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>> 821 4000. >> three. >> we are keeping an eye on the. press room at the white house. >> because just minutes from now. >> we're. >> expecting to. >> gain new insight on today's. >> meeting between president volodymyr zelenskyy and president. >> trump's envoy for russia and ukraine, general keith kellogg. this comes at a tense time between zelenskyy and trump, a war of words breaking out. leading up to these critical conversations. >> also this hour, the. >> senate is. >> expected to. >> vote on whether kash patel. will lead the fbi. the same bureau patel has previously vowed to dismantle. some key gop swing votes. staying quiet for now. we're following the latest from capitol hill. >> and the pentagon told to prep for what would be its biggest budget cuts in more than a decade. this, as defense secretary pete hegseth could fire some senior generals and admirals soon. how this could impact the world's most powerful military. we're following these major developing stories, many more, all coming

in right here to cnn news central. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. i'm boris sanchez, alongside brianna keilar in our nation's capitol. and we are standing by for a white house press briefing with national security adviser mike waltz. this comes at a critical time for the u.s. and, of course, the future of russia's war in ukraine. earlier today, president trump's special envoy, keith kellogg, began his face to face meeting with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy in kyiv. the sit down comes one day after president trump and zelenskyy traded barbs, with trump, calling him a dictator and repeating false claims. these kremlin talking points that ukraine began that war. >> and last night, president trump said russia wants to see the war end. but we are now learning that u.s. intelligence sources say there's actually no evidence putin plans to seriously engage in peace talks. cnn's nick paton walsh is in kyiv. nick, can you tell us

anything about this meeting between kellogg and zelenskyy? >> yeah, it clearly has ended because we had our first readout of it from president zelenskyy himself posting on his telegram channel that the meeting was productive and he's grateful for u.s. support and that it's important that american strength is felt here, that the conversation was about the battlefield return of ukrainian prisoners of war and effective security guarantees. that's something that ukraine has persistently asked for. despite the slim things that the u.s. is willing to provide. he also goes on to say that they are ready for a effective investment and security agreement with the president of the united states, and that they proposed the fastest and most constructive way to achieve results. that's a harking back to the rare earth minerals deal, which president donald trump has clearly angry that zelenskyy didn't sign immediately suggesting on air force one that in fact, when his treasury secretary had come here to kyiv to meet zelenskyy, that zelenskyy was asleep when

bessent tried to meet him. now it's not quite clear when that was. i'm sure zelenskyy went to sleep at some point during that visit, but clearly there are press conferences where they're publicly seen together on two separate occasions. so zelenskyy goes on to say, success unites us all. strong ukraine, u.s. relations benefit the entire world. and he thanks kellogg for coming. look, you know, this is clearly after the meeting today in which we were told potentially there might be some sort of press availability, journalists gathering at the presidency. we were told that there wouldn't be press statements afterwards. i think they're trying to salvage what they can between this long awaited kellogg visit here. look, the ukrainians have been desperate to talk to him, to get a sense of where trump is in terms of the peace deal that so far been a us-russia summit in saudi arabia. and i think they're trying to normalize things. but look, that meeting, long awaited and vital as it was to ukraine, occurring on the most appalling crumbling of u.s. ukraine relations over the past 48 hours. >> nick paton walsh, live for us from kyiv. thank you so much for the update. let's discuss

further with ned price. he was the state department spokesman under president biden three years ago this week, when vladimir putin began his invasion of ukraine. sir, thanks so much for being with us. i just want to get your thoughts on there not being a joint press conference after this meeting. are we reading too much into it, thinking that they just don't want to rattle the cart any further and have any statements that might upset either side? >> look. >> boris, i think it's actually quite wise that they don't have a joint press conference. >> in the. >> aftermath of this visit. i don't think that the messages that would be emanating from keith kellogg, the u.s. envoy, and president zelenskyy would do all that much to reassure. >> ukrainians. >> europeans and all those who care about the principles that are at stake in russia's brutal war of aggression. if i. >> were president. >> zelenskyy sitting in. >> in kyiv today. >> i would not. be all. >> that reassured by this visit to be to be pretty frank. keith kellogg was is at. >> least nominally. >> the special. envoy for.

>> russia and ukraine, but he's someone who has been very much on the outside. >> looking in. he wasn't in the meeting with the secretary of state and the national security advisor in riyadh with the russians. he is. someone who has. put on the table some of the key ingredients that clearly have to. be part of the recipe for. ukrainian victory and success. if they are to emerge victorious in this. >> and my suspicion is. >> that that is. >> why he finds. himself exiled from the inner circle. he knows what ukraine needs to win. >> he knows what. >> is required. >> but it is a big. >> if as to whether president trump and those around him actually want ukraine to win, whether they want ukraine to emerge prosperous, independent, sovereign with the means to defend itself and deter future russian aggression going forward. >> i thought it notable that though there was no press conference, zelenskyy seemed to be sending a message directly to donald trump in this readout,

