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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Asking Elon Musk To Review "Just About Everything"; Security Tightened For Super Bowl After New Year's Day Attack; New York Shuts Down Live Bird Markets After Bird Flu Detected In Poultry; North Korea Tries To Attract Tourists After Shutting Down Country For Five Years; Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump From Putting At Least 2,200 USAID Workers On Leave. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 07, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And now to Blank Park Zoo in Iowa, where a tiger named Misha was seeing red, chose the Chiefs, predicting a trophy trifecta for Kansas City. Whoa! With authority there.

And finally, aren't birds of a feather flock together? This seems like a potential conflict of interest. We're going to let it fly.

Surprisingly, this eagle did not choose her fellow Eagles. She went for the Chiefs. I mean, what does that tell you, Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: I'm predicting feeling bloated. Maybe calling in on Monday.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Trump just kicked his government disruption up a notch.

THE LEAD starts right now.

In dramatic for some people, disturbing fashion, the sign outside USAID headquarters came down, scraped off one letter at a time. This is just one agency. As the Trump administration orders supervisors across federal government to decide which employees to retain and which ones to release as employees and managers take Trump to court, saying this isn't legal.

Plus, who are these tech disrupters? CNN investigates the team working for the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, tapping into sensitive government systems, including a software engineer, a hack-a-thon contest runner up. And one worker who has already resigned after reports linked him to a Twitter account with racist posts. See all of the operatives causing the stir.

And North Korea a vacation destination. The town that the secret kingdom wants to make a tourist hotspot. But would you risk your life for a glimpse?

(MUSIC) TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're tracking all of the latest developments in Trump's wholesale effort to disrupt the U.S. government, pushing the limits of presidential power, including efforts to dramatically shrink the U.S. government by executive fiat.

Just moments ago, at a news conference with Japanese prime minister, we learned that effort now extends to the United States military.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Have you directed Elon Musk to review Pentagon spending, given its the biggest discretionary spending in the federal budget?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, on Pentagon, education -- just about everything. I've instructed him to go check out Education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military. And, you know, sadly, you'll find some things that are pretty bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Elon Musk to check out the Pentagon. This revelation comes as the Trump administration is now asking its top federal managers to rate career employees as retain or release, which to some may feel bizarrely simplistic, even flippant. Do you like this employee check box? Yes or no?

CNN has reviewed multiple emails sent to managers across different agencies as the newly -- newly formed department of government efficiency DOGE turns its attention to firing probationary workers. Probationary means employees who are in their probationary period with fewer than two months of federal service.

Now, many of these Trump efforts are headed to court, including Trump's effort to dismantle the decades-old JFK formed humanitarian agency USAID.

Tonight at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, nearly all of USAID 10,000 employees are set to be put on leave, with perhaps fewer than 300 kept on as essential personnel.

Now, many legal experts say the president simply lacks the legal authority to unilaterally 86 independent federal agencies, such as USAID. Today, we found the USAID signage here in D.C. being taken down rather unceremoniously.

Some of the programs that will likely be impacted because of the USAID dismantling include HIV treatment and prevention programs throughout Africa, famine and hunger programs throughout the globe.

Republicans once extolled soft power, including Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who once said this specifically about USAID.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Happy anniversary to all my friends at USAID. You've made a big difference in the world. You're a force for good, create a great impression for our country, and you change lives. You take taxpayer dollars and you improve the lives of others, which is good foreign policy, good national security policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: As always, that was then. This is Trump.

Graham this week says he's still a proponent of soft power, but says, quote, USAID is going to have to justify its existence, unquote, and says some of the money they're spending will not pass the smell test.

Let's get to CNN's Phil Mattingly and CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who are at the White House.

And, Jeff, Trump covered a wide range of topics at his press conference with the Japanese prime minister. Talk about what the president had to say about Elon Musk and his access, and how Trump may view his own presidential powers.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we heard for the first time the president saying that, yes, Elon Musk will extend his review to the Pentagon, but then seemed to pre-judge that, saying he did not think there would be much found there.

