cnn chief national security correspondent alex marquardt is joining us now. alex, just how critical are today's talks? you know, we know that he met with the french president, and now he is sitting with what usually is a very strong u.s. ally. >> yes. prime minister starmer has a huge challenge ahead of him today. he is now part two, essentially in his three part series of european leaders coming here to washington this week. macron earlier this week from france. starmer today. president zelenskyy of ukraine tomorrow. all coming here to urge president trump to cajole to essentially plead with him to not abandon ukraine, to continue to support ukraine, to not give in to president putin and to give him more concessions. we will hear a lot today about the special relationship between the u.s. and the u.k. starmer will talk about how the u.k. is the number one u.s. ally. we'll also hear him talk about how europe needs to step up and spend more on defense, which prime minister starmer announced earlier this week that great britain would be spending more on defense.

thank you so much, alex marquardt. alex marquardt there from washington, d.c., john. >> all right. this morning, the overall purge of government workers is on hold. a federal judge pushed the deadline to monday to determine whether it's legal. so far, at least 65,000 federal workers have accepted the so-called buyout offer, though one worker is out this morning, an operative of elon musks who was linked to controversial social media posts. let's get to cnn's kevin liptak at the white house. first, let's talk about the pause here on the purge, as it were. >> yeah. federal workers now have three more days to decide. whether to take this offer to essentially put themselves on paid administrative leave until september or to take the risk of layoffs, which is something that the white house has signaled will be coming as they work to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce. now, as you said, as of last night, about 65,000 federal workers had taken this offer. that's well below the administration's goal of about 5 to 10% of the federal workforce, or about 100,000 workers. i'd

and alex marquardt, you know, he was asked and he sort of sidestepped it. what makes you think you can trust putin? which i have to say is such an excellent short question. and so to the point. and he didn't answer it directly, but he basically sort of said what? putin wants to make a deal. i just wonder what you thought of that moment. >> trump has repeatedly said that he trusts that that putin wants peace. and i think one thing is clear here. the trump administration is very impatient about getting to a peace between ukraine and russia, and they might be the only ones, i think the other ones, the other parties, russia, ukraine, the europeans definitely want want to take more time. and in fact, the russians may not want a peace deal at all. this is why we've already seen them coming out saying we will not accept not just ukraine and nato, but we will not accept any nato troops inside ukraine. so that could just be a complete deal breaker for them. and that's exactly what macron just spent the last hour or the last few hours talking about, is the prospect o

nick paton walsh alex marquardt, thank you so much. let's continue this conversation. joining us now, our cnn global affairs analyst, kim dozier and former cnn moscow bureau chief jill dougherty. kim, what do you make of zelenskyy postponing his trip to saudi arabia? that seems like a significant and perhaps negative development in the overarching goal of reaching a peace deal. how do you read it? >> well, it's one way to send a message that he doesn't like how the white house has handled these opening talks with russia, that he doesn't feel like he's been looped in. and when you widen out to the european community, they all feel gut punched and slapped in the face that after years of close cooperation through the ramstein process under the biden administration, this time they didn't even get the courtesy of a heads up that, hey, president trump is going to follow through with his promise to try to make peace between ukraine and russia. with this phone call with vladimir putin that he had last week. and from there, we're going to see if we can have face to face, lower

alex marquardt back here with us. and no doubt there are going to be a lot of questions about the conversation trump had with putin about what is happening right now, as they are kind of i think the white house, the administration, alex, trying to spin this as belarus, russia, just sort of respecting the position that president trump is taking. there's going to be a lot of questions about what has happened today, what belarus may have gotten in all of this, and what is certainly good news that americans are being released. >> i think we really need to look at belarus as an extension of russia here. and that president lukashenko is doing this because president putin almost certainly asked him to. the u.s. also exchanged a prisoner. we should note a guy named alexander vinnik, a russian who was extradited here to the united states a few years ago. he is a convicted money launderer. so he got sent back to russia. this was a prisoner exchange. but before all this news came about, these prisoner releases, we were already t

