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CNN This Morning
Elon Musk Takes Center Stage At First Trump Cabinet Meeting; Actor Gene Hackman Found Dead Alongside Wife In New Mexico Home; Soon: British Prime Minister To Meet Trump At White House. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired February 27, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:32]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is Thursday, February 27th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the Oscar goes to -- Gene Hackman in "Unforgiven".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Legendary Academy Award winner Gene Hackman and his wife found dead in their New Mexico home. What police are saying about that discovery?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Is anybody unhappy?
ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: Say it, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will tell you, for the most part, I think everyone is not only happy, they're thrilled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Elon's cameo. The world's richest man stealing the spotlight in the president's first cabinet meeting as the White House prepares agents -- agencies to roll out more layoffs.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): We're going to have to come up and reconcile the reconciliation.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think they understand the necessity of letting the House lead on this. (END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The next hurdle after the House passed Trump's budget blueprint in a nail-biter, the ball now rests in the Senate's court. And that could be a problem for Republicans.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Ukraine must be at the table at negotiations. There can be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Setting the stage. Britain's prime minister prepares to sway President Trump back toward Ukraine in a critical meeting at the White House today.
Then --
(MUSIC)
DEAN: It is 5:01 here on the East Coast. Look at that U.S. Capitol this morning. A beautiful morning here in Washington, D.C.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean, in for Kasie Hunt. It is wonderful to have us with you this morning.
We have a lot of news to get to.
Eighteen Senate-confirmed cabinet members and the vice president all on the guest list for the first cabinet meeting of Donald Trump's second term. Many of them arrived with something to say. But when President Trump ceded the microphone, it wasn't to any of them. Instead, he deferred to Elon Musk, the world's richest man-turned- senior White House adviser.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And, Elon, let the cabinet speak just for a second.
ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: Yeah, exactly.
TRUMP: Is anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, we'll throw 'em out of here.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Is anybody unhappy?
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: Musk then addressed the cabinet leaders and spoke three times longer than anyone else in that room, other than the president himself.
Vice President J.D. Vance didn't get a word in for an hour. Musk spoke at length, detailing his efforts to slash the federal government and admitting some mistakes have been made along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUSK: We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect. But when we make mistake, well fix it very quickly.
So, for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola. Ebola prevention. I think we all want Ebola prevention. So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately, and there was no interruption.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: CNN is also learning more about how Musk's job fits into the Trump administration. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles meeting with Senate Republicans after that cabinet meeting, and they questioned her about Musk's role in the government. And she told them he reports directly to the president, not to the cabinet.
Joining us now, Gabby Birenbaum, D.C. correspondent for "The Nevada Independent".
Gabby, good morning.
GABBY BIRENBAUM, D.C. CORRESPONDENT, THE NEVADA INDEPENDENT: Good morning.
DEAN: Good to have you here.
BIRENBAUM: Thank you.
DEAN: It was a lot -- there were just so many dynamics we could talk about in that cabinet room. But let's start first with kind of the man of the hour, Elon Musk, and how we really saw him take over that meeting.
BIRENBAUM: Yeah, I think it had two main takeaways. One is that I think people have been predicting since Musk first got involved on the campaign trail. There's going to be at some point, a moment of acrimony between these two. They're too -- they're too powerful, they're too wealthy to not.
But I think for now, we see they're still moving in lockstep, number one. And number two, I think Trump 2.0 has been all about sort of loyalty, right? That's how he's picking his cabinet members.
Many of them have cultivated relationships with him over years. They don't have those relationships with Elon Musk -- with Elon Musk. But he's basically asking them, you want you should give him the same loyalty and deference that you give me. And that's not just subtext, right? That's text. Because he asked all federal employees to sort of send DOGE an email with what they'd done the past week and multiple cabinet heads Pete Hegseth, these are Trump loyalists. Marco Rubio said, don't do that.
DEAN: Hang on.
BIRENBAUM: Right. Yeah. Hang on.
And so if Trump is telling them no, Musk sort of speaks with my voice and my authority, that's a new dynamic for a lot of these longtime Trump loyalists who have been in his circle much longer to have to navigate.
DEAN: Right. And it is -- it does kind of disrupt what is a traditional chain of control.
[05:05:02]
BIRENBAUM: Certainly, right. Yeah. And if you're, you know, an average federal employee, who do you listen to? Your boss, your agency head, or the outside person who's not elected, not Senate confirmed.
