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Fed Worker Says, Musk's Mandate is a Scare Tactic Meant to Humiliate; House GOP Leaders Scramble for Votes to Advance Budget Blueprint; Trump Won't Call Putin a Dictator, Days After Calling Zelenskyy One. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 25, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: No one knows who is in charge. That's how one federal employee is describing the federal government right now after Trump doubles down on Elon Musk's demand to justify their jobs while their bosses tell them not to. So, what happens now that the deadline has passed?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The United States sides with Russia at the United Nations, seen as a vote against Ukraine, as President Trump wants to make it very, very clear he does not think Vladimir Putin is a dictator.

And a terrifying moment captured on video, a fiery explosion on a quiet suburban street. New reporting on why it happened.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and this is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: It's bedlam. That's how one IRS staffer is describing the mess millions of federal workers are in, as Elon Musk says they have a second chance now to justify their jobs, even as the Trump administration says they don't have to. Musk's original email ordered workers to list five things they did last week or face getting fired.

Overnight, the initial deadline for the expiration after mixed messages from Donald Trump officials. As one Department of Veteran Affairs staffer put it, nobody knows who's in charge and who they're supposed to listen to.

The frustration, clear this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LATISHA THOMPSON, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEE: Yet another scare tactic meant to humiliate, dehumanize, demoralize the federal workforce. We want to go to work every day. We, you know, are accountable to the American public and not to a billionaire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Also, breaking overnight, new reporting, the acting IRS chief will step down in the middle of their most busy season, tax season, in the wake of these mass DOGE cuts. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal saying he'll announce it today just weeks into his new role.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House with more on this. Chaos, confusion, bedlam, those are the words that the workers are using. What are you hearing from the White House?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. That's what we are hearing from federal employees who've been discussing kind of their initial reaction to this, and it's true. I mean, a lot of people are confused and don't necessarily know who to listen to on this. You know, for one, you had Elon Musk over the weekend saying those who did not respond by that initial deadline, which was last night, would face resignation. And then that you're also hearing from their agency department heads and their bosses within their own agency saying, actually, don't do this.

So, a lot of questions over who -- you know, who is the person we should be listening to. And it comes as, of course, we have seen six different departments. That includes the Department of Justice, the Pentagon, the FBI, the State Department, DHS, Energy, et cetera, them telling their employees not to listen to this in part because some of the work that they do is confidential. They don't want them sharing any privileged or sensitive information.

I note at these different agencies as well those were the agency heads are the ones who were picked -- hand selected really by Donald Trump. So, it's not, you know, other employees telling or other people who, you know, might be considered establishment people telling their employees not to listen. It's people who Donald Trump put in these roles.

But, look, we did hear an update from Elon Musk on this. I want to read for you what he said. He said, quote, subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond to a second time will result in termination.

Now, this comes after, Sara, we know that OPM had sent different guidance, arguing that this was voluntary, that they didn't have to respond to this email. But then, again, here you're having Elon Musk saying, actually, if you don't -- this is mandatory. If you don't respond, you could be terminated.

Now, I think a key question in all of this is, of course, where is Donald Trump on this? I am repeatedly asked questions about what, you know, is this going to be the thing that frustrates Trump with Musk? Is this going to be the thing that damages their relationship? And the fact is, no. We actually heard him in the Oval Office saying he thinks it was an ingenious idea that Musk was pushing.

But all to say, and just one important point I want to put on all of this is, of course, the real world impact. These are people, Sara, who have jobs, who are confused, who want to make sure, you know, who should we be listening to? They're afraid that they might make a wrong move and lose their jobs?

[07:05:00]

And it's so important to keep remembering that because in all of this confusion, there are people who are trying to do the right thing here. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes. And you point out this sort of relationship with Musk and Trump, but to be clear, this is on Trump's directive that DOGE does these cuts. So, we will see what happens next.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much, live from the White House for us. And over to you, John.

BERMAN: All right. Developing this morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson is getting squeezed by everyone. That is the assessment from Punchbowl News. The speaker hopes to pass a budget resolution today to push through the Republican agenda, but it's not at all clear it will pass, not at all. He can only afford to lose one Republican vote, and more than one are iffy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): If I had some indication that we could reduce spending, I could possibly get there. But, currently, I don't have those.

REP. RANDY OGLES (R-TN): I mean, to be determined, it's still a moving target. We'll see. If the vote were held tonight, I don't think the votes are there. I'm currently a lean no. But we'll see where we get overnight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. With us now is congressional reporter for the aforementioned Punchbowl News, Mica Soellner. Do they have the votes?