. >> let's go now to cnn's chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt. alex, in his remarks, zelenskyy said it would be dangerous for president trump to meet with putin before him. also talked about this, uh, army for and of europe. give us the headlines. >> well, i think both those things, victor, really speak to the uncertainty and fear that president zelenskyy has about the united states right now, particularly when he sees, uh, president putin cozying up to president trump and mixed signals, frankly, from different members of the trump administration. so this was a really striking set of remarks from president zelenskyy, both his own speech. and then in that interview, uh, with with christiane amanpour, it was, uh, for lack of a better description, a call to arms, both literal and figurative. i mean, he he said in no uncertain terms that that europe cannot count on the u.s. anymore, that the relationship with the united states is evolving. and there may come a time when the u.s. simply says, no, uh, to europe. he pointed directly to the speech by the

alex marquardt is joining us from there. lex, it was striking to see just the reception that volodymyr zelenskyy was getting there at the security conference, and that he seemed to be trying to rally europeans, to unite, to stand up, to. moscow at a time when u.s. support for the transatlantic alliance seems to be very much in the air. what is your take on this? >> well, ivan, it was striking in so many ways. this was always going to be the highlight of the second day of this conference. of course, everyone watching very closely. jd vance just yesterday. but the two side by side could not have been more different. so many people listening to jd vance in silence, in stunned shock because of the scolding, essentially the dressing down that they were getting from the american vice president. and here you had consistent applause interrupting ukraine's president throughout his speech. it was striking also in its substance. ivan, in essentially the ukrainian president saying that we can no longer count on the united states. we can

let's turn now to cnn chief national security correspondent alex marquardt. alex, the president's posturing towards zelenskyy. i mean, completely contradicts the words of his u.s. special envoy. i mean, what are we seeing between the two? >> yeah. >> i mean, trump just called him a dictator a few days ago, so we. >> haven't heard very nice things from him. but we do hear praise from from keith kellogg, who is dedicated to this ukrainian track. kellogg's just wrapping up a couple of days of meetings there in kyiv, and he posted on x at the end of these meetings that he spent time with the what he called the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war and his talented national security team. so you have to imagine what kellogg is telling trump right now about how those those meetings went. now, kellogg was responding to an equally flattering, positive post from president zelenskyy, who was thanking kellogg for for being there. he said the meeting was one that restores hope, and he talked about the potential for a deal and the need for strong agreements on

alex marquardt, thank you very much for your reporting. and joining me now is ian bremmer, president of the eurasia group and founder of g zero media. ian, let's pick up where alex left off there. and you know, we heard a lot of this during zelenskyy's time on the stage. the sense of abandonment by the u.s., but also this real concern that there may be this these talks negotiations behind his back that don't include ukraine between trump and putin, which might end with a deal that favors russia. let's listen a bit more to what he had to say there. >> 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. >> that was not the right sound bite, but basically it was zelenskyy, the ukrainian president, uh, you know, reiterating the fact that, you know, he knows that putin and trump will be talking. okay, here's the sound bite again. let's get it right this time. >> do you understand what america's position is? >> yes. >> which is. >> i think,

boris. >> alex marquardt live for us in riyadh. alex, thanks so much for the update. let's pivot and take you to the white house now with white house reporter kevin liptak. it seems that president trump, kevin is in a hurry to expedite the end of this war. it is that at the expense, potentially, of the europeans and ukrainians? >> yeah. there's no question that president trump wants to see this ended. and you'll remember, boris, he actually promised to end the ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office. of course, that deadline came and went, but it is very evident that he is in a rush to sit down with president putin. you heard them talk on the phone for 90 minutes last week, and now he seems intent on thawing relations with moscow, and that is generating an enormous amount of concern in europe. and just the setting for these talks, i think, illustrates that alone. you know, american presidents have sat down with their russian counterparts in vienna, in geneva, in iceland, but never before in saudi arabia, a place that sort of separate and apart from the european c

joining us now, cnn's alex marquardt. and alex, you and our colleague jennifer hansler broke this story. and you report that that those team members, those doge team members threatened to call u.s. marshals to try to get inside. >> yeah. that's right. >> essentially. >> this personnel, these. >> personnel from the department. >> of government. >> efficiency, which. >> of course, was started. >> by elon musk. >> tried to. >> barge into. >> the u.s. aid headquarters. >> it's the ronald. >> reagan building. >> they were not initially permitted from going in. and then they threatened to call the u.s. marshals to essentially help force their way in. jennifer hansler and i were told by multiple sources. that these doge personnel wanted access to security systems, to personnel information, and to areas where classified information is held. of course, highly restricted areas. and and i want to remind our viewers, of course, you need a security clearance to to get into those areas. eventually we are told the doge personnel were abl

