i'm john berman with kate bolduan and sara sidner.nn news central. >> are we headed for a constitutional crisis? president trump slamming rulings by federal judges and his top allies are suggesting he should defy the courts, all because the judges keep blocking trump's plans to overhaul the federal government. everything from

. >> baldwin with john berman and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> all right. today plans to slash u.s. >> aid staff. worldwide goes into effect. a workforce of more than. >> 10,000 is expected to be cut to just under 300 direct personnel. the rest of the agencies direct hires being placed on leave. tonight at midnight. this is all part of the trump administration's widespread efforts to dismantle the humanitarian agency. in response, two labor groups representing workers are suing. now, the administration whether a court will intervene on emergency grounds remains to be seen. all of this unfolding as a judge presses pause on the deadline for federal workers to accept president trump's buyout offer. now, more than 2 million federal workers have until monday to decide whether to take the offer and resign or risk being fired, as the trump administration looks to shrink the federal workforce. cnn's chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt, joining us now with the latest. let's begin with with usaid. just a few hours from now, we are expecting almost a

i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> and breaking. >> news overnight. >> high stakes. >> talks between the u.s. and russia are happening right now in saudi arabia. secretary of state marco rubio sitting down with top russian officials for the first time since russia invaded ukraine nearly three years ago. notably, not at the table right now. is anyone from ukraine or america's european allies? but the closed door talks? they are critical to the future of the deadly conflict and the future hopes of a democratic ukraine. we are standing by to see what comes out, what news, what word, what sign comes out of that room this morning, just as we also see a very stark split screen playing out those civilized talks to end the war. on one side and the other, word from ukraine that russia is intensifying its attacks as we speak. and we're also learning new details about the american just freed by russia hours before the talks began. cnn's matthew chance is in riyadh following all of this. matthew, what

i'm sara sidner with john berman and kate baldwin. this is cnn news central. >> an absolute unnecessary. >> counterintelligence risk. and one putting lives in danger. that is the warning today from one top democrat, as the concern is now growing over the national security risks just triggered by a new move from the white house ordering the cia to send an unclassified email inside that email. the first name, last initial of every cia staffer hired in the last two years. the cia complied. the fear now foreign hackers and the new safety threat for americans in the u.s. and abroad. cnn's zach cohen is with us. he's got much more reporting on this. good morning. zach, what are you learning? >> yeah. kate, this is part of the cia's. broader effort to comply with that executive order from president donald trump to downsize the federal workforce. but look for an agency that prioritizes and places a premium on secrecy. this is really, frankly, a surprising move that the cia sent this list of names to the white house in an unclassified email, a

i'm john berman with kate bolduan and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> and the breaking news overnight, american marc fogel back on u.s. soil. last night. clearly overwhelmed and clearly overcome by emotion, he stood alongside president trump with an american flag draped over his shoulders. president trump welcoming him home and to the white house. now, after three years of wrongful detention in russia. >> i feel like the luckiest man on earth right now. and, uh. i want you to know that i am not a hero in this at all. and president trump is a hero. >> this morning. we are now standing by to really find out more. possibly another detained american to be freed in the coming hours. that was suggested by the president last night. who this person is, though, or when and or where they will be released from, that is unclear. we're also waiting to find out how this deal to free marc fogel came together. who or what russia is getting in return? the kremlin says a russian citizen is being released as part of the exchange. but as you ca

john berman. >> all right.ing overnight, the post office has stopped accepting incoming packages from china until further notice. how your online shopping could be affected. and then $40,000 of precious booty stolen from the back of a trailer. what kind of treasure are we talking about? eggs. 100,000 eggs this morning. the eggs and the suspects are on the lam. >> kick off in new orleans is brought to you by clearchoice dental implant centers. visit clearchoice. com today. >> dear doctor k, i used to think i was never meant to be beautiful. i was teased because of my teeth. i didn't like the person looking back at me in the mirror. i never thought i could afford dental implants. you and your team work within my budget and help me feel confident in the plan we made together. i love my new smile. thank you. >> congratulations! >> you have a beautiful soul, cynthia. finance the smile you want for as low. >> as 148. >> a month per arch. >> schedule a. free consultation. >> how did i ever miss this before. >> you. >>

