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Trump Meets With Jordan's King Amid Furor Over Gaza Takeover Plan; OpenAI CEO Rejects Musk-Led Offer Of $97.4B For Company; Musk Wages War On CFPB, A Key Check On his Business Empire; WAPO: Venezuelans Who Backed Trump Worry He'll Deport Them; 1 Dead, 3 Injured After Jet Collides With Parked Plane. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired February 11, 2025 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, RET., CNN MILITARY ANALYST: -- accomplish that task.
So it requires that level of -- of definition and that level of clarity. So you can do a troop-to-task kind of an analysis to figure out what needs to be applied to achieve that desired end state.
And I think essentially there are two options. You either resume the fighting. And I think it's fair to say that both Hamas and the IDF want the war to continue. They are not where they want to be.
The IDF wants to either destroy or defeat -- two different end states -- either destroy or defeat Hamas. And Hamas wants to continue to fight so that they can regenerate themselves and continue to recruit. So I think that's -- that's one thing.
And then so the fighting could continue. And of course, it -- you know, if it was an option to go back earlier to get those remaining hostages, that decision would have been made in the fight earlier. So I think that becomes very difficult.
Then the second option is you expand -- you expand it, and you make the decision, reside in Tehran, and you make it very, very difficult on a very weakened leadership in Tehran.
And maybe the IDF starts going after additional targets in Tehran in order to get them to apply some additional pressure on Hamas to put an end to this thing.
But let's bear in mind, Hamas continues to fight, Israel continues -- the Israelis continue to fight based on conditions that are on the ground, that we are not necessarily a part of. So that's what's -- that's what I see as the options going forward.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Josh, I know you want to jump in, but we're --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: -- we're out of time and we have to leave the conversation there. We should pick it up soon, though.
Major General James "Spider" Marks and Josh Rogin, appreciate you both.
MARKS: Thanks, Boris.
JOSH ROGAN, LEAD ANALYST, "WASHINGTON POST INTELLIGENCE": Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Still ahead, ethics experts sound the alarm as the world's richest man goes after an agency created to protect consumers. Is it a conflict of interest? Well discuss.
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[14:36:18]
SANCHEZ: Now to the latest clash between the two biggest names in artificial intelligence, Elon Musk and Sam Altman, who are both co- founders of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Today, Altman is explaining why he's rejecting this $97.4 billion offer for his company from a group led by Musk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM ALTMAN, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, OPENAI: OpenAI is not for sale. The OpenAI mission is not for sale. Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is the -- you know, this week's episode.
UNIDENTIFIED HOST: Do you take it seriously at all? What do you think he's trying to drive out with this?
ALTMAN: I think he's probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor.
UNIDENTIFIED HOST: Do you think Musk's approach then is from a position of insecurity about X A.I.?
ALTMAN: Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy.
UNIDENTIFIED HOST: Do you feel for him?
ALTMAN: I do actually. I don't think he's like a happy person. I do feel for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Joining us now is Ben Bergman, a senior correspondent for "Business Insider."
Ben, thanks for sharing part of your afternoon with us.
Help us understand the dynamic and this relationship, this rivalry between Altman and Musk. BEN BERGMAN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "BUSINESS INSIDER": Yes, I mean,
forget Kendrick Lamar and Drake. This is a rivalry for nerds. And these two have been going at it for years.
And you could see in that interview that Sam Altman was trying to be very diplomatic to talk about how he wants this to just play out in the boardroom.
But then at the end, he couldn't resist calling Elon Musk insecure. And meanwhile, Elon Musk has called Sam Altman a swindler. He called him "Scam Altman." He said he's a snake. These two do not like each other.
SANCHEZ: And what about this accusation from Altman that he thinks that with this offer, Musk is just trying to slow OpenAI down? Is that Musk's goal here, do you think?
BERGMAN: Like a lot of things Elon Musk does, it creates a lot of tension, and it seems to be kind of crazy on the surface. But also there's a logic to it.
Because right now, OpenAI is in talks to have a valuation of $300 billion and to spin off its nonprofit arm into a for profit entity. And this bid by Elon Musk, whether it goes through or not, makes that a lot more difficult.
SANCHEZ: I also want to ask you about Musk's effort to transform the federal government. He has his eyes set on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB. He has business interests that they regulate.