. >> cnn's elena trainor is at the white house alex marquardt in riyadh. alex, let me start with you. this. this meeting wraps. what's the latest? and what now? >> well, kate. >> the two sides emerged from. >> this meeting. >> at. >> a palace. >> here in riyadh after. >> about 4.5 hours. there was a positive take from the. >> american side. steve witkoff middle east envoy calling it a. very solid and positive. a bit more measured from the russians. >> one of the negotiators. >> calling it not bad. the foreign. >> minister. >> sergey lavrov. >> saying that it was useful. i think the. >> bottom line here, kate, is that neither. >> side is is walking away with any kind of agreement on any solutions. or conclusions for what should be done in ukraine. it's clear that this was about continuing to. >> talk and. >> getting the discussions going. the american side talked about the need to get to a permanent peace. our colleague jennifer hansler, who is traveling with secretary of state marco rubio, asked the american delegation. >> what that would. >> look like. and

cnn's alex marquardt has the story. >> on saturday, personnel from doge, the department of governmentfficiency, which was created by elon musk, essentially tried to barge into the headquarters of the u.s. government's aid agency, usaid. at first, they weren't allowed in, and they threatened to call the u.s. marshals service to force usaid to let them in. now, sources tell cnn that the team from doge wanted access to security systems, personnel files, and areas where classified information is held. a reminder that you need a security clearance to access areas and information like that. now, eventually, the doge team did gain access, and cnn learned on sunday that the two most senior security officials, the director of security john voorhees, and his deputy, were put on leave. this comes after dozens of other top career officials were sent home on leave by the trump administration, amid fears that that usaid is being gutted. now, not long after cnn's reporting came out, elon musk posted on x the platform that he owns, usaid is a criminal organization. time for it to die. the usaid websi

cnn's alex marquardt is here with the details. alex, what are you expecting? what are you watching for in this high stakes meeting? >> well, i think on the surface, boris, it's going to look very friendly. but they have had a contentious relationship in the past. that relationship has improved. but of course it has the potential to to turn sour at any moment. this is such a critical moment, particularly for prime minister netanyahu. he essentially has two choices. he can go forward and end the war, essentially go into the next phase of this cease fire when he's supposed to withdraw idf troops and end the war altogether. which, make no mistake, is the wish of the trump administration. they want this war to end. but then netanyahu risks his own government collapsing. he's risking his political career, even his personal freedom, because he could go to jail because of all his legal problems. or he could restart this war against hamas after this first phase, maintain his premiership. but then you risk angering the trump administration and starting off this administ

cnn's alex marquardt is here with us now. and, alex, you've spoken with many usaid employees. what are they saying? >> they're in a tailspin, brianna. >> they don't know what. >> to. >> think or do. >> they have been shut out of the systems they. >> used to communicate. >> to keep. >> themselves safe. >> they have been. >> shut out of jobs they. >> love that they. >> feel are. >> really only helping people. >> and they really don't know what's going to. >> come next. >> so my. >> colleagues and. >> i. >> have been speaking. >> to a. >> lot of usaid officials. not just here. >> in washington. >> and all around the world. >> and the reaction. >> is is. >> extremely dramatic. >> it's a lot of sadness. it's a lot of anger. >> i want. >> to read to our. >> viewers some of what they've told us. >> one usaid. >> diplomat said. >> we feel like psychological warfare is being waged against us. >> another diplomat said it's beyond surreal. >> it feels. like a cruel. >> joke that they've been. >> kicked out of. >> embassy systems that are designed. >> to. >> keep diplomats. >> and their f

cnn's alex marquardt is in saudi arabia covering these talks. alex, tell us what you're hearing. >> well, brianna, the u.s. delegation is here. they had a meeting and a dinner with the crown prince mbs. but tomorrow, all eyes will turn to this very important meeting with the senior russian delegation, a meeting that we have not seen the likes of in the past three years during this war. the russians have called that an abnormal period, and they are looking to get past the frostiness between washington and moscow. they're looking to to talk about a whole range of issues, not just ukraine. they want to talk, they say, about the entire complex. but but the u.s. is focusing more on the possibility of a ukraine peace deal and approaching this very carefully. so what we're going to see tomorrow is sergey lavrov, the foreign minister of russia, uh, alongside the former, uh, u.s. ambassador, a russian ambassador to the u.s. and then on the american side of the table, you've got secretary rubio of the national security advisor, mike waltz and steve witkoff

. >> cnn's alex marquardt is joining us now from munich. elenskyy sounded a pretty stark warning today about the american relationship with europe. what more did he say there? >> yeah, fredricka, this was a remarkable speech. it was a rallying cry. it was a call to arms for europe, essentially saying that the dependance that europe has had with the united states, the reliance on that american support is now over. he said very clearly that there could come a day when europe is threatened and would need american support, and that the u.s. could simply say no. he named jd vance. he pointed to the vice president's comments yesterday, a blistering speech that the vice president gave chastising scolding european countries, their leaders, their democracies as evidence that that the decades of the old relationship between the between europe and the u.s. is ending, he said. and europe needs to adjust to this new reality. here's a little bit more of what zelenskyy said earlier today. >> time in europe may not fully understand what's happening in washi

