i'm audie cornish. i want to thank you for waking up with me. we're going to turn to our first story. elon musk taking his doge team and their plans directly to republicans on capitol hill. so as some gop members are pushing for a seat at the table in determining what gets cut next in his meeting behind closed doors with house and senate republicans, musk gave them all his personal cell phone number. the idea is to more closely coordinate what's happening inside his team as it rapidly moves through the government. >> a lot of. room, a lot of opportunity to improve expenditures in the government, and we're making good progress in that regard. >> uyghurs have a vote on this. should congress have a vote on this? >> well, they do have a vote on it. >> house speaker mike johnson tells reporters he's now in almost daily communication with musk about the efforts to cut government spending, but rank and file members left in the dark until now, and they want more clarity into how the cuts are being carried out. >> the tone in the house was probably a lot

i'm audie cornish, cnn news central is

i'm audie cornish. i want to thank you for waking up with me. and we're going to start by talking about the president's address to congress and the nation. so looking out at a government dominated by republicans, his speech was part victory lap, part campaign rally and part roadmap for the next four years. >> we have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years. and we are just getting started. >> as he said, that was just the beginning of what actually turned out to be a marathon speech, which ended up being just under an hour and 40 minutes long. that broke the record for the longest annual address to congress. the president rattled off claims of slashing wasteful spending. he doubled down on threats to take greenland and defended his tariffs, which have already started a trade war. the reception from democrats less than welcoming. >> get out. >> the chair now directs the sergeant at arms to restore order. remove this gentleman from the chamber. >> congressman al green of texas was removed fr

i'm audie cornish. i want to thank you for waking up with me. talk about the news ahead. a new trade war is sending shockwaves through the economy. this is donald trump prepares to speak to congress. while you were sleeping, the president enacted 25% tariffs on canadian and mexican goods. he also doubled an existing tariff on chinese goods. so that number is up to 20% for president trump. the move is as much about payback as it is about revenue. >> they can't come in and steal our money and steal our jobs and take our factories and take our businesses and expect not to be punished. and they're being punished by tariffs. >> well, they are punishing the u.s. with tariffs of their own. overnight, china announced 15% tariffs on u.s. chicken, wheat, corn and cotton. they're also slapping a 10% tax on u.s. pork produce, beef and dairy products. canada. well, they're vowing to, quote, not let this unjustified decision go unanswered. prime minister justin trudeau announced tariffs on $30 billion worth of u.s. made products. he also promised to add tariffs to another $125 billion

. >> cnn this morning with audie cornish. >> today at 6 a.m. on cnn. >> welcome back. the vatican says that pope francis is in stable condition, but still being watched closely at the hospital. let's go live now to rome, where cnn's ben wedeman joins us now with the latest. ben, what is the latest on the pope's condition? what are you hearing? >> what's. >> well, what we got, rahel, the usual one line statement from the vatican this morning that the pope slept well throughout the night. since then, we've heard from sources within the vatican saying that he had breakfast. he continues to eat solids, but he is receiving high flows of oxygen through a tube, through his nose. certainly, after last friday's incident where he had a respiratory crisis during which he vomited. there has been increased concern about his situation, even though a vatican officials continue to describe his current medical state as stable, but not out of danger quite yet. this is now day 18 that the 88 year old pontiff has been here at gemelli hospital in rome, and the prognosis continues to be des

i'm audie cornish, and cnn news central starts right now. >> a victory lap just 43 days after taking office. president trump addressing congress, talking about his rapid fire changes to overhaul the federal government and the nation. democrats holding up signs, walking out and even getting kicked out. >> deal or. >> no deal. >> the tariff. >> whiplash continues, with the commerce secretary suggesting the president may be ready to meet in the middle today. and also igniting hope on wall street. this mammoth winter storm. >> sparks. >> fires, dust bowls. now, there are. >> concerns of blizzards and tornadoes. we have the latest severe weather forecast. >> i'm john berman with kate bolduan and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> this was not about unity. the people elected me to do the job and i'm doing it. and this morning, major questions on what president trump will do next. after telling congress, america and the world that his divisive agenda is just getting started. trump signals full speed ahead. combative trump vows to press an unrelenting agenda. the new york times trump

he was on with audie cornish this morning. >> do you get the sense, though, that the tariffs will have to be discussed, meaning that he'll have to say to the american people, there could be some pain ahead? >> well, actually, i would say that he's going to lean into it and he's going to talk about how increasing tariffs can actually close the trade deficits, which january we saw record trade deficit, particularly when it comes to countries such as canada, mexico, china. and how if we don't go and do this now, we're going to be completely wiped out by certain industries. >> so is this one of those classic examples, potentially of short term pain, long term gain? >> well, there's really data that supports any thesis. i mean jason miller is there talking about trade deficits. but there are other economists who would say, well, if the u.s. is importing more than it exports, that means that our consumers here are wealthier and can afford to buy more things than other countries can. and maybe that's a good thing to when i talk to people in the business community, even though many of them hav

