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Democrats Battle Trump And Musk Conservative Messaging; U.S.- Russia Talks To End War In Ukraine Begin Tuesday In Riyadh; Curry Wins MVP For Home Fans At New-Look All-Star Game. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 17, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:37]
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 5:30 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at Louisville, Kentucky. Good morning, everyone. I'm Manu Raju in for Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Democrats are struggling to fight back against President Trump and Elon Musk as the two men dominate the headlines with a relentless stream of news prompted by their actions while DOGE slashes federal jobs and programs and Musk has unfettered access to the Oval Office and controls, of course, a major social media platform as posts pick up by many on the right prompting a response from GOP lawmakers. And, of course, the cycle then continues. All of this ahead of a government funding showdown in March and as the House and Senate GOP try to put together a sweeping agenda aimed at implementing Trump's agenda.
But Democrats insist they are mobilizing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, we're winning in court. More than a dozen federal injunctions and temporary restraining orders have been issued against everything from their illegal seizure of computer data and every Americans' private data at the Treasury Department --
MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS MODERATOR, "FACE THE NATION": OK.
RASKING: -- to their illegal attempt to ban --
BRENNAN: Yeah.
RASKIN: -- birthright citizenship in America.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: We're going to continue to work together in an all-hands-on-deck effort to push back against the far right extremism that is being unleashed on this country with record velocity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: All right, joining us now is Kevin Frey. He's the Washington correspondent for New York 1 News. Kevin, good morning.
KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: Good morning, Manu.
RAJU: Good to see you. I see you a lot on Capitol Hill chasing various members -- Democrats as well as Republicans.
On the Democratic front --
FREY: Yeah.
RAJU: -- what is your sense of what their strategy is to fight back? Because some of them are going outside federal agencies very upset about the --
FREY: Yeah.
RAJU: -- shuttering of those agencies. Others say well, maybe we don't want to be -- look like the guardians of federal bureaucracy and the like. There seems to be a split on how to respond to Trump and DOGE. What are you hearing from Democrats?
FREY: Well, I mean, you see some, like the AOCs of the world who are much more aggressive on their social media platforms because they've already developed that as kind of their means of conveying to the general mass public. And in some ways, that's combating against really a kind of new media ecosphere that, for example, Musk and other Republicans really haven't dominant play in.
At the same time, when you look at the leadership itself, particularly Congressman Jeffries, his message going back to November was I'm not going to engage with every single thing that Trump does on a single day. And earlier this year he used the analogy of Aaron Judge because he's a Yankees fan and said I'm not going to hit at every ball.
And ultimately, that means that they seem to be honing in, at least from the leadership perspective, on this economic message, trying to tout the fact that egg prices are still going up. Saying that Republicans aren't doing anything to actually address what they conceive as really the main takeaway from the November election, which is economic issues. People were pissed off about how costly everything was.
RAJU: Um-hum.
FREY: That's where they are honing in on. Whether that's effective when there's such a deluge of information is where you're seeing some --
RAJU: Yeah.
FREY: -- consternation amongst rank-and-file Democrats --
RAJU: Yeah.
FREY: -- that they're not doing enough. RAJU: It's a very good point because there is a lot of change that's happening with Musk and they're breaking things, and --
FREY: Yeah.
RAJU: -- things -- there's lot of consequences -- some unintended, some intended.
But you're right. Let's look at Jeffries' messages so viewers get a -- get a sense of how the Democratic leader is talking about Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFRIES: We're just at the beginning and the core promise that Donald Trump made is that he's going to lower costs for everyday Americans. In fact, we were told that grocery prices would go down on day one -- on January 20. Costs aren't lower. In fact, costs are increasing. The price of eggs is skyrocketing out of control. Inflation is on the way up. That was the core promise that's been broken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: But look, they have been powerless --
FREY: Yeah.
RAJU: -- for the first couple of months here. They don't have a chance on March 14 when it's time to fund the federal government. Jeffries' votes -- Democratic votes will be needed in the House and the Senate where they need 60 votes that we need to keep the government open. They have a chance to demand certain things but it's unclear how Jeffries -- how hard of a line that Jeffries will draw in that fight.
[05:35:00]
FREY: This is the clear leverage point that the Democrats have at least in the near future. It's to try to extract something. And, you know, there have been plenty of questions that have been thrown to him at these press conferences and to his aides, et cetera, like what are you honing in on? What are you focusing in on?
And Jeffries -- maybe it's a negotiation tactic, it seems -- basically keeps going back to well, the Republicans are in charge. They're the ones that say that they have this overwhelming mandate. They should be the ones --
RAJU: Yeah, but they have votes, too.
FREY: Exactly, exactly -- particularly in the Senate where they need the Republican -- or a Democratic buy-in to overcome the filibuster.
