. >> is clear there is no doubt that vladimir zelenskyy now is in. >> the president's. >> crosshairs. >> and perhaps. >> more than that, it's. >> been an extraordinary. >> 24 hours. we heard the president yesterday at mar a lago suggesting it was zelenskyy who. >> did not. >> relent and in fact led to. >> the war and now. >> going much further, calling him a dictator. and the fact that he scammed the united states. of course, that is not true. all of that aid money was voted on by a bipartisan group of congress. of course, president zelenskyy was not a guest of the u.s. congress. he has been hailed as a hero to western allies. we cannot overstate. how dramatic these developments have been in terms of the u.s. russia position. not only have their relations been reset, starting with that. >> phone call one. >> week ago, but it has gone so much more than that. so we do expect the president to talk more about that later here today. but, dana, one thing is clear. trump has not said one negative thing about vladimir putin. only several about vladimir zelenskyy. >> mhm. >> really good point.

vance, in a new interview today, is defending his boss in scolding vladimir zelenskyy. take a look at this, he says. the idea that zelenskyy is going to change the. president by badmouthing him in public media. everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this. administration. the stakes are too serious, obviously, to say who started it first, but it was not vladimir zelenskyy who started this first. jake, it clearly was a president trump in that meeting in saudi arabia. ironically, president trump will be here in miami delivering remarks in the next hour to a saudi sovereign wealth investment conference. of course, saudi arabia is at the center of this new reset. u.s. russia relationship. >> and jeff, turning back to trump's executive order, what is he trying to do by putting all government agencies under closer, closer presidential control? >> it's as simple as expanding presidential power, expanding presidential authority. we have seen it really through the first few weeks of this administration. as we finish the first month of

the talks would follow a startling message by president vladimir zelenskyy that europe may have to go it alone, and he urged the continent to create its own unified army and foreign policy, saying it can't rely any more on guaranteed u.s. support. to make his point, mr. zelenskyy mentioned his recent conversation with the u.s. president. >> a few days ago, president trump told me about his conversation with putin. not once did he mention that america needs europe at the table. that says a lot. the old days are over when america supported europe just because it always had. >> for more on this, we've got melissa bell joining us from paris. really good to see you. look, this emergency meeting that is said to be held in paris is going to be very telling in terms of where the europeans are going to be at the negotiating table. while we're hearing talks about things occurring in saudi arabia. tell me about france's perspective on this. after this lecture from the u.s. vice president, jd vance. >> well, as you say, not yet confirmed this meeting, but we understand that this could happen even

as ukraine president vladimir zelenskyy pushes back on president trump's claims about what started the conflict. >> unfortunately, president trump, i have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for the american people who always support us. unfortunately, lives in this disinformation space. >> cnn chief international security correspondent nick paton walsh is in kyiv. nick, very strong remarks from president zelenskyy at a critical moment for his country. >> yeah, i mean, i saw a very. determined, possibly anxious at times, certainly i think angry at volodymyr zelenskyy making those remarks. he also went out to say that the recent saudi arabia summit between the united states and russia had essentially ended the isolation of putin that had been put in place by the biden administration and the west after the full scale invasion in 2022. but the real issue, i think, here is how does this move forward? we can have this clear rift between the two perceptions of the men, despite zelenskyy holding out respect, he says. still for president trump. how does thi

we're standing by for a jd, vance vladimir zelenskyy meeting. plus, a seventh prosecutor resigns. we're following the breaking news on the upheaval at the department of justice and the mind boggling accusations about prioritizing politics over the rule of law. as exasperated legal experts warn the country is facing real, uncharted territory. and laughter is a universal stress reliever. so broadway and hollywood star josh gad will be my guest for a much needed palate cleanser. i'm dana bash. let's go behind the headlines and inside politics. we start in germany, where jd vance is meeting with the ukrainian president, and it comes on the heels of his scolding to a room of american allies at the munich security conference. he did that instead of talking about security. the vice president used the opportunity to push one of the trump administration's favorite topics culture wars. >> 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 o

