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Federal Buyout Offer Paused; White House Wants Faster Pace of Migrant Arrests; Elon Musk Continues Gaining Access to Federal Government Systems. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 07, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:23]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: At any moment, President Donald Trump will speak to reporters at the White House as he hosts Japan's prime minister. The questions could get pointed, as Elon Musk's DOGE team runs rampant with its transformation of the federal government.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Under pressure. The White House is pushing immigration authorities to pick up the pace of its migrant arrests, as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits Guantanamo Bay, a key site in the new push to deport undocumented migrants out of the country.

And a search under way in Alaska after a plane with 10 people on board disappears. Rough weather is impacting the operation now.

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

SANCHEZ: We are standing by to hear from President Donald Trump, who is set to take questions from reporters just minutes from now as he meets with Japan's prime minister at the White House.

The focus, though, could shift during the press availability, as the president and his special government employee Elon Musk plow forward with plans to purge the federal work force.

In the coming hours, Musk's axe will swing at USAID, dramatically slashing its global work force. We will have more on that in just a moment.

Meantime, we are learning concerning new details about operatives linked to Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. That's the team that has been seeking widespread access to sensitive information within multiple federal agencies including the Treasury, USAID, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NOAA, the FAA, and the Department of Energy.

CNN's Rene Marsh is live with more on this.

Rene, what are you hearing about staffers at these agencies?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. So we're hearing from multiple career employees who have had

interactions with these members of DOGE or have seen them coming and going and they are described as a slate of young 20-something-year-old engineers who have gained access to many of these agencies I.T. systems, in some cases, doing keyword searches for things like DEI to identify potential employees or work policies in that agency, as well as contracts that need to be canceled because they deem anything related to DEI as wasteful spending.

Here are some names of some of these individuals who CNN has learned are members of the DOGE team, 23-year-olds, recent grads from U.C. Berkeley. There's also a member of the DOGE team who just recently graduated from high school.

So you see the youth there. Many of these individuals have zero experience when it comes to the federal government and understanding how the federal government works. They have been quite accomplished in the tech world, but that is the concern that many of these agency employees have, that they don't have the knowledge of the federal government, how it operates and how the technological tinkering that is happening could impact millions of Americans -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And, Rene, we're hearing that Trump is now demanding the names of federal workers who are considered less than fully successful as part of the administration's push to clean house within the U.S. government. Tell us more about that.

MARSH: Right.

So we learned that the OPM sent that memo out to agency leaders, and just another layer of how this Trump administration is looking to thin out the ranks, this time looking at people who had poor performances on their employment reviews, just one of many criteria that the OPM and the Trump administration is calling on these agency leaders to look at in making this determination as to who can go and who needs to be fired -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Rene Marsh, thank you so much for that update -- Brianna.

KEILAR: As of midnight tonight, fewer than 300 USAID staffers will be left on the job. That is out of a work force of approximately 10,000 around the world.

This guts lifesaving programs, including critical clean water projects. An environmental engineering professor tells CNN that, without those programs, animals die, people die, people are displaced because they will move if they don't have water, which will increase migration pressure globally.

Food distribution is another USAID lifesaving initiative. Shutting down that work in famine-stricken regions like Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan means that thousands of children could starve. USAID's malaria elimination efforts are critical, and not just in Africa.

[13:05:04] A former contractor says cases like the one in Florida last year will be increasingly common in the U.S. without overseas projects. The humanitarian agency also helps combat oppression. Its work with 145,000 vulnerable Afghan women is one example, providing them safe houses, health care and vocational training.

And all of that is now frozen amid an increasingly repressive and brutal Taliban regime. And USAID has been key in addressing the underlying drivers of migration from Central America, along with combating drug and human trafficking. And the list goes on.

CNN's chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto is here with us.

I think some of the issues that a lot of people have when they look at USAID is they say, great, look at all that stuff being done overseas. They don't always know how it can be connected to them, but it can be.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The theory of the case is -- and, by the way, this for decades has been a Republican and Democratic view of USAID and funding.

