to develop those antibodies. so you're not protected right away. but yeah there's still a lot of flu out there kate. >> it sure is. we're just starting to get into it. so wash those hands and be very careful. everyone. it's good to see you, sanjay. thank you so much as always. you got it, sarah. >> thank you. all right. arguments begin tomorrow in federal court over whether president trump's reversal of i.s.i.s. sensitive places policy should be paused before the change. immigration raids were kept out of places like churches, hospitals and schools. the hearing is one of nearly 30 lawsuits from christian and jewish groups that are suing the

trump administration to protect houses of worship from ice raids. let's talk now more about this with presiding bishop of the episcopal church, reverend sean rowe, who is part of one of those lawsuits. first of all, thank you so much for coming on, reverend. what? why did you join the lawsuit? why was this important to you? >> well, look, we joined this as. >> diverse interfaith. >> coalition held. >> together by the belief that all. >> people are made in the image of god and that. >> freedom of religion is is a basic human right. and it's certainly a right enshrined in the u.s. constitution. >> let me ask you about this. immigration was the second most important issue for americans who were polled time and time again, and they voted donald trump into office, with him saying he was going to do these massive sweeps and deportations. what do you say to those americans who say, look, anyone in the country who did not go through the legal channels should be sent out, even if that means going into churches, going

into schools, well. >> i would. >> say that. >> that is a basic constitutional right to have free exercise of religion. and if people are afraid to come to church, that's a problem. our faith requires us to welcome the stranger. we're not. commenting on immigration policy as much as we're saying you can't target churches. and that's a pretty basic that's a pretty basic, right? as as an american. in fact, i find it i find it, uh, unusual that we're even having this conversation. i actually find it almost outrageous that this is even news. this is basic religious freedom that we're talking about. uh, so the people who are afraid to exercise their religion and come to church, that's a problem in the united states. the rest of it, i'll leave to the politicians and the policymakers. >> yeah. you see this really as a constitutional in some ways, crisis one, one of several that people have been talking about, that this is something of the separation of church and state, and that people should be able to practice their own religion

when and how they please or wish to. i do want to ask you about that, because trump is trying to, at this point, crush this special treatment of churches when it comes to immigration. but he's also signed this executive order to create what he's calling the white house office of faith-based and neighborhood partnership. what do you make of him creating a sort of religious office within the white house? well. >> look what i would say about about all of this is what we're talking about here is not special treatment of churches. we're talking about the free exercise of religion and our faith. it requires us to welcome the stranger. and i think if, if, if the president is interested in creating an office that helps us welcome all people and respect the dignity of all people, well, then. well then i welcome that. but what we're not

asking for is any. we're not asking for anything special here. we're asking for the ability to exercise our faith as christians and as jewish people as as islamic people, as whatever faith we hold and do that freely in this country. >> reverend, i know that you were are the youngest top leader of the episcopal church in since the 18th century. and you have talked about an existential existential crisis. and now you've joined this lawsuit because you you truly believe this is something that goes against american principles. thank you so much for coming on and talking us through this. and we will check back in with you to see how things go and kind of what you're hearing from your parishioners as well. reverend sean rowe, thank you. i appreciate your time this morning. a new hour of cnn news central starts right now.