DEAN: Yeah, the other thing that I thought was really striking, it was taken live, certainly made for TV. And that is a Trump signature, of course. But that -- it was very performative.
BIRENBAUM: Yes, certainly. I mean, I think right. This has been Trump's thing since he first came down the escalator, right, in 2015. He knows what makes good TV.
And yeah, if you're going to bring in Elon Musk and like you mentioned, have him speak more than any member of the cabinet, certainly more than J.D. Vance. He knows, right, what people are going to be talking about the next day. But I think right now that serves political value for him.
DEAN: And we were just talking about this before we came to you. But Susie Wiles laying out the structure. I think there have been a lot of questions. Is Elon Musk the head of DOGE? No, no, no, that's this woman. It's not. He's just this. He's that.
Everyone trying to figure out kind of what is the set up. She says he reports directly to President Trump, which I don't think is really a surprise to anybody, and then President Trump is working with the cabinet secretaries.
How do you think that set up plays going forward?
BIRENBAUM: I have to imagine this is going to come to a head at some point. But again, we've been saying that about Trump and Musk before, and so far it hasn't. There are sort of, you know, no ones been willing to come out and say it super publicly yet. But there are Republicans who I think are frustrated behind the scenes wondering, okay, if there's congressionally appropriated spending and I'm out there, you know, trying to navigate that for my district or my state, trying to bring home federal projects and federal dollars and then someone I don't have a relationship with is just, you know, can just sort of cut that at the executive level.
That's tricky for them to navigate. That's confusing, and that's not how they're accustomed to doing government. And so I think -- I'm sure they did have a lot of questions for Susie Wiles about it.
DEAN: Yeah, for sure. And look, and in the meantime it's full -- full speed ahead. And the cabinet secretaries and DOGE is going to do what its going to do. And to your point, the Republicans on the Hill are going to have to kind of deal with any fallout and try to advance this, this budget.
BIRENBAUM: Right? Yeah. And we -- we've already seen it some town halls. We saw it, you know, in deep red districts in Georgia with Rich McCormick. We've seen other places around the country.
People are starting to get upset about DOGE. And if you're an average Republican, you don't necessarily have answers about what Elon Musk's role is. That hasn't been made super clear, as you mentioned.
DEAN: Yeah. All right. More to come.
Gabby, thanks so much.
BIRENBAUM: Thank you.
DEAN: Have a great day.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, remembering a legend. Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy found dead inside their New Mexico home.
Plus, the remains of the final hostages turned over to Israel by Hamas, setting the stage for the critical next phase of this ceasefire deal.
And the British prime minister sitting down this morning with President Trump to talk about Russia's war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STARMER: This is about the sovereignty of Ukraine and their ability to decide for themselves the future of their country. So they must be at the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:12:13]
DEAN: We have breaking news out of Hollywood this morning. Actor Gene Hackman is dead at 95. Police say Hackman was found dead on Wednesday alongside his wife inside their New Mexico home. A dog also found dead at their residence. No word yet on the cause of death, but the Santa Fe sheriff's office says it is not believed to be foul play.
Hackman, of course, starred in prominent films across decades, including "Superman", "Hoosiers", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "Unforgiven" and "The French Connection".
CNN's Richard Roth has more on Hackman's life and legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gene Hackman was the blue collar common man on screen. It was no act.
GENE HACKMAN, ACTOR: Yu know, I did a lot of things. I sold shoes, I drove truck, I drove a cab. I jerked sodas.
ROTH: He grew up loving movies starring Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson.
HACKMAN: My mother and I were at a film once, and she said, I want to see you do that someday. And that was all it was needed.
ROTH: At the Pasadena playhouse, the aspiring actor met another young actor, Dustin Hoffman. The two were voted least likely to succeed.
HACKMAN: Take a good look, pop. I'm Buck Barrow.
ROTH: That changed when he was cast in "Bonnie and Clyde". Hackman was nominated for an Oscar, the first of numerous anti-hero roles from the 1960s on. The acclaim covered up a potential career disaster. He was fired from "The Graduate", starring his pal Hoffman, after just two weeks as Mr. Robinson.
HACKMAN: I thought it was like the beginning of the end for me.
ROTH: Hackman pressed on, a ski coach in "Downhill Racer", an astronaut in "Marooned", and a second best supporting actor nomination for "I Never Sang For My Father".