Obviously, Elon Musk has a billions of dollars in contracts with the government, but in the next breath, he was asked -- he was asked if there's anything out of bounds for Elon Musk. And he said, we haven't discussed that much yet.

But one thing, the president seemed a little more clear on was the FBI and their involvement in the January 6th investigation.

Watch this exchange with our Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Are you planning to fire the FBI agents who worked on those investigations?

TRUMP: No, but I'll fire some of them because some of them were corrupt. I have no doubt about that. I got to know a lot about that business, that world. I got to know a lot about that world. And we had some corrupt agents, and those people are gone, or they will be gone, and it'll be done quickly and very surgically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So that, of course, is something that's happening at the Department of Justice.

Pam Bondi, the attorney general now is involved in that review. The president very clear there, saying it will be happening very swiftly and quickly, unclear which agents will be involved.

But it speaks, Jake, to the morale issue that is really injecting itself. And we're hearing from across the federal government. But even as the president was speaking today, you saw that sort of split screen there of the sign at the USAID, just a couple of blocks from the White House coming down.

So the president moments ago has left for Florida. He'll be spending the weekend there before going to the super bowl as Elon Musk continues his work here this afternoon and into the evening, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Phil, let's back up for a moment and take in the scope and the pace of change that President Trump is trying to bring to the federal government. There are the buyouts to or whatever you want to call them to 2 million employees, layoffs to come, dismantling USAID. Has any president ever done anything like this before?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Jake, I think when you look at the speed, the scale, the blunt force delivery, the opacity, the -- at best ambivalence for the kind of long term effects of things at most outright satisfaction about the potential for breaking things. There is no certainly modern historical precedent.

I think the way they're doing it as well. So many people come to Washington saying they're going to change things. So many people come to Washington saying they're going to cut things or break things. It's every campaign ad we've ever seen, and everybody comes to Washington and seems to never actually do that.

How this is happening, I think, is actually critical to understand why its happening, which is the Trump team, four years in office, learned a ton of lessons, learned a lot of levers to pull, and learned what they don't think they need to care about so long as there are not repercussions which, other than the courts, they don't feel like there will be at this point in time, operating at parallel with the worlds richest man, who is completely untethered to how government is supposed to work, how government usually works, what government is actually for.

As one person told me, kind of involved in this operation, the pain is the point. It's a feature, not a bug here. One thing we do know, Jake, and I think this is part of the effectiveness of what they've done over the course of the last 12, 13 days. They might not know how Washington is supposed to work, but they do know what makes Washington work.

Their arrival at the office of personnel management, the GSA, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service at the Treasury Department are places that people just don't actually know about or think about.

And yet those are the respective nerve centers of how this entire operation runs. When you talk about the federal government, they were there from day one. They were moving from day one. They were taking action from day one. The repercussions of it, I think, will last much longer than these first few weeks, but they certainly knew where they wanted to go. And they're doing it. TAPPER: All right. Phil Mattingly, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

With us now, Thomas Yazdgerdi. He's the president of the American Foreign Service Association, which is the labor union that represents Foreign Service officers. It's one of the two groups behind the lawsuit aiming to stop President Trump from dismantling USAID, calling it unconstitutional and illegal.

Thank you for joining us.

So what does this mean in terms of people's lives, not just the 9,000- plus USAID employees no longer on the job, but those with whom they work, those that they try to help?

THOMAS YAZDGERDI, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION: Yeah. Jake, thanks for having me. It has an impact on our locally employed staff as well, which is numbers in the thousands. And so its not just the American officers and their families, obviously, and the contractors, the folks that that are able to bring these services to bear. It also is our locally employed staff. So it has a -- it has a -- it's having a huge impact.

TAPPER: Turning to your lawsuit, do you think the court will step in on an emergency basis before tonight's 11:59 p.m. Eastern deadline, when everyone is set to be put on leave?

YAZDGERDI: Well, it may. The hearing is probably happening right as were speaking, so we hope so, because it's important.

[16:10:01]

This is people's lives. It's disrupting so many, so many of our colleagues. And I've worked with -- I'm a State Department senior Foreign Service officer, still active duty.