i'm kate bolduan with sara sidner and john berman. this is cnn news central. >> all right. happening now. the firings have begun. many people who worked at the department of education and small business administration last night. they are now waking up unemployed. the scope of this is unclear, but it is a shift for the most part. up until this point. billionaire elon musk's team has directed federal employees be placed on paid leave. this is getting fired. moments ago, musk commented on the buyouts. a separate thing, which have now been cleared by a federal judge. he says those who accepted it can, quote, take a vacation, get a second job, do whatever they want, save for the job that they were just moved out of. let's get right to cnn's alayna treene live at the white house for the very latest on this attrition forced an otherwise. >> exactly. look, as. >> you. >> put it, john, the widespread. layoffs have begun. scores of federal employees who had been placed on. >> probationary status. >> recently at the. >> department of education, as well as the small business administr

john berman all right.we are standing by for a critical white house meeting later today between president trump and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the meeting will be trump's first in-person sit down with a foreign leader this term, and the stakes are incredibly high, with the gaza cease right now in the balance. cnn's global affairs analyst kim dozier is joining us now with her expertise. thank you so much for coming in this morning for us. what, if anything, do you expect to come out of this meeting when it comes to gaza and the fragile ceasefire and hostage release that we are now seeing? well, outwardly, president trump has said some things that would make prime minister bibi netanyahu very pleased. he has hinted that he wouldn't mind. an expansion of israel's territory into the west bank. he has said openly he's. >> called for. >> palestinians to be essentially expelled. from gaza while the place is. >> rebuilt and. taken in by. >> egypt and jordan, which both of. >> them have rejected. but

i'm kate bolduan with sara sidner and john berman. this is cnn news center. >> all right. any moment now, a critical senate committee vote for president trump's nominee to lead the fbi. kash patel. the judiciary committee is expected to advance his nomination to the full senate floor. that is despite the committee's top democrat, senator dick durbin, lodging some serious allegations. durbin saying multiple sources have told him that patel had already ordered fbi firings, even though he has not been confirmed for the job. it's also a big day for some of the president's other picks. the full senate expected to vote on robert f kennedy jr.. s nomination for health and human services secretary. and there's a committee hearing for trump's pick to lead the department of education, linda mcmahon. cnn's lauren fox is covering all of this on capitol hill, an extremely busy day. you have these three nominees. what are you learning? >> yeah, i actually standing outside of the room where the senate judiciary committee is going to vote in just a couple of minutes on kash patel nominati

john berman will be speaking to him. ahead. kate. >> elon musk taking questions for the first time since launching doge, admits he said things that aren't true about the very programs he is cutting, and he's still cutting them. what he's targeting next and the additional powers of the president just gave him. and it is a battle over immigration enforcement and the first amendment. more than two dozen faith groups are suing the trump administration, fighting to keep i.c.e. out of houses of worship. >> so i got you a little. >> something. >> warming for him, tingling for her. >> should we. >> experience the thrill of bringing them together? say more than i love you. say i want you with me, yours and mine. >> big and. >> small. >> essential big or small. >> essential big. >> small essential. grande essential. >> no matter. >> what business. >> you're in, verizon business has the network and solutions. >> you need to power it. >> can nariva support your brain. >> health. mary. janet. >> hey, edie. >> no! fraser. frank. frank. fred,

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> and happening now, we are following the reaction both in the united states and overseas, to the new proposal from president donald trump laying out what is now his proposed plan for gaza that the united states should own it and relocate the nearly 2 million palestinians who live there. the president even open to sending in u.s. troops to implement his plan. >> the only reason the palestinians want to go back to gaza is they have no alternative. they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again. the u.s. will take over the gaza strip, and we will do a job with it, too. we'll own it. >> and a live look behind me at the white house and at gaza right now, a place that president trump said all palestinians should leave so he can redevelop it and eventually turn it into the way he described it was the riviera of the middle east. some of his biggest republican supporters on the hill asked about this, republican senato

i'm john berman with kate bolduan and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> are we headed for a constitutional crisis? president trump slamming rulings by federal judges and his top allies are suggesting he should defy the courts, all because the judges keep blocking trump's plans to overhaul the federal government. everything from trump's push to end birthright citizenship to doge leader elon musk's effort to shrink federal agencies and slash federal funding have been thwarted so far by the courts. so what comes next in this unprecedented situation? will the president simply defy those rulings which could possibly set the country on the path to a constitutional crisis? cnn katelyn polantz is with me now. a lot happened on monday. a lot of things were said. explain all the ways the courts have essentially put on pause or blocked trump's policies from being implemented, at least for now. >> yeah, it is for now, sara, as of this time. but the courts are acting fast. there was one judge on monday, a federal judge in rhode island who