which nick paton walsh provided for us, saying that it is important that american strength is felt here in ukraine and eastern europe. donald trump does not seem to see it that way. why do you think that is? >> well, i think, boris, that the fact of the matter is that president trump is failing to appreciate one of the key elements of this. when you think about russia's war of aggression against ukraine, you have to think about the costs of action and the cost of inaction, frankly, and the cost of action, that is to say, the costs of defending ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity going forward. to be clear, they're significant. they're sizable. the united states has contributed tens of billions of dollars in terms of security assistance, humanitarian economic assistance. our european partners, by the way, have contributed more. more than 50 countries have contributed contributed to this effort

because as was a rallying cry on the part of the republican party and and many who find themselves now in president trump's administration, freedom isn't free. it's as true today as as it was then. but president trump is not thinking of the cost of inaction. that is to say, what would the world look like if russia's aggression were to be left unchecked? um, this in many ways is about ukraine. yes, of course, but it is bigger than any one country. it is about the very principles that have regulated relations among states since the end of world war two. the simple idea that big countries can't bully small countries, that major powers can't redraw borders by force. if we weren't to step up, the cost of inaction would be open season for dictators and autocrats the world over, not only for putin in countries like ukraine, ukraine, moldova, georgia, perhaps the baltics, but also president xi in china, who is looking closely at taiwan, who is looking closely

at other u.s. allies and partners. >> president trump, of course, says that he wants to see a return on u.s. assistance to ukraine so that americans don't feel stupid. he's proposed this rare earth mineral deal. i do wonder about another claim that the president has made that president biden never tried to negotiate and end the war with russia. he makes the case that you can't have peace without a dialog. what's your response? >> boris? my response is predicated on the front row seat that i had to the effort in 2021 and 2022. in the first instance, to prevent this war in the first place. the diplomacy that was conducted at hypersonic speed in european capitals in kyiv, in conversations with russian officials, i was there at the table the last time the secretary of state, secretary blinken at the time, met with foreign minister lavrov. the

foreign minister was clearly in the dark about his own president's plans when it came to russian aggression in the aftermath of russia's invasion, which was probably imminent all along. despite our best efforts. there were various attempts to find a way to end this war in a just and durable way. the fact of the matter is that, um, in order to do so, ukraine has to be put in a position of strength. that is to say that ukraine has to be provided with security assistance, economic assistance, humanitarian assistance there at the same time have to be costs and consequences on russia. and then, boris, i think the most important agreement, the most important element of all of this is the fact that there has to be unity of purpose across the atlantic, across the pacific, among all of our allies and partners. for russia to actually feel the pressure to come to the negotiating table. i heard your correspondent say that some of the intelligence community

assessed russia is not feeling that pressure. well, that's no surprise because donald trump has really pulled the rug out of the western alliance, the broader alliance that has put this pressure on russia, that has provided support for ukraine, and the idea that ukraine needs to be in a position of strength, and ukraine and russia needs to be incentivized to go to the table. he is just upended that he has turned that table over. unfortunately. >> ned price, thank you so much for sharing your perspective. >> thanks, boris. >> rihanna to the other breaking story that we're following this hour. the senate poised to approve president trump's pick to lead the fbi. kash patel democrats fiercely opposing this warning, patel will turn the nation's premier law enforcement agency into a political arm of the white house. >> my senate. >> republican colleagues. >> are willingly, willfully ignoring myriad red flags about mr. patel, especially his recurring instinct to threaten

retribution against his perceived enemies. >> during his confirmation hearing. patel denied having an enemies list and downplayed his past promotion of right wing conspiracy theories surrounding the so-called deep state. he accused democrats of taking his words out of context, but here he is in his own words. >> i shut down the fbi hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state. we will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media. yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about american citizens who helped joe biden rig presidential elections. we're going to come after you. >> cnn law enforcement, senior law enforcement analyst and former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe is with us now. what are you expecting, andy, from this senate confirmation vote? well. >> brianna, i think. >> it's. >> uh, i think what i'm. >> expecting the same thing that most people are expecting that kash patel is going to get confirmed today. i don't think

we've heard a single republican senator come out. and indicate any desire to vote against him. so i think i think, you know, what. >> we'll see. >> as the day goes on is kash will get confirmed., and he's repeatedly denied having this enemies list during his confirmation in his book the government gangsters, he paints a number of prominent political figures as, quote, the most dangerous threat to our democracy. >> so he he certainly has an idea of a number of people in mind. some people would call that a list. what should we be watching for as he's taking the helm at the fbi? >> i mean. >> let's call it exactly what. >> it is. it is. >> a list. >> he put the list in his own book that he wrote and. >> published under his. >> own name. >> uh, the. >> government gangsters or something like. >> that's not a friends list. >> that's certainly. >> an enemies list. i think he was deliberately misleading about. how he talked about that list when he was asked about it during his confirmation hearing under oath.