I've worked with so many great USAID colleagues that are incredibly dedicated. So, yeah, were hoping that, this, you know, the

decision will come down and that will that will stay this order because, you know, the administration has an obligation to negotiate with AFSA, negotiate with the labor union on implementing this huge, huge, unprecedented, you know, essentially gutting of USAID.

And that didn't happen. And we felt there was no other recourse but to join this lawsuit with our civil service colleagues.

TAPPER: So many logistics involved in shuttering an operation like this. For example, USAID has roughly 1,400 employees abroad, plus their families. Now, previously, we were told that your group and USAID had not received any guidance from the administration on how these furloughs or layoffs will work. You kind of just alluded to that, but has there been any update on this from the administration on how this will work?

YAZDGERDI: No, not really. There's been piecemeal guidance, but nothing that really gives anybody sort of a clear way ahead. For example, for these 1,400 officers and their families returning from abroad, they're put on admin leave.

What is what does that actually mean? Do they get per diem? Do they get housing while they're in Washington, or can they go on to their -- to their home town? No. No one really knows. What will they be doing on admin leave?

It's an incredible not only a disruption, but it's such a waste of talent. These are some of these folks have been with USAID for many years, know the development business, have great contacts overseas, part of the ambassadorial team at the at the post that in which they're present. So there's still a lot that we just don't know Jake.

TAPPER: So you've been in Foreign Service since 1991. What's your biggest concern about what happens if USAID just disappears? What happens to the people that USAID tries to help?

YAZDGERDI: Well, these are our members, so we care for them. That's what we do. As the American Foreign Service association, which has been around for 100 years. So we want to make certain that, you know, they are taken they're -- they're taken care of, they're looked after. But also more and more than that even is what is what will this mean for our standing, the United States standing in the world.

And by the way, you know, you can connect what we do with USAID funding abroad and also jobs in the United States. A lot of our -- our personal services and things like that are done by American companies. We -- USAID buys its wheat, for example, and other grains that it that it donates abroad to poor countries and people who need it.

And those are -- those are American farmers. So that has an impact in the United States as well. But, you know, we're the -- USAID is the really the premier development assistance agency in the world. And right now, we hear that it might even go down to 294 employees from a starting point of 10,000. And that's -- that's quite a change.

TAPPER: Thomas Yazdgerdi, thank you so much for your time.

Let's talk about this now with the panel.

And, Kristen Soltis Anderson, one presumes that President Trump's doing this because it would be popular, you know, people are often asked in polls. They think that they think the foreign aid budget is like 30 percent of the budget when it's much smaller.

What do people think about this, or even just the idea of shrinking government, mass layoffs of government employees?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, you're right. When you ask voters, you know, do you think we spend too much? They'll say yes. And when you say, what are some things we should spend less on, in those conversations, something like foreign aid is always one of the first things to come up.

And that's not necessarily because people don't think it's good for us to help around the world, but the premium they place on. What do you spend an American taxpayer dollar on is very high, and they say there's lots of problems here. It would be nice to help overseas, but dot, dot, dot.

And we just haven't had any leaders really in the last couple of decades who have made the case. Hey, here's why. An American dollar going overseas actually pays dividends. And because of that, that's why Trump has this public opinion environment that says, you know what? If this is the place you want to start, American public is kind of okay with it.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm so sorry.

TAPPER: Go ahead.

FINNEY: Well, we've had people talk about this as part of our, you know, from as a diplomacy, defense and development as part of the three legged stool of national security. They haven't specifically talked about USAID, but it was the perfect poster child for so many reasons because obviously, the whole issue around foreign aid people thinking, oh, this is a great place to start without realizing $2 billion last year, for example, was spent with American farmers, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Farmers are now wondering how they're going to make up that revenue, or the American citizens.

TAPPER: Oh, you're saying USAID spent money.

FINNEY: Correct, in American farmers.

TAPPER: For farmers, to buy their food, to send.

FINNEY: To send abroad.

TAPPER: To send it abroad, right.

FINNEY: And another $1 billion with American small businesses. So at some point, the impact of that is going to have a ripple effect to American citizens.

