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Judge to Consider Motion to Dismiss Adams Charges; Trump And Zelenskyy Trade Barbs; Record-Breaking Cold. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 19, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:12]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: It's a case that has roiled the Justice Department and New York City's City Hall. Right now, Mayor Eric Adams corruption case is in court. A federal judge set to consider the DOJ's request to dismiss those charges. We're following all the developments.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus a war of words. Just hours after Ukraine, Zelenskyy accuses Donald Trump falling for disinformation. A counterattack, the President calling Zelenskyy a dictator as he pushes for a peace deal with Russia.

And dangerously cold conditions for more than half the country. For some, temperatures are plunging below 50 -- rather, or plunging 50 degrees below average. Below 50 degrees is cold for me. That's why I stumbled on that (inaudible).

KEILAR: Miami.

SANCHEZ: We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

KEILAR: This hour, there is a high stakes hearing to determine the next steps in New York Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case. And that is getting underway here in New York. A federal judge is taking up the DOJ's bid to drop the charges against Mayor Adams.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove is expected to appear there in court today. He's called for the case to be dismissed without prejudice, arguing that it hinders the mayor's ability to do his job and prevents him from fully focusing on President Trump's immigration crackdown.

SANCHEZ: And to this point, at least eight federal prosecutors have now resigned in protest with the former interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, accusing the DOJ of taking part in a quid pro quo with the mayor. The DOJ and Mayor Adams deny that allegation. The case is causing an uproar among some legal experts urging the judge not to approve this dismissal without digging deeper into the circumstances surrounding the deal. Joining us now to discuss, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig and David Freedlander. He's a writer for New York magazine who's covered Mayor Eric Adams extensively.

Elie, let's start with you. Judge Ho has made it clear that under a federal rule, the executive branch is the, quote, first and presumptively the best judge of whether to drop a prosecution. But he also emphasized the court's abilities, the court's standing as an independent arm of the government. Ultimately, how do you think this is going to land?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So those are two very important principles to keep in place. First of all, the executive branch, the Justice Department, has extremely broad discretion to decide when it wants to proceed with the case or drop a case. And second of all, though, the judge does have some say. If you look at the federal rules, it says you can only dismiss a case with leave of court, meaning with the judge's approval.

And here's the main thing that I'm going to be watching for when we -- when this hearing gets underway, when we get reports from Paula. What basis does Emil Bove, what basis does the Justice Department put forward? What they've said in the letters that we've all seen is we want to drop this case so Eric Adams can help us with our political and policy agenda. That's what has caused such an uproar within DOJ and among DOJ alums.

Alternatively, though, up to this point, DOJ has said this has nothing to do with the strength of the case, the strength of the law, the strength of the facts. But it sounds like, and I heard Paula reporting earlier, and there's some tweets out there from the DOJ Chief of Staff, they're migrating over now to -- well, and it's a weak case, too. So that's a better argument to dismiss a case? I don't think it's a great one, but they're on much better footing if they go with that. But that would be a real turnabout from DOJ.

KEILAR: On better footing if they initially went with that, I guess.

HONIG: Right.

KEILAR: Okay. So this idea of, like, a special prosecutor, this is an idea that the nonprofit group Common Cause and three former U.S. Attorneys have suggested about the judge appointing a special prosecutor. What do you think of that?

HONIG: Can I stamp this one out before it catches any fire?

KEILAR: Do it.

HONIG: I saw that letter. I respect the people who wrote it. They cite examples that are not applicable here. They cite the very rare example where a federal court can appoint an outside prosecutor, but only in contempt cases, only where the court itself is proceeding against somebody for civil or criminal contempt. There is zero precedent for a judge to say, I hear about Elie Honig, former prosecutor. You're going to come in. We're going to have you be the outside prosecutor on the Eric Adams case. That would violate separation of powers. That cannot be done. I understand what's driving the people who've written this letter, but they're off base. They're not going to get an outside lawyer appointed here.

SANCHEZ: David, the mayor and his attorneys have adamantly denied that Adams took part in any kind of quid pro quo with DOJ. But obviously, he's facing very serious charges. What are the stakes for him whether or not the judge decides to dismiss this case?

DAVID FREEDLANDER, WRITER, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Well, you know, they couldn't be higher. I mean, you know, City hall, city government in New York have just sort of ground to a halt over the last week. You have the governor, you know, looking at removing him.