. >> with sara sidner and john berman. this is cnn news central. >> and we are standing by for news out of ukraine, where president trump's envoy, keith kellogg, is meeting with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. it comes as president trump has made a clear rhetorical shift toward russia and toward russian talking points. false talking points president trump has now falsely called zelenskyy a dictator multiple times. he falsely accused ukraine of starting the war with russia. russia invaded ukraine a short time ago. one of putin's key deputies, dmitry medvedev, posted on elon musk's twitter quote, if you had told me three months ago that these were the words of the u.s. president, i would have laughed out loud. even the russians can't believe how much trump has swung their way. we have brand new polling showing voters might be getting wary of some of president trump's moves. his approval is now dipping below zelenskyy's, which, of course, president trump falsely attacked the other day. overnight, ukrainian forces rep

sara ganim john berman nayib bukele to. >> ukrainians filmed themselves taking dna samples from the dead, which they say prove these were korean. ukraine says up to a third of the 12,000 here are already dead or injured, and more are coming 12 rifle and backpack russia gave the north koreans they are overladen with ammo, he says, but sometimes no body armor or warm clothes and minimal water. >> north korea. just told us. to no. shawna slarb. >> tim burchett. this thermal drone video shows that speed of attack below a seven ukrainians in a trench facing 130 north koreans above who race at them and then try to flank them. many died here, but they seemed to be learning. >> or. >> good morning everyone. i'm fredricka whitfield in atlanta. we want to take you straight to philadelphia, pennsylvania. governor josh shapiro now talking as a result of that medevac plane crash, killing six on board, killing one on the ground and injuring several others on the ground. let's listen in. >> i also want to reaffirm what the mayor said about everybody working together with common purpose. there are no si

i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> happening right now. stock futures are down as u.s. markets are about to open. this comes as america's biggest trading partners say they are being forced to retaliate against president trump's new tariffs. tariffs that he now admits for the first time really will cause the american people pain. still, president trump saying it will be worth it. starting tomorrow, canada and mexico mexico are looking at a 25% tariffs on goods, and china is staring down an additional 10% tariff on goods. president trump is going to be speaking with canadian and mexican leaders this morning. but the president has already said he is not expecting anything to come of those conversations. so say hello to your trade war, i guess. cnn's kevin liptak at the white house for us this morning. kevin, what are you hearing from the white house this morning? >> yeah. i mean, at least when you listen to donald trump, it does not sound as if an 11th hour reprieve will be coming. he says he doesn't expect anything dramatic to come from his

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> and the breaking news. overnight, one trade war ramps up, this one between donald trump and beijing and two others. simmer down as donald trump makes a u-turn on tariffs against mexico and canada. for now, and just as quickly as the tariffs on china set in, china is striking back, promising a 15% tax on u.s. coal, a 10% tax on u.s. crude and other products like agriculture, agricultural machinery and certain cars and trucks. and on top of all that, china says, we'll see you and raise you another. the chinese government is now putting a new target on u.s. companies specifically accusing some big name brands of market trading violations. brands like calvin klein and tommy hilfiger, and then there's google, also now facing an investigation by china for allegedly violating the country's anti-monopoly regulations. that's even though the company is not even operating there. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house this morning with much more on this. so while t

i'm kate bolduan with john berman. sara is out today. this is cnn news central. >> all right. >> into our newsroom just a few minutes ago, two new video showing the crash in toronto that left that delta flight upside down. let's take a look at the newest one here. you can see this delta flight coming in on what appears to be a routine landing at toronto pearson international airport. but then as it hits the ground, the fire, the smoke and in the distance there, that's the plane flipping over. an extraordinary vantage point. a different view. we also have this morning. that's from the front. you can see the plane coming down and it looks to be landing hard right there. you can see it coming down, perhaps a little more steeply, a little harder than it should be. then the smoke again, and then the flames, the wind gusts at the time 40mph. there was snow blowing in the air. the visibility was limited. let's get right to cnn's jason carroll, live in toronto this morning for the latest information you're picking up on the ground there, jason.