[16:15:02]

They may still say, I'm glad the president did it, but it was also the perfect poster child, sort of, interestingly enough, think about what was going on. The IG of the USAID was investigating Starlink work in Ukraine. The IGs went first, then Elon Musk decides to start at USAID. And now we're hearing about this tremendous reduction.

And so, the potential, though, for corruption, for, you know, sort of this doesn't smell right. And unfortunately, Democrats went to -- not that I don't care about starving children, but again, we need to get smarter about looking at what are they trying to hide, what's really going on and what's the real impact going to be in America?

TAPPER: So, Brian, on the subject of Elon Musk, President Trump was asked today specifically about what he has told Elon Musk he can do. He cannot do inside the federal government. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Is there anything you've told Elon Musk he cannot touch?

TRUMP: Well, we haven't discussed that much. Ill tell him to go here. Go there. He does it. He's got a very capable group of people. Very, very -- very, very capable. They know what they're doing. They'll ask questions and they'll see immediately as somebody gets tongue-tied that they're either crooked or don't know what they're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you -- are you comfortable with Elon Musk and his team having that kind of access and control and everything?

BRYAN LANZA, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: A hundred percent. I mean, I'm comfortable because I voted for it. I'm comfortable because the American people heard what President Trump wanted to do was disrupt Washington. I mean, we all knew President Trump was going to be a sledgehammer when he comes to Washington, D.C. again.

And during the campaign, he said I'm going to, you know, I'm a sledgehammer, but I'm also going to bring this jackhammer called Elon Musk. And he's going to disrupt Washington, D.C. He's going to make these $2 billion in cuts.

Nobody should be surprised.

TAPPER: Two trillion.

LANZA: Two trillion.

TAPPER: Yeah.

LANZA: Nobody should be surprised. I think some people are surprised about the speed, but speed is part of the strategy. I mean, speed is killing the administrative state right now. And that's what Trump wants. He's watching the coverage. He's watching, you know, you know, the deep state as he as he likes to call it, sort of freaking out about these things.

But I think what people forget is, you know, clearly, the USAID needed to be reformed. There's example after example. It's small dollars, but it also goes to ideology. Why is this ideology getting into the USAID? And that is the forward facing, you know, face of the United States.

That's not what Trump wants, and that's not what the American people want. And so he's taking a jackhammer to this. And I think you're right. I think, you know, there's not an audience that's -- that's not a large audience that's sympathetic to this deep state. And this is the -- this is the disruption the American people asked for.

ANDERSON: There is --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: I'll come to you for the last word. ANDERSON: -- that I think can be made and frankly, could be even made

to President Trump about the value of some of what USAID does. I mean, something like PEPFAR was originally a George W. Bush program. It's something that for two decades, Republicans have claimed as a victory advanced by their own side, with bipartisan support, of course -- of course. But 25 million people around the world not having to deal with HIV because of this program, over 5 million babies born to HIV positive mothers who did not get the who are healthy because of PEPFAR.

I mean, there are good, good things, and my hope is that President Trump will ultimately see there are pieces of this that are worth preserving that do a lot to make America strong and look great around the world that he wants his name on, not to be the one that cut.

TAPPER: Karen, do you see Democrats doing can they do anything to stop this in an effective way? Have you have you seen any sort of response from Capitol Hill or from the governors or from anyone that you think is effective?

FINNEY: Well, look, the attorneys general, they were prepared immediately, frankly, around birthright citizenship. They're the ones who have been bringing I mean, there are a number of lawsuits. I do think some of the outside groups, like Democracy Forward.

Look, this is a whole of conservative movement approach. This is Project 2025 being implemented. And so what I've been saying to Democrats and progressives is everybody's got to get around the table and work on this together. There's got to be a legal strategy. There's got to be a policy strategy because I agree completely with Kristen, what's happening is we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

And at some point, there will be implications. You cannot get rid of the whole CIA and think that something terrible might not happen.

TAPPER: Last word?

LANZA: No, listen, you definitely have to keep the CIA, but there's -- there's no doubt that the administrative needs to be cut. It grew significantly during COVID. It multiplied during Biden, and it just can't continue. It can't continue to effectively serve the American people. And that's what President Trump and Elon are saying.