And it's not clear what exactly they want to extract. At least Jeffries isn't showing his cards there yet and he's known, of course, to operate very close to the vest. One of the things that I'm keeping an eye on is what do they try to do
to maybe counter Musk or try to rein him in. Do they force something into this bill? They've been rolling out various pieces of legislation over the last couple of weeks -- messaging bills, surely -- to try to protect data, for example, at the Treasury and so forth.
Do they try to lean in on some of that --
RAJU: Yeah.
FREY: -- at least from a messaging perspective as we lead up to March 14? Perhaps.
RAJU: And it will be interesting. Does Trump accept a funding bill that funds the agencies that he is trying to dismantle --
FREY: Slowing trying to tear apart.
RAJU: -- which has been raising concerns about a possible government shutdown if that showdown emerges.
I do want to ask you about New York because you are a New York expert. There's been a lot of news --
FREY: I don't know about expert but I'll try.
RAJU: -- and there's a -- there's a lot of news in New York with New York Mayor Eric Adams.
FREY: Yeah.
RAJU: This deal that was cut to drop his corruption charges with the Justice Department, and him being amenable to their push on immigration now.
What are you hearing from -- on the ground -- the fallout for Eric Adams as he faces this June primary?
FREY: Wait. So there's like --there's questions as to what exactly Democratic leadership in New York is going to do. You're starting to see rank-and-file members try to lean on the governor to basically say you should use this extraordinary power you have to essentially oust him from office. Because there is -- there is a belief amongst several Republicans -- or Democrats that he has basically compromised. That he is doing the bidding of Trump and at the end of the day he can't be trusted to actually leave the city on behalf of the city.
So much so that even Jeffries, last week when I asked him -- who, of course, is the most prominent voice within the Democratic coalition in New York other than arguably Eric Adams himself -- basically agreed that it's not an illegitimate concern from these Democrats that he might be compromised.
The question is do you start seeing Jeffries, do you start seeing Schumer -- who hasn't said a lot about -- publicly about all of this -- move from being concerned to leaning in on the governor to try to put Adams on the line. We haven't seen that yet. Maybe if the judge ultimately agrees to allow these charges to be dropped in the coming days, then perhaps. But --
RAJU: What has she said? What has the governor said about that?
FREY: The governor has, herself, gone from it would be undemocratic to remove him --
RAJU: Um-hum.
FREY: -- to -- she was on MSNBC the other evening and left more space than she ever had, suggesting that she has to review the situation before she decides what to do.
RAJU: Yeah. So would you say can he a) yes or no? Can he survive a primary?
FREY: I don't think so.
RAJU: Yeah, interesting. They're all lining up against him. We'll see what --
FREY: Yeah.
RAJU: -- happens there.
All right, Kevin Frey. Thank you so much for --
FREY: No problem.
RAJU: -- your expertise. I really appreciate it.
And overnight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio touching down in Saudi Arabia ahead of Tuesday's negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Ukraine not offered a seat at the table, or at least not yet. Rubio urging patience with the process.
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MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: President Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin last week and in it, Vladimir Putin expressed is interest in peace and the president expressed his desire to see an end to this conflict in a way that was enduring and protected Ukrainian sovereignty. And that was an enduring peace; not that we're going to have another invasion in three or four years. That's a good call.
Now, obviously, it has to be followed up by action. So the next few weeks and days will determine whether it's serious or not.
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RAJU: The White House says dual track negotiations will be held in Ukraine this week.
President Trump insisting he is not squeezing Ukraine out of the process. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Do you expect Zelenskyy to be involved in these conversations? What will his role be?
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yeah, I do. I do. Uh, he will be involved, yes.
REPORTER: Zelenskyy said today that Russia is going to wage war on NATO. Do you -- do you agree with that? Do you have any concerns about --
TRUMP: No, I don't agree. I don't agree not even -- not even a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: All right. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us live from London. So, Salma, what's ahead today for Sec. Rubio and his team, and how do we expect tomorrow's talks to play out?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think everyone is just simply trying to keep up at this stage. I mean, the Secretary of State's trip to the Middle East should have been about the Middle East. But instead, this has now turned into a meeting about Ukraine without Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy saying over the weekend that he wasn't invited to these talks and emphasizing that the people of Ukraine won't accept a deal -- some comments have been made calling it a "dirty deal." A deal that would be without Ukrainian officials alongside. One that would be directly made between the United States and Russia.
[05:40:00]
The latest we know is that Russia's top diplomat -- of course, Sergey Lavrov -- is on his way to Riyadh as well. He's going to hold these high-level meetings, of course, with the Secretary of State and others all beginning in earnest tomorrow.
And there's one other key party that's not on the invite list here and it's all of Europe. It is, of course, Europe -- NATO that has been the United States' partner in this conflict in Ukraine. None of them have been invited to the table in Riyadh. So European leaders are also scrambling from being left out. They're going to hold their own emergency meeting in Paris.