It's been quite popular with those in government. And even Marco Rubio was one of the biggest proponents of this prior to his current role as U.S. secretary of state under Trump.

The theory of the case is that, by giving aid in these places where there's instability caused by, say, disease outbreaks or earthquake in Haiti, et cetera, is that, if you help some stabilize, conflict is less likely to follow, right, and so that U.S. troops, say, aren't brought in to help stabilize or to do peacekeeping.

Beyond that, I mean, think of this. It's about refugee flows as well. I mean, one reason you have so many folks coming from South America north or so many people coming from Africa towards Europe is because of instability, disease, food shortages, et cetera.

I spoke with Senator Chris Murphy last night, and he made the point that it's often Defense Department folks, Pentagon folks who say, do this kind of aid because it makes our work less necessary. Here's how he put it to me last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Yes, what the Department of Defense routinely says is that, if you get rid of USAID, you have to buy us twice as many bullets, because USAID tries to combat instability around the world, tries to prevent civil conflict that would draw the United States into war.

So, when USAID disappears, it puts our military members at risk. Now, that doesn't matter to Donald Trump and his Mar-a-Lago crowd, because their kids aren't going to serve in these conflicts. But the folks who live with me in the south end of Hartford, it's their kids who sign up for military service. They will be sent overseas to fight the wars that will be caused by the growing instability. The question is, why are they doing this? Because, as you said, Jim,

it used to be that there was no controversy over USAID. It was just smart for us to spend money around the world to try to combat terrorists in China and Russia. I think some of this agenda is pretty simple. The biggest beneficiary of USAID disappearing is China, because China now doesn't have anybody contesting their non-military influence around the world.

Elon Musk has huge business interests in China. He sells more cars in China than any country except for the United States. He makes half his cars in China. He's got big issues that are open with the Chinese government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: And that last point is a point you will hear from proponents of USAID, is, who fills that space, right?

And, of course, they say China. And this does not come from nowhere, because the U.S. and China are in the midst of a hard power competition, but also a soft power competition. China is very active in the Global South, in Africa and South America. And they want to present themselves as the stabilizing force, as the friend of these nations who comes to help them when they're in need.

And if the U.S. withdraws from that space, one can reasonably expect that China will move into occupy.

KEILAR: And China has the resources to do it.

SCIUTTO: They do.

KEILAR: So too does the U.S.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

KEILAR: They're pulling them back.

So, what happens now?

SCIUTTO: Well, that is a big question. One is that, yes, China probably does attempt to. It doesn't mean they do it perfectly.

I mean, China has its own problems delivering aid. A lot of those countries often feel that China strong-arms them, right, and doesn't give this sort of aid freely. But, on the other hand, right now, the U.S. is in the midst of what appears to be a massive rethinking of its dealings with the world, and not just with adversaries like China, but its friends, right, when you look at tariffs, when you look at attempts to, say, take land in Greenland from Denmark, who is an ally.

So, one thing is, China may move in. The other thing is, those relationships are impacted, right? I mean, people remember. They have memories. Countries remember. And they remember the stuff you give them, and they also remember the things you take away. KEILAR: They remember who they can count on...

SCIUTTO: Yes, reliability. Yes.

KEILAR: ... just like people do.

Jim Sciutto, thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Thanks.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: Just minutes from now, President Trump is expected to hold a joint press conference with the Japanese prime minister live from the White House.

That's where we find CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who's tracking all of this.

Jeff, the president undoubtedly will face some tough questions, specifically some of them about his buddy Elon Musk.

[13:10:07]

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Boris, that certainly not only the topic of the day, really the topic of the first three weeks of the Trump administration.

Elon Musk has been sharing the spotlight, as we know, as his Department of Government Efficiency has been working its way through the bureaucracy, through firings and the dismantling of government.

And also there was a "TIME" magazine cover this morning that showed Elon Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk. Of course, we know that the president, a long time fan of "TIME" magazine, he was "TIME" man of the year just a couple months ago after a winning reelection last year. He was asked about that just a short time ago in the Oval Office, and he sort of diminished the idea that Elon Musk was running the government.