Do you think this is part of why he's posting that on X, saying that they should rest in peace?
BERMAN: Well, if you were an employee of the Consumer Protection Bureau, you would not be allowed to own Tesla stock. And yet, you have the owner of Tesla trying to control the agency.
So of course, this is a huge conflict of interest, especially when Elon Musk is trying to turn X into a payment system, which is exactly what the Consumer Protection Bureau was designed to regulate in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
SANCHEZ: Yes, it's an important connection to keep in mind there.
Is there anything Congress can do to provide oversight or accountability into this territory with DOGE that's at the very least, ethically murky.
BERGMAN: Well, only Congress has the power to actually get rid of the agency. Remember, Congress was the one that started it. So this is going to be something that's decided by courts.
But clearly, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have the power to muzzle the agency, which they've already done.
[14:40:00]
SANCHEZ: Ben Bergman, appreciate the time. Thanks for joining us.
BERGMAN: Thanks so much.
SANCHEZ: Coming up, as two planes arrive in Venezuela carrying dozens of migrants deported from the United States, some of Donald Trump's own Venezuelan supporters fear they could be on an upcoming deportation flight to South America. Well discuss some new reporting in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Nearly 200 Venezuelan migrants to the United States are back in their home country after being repatriated last night.
This is the first of two flights carrying deportees arrested in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. It landed in Caracas as part of an agreement with the United States.
[14:44:59:]
There's a new piece in "The Washington Post" highlighting how Venezuelans in the south Florida community of Doral are now fearing deportation. This comes after the Trump administration revoked Temporary Protected Status for some 600,000 Venezuelans.
One university professor who fled to the U.S. told "The Post," quote, "Today, I feel the same way I felt in Venezuela. They're going to come take me somewhere I won't be able to escape from.
Sabrina Rodriguez is the national politics reporter who covered this story for "The Washington Post." She is also the duchess of Hialeah, Florida.
Sabrina, thank you, as always, for being with us.
You spoke to several Venezuelans who fled the Communist dictatorship, who received temporary asylum here in the United States. They're supporters of Donald Trump. They may have not voted for him, but they are vocal supporters who went to rallies and wore the T-shirts, et cetera.
And now they've had their asylum status canceled, and they're afraid that they're going to get deported. What did they share with you?
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I mean, Boris, this is a community that you and I know very well. It neighbors are beloved Hialeah, Doral, Florida. It also is the backyard of one of Donald Trump's golf courses and resorts.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: A lot of people in this community are taken off guard. I mean, there's a lot of fear. There's a lot of confusion. There's a lot of outrage right now in Doral, Florida. This is a community that's about 40 percent roughly from Venezuela.
And they supported Trump so vocally. And they didn't think that when he was talking about immigration, when he was talking about, you know, the mass deportations that he was talking about them.
They thought, oh, you know, he's talking about Aragua. he's talking specifically about, you know, this scary Venezuelan gang that has come, you know, that people are coming into the United States. He's talking about cracking down on criminals, sending them back.
A lot of them were very supportive of that. But now they're seeing, oh, wait, we had legal status. We had, you know, work permits, a shield from deportation. We did it, the air quotes, "right way" --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: -- by applying and doing background checks. And now he's gone and revoked that. And where does that leave us?
SANCHEZ: Yes, the argument from the Trump administration is that the entire TPS program has been abused and therefore is illegitimate.
You also heard from folks that told you that this had strained their family relations. Like people we're very angry at each other within families over this.
RODRIGUEZ: Oh, 100 percent. I mean, well, as you noted, TPS recipients are not U.S. citizens. They cannot vote.
Many of them, yes, did support Donald Trump. They posted on social media about it. They went to his rallies in south Florida, but they had family members who could vote.
And one example was this family I met, this this young woman, Andrea. Her husband is a U.S. citizen. He voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.
And now he's been sort of taunting her dad, who is a big Trump supporter and TPS recipient, saying, you know, (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Donald Trump. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
SANCHEZ: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: You know, saying, you wanted to vote for Donald Trump, and now he's trying to kick you out of the country.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: So it certainly prompted a lot of lively conversations within families.
SANCHEZ: Yes. I can tell you that I've actually had friends reach out to me, supporters of Donald Trump from Hialeah, our hometown, who asked me to connect them with lawmakers in south Florida.
