look, so it's. it's pretty cool. both of us have lived here before, and it is just amazing how when you come across the hatch after you've been here, it's like, oh my gosh, i remember what this is all like. i remember feeling what it's like floating. and i think both of us adapted really quickly. um, and i think i'm hoping the same will be true when we come back home. >> yeah. how much time does it take to to adapt when you land again? >> yeah, that's going to be a little bit hard, as usual. um, i've been up twice before for a long duration missions, and it's almost a day for a day that you get that, like fast twitch muscle action back again. but i think both of us will be a little bit sad when that feeling of space sort of leaves us after about 24 hours. and we're not a little bit like motion sickness from coming back home. um, that will that will actually be a little bit sad when that goes away, just because that means that really physically the the spaceflight came to an end. >> i know you've been asked this question before, but do you feel you've been abandoned? >> we don't. >> feel abandoned. we don't feel

stuck. we don't feel stranded. i understand why others may think that we we come prepared. we come committed. that is what your human space flight program is. it prepares for any and all contingencies that we can conceive of, and we prepare for those. so if you help us change the rhetoric, rhetoric, help us change the narrative and let let's change it to prepared and committed. vice. what? vice what what you've been hearing. that's what we prefer. >> all right. breaking news. a scathing takedown of the trump administration's ukraine. comments from the republican chair of the armed services committee saying he is puzzled and disturbed. we're standing by to hear from vice president jd vance after he made confusing comments on the u.s. commitment. and the ukrainian leader says he does not believe the u.s. has a plan to end the war. the top federal prosecutor in new york quits refusing to drop the corruption case against new york city mayor eric adams. she accuses him of a new attempted

quid pro quo to end the case. in this morning. he's making new immigration moves, accommodating the white house. this morning, americans are struggling with high inflation and high interest rates as the burden of debt is heavier than ever before. sara is out. i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> and we are standing by to hear from vice president jd vance in his remarks this morning. all the more important, getting all the more attention after what he just told the wall street journal, which is that the u.s. could use sending troops to ukraine as a quote, unquote, tool of leverage if russia failed to negotiate in good faith. now, some people are reading that as meaning u.s. troops going to ukraine is on the table, even though the defense secretary has said the exact opposite. hence, there is confusion that needs to be clarified. vance jd vance, the

vice president, will also be meeting with ukraine's president zelenskyy today, who just said that he does not believe the united states has a ready made plan to end russia's war. and there's also this with regard to the ongoing actual war, a drone attack at chernobyl nuclear site. radiation levels are now being monitored. ukraine blaming russia, with president zelenskyy saying this, that it shows, quote, putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations. he's preparing to continue deceiving the world. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house for us. let's go to cnn's alex marquardt, who is in munich for us this morning. alex, back to you. what is the latest that you're hearing? >> well, kate, in just about half an hour's time, the vice president is going to take the stage. and i think what a lot of people are going to be wanting to hearing here is a clarification of the u.s. position on what a deal might look like, what the future of

ukraine might look like in the view of this administration, because of some confusion over the last few days, there has been a lot of criticism from democrats, some republicans, many europeans, that the u.s. has been conceding too much to russia before the negotiations even begin. a lot of that coming because of comments made by the secretary of defense, pete hegseth, just a few days ago, who said in no uncertain terms that there would be no u.s. troops in ukraine, that security guarantees for ukraine would have to come from the european side, and that ukraine would not be a member of nato. now, all the top officials of the trump administration, including the president himself, are saying that ukraine almost certainly will not be a member of nato. but it's the other components of that that are really getting a lot of attention here. we have a new interview today in the wall street journal from the vice president, jd vance, who appears to walk back those hegseth comments, essentially saying that everything is still on the table, that nothing has been given away. he said that that there are economic tools of leverage. that means there could be more sanctions against russia. he said that there are