There were tensions on set with father Melvyn Douglas, who had wanted another costar. In real life, Hackman's own father left the family when he was 13.
HACKMAN: When you decide to do a role, you choose both the good and the bad, that's happened to you, and you try to make that that come alive.
I, Popeye's here. Hands on your heads! Get off the bar and get on the wall!
ROTH: As fierce New York City police detective Popeye Doyle, a defiant Hackman burst through the screen in "The French Connection". He didn't like playing a bigot, beating up people.
HACKMAN: I wanted to be fired from the film the first couple of days because I was very uncomfortable.
ROTH: Also testing his nerves, driving in one of the most famous car chases in movie history.
HACKMAN: We would go right down the street without any crowd control. And it was really scary.
ROTH: The role he wanted out of won him an Oscar for best actor in 1972. The award ignited a monumental film biography from "The Poseidon Adventure".
HACKMAN: You need to stand aside and close the door, to keep the air from coming in. Or you can try to stop me.
ROTH: To "The Conversation".
HACKMAN: There's one sure fire rule that I have learned in this business is that I don't know anything about human nature. I don't know anything about curiosity.
[05:15:02]
ROTH: It wasn't always deadly serious in "Young Frankenstein".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your name? I didn't get that.
ROTH: And there was "Superman".
HACKMAN: Oh, yes, of course, you've been there. I do forget you get around, don't you?
ROTH: Now a huge star, Hackman said he always liked the idea of Hollywood, but not the hubbub.
HACKMAN: Personality-wise, I don't fit in.
ROTH: (AUDIO GAP) the offbeat "Scarecrow" with Al Pacino, which was not a commercial hit.
HACKMAN: The scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book, we're going to be winners.
ROTH: He was the basketball coach in "Hoosiers", one of the best sports films ever made.
(CHEERING)
ROTH: Hackman was nominated for an Oscar again for "Mississippi Burning".
HACKMAN: You smile when the bulldozer ran over the Black kids body.
ROTH: He won best supporting actor for "Unforgiven".
HACKMAN: When he fires that, take out your pistols and shoot him down like a mangy scoundrel he is.
It kind of puts a bookend to my career for me. I'm sure I'll do other films, but I can kind of relax as long as Dustin doesn't get another one.
I'm country.
DUSTIN HOFFMAN, ACTOR: Yes.
HACKMAN: I didn't figure for a patriot, Mr. Rohr.
ROTH: Hackman finally did get to work with his lifelong friend in "Runaway Jury".
HACKMAN: I've loved every minute of my career. There's been, you know, tough times, of course, but I like the process so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: Joining us now to talk (AUDIO GAP) Hackman. Segun Oduolowu. He is an entertainment journalist.
Segun, thanks so much for being here with us.
Look, we were just watching that piece there and it reminds you of just the incredible career that Gene Hackman had spanning over decades. And they -- you don't really see actors like that with film biographies that go on and on and on, with films that mean so much to so many people over and over decades.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Jessica, you said it perfectly. That montage of his work spans six decades. And we have lost in Hollywood. What? And every man's after, two-time Oscar winner. And though he had retired from acting back in 2009 due to health issues, there isn't a person who watched films that doesn't have a favorite Gene Hackman movie.
I don't care where you're from, I grew up playing high school basketball and "Hoosiers" is the high school basketball movie of my youth, right? And if you -- if you like Will Smith, he was opposite Will Smith in "Enemy of the State". You know, you talked about Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection" where he won his first Oscar, and then he won a second one in "Unforgiven" with, you know, with Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood.
He played everyone in everything. And he will be sorely missed. Just the aura of Gene Hackman was enough to make you say, okay, I'm in for a treat, whenever he touched the screen.
DEAN: Yeah, it was always like, oh, okay, this is a real movie. This is this is a serious project if Gene Hackman is in it. And I think too, we didn't get to it in the piece. But "The Royal Tenenbaums" sticks out as well.
ODUOLOWU: Yeah, he could do drama. He could do comedy. He played bad guys. He even played parts in movies that didn't do that well. I loved him in a movie called "The Quick and the Dead" with Sharon Stone and Leonardo DiCaprio. But there isn't anything that Gene Hackman wasn't a part of that didn't make you laugh or make you think, or make you cry, or make you look at the screen and see these characters that he played and you believe.
