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Trump Administration Fires Thousands of Fed Workers in Push to Shrink Government; U.S. Atty: Mayor's Lawyers "Urged What Amounted to a Quid Pro Quo"; Indiana Teen Accused of Shooting Plot Inspired by Parkland Massacre. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 14, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: For a specific amount of time. But they are still considered career employees. One source told CNN that the technologists who've been hired in recent years to work on AI and other issues have been hit particularly hard. And, Kate, this is obviously part of a broader effort, right, the Trump administration trying to cut red tape. So there's a lot of deregulation going on. They're also trying to slash the size of the federal workforce.

But let's not forget that these are real people, right? These are moms and dads and their careers and their lives have just been sort of turned upside down in the past week.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got a lot more reporting on more firings beyond the CFPB as well. Great to see you, Matt. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN New Central starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news, this is a disturbing story. We're just learning that a teenager has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and two terror related charges for allegedly plotting a Valentine's Day school shooting inspired by the Parkland massacre.

A federal prosecutor resigns in defiance of a Justice Department order to drop the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams. The new accusations of an attempted quid pro quo.

And dangerous flash floods and mudslides in parts of burn scarred California after a powerful storm slams the state. That storm is now moving east with the potential for new damage across the country.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN New Central.

BOLDUAN: A lot we're tracking this hour, including this, this morning, a wave of layoffs across the federal -- federal government is setting in thousands of people across -- across the federal workforce now out of work as the president -- as the Trump administration moves ahead with its plans to dramatically shrink the size of the workforce. The exact numbers not yet known, but sources say that job cuts are deep at both the Department of Energy and the Department of Veterans Affairs and at the V.A. talking about more than 1000 jobs now cut.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House tracking all of this. Alayna, this is exactly what Donald Trump and Elon Musk says was coming. But what are you hearing about this now, as we're hearing from the V.A. and the new secretary of the V.A. himself?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. They did -- well, I'll say I'll put it this way. They had so far been trying to say that all of these federal workers, many federal workers were going to be given that option to go on paid leave. And really, up until this week, all of the layoffs or so-called layoffs, I should say, that we've seen have been for paid administrative leave.

This is different. These are firings. And we did report last week that they were expected. But they are really beginning to come in huge numbers across all of the federal government.

Now, you mentioned some of the agencies we know, as you said, are the Department of Veterans Affairs. But we also know the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Small Business Administration, all of them also, in addition to other agencies, really facing this same problem.

Now, the new reporting we have is who was targeted in this recent round of layoffs. And it was mainly probationary federal workers, essentially those who have been in their jobs for less than a year or less than two years in some cases. If we pull up the data, it's about 200,000 people who have been in their federal government jobs for about less than a year. That's according to the data from the Office of the Personnel Management, which is under the White House.

But, look, one thing that's been interesting about this is this whole talk of probationary or not, we know there was actually guidance that was issued by OPM, like I said, a White House agency, that was actually warning that different agencies didn't actually have to or wouldn't be required to actually fire all of these probationary employees. Instead, they were arguing it would be based on their performance. But that's not exactly how we are seeing it play out.

I'm going to read you just some of the statement we got from an OPM spokesperson. They said, quote, "Agencies are taking independent action in light of the recent hiring freeze and in support of the President's broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to better serve the American people at the highest possible standard."

Now, one thing that was also interesting, Kate, is just from talking to our sources who have either been impacted by this or seen these happen in real time at their agencies, we are learning that these firings are happening by email from their managers, but some of them are being grouped or fired by group on some of these video calls.

One just one example is that OPM employees said that they were fired as part of a more than 100 person Microsoft Teams call. Just to give you some insight in how this is actually playing out inside these agencies. Now, another thing, of course, is where do the unions come in at all

of this? We know that the unions are arguing that they are going to fight this at every legal avenue available to them. The president of AFGE, the American Federation of Government Employees, they said that these employees were given no notice, no due process, no opportunity to defend themselves.

[09:05:07]

So there could be some legal challenges like we've seen with some of these other recent moves by the Trump administration to push back on this. But all to say, we are starting to really see these layoffs hit all different parts of government. From my conversations with Trump administration officials this is just the beginning. We are expecting to see more of these, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, projected that it was going to happen, saying it was coming and now it is setting in and it is just the beginning. Alayna, thank you so much for reporting.