military tools of leverage, so he is still allowing for the possibility that u.s. troops could go to ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, another tool of military leverage is, of course, weapons. and ukraine is trying to get more u.s. weapons to be sent to them. one thing we are keeping an eye out for is a possible deal between the u.s. and ukraine over rare earth minerals, and the u.s. is ability to take over hundreds of billions of dollars of mines of rare earth minerals in ukraine. so there's going to be a lot that people are looking out for in this speech in just a few minutes. but also that meeting that you mentioned later on between the vice president and the ukrainian president, there's going to be a lot of pressure, not just from the ukrainians, but from the europeans for. continued american support and presence in europe, if not in ukraine itself, as the sides try to reach some kind of peace deal. kate. >> alex, thank you so much. a lot to come. we're going to be getting back to alex, but let's

get over to the white house. elena, what are you hearing from the white house this morning? >> well, look, i think alex is exactly right. and i know we've been talking about this behind the scenes as well. look, one of the key things i'm being told repeatedly about some of the, you know, back and forth questioning about what exactly is the position of the white house and the united states as all of these talks are ongoing. and, of course, as they prepare for negotiations with both russia and ukraine, as they try to continue to find an off ramp to the war. what i am told repeatedly, from what you know, the defense secretary hegseth, is saying to vice president j.d. vance, the key through line, through all of it, or at least what they're trying to say now, and the position that they want to make clear is that nothing is off the table. everything is on the table. that doesn't necessarily mean they are, you know, bringing up certain ideas or proposals. they just want donald trump to be able to go into these negotiations with both russian president vladimir putin and the ukrainian president zelenskyy and and have everything at his fingertips, really, and rule nothing out.

that is what i'm hearing right now from people at the white house about all of this. now, i do also just want to bring your attention to some of the things we heard directly from the president himself yesterday, because one of the key things and the concerns that we were picking up on is after he had what he, the president trump, referred to as a long call with putin, people were worried that that meant will ukraine actually have a seat at the table if they are going to have some sort of meeting about an end to the war? listen to what the president told cnn yesterday. >> will ukraine have a seat. >> at that table. >> for those negotiations? >> they would. i mean, they're part of it. we would have ukraine. we would have russia, and we'll have other people involved to. >> now, kate, i think the big, you know, question here, of course, is what could these look like? there are some uncertainties and, you know, concerns from european allies about how much the united states is going to continue supporting ukraine through all of this. but as the president said there, and as i'm hearing from my

conversations with white house officials, they do want all parties involved in this conversation. whenever those negotiations actually do begin. kate. >> elena, thank you so much. alex marquardt in munich. thank you. john. >> with us now is the former u.s. ambassador to nato, kurt volker, also former special representative for ukraine ambassador. it is always great to see you. you are joining us from munich, where there's an awful lot going on right now. the u.s. senate, chair of the armed services committee, republican roger wicker, gave an interview with politico a short time ago where he talked about some of the comments that have been made the last few days in europe first in brussels, now in munich, by secretary pete hegseth and others. and senator wicker says, quote, i prefer we didn't give away negotiating positions before we actually get started talking about the end of the russia ukraine war. specifically, he's talking about saying that ukraine won't be part of nato. there are other things as well. what do you think of that? >> right. >> well, i think. >> that that is is right in principle. i don't agree

necessarily. that's what hegseth was doing. but it's been clarified already by vice president vance, both in his interview with the wall street journal and then some of the conversations he's already been having here in munich is making clear that nothing is off the table. there is no limitation on the decisions that are going to be before president trump in the future. i think what hegseth was doing, and if you read his comments carefully, it was saying that it's unrealistic for ukraine to take back its territory militarily right now, very similar to what president zelenskyy said back in january. and then also that it's unrealistic that russia is going to agree to ukraine's nato membership, which is also true, and also something we shouldn't even be talking to russia about. it's not their business. it's only for ukraine and nato to discuss in the future. but i think the reaction to those comments in the media was so strong and all over the place, and accusing hegseth of taking things off the table, that it's very helpful that the white house has now come out and clarified there are no options off the table.

