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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Judge Extends Deadline For Federal Workers To Accept "Buyout" Offer; Trump's Planned Steel & Aluminum Tariffs Are Latest Escalation; Hamas Halts Next Hostage Release "Until Further Notice"; Trump Says He Spoke With Putin Ending Fighting In Ukraine; Eagles Dismantle Chiefs In Blowout Super Bowl Win; Measles Outbreak Grows In West Texas, 15 Confirmed Cases. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 10, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yeah. It's also known as a "Black Demon". And this intimidating fish is usually found thousands of feet below the surface, where light isn't even visible.

Scientists who spotted the "Black Demon" posted images on Instagram saying they didn't know why it was in such shallow waters. Could be because of illness and upstream. It could have been fleeing a predator. You'd hate to see the predator.

I have another theory.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: What's that?

SANCHEZ: It's actually a resident of Philadelphia, and it was coming out to celebrate the Super Bowl.

KEILAR: No.

Do you know who is, though? Jake Tapper. THE LEAD starts right now.

(MUSIC)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: If the president wants to remake government, he'll have to get through the courts first.

"THE LEAD" starts right now.

From layoffs to budget cuts, over and over, judges are shutting down President Trump's plan to overhaul the federal government. But did his administration just hint at how it will push back? A line from Vice President J.D. Vance may reveal what's next.

Plus, large protests in Tel Aviv after an announcement from Hamas, the terror group threatening to postpone the next hostage release. The conditions, they say, must be met as a far right Israeli official responds with threats of his own.

And a special guest on THE LEAD, Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, fresh off the Eagles blowout victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. (MUSIC)

MATTINGLY: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Phil Mattingly, in for Jake Tapper.

We begin this hour with a wave of headlines in our politics lead. President Donald Trump today pressing ahead with his agenda to shrink and reshape the federal government as a judge, is hearing a challenge to the so-called buyouts offered to about 2 million federal workers. This, as a federal judge today for the second time, told the Trump administration that it cannot cut off grant and loan payments after Trump put a freeze on those funds.

Plus, a third federal judge blocked Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of people who are in the U.S. illegally.

Now, while many of Trump's agenda items face legal challenges, the administration seems to be raising questions about whether it actually has to abide by those court rulings. Vice President J.D. Vance posting on X, quote, if a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general on how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.

The president then appeared to agree with that sentiment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The day you're not allowed to look for theft and fraud, et cetera, then we don't have much of a country. So no judge should be -- no judge should, frankly, be allowed to make that kind of a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: We start things off with CNN's Paula Reid and CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who is at the White House.

Paula, to you first. About 2 million federal workers definitely waiting to get some clarity on those so-called buyouts the Trump administration is offering. And you have breaking news out of that hearing. What are you learning?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Phil. They're not getting the clarity they had hoped for, but here, the federal judge in Boston extending the pause on that deadline to accept the so-called resignation offers.

Now, here, the judge, a Clinton appointee, did not really tip his hand at all as he heard arguments from the Justice Department and from lawyers representing the unions for federal workers.

Now, the unions argued that what's happening here, these buyout offers, this is not what Congress intended when it reformed the civil service. They said right now, employees don't know what they are accepting. They've been arguing to their employees that they shouldn't even accept these offers, because its not clear that the Trump administration has the authority to make good on this promise to pay employees through September.

They're saying here, just two weeks have been given for employees to decide a question about their livelihoods. Then the Justice Department had a chance to weigh in, and they argued that this is all about the federal government's authority to manage the federal workforce. They said, quote, the buyout program offers a humane off ramp to federal government employees who might have structured their life around remote work opportunities. Of course, we know those have come to an end.

Now, previously, the judge had had delayed this deadline until 5:00 p.m. today. But as he left the bench, he said he's going to extend that pause while he contemplates these larger questions about the legitimacy of this offer and the power of the federal government. So, of course, all eyes on that decision. Enormous stakes for the Trump administration and, of course, all the federal employees mulling this offer.

MATTINGLY: Certainly the case.

Jeff, over to you. Many of the Trump team's agenda items facing those challenges in federal court. But I think what's so striking is the administration is pushing forward on so much, so many different changes that there's still a lot that's moving, that isn't in the courts, in particular, the consumer financial protection bureau and what happened over the course of the weekend.

What do we know?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Without a doubt. I mean, we are seeing a showdown on many fronts between these different branches of government, but just about a block or so away from here at the White House, the consumer financial protection bureau, which, of course, well all remember, was created by Congress in the wake of the financial crash in 2008.