He said Elon is doing a great job. He's finding tremendous fraud as he's going here.

But, look, there's no doubt that is a central question and storyline here, as the Japanese prime minister is having a meeting with the president. Look, we have seen a rush of world leaders trying to set up meetings with the new U.S. president, of course, the Israeli prime minister earlier this week, and now the Japanese prime minister next week, the king of Jordan, as well as the prime minister of India and others.

And just a few moments ago in the Oval Office, the president said he would like to speak perhaps next week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the war there.

So, look, a lot of the foreign policy agenda items being discussed but one note on Gaza, the president also just said, he said he's in no rush to make a move on Gaza. Of course, that ends the week in a far different posture than it started, when he said the U.S. will own the Gaza Strip -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, somewhat confoundingly saying that that would happen without U.S. troops on the ground and without any taxpayer money from folks in the United States spent there.

Jeff Zeleny, live at the White House, thanks so much for watching that for us.

We will, of course, bring you that press conference as it happens live.

Meantime, immigration enforcement officials have made more than 8,000 immigration arrests since President Trump took office, but we're learning that, behind the scenes, officials believe ICE is -- quote -- "way behind" and some Trump officials want the agency to step it up.

Plus, some members of Elon Musk's DOGE team will keep limited access to a highly sensitive government payment system, as the DOJ admits it can't say with complete certainty if Americans' privacy has actually been breached.

And crews right now are searching for a plane carrying 10 people that mysteriously vanished off Alaska.

These important stories and many more all ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:00]

KEILAR: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is visiting Guantanamo Bay today amid the Trump administration's plan to possibly send tens of thousands of migrants there.

She will be assessing operations at the facility where detainees are held, according to a DHS official. And we're also seeing some new video of what U.S. Border Patrol calls the -- quote -- "farthest deportation flight" yet using military transport, shows more than 100 deportees from India in shackles boarding a plane for the 40-hour flight, one deportee saying they were yelled at and forced to use the bathroom still shackled.

SANCHEZ: All of this as sources say the White House is pressuring immigration enforcement officials to pick up the pace.

Despite arresting more than 8,000 people since Trump's inauguration one administration official says that ICE is -- quote -- "way behind."

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now.

Priscilla, what more are you learning about the conversations going on inside the Trump administration over this crackdown? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have been told that there have been daily phone calls with senior officials, to include Stephen Miller, White House border czar Tom Homan, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. And in those calls, there is tension, because ICE is coming under increasing pressure to perform more, to up their arrests on a daily basis.

Now, where have we been? Well, they have been arresting more people than they were over the last year under President Biden, say around 900, compared to 300 in a day. But there's ebbs and flows when it comes to ICE and rest, and there's also limited resources.

We hear senior officials talk about this all the time. Despite pulling in multiple government agencies to help them on the ground, they still have to set up target lists. They still have to know who they're going for and the teams that they have to build to do that.

So this is very time-intensive, and it also requires a lot of resources. And -- but all the same, behind the scenes, administration officials are still frustrated by the pace that this has been going at, even as they push out photo after photo of what is happening on the ground.

Now, in addition to that, I'm also told that there are more moves that are being contemplated, for example, using more military bases to hold migrants, putting buoys in the Rio Grande. Texas did that. There was a lawsuit with the Biden administration.

Well, the Trump administration is now considering doing that themselves, and also potentially sending African nationals to another country, very akin to what we saw with the El Salvador agreement, though where they would go is still unclear.

But you can see here how they are continuing to push their immigration agenda behind the scenes, as they put more pressure on ICE to up their arrests, because, again, that is part of the mass deportation pledge. Then too come the questions of detention, Kristi Noem going to Guantanamo Bay, and then deportations, as you saw there with Indian nationals.

KEILAR: And speaking of that, that video of the shackled Indian deportees is causing quite a backlash.

ALVAREZ: Yes, what is interesting about that, it's a good reminder of the domestic politics can also extend into foreign policy, because you saw the reaction in India when this -- of this flight and of those who arrived.

