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GOP Senators Push Back on Musk Gutting Federal Workforce; Several Agencies Tell Employees Not to Respond to Musk Email; Zelenskyy Speaks Out on Possibility of Deal with U.S.; Vatican: Pope in Critical Condition with Mild Kidney Failure. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 24, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN ANCHOR: It's Monday, February 24th right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:59:50]
SEN. JOHN CURTIS (R-UT): These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: Can you answer the question, what did you do at work last week? Federal workers have just hours left to justify their jobs to Elon Musk or lose them.
Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's getting rid of the DEI.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boo!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boo!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boo!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: Republican lawmakers facing angry voters back home, expressing their frustration with the Trump administration. Is the Republican honeymoon over?
Then this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: My relationship with President Trump? (GESTURES DOWN, EMPHATICALLY)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: A growing rift between Ukraine and the United States as we mark three years of Russia's war. Why security for the entire continent of Europe has now been thrown into question.
And later --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He never has given up. He keeps the grit and determination, the resilience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: Pope Francis showing signs of mild kidney failure. How the pontiff is doing this morning after being hospitalized for now, over a week.
It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at the Washington Monument in downtown D.C.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kayla Tausche, in for Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us today.
The clock is ticking for tens of thousands of federal workers to respond to a new ultimatum from Elon Musk: reply to an email, or lose your job.
Over the weekend, the world's richest man firing off a post, saying all federal employees must respond to an email detailing what they got done last week. Failing to respond by midnight tonight will be taken as a resignation.
The deadline comes as 2,000 USAID workers were laid off Sunday night, and the vast majority of remaining full-time staffers at the agency were told they're now being placed on administrative leave.
The moves getting the full support of President Trump, who hailed the actions against USAID at a gathering of his supporters over the weekend.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We've also effectively ended the left- wing scam known as USAID, the agency's name. Has been removed from its former building, and that space will now house agents from Customs and Border Patrol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: The president, also seemingly mocking federal workers being threatened with a deadline by Elon Musk. President Trump sent out this meme, starring SpongeBob SquarePants, implying the responses from workers justifying their jobs might include things like "Crying about Trump" or "Reading some emails."
But now some senators in his own party seem to be pushing back against the moves from Musk. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski calling out Musk on social media, saying he should learn about the jobs he's trying to cut, adding, quote, "Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the jobs they perform. The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn't it."
Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah echoed those thoughts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CURTIS: If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it's like, please put a dose of compassion in -- in this. These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. We -- it's a false narrative to say we have to cut, and you have to be cruel to do it, as well. We can do both.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: Joining me now to talk about all of this, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political reporter for Axios; Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning; and Matt Gorman, Republican strategist and former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign.
Matt, I'll start with you, because we were just talking about some of the Republican pushback here. It's bubbling up. It's starting to grow. But do you think it's reached a fever pitch where some of this advice would actually flow through to the way that DOGE is approaching its work?
MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No, I don't. I mean, I don't think Murkowski and Curtis are indicative of kind of where the median of the party is at.
But look, I think in principle, it's not -- it's pretty common sense. You should be accountable for what you do and ready to talk about it.
I think where it gets headlong into specifically some of this -- with the cabinet secretaries and agencies is that it's going through OBM, right? Which is essentially the H.R. of the federal government and not through the respective agencies.
That's where I think you saw, specifically in military, intel, whether it's DOD, DNI with Tulsi Gabbard, people who, again, not necessarily squishies by any stretch of the imagination in the Trump administration. Kash Patel at the FBI saying, hey, hold off on responding for a little bit, or maybe we will handle that in house.
Because otherwise, if you put the wrong thing in the email, it might be just a little light reading for the Chinese government.
So, I think that is kind of where you're seeing some of this kind of run a little bit. I think if you're -- if you were to ask a lot of these cabinet secretaries, they'd rather be the ones handling this review or this justification --
TAUSCHE: Yes.
GORMAN: -- rather than OBM as a whole.
TAUSCHE: And, Meghan, that's why we've seen such a disparity in the way that some of these agencies have responded already. The Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, FBI, NIH, NTSB. The list goes on of some of these agencies who are actually saying, wait, hold off. We're trying to figure out, A, whether you should respond to this; and B, what you actually can put in this email.
[06:05:05]
So, what does that tell you about, if you're a federal worker, are you just paralyzed by what's going on?
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: I think there's a lot of chaos. I think a lot of people are feeling very chaotic. Ninety-five percent of the federal government doesn't work in the DMV, so they are not living this every day. And the feelings here and -- inside the bubble. So, they are getting their news from their local news and -- and other sources, and they're not entrenched in it every day.
But I will say, I've been -- I've worked at two Fortune 100 companies and been part of restructuring where we did mass layoffs. It took months to plan it. It -- there was a lot of planning that went into it. There was a lot of thought that went into how this was going to be done and the programs that were going to be cut and the offices that we were going to move into different places in the company.
There is none of that being done here. So, we don' t-- I think that what these agency heads are starting to realize, they don't know what they're actually cutting. They are just -- got confirmed within the past couple of weeks. They don't know what they're actually cutting. They have no idea what they need and don't need.