>> well, look, i did read them carefully and the reaction wasn't just in the media. the reaction was in russia as well, where the reporting is that the russians were very pleased to hear some of that and some of the language that they've used and vladimir putin has used since the beginning of the conflict, almost parroted by people in the administration. the president himself now says that he would like russia. he's open to the idea of russia being back in the g-7. that will be the g-8 again before negotiations begin. what's the wisdom in that? >> yeah. well, on that one, i have to say there's a big question mark. g7 bringing russia back would take an agreement among all our european allies that is going to be dependent on their agreeing that it's time to do that. and with the war crimes that putin has committed, i think they're going to have a hard time with that among our european allies. but let me take a step back and frame it this way. i think what president trump is trying to do is push putin, that is, with threats of more sanctions or even military presence to get him to the table and also to

encourage him, say, look, it's time to come in and stop the war. and he's doing this push and pull to get negotiations started. and then i think what we're going to see is a focus on an immediate ceasefire, to stop the fighting deterrence based in ukraine so that there will be no more russian attacks. and much, much of that burden being borne by european allies. so ceasefire deterrence and burden sharing. i think that's where president trump is trying to drive this. >> i guess the calibration, though, is between pushing and encouraging, right. how much strength do you think vladimir putin sees in the u.s. position? >> i think vladimir putin knows that the u.s. is in a strong position. both president trump coming off the the elections in november, and then some of the actions that he's taken abroad and domestically are very bold strokes, whether you like them or not. he's showing a lot of determination, a lot of

assertiveness. and meanwhile, president putin knows he'll never talk about it, but he knows his economy is in bad shape, very high inflation, very high interest rates, labor shortage. he knows his military is in bad shape. so what i think president trump is doing again is trying to demonstrate to putin we have the upper hand here. we're in a stronger position. but we want you to come in and stop this war. >> who do you think he's pushing more? president trump, vladimir putin or volodymyr zelenskyy because president zelenskyy of ukraine is saying right now that he basically doesn't see a plan from the united states. >> that's intentional. i don't think the u.s. intended to put out a plan. i think what the u.s. wants to do is get putin in to a position where he's ready to agree to stop the war, because it's only russia that's waging this war against ukraine. there wouldn't be a war without that. so the target here is getting putin to stop it. >> and then, ambassador, i think the. >> administration people here.

>> i have to say i'm sorry to interrupt, but you say russia is the one waging the war. there won't be a war without it. that's not what president trump says. president trump says there would not have been a war had not somehow the biden administration raised the idea of ukrainian membership in nato. >> no, what he says is that it was weakness, that if he was president, he would have been strong. putin would never have done it. and because of this perception of american weakness, putin felt that he could get away with it. that's that's the argument that president trump is, is usually making. and now we're in a situation where with putin having already unleashed violence on ukraine, we have to get it back in the bottle. that's a tougher prospect than maintaining deterrence when you already have it. >> ambassador kurt volker in munich, where so much is happening over the next few hours. great to speak with you. thank you very much. kate. >> accusations of, quote, seemingly limitless and unchecked power. more than a dozen states now suing to stop elon musk's moves to purge the

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his tracks immediately saying this non-governmental employee has been given, quote, unquote, seemingly limitless and unchecked power. they say the world's richest man is violating the constitution's appointments clause, which directs the president's appointed officials, must be confirmed by the senate. joining us right now is one of the ag's now suing as new mexico's attorney general, raul torres. thank you so much, ag. thank you for being here, attorney general. you want a judge to step in and stop elon musk? why do you think his role is illegal? >> well, listen, we have a principle. in in our system of government that that respects the separation of powers. and, you know, in america, we haven't been cool with unchecked unelected individuals commanding the government since 1776. um, it's something that is woven into our constitution. it's the reason we have the appointments clause. only congress can create new

departments. the president is then required to submit the heads of those departments, uh, to the senate for advice and consent. and fundamentally, the president views the presidency more like a monarch. um, he needs to act in accord in accordance with article two and go to congress for authorization for the types of policies that elon musk seemingly is able to enact at at his whim. >> is it the fact that elon musk is is acting in around the federal government and scrutinizing the federal government at all? that is the problem? or is it his status as the special governmental employee? i mean, presidents, democratic and republican alike, have used this and utilized people and brought people in like this. but what about musk makes it so different? >> well, i actually would disagree with that, kate. um, when you, the digital service, which, um, used to manage government websites and i.t.