>> i think he. >> was deliberately misleading. about a lot of things, but that's all beside the point now. >> as he. >> sails towards confirmation. you know, this will, if he's confirmed, which i believe he will be, this is a very, very notable and odd day for the fbi for many reasons. he will be the first fbi director ever confirmed by the senate who really lacks any of the basic background, uh, and experiences that every other director has had, that being significant connection to the law enforcement community, a significant legal career, uh, or any level of, uh, leadership experience. um, so but the one thing that should concern people the most is, despite over 100 years, well, let's say in the post hoover period. right. so maybe not quite 100 years. there have been so many efforts made to put directors in the fbi who are not political people who were, uh, law enforcement officers, judges, people who were committed to the rule of law. this is a massive departure from that history. kash patel

is, by his own admission, a surrogate for donald trump. he is a very political person and by his own statements and behaviors, we know the most important thing to him is donald trump. it's not the constitution. it's not the rule of law. it's certainly not fbi people. it is doing what donald trump wants. so we're going to have to watch very closely to see how he, uh, how he how he walks this line as fbi director, if he embarks on the sort of. you know, donald trump is interested in, i think the people of the fbi and the people of america are in for a very rough time. >> are there guardrails at the fbi to prevent him from dismantling it, as he said he wanted to do? >> not particularly. you know, many of the guardrails that exist are, uh, in how the fbi director interacts with his boss, which is the deputy attorney general, and, of course, the attorney general

herself. and then congress. right. typically, congress is the great, uh, kind of brakes on fbi directors in their efforts to reorganize parts of the bureau or reprogram funding that's been that's been given to them by congress. so we'll have to see. uh, i think the signs so far are are not particularly good. you really don't see congress standing up and defending their own oversight responsibility in any of the other many ways that government agencies are currently being, um, uh, looked at and reduced and undermined by, uh, other elements of the administration. so, um, the fbi director has enormous power to impact and influence the investigative, the execution of investigative authority by the fbi. uh, and i expect he will take that power and do exactly what he wants with it. >> andrew mccabe, thank you so much for your perspective on this. and still ahead, the irs becomes the latest target of widespread federal job cuts. so what this could mean because yeah we're in tax season. and

on those sweeping cuts one group facing impacts to their livelihoods military families. we'll talk to a military spouse with 15 years of service in the federal government who was just fired from the va. >> also, warnings of an economic slowdown from the country's largest retailer. why? bad news from walmart could be bad news for the u.s. economy overall. stay with cnn news central. we're back in just a few minutes. >> twitter breaking the bird. march 9th on cnn. >> love. love will keep us together. >> now for something you can both agree on a sleep number. bed is perfect for couples. the climate 360 smart bed is the only bed that cools and warms on each side, and all our smart beds adjust the firmness for each of you. let's agree to agree on better sleep and now

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americans to file their taxes. cnn's rene marsh is live for us now on this. so, rene, what are you learning about who will be impacted here? >> so, brianna, within these thousands of employees at the irs, we're hearing there will be auditors, support workers who are involved in compliance work. and a source i was just speaking with on the phone says also revenue agents. it remains to be seen, though, just what sort of impact this more than 6000 people being fired as americans are filing their taxes. what? that will, uh, essentially do to the process in during tax season. we know that the biden administration for years had worked to expand the agency's workforce, also modernize its systems. just last year, there were employees who were still entering paper returns manually on government computers. and also in increasing that workforce was also all about improving customer service at

this agency. but now with these cuts that we are hearing are coming today and employees already getting those notices, it certainly will chip away at that progress that they had seen with their increased workforce. i will say that i just got off the phone with a union source who is starting to paint this picture for me, of what is happening inside some of these irs buildings outside of washington, d.c. in some cases, security had to be brought in because arguments have broken out. people are throwing things, emotions are clearly high because people are coming in and finding out on short notice that they have been terminated. >> rihanna oh, my goodness. and a lot of people might be worried about whether layoffs like these are going to delay their tax refunds. are you are you learning anything about that? >> i think right now we're waiting to see what the overall impact will be on this tax season. that is unclear. but again, like i said, this agency has been working to build its workforce to improve customer service. and now with more than

6000 people being terminated, most of them probationary, meaning been at the agency for a year or less. um, with a shrinking of the workforce, one would have to assume that any gains that they saw by increasing their workforce under the biden administration would be diminished. brianna. >> all right. rene marsh, thank you for that. reporting for us. >> these kinds of changes may soon come to the pentagon as well. defense secretary pete hegseth could soon move forward with plans to upend dod. sources tell cnn he is looking to fire senior generals and admirals, who are seen as too political. we're also learning that hegseth has ordered the military to prepare for deep budget cuts. cnn's oren liebermann is live for us at the pentagon with more now. oren, let's start with this purge of top brass. do we know who the secretary of defense is looking at? >> boris. >> we've expected this, and there have. >> been rumors. >> about this since even before the beginning.