cnn's alex marquardt is with us now from riyadh. so, alex, walk us through where things stand. >> well. >> brianna, this was a 4.5 hour meeting at a palace here in riyadh. and this was meant to, according to the u.s. delegation. really jump start, reset u.s. russian relations. that, of course, have been frozen for the past few years. this is going to be the beginning of a long and complicated process. according to the u.s. delegation. there was nothing concrete decided, no solutions that were agreed upon for ukraine. and this conversation was not just about ukraine. i think primarily it was for the united states, because that is the key to unlocking so much more. but the russians are seeing it essentially as that reset. so what we've learned from the american side is essentially that four broad points were agreed on. the first, interestingly, is about the embassies in washington and moscow. the two countries have not been behaving diplomatically, to say the least, for the last few years. and those embassies have been working at reduc

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

cnn's alex marquardt is tracking this story and joins us now. alex, what do we know? >> well, boris, this. >> was not something. >> that. >> we were expecting. of course. >> there have been some very. >> notable prisoner exchanges between. >> russia and the united. >> states in the. >> past few years. >> this was. >> not something. >> that we expected. >> marc fogel, an american teacher. who was arrested. >> back in 2021. >> and then. sentenced and. >> convicted the. >> following year to 14 years in prison on drug smuggling charges, has now. >> been released. >> by the russians in an exchange, according to the white house. we don't know who was exchanged for him, but what we do know is that the middle east envoy, as you mentioned, steve witkoff, traveled. to moscow and managed to secure the release of mr. fogel, or rather, mr. witkoff, as far as we know, was involved in the negotiation. fogel is on his way home. he is out of russian airspace. according to the according to the white house. i want to read a little bit of the statement from the national security adviser,

let's continue this conversation with chief national security correspondent alex marquardt and cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel cedric leighton. alex, you kick it off with you. so president trump has been trumpeting this as a potential trillion dollar deal. but there is this catch because there are widespread doubts of ukraine even holding massive rare earth deposits and other other mineral health wealth, i should say. uh, what more can you tell us about this? >> well, pamela, the bottom line is we don't really know what ukraine has. there are estimates. there are maps that show minerals, both critical minerals, which are more mainstream, and the rare earths all over the country. but a lot of that data, i'm told, by current and former officials, as well as energy experts, is really outdated. a lot of these maps, a lot of that data comes from the soviet era and hasn't been updated in a long time. this was something that the biden administration also looked at, because it was president zelenskyy who came up with this idea. he pitched it to both the trump and the biden teams

our chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt, is joining us now from the saudi capital of riyadh. alex, how is this comment, this latest comment from president trump going to be received? >> well. >> wolf, this will strike. >> at the. >> deepest fears of. >> that the ukrainians. >> have of how. >> president trump views the conflict and who is responsible and. >> concerns over. >> concessions to the russians. the president here laying blame at the feet of the ukrainians. you know, he's going beyond the usual anti-ukrainian talking points of the fact that this war has been dragging on for three years and cost the u.s. tens of billions of dollars. going beyond the the russian talking points that, in fact, it was ukraine who provoked this war by getting too close to nato, too close to the eu. moving away from russia, saying here very clearly that this was ukraine's fault and that ukraine started it. and jeff zeleny is absolutely right. we know that that is not true. we know that it was russia who launched this war. february 24th of 2022. they came in from the north, from the e

cnn national correspondent alex marquardt joining us now live from munich. and i wonder, alex, who do european diplomats and officials believe because you had say one thing, you have vance saying another and you have donald trump. now making concessions prior even to the start of the negotiations. >> yeah, jim, it's a very good question. and i think the biggest concession is the question of nato membership for ukraine. pete hegseth really alarming. european nato allies just a few days ago, saying that that ukraine would not end up with nato membership in any kind of peace deal with russia and donald trump essentially confirming that yesterday in the oval office. but we are hearing from the vice president, jd vance, who is essentially taking a tougher line on russia than we have been hearing out of the administration over the past few days and saying very generally that all all possibilities remain on the table, that nothing is really set in stone. and so you have jd vance, who is already here in munich, secretary of state marco rubio on his way. they will be

cnn's alex marquardt is joining us live now from the saudi capital of riyadh. alex.secretary of state marco rubio met today with the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman. what do we know what's going on over there? >> and mike waltz national security advisor steve witkoff, the middle east envoy, they were also there with the crown prince, and they had dinner afterwards. they spoke about regional issues, middle east, middle east issues, we're told, by the state department. but of course, wolf, the main event is tomorrow when the americans have this remarkable meeting with russian officials. the first meeting of its kind in more than three years since this war in ukraine began. the saudis will be there as well, in a mediating capacity. but it's going to be those three americans i mentioned across the table from the foreign minister, sergey lavrov, and yuri ushakov, who is a presidential aide. but this is as much about who is at the table as who is not. wolf, the ukrainians, most notably, are not. we heard from president zelenskyy earlier today saying quite angrily,