live down south and are prepared for brutal winter weather, i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan and john berman. this cnn news central. >> and we are standing by this hour for news out of ukraine, where president trump's ukraine envoy, keith kellogg, is on the ground meeting with ukrainian president zelenskyy. the sit down now, all the more important after what sarah was talking about off the top after president trump made a flurry of unfounded false accusations targeting zelenskyy. trump calling zelenskyy a dictator. now, multiple times at the same time, remaining completely silent on the real dictator involved in the negotiations, vladimir putin. and this is after donald trump tried to say that ukraine started the war with russia, rather than russia's full scale invasion starting in. these are russian talking points. and the kremlin today is applauding donald trump, saying that they, quote, absolutely agree with the u.s. administration. also happening amid this war of words is the actual war. overnight, ukrainian forces say a barrage of russian drones struck several cities, including kyiv. cn

i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. and the breaking news. we do have brand new video. we just got our hands on it, showing the moment a delta plane crashed and flipped upside down at toronto international airport. this is one of the new vantage point. you can see how hard that plane landed and the sparks. again, 18 people were hurt. incredibly, all 80 on board survived. and that's one of the new videos. the other one is this i'm just seeing it for the first time as well. let's watch. >> one. >> two three. >> dale ho. >> oh, oh. >> oh no. >> no no no no. oh, that's. how are you seeing this? airplane is crashing. two, three. oh my god. oh my god. >> what a vantage point that was. you saw the plane come down. we apologize for the profanity, but we just got that video in screening there for the very first time. as these people were watching the plane go down, you could see the smoke and you could see the flames there. that delta flight was on the way from minneapolis, and investigation is now underway to determine what caused it. we do know abou

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> very soon, european leaders will meet for an emergency meeting in paris as the u.s. closes in on its high stakes talks with russia. top white house officials will meet one on one with top russian officials tomorrow in saudi arabia. the goal, of course, to end russia's war in ukraine but notably missing ukraine or any officials with ukraine this morning. serious alarm now being raised over how president trump plans to negotiate. trump has said depending on how these talks go in the next 24 hours, he could be meeting with putin very soon. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house. we saw the secretary of state, marco rubio, arriving just hours ago. we're seeing him come down the stairs there in saudi arabia for these upcoming talks. what is the very latest on what you understand what will happen here? >> well, look, when i talked to trump administration officials about this, sarah, they say depending on how tomorrow goes, as you mentioned, we could see potent

i'm john berman with kate baldwin. this is cnn news central. >> let's get. >> to it. new this morning. u.s. stock futures down. global markets roiled and less than 16 hours until president trump's tariffs set in against canada. mexico and china. a trade war now ignited by the white house and one that has all three of america's biggest trading partners getting ready to retaliate against president trump is going to be speaking with the with canadian and mexican leaders this morning, but he is already saying that he's not expecting anything really to come out of those conversations. one big change, though already. donald trump is acknowledging for the first time the reality that americans are going to feel the pain in this trade war. starting tomorrow. canada and mexico and the american people. let's be honest, are looking at 20 to 25% tariffs. china is staring down an additional 10% tariff on goods. cnn's senior white house reporter kevin liptak is starting us off this hour. so kevin, is there are you hearing anything inside, any rumblings that donald trump could still

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate baldwin. this is cnn news central. >> this morning, president trump's plan to overhaul the federal workforce is on hold. a federal judge paused the trump administration's so-called buyout offer, pushing back yesterday's deadline to monday. the judge halting the program amid a fight over whether it's even legal. so far, at least 65,000 federal workers, though, have accepted the offer to resign. now, federal unions are questioning whether the trump administration will actually be able to follow through on the promise of continuing to pay those employees through september. one union has called it a, quote, clear case of bait and switch, saying some irs workers who accepted the offer have been told they have to work through may 15th for the tax filing season instead of leaving immediately. all of that is playing out as elon musk loses a key doge staffer who resigned after he was linked to controversial posts online. cnn's kevin liptak is at the white house for us. kevin, what is the white house sa

i'm john berman with kate bolduan and sara siner. this is cnn news central. >> we are keeping a close watch on the white house right now. we're very soon. president trump will be welcoming the king of jordan, a close u.s. ally and one that the that president trump has now threatened, suggesting he would withhold aid if jordan does not get on board with donald trump's plans to take over gaza. >> would you. >> withhold aid. >> to. >> these countries. >> if they don't. >> agree to take in the palestinians? >> yeah, maybe. sure. why not? you mean if they don't agree? if they don't agree, i would i would conceivably withhold aid. yeah. >> as we know, the president says he wants to move millions of palestinians out of gaza into jordan and egypt so that the united states could own gaza and redevelop it. jordan and egypt have resoundingly and continuously rejected that. president trump, though, doubled down on the idea in a new interview overnight. >> beautiful piece of land. would the palestinians? know big money spent? no, they wouldn't. >