John?

BERMAN: OK, this morning, questions over what some see as overt politics at play in the Justice Department. Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, quit along with five other senior department officials in Washington protesting demands from the Department of Justice to drop the prosecution on corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Now, Sassoon's eight-page letter not only defends the case, but it really goes on to make new allegations.

I'm joined now by Shan Wu, Defense Attorney, former Federal Prosecutor. I'm just going to jump right in to one of the things that Danielle Sassoon said in her resignation letter. She's talking about the idea of a quid pro quo. Eric Adams offering help on Trump's immigration plans in exchange for putting off the case.

She wrote, "Rather than be rewarded, Adams' advocacy should be called out for what it is, an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case. Although Mr. Bove,' and he is the Justice Department official involved here, 'disclaimed any intention to exchange leniency in this case for Adams assistance in enforcing the law. That is the nature of the bargain laid bare in Mr. Bove's memo." She's basically saying there were like quid pro quo discussions here and the Justice Department was part of it, Shan.

SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yeah, and I think, John, the really disturbing part of it is really on the receiving end of that offer. So Adams attorneys are, of course, going to dispute that there's some sort of corrupt motive. They're just trying to pitch things for their client.

And there's a little bit of a question as to what is the thing of value that they'd be offering under this sort of bribery type notion here. But what's really disturbing is the reaction of DOJ. For example, the idea that, as Ms. Sassoon also notes, that Bove barred any note taking during that session and then actually collected notes like a, you know, schoolteacher collecting, you know, drawings from kids. It's quite obvious that it looks as though he wants to suppress any record of that exchange. And it is very inappropriate. Don't know if it rises to the level of criminality.

Obviously, it's kind of a moot point since DOJ would determine that. But it's very inappropriate for the department to engage in that kind of overt political bargaining.

BERMAN: Yeah, that's the thing. I'm not suggesting this would be a new charge levied against Eric Adams or anyone for that matter. But the fact that it's happening at all and the fact that Danielle Sassoon is mentioning it in her resignation letter is notable, maybe even more notable is the response from Justice Department attorney Emil Bove, who we should know was a Donald Trump defense lawyer who lost in New York City in the -- in the -- in the hush money case here. He just went after Sassoon.

He said, quote, "In no valid sense do you uphold the Constitution by disobeying direct orders implementing the policy of a duly elected president. And anyone romanticizing that behavior does a disservice to the nature of this work in the public's perception of our efforts."

Basically, what Sassoon and many others in this position say is, you know, our job is to uphold the Constitution. Is he saying, no, your job is to do what the president says?

WU: Yes, I think that's exactly what he's saying. And, you know, on a technical level, he calls her insubordinate in this remarkably personal attack, his letter responding to her, that he says you're being insubordinate, you have to follow orders. It's technically right. I mean, she's saying I'm going to resign if you don't change your orders. But it's quite heroic, actually, what she's doing. And, you know, that remark he makes, like, you know, no one should romanticize what you're doing.

It's obvious he's worried about her really becoming kind of lionized for having taken the stand. And I think it's all the more important that she not only is she a conservative person politically and she's appointed by the Trump administration to be in Trump, but she's a career prosecutor. You know, the analogies to the Watergate era Saturday Night Massacre, they're correct. But those were two high level people, the attorney general there, the deputy attorney general. These are career people, including the head of public corruption and the head of the criminal division, taking the stand to resign rather than do something that is against their conscience.

BERMAN: She's got rock solid conservative credentials, a member of the Federal Society, clerked for Scalia.

Just one last question here. The judge in this case, what's the discretion of the judge now overseeing this case, especially given how much odd has gone on here?

[09:10:07]

WU: The judge actually has a lot of discretion. The judge could refuse to accept the dismissal. I mean, theoretically, the judge could even appoint a point like a judicial special prosecutor to take it over. Highly unlikely. I mean, if DOJ is not behind it, it's really dead in the water.

But importantly, the judge can call the DOJ officials on the carpet to explain why are you dismissing this? I need some basis for this. And that obviously could be a very embarrassing, damaging situation for DOJ.

