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Judge Pauses Trump's Buyout Offer To Federal Workers; Netanyahu Comes To Capital As Questions Remain About Trump's Gaza Plans; California Utility Says Equipment "May Be Associated" With Hurst Fire. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 06, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:13]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have breaking news into CNN on those so- called buyouts from the Trump administration, encouraging federal workers to resign.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: CNN's Rene Marsh is with us now.

Rene, tell us what you're learning.

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris and Brianna, federal workers just got a Hail Mary from this federal judge. He has effectively paused the Trump administration's buyout offer.

As well as that midnight deadline in which federal employees had to make a decision on whether they would resign. That was the offer that the Trump administration had offered.

Again, this federal judge, pausing that completely. And now, in this hearing, the government will have to send out a mass email to federal employees to let them know that.

And let them know that that midnight deadline to make a decision on whether they will resign from their post is no longer in play, at least not for now.

We know that another hearing will take place this upcoming Monday at 2:00.

The reason for this, this U.S. district judge, George O'Toole -- he is a Bill Clinton appointee -- said that he needed more information to determine whether this buyout offer that the Trump administration is offering to federal employees should be blocked altogether.

So while he gets that additional information, he is putting a pause, again, on the program as well as that midnight deadline.

And just to recap for viewers, the Trump administration sent out this February 6th midnight deadline, telling federal workers that if they decided to resign, they would be paid through the end of September, and they would then be able to leave federal government. And then, also warned them, if they decided not to take the buyout, they couldn't guarantee that they would be able to keep their jobs.

Back to you, guys.

SANCHEZ: And, Rene, some 10,000 federal workers overnight went ahead and accepted this alleged buyout offer, making the total something like 50,000. Do we know what might happen to them, what their status would be, given this pause that the judge put in?

MARSH: In full transparency, I would say, right now, because this program is effectively paused, like nothing can happen at this point. Again, as this judge weighs, you know, whether this program altogether just needs to be blocked.

SANCHEZ: Rene Marsh, thank you so much.

So we've been tracking a major development on Capitol Hill. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting lawmakers there, meeting with House and Senate lawmakers in the wake of President Trump's stunning proposal for the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip.

[13:34:57]

KEILAR: Netanyahu has made clear he backs Trump's proposal. He calls it remarkable. He says it would create a different future for everyone. His defense minister has already instructed the military to draft a plan that would allow a voluntary departure of residents of Gaza.

Daniel Shapiro was the American ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration. He was also deputy assistant defense secretary for the Middle East under President Biden.

So, Ambassador, Israel is preparing for a voluntary departure -- that is what it's called here -- of Palestinians from Gaza. Trump says no American soldiers would be needed, no boots on the ground. What do you think of this?

DANIEL SHAPIRO, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL & FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY FOR THE MIDDLE EAST: This is not a realistic proposal. The idea of the United States taking over Gaza -- those are the

president's words -- and building the Middle East Riviera is about as likely as Mexico paying for the wall. And we know how that turned out.

What -- I will give credit -- the president credit for two things. He may have created a path for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right- wing coalition partners to go to phase two of the hostage agreement and get more hostages released. They were resisting that.

And so there's a possibility that this gives them a pathway to do that. It's also possible there's a risk Hamas will now pull out of the hostage deal because of not wanting to seem to endorse the Trump plan. The other thing he's right about, of course, is that Hamas should not

be permitted to continue to rule Gaza after the terrible attacks they conducted on October 7th, and the -- and the destruction that brought on their own people.

Hamas should be removed from power. But the right way to do that is to get buy in from Arab states, from partners who will invest in reconstruction and security, and from moderate and more reasonable Palestinian leadership. This is not the way to achieve those goals.

SANCHEZ: Doesn't this kind of rhetoric, though, embolden people who support Hamas and maybe add to its ranks? I mean, this is the kind of message that is like a boost to these jihadi groups, isn't it?

SHAPIRO: Indeed, I think there's a risk of targets being put on the backs of U.S. personnel. There are some private security contractors from the United States in Gaza right now, but elsewhere in the region.

