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Trump Proposes U.S. Troops Take Over Gaza; Elon Musk's Government Purge. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 05, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:40]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Special government employee Elon Musk escalating his plan to purge the federal government. We're talking sweeping layoffs, buyout offers for CIA staff, and a deadline for all USAID employees. We have new details.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, swift and fierce reaction from U.S. allies and adversaries after President Trump says the U.S. will take over Gaza, turning it into a Riviera of the Middle East, a pitch that could have massive implications not just on phase two of the Gaza cease-fire deal, but also on the entire Middle East.

Plus, sworn in and ready to shake it up. Attorney General Pam Bondi arriving at the Justice Department amid a firestorm. What we know about her dramatic plans for day one.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Right now, federal workers across the country and around the world are bracing for impact as President Trump and Elon Musk's mandate to dismantle and reshape the federal government rapidly expands.

We have learned that the CIA is offering its entire work force a buyout, similar to what other federal workers were told last week. It's notable because the national security sector had been considered exempt from the buyout. In the meantime, USAID employees in limbo as Trump and Musk dramatically overhaul the international humanitarian agency.

Most employees will be put on leave starting Friday and those who are overseas have been ordered to return to the U.S., all of this while sources inside the Trump administration warn CNN that widespread layoffs are coming soon and that those who didn't take the buyout offer are at risk of losing their jobs.

We're covering all of the angles, so let's start now with CNN's Katie Bo Lillis on the entire CIA work force receiving these buyout offers.

Katie, what can you tell us?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, we know that this was a decision that CIA Director John Ratcliffe made personally, telling the White House that he believed that the agency should be included in the so-called deferred resignation program, but this is still a much less sweeping offer than has been offered to federal employees in other civilian government agencies.

There are -- even as the offer has gone out to the entire work force at the CIA, not everyone is expected to be allowed to take it. Our sources tell us that there are believed to be some restrictions on which employees, based on their expertise or based on what particular career path they're in, are actually going to be able to exercise this buyout if they should choose.

This does appear to be a recognition of the fact that there are certainly some roles that are considered too important to national security to be allowed to resign, even as the broader mandate to shrink the federal government is a key priority for the Trump administration and for Elon Musk.

But this is, of course, still an effort to really reshape the CIA, and there are two big things going on here. One, of course, is that Trump and his allies have seen the intelligence community and the CIA as part of a deep state. The other is that there is a broad sense that Ratcliffe and his allies do want to try to shift the agency towards covert action, intelligence gathering, and away from analysis, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Katie Bo.

And, Alex Marquardt, I know you have some news about the USAID, which is feeling earthquakes now all the way overseas, to where so many of its employees are stationed.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, it too is being dismantled one step at a time.

For the past few days, we have heard this steady drumbeat of people being frozen out of their accounts, hundreds and hundreds of contractors, the top-level career officials being put on leave. And now we have this agency-wide broad mandate directive by the top of USAID that everybody, all the direct hires -- so these are the direct U.S. government employees -- are being put on administrative leave, which means they will go home, they will keep their pay.

But keep in mind, Brianna, of course, there are thousands of these direct hires, and most of them are around the world. So those agency staffers will have to pack up and get home, they say, within the next 30 days.

Many of them are working in far-reaching, dangerous, and desperate places. Many of them are overseas with their families. Their kids are in schools, and they're being told to come home. They will have to find places to live. They may eventually have to find jobs. They may have to find schools for their children.

[13:05:12] So this entire agency is being upended. We're hearing more and more about the agency contractors, and they make up a huge portion of the USAID work force being furloughed, being fired, being cut out of their communications.

So, even after we talk about the ramifications of the staffing and people potentially losing their jobs, being put on leave, then you have all of these foreign aid programs that are grinding to a halt, and we're already hearing warnings that people are being severely harmed around the world -- Brianna

KEILAR: And, Katelyn Polantz, we have been seeing this list growing of agencies and departments whose I.T. systems Elon Musk's DOGE team has gained access to, GSA, OPM, Treasury. You can now add NOAA to that list"

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Brianna, it is something that is causing a wave of lawsuits, and we're going to be hearing more about exactly what is being accessed by Elon Musk, the people he's working with at DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, and then very likely at the Office of Personnel Management.

We're going to be hearing about that in court because things are moving fast. There already are at least three lawsuits against Musk, a wave of them against Musk and DOGE on not being transparent enough with whatever they are doing as an advisory committee to the federal government.