>> of. >> the tenure. >> of. >> defense secretary pete hegseth. but we now have a far. clearer picture of what. >> that list looks. >> like, because we obtained. >> that list from. >> two sources. >> now, the list may not be definitive. >> it may. >> grow, shrink, or change, but it is effectively. >> a look at. >> where hegseth may start the reshaping of the top military brass here at the pentagon. on the top of that list, general cq brown, the chairman of the joint chiefs, the top u.s. military officer, hegseth said even before he was defense secretary that brown should be fired. another name on that list, admiral lisa franchetti. she is the first female member of the joint chiefs of staff. hegseth, in his book, accused her of being a di hire. another name on that list, the chief of the army, general randy george. it's worth noting that of the seven names on that list, three of them are women. now, there are some names of those to be promoted according to this list, which we have seen. none of those listed are women. it is worth noting that the commander of indo-pacific command is, or would be slated to be, the next chairman of the joint chiefs.

now, again, i just want to point out, is the list not necessarily definitive and it could change. we're also not clear on the timing, although the expectation is this could happen sooner than later. >> oren liebermann live for us at the pentagon. oren, thank you so much. we want to take you straight to the press briefing room at the white house. right now. we're hearing from national security advisor mike waltz answering questions from reporters. let's go there now. >> good afternoon. >> what a month. >> uh, and what. >> a sea change in our. >> in our foreign policy, in addition to what we're doing on the border and restoring american sovereignty. in addition to what we're doing in our economy and the job creation and the inflation reduction, we are bringing the world back to where it was at the end of president trump's first term, which is a world of peace, prosperity, and looking forward and getting us out of the chaos that we've just seen over the last four years. so over the

last month, uh, just to name a few, uh, i have the honor of sitting in the oval office, uh, as president trump spoke with president putin and then immediately spoke with president zelenskyy, and both of them said only president trump could bring both sides to the table, and only president trump could stop the horrific fighting that has been going on now, uh, for the better part of four years, and that only president trump could drive the world back to peace. both of those leaders said that in back to back calls. and of course, we just had our historic. talks, uh, mediated by, uh, our, our good friends and partners, saudi arabia. we give great thanks to crown prince mohammed bin salman for hosting and sat down for the first time in years, uh, with the russians, uh, and talked about a path forward with peace on top of that. and one of the

things that led to that was the tremendous confidence building measure that we had with the release of marc fogel. uh, i'll remind everyone, the last time that we had an american release, uh, from the russians, uh, either we gave up a deadly spy, pressured our allies to give up, uh, a lethal killer, or we released under the biden administration, the world's most notorious arms dealer, viktor bout, who, by the way, had one of his main clients for arms. the cartels in in mexico and central america. we gave up none of that. this was released as a confidence building measure, working with our great middle east envoy, steve witkoff, and our secretary of state, uh, as a first step towards opening these talks and then, uh, moving forward towards peace. on top of that, we've secured just in a month the return of a dozen 12 american hostages from russia, from bulgaria, from venezuela,

the taliban and hamas. excuse me, that's from belarus, not bulgaria. we also had, uh, for the first time in quite some time, we took out a senior leader of i.s.i.s., an international financier and recruiter, uh, that the military had been trying to take out for quite some time. uh, and, and wasn't able to do so, frankly, because of a bureaucratic approval process. president trump said, take him out and that i.s.i.s. financier and leader is no longer on this earth. uh, we've also, uh, taken. >> our national security advisor, michael waltz, who is back from discussions in riyadh with russian negotiators championing what the trump administration did. their champion championing hostage releases in the trump administration so far, really just touting certainly what they see as successes here. uh, we'll

continue to follow that. and if there is anything to bring, we will bring that to you. in the meantime, on today's home front, the trump administration sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, directly impacting military families. and it's set to derail the livelihoods of potentially thousands of them. the turmoil that these firings of probationary employees and looming terminations and return to the office orders are causing many military families shouldn't surprise the trump administration, because for decades, the federal government has marketed itself as the employer of choice for military spouses who are employed at unemployed. i should say, at five times the national rate. despite being more educated than their civilian spouse counterparts, military spouses and their families, of course, move involuntarily every 2 to 3 years on average. because of that, despite having years of service in the federal government, many of these workers we're talking about here are actually probationary employees, which is the same category of worker the trump administration targeted in its

recent first round of firings. my next guest is one of them, ariel pines, who is joining us now from new mexico. ariel, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> and ariel. first off, i know a lot of people when they hear about these firings, they think of probationary employees as new employees. but you are someone who had recently switched from one h.r. office in the va to another. how long have you been working at the department of veterans affairs? >> that is correct. um, i. >> have been working for. >> the department of veterans. >> affairs for. >> a total of over 15 years. >> 15 years, no break. >> in. >> service with no break in service. and how many times have you been probationary? because i know that you've moved a lot with your husband being in the air force. you've also switched from the medical and nursing side of things to the administrative side of the va. >> yes. so i. would say. >> with this last move that i