i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan and john berman. this is cnn news central. >> america's top diplomat and. >> top key negotiators are on the ground in saudi arabia today, getting ready for the most critical talks yet since russia launched its war on ukraine. >> the u.s. >> sitting down with russia to potentially talk about bringing an end to the war in ukraine, though glaringly absent and missing from that conversation, is anyone from ukraine and also anyone from europe? european leaders holding an emergency meeting today in order to coordinate a response to what's happening in saudi arabia without them. and moments ago, ukraine's president zelenskyy had this brand new reaction just in that ukraine perceives any negotiations about ukraine without ukraine as those with no results. cnn's elena train is at the white house for us. we saw secretary of state marco rubio arriving in riyadh just a little while ago. what are you hearing about? about what is going to happen there? >> right. well, as you mentioned, we saw rubio arriving this mo

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central all right. you are looking at live pictures of stock futures going down. why? because the breaking news just moments ago, the first inflation report we have seen for 2025. and it's not good heading in the wrong direction. let's get right to cnn's matt egan. i was digging through this. i could find almost nothing good here. >> yeah, john, it's really hard to find anything good here. this was a setback, a significant one and one that we were not expecting. so the big number here is 3%. that's the annual inflation rate for january. that is the highest level since june. that was not expected to happen. the monthly rate also ticked higher. that is not what you want. digging in core, which excludes food and energy. both of those figures also went the wrong direction. so why is this happening? well, there's a number of different drivers here. everything from hotels, airfare went higher, eggs, egg prices were actually a significant part of this as well. we know the bird flu is a massive problem. there's

i'm sara sidner with john berman and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> a new week, a new government agency targeted an expiring deadline on that so-called federal buyout and a new round of tariffs. today, president trump is set to announce new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. he says he's going to separately announce new reciprocal tariffs to match what other countries have on u.s. goods, dollar for dollar. every country they charge us, we charge them is the message from the president. the tariffs on steel and aluminum will impact canada and mexico, two of the largest exporters of steel to the united states. and yes, the president just last week hit pause on his threatened tariffs against those very same countries that was supposed to be a 30 day pause on across the board tariffs. but now who knows. also today, china's retaliatory tariffs on the united states go into effect. they will impact about $13 billion in u.s. goods. cnn's alayna treene at the white house to start us off this hour. what are you hearing this morni

i'm kate bolduan with sara sidner and john berman. this is cnn news central all right. >> happening now you're looking at live pictures from capitol hill. we are standing by to see president trump deliver remarks at the national prayer breakfast. we will take that to you live. the minute he begins. also, it is a strange and maybe pivotal day in washington. it is the final day for federal workers to decide if they will take a buyout or offer to resign, or risk getting laid off. and breaking overnight. there are new developments in the battle over whether elon musk's team should have access to sensitive data inside the treasury department. let's get to cnn's alayna treene at the white house with that. what data? who's got access? what's limited? what's not? >> yeah, there are a lot of questions about this, particularly some of the legality of what elon musk and his representatives at doge have been doing. and one of the questions was that some of his representatives, some of those representatives, had gotten access to highly sensitive,

john berman here in for anderson. and even a flood of news. our top story is almost biblical in proportion. tonight at a press conference with israeli prime minister netanyahu, the president of the united states declared the u.s. will take over gaza. own it, he said, and he would not rule out u.s. troops to do it. as for the men, women and children displaced by the fighting in gaza, he said they need to leave 1.9 million people. that's according to the u.n., 1.8 million people, according to the president. in his view, the war, which hamas launched with their unprovoked october 7th attack should end with all those people living elsewhere and the united states in control of a large, almost beach resort. >> the u.s. will take over the gaza strip, and we will do a job with it, too. we'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housin

i'm kate baldwin with sara sidner and john berman. this is cnn news central. >> trump's trade war is on. china is now punching back after trump slapped a 10% tariff on a myriad of chinese imports to the united states. china's retaliatory tariffs of 15% hitting u.s. coal and liquefied natural gas, plus a 10% tariff on u.s. crude oil and large displacement cars and pickup trucks. beijing, also targeting a selection of u.s. companies including google, calvin klein, tommy hilfiger and the reverberations are being felt globally. cnn's alayna treene is following the moves from the trump white house, and mark stewart is in china learning what that country is doing. as we see this sort of fallout. but first, let's start with alayna treene. what are you learning from the white house? we all watched, you know, over the last couple of days where there was a sort of war with canada and a war with mexico that kind of fell off. at least we have a month reprieve. but this with china seems to be going full steam ahead. >> yes, that's exactly right. w