infrastructure was never conceived as a department of everything where the president was free to appoint somebody who has not undergone any kind of vetting or scrutiny, um, by congress and has not been approved by congress. more importantly, only congress can delegate that kind of authority. we've seen over the last 40 or 50 years conservatives going to court to try and pull back authority from, um, unelected bureaucrats. now, it seems we have the most powerful unelected bureaucrat in the history of the world, who also happens to be the richest person in the world, acting as co-president. that violates the rule of law, and it violates the constitution. >> i want to play for you something that elon musk said this week in defending his efforts and doj's efforts. let me play this. >> i fully expect to be scrutinized and get a daily proctology exam. basically, i just camp out there. um, so it's not like i think i can get away with something. i'll be scrutinized nonstop.

>> and he says that they are being transparent in their in their work, though many would agree that by definition, they're not being transparent, they have not released data of their findings of fraud that are driving these cuts and moves. but still, that is what elon musk thinks, or at least is saying to that. you say what? >> well, i think elon musk doesn't have any deeper understanding of our constitution than apparently president trump does. um, he simply doesn't have the authority, for example, to go in and feed, um, properly empowered government agencies to the wood chipper. um, congress has that role. congress has the ability and has created departments with specific funding priorities, with specific missions. um, elon musk doesn't have the authority to issue a tweet and delete executive agencies. that's simply not what what americans believe in or are comfortable with. but there's a more important principle here. we may

have designed, um, our constitution to protect against the abuses of an 18th century monarch, but it's no less dangerous to have someone who is totally unelected and unvetted, to have wide ranging and apparently unsupervised control over the entire federal government. that has to stop. there needs to be in the involvement of congress, the engagement of the elected branches of government. and frankly, a delegation of proper authority from the people's representatives. >> attorney general, thank you very much for coming on. let's see what happens in federal court with this lawsuit. i appreciate your time. still ahead for us, we are standing by to hear from vice president jd vance this morning, speaking out before. he's going to be meeting today with ukrainian president zelenskyy. we'll be back. >> the boeing 747. >> has crashed. >> in the lockerbie area., trying to find out the. >> why of it became everything. >> nothing is what it seems. >> in. >> the lockerbie story.

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14 tournament. nba all star 2025 begins tonight at nine on tnt. >> all right. this morning, a brand new report from axios quote insiders tell us, they say that president trump, who came into office feeling ebullient and empowered, is just getting more confident, fueled by his expected clean sweep of cabinet confirmations. plus, a cbs news poll showing a 53% approval amid his aggressive, quote, flood the zone opening actions. with us now is congressman brad schneider of illinois, the chair of the new democratic coalition. congressman, thanks for joining us. so a more confident president trump. what do you think that looks like? today? >> well, i think we see. >> exactly what it looks like. >> he is. >> expressing his. >> opinions and. >> sweeping through the federal government, thinking he effectively is a king. it's a question whether he's pulling the strings or elon musk. is pulling the strings. but everything that they say they want to do is, is is moving along as, as they would like to

think it's happening. it's a lot of chaos. and that chaos has a lot of costs for the american people. we're seeing it in the rising costs of eggs and groceries. we're seeing the rising cost of gasoline. and as tariffs go through, we're going to see it in the rising cost of housing and automobiles and so forth. but the president certainly feels like he is accomplishing, uh, what he says he wants to accomplish right now. >> so you are the chair of this new democratic coalition. what exactly does that mean? what's the new part of that? >> well, the new reflects our vision for the looking forward. we are the the moderate democrats. we are the largest group. we've grown to 110 members, up from 42 members when i first came to congress a decade ago. uh, we are the the centered, uh, strong voice of that middle right now, looking for colleagues on the other side of the aisle that we can work with. but it's it's been pretty much hollowed out. uh, we're we're focused on three things.