And then there's another set of lawsuits that we're hearing we're going to be having hearings on this afternoon and tomorrow, emergency hearings in federal court about Musk and his team potentially getting access to vast amounts of sensitive information, private information of federal government employees, and then also potentially of people across the nation, the American public, their Social Security numbers, taxpayer information, things like that.

So these lawsuits are in court. Right now, there's just not a lot of insight yet, and we haven't heard fully from the administration on what they're doing, what Musk is up to.

Here's Karoline Leavitt just recently on what Musk is as an employee of the federal government. She's the press secretary at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can confirm he's a special government employee. I can also confirm that he has abided by all applicable federal laws. As for his security clearance, I'm not sure, but I can check back with you.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Does he -- did he pass a background, check, do you know?

LEAVITT: I don't know about the security clearance, but I can check. (END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: ... top secret security clearance. She got that through a source and then we know from the executive order establishing DOGE, they have a lot of access to unclassified records, software and I.T. systems across the federal government -- Brianna.

COLLINS: All right, Katelyn, Alex, Katie Bo, thank you to all of you for your reporting -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Today marks Attorney General Pam Bondi's first day on the job at the Department of Justice, and she's already expected to take a series of actions designed to investigate and undo legal moves taken by the Biden administration.

Bondi, a staunch Trump ally who was just sworn in this morning, has vowed to protect the department from being used as a political weapon, but her arrival comes amid severe turmoil and uncertainty from within. Yesterday, employment details for more than 5,000 FBI officials who worked on January 6 investigations were turned over to the DOJ.

And just last week, the DOJ fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on cases related to the insurrection and President Trump. Those officials received letters of termination like this one, reading in part -- quote -- "This decision is based upon your actions in the prosecution of persons relating to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021."

Joining us now is Jake Struebing. He's one of several federal prosecutors who received that letter and was fired last Friday.

Jake, thanks so much for being with us.

The termination letter you received says that you were fired based on your actions prosecuting people related to January 6. Trump characterized those prosecutions as a grave national injustice.

I wonder what your response is.

JAKE STRUEBING, FIRED U.S. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY: Thank you, Boris. Thank you for having me.

My response is that January 6, 2021 was a grave national injustice. I spent the last year-and-a-half prosecuting felony and misdemeanor defendants for their roles in the riot at the United States Capitol on January 6. And those prosecutions have been upheld by countless juries in the District of Colombia, by grand juries, by basically every judge on the federal District Court here in D.C. and by several judges on the federal pellet court.

SANCHEZ: So, essentially, you see this as in affront to the system of justice in the United States. Is that fair to say?

[13:10:05]

STRUEBING: I think that's fair to say.

And I'm deeply concerned about the independence of the Department of Justice and the FBI going forward. I think we could see the potential for the prosecution of perceived political enemies. And that, quite frankly, doesn't make us any safer, and it does not protect us from the real criminals.

And I really feel for the FBI agents, hundreds, if not thousands, who are on the chopping block at this point in time. And I think it's important for your viewers to know that those FBI agents are not January 6 agents. Those are agents who work on terrorism cases. They work on violent crimes. They work on child exploitation matters.

Firing them would make us less safe. And, quite frankly, they may be working on a bunch of meritorious cases right now, and who's going to bring those cases and do justice in those cases? So that's what I'm concerned about, and concerned about, quite frankly, what we're seeing is anti-law enforcement, anti-police.

SANCHEZ: To that point, the termination letter that you got essentially says that you are hindering efforts to fully implement the agenda that Donald Trump was elected to execute.

What do you think that implies about who ultimately may replace you or your colleagues?

STRUEBING: Boris, that's a good question. And, quite frankly, I don't know the answer to it.

I will say, speaking on my behalf, I was more than willing -- when the pardons came down and essentially the January 6 cases ended, I was more than willing to continue to serve in the U.S. attorney's office, despite kind of the chaos and hysteria that's going through the federal government right now.

I was willing to prosecute local violent crimes in D.C. and keep doing that. I think that's a great mission. But I'm concerned that, with these firings of 12 prosecutors, including myself, who would have been doing local violent crimes in D.C., that even the D.C. community now is less safe.

SANCHEZ: Are you concerned about your own safety, given the nature of some of the crimes that you have prosecuted?

STRUEBING: It's a difficult question.

I think the answer to that is yes and no. But as -- I think I have mentioned this before, but, at the end of the day, I have to remember that we all swore an oath at the Constitution to enforce the laws of the United States and to follow the evidence without fear of favor, and I fulfilled that oath, and I have no hesitation about that.