. >> cnn chief national security correspondent alex marquardt joining us now to lead off the hour. okay, alex. zelenskyy is arriving in washington. and he over the past several weeks, the banter between him and donald trump has been contentious at the least. but yesterday trump seemed to to really sort of soften his tone or feign forgetting his harsh words for zelenskyy. what are you expecting to happen today? >> yeah. >> this is an extraordinarily important visit for zelenskyy. the future of his country really hangs in the balance. sarah, i do think we will see a softer tone from both men who, as you say, have had some pretty sharp language in the past few weeks. president trump calling president zelenskyy a dictator. he walked that back yesterday saying, i can't believe i said that. i think what we're going to see is both men portraying this deal today as a major win. it is certainly a win for president zelenskyy. he gets to give president trump one of these deals that he so often seeks. he's getting a meeting with president trump ahead of the eventual meeting with with president

cnn's alex marquardt is covering these developments for us in munich. how to win friends and influence people. alex, how is it playing? >> well, brianna, this was a real dressing down, a real scolding by the vice president towards some of the u.s .'s closest allies great britain, germany, sweden and others. there was some expectation that he would talk about european politics in this speech. but given where we are at this security conference, you would have thought he might have talked about national security, about adversaries russia and china, about the war in ukraine. but he barely touched on any of those subjects. instead, he criticized europeans for cracking down on free speech, on social media, freedom of worship. and he said that the biggest threat to europe is not external. it's actually internal, it's migration. he pointed to an attack that took place right here in munich yesterday, carried out by an afghan migrant. here's a little bit of what he had to say. >> the threat that i worry the most about vis a vis europe is not russia. it's not china

cnn's alex marquardt has more. >> a bit of good news for usaid, which has taken.attering this week as the trump. >> administration tries. >> to. >> hollow out. >> the. agency and strip it of its independence. a federal judge here in washington who was named by trump, by the way, issued a temporary order blocking the trump administration's efforts to put almost all of its staffers on leave as of friday night. now, that came during a legal hearing closing out a week in which the acting leaders of usaid had said that all direct hires, as they're known, would be put on leave except for essential personnel numbering in the hundreds out of a workforce of some 10,000, which also includes thousands of contractors, many of whom have already been furloughed or laid off. on friday, workers took down the signage at usaid headquarters in downtown washington, d.c., and also covered up the agency's seals. now, this lawsuit by the usaid staffers was brought against donald trump and his secretaries of state and treasury. they accused the administration of acting illegally, somethi

i believe i'll defer to my colleague alex marquardt on the specifics of that. after that vote, we will have a procedural vote on robert f kennedy jr.. s nomination that will move him one step closer to confirmation as well as we keep an eye on the floor. alex marquardt, when you look at the role that tulsi gabbard will be taking on the scale of it seems enormous, but it's within a system where there are other key players. what will she be doing in this administration? >> and that is exactly the right question, because we know the concerns and that led up to this vote. and now it does appear that she's going to get through. so what is her role look like now? this was a role that was created after 9/11 to act essentially as a coordinator across the intelligence agencies. technically, this is the most senior intelligence officer in the administration, though directors of the cia might quibble with that. and oftentimes both are members of the cabinet, as will be the case here. but it's all going to come down to how trump decides to use gabbard and all presidents us

back to you. >> alex marquardt, thank you so much. all right. cnn's frederik pleitgen is in moscow with russia's reaction to the mixed messaging that they are hearing from the trump administration on ukraine. >> the russians also seem to be trying to figure out what exactly to make of the trump administration. a couple of days after what the russians deemed to be a very successful phone call between u.s. president donald trump and russian president vladimir putin, essentially paving the way for possible peace talks to try and end the war in ukraine, but also for a possible direct meeting between putin and trump in a third country. the russians now hearing from jd vance, the u.s. vice president, in an interview with the wall street journal, essentially threatening the russians that if they don't sign on to a peace deal, that the u.s. would have both economic and military levers at its disposal to try and get the russians to come to the negotiating table and to get to some sort of agreement. now, i texted the spokesman for the kremlin, dmitry pesk