Because, in one instance, a young lady's boyfriend has lost TPS, and now she's concerned that he's going to get deported.
I wonder, now that they're facing this crisis, if you think the politics of this changes with these folks, because obviously Donald Trump made a lot of inroads with Hispanic voters, most notably perhaps in Miami-Dade County, which flipped to Republicans, flipped red for the first time since like 40 years.
RODRIGUEZ: And, look, Boris, I think this is a question, though, what are Democrats going to do with this? Are they going to seize this opportunity? I think it's actually been noticeable in the last few weeks that this is happening in south Florida.
While I was reporting this, you don't hear very much from Democrats. I mean, of course, the city is now run largely by Republican lawmakers and Republican leadership, but you're not hearing very much from Democrats on this subject. So it does seem to be a missed opportunity.
And I will say, in addition to that, I mean, you know, a lot of people are talking, a lot of Harris supporters are looking at these situations saying, well, they voted for this, now they deserve this.
And I think that, while, yes, of course, there are people frustrated with the outcome of this, there is sort of that question of Donald Trump did talk all the time about the Maduro regime.
He did talk about the politics, how he was going to fight Socialism, how he was going to be the person to take Maduro out of power. So a lot of people really bought into that belief that, OK, he is the person that understands. The same as, you know, Cubans as well.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: There are several communities that have been fighting against authoritarian regimes that want to see a change in their home country, and they bought into Trump making that promise.
So I think a lot of people are reckoning with he's been talking about this for years, and now is he actually going to do that? Because it seems like instead, he's negotiating to get them to accept deportations.
SANCHEZ: Right. The generational trauma, as you know, Sabrina, is thick.
Sabrina Rodriguez, thank you so much for your reporting. Appreciate it. The duchess of Hialeah.
[14:49:59]
There is new video showing the moment a private jet crashed into a parked plane at an Arizona airport. Up next, there are some critical clues that could be in this footage. We'll discuss in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: The NTSB is investigating a deadly plane crash on the tarmac at an Arizona airport. This CCTV footage shows the moment a private Lear jet, owned by Motley Crue frontman, Vince Neil, collided into a parked plane after landing in Scottsdale.
We're learning that one person was killed and three others we're injured. The frontman was not on board.
CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, joins us now.
Pete, what are you hearing about what happened?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the second major crash in as many weeks involving an aging Lear jet. The first in Philadelphia only 11 days ago. And that Mexican medical transport flight crashed into a neighborhood shortly after takeoff.
[14:54:57]
Now, this crash involving a Lear 35 built in 1989. That vintage of jet can be picked up on the used market for about $1 million, but they cost a lot to maintain over time, which, once again, raises some questions about the longevity of an aging fleet of these private jets.
This flight was arriving from Austin, Texas, on Scottsdale airport's runway two. One city spokesperson says the left landing gear failed on touchdown. And the flight tracking data confirms that the plane veered out of control, left off the runway and then slammed into a parked Gulfstream jet.
Remember, no commercial service at this airport, but it's still very busy and a very packed place. A lot of private jets are parked outside.
Thankfully, this jet veered to the left and not the right, where there is much more development in Scottsdale and a lot more parked planes. So this could have been a lot worse.
The data also shows this plane was going about 65 miles per hour at the time of the collision. That's about highway speed. So the crash occurred with a lot of force.
Four people on board the Lear jet. And the FAA now says one member of the pilot's crew was killed. Another member of the crew and two passengers received serious injuries and were taken to nearby hospitals.
Lear jet, as you mentioned, owned by frontman for Motley Crue. Vince Neil. The plane has flames painted on the side and even has a vanity Tail number ending in VN, Victor November for Vince Neil.
A representative for the singer says Neil was not on board at the time of the crash, although we're just confirming that Neil's girlfriend and daughter were on board at the time.
National Transportation Safety Board just starting this probe. Of course, Boris, it has its hands full with four major incidents in only a-couple-of-weeks' time, involving either commercial flights or private jets.
SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, thanks so much for bringing us the latest. Appreciate it.
Still ahead, the FBI says it's discovered thousands of new records on the Kennedy assassination. What they could reveal, in just a few minutes.
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