BERMAN: Shan Wu, nice to talk to you this morning. Thanks very much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: And we're following more breaking news out of Munich, Germany now where Vice President J.D. Vance just spoke. And he is also set to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy just in a few hours. Zelenskyy moments ago now citing Ukrainian intelligence says Russia is preparing to attack a NATO country as soon as next year.

Now, Vice President Vance was speaking this morning and in his remarks did not clarify or really even address the comments that it's getting a lot of attention when he spoke to the "Wall Street Journal" about the options that the Trump administration is or is not considering in order to bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine. The Vice President pointing to both military and financial options as tools of leverage if Russia isn't negotiating in good faith.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is back with us.

Every time you go off camera, there is a new statement that we need to add to this conversation. Now hearing this from President Zelenskyy about what he's hearing from Ukrainian intelligence, the threat that NATO faces now from Russia, he says. But add it all up, Nick, what are we learning today?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think in short, we're learning that there is certainly not a cohesive plan in the Trump administration that all of its officials are reading from. It seems to be morphing constantly.

Let's go to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's comments first about an attack on a NATO member. We don't know what he's basing that on. And essentially, it is a prediction based on the widely held thoughts across Europe's NATO allies and frankly, in the Biden administration, too, that if Russia has a ceasefire, it will simply regroup and rebuild. But it's retooled its economy so much towards the war in Ukraine that the idea of it getting what it wants on the eastern part of Ukraine and then calling it a day is far-fetched.

There's a risk to Europe's NATO members, particularly maybe in the Baltics on Russia's borders, if the United States steps back as a guarantor of European security. Exactly what Hegseth said that they would do back in Brussels on Tuesday. Whether that still stands or not, we don't entirely know because Hegseth has rolled back some of his comments, it seems, from Brussels, too.

We know also that Zelenskyy is concerned that the United States is trying to put itself in the middle between Russia and Ukraine. In his words, he wants United States to be, as it has been for the last three years on Ukraine's side, trying to get Russia to agree to things in a peace deal. And we also know that at this point, he does not believe Trump has a fully formed official plan for peace.

We also have been hearing now from J.D. Vance, the Vice President, who launched a remarkable policy idea in an interview with "The Wall Street Journal" in which you said he suggested tools of leverage could be both economic and military, essentially holding out the idea, it seemed, that U.S. troops and extremists might somehow be on the ground in Ukraine if Russia didn't treat peace talks seriously. The polar opposite of what Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, said in Brussels when he said no U.S. troops would go to Ukraine. He was talking more about peacekeeping. But frankly, that's a softer version of their deployment anyway, in which the Europeans being asked to do potentially more of the work as well.

So the bigger picture here, really, Kate, is that we don't really understand exactly what the concrete blocks of the Trump administration's policy for peace here is. We know that Trump and Putin have spoken. We know that since those conversations Trump did last night suggest that -- I'm paraphrasing here, that essentially Ukraine wanted to join NATO and that's why Russia invaded. That's revisionist. That wasn't why Russia had a strategic goal in invading unprovoked in 2022.

So things are constantly morphing, being clarified by Trump's own administration, it seems. J.D. Vance talking more a cultural war in the speech he just gave in Munich. And this all plays into Putin's hands. He wants the uncertainty. He wants a lack of clarity because he's winning on the battlefield and at this point sees no real concrete peace to negotiate with.

BOLDUAN: Nick, thank you so much. Tracking it all. Thank you for your reporting as always.

John?

BERMAN: We do have some breaking news this morning, disturbing messages, a twisted obsession and a last-minute FBI tip. A teenager now charged with plotting a mass shooting inspired by the massacre at Parkland High School.

Multiple states now suing Elon Musk why they say his power over the federal government is unconstitutional. And the chances of a huge asteroid hitting Earth have just doubled.

[09:15:03]

Happy Valentine's Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: All right. Breaking news. We're just getting word of an alleged school shooting plot caught in time. One designed to mimic the massacre at Parkland High School in Florida, which you'll remember did happen on Valentine's Day.

Let's get right to CNN's Whitney Wild for details on this.