did from. >> hr departments in november, um, this is the fifth. >> probationary period that i have been put on. >> and were there other long term employees in your office who got fired like this as well? >> yes, ma'am. so, um, there were five of us that had. >> moved over to a different hr department from previous. >> other hr departments. >> in the last, i would. say six months. um. and especially one of them, um, he was. >> he is a retired. army veteran, um, disabled with over 18. >> years of service. >> um, in the va. and he. >> was also terminated. >> and your termination letter, uh, which was really an email cited your performance. had your supervisors raised any issues with your performance at the va? >> no, ma'am. >> um, throughout my tenure in the last 15 years of federal

service, all of my, um, appraisals, performance appraisals have been. exceptional or, um, outstanding. and so for them to. >> say that it was based on our. >> performance, um, and that we have not demonstrated further employment in the agency, um, was very shocking to all of us. and to me, myself. >> certainly, that would make sense. and you're a military spouse. i know your brother is also active duty. your dad, who is a 100% disabled air force veteran, obviously very important in your life. what did it mean to you to be working at the va? >> so i have dedicated my entire adult life to serving our nation's veterans and to the department of veterans affairs. um, it was something that was my passion. um, and because it impacted my entire life, um, greatly. and it still impacts me, you know, being married to an air force active duty, um, airman. and so, um, it started

when i was younger. um, i actually at the age of 11 years old, when my mom worked at the va. um, and she actually retired in 2022 from the va of over 37 years of federal service as well. um, she had me started working as a volunteer at 11 years old and helping veterans, um, around the hospital and navigating to their appointments. and then when i turned 18 years old, i said, this is something that i want to do. i want to help our nation's veterans because i feel like they are the people who need care the most, and that they deserve it the most. um, and so in the last 15 years, i have dedicated everything that i have, um, and ensuring that our veterans are given the integrity, the commitment, the advocacy, the respect and the excellence that they deserve. um, whether that be in patient care roles that i've had, um, whether that be assisting leadership and improvement processes and primary care. um,

with and then with my latest role in hr, with ensuring facilities are able to track metrics and goals for adequate care for our veterans. um, so it's very important to me, and it's it's something that i've dedicated my entire adult life to. and i'm just devastated by this termination. >> that's the word devastated that we've heard from so many people. um, ariel, thank you for being with us and telling us your story. we're we're sorry you're going through this as your family figures out a way forward. but thank you for taking the time to be with us. >> thank you. um, i also just wanted to state that there's a big misconception, um, that is being told that, um, probationary employees are brand new to the federal service, and there have been many of us that have been let go. that have 15, 18, 25 years of service. um, and that they didn't look at our computation dates, um, when they did this mass firing. and, um, i

hope that that's something that they can go back to and look at. and, um, we're able to appeal this and overturn it. >> uh, it's a very good point. and one people don't understand. thank you so much for being with us. we do appreciate it. and i do want to let our viewers know that you can read more about this issue in my column today at. cnn.com, homefront. and let's go back now to the white house, where mike waltz, the nsa is taking questions on ukraine. >> into a nato summit this june with a third of our nato allies still not meeting the 2% minimum, a commitment they made a decade ago, literally a decade ago, with a war on their doorstep, the largest war that they're all extremely concerned about. but yet it's, well, somebody else needs to pay. we've got other domestic priorities. it's unacceptable. president trump has made that clear, and the minimum needs to be met. we need to be at 100% in

this june at the nato summit. and then let's talk about exceeding it, which is what president trump has been talking about with 5% of gdp. europe needs to step up for their own defense as a partner. and we can be friends and allies and have those tough conversations. >> great. >> peter. >> thank you. >> caroline i like ukraine. one and. >> a. >> doge one who. >> can talk doge steven. >> steven. thanks. >> to all of us. >> well, so. >> so steven, we're hearing about. these doge dividend checks. that would be 20% back to. >> taxpayers. >> 20% to pay down the debt, 60% is left. who gets that? well. >> the way. >> that it works is when. >> you achieve savings, you can either return to the taxpayers, you can return it to our debtors, or it can. be cycled into next year's budget. and then. >> it just. >> lowers the overall baseline for next year. >> so in other. >> words, you can just transfer it into the next fiscal window and then lower the overall spending level. >> and that means that you can. >> achieve a permanent savings that way. >> and that reduces the deficit.