MICA SOELLNER, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: As of right now, no. Obviously we're seeing a lot of skepticism about whether this vote is going to be held today. I know the speaker left the Capitol yesterday saying that he's determined to bring a vote to the floor as was planned yesterday.

I know that he's facing a lot of opposition from conservatives in his party. We saw Victoria Spartz saying that she's a pretty hard no. I spoke with the source very close to her saying that she's pretty set in her ways in terms of how she's going to vote. Thomas Massie, who's a very difficult lawmaker to move, is currently a no. And we saw others come out, such as Congressman Warren Davidson that has expressed, you know, a difficult pathway for this to happen.

So, Johnson's facing a lot of pushback from conservatives and other groups of the conference as well, and I think he's slowly trying to chip away at these negotiations.

BERMAN: It seems that the most rigid opposition right now, at least the people you listed are from the right or from people who want to see more explicit, bigger spending cuts. What about for the more moderate wing of the party, specifically the ones who are concerned about cuts to Medicaid?

SOELLNER: Yes. I mean, he got a lot of pushback from members of the House Agriculture Committee, members of the Hispanic Conference and a lot of these moderates that really wanted to move away from these cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, other social safety net programs. But so far, those moderates are already starting to fall in line a little bit. They've expressed a little bit more optimism and positive, a language around their conversations with the speaker, saying that they're feeling a little bit more optimistic. And as we know, these moderates are usually the ones that end up falling in line more so than conservatives that are a little bit more difficult to move on these kind of issues.

BERMAN: That is the pattern as of now, though, doesn't look like Speaker Johnson has the votes. We'll see what happens by tonight.

Mica Soellner, we love your reporting. Thanks so much for being with us.

Quote, the Trump administration royally screwed up. That's a new statement from a Republican lawmaker after the United States voted against blaming Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.

We are standing by for new updates on the Pope this morning. The Vatican said he rested well at night, though he still in critical condition and we still are lacking so many details.

It is the largest crypto hack on record. Hacker stole $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency in a single heist.

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[07:10:00]

SIDNER: New this morning, criticism erupting at home and abroad after the United States joined Moscow to vote against a U.N. resolution condemning Russia's war against Ukraine. Republican Congressman Don Bacon saying, and I'm quoting here, the Trump administration royally screwed up today on Ukraine. The vast majority of Americans stand up for independence, freedom and free markets and against the bully and invader. Nikki Haley, Trump's former U.N ambassador, said America must choose a side and it should never be the side of dictators.

But when asked directly if he would call Putin a dictator, as he did with Ukraine's Zelenskyy last week, this was President Trump's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: You called Zelenskyy a dictator. Would you use the same words regarding Putin?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't use those words lightly. I think that we're going to see how it all works out.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: He does not use those words lightly, but he did use them against Ukraine's president, who is not a dictator and is duly elected.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. There is one person that is loving this, and, of course, those in Ukraine hating what they're seeing. What are you hearing from Putin, from the Kremlin?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, Putin yesterday obviously clearly must be taking some relish in the idea for probably the first time I'm living memory on an issue like this, the United States voting alongside Russia against so many of its allies. At the same time, Putin offered a version of his own rare earth mineral deal to some degree, remarking how available rare earth minerals were inside Russia. Is that a competing offer with Ukraine or just simply trying to add fuel to the idea in the Trump administration that there are potentially economic deals to be had with Moscow? We don't know.

And he did indeed also cast doubt on the electoral legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskyy again, talking about his low polling.

[07:15:02]

Obviously, I should remind you that in the 20 or so plus years that Vladimir Putin has been in power, the elections he's had have been heavily managed in his favor.

And so, yes, Moscow certainly seeing in this some reason to feel reprieve, but at the same time too, there was a remarkable scene really with Emmanuel Macron, the French president and Trump yesterday. You can't really understate how quick it appears that the French leader's actions upon Trump have been. We saw him sidle up to him during a G7 video call, the two men together suddenly there. And then it appears that they spoke and also Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine spoke to Trump as well. And then literally about an hour or so later, we have Macron and Trump together, and it appears the rare earth mineral deal is, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, at the one yard line, close to signature, and Trump invites Zelenskyy to Washington, potentially in the next week or so, to sign that deal.

So, that in itself is a remarkable Turn of events. I should point out, Trump in the past three weeks has again invited Zelenskyy to Washington or suggested indeed that they would meet, but that didn't actually happen. We'll see if this time it's different. It does appear a lot of the time in the White House that the French president was kind of trying to speak for Trump when he talked about the solidarity of the United States and how that deterrence would assist in deal- making and a peacekeeping force of potentially French and British soldiers would have a solidarity of the United States and that their role would not dangerous but credible.