zelenskyy. >> had more. >> uh, fuzzy warm time with mr. trump, at the end of the day, it's vladimir. >> putin who. >> mr. trump admires. >> the most. >> but analyst michael bociurkiw also believes volodymyr zelenskyy. >> has made. >> his share. of mistakes in the relationship. he says zelenskyy put too much stock in the democrats in last. fall's u.s. election, believing they were going to win. and he says regarding this latest back and forth, it would have been better if zelenskyy hadn't accused donald trump of living in a, quote, disinformation space. >> he says that was. >> a tactical error that just riled up donald trump even more, wolf. >> brian todd, excellent report. thank you very, very much. brings back a lot of memories, indeed. let's discuss this and more with the former u.s. state department spokesperson, ned price, who is joining us live right now. ned, thanks very much for joining us. what are these comments attacking president zelenskyy? tell you about which side of this war president trump is favoring. >> well. >> wolf. >> it certainly. >> doesn't send reassuring. >>

he's calling vladimir vladimir volodymyr zelenskyy a dictator. while he won't call trump. well, he won't call putin a dictator. sorry. >> putin has. >> basically been running russia for 25 years, holding. sham elections, murdering his opponents, uh, exiling the ones that he doesn't murder. >> so there's. >> something going on there on the russia side for trump. but there's also something going on in the ukraine side. remember, ukraine was the topic of his first impeachment when he tried to withhold aid from zelenskyy, uh, until zelenskyy was willing to investigate joe biden and his son. so this is a special case, i think, and i've always felt that, you know, ukraine's situation is very dire because trump has some enormous personal animus against zelenskyy, an enormous personal admiration for putin and for trump. it's all personal. you know, he operates from that personal space of admiration or disgust. >> certainly his phone call with zelenskyy was the linchpin of that first impeachment. um, you have romania saying russia used the toxin riyadh to demand a withdrawal of nat

this is a guy, vladimir putin, who, you know, essentially puts his, uh, his opponents outside hotel windows. uh, if you want to find a dictator, it's not zelenskyy, it's vladimir putin. and trump knows that. so it's really troubling that he's going to make his bed with vladimir putin. uh, and all of the trouble that's going to flow from that. >> when you speak of the trouble, are we seeing a real shift in u.s. policy now where trump is signaling that he wants to be friends with russia and not with traditional allies in europe, for example? is that how you're reading this? >> yes. i was at the munich security conference last week. we met with president zelenskyy and a number of other nato european allies. i think there's deep consternation and anger among our european allies at this abrupt discontinuity in american foreign policy. suddenly embracing putin and questioning the validity or the value of relationships that are long standing for the united states. uh, across the atlantic. so, uh, i think this is going to create huge problems as we move forward. we need our allies and a host of things not only in, uh, deterring russian aggression, cyber

what a topic given trump's plans with the ukrainian president vladimir zelenskyy and u.s.ors including lindsey graham. apple and google have restored tiktok to their app stores following reassurances from the u.s. attorney general that a ban when not immediately be enforced. the two companies moved that -- removed the appa to comply with congress. starbucks ceo brian niccol is wrapping up a visit to the gulf region, or the u.s. coffee chain partnered with q8-based group since 1999. it'd is been tasked with turning around the brand that has faced controversy over unionization and boycotts over the war in gaza. he spoke exclusively to bloomberg's joumanna bercetche in dubai. >> the boycott and that whole information cycle, it's really unfortunate because obviously it hurts the brand.it hurts our partners and the stores. the thing that is disappointing about it is it is not based on anything accurate or true. we have never supported any militaries. tom: brian niccol, starbucks ceo, speaking to joumanna bercetche you earlier. the ai revolution looks set to transform health car

have the perfect dealmaker at the table from a position of strength to deal with both vladimir putin and zelenskyy, no one is going to get everything they want. understanding who committed the aggression in the first place, but i challenge anyone else to think of a world leader at this moment with credibility and strength to bring those two leaders to the table and forge a durable peace that ultimately serves the interests of ukraine, stops the killing, and the death, which president trump has said he wants to do, and hopefully ultimately guaranteed by the strength of europeans. reporter: why not the nato piece keeping forces? mr. hegseth: i want to talk about something about nato membership not being part of the negotiations. that's something that was stated as part of my remarks here, part of the coordination with how we're executing these ongoing negotiations, which are led by president trump. all of that said, these negotiations are led by president trump. everything is on the table. what he decides to allow or not allow is at the purr view of president trump. i'm not going to stand at this pr