i'm audie cornish and cnn news central starts right now. >> we are standing by for the markets to open. after startling upheaval overnight, america's three largest trading partners lashing back after president trump issued new tariffs. economies on edge as the president speaks to congress tonight. >> critical military. >> aid to ukraine cut off. >> just as russia unleashes a new round of attacks. what president trump is now demanding from ukraine's leader before even considering sending help his way again. and a powerful cross-country storm delivering a weather triple threat. blizzard conditions, fire weather and even tornadoes expected to impact millions of people. sara is out today. i'm kate bolduan with john berman. this is cnn news central. >> all right. breaking this morning. we are watching the markets. they have dipped slightly negative after a huge plunge yesterday. overnight america's three largest trading partners china, canada and mexico all responding to new tariffs from president trump. and the responses might be harsher than expected. in a scathing editorial titled trump

i'm audie cornish, cnn news central is going to start right now. >> europe scrambling to do damage control with ukraine, ukraine uk prime minister confident president trump. will get on board eventually, just as russia is now celebrating the new u.s. foreign policy, declaring it coincides with russia's vision. wildfires sweep through. >> the carolinas evacuation states of. >> emergency the. >> latest on. >> the efforts to battle the surprising destruction. >> and, as conan. >> o'brien said. >> i guess americans are excited to see. somebody finally stand up to a powerful russian. the huge winner at the oscars overnight, and all the shenanigans you did. >> not see behind the scenes. sarah is out. i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> so here's the line to start your morning. we should spend less time worrying about putin this morning. that is the viewpoint of president trump. just as the nation is preparing for his first major address to congress. that speech, where every president is expected really to lay out their vision for the future, comes at a remarkable time,

. >> cnn this morning with audie cornish, tomorrow at 6 a.m. on cnn. >> happening now. federal workers are returning to their offices full time after an order from the president ending the ability to work from home. one problem the offices are not quite ready for the return. there was no wi-fi or electricity in the department of health and human services. the department of education had random wires sticking out of walls. other buildings did not have desks for employees. let's get right to my friend sunlen serfaty for the latest on this. kind of a complicated return. sunlen. >> it certainly was, john. many of these offices, frankly, were just not ready for employees to come back and actually get work done. last week was for a lot of these agencies. the first day last monday were federal workers were mandated to come back into their offices and report in person to their offices. and what we found is that these offices were certainly not ready to host them. myself and a few of my colleagues spent the week last week trying to figure out how it's going. we talked to many fe

cnn this morning with audie cornish today at 6 a.m. on cnn. >> america is back. i have created the brand new department of government efficiency. doge, which is headed by elon musk, who is in the gallery tonight. >> is there anyone in america who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20 year olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information, and your bank accounts? >> april 2nd reciprocal tariffs kick in. >> people refuse. >> to buy american products. we love the people, and. >> the president. >> needs to be stopped. >> but donald. >> this is a. >> very dumb thing to do. >> hello. and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the u.s. and all around the world. i'm rahel solomon. it is wednesday, march 5th, 5 a.m. exactly here in new york and in washington, where the u.s. president delivered a fiery, self-congratulatory campaign style address before congress and the american public. and his speech tuesday night, donald trump claimed that voters gave him a powerful mandate and declared that america's momentum, spi

. >> cnn this morning with audie cornish. >> today at. >> 6 a.m. on. >> cnn. >> he is. >> la salud del santo padre. >> francesco. >> the catholic faithful gathered in saint peter's square again to pray for pope francis. the pontiff is still in hospital after 19 days and suffered a setback on monday. cnn's ben wedeman has been live from rome since the beginning, and is joining us now from the vatican. ben, a real concern about this latest setback. what news are you hearing this morning? >> well, certainly. >> it seems. >> that there's going to be. >> many more of these nightly prayer vigils for the pope at this point. we did get a one line statement from the vatican this morning saying that the pope slept throughout the night and continues to rest. but certainly what he experienced yesterday, according to a source at the vatican, was a very difficult afternoon in which he had two respiratory crises. they described them as acute respiratory failures. uh, the medical staff here at rome's gemelli hospital had to intervene, giving him two bronchial bron