And to have Elon Musk out there, just like slashing things is really irresponsible for how our government works.
TAUSCHE: There's also an element of trolling here, Alex.
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.
TAUSCHE: Because Elon Musk posted on social media after some of the blowback to this email saying, Hey, I was just thinking that maybe some of these employees weren't actually checking their email on -- on a weekend, to boot.
And I have the post up here right now: "The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working are doing so little work, they're not checking their email at all."
But certainly, there's been a heavy dose of trolling on the other side, too. Now that this email address was made public, with people generally who don't even work for the federal government, giving Elon Musk a piece of their mind.
THOMPSON: Sure. I mean, if there was any doubt about the trolling, I think the chainsaw for the bureaucracy on Saturday night was -- was indicative of it. But I can tell you, the Trump team, completely unapologetic about any
of this backlash. They -- they do not care. In fact, they think -- they see the backlash as sort of evidence that they're doing the right thing.
Now, the question is, does that eventually, because I think Democrats are counting that -- you know, voters want to cut government, but they don't like chaos. That's what Democrats are sort of betting on, that eventually, if you are going to take a chainsaw versus a scalpel, will that eventually create a political backlash that will end up hurting congressional Republicans?
TAUSCHE: And Senator Curtis alluded to this a little bit, Matt. But then there's also the financial element of this. These are real people. These are real mortgages. These are livelihoods.
At what point do you think that cutting hundreds of thousands of workers has an impact on the economy, and does that resonate with President Trump?
GORMAN: You know, it may, but I think, again, the way you talk about this, if you're a Republican, is that the government is not immune to the same factors that the private sector feels. As Meghan talked about in her answer. Right? These government jobs are not lifetime contracts.
People understand layoffs. They understand buyouts. And I take your point a little bit on kind of the planning that's needed to happen. I think that's where you get Elon is the good and the bad, right? Someone who's bold enough to go deep as it needs to.
But then you also get, you know, as even Jim Jordan kind of admitted, there were some mistakes made. And I think that's how you correct them.
But again, the fact that Amazon, Google, Stripe, Microsoft, just in the last 60 days have laid off people. And people understand that in the private sector. They do.
HAYS: They give a lot of notice before their layoffs, and they were planned. I mean, when Meta laid off people last year, they -- they -- they announced layoffs months beforehand. And it was a planned thing.
GORMAN: Well, they announced that they're having them. Not that they actually --
HAYS: Well, right, but I'm saying people could plan. Their departments could plan. People understood that they might be on the chopping block to get laid off. They understood what their severance was. They understood -- they weren't having to send emails about justifying their jobs.
And I understand that these are not lifetime contracts, and no one is saying that. I just think Donald Trump doesn't care, because he won't have to pay the repercussions. These congressional members are going to have to pay the repercussions, as you're seeing in some of these town halls.
GORMAN: I think that would be very different, though, because again, I went through this in 2018. I know we -- we might talk about this later.
TAUSCHE: And we'll have this be the last word here.
GORMAN: Yes. I think what you're seeing -- in 2016, there was a reawakening. People were kind of asleep in the 2016 election. They came back and acted through the -- the resistance movement and those town halls, particularly related to health care.
This is a little different when you see signs up: "Fascism." That's not the median voter.
HAYS: Well, I -- we agree.
TAUSCHE: We're going to be talking about those town halls and some of the feedback that some of these lawmakers are getting from voters a little bit later on this hour. Much more to come. So, stay put, everybody.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, Russia marks three years of war on Ukraine with an overnight barrage. Why Ukraine's president says he is ready to step aside if it means peace for his country.
Plus, the pope in critical condition. How the pontiff is doing this morning.
And Republican lawmakers face angry constituents, asking their elected leaders, why aren't you standing up to the Trump administration?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you expressed your opinion to Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To Donald Trump? No, no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He stood there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[06:14:17]
TAUSCHE: Three years ago today, as CNN reported on what we later learned were the first drops of -- bombs dropped by Russia in the opening hours of a massive invasion.
Since then, Ukraine now finds itself in a fight for survival against Russia amid a steady stream of air raids and brutal battles for control of the country. Attacks which continue even overnight, with Ukraine's Air Force saying Russia launched 185 drone attacks on today's anniversary.
This morning, leaders from across Europe and Canada arriving in Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine in their fight against Russia. But overshadowing everything, the breakdown between President Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which puts future U.S. aid to the country in jeopardy.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Do you think you can mend your relationship with President Trump? And secondly, have the American side spelt out to you what happens if you don't come to an agreement over this rare earth minerals deal, in terms of what it means for U.S. aid?
ZELENSKYY: As I said, we want a successful agreement. And if we will understand each other with partners, I hope that it will be. We will sign this -- the first agreement.
My relationship with President Trump? (EMPHATIC DOWNWARD GESTURE) It's never -- was in such -- best way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: Joining me now for more on this CNN chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh.