of course, vladimir zelenskyy has been at the center of western diplomacy. he's been at the white house. he's been at the the congress. he's on the sidelines right now in these conversations. there is no doubt about that. so even as relations are opening up, the biden administration did not have diplomatic relations much conversations with the russia at all over the last three years. trump sending a message he wants to change that. we all remember from the first trump administration. there is no doubt that vladimir putin wanted to use the president at that point to essentially revitalize his role on the national stage, to bring him back out of the wilderness, if you will. so a similar scene is replaying out here, jake, but so many differences here. now, since that first trump administration. but again, the order of those phone calls, i'm told is so important here, how the president is viewing this. >> yeah. and fred, what about the kremlin? what are they saying about this call that putin had with trump? >> well, they're thrilled is basically the short of all

now, on the international stage at the munich security conference, ukrainian president vladimir zelenskyy- volodymyr zelenskyy sat down with vice president j.d. vance. >> if he will choose our side and if he will not be in the middle, i think he will, you know, relent. i think he will pressure and he will push putin the top the war. >> we want the war to come to a close, we want the killing to stop. but we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that's going to have eastern europe in conflict just a couple years down the road. >> reporter: questions remain about how the u.s. will shield ukraine from russia is and if ukraine could see continued u.s. military support in exchange for their rare earth minerals. a resource critical to global technology and defense industries. also in europe this week defense secretary pete hegseth said ukraine joining nato is not realistic. he later walked back those comments clarifying all negotiations are still on the table. and secretary of state might be coowe, he's planning on traveling to to israel tomorrow where he will discuss a

peaceful neighbor who didn't want to be invaded and so i think president trump is being unfair to vladimir zelenskyy these things. i think he should be supporting the victim in this thing, the democratically elected victim. individual individual has been a dictator for 25 years, he's taken over georgia, carpet bombed syria. we need to understand who the good guys are and who the bad guy is here. ukraine is the good guy and putin is the bad guy. maria: americans are frustrated with all of the hundreds of billions of dollars having been sent to ukraine with no end in sight. i mean, what would you advise? officials have discussed economic sanctions placed on russia by the biden administration at the start of the war. here's secretary of state marco rubio on that. watch this. >> there are sanctions that were imposed as a result of this conflict. and so i would say to you that in order to bring an end to any conflict, there has to be concessions made by all sides and there are other parties that have sanctions. european union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have san sanctio

zelenskyy. none, as far as we can tell on vladimir putin. alayna treene at the white house. thank you very much, sarah. >> all right, john, let's go right to kyiv now, where cnn's nick paton walsh is this morning, we saw the u.s. envoy, keith kellogg, walking around kyiv yesterday. but president trump has gone from, you know, sort of skepticism to outright aggression when it comes to zelenskyy. what is the latest you're hearing on this meeting with zelenskyy as kellogg tries to have these talks? >> yeah, i think it's fair to say from the statement we heard from zelenskyy last night in which he didn't seek to go back over the ground the previous day with the comments about a different disinformation space and through forwards to the meeting he's due to have today with ukraine and russia envoy general keith kellogg here, that they're trying to perhaps to step over that enormous mess in u.s. ukraine relations that sprung to the surface yesterday. kellogg himself, obviously here at a very complex time. now, he was here, he said, to listen, to talk about security guarantees. this

but in striking new language, seeming to blame vladimir zelenskyy, the ukrainian president, for the war. let's 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. >> you should have never started it. that is president trump there talking about ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, not vladimir putin. of course. it was russia that invaded ukraine three years ago. and the president also there, sort of overlooking the fact, saying again and again, as he often does, that this war would not have started had he been in office. in fact, the russian invasion of ukraine started while president trump was in office. but it wasn't until three years ago that there was that full scale invasion of ukraine. so, jake, once again, really as we've been monitoring the president's comments there, taking questions on ukraine, he said the discussions went well in riyadh. but again, jus

in an interview with "meet the press" this weekend, zelenskyy warned the united states not to trust vladimir putin. zelenskyy was planning on traveling to saudi arabia today, but following yesterday's u.s.-russia a meeting there, th ukrainian president said he would postpone his trip to saudi to avoid any surprises. zelenskyy is fighting to ensure that ukraine's interests are protected in the negotiations. but he doesn't seem to be winning over trump. yesterday trump criticized zelenskyy, appearing to suggest that ukraine was responsible for russia's decision to invade their country. trump's exact words were, quote, you should never have started it. you could have made a deal. the decision to start the war was russia's. no one, including ukraine, wanted this war. >>> dramatic new video showing that delta flight crash landing in toronto. the footage was apparently shot from the cockpit of another plane. it shows delta flight 4819 hitting the runway and bursting into flames before flipping over. meteorologists reported wind gusts as strong as 40 miles per hour in that air what at the time. but