[14:05:01]

You have the city comptroller, who's the kind of, like, second ranking official in the city, talking about putting a committee together called an inability committee that would sort of basically whether or not the Mayor is incapacitated because he's kind of under the thumb of Donald Trump. So it's, you know, we've seen a lot of chaos in New York City and state over the last 5 or 10 years in our politics and government. But it's really hard to match this moment.

KEILAR: So David, what is the governor, you know, know, what's the thinking right now with Governor Hochul on this?

FREEDLANDER: You know, people I've talked to say she sort of really doesn't want to be in this situation. She would like to avoid it. You know, there's a primary election at the end of June and a general election in November. And, you know, I think she feels like this -- she'd rather not have to make this decision right now.

SANCHEZ: How would it potentially impact the election if Adam stays?

FREEDLANDER: Well, you know, I mean, it's a little hard to say. I mean, he still seemed to think he has a fighting chance, you know, to win reelection. But he might be the only one. I mean, his polling is terrible right now. And pretty much, you know, all the other candidates, including former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is not yet a declared candidate, kind of seemed to be gunning for his job and saying he's just, you know, we cannot have someone who is essentially a puppet of Donald Trump in the White House. I mean, sorry, in City Hall.

KEILAR: Interesting. And you have the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, her staff -- her Chief of Staff, Chad Maisel, tweeted some arguments saying, the DOJ is, quote, "going back to basics" and calling the case against Mayor Adams, quote, "just one in a long history of past DOJ actions that represent grave errors of judgment." Kind of this case that, like, hey, DOJ has done these corruption cases. It hasn't always worked out. What do you think of that?

HONIG: So, first of all, yeah, he just tweeted this out. He basically says, well, there have been a long series. He's right. There have been a long series of Supreme Court arguments that have narrowed the scope of corruption laws and rejected prior DOJ prosecutions. However, where was this line of thinking 10 days ago, 10 days ago? I'm going to read you what Emil Bove wrote when he started this whole process 10 days ago, February 10th, quote, "the Justice Department has reached this conclusion," meaning dismissed the Eric Adams case "without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which this case is based."

Now, that is what caused the uproar here because they said, nothing to do with the strength of the evidence. Instead, we're dismissing it so he can help us out with policy and political stuff.

Now, it seems with this Twitter chain that you just put up, now, DOJ is sort of backtracking and saying, well, it's actually the weakness of the case. The other thing I want to point out is, yes, the Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of these cases. But that doesn't mean the Eric Adams case was outside the scope of that. He doesn't even actually mention the Eric Adams case. It's a long Twitter chain. He cites cases rightly going back several years. But I assure you, the Southern District of New York studied those cases very carefully in bringing the Adams indictment.

So I want to see which one they go with in court. I mean, are they going to go with option A, politics, or option B, merits of the case? And if option B, where was that 10 days ago?

KEILAR: C, all of the above?

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

HONIG: Right.

KEILAR: That's normally D.

HONIG: Listen, my dad told me, if you're going to make an excuse, only make one excuse. Otherwise, no one believes you.

SANCHEZ: We'll keep that in mind for the future. Elie Honig, David Freedlander, thank you both. Appreciate it.

Also, breaking news we're tracking this afternoon. President Trump now escalating his criticism of Ukraine's President Zelenskyy casting the wartime leader as a dictator in a social media post. Trump in part saying, quote, "Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion to go into a war that couldn't be won, that never had to start." He goes on to say that Zelenskyy refuses to have elections is very low in Ukrainian polls. And the only thing he was good at was playing Biden like a fiddle. A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he's not going to have a country left.

KEILAR: That scathing post and in many cases is full of false statements. And it comes after Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia yesterday.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv in Ukraine. Nick, what are people there saying about this?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, look at this. I think they're (ph) frankly shock. They were shocked this morning after the statement in the Oval Office about Ukraine starting the war and Zelenskyy's poll rating being at 4%, both really kind of things you normally hear the Kremlin say. That sparked Zelenskyy to say that Trump has been living in a disinformation space.

I should point out, he did say he had great respect for President Donald Trump and also for the American people, just as he made those comments and suggested, in fact, that it was Hungarian, Slovakian, pro-Russian officials who might have been trying to feed that disinformation to the U.S. President. But that clearly has angered President Trump. And the litany of false statements, frankly, that he made about the situation. Ukraine, half of the money missing, how Zelenskyy admitted to that, how Zelenskyy was a dictator, how he was refusing to hold elections.