[13:20:05]

So there is a backlash that goes beyond the U.S. borders. And, in this case, this was a military aircraft. This is the new thing that the administration is doing by using this aircraft for deportations, because we have deported Indian nationals before. It is unusual for them to be shackled if they're not criminals. There are instances where ICE will keep people shackled if they have

criminal offenses. We're still collecting details, but from what we understand, not all of them or any of them maybe had those criminal offenses.

So it's unclear why they would have been shackled over the duration of this flight. But all of this is unprecedented because it's a military aircraft, and it was the longest one that has happened to date.

SANCHEZ: We will see if this comes up with Trump and Prime Minister Modi when he visits next week.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

Up next: a judge pausing President Trump and Elon Musk's federal buyout offer after more than 65,000 workers agree to leave. So what happens next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:36]

KEILAR: Nearly two million federal workers now have more time to decide whether to take that buyout offered by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, after a federal judge paused the deadline for the offer, seeking more information. The administration extended it to Monday.

The White House says, so far, 65,000 government employees have taken this deal, which is far short of its targets. The buyouts are just one reason DOGE is facing lawsuits and outrage as it tries to dramatically shrink the government work force.

Watchdogs are alarmed at how little is known about two Musk allies given access to a huge government payment system that contains confidential personal and financial information on millions of Americans. That system cuts the checks for tax refunds, for Social Security benefits, even disability payments.

And during an emergency hearing last night, the DOJ admitted that it can't say with complete certainty if Americans' privacy has been breached. A judge has now prohibited the two DOGE workers from sharing data with anyone outside of the agency and limited them to read-only access.

And one of those two workers has already resigned; 25-year-old Marko Elez reportedly quit after "The Wall Street Journal" reported that he was linked to a social media account that pushed racism and eugenics -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's dig deeper on this story with Doreen Greenwald. She's president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Doreen, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

At least 65,000 federal workers have chosen to take this resignation offer so far. Do you have any idea how many of them are from the Department of Treasury?

DOREEN GREENWALD, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION: I do not. And I don't even know if those are accurate numbers.

From what we're hearing on the ground is sometimes people have put in a request and then also have requested to pull that back. And I have no idea where those numbers are coming from.

SANCHEZ: You have argued that, despite DOGE's name, that this effort to shrink the federal government is not actually about efficiency. What do you think the motives are then?

GREENWALD: Well, I can tell you that federal employees come to work every day to serve the American people. They take an oath to the Constitution and they are committed to the mission of their agency and serving those people that they represent.

The letters that were sent out to employees encouraging them to resign -- and that's what this is. This was a push to get (AUDIO GAP) were sent to the entire work force. So there was no effort to look at the type of work that's being done or to determine if that work is unnecessary.

I would argue all of the work done by federal employees is absolutely necessary and critical to the success of the country. And so, while I think, earlier, it was said that this is a buyout offer, there's not even really any guarantees in this program for employees. And that's why we have encouraged them not to take it.

The agreements that have been sent to employees gives all the power to the government and none to the employee. And so that was my concern if somebody had asked to take this and back out of it. There seems to be no guidance as to how they do that.

SANCHEZ: DOGE's efforts at Treasury, as we indicated earlier, ended up in court this week over access to this highly sensitive payment system.

Secretary Bessent has said that nothing has been actually altered. I wonder what you and your members think.

GREENWALD: Our members are concerned. This is unprecedented times. Our members get training every year about how to protect sensitive data and information from the public.

Only limited people have access to these things to further those protections. They go through background investigations and are held to high levels of integrity. I have no idea who has access to these systems or what their purposes are or what they're doing with that information.

So our members remain very concerned about that.

SANCHEZ: So, you just spoke a moment ago about how dedicated federal employees are to their work. And I go back to what you think the intentions are from DOGE, if it isn't to make the government run more efficiently and to enable the American people to receive the benefits of the work being done by federal workers.

What do you think Elon Musk is after?