SANCHEZ: I know that several FBI agents are filing this class action lawsuit against DOJ over their firings. You previously said that you are considering your options. I just wonder what goes into your decision-making process, what factors you're weighing right now. STRUEBING: That's a good question, Boris.

I don't want to comment on any pending litigation or potential litigation, but I will say that I am just considering all of my options and thinking about my next steps in my career.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

STRUEBING: Given that today is A.G. Bondi's first day, she's expected to announce this review into more than 1,500 January 6 -related cases. What do you think might come of that review?

STRUEBING: I don't know what will come of that review, but I will say that that review will show that we did justice and we did right. We followed the evidence. We followed the law on each of those cases.

And as I mentioned previously, those prosecutions were upheld by countless federal judges. And I do think it's a bit of a double-edged sword for this administration to keep attacking January 6, because, well, quite frankly, it may not end well for them because of the strength of the evidence and the strength of these cases.

As I used to tell D.C. juries, you don't have to take my word for it. You can look at the video, because this is the single most recorded crime in the history of this country.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that is a strong point.

I do wonder, regarding Bondi, is there anything you think that she could say or do that would reassure folks inside DOJ who are watching all of this and are nervous not only for their own positions within the agency, but for what you alluded to, the integrity of the Department of Justice?

STRUEBING: That's a good question, Boris.

I think anything that she could do to affirm the independence of the Department of Justice and to reassure prosecutors and FBI agents that they're going to follow the evidence above all else, I think that would be the most important thing at this point in time.

SANCHEZ: Jake Struebing, we have to leave the conversation there. We look forward to picking it up if you do decide to move forward with some kind of litigation. We'd love to hear what comes next.

[13:15:02]

STRUEBING: Thank you, Boris. Thank you for having me.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

Still ahead this hour: worldwide backlash after President Trump says the United States is going to take over Gaza and turn it into the -- quote -- "Riviera of the Middle East."

Plus, multiple men have been arrested for posing as ICE officers. And the NTSB reveals new details in last week's deadly midair

collision, and it's raising a lot more questions.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Global outrage and disbelief after President Trump says the U.S. will take over war-torn Gaza, with the help of American troops is -- if necessary, and at the expense of two million Palestinians that he says should leave their homes and relocate to other countries.

[13:20:12]

Then, Trump adds, he will have the opportunity to turn the area around into an international destination. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We will own it. I envision a world, people living there, the world's people. I think you will make that into an international, unbelievable place.

I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. 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 -- this could be so magnificent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: This is a proposal that would upend decades of U.S. policy in the Middle East and further complicate Israel's delicate cease-fire with Hamas.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us at the White House, where the press briefing is under way.

Alayna, how is Washington reacting to this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, we're hearing a lot of different reaction, Boris, including some skepticism that we're hearing from many Republicans, even Republicans who have worked closely with the president and the president's team on this.

That includes Senator Lindsey Graham, who said he's not so sure this would go over well with people in his home state of South Carolina. But I do think your point as well, just, I mean, listening to the president say this on stage publicly standing beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday was remarkable.

And you're exactly right. This is in opposition to what we have heard U.S. presidents say for decades and pushing for a two-state solution. This is, of course, very different from that. I think one of the key questions, though, of course, is what exactly this could mean in practice and if there are any details that are being worked out behind the scenes.

Now, I can tell you from my conversations with a top White House official that some people were very caught off guard by this when the president got up there and said this. Others, though, however, did know that this was potentially coming.

That includes Steve Witkoff, his Middle East envoy, as well as National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. I'm told that he actually spoke about this. Both of them spoke about this with Netanyahu when they met with him on Monday at Blair House. So this wasn't exactly something that came out of nowhere. The president was planning on saying this.

But, again, a lot of people, including people within his own administration, were not fully anticipating this, while others who have been involved in these conversations were. Now, we did hear as well some supportive messages in the aftermath of this from people, top people in his Cabinet, people like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

I want to read for you what he posted. It was also quite striking. He wrote -- quote -- he said -- excuse me. Oh, here we go.

"Gaza must be free from Hamas. As POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and make Gaza beautiful again. Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people."

Now, one thing as well, Boris, that I'm picking up on in my conversations is how serious the president is about this. I'm told that he was really moved by briefing that he received after Steve Witkoff had returned from the era and described the devastation on the ground there. It's something that really, one White House official told me, was kind of the catalyst for him thinking about all of this.

So I think, as we look forward, though, the key question is really what comes next. We do know that the king of Jordan is coming to the White House next week. The president said again yesterday that he hopes Egypt and Jordan will accept some of the displaced Gazans if this ends up going the way that he plans.