[14:10:05]

Looking at the concept of elections here in wartime is exceptionally fraught. And that appears to be increasingly something which the Trump administration wants to see happen. In peacetime, Russia's meddled in the past in the 22 years I've been coming here, it's been a constant problem. The idea of trying during martial law when elections are suspended, maybe get a ceasefire to allow martial law to be lifted, to allow soldiers to vote. Then how do you deal with the millions of Ukrainians, currently refugees, and the rest of Europe? How do you deal with the electoral reform? And how do you deal with the possibility Russia might launch one of its attacks during Election Day? So much that could go wrong and that could deny the victory of any election with the legitimacy they so badly need to be a wartime commander here.

And it's really beginning, I think, to ebb away at the narrative here. Zelenskyy wants to be the singular voice that asks Europe and the United States to continue aid and demands a place at the peace talks table. But instead, we have this -- the back and forth really escalating throughout the day. Clearly, a lot of personal animosity behind Trump's most recent truth social statement, saying that Zelenskyy needs to move fast if he wants to still have a country, and suggesting that Zelenskyy somehow on a gravy train.

A narrative really forming here that the current leadership in Kyiv, in the eyes and full statements of the Trump administration, are denying democracy to their people and essentially pocketing the aid money that the United States has been giving them.

I should add one thing. We've been finding out recently, a recent offer by the Trump administration to the Ukrainian government here of a deal in which they'd essentially hand over half of the rare earth mineral and other resource rights of the country in exchange for future aid. That's something Zelenskyy rejected.

Well, we've heard from sources familiar with the contents of the document that, remarkably, this was an offer intended to pay the United States back for aid that it had already given Ukraine, not to guarantee future assistance to pay that old debt back. And indeed, the document that was presented was about 16 pages long, two or three of them legal terminology, and then a list over a dozen pages of specific resources, mines, particular locations that the United States had on mind to be as part of this deal.

So a definite move there, very transactional by the Trump administration to get something back for aid that the Biden administration essentially has already given mostly to Ukraine. A lot moving here. A lot the Trump administration wants. But now, really ugly, frankly. 24 hours in which Washington and Kyiv's relationship already on the rocks because of what we've been seeing happening in Riyadh between the United States and Russia taking an ugly turn. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yeah, indeed. And where would that leave Ukraine if they were to take a deal like that? Nick Paton Walsh live for us in Kyiv. Thank you very much.

Still to come. Federal workers rallying in cities across the country against President Trump's efforts to overhaul the federal workforce.

SANCHEZ: Plus, one of the world's most contagious and yet preventable diseases is now spreading in two states. Why officials say the number of cases will continue to increase.

And later, the all-electric race car that could be the future of NASCAR. That and much more coming up on CNN News Central.

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[14:17:54]

KEILAR: The Trump administration unfiring some of the federal workers that it canned as part of its drastic government overhaul, trying to get them back to work because it turns out they actually do need them to do their jobs.

The CDC, the Department of Agriculture now joined the growing list of agencies trying to rescind termination letters to staffers in critical roles. While the Department of Veterans Affairs has already rehired about a dozen people who support its veterans crisis line. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said yesterday, quote, "it's pretty standard when you're downsizing government."

In the meantime, officials tell CNN the Pentagon is now reviewing lists of probationary civilian workers to potentially fire in a round of cuts that could come as soon as this week. And all of this as federal workers are mobilizing right now from coast to coast. They say, they're taking a stand against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

With us now is Chris Dols. He's a federal employee who's organizing today's demonstrations. Chris, thanks for being with us. Can you just tell us what you're hoping to accomplish today? CHRIS DOLS, ORGANIZING PROTESTS TO SUPPORT FEDERAL WORKERS: Yeah, I

really appreciate the opportunity. So I'm the President of my union local in New York. I work at the Army Corps of Engineers. I'm the President of IFPT Local 98. And I'm also organizing this week with the Federal Unionist Network, which is organizing today's National Day of Action to stand up to this assault. They are attempting to torch the entire civil service, or at least any aspect of it that happens to do something that they see getting in the way of profits.

And here, of course, I mean, they -- as Elon Musk and the handful of billionaires that have completely taken over this administration.

KEILAR: Are you -- so you're employed right now?

DOLS: Yeah, yup. And I should disclaim, anything I say is my opinion or speaking on behalf of my union. And I'm obviously not speaking on behalf of the Army Corps of Engineers. But yeah, I am a subject matter expert in dredging. We keep the shipping channels open for commerce. And we renourish beaches. And we do critical work all over the country, as do so many of the other agencies that they're cutting.

[14:20:01]

KEILAR: Are you worried about getting fired? Are you worried about cuts to your agency? Tell me about it.