. >> let's bring in cnn's alex marquardt. he's live from the agency's headquarters in washington, d.c. alex, walk us through how this move to shut down this agency went about. well. >> boris, it does appear that usaid is on the cusp of at least being absorbed into the state department. and that is something that is worrying a lot of current and former officials who have worked at usaid, who simply say that the state department is not equipped to carry out the kinds of missions that usaid has been doing since the 1960s. this is the outside of usaid. there's an ongoing press conference with democratic lawmakers from both the house and the senate. many of the people who you see here are staffers from usaid, who we've been speaking with, the lawmakers are talking about the gutting of usaid. one lawmaker used the word purge. they're also highlighting the fact that this helps america's adversaries, russia and china. and every so often, cheers are going up from the crowd. mind you, these staffers are not allowed inside the building.

we're joined now by our chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt, who is in riyadh. so president trump made those comments after the initial meeting between the u.s. and russia wrapped up. it came late at night in ukraine. has there been any reaction yet from kyiv or its allies in europe? >> not just yet, anderson, but you can imagine that this is going to play into the deepest fears that the ukrainians and the europeans have about how president trump views this conflict and fears that they have, that president trump is playing right into president putin's hand as this these negotiations get underway. president trump is not making the often the argument that we often hear from republicans about how this war has been going on for too long, its cost, too much money. it's cost tens of billions of dollars. we need to slow down aid. he's not even talking just about how ukraine might have provoked this war by getting closer to nato and to the european union. what he's really arguing is that ukraine started this war. he said that verbatim. and you and i both know that is th

anderson. >> alex marquardt, thanks very much. just before air, i spoke with democratic senator chris murphy from connecticut, who sits on the foreign relations committee. senator, i just want to play again what president trump said today, falsely blaming ukraine for starting this war. listen. >> i think i have the power to end this war. and i think it's going very well. but today i heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. well, you've been there for three years. you should have ended it three years. you should have never started it. you could have made a deal. >> he's referencing ukraine's displeasure at not being involved in the talks in saudi arabia. i mean, he's basically parroting russia's narrative about the war. >> yeah, i mean, these are russia's talking points that ukraine started the war. that is patently absurd. everyone watched russia invade ukraine. russia wants to go back to a world in which big countries invade small countries, to expand their borders. that world is incredibly dangerous for the united states, for global

let's turn to cnn chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt. alex, what more do we know about this american released from this prison in belarus? >> well, boris and brianna, two days of remarkable, unexpected prisoner releases by russia and. >> by belarus today, just. >> a couple of hours ago, we learned that three prisoners we regime, including one american citizen who is unnamed for. >> privacy reasons. >> but he was detained in belarus. we understand back in september, he was released alongside two non-americans. one is andre. >> kuntschik. >> who worked for the american backed radio. free europe, and the second is elena marchuk marchuk. we understand, has serious health conditions, while kuznetsk has been reunited with his wife and two children. and just a short time ago, we heard from the ambassador to the american ambassador to lithuania and senior state department official chris smith, because they had worked on getting these three out of belarus. take a listen. >> this was a unilateral gesture by the lukashenko authorities. they made thi

also with us this hour, cnn chief national security correspondent alex marquardt. alex, as we're looking at what is going to come out of potentially of this meeting today, this visit from the prime minister to the white house. i know you've been in communication with the british government this week. we're talking a lot about what's expected on the u.s. side. what does the prime minister hope to achieve here? >> erica, the prime. minister is trying to move the ball forward. and of course, i agree with our esteemed colleague jeff zeleny that this is the second part of this three part series of these european leaders coming to the white house this week. they're essentially all on a joint campaign to try to get president trump to stick with ukraine, to continue this security assistance for ukraine. and, of course, the big question about security guarantees. now, the brits, of course, have their own unique interests. there will be a lot of discussions about the economy, about trade, about tech. but ukraine really is the issue of the hour. and i have been told by british

hunt, cnn's eva mckend dave weigel of semafor and cnn's chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt. alex, i'm going to start with you. and before i bring you in, i want to play what chuck schumer, the democratic leader of the u.s. senate, said just moments before this vote began on tulsi gabbard. >> this endangers. >> our security. >> and my. >> guess is. >> if a secret ballot were. cast on. >> tulsi gabbard. maybe she'd get ten votes. you all know how bad she is. and so i know that there are that people feel they want to please the president in his nomination, but there are certain times you have to buck and stand up and say, no, this is just a very bad choice for america. >> alex, i don't know if it would be ten votes, but just from my reporting and i'm guessing everybody here has similar reporting, he's not wrong that a private vote would have come out very differently than what we just saw in public. >> i think senator mcconnell would would agree with him as well. and what this tells us is obviously that this is trump's republican party. it is his support for gabbard that that