>> and when. >> is it that people. >> might see those checks? >> well, this is all going to be worked on through the reconciliation process with congress that's going underway right now. as you've seen, the senate is moving a bill. the house is moving a bill. >> the president. >> has great confidence in both chambers to deliver on his priorities. >> i just take. >> this opportunity to note that president trump. has made a historic commitment to the working class of this country to fight for a major tax relief and major price relief and cutting spending, as doge is doing. and cutting taxes is the key to delivering on both of those promises. and president trump is resolutely committed to doing both. >> thank you. >> and on ukraine, i guess this is. >> for mike. >> sure. >> after the president's. >> post on truth. social yesterday. >> need to know who does he think is more responsible for the russian invasion of ukraine? putin? >> or is zelenskyy? >> well, look, his his goal here is to bring this war to an end period. uh, and there has been ongoing fighting on both sides. it is world war one style trench warfare. uh, his frustration

with president zelenskyy is that you've heard is multifold. one, uh, there needs to be a deep appreciation for what the american people, what the american taxpayer. what president trump did in his first term and what we've done since. so some of the rhetoric coming out of kyiv, frankly, and insults to president trump were unacceptable, number one. number two, our own secretary of treasury personally made the trip to offer, uh, the ukrainians what is can only be described as a historic opportunity, that is, for america to co-invest with ukraine in their minerals, in their resources to truly grow the pie. so case in point, there is a foundry that processes aluminum in ukraine. it's been damaged. it's not at its current capacity. if that is restored, it would account for america's entire imports of aluminum for an entire year. that one foundry. there are

tremendous resources there. not only is that long term security for ukraine, not only do we help them grow the pie with investments, but, you know, we do have an obligation to the american taxpayer and helping them recoup the hundreds of billions that that have occurred. so, you know, rather than enter into some constructive conversations about what that deal should be going forward. uh, we got a lot of rhetoric in the media that was that was incredibly unfortunate. and i can just tell you, peter, you know, uh, as a veteran, as somebody who's been in combat, this war is horrific. and i think we've lost sight of that, uh, of the literally thousands of people that are dying a day, families that are going without the next generation. and i find it kind of, you know, frankly, ridiculous. so many people in washington that were just demanding, pounding the table for a ceasefire in gaza are suddenly aghast that the

president would demand one. and both sides come to the table, uh, when it talks to when it comes to ukraine, a war that has been arguably, uh, far greater in, in, in scope and scale and far more dangerous in terms of global escalation to u.s. security. >> i do have one for caroline. >> um. >> does president trump. >> have a. bet with. >> trudeau about this usa canada hockey game tonight? and when there is a big hockey game on, is the president watching for the goals or for the fights? >> probably both. i think he's watching for the united. >> states to. >> win tonight. >> i know he. talked to the. >> usa hockey. >> team this morning. he talked to the players after their morning practice around 10:00. and i also. >> spoke to some. >> folks from that team after they were jubilant over president trump's comments to the team. i believe they're going to put out a. video of that call. >> so he. >> looks forward to watching the game tonight, and we. look forward to the united states beating our soon to be 51st

state canada. >> bloomberg. go ahead. >> uh, my question. >> is for mike waltz. >> um, can you give us a readout of. kellogg's meeting with zelenskyy that just. >> wrapped up and in particular. >> zelenskyy publicly. >> rejected this deal about. >> the rare. >> earth minerals? >> where does that stand? >> well, we're going to continue to have he needs to come back to the table, and we're going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going. again, we have an obligation to the taxpayer. i think this is an opportunity. the president thinks this is an opportunity for ukraine going forward. there can be, in my view, nothing better for ukraine's future and for their security then, than to have the united states invested in their prosperity long term. and then a key piece of this is also been security guarantees. look, the the reality that we're talking about here is, is it in ukraine's interest? is it in europe's interest? it certainly isn't in russia's interest or in the american people's interest for this war to grind

on forever and ever and ever. so a key part of his conversation was, uh, helping president zelenskyy understand this war needs to come to an end. this kind of open ended mantra that we've had under the biden administration, that's over. and i think a lot of people are having a hard time accepting that. and then the other piece is there's been discussions from prime minister starmer and also president macron about european led security guarantees. we welcome that. we've been asking europe to step up and secure its own prosperity, safety and security. so we certainly welcome that. and we certainly welcome more european assistance. as i told my counterparts come to the table with more, uh, if if you want a bigger seat at the table. and we've been asking for that for quite some time. >> and russia. >> pushed for sanctions in your talks. >> with them. and have you. consulted with international partners and allies about. >> potentially rolling. >> back sanctions in these negotiations.

>> to end. >> the those the talks with, with our russian counterparts, both with my counterpart, the national security advisor, secretary rubio's uh, counterpart, the foreign minister, foreign minister lavrov, you know, it really was quite broad, uh, focused on what is the goals for our broader relationship. uh, but very clear that the fighting has to stop to get to any of those brighter goals. and as a first step, we're just going to do some common sense things like restore the the ability of both of our embassies to function. and again, you know, this is this is common sense in in foreign policy world, they call it shuttle diplomacy. uh, we have to talk to both sides in order to get to both sides, to the table. and both sides have said only president trump could do that. >> deanna. >> thank you. and my. >> question is for mike waltz. >> all right. >> um. >> the president. >> has called zelenskyy. >> a dictator. does he view.