And so this will, of course, be central to that conversation -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene for us at the White House, thank you so much.

This issue was just addressed at the White House press briefing moments ago. Here's Karoline Leavitt from the podium.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: ... this reversal and how building and owning Gaza squares with America first foreign policy.

LEAVITT: I would reject the premise of your question that this forces the United States to be entangled in conflicts abroad.

The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza. His administration is going to work with our partners in the region to reconstruct this region.

And let me just take a step back here, because this is an out-of-the- box idea. That's who President Trump is. That's why the American people elected him. And his goal is lasting peace in the Middle East for all people in the region. '

And as I said in my opening remarks, we have had the same people pushing the same solutions to this problem for decades. And it's been very -- made very clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort to ensure stability in the region for all people.

[13:25:11]

But that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza. It does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort. It means Donald Trump, who is the best dealmaker on the planet, is going to strike a deal with our partners in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There, the press secretary is essentially saying that this is an out-of-the-box idea meant to counter what she's described as decades of failed policy on behalf of the United States.

She's stressed that Donald Trump had not committed to putting boots on the ground, though he's also not struck it from potential options for the United States to take over Gaza, as he said. She's stressed that the U.S. taxpayers would also not fund this effort to rebuild Gaza, that Trump would somehow strike a deal with nations in the region, Jordan and Egypt, for example, who've already said that they would not take on more Palestinian refugees.

Tough to square exactly how this would work out for President Trump, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly, Boris.

Let's talk more now with James Zogby. He is the president of the Arab American Institute.

James, your reaction to Trump's comments and his press secretary's description of them being an out-of-the-box kind of idea of how to deal with the situation in Gaza.

JAMES ZOGBY, PRESIDENT, ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE: Well, it certainly is out of the box, and somebody ought to put it back in the box. It's delusional. It's also dangerous, and it is disgustingly insensitive to Palestinian humanity.

But here's the point. I don't think it's worth time spending the energy talking about what is an idea that Donald Trump never intended to fulfill for all the reasons we have talked about. The only way you're going to get Palestinians out of there is boots on the ground to force them out. The scenes of evicting two million people will be nightmarish. And

Egypt and Jordan are not going to accept them and Saudi Arabia is not going to pay for it. So what's he doing? He's creating a distraction to demoralize, disorient, just like the executive orders here at home.

He wants us to be talking about this, instead of talking about what we really ought to be talking about, which is enforcing phase one of the cease-fire, getting to phase two, getting Israel to withdraw, and beginning the rebuilding process. That's what we're not talking about. Instead, we're talking about this delusional scheme that he never intended to make real anyway.

KEILAR: So talk about the cease-fire deal and how discussion of this idea that is being rejected out of hand by practically everyone who would need to accept it for it to work. How do you think it's going to impact the cease-fire deal?

ZOGBY: Well, I think my -- the hope is on the part of the Israelis is that Palestinians will reject it, as they will, Jordanians and Egyptians will reject it, as they will, and Israel will decide, well, we can't go to phase two because they're rejecting the peace offer.

And so they're going to go in and do what Netanyahu said he was going to do at the end of phase one, which is "finish the job" -- quote, unquote. That's what he's promised to his coalition partners when they both threatened to bolt the government and bring him down, which would mean he actually could go to jail.

What it means is that he will say to them, I'm going to do what I promised you I'd do at the end of phase one. I'm going to finish the job. And I have to do it because they're not accepting it. So the blame will be put on Palestinians, Egyptians, Arabs generally, and Netanyahu will feel the coast is clear to do it.

And whether that was Donald Trump's intent or not, I don't know. But certainly he is not intending to build a resort, an international center for whatever he is describing it as. This is a shell game. He's setting up a distraction. We're looking here. Meanwhile, the business is going on over there.

KEILAR: You know that Trump visited Arab American strongholds in Michigan during his campaign. I wonder, have you heard from Arab American voters who either switched to Trump or so many of them who stayed home and decided that they couldn't -- we heard from so many who said they couldn't in good conscience vote for the Democratic ticket.

Have you heard from them? What are they thinking about what he's saying?

ZOGBY: I have. I certainly have.

And, look, it was very difficult for them to make the decision to vote at all. They had been witnessing a Democratic administration that literally enabled the genocide. It is inconceivable what's happening. I mean, just when Donald Trump says it's rubble there, it's rubble there, it is rubble by design. Israel deliberately demolished entire communities so that Palestinians would not be able to go back. Based on that, Pal -- many people in my community couldn't vote for -- for Kamala Harris. I did. I endorsed her.