john berman here in for anderson. and when you look at what's left of delta flight 4819 on its back off runway 23 at toronto's pearson international airport, you have to stop and catch your breath when you see passengers escaping. even more so. >> drop it. come on. don't take no video away. go, go. holy. holy. holy. >> oh., my. god. >> this is video. extraordinary video. a passenger took climbing out of an overwing exit that's now an under wing exit. or would be if the right wing were still there. others got out through the front exit of the crj 900 regional jet operated for delta by endeavor air. their world literally turned upside down. this is not how you ever expect to see a passenger plane, let alone one in which anyone, or in this case, everyone, makes it out alive. the crash happened on landing at about 213 this afternoon. that's according to flightaware. a short time later, this is the conversation between toronto tower and a rescue chopper. >> where's the crash? it's on runway two three. right at the threshol

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> this morning. a coast to coast winter storm continues to wreak havoc in the south, midwest and northeast. the weather system that battered parts of california just days ago has now caused widespread flooding across kentucky, indiana, virginia. the storm killing at least ten people. most of the deaths are in kentucky. first responders there carried out more than 1000 rescues. kentucky's governor says it's one of the worst disasters they have seen in at least a decade. parts of kentucky and tennessee saw more than eight inches of rain. the national weather service says in some areas, high waters mixed with snow and ice, making it even more treacherous. and the same system is responsible for at least four tornadoes in alabama. making matters even worse, dangerously cold temperatures are moving into the region this week. cnn's danny freeman is in salem, virginia, for us. give us some sense of what the conditions are, where you are and what you've been seeing as far as this damage. >> sure. sara, i thin

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central all right. right there, you're seeing live pictures from the white house. and also from gaza the geopolitics of one has been completely upended by the other. president trump proposing u.s. ownership of gaza with u.s. troops if necessary, and the removal of 2 million palestinians. >> we'll do what is necessary. if it's necessary, we'll do that. we're going to take over that piece that we're going to develop it. i do see a long term ownership position. we have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal, and i don't want to be cute. i don't want to be a wise guy. but the riviera of the middle east, this could be something that could be so bad. this could be so magnificent. >> in the last few hours, there has been condemnation from nations around the world that, in theory, would need to support this move. we could hear again shortly from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, who will meet with defense secretary pete hegseth. we're already hearing from some republican senators

i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> a lot we're tracking this hour, including this this morning, a wave of layoffs across the federal federal government is setting in thousands of people across across the federal workforce now out of work as the president as the trump administration moves ahead with its plans to dramatically shrink the size of the workforce, the exact number is not yet known. but sources say that job cuts are deep at both the department of energy and the department of veterans affairs and at the va, talking about more than 1000 jobs. now cut. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house tracking all of this. elena, this is exactly what donald trump and elon musk says was coming. but what are you hearing about this now, as we're hearing from the va and the new secretary of the va himself. >> and he goes on. >> that's right. they did. well, i'll say i'll put it this way. they had so far been trying to say that all of these federal workers, many federal workers, were going to be g

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> happening now. trump forgotten who the dictator is. a stunning rift in unity among the world's richest nations. as president trump refuses to say two words every other g7 leader wants to say those words. russian aggression this morning. the u.s. does not want that phrase included in a joint g7 statement that's being drafted right now. as ukraine approaches its three year mark of the war. as one western official put it, there is a lot of concern at equivocating. who is responsible for the war? the answer is russia. there was no concern exactly a year ago when the 2024 version plainly stated. russia's war of aggression several times calling it russia's illegal, unjustifiable and unprovoked full scale invasion. all of this capping a whirlwind week that left russia rejoicing and europe alarmed. but this morning, ukraine's president zelenskyy is expressing some hope after meeting with president trump's envoy. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house. but first, let's go to nick paton walsh, who is in ky

i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> harakat al-muqawama al-islamiyya. >> so we are standing by for vice president jd vance expected to speak very soon in munich, and he just gave a new interview to the wall street journal, laying down a new marker for the negotiations to end russia's war in ukraine, saying that the united states could use sending troops to ukraine as a tool of leverage if russia failed to negotiate in good faith. someone listening to that very closely. ukrainian president zelenskyy, zelenskyy also laying down his own marker for those negotiations, saying now he does not believe the u.s. has a ready made plan to end russia's war. van jones zelenskyy set to meet later today. so where is president trump on all of this? it seems clearly tbd, but moments ago, defense secretary pete hegseth doubled down on his assessment that u.s. troops will not be needed in ukraine. and also breaking overnight when it comes to the actual war, a drone attack at chernobyl's nuclear site. radiation