But none of this brings anyone closer to those mediation efforts.
And you mentioned that dual track. Well, the U.S. envoy to Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, will be in Ukraine speaking with Ukrainian officials as these talks take place in Riyadh. The idea being at some point a divide will be bridged.
RAJU: What do you expect from those European meetings today that's playing out in Paris and this emergency meeting? They called this emergency meeting. What are we expecting to come out of that meeting?
ABDELAZIZ: It's really hard to overemphasize just how important this is. I mean, we're upending basically a decades long relationship between the United States and Europe. And what Europe is trying to do is essentially figuring out how to survive without the security guarantees that the United States has given, again, for decades. How does Europe begin to defend its border without that support from the U.S.?
One of the options on the table coming here from the U.K. from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to provide a troop force. There is looking into that European-wide troop force -- military force -- a peacekeeping force of some kind. It's actually a suggestion that came from the United States.
So really, this is just the beginning of a meeting that is intended to forge a future ahead that looks a lot less friendly to the United States and the dependency on its security.
RAJU: All right. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz with the -- all the latest from London. Thank you so much for that report.
And ahead on CNN THIS MORNING President Trump asking the Supreme Court to let him fire the head of a government ethics watchdog agency.
Plus, one more honor for Steph Curry at the NBA All-Star Game.
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[05:46:30]
RAJU: President Donald Trump's aggressive second term agenda has so far faced a number of legal challenges. Now the first of his appeals is heading to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump is asking the nation's highest court to let him fire the head of a government ethics watchdog agency.
Now, Trump attempted to fire Hampton Dellinger earlier this month, and Dellinger leads the Office of the Special Counsel. But there were protections put in place by Congress that require an administration to show cause for firing someone from the role if it is before their five-year term has ended. Dellinger is less than one year into his term.
Now, the federal district court temporarily blocked Trump's move while it considers the case and an appeals court declined to overrule that decision over the weekend. All of that prompting the Justice Department to take its appeal to the Supreme Court arguing that the law is unconstitutional.
Now, last week Trump was asked about the legal fights his administration is facing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're being hindered by courts where they file in certain courts where it's very hard to win. And a judge will stop us, and a judge will say that it doesn't make any difference what you find, you just keep paying the money. That's a helluva way to be. And I follow the courts. I have to follow the law. All it means is that we appeal. But that gives people time to cover their tracks, and that's what they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And joining me now is one of the brightest legal minds, criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. Joey, good morning to you. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.
Talk to me about the implications of this appeal to the Supreme Court. Is Trump taking this -- trying -- as he's facing all these other challenges here. If he wins, what are the implications for all these other cases that are happening?
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, Manu. Good morning.
You know, we are in different times, and I think we're going to see the expansion of executive power. So just to really reset the issue, as you well explained at the beginning, what happens is that this is a -- this really is an agency that's independent. It's independent because it really looks over whistleblowers. It deals with ethics and other legal issues.
And so the way that Congress enacted the statute for this particular agency was to not allow or otherwise authorize the executive to remove, right, the person in charge of the agency unless you engage in some kind of misconduct, illegality, dereliction of duty. And Congress, right -- that legislative branch of government, specifically did that to make it independent as we look at Trump there.
However, we have, of course, a Supreme Court that seems to be really looking at the expansion of executive powers. We saw that as it related to the president being immune, right, from criminal prosecution for certain purposes.
And so I just really think that this, in terms of the implications in going to the Supreme Court now, is really in danger of, really, the law that says that you can only remove for these specific purposes -- that it's in danger.
And I think the Supreme Court would be emboldened to allow the president to say hey look, you serve at the pleasure of the president. This is an executive branch position. And as a result of that, Trump could do whatever he wants notwithstanding the congressional language.
And so I really think that the implications are we're going to see a very broad and sweeping powers that are granted to the president.
[07:50:00]
RAJU: Yeah. I -- that was my next question to you about the Supreme Court. How receptive that it might be that these lower courts were the judges that halted the administration's actions here. Those judges -- they were appointed by Democratic presidents. Here we have a much more conservative -- just a bench on the Supreme Court.
How do you think that they are going to respond on this question? And just -- you mentioned the expansion of executive power that we are seeing with Trump. How do you think that they would respond to all these questions about really expanding the power of the executive?
JACKSON: Yeah. You know, Manu, it's not supposed to work this way. And with this way that I mean, it doesn't -- it doesn't matter really whether you are appointed -- or it shouldn't in terms of the courts. You're a Democrat, you're Republican. This is the law, and the law should be interpreted in a way that really looks at precedent, right? That's what's been decided previously to give some indication of what you should do for the future.
