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Military Flying Migrants to Guantanamo Despite Legal Questions; Californians Face Daunting Task of Rebuilding After Wildfires; 2 Million Workers Face Choice on Whether to Resign; Trump to Become First Sitting President to Attend Super Bowl. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 07, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY UNDER TRUMP: ... As it continues to scale up, they'll have muscle memory and they'll understand how to use that. So again, I don't think it's one or the other. I think that they're looking at both options.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: So you're saying they're not -- they're using military planes because they can't find enough charter planes?

WOLF: What I'm saying is the number of charter airframes that they have are limited. I'm not saying that they're being fully utilized or they've outpaced that already in the third week. What I'm saying is there is a limited amount of those and so you can look to military aircraft to supplement that and to use that in conjunction with the normal charter aircraft that they use.

KEILAR: At 2.5 to 8 times the cost of hourly operations, it does just seem like a lot. Chad Wolf, it is great to get your perspective. Not many people have it certainly and we do appreciate it. Thank you.

WOLF: All right, thanks.

KEILAR: Today marks one month since the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles County started and now residents face the tough decision whether to rebuild or to relocate. We'll have that next.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, people in Southern California are facing the aftermath of deadly wildfires. A month later, devastated communities are picking up the pieces and rebuilding homes destroyed. CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones has the latest for us -- Julia.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, rebuilding still feels quite far away here on the ground, Boris and Brianna. What we're hearing from residents is that they want accountability. Many say that the scope of this tragedy could have been prevented.

Some of them bringing a lawsuit against Southern California Edison, the utility company. They say videos are enough proof that they are to blame. These videos show a tower, a utility tower, catching on fire on the same day that the Eaton Fire started.

Now, Southern California Edison did say that some of their equipment may be associated with the ignition of the Hurst Fire, another fire that started on that same day here in the Los Angeles area. But they have not said that for the Eaton fire. They say investigations must just run their course.

We spoke to one of the families that is bringing forward this lawsuit. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAIRE CALVIN, SISTER DIED IN EATON FIRE: Everybody's going to be looking for lumber, construction people, all at the same time. It's different if it was spaced out. This demand is going to be insane.

So that's going to push up prices. It's going to make it so hard for people to build. It's going to be so hard to afford to put everything back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And that's just one of the challenges that these families will face, Boris and Brianna. Now, the EPA has started phase one of the cleanup. That will be a necessary step for contractors, either public or private, to come in and start bulldozing and cleaning up all of these properties. All of that has to happen before these families can even start thinking of coming back to their homes.

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Julia Vargas Jones for that.

Coming up, Trump has a new target in his shakeup of the federal workforce. The White House demanding the names of employees with low performance ratings over the last three years. We'll break down exactly what that means when we come back.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We saw something significant this afternoon outside the U.S. Agency for International Development. This was in the last hour. Workers taking down the sign outside, prying the letters off the front of the building.

Meantime, a hearing in federal court is set for Monday after a judge paused yesterday's deadline for federal employees to accept the Trump administration's resignation offer.

With us now to discuss is Everett Kelly. He's the president of the American Federation of Government Employees -- one of the unions suing the Trump administration. Sir, thanks so much for being with us.

The judge who paused the deadline is asking now for more briefings. I wonder how you're going to use this additional time to make your case.

EVERETT KELLEY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: Well, first of all, thank you for having me here.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

KELLEY: I think it gives an opportunity for a legal team to really assess the situation so that they can give a concrete argument, because sometimes time is of essence, OK?

So time, I think, to just think things through and gather different evidence, I think, can be on our side.

SANCHEZ: Do you think that DOGE has the authority to execute some of what it's done?

KELLEY: I think that DOGE is completely illegal. It is very inappropriate what we're seeing throughout this country. I've never seen such chaotic situations in my lifetime. And it's simply because you have people that don't understand the federal system trying to regulate the federal system.

SANCHEZ: I was speaking to a union representative earlier with the Department of Treasury, and she suggested that that 65,000 number of federal employees that the White House has put out that they say has taken this so-called buyout offer isn't exactly accurate. She questions that number. I wonder if you do, how many more federal workers do you think might take it before the deadline?

KELLEY: Well, I question that number as well, OK? I know that we're telling our members not to fall for the fault in the road, simply because it may be a knife in your back. And people are understanding that.

And I don't think that you'll see a vast number of increase in that offer in the next few days. I don't think so. I think that they have really began to caution themselves, especially with the judge making his ruling.

I think people have paused. And the people that you really see are people that were saying, you know, I'm going to retire in a way.

[15:45:00]

I don't want to put up with this anymore as a federal employee we're constantly on the chopping block, and I'm just done with that. Those are the people that you're seeing taking this offer.

SANCHEZ: The Office of Personal Management is asking for details on employees who received less than fully successful performance ratings over the last three years. What's your reaction to that memo? What would that mean to the federal workforce?

KELLEY: You know, to be honest, I don't know what that would mean. I think that it's asinine. Number one, especially if you're looking at a performance appraisal three years ago, you know, we have performance improvement plans and those type of things.

People can have all kind of issues that would affect their performance. It could be illness. It could be a lot of things.

But over the past year, you know, they've really improved. I've seen performance appraisers go from a non-successful to a fully successful and highly successful in less than a year. So I think that that's completely off-kilter to have that kind of issue going on.

SANCHEZ: You've made the case for federal workers. I wonder what you say to the American people and how they might be affected by having government agencies gutted this way.