we're focused on an economy that's working for americans, creating quality, well-paying jobs, creating opportunities. we're focused on healthy and safe communities and a strong national security and national defense. and for 27 years, we've been putting together ideas and working within the caucus and across the aisle to put the american interests first and advance american policy forward. >> so our friends over at punchbowl this morning in their morning newsletter, said that there are some members of the new democratic coalition who are actually getting concerned that too many progressives are joining, and it may be pulling the group a bit to the left, or they could be put in an interesting position. there's a quote. it's a problem. one new dem member told us technically, there wouldn't be an issue with progressives joining, but if they're doing it because it's the political zeitgeist at the time, then it's a problem. what problem do you see? >> well, we have a pretty i don't see a problem. we have a pretty extensive vetting process. we ask everyone to fill out a questionnaire talking about their policy priorities

and what they hope to accomplish. they meet with leadership. they're voted on by the entire new dem coalition. uh, we're growing because i think we are where the american people are. and you look at the election, we protected 87 of 85 of 87 incumbents. we added 25 new members. and and we have a lot of members wanting to join. so the new dems, i think, have a clear vision of where we want to take the country. it is a country that serves american interests, uplifts american lives and makes life easier for working families. and that message is resonating. >> let's talk about tiktok if we can. i believe you did vote for the tiktok ban. well, this morning, apple and google, the app stores are putting tiktok back on. this is after the attorney general, pam bondi, assured them they wouldn't be fined. but i guess even with that assurance, isn't this running against what the law that congress passed and the president signed actually says?

>> well, before we talk about the law, let's talk about the concerns with tiktok. tiktok's owned by china or a chinese company with links to the chinese government. we have an adversarial relationship with china. we are concerned about actions they're taking contrary to u.s. interests around the world, but also contrary to u.s. interests and u.s. safety here at home. and tiktok is a major threat. that's why i voted with my colleagues. bipartisan, uh, to to force tiktok to either be sold to a non chinese company or to be taken off american platforms. it puts american security at risk. unfortunately, going back to where we started this conversation, president trump seems to be willing to go to the highest bidder or take, uh, his his orders from, uh, elon musk, whatever the case may be. uh, but he's he's countervailing. what the the will of the congress has stated is that tiktok is a threat. we know that from a security reporting, uh, and, and tiktok

should not be on american platforms. it puts american, the american people at risk. >> just very quickly, before i let you go, is there one area you think that you will or the new democrats should work with the trump administration? >> we'll work with the administration anywhere, whether they want to put american interests first and work with us on on real solutions that are last across time. so, you know, one of the things we're talking about, federal debt $37 billion. cbo says that's going to rise to $50 billion. what the republicans put forward in their budget is raising that debt aggressively, uh, accelerating the hole we're already in or digging the hole we're already in. we'll work with them to stop digging and try to put the american people first, to make it easier for people to make ends meet and get ahead. lowering price prices and creating quality jobs to make sure our communities are safe, and make sure our national security is always front and center in our mind. >> congressman brad schneider, thanks so much for being with us this morning. appreciate your time. this morning. a quote,

deeply troubling escalation. the associated press barred from a new trump event as they continue to use the gulf of mexico instead of gulf of america. 22 million people without power after a monkey triggers a nationwide blackout. >> 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. i'm going to give you all four years of something to talk about. >> if we alive. >> have i got news for you tomorrow at nine on cnn. >> gun problems could be the start of a domino effect. periodontics, active gum repair, breath freshener. clinically proven to help reverse the four signs of early gum disease. a toothpaste from periodontics. the gum experts. >> 7 million u.s. businesses rely on tiktok to compete. >> within a week of posting, i had over $25,000 in sales. >> i don't have $1 million to