Nick, we just saw a little bit of your interaction with Zelenskyy over the weekend. You know, he had his trademark good humor. But clearly, this is quite a high-stakes moment for him and for Kyiv and -- and the West, more broadly.
WALSH: Yes. As we enter into the fourth year of the war here, a show of support, certainly, for predominantly European leaders and Canadian Justin Trudeau here.
Many of them have taken the multiple-day train trip required to get in and physically show their support alongside Zelenskyy, and they were joined by many others virtually, as well.
Zelenskyy's key message to thank those who'd lost their lives defending the country and again request NATO membership, something he said that, if Ukraine got, he might even leave his post yesterday during that same press conference, and also say that he'd handed to Trump's envoy, General Keith Kellogg, during his visit, a list of previous ceasefires and peace deals that Russia had agreed to and then broken.
Look, the key to all of moving forwards now is this rare earth minerals deal. And it is remarkable that so much focus is put on Ukraine's resources at a time when, I think, Ukraine urgently wants to know what sort of assistance it can still count on from the Trump administration, militarily and financially; wants to know what kind of peace deal, potentially, is on the table in the discussions that Moscow and Washington have been having without them.
We've just heard from one of Zelenskyy's top officials the idea that that deal is very close, that it's down to the final details, and a hope that it might get signed potentially even in Washington at some point down the future.
This brinkmanship back and forth. But Zelenskyy clear yesterday that there were so many terms in earlier drafts that he simply couldn't agree to: the half-trillion-dollar figure suggested as to how much Ukraine would eventually need to pay back to the United States.
And rejecting the characterization of Trump officials that this was debt paid for by the Biden administration grants. He said it was -- look, this was things that Congress agreed to that were never really intended to get paid back.
And so, this, the key of what future aid we may potentially see from the Trump administration. And also, too, as we saw in that exchange, the nervous laughter, really, acrimony between Zelenskyy and Trump itself hanging over as we head into the fourth year of the war here.
Air raid sirens again on in Kyiv, just when this large collection of international leaders was here to support Zelenskyy. We'll hear more from them during the day.
But it is remarkable to see such high-profile Western delegations here moving around, with the air sirens in the background.
A startling moment, and this war continually tearing up norms, expectations. Russia being held back initially. A failed counteroffensive. An uprising that Putin put down himself around his Kremlin inner circle.
And now, the moment in which the United States, the key backer of Ukraine since the beginning, the reason Ukraine, frankly, hasn't folded and found most of its territory occupied by the Russians, now very much in doubt in terms of its support, and to some degree, seemingly more in favor of Russian positions than Ukraine at the moment, in public, as far as we know.
TAUSCHE: And President Trump trying to get a meeting on the books with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to broker such a deal himself. We will see whether there are any advancements toward that in the coming weeks.
For now, Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv. Nick, thank you.
Ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, growing concerns about the health of the pope. The new diagnosis that could make the pontiff's recovery even more complicated.
Plus, how the Trump administration's cuts could be compromising national security.
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[06:23:44]
TAUSCHE: Another health complication for Pope Francis as he battles double pneumonia. The Vatican says he's resting after a good night in the hospital following a diagnosis of mild kidney failure.
The 88-year-old pontiff remains in critical condition. Prayers pouring in from across the globe.
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ELVIRA ROMANA, PRAYING FOR POPE FRANCIS (through translator): I am very, very sad. I don't know how you can continue normally at this moment. I would just stay in prayer, all of us in prayer for him. For me, he's a special person. I truly have no words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAUSCHE: CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau joins us live from Rome. Barbie, how is the pope doing?
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, we got an update a few hours ago, the one we get every morning about how he was overnight. And they said that he had a restful night and was still resting.
We understood, as well, that he is, you know, receiving treatment as usual.
But you've got to look at, like, the progression of events here. On -- on February 14th, he was admitted to the hospital with a respiratory infection. On Wednesday, diagnosis for double pneumonia. One of his lungs, of course, is compromised. It was removed when he was 19 years old.
Saturday, a major respiratory crisis. And then yesterday, we hear that he had this mild kidney failure. All of this doesn't bode well for a man who's 88 years old with mobility issues.
[06:25:11]
We do understand, though, that tonight that the Vatican has organized a prayer service, a rosary service, at 9 o'clock local time in Saint Peter's Square, which will be -- you know, a lot of people who are in Rome to help celebrate Lent, which begins Wednesday with Ash Wednesday, will undoubtedly be there to offer up their prayers of support, just as he's been receiving all around the world.
But people are extremely concerned about the fragility and the complicated clinical case that he presents.
And his doctors, of course, doing everything they can to try to help him pull through. And they say he's responding to the treatment so far. But we've had a series of twists and turns here in terms of -- of the complications -- Kayla.
TAUSCHE: Barbie Latza Nadeau in Rome. Barbie, thank you. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, growing anger with Elon Musk's approach
to cutting government spending. A closer look at how they're voicing those concerns.
Plus, the far-right in Germany making substantial gains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're very, very thankful for everything J.D. Vance did and said. And for Elon Musk, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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