I think there's a risk that we'd lose the momentum that we seem to be gaining toward a Saudi normalization with Israel. That's a major strategic opportunity for the United States to broaden that coalition of countries, of U.S. partners who are friends and -- and have normalized relations.

But the Saudi statements have made very clear they don't want to be associated with this removal of Palestinians, if there is such a thing as a -- as a -- as a voluntary evacuation.

Everybody seems to acknowledge that trying to do it forcibly violates international law.

KEILAR: But this idea, too, that, you know, you would just let people voluntarily go and then you would clear everything out, seems to ignore the reality that Hamas is still there and is still a threat.

And what do you make about that as we look towards a phase where Gaza does need to rebuild in some way?

SHAPIRO: Hamas is still there and is still a threat. Israel will almost certainly have to continue to conduct counterterrorism operations against them.

They're going to need the help and support of Arab partners to provide security and to prevent Hamas from escaping in a way that they can then attack from the outside.

But, so this needs to be done in a coordinated and cooperation -- cooperative way with regional partners.

What I think we can all say is that this was really not a well-planned or -- or researched or consulted about proposal.

This is something the president thought of -- there's good reporting on this in the "New York Times" and elsewhere -- thought of literally in the meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, hadn't -- kind of surprised his own staff and advisers with it. It's not the product of any sort of staff work or research. So

everybody's trying to put their own spin on it. And but all our analysis is sort of speculative and worth the paper it's printed on, because the president just put this out there.

That's -- that creates a lot of chaos in the system. Maybe he's trying to be disruptive and get others to put forward their own ideas. Fair enough. But we do have to judge the words of the president of United States on their own merits.

And what he has put forward is a completely unrealistic proposal that puts U.S. dollars and troops at risk at high levels, that probably alienates Arab partners.

And that is not likely to be supported by Palestinians, except to the point that it may provide more fuel to Hamas to -- to put themselves forward as the resisters against this.

SANCHEZ: It's also a rejection of the two-state solution. And I wonder what you make of his claim that for decades now, U.S. policy toward resolving this conflict in the Middle East has been ineffective and hasn't really led anywhere. Is that the case?

SHAPIRO: He's right that, of course, those efforts have all been unsuccessful and they've been made much harder by these terrible terrorist attacks of October 7th.

And most Israelis are not prepared at this point to have that conversation. And you need to see different Palestinian leadership, more responsible Palestinian leadership.

One of the things that was really lacking, though, throughout the whole first 15 months, was a strategy to help empower that better alternative Palestinian leadership and bring them in and let them be the vanguard that pushes Hamas out.

If this is an internal Palestinian struggle where more reasonable Palestinians who want to live in peace with Israel can defeat those who are responsible for these terrorist attacks, that is the way to get Arab buy in.

And that is the way to get international support. That's the way to build a future that both Israelis and Palestinians can live with.

[13:40:03]

SANCHEZ: It -- it is hard to do that when Gaza is under attack, though, right?

SHAPIRO: It's hard to do that while the war goes on. So the first step is to continue this hostage deal, get as many hostages out as possible, then move to a phase where you can do some kind of reconstruction.

But also continue to conduct the counterterrorism operations necessary to make sure Hamas does not rebound and resurge. SANCHEZ: Ambassador Daniel Shapiro, very much. Appreciate you sharing

your perspective.

SHAPIRO: My pleasure.

SANCHEZ: Thanks for joining us.

Still ahead, new details about what may have sparked one of the fires that tore through the L.A. area last month. What a utility company is now saying about its potential responsibility.

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[13:45:04]

KEILAR: A major development concerning the California wildfires investigation. The main power company in the region says its equipment likely sparked a fire that ultimately triggered the Hurst Fire in Los Angeles. That fire in the San Fernando Valley did not result in structural damage or deaths.

CNN's Nick Watt is in L.A. following this.

Nick, tell us what you're learning.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So this is a pretty big admission by the power company. This Hurst Fire, as you mentioned, only 799 acres, did not destroy any structures, did not kill any people.

But the power company says that after the fire department investigated and pointed the finger at the power company, they say, "absent additional evidence, SCE" -- that's Southern California Edison - "believes it's equipment may be associated with the ignition of the Hurst Fire."