KELLEY: Well, first of all, it would definitely be a drastic situation for the American people because the people that they are talking about cutting their jobs are people that inspect our food, right? And if you cut food service, you know, and those inspectors, then guess what? You know, we run risk of having contaminated food.

If you cut Veterans Administration, you know, these are the people that take care of our veterans and file their claims. You know, if you cut airport screeners, right, these are the people that make sure that the sky we fly in are safe. So it's going to drastically affect.

Take for instance, you know, we was talking about wildfire later. You know, you cut FEMA. These are the people that don't run away from disaster, they'll run to disaster to take care of the American people.

So it can be drastic measures if this happens.

SANCHEZ: Everett Kelly, we very much appreciate you joining us and sharing your perspective.

KELLEY: Thank you, sir. Thank you for having us.

SANCHEZ: Still more news to come. President Trump is set to make history as the first sitting U.S. president to attend the Super Bowl. He's also bringing back the traditional presidential Super Bowl pregame interview. What we can expect from that in just moments.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Trump always loves getting his message out to a big audience, and they don't come any bigger than Super Bowl Sunday. Not only will he become the first sitting president to attend the big game, he'll also bring back an old tradition by sitting for a pregame interview. CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter is here with us.

All right, Brian. This is going to -- it's always really interesting to see. It's an interesting forum in which the president can be asked questions. What specific message do you think the president wants to send by attending the Super Bowl and doing this interview?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right, and he's pointing out that President Biden declined to be on the Super Bowl pregame show last year. So as always, he's creating a contrast. But mostly, this is about Trump being Trump and wanting that audience, the ratings that come from the Fox pregame show.

I think his attendance in New Orleans is even more interesting. You know, he's making himself inescapable. We know he's a media savvy president.

He's making it impossible to avoid him in the past couple of weeks, appearing on all the platforms all day long. You know, just now in the last hour, in some cases, creating purposeful chaos that must be discussed no matter where you get your news. And now going to the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl is by far the most watched event in America. It's seen all around the world.

In some ways, it's an avatar for America and for our consumer culture. And clearly, President Trump wants to be that avatar as well. He wants to be in the middle of the action.

It's just such an incredible contrast. Think about this time last year. You could go days, maybe weeks without seeing or thinking about Joe Biden. Now you're lucky if you can go hours without thinking about Donald Trump.

KEILAR: And reporters, I guess I would say the same thing, too, these days about Elon Musk. And reporters asked Trump about him because Elon Musk makes the cover of Time magazine. And here he is.

He's sitting behind the Resolute desk, which would obviously be the position the president would normally occupy. And Trump was asked about it. And he said, is Time magazine still in business?

Well, certainly he knows that it is. But it was a really interesting answer because a lot of folks look at this, not just for the palace intrigue of it, but for the, might there be a schism at some point in time between these two? What did you make of that answer?

STELTER: Yes, maybe they could rename Time magazine to Troll magazine. They're clearly trying to troll the president with this. But they're tackling something really significant at the same time.

People do want to know what is Musk doing. How much power does he have? Are there any constraints on his power? It's a big story.

I don't see a schism right now between Trump and Musk for the following reason. Trump wants to make deals. To borrow his language, he wants to make big, beautiful deals. He does not necessarily want to figure out what USAID was spending money on in every country. He's leaving that to these young men that Musk has brought in.

So there is a win-win. There's a mutual benefit Trump and Musk have right now. He also, of course, controls X. And that's a powerful megaphone for Trump.

I think so much of this is just psychological in nature, right? Voters want to see action. They want to feel like action is being taken. They want to feel like Trump is delivering on promises. Republican voters want to see Musk cutting costs. That's why it was so notable that Trump, in response to Kaitlan Collins' question, said that he has told Musk to look at the defense budget, to look at the Pentagon, because that's where the real savings are going to come from. It's not going to come from saving $50,000 on fax machines or a million dollars on government, you know, on some contract in some agency. The big money.

Is Musk going to go after the big spending cuts? That's the open question. But for now, it seems like Trump really genuinely does like having Musk in the job.

[15:55:03]

KEILAR: Yes, no, it certainly does. Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

And when we come back, when it comes to picking the winner of this big game, maybe you should trust your instincts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Zoos across the United States are turning to their star residents to make their Super Bowl predictions. Let's start off with a pair of grizzly bears at Zoo Montana. These cubs were apparently not seeing eye to eye on the matter.

Willie chose to feast on the Philadelphia Eagles cake while George picked the Kansas City Chiefs treat. I wish we could get a better shot of that cake.

KEILAR: It means a tie. Maybe it means a tie.

SANCHEZ: We've never had a tie in a Super Bowl.

KEILAR: Well, there you go.

SANCHEZ: That'd be crazy.

KEILAR: Maybe they know something.

SANCHEZ: At Utah's Hogle Zoo, Volk and the Lion's Mind was made up. He upended the uprights and went straight for the Eagles treat container.

[16:00:00]

KEILAR: And now to Blank Park Zoo in Iowa, where a tiger named Misha was seeing red, chose the Chiefs, predicting a trophy trifecta for Kansas City. Whoa, with authority there. And finally, aren't birds of a feather supposed to flock together?

This seems like a potential conflict of interest. We're going to let it fly. Surprisingly, this eagle did not choose her fellow Eagles. She went for the Chiefs. I mean, what does that tell you, Boris?

SANCHEZ: I'm predicting feeling bloated, maybe calling in on Monday. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

END