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a deeply troubling escalation. this first happened after the white house had changed the name of the body of water south of louisiana, and changed it from the gulf of mexico to gulf of america. and the ap has continued to call the gulf of mexico in its style guide, which is used by news outlets around the world. white house press secretary says this about banning the ap. now. >> nobody has the right to go into the oval office and ask the president of the united states questions. that's an invitation that is given. and there are hundreds of outlets on this campus, many of you in this room who don't have the privilege of being part of that pool every single day and getting to ask the president questions. >> cnn's brian stelter joining me right now. this raises some really important questions. what are you hearing about how the ap is responding to this? >> right. on tuesday, we wondered if this was a one time thing, a one off, but it wasn't. this is now a standoff between the ap and the trump white house. it's something the ap didn't ask for. it's just trying to report the news for a

global audience. and because the ap broadcasts and writes around the world, it has to acknowledge that other countries don't call it the gulf of america. so they're sticking with the gulf of mexico while also acknowledging trump's executive order. we're going to see other global news outlets take the same position. and that could could cause further standoffs with the trump white house. but for now, it's the ap in the crosshairs. and what executive editor julie pace said last night when the ap was blocked, not just from a oval office photo op, but from a presidential news conference. pace saying it's a plain violation of the first amendment. and we urge the trump administration in the strongest terms to stop this practice. she has described this as viewpoint discrimination, punishing a news outlet for its editorial choices. and that foreshadows a legal challenge. i expect the ap will probably go to court to challenge this in the days to come. >> brian, thank you so much for that reporting. we need to jump back overseas right now. jd vance, vice president, speaking at the munich security conference. let's listen people. >> and i just want to say that we're very moved and our thoughts and prayers are with

munich and everybody affected by the evil inflicted on this beautiful community. we're thinking about you. we're praying for you. and we will certainly be rooting for you in the days and weeks to come. >> now you. >> i hope that's not the last bit of applause that i. >> get, but. >> we we gather at this conference, of course, to discuss security. and normally we mean threats to our external security. i see many great military leaders gathered here today. but while the trump administration is very concerned with european security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between russia and ukraine, and we also believe that it's important in the coming years for europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense. the threat that i worry the most about vis a vis europe is not russia, it's not china, it's not any

other external actor. and what i worry about is the threat from within. the retreat of europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the united states of america. now, i was struck that a former european commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the romanian government had just annulled an entire election. he warned that if things don't go to plan, the very same thing could happen in germany too. now, these cavalier statements are shocking to american ears. for years, we've been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. everything from our ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy. but when we see european courts canceling elections and senior officials

threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we're holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard. and i say ourselves, because i fundamentally believe that we are on the same team. we must do more than talk about democratic values. we must live them. now, within living memory of many of you in this room, the cold war positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. and consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections. were they the good guys? certainly not. and thank god they lost the cold war. they lost because they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty, the freedom to surprise, to make mistakes, to invent, to build. as it turns out, you can't mandate innovation or creativity, just as you can't force people what

to think, what to feel, or what to believe. and we believe those things are certainly connected. and unfortunately, when i look at europe today, it's sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the cold war's winners. i look to brussels, where eu commission commissars warned citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest. the moment they spot what they've judged to be, quote, hateful content. or to this very country where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of, quote, combating misogyny on the internet. a day of action. i look to sweden, where two weeks ago, the government convicted a christian activist for participating in koran burnings that resulted in his friend's murder. and as the judge in his case chillingly noted, sweden's

laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact grant. and i'm quoting a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief. and perhaps most concerningly, i look to our very dear friends, the united kingdom, where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious britons in particular in the crosshairs. a little over two years ago, the british government charged adam smith conner, a 51 year old physiotherapist and an army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50m from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes. not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own. and after british law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, adam replied simply, it was on behalf of the

unborn son. he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before. now the officers were not moved. adam was found guilty of breaking the government's new buffer zones law, which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person's decision within 200m of an abortion facility. he was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution. now, i wish i could say that this was a fluke, a one off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. but no. this last october, just a few months ago, the scottish government began distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law. naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought, crime. in britain and across europe. free speech.