putin as a dictator? and does he want zelenskyy. >> out of power? >> i know he's called for elections. and then thirdly. >> the head of the defense committee. >> in ukraine's. >> parliament just has claimed that the u.s. has stopped selling. >> weapons to ukraine. >> is that true? >> well, most of our weapons that have gone to ukraine have been part of a drawdown authority, where we've literally taken them out of our stocks and then eventually, through appropriations, started buying them again to refill our stocks. i'll, you know, just state that there has been a lag and a lot of that process. so many of our stocks, as we look at our operations around the world, are becoming more depleted. that's one of the reasons many people have had a lot of concern about. when does this end? how much is it going to take? how many lives will be lost? how much will we be? how much will we spend as a member of congress? we repeatedly asked the biden administration those questions, and we never got a satisfactory answer. look, president trump is

obviously very frustrated right now with president zelenskyy. the fact that, uh, that he hasn't come to the table, uh, that he hasn't been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered, uh, i think he eventually will, uh, get to that point, and i hope so very quickly. but president trump is, as we made clear to our russian counterparts. and i want to make clear today, he's focused on stopping the fighting and moving forward. and we could argue all day long about what's happened in the past. >> reagan. >> what about., what. >> about the ira? >> excuse me? >> i just. >> called on reagan. reagan. go ahead. >> a question. for steven. >> and a question. >> for mike. >> steve. >> i can start with you. um, there. >> have been. >> reports that trump is unhappy. >> with the. wants them to be higher. and he >> is the president happy with the rate of deportations, and. >> are. >> there any plans to speed up the process? >> well, first of all, we all appreciate the encouragement

from the media to deport as many illegal aliens as humanly possible. so thank you, and i will promise you that the full might of the department of homeland security, the department of justice, the department of defense, and every element and instrument of national power will be used to remove with speed all criminal illegals from the soil of the united states of america to enforce final removal orders and to ensure that this country is for american citizens and those who legally belong in this country. we inherited an ice that was completely shuttered. we inherited a department of homeland security whose sole mission was to resettle illegal aliens within the united states of america in 30 days, the president sealed the border shut, declared the cartels to be terrorist organizations, has increased ice deportations to levels not seen in decades, and we are shortly on the verge of achieving a pace and speed of deportations. this country has never before seen. thank you. >> and, mike. >> um, there have. >> been reports. >> that there's.

>> some underground. >> opposition to trump's pick. >> for undersecretary. >> of defense. >> and policy. >> elbridge colby. >> have you or anyone from the administration. >> been personally. >> lobbying senators to. >> support elbridge colby? >> uh, look, i've worked with colby in the past. uh, he has the president's full support to be the undersecretary of policy, which will be a critical policy arm for secretary hegseth going forward that will implement a lot of these policies. and really, that's that's been the extent of it. i think there's been a lot of kind of, you know, breathless. i don't know, um, back and forth in the, in the press, but we're full speed ahead to get the president's team in place so we can implement his america first policy. >> thank you. >> mike has spoken pretty extensively. >> does anybody have. >> questions for stephen or. >> for mr. hassett? nobody wants to talk about the economy. sure. irs okay. go ahead. >> this would be for. >> either one of you. >> so, uh, we've reported. >> several other.

>> outlets have reported that about 3500 people are due to. >> be. >> um, lose their jobs at the irs by the end of the week. if the goal of these spending cuts across the federal government has been to reduce the debt. why impose some of the deepest cuts. >> we've seen so. >> far at the agency responsible for raising revenue for the federal government? >> well. >> i think. >> our objective is to make. >> sure that. >> the employees that we pay are being productive and effective. and there are many, many. >> more than 100,000. >> people working to collect taxes. and not all of them are fully occupied. and the treasury secretary is studying the matter and feels like 3500 is a small number. and probably you can get bigger, especially as we improve the i.t. at the irs. and so so i think that it's absolutely something that is on the table for good reasons. and the point is that don't just talk about the irs. talk about all of government, that there are so many places i live in d.c. you maybe live in d.c., where you never know nobody. nobody's going to the buildings. people aren't commuting because nobody's doing their job. we

look back and we see that there are all these people doing two jobs while they're getting a government payroll on the payroll. so the point is, we're fixing that. and the irs is a small part of that picture. >> so you're saying that everybody. >> who's being. >> let go was. doing a bad job. >> i'm saying that we're studying every agency and deciding who to let go and why. and we're doing so very rationally with a lot of support from analysis, because we're. >> being. >> told by a lot of people who have been let go at other agencies that they were told they were being dismissed because of poor performance, when in some cases, they haven't even had a performance review yet because they've only been on the job a. >> couple of months. >> yeah, i've never seen a person who was laid off for poor performance say that they were performing poorly. okay, carolyn. good point. sure. caitlin. >> i have a question. >> i'll start with you. kevin hassett. thank you for being here. and then i've got a question for mr. waltz on these potential checks that you might send out from doge. is there a concern, as you're thinking through this, that they could be inflationary? oh, absolutely not. because imagine if we don't spend government money