in an interview with "meet the press" this weekend, zelenskyy warned the united states not to trust vladimir putin. zelenskyy was planning on traveling to saudi arabia today, but following yesterday's u.s.-russia meeting there, the ukrainian president said he would be postponing his trip to saudi to avoid any surprises. zelenskyy is fighting to ensure that ukraine's interests are protected in negotiations, but he doesn't seem to be winning over donald trump. yesterday trump criticized zelenskyy, appearing to suggest that ukraine was responsible for russia's decision to invade their country. trump's exact words were, quote, you should never have started it, could you have made a deal. the decision to start this war, of course, was made by president putin and his friends. no one, least of all, ukraine, wanted this war. jessica? >> matt, thank you for that update. >>> elon musk's department of government efficiency clears an obstacle. a d.c. district court denied a request from 14 states to put a pause on some of that group's power, ruling that it was not enough to put a stop to their work. ali

altogether because of the ukraine war, of course, and the fact that the president spoke with vladimir zelenskyy. a second, uh, after vladimir putin. certainly is interesting. but both leaders vowed to visit one another's countries are kaitlan collins asked if any preconditions would exist before putin would be invited. >> i have a few things for you, but on the commitment by president trump, he said that he and president putin agreed to visit each other's respective nations. are there any preconditions that president trump has that president putin must do before he goes and meets with him, withdrawing some forces, withdrawing all forces, anything like that? >> not that i'm aware of. that doesn't mean they don't exist. but i was just talking with the president in our national security team. i wasn't made aware of any conditions, but if they exist, i'm happy to provide those. >> so certainly this is the opening of a new chapter in diplomatic relations, which largely had been frozen during the biden administration because of the russian invasion of ukraine. now, there is no question that this is c

vladimir putin is a problem for the united states. he signed every sanctions bill against putin. he certainly believes this war in ukraine needs to come to an end. and he's no fan of volodymyr zelenskyy as well. but i think donald trump is going to contain vladimir putin through by shutting him down on the gas business. >> let's let's watch thom tillis on the floor from last night because elliott's right. i mean, you can see the emotion. watch. >> whoever believes that there is any space for vladimir putin in the future of a stable globe. better go to ukraine. they better go to europe. they better invest the time to understand that this man is a cancer and the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime. >> i, i have a hard time seeing that, not as a shot across the bow of the white house. like explicitly. >> of vladimir putin. i mean, listen, we've had four presidents and presidencies now bedeviled by this in george bush. he let vladimir putin move in on the state of georgia. you see, joe biden struggled and wouldn't give zelinski the weapons he needed when he could actually win the war. barack obama laughed it off and let him go into crimea. and now donald trump. vladimir putin has

vance the next security conference and will meet with ukrainian president vladimir at zelenskyy todaytrump a peace deal to end war with russia. and another important meeting happening at home between border czar tom homan and new york city mayor adams. the mayor has given i.c.e. agents a huge boost to help get criminal migrants out of the country. hollywood's trump derangement is back this time over the plan to overhaul the kennedy center. joe concha will be here to react to celebrity outrage. you are watching "fox & friends first" on this friday morning. john carley shimkus and todd has a much needed day off that brooke singman does not have the day off with the latest overseas. >> absolutely good morning vice president j.d. vance at the security conference in germany where leaders around the globe gathering to discuss sharing threats. so j.d. vance kicked up with nato secretary general mark. >> we talk about nato any in particular with the president's desire to see nato spend resources on defense or two i know secretary agrees with me on. we are going to talk, of course ukraine/russ

. >> ukrainian president vladimir zelenskyy sends a strong message to president donald trump about trump's promise to end russia's three year war on ukraine. zelenskyy is telling european leaders their futures are on the line as well. that's ahead in a live report. >> thousands more federal employees learned this week that they are losing their jobs as part of the trump administration's purge of federal workers, including hundreds of employees who manage the nation's nuclear stockpile. the concerns now being raised by members of congress. >> the fbi is pushing back on the homeland security secretary's claims that the agency is corrupt. what the bureau has to say about that and the potential impact of this very public feud. >> plus, a woman who accused sean combs and jay-z of sexually assaulting her more than two decades ago has dropped her lawsuit against them. how attorneys for both men are responding. coming up on cnn this morning. this morning, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy issued a wake up call of sorts to europe calling for a united europe to face the threat of russian aggre