TAPPER: Ryan Lanza, Karen Finney, Kristen Soltis Anderson, thanks, one and all. Appreciate it.

Unions for federal workers are taking many of these actions to court. But what about Democrats in Congress? Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida, he's one of the youngest members of the House. I'm going to ask him what he thinks about what he's hearing from Democratic leadership, if anything.

And the live bird flu cases detected in the New York City area and the efforts there to contain this virus before it spreads even more.

Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:36]

TAPPER: Back with more in our politics lead. As the Trump administration continues to gut the government as we know it and take unprecedented steps to reshape Washington, D.C., some critics are wondering where are the Democrats in all of this?

That includes my next guest, Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida.

Congressman, you stood on the steps of the Treasury Department this week and asked the question, are we -- meaning Democrats, the minority, or are we the opposition?

Right now, Democrats in this country, Democratic voters are wondering what your party can do, given Republicans hold out, hold all the power -- House, Senate and White House.

So what, if anything, is the plan?

REP. MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): There's a few things we can do. And Leader Jeffries actually put out a ten point plan about a week and a half ago to direct our caucus, pay attention to these things.

And in my view, here are the most important things. Number one, we have to use every procedural step that we can and tactic that we can to, of course, delay things that we think are going to be bad for the American people and working families.

We have to do everything we can to make sure that there's accountability. Just the other day, ranking member Gerry Connolly and the House Oversight Committee called a surprise vote on the Republicans to subpoena Elon Musk. We -- it was 19 to 20. We were really close. Some of them ran in at the last minute. We got to keep doing that, right?

There are things that we can do, and one day we will catch them slipping and we will be able to have accountability with what's going on. Outside of the House, though we also need to be working with groups and organizations.

[16:25:03]

Of course, there's litigation going on. You've seen this week that we've taken the step to actually going to a lot of these buildings to see if we can confront -- confront people and talk with people from DOGE face to face. And unfortunately, they have locked the doors to a lot of these buildings, have sent out armed guards to not let us in these buildings.

Today, I was in front of the Department of Education with about a dozen members of Congress. And so the people are going to continue to rise up to protest. And there are things that we can do to resist. But, you know, we have to tell our -- tell ourselves we're not the minority. We're the opposition. And we got to fight back.

And hopefully in two years, we were to take back the House, to have the real institutional power we need to make this president accountable.

TAPPER: We've seen Democrats unify and mobilize around Elon Musk, criticizing how much power Elon Musk wields in this administration. Is that possibly a trap, putting so much focus on Musk and not on Trump?

FROST: No, I mean, were still focused on Trump as well, but I don't think its a trap to focus on Musk.

Look, this guy effectively right now is the unelected president of the United States. Many of us believe that Trump is actually taking his orders from Musk, a guy who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to get Trump and Republicans elected. And this corrupt billionaire donor now has been given the keys to the entire government.

And that is not transparency. Doing stuff behind closed doors is not transparency. We're all for efficiency, but this isn't about efficiency. This is about eviscerating the federal government, so that way, these corrupt billionaires and corporations can run rampant.

And we see it for the lie and great betrayal that it is. And so I think it makes sense to you to focus on Musk, Musk and focus on Donald Trump. And we're going to focus on how complicit and spineless the entire Republican Party in Congress is, because they're not standing up to any of this.

I mean, when the Medicaid system was shut down, there were no Republicans that came out and said, I support President Trump, but Medicaid is important for my people. Not a single Republican. It was us and people in the country that stepped up and said, we want the Medicaid system turned back on. Then the White House came up and lied about it being turned off on accident.

So either they're incompetent or liars. I think they're both.

TAPPER: So I think a vast majority of the 2 million federal employees, most of whom have gotten these letters, the "fork in the road" letter suggesting that they can leave now and get paid through September, or risk being fired with -- with nothing later.

A vast majority of these people are outside of Washington, D.C. they're at V.A.s in Iowa and rural assistance programs in Missouri, and they're all over the country. And I wonder, how much your party is talking about that, thinking about that, reaching out to people like that who might not even be Democrats, but -- but still, their jobs are on the line?