i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> and we are standing by to hear from vice president jd vance in his remarks this morning. all the more important, getting all the more attention after what he just told the wall street journal, which is that the u.s. could use sending troops to ukraine as a quote, unquote, tool of leverage if russia failed to negotiate in good faith. now, some people are reading that as meaning u.s. troops going to ukraine is on the table, even though the defense secretary has said the exact opposite. hence, there is confusion that needs to be clarified. vance jd vance, the vice president, will also be meeting with ukraine's president zelenskyy today, who just said that he does not believe the united states has a ready made plan to end russia's war. and there's also this with regard to the ongoing actual war, a drone attack at chernobyl nuclear site. radiation levels are now being monitored. ukraine blaming russia, with president zelenskyy saying this, that it shows, quote,

i'm kate bolduan with john berman. sara is out today. this is cnn news central. >> and breaking. >> this morning. stocks are down. >> oil prices. >> are up. >> economic anxiety is just about everywhere. after president trump launched a trade war on. >> u.s. allies. >> with the wall street journal called. >> the dulles. >> trade war in history. a moniker the president. >> clearly does not like. >> so he signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on goods. >> from. >> canada and mexico, an additional 10% tariff. >> on chinese imports. >> they all go into effect at midnight tonight. this means you. >> could soon pay. more for. >> groceries. >> gas. >> new. >> cars, cell phones, avocados. >> president trump says. >> it will. all be worth. >> the price. he says it. >> will be. >> worth. >> the price that must. be paid. this morning, he is scheduled to speak with the leaders of canada and mexico i don't expect anything very dramatic. >> we put tariffs on. they owe us a lot of money and i'm sure they're going to pay. we may have short term so

i'm john berman with kate baldwin and sara sidner. this is cnn news center. >> in just hours, a judge will hold a hearing on whether trump's so-called buyout offer to federal employees is actually legal. trump administration has given the employees until the end of the day today to accept or reject the deal or face the potential of being fired. last week, the same federal judge pushed trump's deadline to tonight after pausing the administration's move. that ruling will have a massive impact on the president's plan as he tries to gut and reshape the government plans, led by billionaire elon musk and his government efficiency team. cnn's paula reid is joining me now. we've already heard once from this judge. now, the question is, what will happen in this particular ruling, which could potentially be a far bigger ruling, depending on what the judge says. >> yes, sara, this is a huge day, not only for the trump administration. but also for the federal employees who are contemplating whether they should accept this deferred resignation off

i'm kate bolduan with john berman and sara sidner. this is cnn news center. all right, the breaking news, some of the breaking news we're following this morning. ukraine's president zelenskyy speaking to reporters in kyiv, saying that president trump is living in a, quote, disinformation space. this is after zelenskyy became aware, of course, that president trump falsely blamed ukraine for starting the war with russia. >> 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. >> let's get over to let's get to kyiv. cnn's nick paton walsh is standing by. nick, talk to me about what we're hearing from president zelenskyy this morning because he is saying quite a bit. and this what we just heard from one of these things, we just heard from him going to just add to the tension now in these negotiations. >> yeah. i mean, look, it is startling to hear the pr

i'm kate bolduan with john berman and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> all right. this morning we are poring through brand new cnn polling on president trump's second term scorecard so far. if you will, exactly a month. that's where we are today. and to his administration. his approval rating is now at 47%. there are signs americans are growing dissatisfied with his handling of the biggest issue on their minds high prices, but also concern about his push for more presidential power. let's get right into it. with all of the numbers and all of the analysis. cnn, washington bureau chief and political director david chalian. a man with many titles, a man with a big brain, david, 47%. good morning. this tells you something about where people are. give us some sense of what you saw in these numbers. >> yeah. >> you know, when you're looking. >> at donald trump's approval ratings. >> it's always. >> needing to be compared to donald trump because 47% is actually a numeric high in cnn polling for trump. ever. across the four years of his first administration, we never saw h

i'm sara sidner with john berman and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> the mass firings heard round the world. and now the echoing sound of boos reverberating back. this morning, president trump and elon musk's effort to dramatically slash the size of the federal government and shrink the size of the federal workforce is facing a new type of pushback, this time at town halls in places like deep red georgia. watch what republican one republican congressman faced yesterday. >> tyranny is. >> rising in the white. >> house, and a man has declared himself our king. so i would. >> like to know. >> whether the people would like to know what you, congressman and your fellow congressman, are. going to. do to rein in the megalomaniac in the white. >> house. shou chew. edward dowd. thank you. now there are you. >> i'm not going to give you my best foghorn leghorn response to that, but what i you can go ahead and sit down. thank you. the when you talk about tyranny, when you talk about presidential power. i remember having the same discu