overshadowed by the intensifying personal spat between donald trump and vladimir zelenskyy, initiatedtrump's gesture, ukraine started the war and zelenskyy had 4% poll ratings, both false. then, zelenskyy said, trump was in a different information space, and that led to the remarkable claim that zelenskyy is dictator who refused election and even suggesting the money had been stolen. so we are out here waiting to see how this meeting progresses. but the fact that neither men together at this point think they're going to speak to the press and discuss the results of their meeting, potentially suggests, certainly, how the american side feel this may go. it's possible things may go well between them, and they have common ground, but there is a frostiness here. certainly that may have led to what you would normally expect. answering questions from the press. that's simply not happening for now. >> yeah, it's literally and figuratively right. and certainly we have a lot of questions. what do you think about this? >> so look i think it's absolutely has to be a reduction of this kind of temp

zelenskyy as a dictator. >> that invasion was the responsibility of one human being on the face of this planet. it was vladimir putin. >> to the extent that the white house said that ukraine started the war. i disagree. >> and close trump ally senator lindsey graham saying he blames putin above all others. today he spoke with zelenskyy, pledging america's support. according to the ukrainian president. jeff zeleny is traveling with the president in miami. nick paton walsh is in ukraine, and jeff trump just doubled down on his comments about zelenskyy in that room right behind you. >> brianna. >> he did. and this has gone from. >> suspicion that we've heard from president trump to outright hostility aimed directly at ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. it really has ratcheted up hour by hour in some respects. and of course, we saw those posts on social media earlier today when the president called zelenskyy a dictator. but hearing him say it out loud at this conference, and the president was speaking at a saudi backed investor's conference here in miami, making this point that he believes in his words. he s

people at home should know that your reaction, your disapproval of donald trump calling vladimir zelenskyy a dictator and siding with putin, that has put trump in a position where he is now changing those words, whether he changes his actions, we don't know. but we're not helpless here. and so it's encouraging to see some progress this week. >> president trump said that doge could save the country $1 trillion. i suspect you probably doubt that. but i do wonder where you see room for cuts. >> i would love if doge could save the country $1 trillion. i hate government waste. in fact, i have. 40% of my constituents were born outside the united states and they are frustrated with an immigration process that is almost entirely done by paper and pen. so let's digitize that and reduce the staffing needed and expedite the good immigration cases, and get rid of the ones that are not worthy. many people, when they apply to work for the federal government, it takes up to eight hours to fill out their application. that should be done in less than an hour. so there's a lot of efficiencies out there, but

in, tulsi gabbard as the director of national intelligence, he was asked specifically about vladimir zelenskyy. and he said as long as he's there but his poll numbers aren't very good. so talking about zelenskyy in a weaker state certainly underscores how this is viewed going into this, but that the first meeting in a saudi arabia, the president said, would be without zelenskyy there at the table. he said perhaps he would join other meetings. but the question here is, is zelenskyy completely out in the cold as putin and trump try and rekindle their relationship? we remember they met five times in the the first, the trump administration, and it seems like they're on track to do it at least once and perhaps more again, aaron. >> all right. thank you very much. jeff zeleny at the white house, an outfront now, the democratic senator, chris murphy, who sits on the foreign relations committee and senator, so appreciate your time tonight. so trump spoke to putin today, and he said he and putin agreed to start negotiations immediately. and then he said after that call, he was going to call zelenskyy t

vladimir zelenskyy met u.s. envoy keith kellogg in kyiv on thursday. our nick paton walsh has more on this. >> story. >> this is the closest ukraine has got to president trump's noisy push for peace. president zelenskyy has wanted to meet u.s. envoy keith kellogg for weeks. just not on a day like today. with the u.s. ukraine relationship crumbling around them, making what they actually discussed matter less and less. well, we're now leaving the presidency after being told that we're not expected to get a press conference or statements. not the suggestion that either man looking for publicity. and we are being told that that format is the request of the american society. over the last 48 hours have seen ukraine standing with its main backer in freefall. but their fight against an advancing russian aggressor has not stopped, even if the garish rhetoric around it has seemed to drown the dying out. the trump falsely saying ukraine started the war and its leader was deeply unpopular, refusing elections. >> a dictator without elections. zelenskyy better move