We know, however, that's not the way it is. And as a result I think that you have, as we look at the Supreme Court there, a super conservative majority, meaning six -- a majority conservative. You only have the other three.
And so I think as we move forward we're going to see a Supreme Court that's very activist. That doesn't really let precedent guide what it does in the future. We saw -- we saw that certainly with the implications of the abortion decision. We saw that, as I noted previously, what the implications are. Hey, you know what? You're the president. You're immune from criminal prosecution. And I think we may see that here.
And so moving forward I think what we'll see is a Supreme Court that allows the executive, if you're serving at their pleasure, not withstanding what Congress says about you can only remove for inefficiency. You can remove for dereliction of duty. That doesn't matter. You could remove because you're the executive -- you're in charge. You could remove at will.
And so I think the implications are significant as it relates to this specific case and as it relates to other cases in terms of what Trump's attempting to do in remaking the federal government, removing other whistleblowers, and doing what is his prerogative because he is the policymaker and commander in chief.
So this is a big deal. We are in different times and it's going to be a very head-spinning number of years in terms of the legalities and the court activities.
RAJU: Yeah, and we are expecting a lot to go to the Supreme Court potentially. We'll see how this critical first case comes down as well. We could learn about it in the next couple of days here, of course.
Joey Jackson, thank you so much for your expertise this morning. I really appreciate it.
JACKSON: Thanks, Manu. RAJU: And time now for sports. Warriors star Steph Curry puts on a show in front of his hometown fans at the NBA All-Star Game to earn MVP honors.
Carolyn Manno has this morning's CNN sports update.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Manu.
This year's NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco had a new look. So instead of two teams playing a traditional 48-minute game, players were split into four squads facing off in a tournament-style playoff. And Steph Curry set the tone early for Team Shaq draining a running three to open the championship game against Charles Barkley's Global Stars.
That shot right there sparked an 11-0 run and later he'd connect again, this time from half-court. Curry scoring a combined 20 points in both games. He was named the game's MVP for the second time in this 16-year career.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPH CURRY, NBA ALL-STAR GAME MVP: Yeah, it's just a celebration of a lot of great things happening in basketball. To be playing with these guys for as long as we have -- like, it's obviously our responsibility to come out and put on a show. And I thank them for helping me do that and our -- and Golden State because a lot of history has happened out here but the competition and the comradery and the legacies that we all create is what it's all about. So I'm happy to be a part of that celebration.
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MANNO: For the first time in 21 years, LeBron James did not play in the All-Star Game. The Lakers superstar announcing he would miss the mini tournament 90 minutes before it was set to start because of foot and ankle issues. He's going to start rehab for that injury again today.
Just a week after attending the Super Bowl, President Trump made an appearance at another great American sporting event -- the Daytona 500. He led drivers on two laps around the track in his limousine, known in Washington as "The Beast."
The race was delayed for more than 3 1/2 hours because of weather delays. But in the end, defending champion William Byron was in ninth place with one lap left to go, but a huge wreck ended up taking out multiple contenders and that opened the door for the 27-year-old to become the first back-to-back winner since Denny Hamlin back in the 2019-2020 NASCAR season.
Elsewhere, a major upset this weekend in college hoops. The UConn women beating South Carolina on the road in dominant fashion Sunday handing Dawn Staley's squad its first home loss in more than 70- straight games.
It was a complete performance from Geno Auriemma's Huskies who came out swinging as the underdog in front of a sold out crowd.
Azzi Fudd led the way. She had a game-high 28 points. Freshman Sarah Strong ended the day with a double-double. And UConn star Paige Bueckers also quietly became the third player in UConn's history to report 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists joining Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi in that.
[05:55:00]
Damian Lillard is one of the best shooters the NBA has ever seen and a loss against him in a shooting contest feels inevitable, but don't tell that to one fan who beat Dame with this $100,000 shot on the line. So all the fan had to do, Manu, was make one long-range three before Lillard could make three of them, and he did just that in the Mr. Beast Challenge.
I love the video after jumping into Shaq and Kenny's arms. He did thank his dad for the shooting practice. He called the moment completely surreal sitting in a tub of cash. Great stuff for this incredibly talented and lucky fan going home with $100,000.
RAJU: I mean, jumping in a tub of cash. You got to love that. Wow, and what a shot and with the pressure on the line --amazing. I'm not sure if I'd be able to make that. Definitely not.
Carolyn Manno, thank you so much for that.
And up ahead on CNN THIS MORNING a measles outbreak. Cases in West Texas are doubling in size.
Plus, the president's foreign policy team gets ready to kick off peace talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia. But Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says he won't accept any deal that's made without Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: President Trump is rethinking the entire dynamic here. That has some people uncomfortable. But I think Zelenskyy would be very wise to enter into this agreement with the United States.
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