cnn's alex marquardt joins us now. alex, how important is macron's visit to the white house today? >> it is critical, pamela. this is the beginning of what could be called a diplomatic counter-offensive by the europeans. amid these fears that the ukrainians and the europeans are being pushed aside in these discussions over a ukraine russia peace deal. this is the beginning of a flurry of meetings. this week. we have macron today, the british prime minister, later this week. a number of other engagements between u.s. and european officials. and macron's task today is going to be telling trump to not give in to vladimir putin. there have been these accusations of concessions already being given by the trump administration to the russians of continuing to send military aid, humanitarian aid, economic aid to ukrainians. and this big question over security guarantees, what the u.s. can offer in terms of guarantees to the ukrainians. now the europeans are putting their best foot forward with macron. he is certainly among the european leaders who trump likes the most. macron knows how to

. >> alex marquardt is already in riyadh. alex, what are you hearing from your sources about what to expect there? >> well. >> this meeting between the u.s. and the russians is expected to get underway tomorrow. and, dana, it is going to be an extraordinary moment. we haven't seen a meeting like this between the two sides since this war in russia and ukraine rather began. there has been contact between intelligence officials. but but nothing like this. so this is going to be a really remarkable moment. critics are saying that the trump administration has brought russia in from the cold in one fell swoop. that phone call with vladimir putin, these meetings tomorrow, the trump defense. the administration defense is that in order to get to a peace deal, you have to to speak to your adversaries. the russians and the americans are looking at this slightly differently. the russians are talking about a broader spectrum of talks, talking about the entire relationship. they want to get past what they call this abnormal period that we'v

. >> get straight to cnn's alex marquardt, who is in saudi arabia. alex, what are you hearing from your sources about what happened in that room? >> well. >> essentially today, the agreement was to keep the conversation going to to keep having talks. this was to get. the the discussions between the russians and the americans unstuck after the relationship had been frozen for the past few years. they wanted to start talking about ukraine and other issues. there were no. concrete decisions. nothing was decided about ukraine that they are walking away with. this is the beginning, as rubio just said, of a process the state department laid out essentially four broad subjects that they agreed to. the first was to reestablish firmer diplomatic ties through the embassies, both embassies in washington and moscow essentially have been gutted for the past three years because diplomats and intelligence officials have been kicked out. and then specifically to ukraine. both sides said that they would name high level officials to negotiate about ukraine. and then lo

. >> i'm alex marquardt in munich and this is cnn. >> close.oning brought to you by book.com. >> if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. call now and we'll come to you. >> 882 one 4000. >> pope francis gave his traditional sunday prayer in writing today from his hospital room in rome. the 88 year old thanked health care workers for the care they are giving him as he is being treated for bronchitis. cnn's christopher lam has more. >> the vatican gave an update on pope francis condition on sunday, explaining that the pope is in a stable condition that he's continuing to receive treatment and that he followed the mass by television from his hospital bedroom behind me in the gemelli hospital on the 10th floor. francis has been in hospital since friday following a severe bout of bronchitis. this has been diagnosed as a respiratory tract infection, and he's receiving treatment at the gemelli hospital. now, the pope has been suffering from bronchitis for several days. he's been struggling t

alex marquardt has the rest. >> vice president jd. >> vance delivering a blistering. >> speech here inunich, really taking a swing at some of america's closest european allies. whether it's great britain, germany or others, there was an expectation that he would talk about european politics. but given where we are at this security conference, there was also a hope that he would talk about adversaries like russia and china, what they're doing in the west, the war in ukraine. but those were subjects that he hardly touched on. instead, he criticized european democracy, and he accused them of cracking down on freedom of speech, on social media, on freedom of worship. and he said that the biggest threat to europe is not external but internal and it's migration. he even pointed to an attack here in munich on thursday that was carried out by an afghan migrant. take a listen. 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 fundam

cnn's alex marquardt has been doing the reporting on this and joins us now. alex, this agency exists in statute is it closed? for all intents and purposes right now? >> it to say the very least, its fate is very much in question, if not sealed altogether. my colleagues and i have been speaking with usaid officials for the past few days. there's a tremendous amount of fear. one word that i keep hearing over and over is the word purge. i spoke with someone this morning who said that this feels like the apocalypse for usaid. they were told in this overnight email that to not come to the headquarters today, it's called the ronald reagan building to told to to stay home and work remotely. and so much of this is being driven by elon musk, who, of course, very much has the president's ear. after some of our reporting over the weekend, he posted on x the platform he owns, that usaid is a criminal organization that needs to die. the president himself appears to agree. he said that it is being run by lunatics. so what would this look like? we've already seen the website