one person is on the sidelines and that is vladimir zelenskyy, the ukrainian president who has been at the center of so much conversation and diplomacy for the last three years. of course, in the halls of congress here at the white house as well. but the president made clear that this first conversation would be between him and vladimir putin. >> no, we had a great call, and it lasted for a long time, over an hour. this morning i also had with president zelenskyy a very good call after that. and i think we're on the way to getting peace. i think president putin wants peace. and president zelenskyy wants peace, and i want peace. we had a very good talk with people, didn't really know what president putin's thoughts were. but i think i can say with great confidence he wants to see it end it also. that's good. and we're going to work toward getting it ended and as fast as possible. it's a it's a horrible situation going over its flatland and the bullet goes off and the only thing it can hit is a body, a human body, a young human body. and they're losing just tremendous numbers of mostly s

. >> vice president jd vance, meeting with the president of ukraine as vladimir zelenskyy urges the u.s. not to make any decisions about ukraine without ukraine. >> in the. >> lead with. >> jake tapper. today at 4:00 on cnn. >> for generations. >> this ally to the north has been by. >> your side. >> ontario. >> canada, a partner connected. >> by shared history. >> shared values and a shared vision for what we can. achieve together. >> stable and secure when. >> the world. >> around us isn't. you can. >> rely on. ontario for. >> energy to power. >> your growing. economy and. >> for the critical minerals crucial to. >> new technologies. >> ontario is your third largest trading. >> partner and the number. >> one export destination for 17 states. our long standing. economic partnership keeps millions of americans working in a changing world. it's time to bring jobs back home and build together more workers, more trade, more prosperity, more security. for generations, this ally to the north has been here and for generations more. we'll still be here, right by your side. >> love. love will ke

vladimir. >> zelenskyy a dictator and pushing straight up kremlin talking points that ukraine, not russia, started the war. plus. >> inflation is back. and they said, oh, trump and i had nothing to do with it. >> it's all about the economy. a new cnn poll reveals how americans feel about president trump's campaign promise to address the pain in their wallets and. just a heartbreaking return. hamas hands over the remains of four israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two very young children. 5 a.m. here on the east coast. here's a live look at the capitol dome. good morning everyone. i'm jim sciutto in for kasie hunt. great to have you with us. the rift is now very much out in the open. president donald trump stepping up his attacks on president volodymyr zelenskyy after the ukrainian leader accused trump of living in, quote, a disinformation space. when it comes to a fact, russia's invasion of ukraine. trump responded by calling zelenskyy the elected president of ukraine, a dictator on social media, and then later repeating his attacks. >> a modestly successful comedian. president zele

with this fight with the associated press, or whether it is, you know, on foreign policy with vladimir zelenskyy. that is how he is approaching this term, because he can because there is really nobody stopping him from the checks and balances perspective. >> i am fascinated by this deal. he wants to take half of ukraine's rare earth minerals. >> so his approach to foreign policy is almost always trade based and economic based. and he has a very mercantilistic perspective toward everything. and so he yes, he looks at it, as, you know, the u.s. should be repaid for what he thinks it should not have spent on ukraine defense. but the approach that the u.s. has taken to suggest that this is why ukraine should come to the table. that was a phrase that was said in the briefing room today over and over again. make ukraine come to the table. there's two separate tables. there's one table that the u.s. is having with russia, and then there's a different table that the u.s. is having with ukraine. and ukraine is at a pretty big disadvantage at that table. >> what do you hear from people in the white house

he's calling about talking about president trump, calling vladimir zelenskyy a dictator. he's talking about president trump saying that ukraine is responsible for the invasion. but to hear a russian official saying he would have laughed if he had been told that a president would say something like that. what do you think of that? >> well, we now have the president of the united states becoming a premier propagandist for russia. this is are the things that russia has been promoting. but never in their wildest dreams did they think that they would be repeated by the president of the united states. i mean, we all understand, and the russian officials understand that they started the war. so they are like, oh, wow, how did this happen? our propaganda is so effective that the president of the united states is is spouting it, blaming zelenskyy for starting the war, saying zelenskyy is a is a dictator. i mean, the situation is very clear here in which we have a democracy where the people of ukraine have fought to defend their freedoms, lost upward of 100,000 individuals, hundred