. >> john berman after three weeks of emotional reunions in israel and at long last, calm in gaza, the israel-hamas ceasefire now hanging by a thread. >> in hamas. >> if hamas does not return our hostages by saturday noon, the ceasefire will end and the idf will return to intense fighting until hamas is completely defeated. >> the israeli prime minister, piggybacking off this ultimatum from president trump. >> as far as i'm concerned, if all of the hostages aren't returned by saturday at 12:00, i think it's an appropriate time. i would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. >> after convening his security cabinet, netanyahu not going quite as far, with an israeli official telling cnn israel is demanding hamas release nine living hostages in the coming days. hamas threatening not to release any hostages this weekend, accusing israel of multiple ceasefire violations. the palestinian ministry of health says israel has killed 92 people and wounded another 822 in gaza since the start of the ceasefire. israel has acknowledged several incidents during the ceasefire, in whi

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news central. >> breaking news this morning, president trump speaking at the national prayer breakfast and promising to build a new high tech system for air traffic controllers following last week's deadly mid-air collision that took 67 lives. he admitted that in his own private plane, he is using a technical system from a foreign country because ours is, quote, terrible. >> we should have had the proper control. we should have had better equipment. we don't. we have obsolete equipment. they were understaffed for whatever reason. i guess the helicopter was high and we'll find out exactly what happened, because we're all going to sit down and do a great, uh, computerized system for our control towers. brand new, not pieced together, obsolete, like it is land based. trying to hook up a land based system. >> you see him there acknowledging the staffing issues. and this is the final day that federal workers have to take a buyout and voluntarily resign or be fired. so far, at l

i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. this is cnn news center. >> the most public exchange of accusations between kyiv and washington that we've seen yet. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy lashing back at president donald trump after trump falsely accused ukraine of starting the war with russia. in addition to asking president trump and his team to be more truthful, his he's accusing donald trump of parroting russian disinformation. white house and kremlin officials met this week to discuss plans to end the war, but ukraine was not a part of that. cnn's nick paton walsh is joining us now from kyiv. look, this is the first time we're really seeing zelenskyy having some very strong words about the president of the united states. what are you hearing? >> reporter. >> yeah, and look, in truth, zelenskyy is reacting to two incorrect statements made by president trump yesterday that ukraine essentially started the war. it was russia that invaded in 2022, unprovoked, and that his poll rating is at about 4%. now, you know,

i'm kate baldwin with john berman and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> all right. this morning. the deadline is now monday. a federal judge paused. president trump and elon musk's so-called buyout plan for federal workers over a fight on whether it's legal. so far, 65,000 federal workers have accepted the offer. we should note that is, fewer fewer workers than normally leave every year. there is also an effort to force workers out. sources within usaid tell us fewer than 300 staffers will be able to keep their jobs. the organization has some 10,000 personnel around the world, and one more update on the people pushing these staffing decisions. one person on elon musk's team resigned after he was tied to racist social media posts. let's get to cnn's kevin liptak at the white house for the latest on this. and the latest seems to be this pause. kevin. >> yeah. and federal workers now have three more days to decide whether they're going to take up the white house's offer to put themselves on paid administrative leave until september, or risk the these layoffs that the w

i'm kate bolduan with john berman and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. >> kyung lah. >> all right. in the white house with a chainsaw. but no colonel mustard. the breaking news this morning, word that president trump is preparing to wipe away the leadership of the independent u.s. postal service and absorb it directly into the trump administration. this was first reported by the washington post. this has huge implications for political patronage, huge implications for all the packages and valentines you get in the mail, but also for the future of this independent service that the washington post notes, ranks as one of the most popular in the country. let's get right to cnn's alayna treene at the white house for these new post office plans. elena, what are you learning? >> well, it's also not just one of the most popular agencies, john. it's also one that's been around for more than 250 years. so keep that in mind. but look, you're exactly right. there have been multiple reports, and we've been hearing as well that the president