cnn's alex marquardt is covering it all in munich for a very busy day. it has been for him. alex, european leaders have a very different reaction, to say the least, to vance's speech than president trump. >> they certainly did. pamela, many of that audience were expecting to hear a speech about the administration's vision for a settlement in ukraine, or perhaps s a more general national security speech. instead, what they heard was this blistering, scolding speech from the vice president about european domestic policies. he accused them of cracking down on free speech, on social media, on the freedom to worship. he said that the biggest threat to europe was not external but internal, and he singled out mass migration, talking about an attack here in munich just yesterday that was carried out by an afghan migrant. here's a little bit more of what he had to say here in munich today. >> 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 f

. >> alex marquardt is with us from munich. i mean, i don't even know where to start. alex. first of all, just the reaction in the room. it sounded from way over here over the atlantic, like there wasn't exactly the warmest reaction to the message that he brought. >> well, dana. >> you didn't. >> even. need to be in the room. you could just see on on the cameras, on the live feed, the stunned. >> faces. >> the stone faced reception that jd vance got in this blistering speech that really came out swinging against america's closest allies. we did have some sense ahead of the speech that he was going to be going after european politics. but of course, given where we are in the moment we're in, we did expect him to also be talking about the war in ukraine and what the u.s. is doing to end that. instead, this was not a national security speech. he did not really talk about the adversaries like russia and china, what they're doing in europe, what they're. failures of european democracy. this really was a broadside against european democracy, criticizing some of the u.s .'s closest

cnn's alex marquardt with us now from munich. a lot has already happened this morning, and a lot is still to come today. what's the very latest? put it all together for us. alex. >> yeah. kate. we're only a few hours into this conference. one of the most important of the year in terms of national security. behind me is where it's being held. all manner of political, economic and military officials have been filing all morning. filing in all morning. but in just about 90 minutes time, kate, we will be hearing from the american vice president. and that is arguably the biggest speech of the day. he will be speaking on all manner of things, including weighing in to european politics. we understand, but it is going to be his comments about ukraine that i think most people are going to be focused on. we are getting some conflicting messaging out of the administration over the past few days. uh, vice president vance giving an interview to the wall street journal in which he appears to be taking a tougher line on russia and what it would

. >> i'm alex marquardt in munich and this is cnn. >> president trump is forging ahead with plans toe the federal government, but legal challenges are starting to mount. a ruling saturday allowed a government ethics watchdog to stay on the job for now, despite trump firing him, likely setting up a fight over similar dismissals for the u.s. supreme court. joining me now is some of four white house correspondent shelby talcott. shelby, great to see you. so trump's department of justice already signaled it plans to appeal the court's recent decision. do you see, you know, much broader legal fights on the way as these massive firings seem to be heading to the u.s. supreme court? >> i absolutely do. listen, i think the supreme court is going to play a key role in this. trump 2.0 administration. and this particular fight could have ramifications for several other lawsuits that have already been brought by officials who have been fired or removed from their positions. and it really sets up this broader question over how much power a president has to oust the heads of independent agencies. a

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. >> i'm alex marquardt in munich and this is cnn. >> so keeping them honest tonight the president ofw on the record in a way claiming to be above the law. you may have seen this from the president on social media. he who saves his country does not violate any law. for a while, he pinned it to the top of his post. it is purported to be something from the french emperor napoleon bonaparte, something he once said, though his providence is dubious. in any case, napoleon was no champion of democracy or the rule of law. the emperor part sort of gives it away. presidents, on the other hand, are supposed to be. they even say so out loud before taking the job. >> and will, to the best of my ability, and. >> will to the best of my ability. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> the constitution of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> so how to square that with? so help me god. unless i'm saving the country, then all bets are off, because that's what the president seems to be suggesting. and with more

alex marquardt is back here from saudi arabia, where the u.s. and russia just had talks without ukraine. a little bit of whiplash here. and you have some new reporting, nick, on the u.s. ukraine peace talks. tell us about that. >> yeah. our understanding from ukraine official is that they're very much talking still negotiating this rare earth mineral contract, which seems to now be at the heart of ukraine and u.s. relationships, period, going forward. one element, a ukrainian official tells me that the ukrainians want to see added is, in his terms, security elements. that's slightly different to the security guarantees that we heard the president talk about. and at the same time, the official describes the sense of urgency now around these talks. clearly, they are beginning to overshadow this entire relationship. and it's not clear if they form the focus of the negotiations that the ukraine envoy keith kellogg has been having here with zelenskyy's team over the past days or so, but they're clearly the only thing in town right now. and at the hea