Now, the Easton Fire, that was one of those two huge conflagrations. The Easton Fire destroyed 6,000 homes and killed 17 people.

And, of course, Southern California Edison is also under suspicion for starting that, largely due to some videos that were taken, one from a gas station, others by local residents, that appear to show sparks from power lines.

Now Pedro Pizarro, who is the CEO of the parent company, he had this to say about the Easton Fire. Take a listen.

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PEDRO PIZARRO, CEO, EDISON INTERNATIONAL: The cause of the fire remains unknown. Like you, we have seen information like videos shared by external parties of the fires early stages. These are concerning and they may suggest a possible link to SCE's equipment.

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WATT: So possible link right now. They, the company, went on to say that they have not identified typical or obvious evidence that would confirm the association.

Now, the Palisades Fire, which was the other huge fire out here, that's also still under investigation. That could have been fireworks from a previous fire that was left smoldering. But of course, the power company always will be under suspicion.

Now, how does this play out? Well, do you remember the 2017 Thomas Fire up near Santa Barbara? Well, Southern California Edison didn't admit any wrongdoing, even though investigators say that they did start it.

They had to pay out over $2 billion. And the state of California has just agreed that SCE can actually pass $1.6 billion of that on to customers. So everybody will just pay a little surcharge.

But, listen, the investigations into all these fires are ongoing. They will take a few months. The Easton Fire, they're talking about having to take down the transmission lines.

There are already lawsuits, by the way, Brianna filed against Southern California Edison for starting that Easton Fire, although that conclusion has not yet been reached by anybody.

Back to you.

KEILAR: Nick Watt, thank you.

And weather alerts, they save lives by keeping millions of Americans aware of threats. But could those alerts be a casualty of the Trump administration's push to transform the federal government? We'll have that next.

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[13:52:46]

SANCHEZ: Elon Musk and DOGE now have their sights set on one of Americas most important agencies when it comes to saving lives here at home. We're talking about the National Weather Service, which helps predict and warn Americans ahead of life-threatening storms.

Employees at NWS and NOAA, which oversees that agency, were among thousands of federal employees who received buyout offers in return for their resignation this week.

A source telling CNN that many people there are scared and fear that this move could literally put lives at risk.

CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now with more on what that could mean.

First, Derek, explain how the National Weather Service works and why these moves are alarming.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Boris. All right, so what you're looking at right now are the current weather-related alerts, over 30 different alerts currently in progress.

These are issued by human meteorologists from localized weather -- National Weather Service offices scattered across the country. This is keeping these meteorologists extremely busy, especially on a day like today.

So if you start cutting staff members from an already strained workforce -- they're talking about some of the worst numbers in terms of employment in decades -- we have the potential here to start missing out on critical, time sensitive, lifesaving, property-saving information that these meteorologists are directly responsible to communicate to you at home.

So this is incredibly important. If we start shutting down these numbers, it will have ramifications. And that snowball effect, down the line to you at home as well.

Now, not only do these meteorologists create and analyze the weather and the atmosphere, but they are also responsible for the hardware behind it. The radars we look at for nowcasting operations. That's forecasting 15 minutes in the future where a tornado could go, for instance.

Who do you think is collaborating with your local school districts when they cancel school because of bad weather? It is the local meteorologists at the National Weather Service offices that provide this time sensitive information, from storm surge to hurricanes to tornadoes that can happen in a matter of minutes.

So if we cut that down, we have some serious problems. Remember the National Weather Service out of Los Angeles? Some of the first individuals to warn the public that the Santa Ana winds will be strong and the fire threat would be high, well in advance of the Los Angeles fires a couple of weeks ago.

[13:55:07]

So we've got this upcoming tornado season in the spring and the hurricane season in the summer and fall that we're concerned about. This flash flood emergency, prime example. This is from this morning and that was issued by a local human meteorologist -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Derek Van Dam, thanks so much for breaking that down for us.

Still ahead, another round of EPA workers might soon be paid -- might soon be on paid leave if the agency follows Trump's order to get rid of DEA programs. The office that would be affected and what it could mean for underserved communities.

We'll be right back.

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