FROST: Yeah. No, we are engaging on that. I actually just gave a speech on the house floor a few days ago about the fact that the Republicans and Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been working to demonize federal workers when a lot of these folks live in our communities, they work in our communities. I mean, I saw a post from somebody who said I supported Donald Trump. I voted for him. I got fired yesterday because my job is a diversity, equity and inclusion job that works on helping disabled veterans get the care that they need.

And so I think a lot of people are waking up to the fact that they thought they voted for one thing, but then they're getting the other. They thought they voted for someone who said he's going to lower prices on day one. And -- and he hasn't lowered prices. And in many aspects, the prices have gone up.

They thought they voted on someone who's going to work on efficiency for working people. But he's actually working on efficiency for the richest people and corporations.

And so I think that awakening is going to happen a lot over the course of the next four years. But we're not here. Its not a -- I told you so thing. It's a -- you know, comment. Come into our coalition so we can fight for people who actually give a damn about the people who clock in and out for work every day, and not some billionaire who's coming in to change the system just to help him even more.

TAPPER: Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

For a few hours at least, we're going to try to put the world's drama aside to watch the Super Bowl in New Orleans. CNN is there. See the stepped up security in place right now to keep fans and President Trump and former First Lady Jill Biden safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:59]

TAPPER: In our sports lead, as Eagles and Chiefs fans descend on the Big Easy ahead of this weekend's Super Bowl, the enhanced security measures are on full display in New Orleans, just weeks after a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street killed 14 people and wounded countless others.

CNN senior national correspondent Ryan Young spoke to the homeland security agent leading the safety and security coordination there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC DELAUNE, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS IN NEW ORLEANS: We're going to see drones. You're going to see helicopters. You're going to see boats in the river. You're going to. See people on rooftops, sniper teams.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the man spearheading Super Bowl security for the federal government.

DELAUNE: You will see more bollards in place. You'll see more temporary barricades in place. You'll see blast shields in some locations.

YOUNG: Homeland Security Investigators, the division that is leading coordination this year, granted CNN access as they prepare for at least 700 federal officers to descend on the Big Easy.

So you guys have been training nonstop. What do you use a building like this one for?

DELAUNE: The entries are never the same.

[16:35:01]

They learn how to navigate corners and they learn how to navigate different pieces of furniture. These things test them in this environment where they can make mistakes and learn, so they can apply that to real world scenarios.

YOUNG: Security around the Super Bowl is always high, but this year, there is an additional layer of concern. After a lone attacker drove his truck down the city's beloved bourbon street in the early morning hours of New Year's Day, killing 14 people and injuring 35 others.

DELAUNE: But lone wolf is hard to defend against. So what do we do? We harden the places we can as best we can. We stay vigilant.

YOUNG: We know that were IEDs put in coolers in that last attack. Luckily, they didn't go off.

DELAUNE: There will be checkpoints set up all over areas will be on the lookout for those things. Our plans are very comprehensive and all of our agents and law enforcement personnel, our canine handlers, they're all ready for this event.

YOUNG: Fourteen crosses now mark the spot where so much tragedy happened here in New Orleans, and people have been showing up to pay their respects. While this has been going on, they've been getting ready for the Super Bowl. So you see, the access points have been choked. They've added more bollards to the system here.

There's a triple layer of security. They have the sanitation truck. They have the two layers of security here, and these extra heavy gates that will stop anyone from getting on the sidewalk. The agency has designated the game as a tier one event in its special event assessment rating system, meaning it has the highest security tier assigned by federal authorities.

Still back on Bourbon Street and across the city, the pride and excitement is palpable.

BARRY KERN, CEO, KERN STUDIOS: There's a reason why. They've been here 11 times because this is the best place to do it. Everybody knows that the one thing that we do better than anything else is entertain people. Mardi Gras, for us, is like having two Super Bowls every year.

YOUNG: What stands out to you with the level of security that's here in New Orleans?