. >> audie cornish today at 6 a.m. on cnn. >> all right. to south korea, where one mayor says that parts of his city look like a battlefield after the country's air force accidentally dropped eight bombs on a residential area, 15 people were hurt before the military suspended all live fire exercises there. this happened in the city of pocheon several hours ago during military drills with u.s. forces close to the demilitarized zone, with north korea. south korean officials say that the bombs fell outside of a shooting range, destroying two residential buildings and part of a church. two of the victims were seriously hurt. officials also suggest that initial findings suggest a pilot had entered wrong bombing coordinates. u.s. president has issued what he is calling a last warning to hamas. quote release all of the hostages now, not later, or it's over for you. and his post on truth social. he also demanded the return of hostages who have died in gaza, saying, quote, only sick and twisted people keep bodies and not a single hamas member will b

i'm audie cornish and cnn news central begins right now. >> all right. we do have breaking news. president trump is expected to issue an executive order as soon as today that would dismantle the entire department of education. >> and happening now, european leaders gathered at a crucial summit with ukrainian president zelenskyy. can eu leaders fill in the gap left by president trump after his decision to pull u.s. aid from ukraine? >> also new this morning, there's new dna evidence discovered on one of the victims in the idaho quadruple murder case. i'm kate bolduan with john berman and sara sidner. this is cnn news central all right. >> breaking this morning was one hell of a headline in the politico playbook. look at that. school's out forever. well, there it went. moments ago, sources confirmed to cnn that president trump is preparing to sign an order to eliminate the education department as soon as today. the washington post and wall street journal, who first reported this and saw a draft of the order, say it will direct his new education secretary, linda mcmahon, to take all

. >> morning with audie cornish tomorrow at 6 a.m. on cnn. >> just a few minutes ago, we heard from vice president jd vance for the first time since he took the lead in chastising president zelenskyy on friday, triggering that oval office blowup between the two of them and president trump. and now, tonight, a pause on all military aid from the united states to ukraine. >> what i. >> tried to do. >> originally was actually. try to. >> defuze the situation. >> a. >> little bit because i'm like. >> you know, we're having this meeting. >> obviously there. >> are. >> 100 television cameras here. let's try to have this conversation in private. >> and then. >> the president. >> as we kept on going back and forth, i tried again to say, well. >> maybe we should have this conversation. >> in private. and the president was like, no, actually, i don't want to have it in private anymore. i want to have this. actual conversation. >> in public for the american. >> people to see. >> and i do think that there was just a certain. >> sense of. >> there

cnn this morning with audie cornish tomorrow at 6 a.m.cnn. >> closed captioning 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. >> 800 821 4000. >> today on capitol hill, new york city mayor eric adams was grilled by members of his own party over his efforts to help the trump white house on immigration after the justice department dropped his corruption case last month, prompting prompting accusations of a quid pro quo. >> have you. >> ever. >> talked about your case with anyone in the trump administration? >> i'm going to say this again. this case is in front of judge hall and out of deference to judge hall, he is going to determine the outcome of this case. >> that's not answering the question. >> i'm going to ask you one more time. have you ever talked about this case with. anyone in. >> the. >> trump administration? >> this case is in front of judge hall and at a deference to judge hall. judge hall is going

. >> cnn this morning with audie cornish tomorrow at 6 a.m.n cnn. >> tonight elon musk floating another idea for donald trump to consider pardoning the officer who put his knee on george floyd's neck, murdering him in front of a crowd. >> if we are issuing pardons, however, there is one person that president trump should pardon from federal charges forthwith. it would be incredibly controversial, but i think that it's absolutely necessary. that person is derek chauvin. president trump should, in fact, pardon derek chauvin. the evidence demonstrates that derek chauvin did not, in fact, commit murder of george floyd. george floyd was high on fentanyl. he had a significant preexisting heart condition. george floyd was saying he could not breathe before he was even out of the car. >> that is not what a jury decided. and that was conservative maga mouthpiece ben shapiro. and here's what elon musk sent out to his 319 million followers, a tacit endorsement of the idea. they're reposting it. joining us in our fifth seat at the table is dante mills. he

. >> cnn this morning with audie cornish. >> tomorrow at. >> 6 a.m. on cnn. >> welcome back to cnn's special coverage of donald trump's first address to congress of his second term. the first results of cnn's instant poll are in. let's get right to cnn's bureau chief and political director, david chalian. david, how did the voters that you snap polled feel about the speech? >> well, first, i just want to mention, jake, this is a poll of speech watchers, not a poll that is representative of the country overall or what, an electorate an election looks like. and what we know is that people who tend to be fans or partizans with the president, no matter which party the president is in, tend to tune in more on speeches like this. and that's the case in tonight's survey as well, because we're 21% democrat, 44% republican in this sample. 35% independent. that's about 14 points more republican than the overall general population. so keep that in mind when you see these results of speech watchers to the results. what was your reaction to trump's speech? 44% of

cnn this morning with audie cornish today at 6 a.m. on cnn. >> america is back.d the brand new