>> to the vice president of the united states, jd vance, speaking at the munich security conference. this comes after several days of comments from senior u.s. officials about the future of ukraine. and a lot of people were watching the speech to see if there was anything further on that, like. >> clarity. >> clarity, discussions about negotiations, what the u.s. means when it says that ukraine should not be part of nato. what's on the table and what's not? and of course, jd vance gave an interview with the wall street journal that had some clarification in just the last few hours as well. that's not what this speech is about. no. what he is doing, as you said, is basically. >> taking europe to the principal's office is what it feels like talking about cancel social media, censorship, free speech, religious freedom, and and calling out certain instances and certain. yeah, instances in various countries, from sweden to belgium to scotland and beyond. >> talking about free speech, social media, um, i will say he's criticized a number of countries as not criticizing russia over free speech issues. russia, a country where alexei navalny died in prison with us

now, cnn chief international security correspondent nick paton walsh and kimberly dozier as well. nick, first to you here. what do you hear in this speech? and his choice to deliver this speech at the munich security conference? >> yeah, i mean, clearly he's not going to have the message he wanted to deliver one of culture wars, one of trying to suggest that what the u.s. would consider to be the liberal governments of europe have lost touch with core values of free speech. but to many european audience here, he's mistaking misinformation with free speech. he's talking about hate speech, which many here will consider to be anti extremist legislation. and this is a quite a conflated series of values he's putting forward here, criticizing the fact that romania's election is being rerun. well, that was riddled with irregularities. and some say potentially a pro russian slant in some of that. talking about essentially abortion legislation in the

united kingdom, criticizing some of the rights put in to make sure women's freedom of choice is respected here in the united kingdom. you know, this is a bizarre message to hear, given everybody wants to really hear the clarification of his interview with the wall street journal, quite what he meant, whether he seemed to suggest that the united states were going to put or could potentially put boots on the ground in extremis when it came to ukraine. ukraine is the only thing people want to hear about, but instead, on the stage, i think we're hearing this very interesting projection of sort of what you might find more common on x.com. elon musk's platform, the kind of cultural war that had been so successful, it seems, in getting the trump administration to power that has percolated through europe for a decade or so here in the uk, to some degree. the previous tory conservative administration were proponents of all of that. they lost to a much more moderate reformist agenda here. it still percolates around in social media on the extremes, but europe less grasp at times of

the culture wars that he seems to be talking about. and i think we'll be wanting to hear more clarity as to exactly what the trump administration's position is when it comes to ukraine. remember, we've had a bizarre 48 hours in which secretary of defense hegseth basically said that there would be no ukrainian nato membership and it wouldn't get its old borders back. and then radically reversing. everything's back on the table. there's whiplash, frankly, in munich, and he's not addressing that yet. >> kim, what do you hear in this and this whiplash and what we're now hearing, what jd vance is now choosing to focus on in this big speech. >> yeah. to to jump on nick's points that romanian election. i happened to be in romania just ahead of the presidential election. talked to one of the presidential candidates. it was canceled and had to be rerun because a court ruled that russian disinformation paid for by russia had slanted public

opinion and thrown the elections in favor of the russian backed candidate. you don't hear jd vance mentioning that at all. and for europeans, for britons listening to this, this has echoes and reinforces what they've been hearing out of the oval office this week that president trump says he trusts vladimir putin on ukrainian peace negotiations, that he has talked with putin about denuclearizing that he wants to meet with putin, a man that has been shunned from european capitals because of his invasion of ukraine and stands accused of war crimes at the international criminal court. it's it's a shocking sort of turnabout for europeans. they knew it was coming. but i've had various different officials, including intelligence officials, ask me, what is trump's fascination with putin? putin must have something on him. and i'll say, look, we've never been able to prove that. but that's the kind of questions that trump's attitude