HELENA MORENO, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: Not in my 15 years of public service in the city of New Orleans have I ever seen the level of security in this city like it is right now -- unprecedented. Not only from, you know, boots on the ground who are here in New Orleans, but also on the intelligence side. We know that things are different because of what's happened here, but our culture and our city, the way that we feel about our city and the love that we have for our city, that still remains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (on camera): And, Jake, you can see this man right here with the long rifle. He is one of the snipers will be positioned throughout the city. There will be snipers throughout the city over the next 20 days or so, because this is going to extend into Mardi Gras. They want to keep this level of security very high to keep everyone safe. And every block you walk down to, you can tell they can shut down the street in a moments notice, and they plan to continue the security all the way through.

TAPPER: All right, Ryan Young, thanks so much.

Let's talk more about the Super Bowl security measures with CNN's John Miller.

John, as Ryan laid out there, the Super Bowl is already a highly monitored event. What's the additional complexity of securing a location like this, especially when both President Trump and former First Lady Biden are planning on attending?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I mean, the most serious target, of course, is the stadium itself. But that's also the safest place to be in New Orleans that day, because what you have there is a controlled environment you can control access through layers and layers of security. You can be scanned, frisked, sniffed, everything going in there. So that's going to be a sterile environment.

The real threat there, the complexity, as you put it, is all of the attendant events where a terrorist could have the effect of, quote unquote, attacking the super bowl just by attacking some event that might have hundreds or even thousands of people that's associated with it. We saw that to some extent on bourbon street, and you see Ann Kirkpatrick, the police chief, brought in experts, including Bill Bratton from New York and his team to figure out how do you lock that down? And that's what Ryan just showed us.

TAPPER: In practical terms. I mean, is there anything more they would do to make it even more secure with the president and former first lady going? I mean, I'm already anticipating, especially after the January 1st terrorist attack by that guy with the ISIS flag in his in his pickup. I mean, I would think it would be probably maximum security.

MILLER: Well, what you already have is maximum security, and you add the president into that, and then you just get maximum, maximum security. So the good news is there are certain standards of protection for anywhere the president goes. And that is just more security for New Orleans. The bad news is its more security for New Orleans. It means people who

are not the president. Whenever the president moves, that route is going to be frozen wherever he is. Nobody can leave until he goes first, and there'll be a lot more checking than if he's not there.

But at the end of the day, it's just going to add to the layers of security, which on the whole makes it a safer event.

TAPPER: All right, John Miller, thanks so much.

To New York City next where inspectors have now detected multiple cases of bird flu.

[16:40:02]

The urgent action to stop any spread in America's most populated cities.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: New cases of bird flu top our health lead, this time in the New York City area. Inspectors detected seven new cases in live poultry and as a result, the state is shutting down all outdoor poultry markets in the New York City area.

Let's bring in CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell.

Meg, how were these cases detected?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake, they said that they detected these essentially through routine surveillance of these live bird markets. They found these seven cases at these live markets in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and in Queens.

[16:45:04]

And so what they are doing is that at the affected markets, they have to depopulate all of their birds, essentially kill all of their birds, which is a routine thing that happens when H5N1 is detected in bird populations.

And they have to clean and disinfect, obviously. But then another almost 80 markets are affected by this where those haven't been detected but they have to sell down their inventory, clean and disinfect and remain closed for five days. They're really trying to put a stop to any potential spread of this virus.

Importantly, Jake, they say no human cases of H5N1 have been detected and they are continuing to monitor workers at these live markets for potential high risk exposure.

TAPPER: Okay, so that's New York City. How prevalent is bird flu nationwide? TIRRELL: Well, it's extremely prevalent among birds, both in the wild

bird population and also in the poultry population. We've seen more than 150 million poultry affected in nationally in the last 30 days, 137 flocks have been confirmed to have been infected. Of course, this is affecting egg prices. So we're all feeling this right now.

It's also very prevalent in dairy cows across 16 states. In terms of people, there have been 67 confirmed human cases of bird flu, one of those severe. And that person did die in Louisiana, Jake.

There is no human to human transmission that's been confirmed of bird flu. That's the thing folks are really looking closely for.

TAPPER: All right, Meg Tirrell, thanks so much.