kellogg needs to worry that maybe he won't be special envoy for very long if he keeps calling vladimir zelenskyy courageous? >> well, trump certainly has reigned in not only waltz, but also rubio, who used to be strong against russia in ukraine. so kellogg will either be pushed aside or be pushed out. wouldn't be surprised. don't forget all this is insulting and alienating our european allies too. and kind of the rejection of nato and this cozying up to putin with the phone call saying he wants him back in the g7, g8 saying they're going to visit each other. that's that is another sideline that's going on. >> all right. congressman dina titus, thank you for talking to us this morning about a wide range of issues. have an excellent weekend. >> coming up for us. the former nfl player arrested for protesting at a city council meeting. and the maga public library plaque at the center of it all. that former nfl player is our guest. it was a perfect storm of the worst kind. nearly 100 people had to be helped from their homes after a water main breaks in detroit, and it turns streets into a giant sheet

well, first of all, we heard president trump there saying that he believes both vladimir zelenskyy and president putin of russia want peace. today was actually the day with the highest number of combat engagements in the ukraine war in this entire year. so in the first two months of this year. so clearly the front lines right now very hot. the two sides going at it against one another. nevertheless, here in moscow, you do hear a lot of optimism on the part of russian officials that they believe that all of these talks certainly could lead to better relations between the u.s. and russia, and then possibly also an agreement to end the war in ukraine on terms fairly favorable to russia as well. the kremlin spokesman, dmitry peskov, he came out earlier today and he said that he believes that this is an era of dialog with president trump in office. now that the u.s. and russia are going to be talking about peace rather than conflict going forward. and he also believes that the way that president trump sees things is things that every sane minded person should endorse as well. so clearly, pr

wallace, the national security advisor, he said the president remains very deeply troubled by vladimir zelenskyy and his refusal to accept that rare earth deal that nick was just talking about. he declined again to say who he believed was responsible for the war. but, wolf, one other thing is so on point here. it wasn't the biden administration alone setting this usa. this was a bipartisan deal by members of congress, including some republican members as well. mike wallace of florida was one of them. he was asked about this by our kaitlan collins during the white house briefing today. >> 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 9/11. 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

celebrity trips to ukraine after the war began to increase the popularity of their president, vladimir zelenskyy. a video reposted by elon musk and donald trump jr. wednesday is claiming that usaid paid a-list actors top dollar for these trips, including $4 million to ben stiller to take these pictures with zelenskyy. 5 million bucks for sean penn for these 8 million to orlando bloom, 1.5 million to jean-claude van damme, who was filmed chanting glory to ukraine in the country in 2022. and finally, this $20 million to angelina jolie for this image of her with ukrainian children in 2022. now, those are some pretty big accusations, and they've been receiving millions of impressions on social media platforms like x. but what's the truth behind the tweets? well, for that, we turn to cnn reporter and fact checker extraordinaire, daniel dale. i almost felt bad even reading out the allegations, because i thought if i say them, they're in the ether and they would have some gravitas, but tell me the reality here. what what's going on? >> this is all made up. it's completely fake. we do a lot of complicat

of course, the reason that is important is because he has been calling vladimir zelenskyy of ukraine a dictator. of course, he was elected freely and fairly. however, earlier today the president. explained in some context why he's so frustrated with zelenskyy. let's watch. >> i've had very good talks with putin and i've had not such good talks with ukraine, and they don't have any cards, but they play it tough. but we're not we're not going to let this continue. this, this war is terrible. would have never happened if i were president. but it did happen. so i got stuck with it and the whole world is stuck with it. >> so the bottom line to all of this, this white house, this president is still trying to do a pressure campaign to get zelenskyy to sign on to that rare earth mineral deal, to basically give the u.s. half of the minerals that are in ukraine as payback for foreign assistance. of course, when the u.s. offered that in a bipartisan way, as this war was unfolding over the last three years, it was not designed to be paid back. the u.s. was weighing in as western allies were as w

here's president vladimir zelenskyy on meet the press earlier. >> can you accept. any peace deal that is cut without ukraine? >> no. i'm sure that we have to be there. otherwise it's not acceptable. but if there is a decision without us and putin will go out from all our land, we will be in nato and putin will be in the prison. so president trump can. >> meantime, president trump is in daytona beach, florida, where he's going to attend the daytona 500. he's doing or he may have just finished that lap in the presidential limousine known as the beast. and we've got several reporters and analysts ready to discuss all of these new developments. we're going to begin with nbc's yamiche alcindor, who's in washington for us. so, yamiche, another welcome on this sunday. how are the mass layoffs of federal workers escalating this weekend? >> well, alex, what we're seeing is sweeping layoffs that are going across all sorts of agencies and departments. we saw at the department of justice at the end of this week, multiple immigration judges terminated. now, union officials tell