I believe he was Lex Luthor in those early Superman opposite Christopher Reeve. And again, as I keep saying, a movie that he was in, there's a costar that he played opposite that is also a big actor. And we remember Gene Hackman.
So I -- the -- this woke me up out of bed like its 2:00 in the morning in Los Angeles. And we're having this conversation because the Oscars are later this weekend. And one of Hollywood's greatest actors, where you think, like, he could play anyone and resembled everyone is gone. And the circumstances are so -- are so shocking.
DEAN: Yeah. It's -- the circumstances are certainly shocking. And we're going to wait to get more information on that. It is -- it is -- it is. It's tough to lose somebody like that. As you mentioned, he did retire from acting back in 2009.
But -- but again, just kind of thinking to just to lose somebody like that, that can play as you mentioned, anybody with such believability that you really buy into it. It also speaks of a different era for film that we are really seeing transition at this moment, that we've seen transition over the years. It's just a different time in the entertainment industry than when Gene Hackman had his career.
ODUOLOWU: This is why I love talking to you, Jessica, because you and I are so simpatico on this movie and cinema on what they they're not what they used to be.
[05:20:03]
I -- around the water cooler, people still go around the water cooler or talk. It's about TV series.
DEAN: Yeah.
ODUOLOWU: It's about -- did you see "Game of Thrones" or "The Dragon" or are you watching this show on Hulu or this show on Max, or this show on? It's all about streaming. People aren't going to the theaters, and Gene Hackman was a movie star, right?
He didn't look like George Clooney. Or have maybe the sex appeal of Brad Pitt. But if a Gene Hackman movie was in the theaters, you knew it was a quality movie and they don't make movies like that anymore. We don't see actors like Gene Hackman anymore that constantly work, constantly play complex characters, and constantly make us either root for the bad guy or just enjoy ourselves sitting in a theater.
Those days of Hollywood are gone, and its saddened because he might be one of the last of that kind, along with Jon Voight or, you know, Robert Duvall. Those actors that were in everything. I mean, Morgan Freeman might be the last elder statesman that we -- that we can say, okay, Morgan is in that movie, I'm going to see it. And as I said, he was opposite Gene Hackman in "Unforgiven".
So it's -- that era of cinema is gone. And I don't know, it's a loss -- it's a loss for anyone who enjoyed going to the movies. It's a loss for anyone who enjoyed acting because Gene Hackman was so damn good at it.
DEAN: So good at it. And I think we all are now thinking about our favorite Gene Hackman movies and probably going to watch them this weekend or maybe tomorrow night.
Segun, thank you so much. We really appreciate you being here to talk about Gene Hackman with us.
ODUOLOWU: Jessica, always a pleasure. Let's do it again.
DEAN: All right. Still ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, it hasn't happened in decades. The first measles death is now being reported in Texas, as the number of cases there grow.
Plus, president Trump, quote, one big, beautiful budget bill. Not so beautiful to some Republicans in the senate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:26:17]
DEAN: Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Now, here's your "Morning Roundup".
Today, President Donald Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House. The European leader hoping to persuade Trump not to abandon support for Ukraine in pursuit of peace -- a peace deal with Russia. The visit coming after Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron Monday and one day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads to Washington.
Self-described misogynist and social media influencer Andrew Tate is now headed back to the United States. Tate and his brother had been in custody in Romania, accused of leading an organized criminal group along with human trafficking. Tate was banned from almost all social media platforms until Elon Musk reinstated his Twitter account.
A child in West Texas is now dead amid the largest measles outbreak in the U.S. in nearly 30 years. At least 124 cases are currently being reported across nine counties in Texas, 18 people have been hospitalized during the outbreak, all of them unvaccinated, against the virus.
A Maryland judge will decide if Adnan Syed will remain free, despite his conviction for the 1999 murder of a former girlfriend. Prosecutors have dropped their bid to vacate Syed's conviction. He was sentenced to life in prison, but was released in 2022 due to issues with trial evidence.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, who is in charge of DOGE? According to the White House, it's this woman and not Elon Musk.
Plus, the House passes President Trump's budget blueprint. But will Republicans in the Senate sign off on it?
And we continue tracking this developing story out of New Mexico this morning as Academy Award winner Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy found dead in their home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What will Washington need to get back into this ball game?
HACKMAN: Heart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry.
HACKMAN: You got to have a heart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you elaborate on that?
HACKMAN: Miles and miles of heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