and we give it back to people, then, you know, if they spend it all, then you're even, but they're probably going to save a lot of it, in which case you're reducing inflation. and also with the government spends a lot. that's what creates inflation. we learned that from joe biden. and so if we reduce government spending then that's, you know, reduces inflation. and if you give people money then they're going to save much of it. and when they save it, then that also reduces demand and reduces inflation. >> okay. >> so you're not worried about it. to follow up on peter's question, you wrote in an op ed in the fall of 2023 that, quote, putin is to blame, certainly like al qaeda was to blame for. 911. do you still feel that way now, or do you share the president's assessment, as he says, ukraine is to blame for the start of this war? >> well, it shouldn't surprise you that i share the president's assessment on all kinds of issues. what i wrote as a member of congress was, was as a former member of congress, look what i share. the president's assessment on is that the war has to end. and what comes with that, what comes with that should be at some point, elections. what comes with that should be peace. what comes with that is prosperity

that we've just offered in this natural resources and economic partnership arrangement and end to the killing and european security and security for the world. the president is not only determined to do that in europe, he is determined to do it in the middle east. and just a few months ago, we had an administration that had tried for 15 months, uh, week after week, sitting with you here and couldn't get us to a ceasefire, couldn't get our hostages out. now we're at that point, we're back to maximum pressure on iran, and we will. we have just begun, and we will drive towards a ceasefire and all of those other steps. i'm not going to negotiate or get ahead of the sequencing of all of that. it's a very delicate situation. but this is a president of peace. and who here would argue against peace? >> okay. >> so you do share that assessment. and can i follow up in 2017 then president trump. can i just follow up. >> you had two questions. >> kaitlin. mr.. mister, an

important follow up. go ahead. >> so, mr. hassett, um, you were speaking about tariff revenue, and you also addressed a question about the irs. president trump has spoken about replacing income tax with tariff revenue, especially with all this waste, fraud and abuse that we're seeing cut. is that a possibility? >> absolutely. and in fact, if you think about the china tariff revenue that we're estimating is coming in from the 10% that we just added, plus the day minimis thing that it's between 500 billion and $1 trillion over ten years is our estimate. and that's something that is outside of the reductions that markets are seeing through the negotiations up on the hill. and so we expect that the tariff revenue is actually going to make it much easier for republicans to pass a bill. and that was the president's plan all along. thank you. >> i have a question for stephen miller about doge. so you spoke about doge. you said roughly $50 billion is set to be cut in a year, um, of waste, fraud and abuse by unelected bureaucrats.

we're hearing this erotic narrative from the president's critics and the left wing media that elon musk is an unelected bureaucrat, and he's doing all this terrible stuff isn't one of doj's objectives to get get rid of the federal bureaucracy, the deep state, and also who was running the white house when joe biden was in office, because i don't know a single person who believes it was joe biden. >> you're tempting me to say. some very harsh things about some of our media friends. the. yes, it is true that many of the people in this room for four years failed to cover the fact that joe biden was mentally incompetent and was not running the country. it is also true that many people in this room who have used this talking point that elon is not elected, fail to understand how government works. so i'm glad for the opportunity for. >> white house deputy chief of staff stephen miller at the podium at the white house, getting lofted a softball question about who was in charge of the u.s. government during joe biden's administration.

miller they're taking the opportunity to lambast the press. we did hear a number of key issues of importance from mike waltz, the national security advisor there, when speaking about ukraine. he was asked directly, who is most responsible for the war in ukraine? after president trump indicated he believed that kyiv that ukraine was to blame for the war. he was also asked whether he sees vladimir putin as a dictator. the national security advisor there, essentially sidestepping those questions even when presented with some of his own writing by cnn chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins, which indicated that he wrote not long ago when he was a member of congress, that vladimir putin was to blame for the war in ukraine, the same way that al qaeda was to blame for the terror attacks of september 11th. uh, there, walt saying that he wrote that quote when i was in congress, he says that what he's focused on now is achieving peace alongside president trump, who he says has a goal of ending the war, stopping the ongoing fighting, preventing thousands of people

from dying each day. he says that the president's frustration with volodymyr zelenskyy, the president of ukraine, has to do with establishing a deep appreciation for the american people, for the investment that the united states has made in ukraine's defense over the last few years. he said that these insults from zelenskyy are not helpful and unfortunate. he believes that zelenskyy is ignoring a deal, an opportunity for the united states to invest in ukraine. this deal for rare earth minerals. he spoke a lot about this aluminum foundry that he believes would be a great opportunity for the united states to establish some investment in that country. in eastern europe, he says it's important for ukraine's future to have u.s. investment on the ground there a lot more to cover. we're going to wrap it up and continue monitoring the remarks from the white house. but we are going to take a quick break at any moment. the senate is expected to vote on kash patel nomination for fbi director. is he going to have the votes? some key republicans

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