Good morning, Whitney. What are you learning?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this case involves 18-year-old Trinity Shockley, Shockley is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of terrorism. This all happening in Morgan County, Indiana, in a town called Mooresville. That's about 10 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

[09:20:12]

And what the affidavit makes clear, John, is that Shockley had this real obsession with other shooters in their room. For example, there was a collage that included other mass shooters. And John, the real question here is how was this plot foiled? And police say that they received a tip from the FBI that came through the FBI's Sandy Hook tip line.

And this tipster told the FBI that Shockley had access to an AR-15, was plotting this mass shooting, had just ordered a bulletproof vest and had this real obsession with the shooter who killed 17 people and wounded 17 other people at Parkland in Parkland, Florida, seven years ago today. Here's more from the Mooresville Metropolitan Police Chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY BUCKNER, MOORESVILLE, INDIANA METROPOLITAN POLICE CHIEF: Nothing ever happens in Mooresville, it's a small town, but to think that somebody was plotting to hurt a lot of individuals, of kids, I mean, future leaders of this country or whoever is pretty disturbing. The pictures in her room were, they look like family photographs, like you would put of your kids, but they were all of people that had committed mass shootings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: John, you heard the Police Chief there say she, Shockley, also went by the name Jamie, that Shockley is transgender. It is not clear exactly which pronouns Shockley used. There are many more questions here, John. You know, chiefly, what was the motivation? The affidavit gives quite a bit of detail. Some of it includes information that Shockley was reeling from the death of their mother.

You know, further, John, I think what's really important to take away from this is the tips that went into the FBI. The tips were detailed and they acted quickly. That is what stopped what could have been another mass shooting on Valentine's Day, John.

BERMAN: Look, the details are chilling, but it is notable that this process, this system that was in place in this case, worked to alert people in time.

All right, Whitney Wild, thank you very much for sharing all of your reporting on this.

So we have new video of a mudslide sweeping a car into the ocean as dangerous weather plagues California. And a modern-day Jonah, how one kayaker managed to escape after being swallowed by a whale.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:09]

BOLDUAN: One thing that has become clear in the first days of Donald Trump's second term is that Elon Musk is playing a starring role. The President giving him free reign to carry out their plan to slash the federal government, closing entire agencies, dramatically cutting back the federal workforce. Those firings we're starting to see in waves today.

Some see Musk's approach as unusual. Others see it as dangerous and illegal as he now faces multiple lawsuits. Everyone, though, now looking at how Musk is using his own social media platform as a tool in his plans to purge the federal government.

Joining me right now is Will Oremus. He covers technology for "The Washington Post." He's been reporting on Elon Musk for years.

Will, thanks for coming in.

How is Elon Musk, in what you've been tracking, how is he using X to promote and push forward with his government cutting plans? How is he utilizing it as a tool?

WILL OREMUS, TECHNOLOGY NEWS ANALYSIS WRITER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yeah, it's really been key to his strategy. So, you know, if you're going to go in and try to take a scalpel to government programs and cut out the waste and the fat in a really careful way, that would take a lot of time. It would take probably a lot of listening. That's not the approach that Musk and DOGE have taken. They're taking a sledgehammer to certain agencies that they target. And in order to justify that, Musk is rallying supporters and putting out talking points on his social media platform X, where he is, of course, the loudest voice with the largest following.

And he -- what he does is when DOGE takes on a new agency, Musk will put out tweets that suggest the agency is fraudulent, that it's criminal, that the people in it are evil, that it's part of a liberal conspiracy. And then a lot of people who rally around Musk on X will take up those talking points, amplify them, add to them. And before long, it's a -- it's a whole narrative.

BOLDUAN: That gets to something that you wrote that I think is kind of focused, helps to frame and focus the conversation, which you wrote, "With Musk's U.S.-DOGE service remaking agencies on the fly, X is emerging as Musk's own digital Mar-a-Lago." And I'm wondering what that's going to look like even in, you know, weeks to come? OREMUS: Yeah, you know, if you want to see most government officials, you go to their office. If you want to see -- if you want to see Musk, you want to talk to Musk, you go to his office. And his office is on X. And he has even joked about that. Democratic leaders have posted on X saying they demand to hear from Musk as to what DOGE is up to. And he'll respond with an image of himself as the godfather on X saying, you know, here I am. What can I do for you?

He's also made X a place where conservatives who have a cause that they would like to get onto the Trump administration's agenda can reach him.