. >> and however, vladimir zelenskyy is a is a crafty guy. he's prudent.ngaging in a discussion with the united states. you know, you've covered a lot of wars. one of the interesting things to remember is when the united states sends the amount of aid that it sends to ukraine, 70% of what the united states has committed to or paid ukraine is spent in the united states on munitions, on armaments, on weaponry. when they get f-16s, f-16s are built in the united states. so it's important to note that donald trump has made this sound like cash that has been given to ukraine as a sort of a charitable donation. he's saying that he wants. >> you have it exactly right. double payment. and it is the kind of relationship, frankly, that you said. i've covered a lot of conflicts. i have never seen this kind of strong arm tactics. and the european allies are watching this very closely, because this is how donald trump is treating an ally right now, demanding payment. some european countries are talking about extortion, blackmail, using terms like that. by the way, when

so what was vladimir zelenskyy's message to the world leaders? and that includes president trump. what did he say today? >> yeah. >> so in addition. >> to calling for an army in europe. >> so not. nato but a separate army in europe, he also called on european leaders to establish an industrial defense base here that they so that europe could create its own weapons, its own systems, without relying on other places like the united states. essentially, he was saying, look, we cannot rely on the united states to come to europe's back the same way that they have for decades. and now europe has to be ready to come to its own defense. and i have to say, alex, this has been a very consistent theme at the munich security conference. and frankly, throughout this week, we've seen defense secretary pete hegseth on his first trip to europe, his first overseas trip as defense secretary. he's had the exact same message for nato members for the ukraine defense contact group. we've heard the same thing out of vice president j.d. vance and marco rubio, all three here in europe this week. and allies

vladimir putin and it says this is a dictator following, of course, president trump calling vladimir zelenskyy a dictator. what do you think of that? >> well. >> i. think they. >> should have put up these. >> are dictators. >> and put up photographs of. >> kim jong un. >> nicolas maduro of venezuela, uh, daniel ortega of nicaragua. there are a lot of dictators. and by the way, sometimes those dictators fail and lose. think bashar al-assad of syria, a monster who's now given shelter in moscow. so i love that cover. i would have expanded it to these are dictators and make the point. there are some truly bad actors out there in the world. volodymyr zelenskyy is not one of them. >> no. and one wonders, you know, we're alexei navalny still alive. we're boris nemtsov still alive. any number of the people who fell mysteriously out of windows in moscow, or officials who were killed around the world, what they would think of labeling zelenskyy, but not putin, a dictator. >> indeed. and by the way, just in terms of disclosures, we should point out i am personally sanctioned by the kremlin, and i'm very

i also had with president zelenskyy a very good call after that and we are on the way to get a piece i think president vladimir putin once piece, president zelenskyy wants peace and i want to see people stop getting killed. it's a vicious war, 1.5 million soldiers killed in a short time. i have pictures you would not believe, young, beautiful soldiers being decimated and it would be nice for it to end immediately but we had a very good talk, people did not really know what vladimir putin's thoughts were but i can say he wants to see it ended as well, that's good. we are to work toward ending it as fast as possible, it's a horrible situation. flatland and the bullet goes off and the only thing it can hit is a human body, a young human body and they are losing tremendous numbers. cities and towns have been demolished, it is a shame, it would have never happened if i was president, it would have never happened. we will get something done. we will be meeting tomorrow, they are meeting in munich and they will have other meetings and i will deal with president vladimir putin and in fact, we expect he will come here

and it was interesting to hear vladimir zelenskyy say, i'm going to be talking to the crown prince in arabia to also get his support on this issue. you know, they are the brokers. they're hosting these talks. what's interesting is there's a big worry on the ukrainian side that the trump administration will cut and run, and then whatever gains they have made on the battlefield would be lost. and that sovereignty and territorial gains, but more so the bigger concern, sarah, is what are the security guarantees. and that's also an issue for russia. we've heard them say, no, nato is not on the table. and then we heard secretary of defense hegseth last week say, yeah, you know, nato's not going to happen. and then you saw the senator from mississippi, republican senator wicker, come forward and say, wait, that's a rookie mistake that the defense secretary made. you can't telegraph before you go into negotiations. what's going to happen? >> yeah. and also saying, look, you're not going to be able to keep the territory that russia has taken in 2014, which is the crimean peninsula. i want to a