And so a lot of fast moving developments, whiplash to some degree. The dual track here, I think, confusing for many observers because we see when it comes to Russia, the Trump administration clear they don't want to offend. Maybe that's some amongst Trump's advocates who think that he doesn't want to antagonize those he wants to make deals with. Well, there's a revisionism in some of this, which is deeply distressing to many Ukrainians, frankly, about who started this war and it sees an erosion of the United States and their allies' position steadfast with Ukraine.

But at the same time too, I think we're also seeing a slight change in Trump's feelings towards European security brought on by the Macron visit. What this all materializes towards, we simply don't know. We were in a different world a week earlier, who knows where we'll be a week from now.

SIDNER: Yes. And there were remarkable scenes with Macron correcting Donald Trump on the world stage about how much money Europe has been spending to help Ukraine.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much, live there. You and your crew stay safe there in Kyiv.

All right, with massive layoffs being announced each week, what will the financial impact be? How firings at the nation's largest employer will hurt families and potentially the local economy?

And Dallas prepares to face Luka, the Mavericks will play the NBA superstar for the first time since they traded him to the Lakers. This ought to be fun.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right, a stunning conclusion to a powerhouse NBA matchup. CNN Sports Anchor Coy Wire, is here. And, Coy, I swear to you, last night I'm going to sleep, I can't remember exactly what time, but like I always do, I check the box scores before going to bed. Oklahoma City's ahead of Minnesota by like 4 with 34 seconds left, and I'm like, this thing is over, but no.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, over. As he says, our boss, the boy that a T-Wolves erased that whopping 25-point 4th quarter deficit to come back on the road against the top team in the west, the Thunder, John. Two of the brightest young stars going at it, Shae Gilgeous- Alexander for OKC, MVP frontrunner, he went off for 39 points, but he misses this shot in the final seconds of regulation, so it goes to O.T.

Six wolves scored in double digits. And look at their young stud, Anthony Edwards, in overtime, final seconds with the lead swooping in for that huge block on SGA, securing a 131-128 win, down more than 20 in the fourth base and a team with a win percentage over 800, Minnesota's the first team ever to pull off that type of comeback that John missed because he fell asleep.

Ah, that awkward moment when you run into your ex in public. L.A. Lakers star Luka Doncic fresh off being shipped off from his former team in one of the most shocking trades in NBA history facing his former team, the Mavericks tonight for the first time. The midseason trade sent Doncic to L.A., Anthony Davis to Dallas.

Now, Davis won't play tonight. He's dealing with a leg injury, but Doncic is coming in hot, John, putting up 32 and a win over the Nuggets. Game is at 10:00 Eastern on our sister channel, TNT. Luca's coach, J.J. Reddick, said it's going to be weird.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.J. REDDICK, L.A. LAKERS HEAD COACH: Every day that he's been with us. It's becoming they're just a little bit for normal. I've been there like the first time you play your old team particularly this close, you know, in time duration, it's going to be weird, but we'll be able to handle it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. Finally, John, are you tired of the tush pushing? No, not when Kate or Sara might shove you out of the good lighting on set there. The tush push, where a quarterback barrels ahead while getting shoved by his teammates like a snowplow, often for a first down. Some say it's unfair, it's unstoppable. Others say, don't hate, figure out how to stop it, like probably Jake Tapper, you know, Eagles fans. The Super Bowl champs, they made it popular. Well, NFL EVP Troy Vincent says at least one team has submitted a rule proposal to ban this play. At least 24 of the 32 team owners would have to approve the rule change.

What say you, John? Are you tired of the tush pushing?

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: No. I think the defenses have to adjust. Yes, there we go, oh.

WIRE: There we go. Hey, touchdown.

SIDNER: Tush push, I'm here for it. They should do it every single play. Okay, that's what I think.

And now I've moved him out of my light. And it's my turn. Thank you so much, Coy.

WIRE: Thank you. That was the highlight of my day. I love you.

SIDNER: The Trump administration says federal workers do not have their lists of accomplishments, then they might be fired. So, who wins? Because their bosses are telling them they don't have to fill out the information. And new reaction from Trump voters on how the president and billionaire Elon Musk are handling this government takeover, as they're calling it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Musk keep saying, well, I found a billion dollars of waste here, and Social Security, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that are collecting it that are between 100 years old and 150. Can you believe any of that crap?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[07:30:00]