DOLS: I mean, they are pursuing a smash and grab across the entire government. I do expect that once they finish with their most disfavored agencies, you know, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which they've already shuttered in the interest of, you know, letting banks and predatory lenders get away with keeping all of us in debt until we die. When they're done with the EPA and making it easier to pursue permits to transport oil all across our country without any mind to the environmental mitigation that they're statutorily required to pursue. When they're done slashing the Department of Education and going after the socialized medicine that we have, thank goodness for veterans healthcare. When they're done going off after all their most disfavored agencies, I wouldn't be surprised if -- even agencies in the Department of Defense wind up facing deep cuts. But ultimately, this is an attack on all of us.

Elon Musk is stealing from the entire American public. They're stealing our data. They're stealing the services that we all rely on. And ultimately, you just know that they're going to use everything they supposedly save to justify massive tax cuts for themselves and more corporate -- more government contracts for themselves as well. Ultimately, they're in it for themselves.

KEILAR: And what -- and describe the process as you've been talking to union members. Because as we've been talking to people, it sounds like, you know, their bosses, who you would think would normally be in charge of doing some kind of staff reduction might not even be aware that they're getting fired. Take us through what you're seeing.

DOLS: Yeah, I mean, the wholesale attack on probationary employees, I think there's this idea that probationary employees are just like, you know, recent college graduates who just started at the federal government. It's really important that the federal government bring in industry experts who have tons of experience. I spent eight years working for a dredging contractor before I started at the Army Corps. And anybody who happened to be hired in the last 12 months is on the chopping block, completely irrespective of how much they bring to the federal service.

And I think it gets at the truth here because they claim that they're just trying to find efficiency, but that's not actually. That doesn't explain why they're doing this. You know, if they were after efficiency, then they probably would have thought a little harder before they fired only to unfire all the people you just reported on. This has nothing to do with efficiency. This is their attempt to completely remake the civil service. And we are the guardians of the civil service. We were the folks who are sworn to protect the Constitution when we became federal employees. We are motivated by our service. And go figure the richest man in the world who, I'm pretty sure, is not motivated by, you know, ideas of service.

He didn't become the richest man in the world by thinking of others. He's in it for himself and the other billionaires who stand to gain so much through tax cuts and, you know, the government contracts that we know they're after.

KEILAR: These probationary employees, I mean, what it really comes down to is they're easiest to fire. But there's also some instances, can you take us through where someone may have gotten a promotion? So technically, their job has changed and they're probationary. Are you running into that where you actually have folks who have spent many, many years, and the U.S. taxpayer has invested a lot of money in their expertise. And all of a sudden, they're unexpectedly out?

DOLS: Totally, yeah. I mean, there's basically two major categories of probationary employees, exactly like you said. There are those who are brand new to the Federal Service within the last 12 months. And then there are those that, for whatever reason, are doing a new job series or a different job. And so it restarts their probationary period. And of course, the idea there is to make sure that somebody who's doing a new job that maybe they haven't done before, you know, has an opportunity for their supervisors to assess them. But that's not what's going on here.

Supervisors are not being asked to assess person by person, which is how it's supposed to work. They are just trying to make the deepest and fastest cuts into the civil service possible because they're not actually into efficiency. They're just trying to whittle the government down to the smallest possible size and turn us into one big contracting agency so that big tech, you know, SpaceX, all of the firms that have -- that stand to make billions off of increasingly privatized services. This is an attack on our services.

If I may, you know, the National Day of Action today that we organized with the Federal Unionist Network, the slogan is SOS. We as civil servants, Federal servants, are putting out a call, a distress signal to the broader public. And we're looking to the broader public to respond to that distress signal. So it's SOS, Save Our Services. They say this is about lazy federal workers. This is really about gutting the services that make life livable in this country. The harder it is to be a poor person in this country, the easier it is to exploit us. And that's what the billionaire class is after.

KEILAR: Chris Dols, thank you so much. We'll look to see how these rallies go.

[14:25:01]

Thanks for being with us.

DOLS: Can I make a quick plug so folks know go.savepublicservices.com. We still have many actions across the country ahead of us in the next few hours. So if you're looking to get involved, go to go.savepublicservices.com. Even if you can't be there, sign up and you'll be in our network because we're going to need everybody to stop this before it goes any further.

KEILAR: All right, Chris, thank you. Really appreciate it.

DOLS: Thank you.

KEILAR: More than 100 million people from Mexico to Canada are facing dangerously cold weather. We'll have the latest forecast for you.

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