triggers in europe. and this speech is only going to reinforce that. >> it's interesting what i'm hearing from both nick and kim. there is while the speech, it has nothing to do with russia may have actually everything to do with russia. nick paton walsh in london. kim. thank you guys both as always. coming up for us, the fight against inflation, the number of americans not able to keep up with their debt payments now hits a new high. we'll be right back. >> the boeing. >> 747 has crashed. >> in the lockerbie area. >> trying to find out the why of. >> it became everything. >> nothing is. >> what it seems in the lockerbie story. >> lockerbie, the bombing of pan am flight 103 sunday at nine on cnn. >> we handcraft every stearns and foster using the finest materials like indulgent memory foam and ultra conforming inner springs for a beautiful mattress and indescribable comfort. save up to $800 on select adjustable mattress sets at stearns and foster.com.

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i know sometimes we get into it and it's just hard on both of us. but, you know, try to understand me more and i'll try to do the same. but you have excuses cause you're old. it's okay. >> one( 800) 269-9522. that's one( 800) 269-9522. the situation room with wolf blitzer tonight at six on cnn. >> this morning igloo is pulling more than a million of its coolers from stores after customers reported injuries, including fingertip amputations. the consumer product safety commission says the 90 quart

flip and two rolling coolers have a handle that can pinch. the company says 12 people have reported injuries. this morning, there is a nationwide blackout in sri lanka, and officials think they know who is to blame. a monkey a monkey came into contact with a transformer at a grid station, disrupting supply to the island's 22 million people. power cuts were implemented to manage demand, and an investigation is launched into how the monkey got in. now, i should say we do not know the condition of the monkey, but i'm betting not. good. kate. >> right now, americans are finding it harder to pay off their debts. that is according to a new report from the federal reserve of new york. the report also shows american households are taking on more debt as everyone continues to struggle against inflation. cnn's matt egan joins us now. this is interesting. what are you learning? >> well. >> kate. >> this. >> is evidence of. >> financial stress. i mean. >> look. >> unemployment is low, historically low. the economy

continues to grow. but beneath the surface, some families are hurting. clearly, this report examined consumer finances at the end of last year. and it found that the share of households that are 90 days or more late on car loans and credit cards hit a 14 year high. that is considered severely delinquent. at the same time, people are turning more and more to credit cards to try to get by. right now. credit card debt topped $1.2 trillion at the end of last year for the first time ever. i think this is a reflection in part of how expensive life is right now, right? it's hard for people to keep up. obviously, prices are high at the grocery store and inflation has been this long standing problem. the typical family is spending each month $1,300 more for the same goods and services than they were four years ago. now, it's true that paychecks are also up by about the same amount. but think about it some families have more

expenses than they did four years ago, right? they might have more kids. they're buying more food than they used to. and so they're trying to grapple with this higher expense level. and some of them are turning to credit cards, which obviously is a very expensive way to try to get by. so i think when you zoom out, none of this is to say consumer finances are in terrible shape, right? they're not. but it does seem like some families are kind of just one emergency, one layoff, one medical issue away from being in a really bad spot. my colleague alicia wallace, she talked to a mom in utah, three kids. her husband got hurt, couldn't work in his job. she's been looking for a job for almost a year. she's piling up credit cards, draining through retirement, and she's misome payments. so just another reminder that, yes, the national economic statistics look pretty solid in the jobs market. but there are some signs of stress. >> and you're also learning some more about. we've been hearing so much about firings across the federal government. and there are there is some new reporting

about dozens of people being let go at the consumer financial protection bureau. what are you hearing? >> yes, we're talking about the consumer watchdog that has been effectively sidelined by the trump administration in the past week. and cnn has learned that, yes, dozens of employees at the cfpb found out last night that they're being terminated effective immediately. so we're talking about mostly term employees. these are people who are working at the cfpb for a specific amount of time, but they are still considered career employees. one source told cnn that the technologists who have been hired in recent years to work on a.i. and other issues, have been hit particularly hard, and this is obviously part of a broader effort by the trump administration trying to cut red tape. so there's a lot of deregulation going on. they're also trying to slash the size of the federal workforce. but let's not forget that these are real people, right? these are moms and dads and their their careers and their lives have