A remote city known for a shoe factory and a sea cucumber breeding farm. Why North Korea wants you to book, wants you to book your next vacation there. But is it worth it? We're going to go there, next.

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[16:51:06]

TAPPER: In our world lead, are you planning your spring break vacation? Well, have you considered North Korea? Kim Jong Un has begun efforts to transform a remote town near the border of Russia and China into a must see vacation spot. But is it worth the effort of applying for a special U.S. passport just to go to North Korea? Is it worth the risk?

CNN's senior international correspondent Will Ripley takes a look at the secretive country's tourism plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even by North Korean standards, Rason is not exactly a tourism hotspot -- a remote economic zone closer to China and Russia than the capital, Pyongyang.

Rason is known for its shoe factory and banking system. There's also a textile factory and sea cucumber breeding farm. A typical workday includes outdoor exercise, weather permitting, in almost any other place, tourists probably wouldn't be lining up for the chance to open a bank account. But this is North Korea. The secret state has chosen Rason as its first post-pandemic destination for Western tourists, allegedly.

SIMON COCKERELL, GM, KORYO TOURS: Will it happen next week? Entirely possible. But will it be delayed? Entirely possible.

RIPLEY: Longtime tour operator Simon Cockerell knows there are no guarantees when it comes to North Korea.

Simon's made nearly 200 trips. He says traveling there is not for everyone. COCKERELL: You're choosing a highly restrictive time and a very

complicated country on a trip that your family will be worried about.

RIPLEY: And some say for good reason. American college student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, accused of stealing a propaganda poster from his Pyongyang hotel. After 17 months in detention, he returned home in a persistent vegetative state and died days later.

The State Department has banned U.S. tourists from visiting North Korea ever since.

What's the number one thing you tell people not to do when they visit North Korea?

COCKERELL: Don't proselytize religiously. It's illegal. Don't break any law, regardless of whether you agree with it or not. Simple as that.

RIPLEY: Not as simple for some, anyway. The question should tourists go?

What do you say to critics who argue people's money is basically supporting a regime and its illegal nuclear program?

COCKERELL: It's not really supporting any of those things, because the state of North Korea does not stand or fall on tourism revenue. If it did, it would no longer exist.

RIPLEY: For the past year, North Korea has only allowed Russian tourists to visit. Soon. Maybe a handful of visitors from the West arriving just in time for one of North Korea's biggest holidays, the late Kim Jong-il's birthday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): For now, only a handful of Western tourists are expected to be allowed in. If this happens, we don't know if this is the beginning of a wider reopening or just a very limited test run, thus putting them all in this very isolated city near the border with China and Russia.

Now, one key group that is still missing Chinese tourists. They used to make up the bulk of North Korean visitors. Their absence, some say, could signal Beijing's growing displeasure with Pyongyang's deepening ties with Moscow -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Will Ripley, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Breaking news in our politics lead, a judge has just paused the Trump administration's effort to dismantle USAID, which is set to cut its workforce by thousands at 11:59 this evening. Two labor groups had sued the Trump administration. I just spoke to the president of one of those labor unions earlier this hour. He argued that the move is unconstitutional and illegal.

Before this pause, employees were set to be placed on administrative leave right before midnight tonight.

CNN is asking the White House for comment and will be right back with much more on this breaking news story after the break.

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[16:59:20]

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, the time has finally come to see if my beloved Philadelphia Eagles can bring home the Lombardi Trophy, or if we're in for a Chiefs three-peat. It's Super Bowl weekend. We're going to check in live with our teams down in New Orleans.

Plus, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau caught on a hot mic talking about President Trump. So what did he have to say about Trump's proposal to make Canada the 51st state?

Leading this hour, however, is there anything that Elon Musk cannot touch when it comes to his efforts to shrink the federal government? President Trump was asked that question this afternoon as Musk's DOGE program faces multiple lawsuits for the work its doing inside different government agencies.

Let's start with CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

And, Jeff, more on Musk in a sec. But we do have some breaking news, as those efforts by Trump and Musk to shrink the government have hit another roadblock. Tell us more.

ZELENY: Jake, we do. Another afternoon, another court ruling --