Well, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not effectively open for business. The director, the acting director are -- Russell Vought who's the director of the Office of Management and Budget, he sent out an email effectively telling workers to stay home. And it says this: Employees should stand down from any performing, any work, a task.

So the employees are still employed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but they are told not to work for the rest of the week. So, Phil, that is just a central example here of many different branches of government. Of course, this is a small slice of the government. I think it has about 1,700 or so employees, but what it is supposed to do is to protect people from bank fees and fraud and the like, like that.

So certainly it was controversial when it was created, but since then it really hasn't been. But it's just one more example of these workers being told to stand down and not report to work, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, long opposed by Republicans. Trump the first one to actually make moves to get rid of it. Jeff Zeleny, Paula Reid, thanks so much.

Let's continue the discussion with former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore and Elliot Williams, former federal prosecutor and former deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs at the Justice Department.

Tim, to start with you. We just saw moments ago another ruling against the administration, or at least kind of continuing that pause. Yet Trump and Vance seem to have signaled they're a little skeptical at times of the courts. To put it slightly, I guess.

Jonathan Chait at "The Atlantic" wrote, quote, the United States is sleepwalking into a constitutional crisis. Yesterday, the Trump administration raised the specter that should the courts apply the text of the constitution and negate its plans, it will simply ignore them.

Tim, do you think the Trump administration would actually ignore court rulings? And if so, is that a constitutional crisis?

TIM PARLATORE, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: No, I think that, you know, like a lot of things that Donald Trump does, you know, a lot of people in the media try to, you know, catastrophize that he's going to do something and create a constitutional crisis.

What I see in J.D. Vance's tweet, there is actually what the response should be to this lawsuit and what the appeal would be if the judge actually does impose an injunction, because, you know, what were talking about are things that are within the discretion of the executive branch. And so if a court steps in and tries to substitute its own judgment for that of the administration, that is a good ground for an appeal.

It's also a good ground to oppose these lawsuits and these motions to say, you know, judge, that is something that we have in our discretion, and they don't have grounds to really challenge it. And you don't have the grounds to stop it.

So that's more of a litigation tactic than, you know, than a statement that were just going to, you know, ignore the judiciary branch.

MATTINGLY: You know, Elliot, to that point, I think its striking, the administration vehemently disagrees with the decision over the weekend to pause what they're doing at the Treasury Department, right?

But they made very clear in their filing that they vehemently degree disagree, but they are complying at this point in time.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right.

MATTINGLY: To Tim's point, when you have a more expansive view of executive authority than any administration, probably since Nixon -- WILLIAMS: Right.

MATTINGLY: Is this all just geared towards getting it to the Supreme Court?

WILLIAMS: And perhaps it is, and certainly ideally, we don't ever reach a point at which an administration is not complying with court orders. And to Tim's point, of course, you know, in all likelihood, we don't reach that point. The administration is allowed to zealously, zealously advocate for its positions in court to make the case that that its view of what the presidency and the powers of the presidency are might be more expansive than they've been in the past, but they're still valid views.

It's up to them to then adhere to court orders when they come down. We'll see that when the courts do rule and the -- and the administration does exhaust their appeals, if they do follow those orders, I hope they do. I think they will. And if they don't, then we have a crisis on our hands.

MATTINGLY: Tim, the scale here, in terms of what's already in court, what we expect will be in court shortly, given some of the actions, is a little difficult to get ones head around.

Which of these cases do you think the president cares most deeply about, given kind of what he's rolled out for his agenda?

WILLIAMS: You know, I think all these cases are kind of related. And, you know, even though they're attacking each individual little piece here, ultimately it does go to the -- to the issue of how much discretion does the executive branch have.

So I think that, you know, any one of these cases, you know, could potentially go up to the Supreme Court. In fact, the Supreme Court could take a lot of these and just kind of consolidate them, you know, really what they want is, you know, whichever, whichever lawsuit it comes out of, they're going to want a decision that says that the executive branch has the discretion to take these types of actions, and then that decision will be binding precedent on all the others.

MATTINGLY: To that point, Elliot, what if their perspective, what if their approach is correct? They've got a 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court. I've talked to Trump officials going into this administration.

[16:10:03]

They were thinking through this to that level, to that extent. Then what?

WILLIAMS: Yeah. You know, these questions of executive power and how strong the president is versus the courts versus Congress do make strange bedfellows in the courts. And I think at our peril, we start trying to game out how the Supreme Court is going to rule on these issues.

The mere fact that its mostly Republican appointees on these very complex questions of constitutional law, I do think, are a jump ball and a toss up. And I don't think any of us, even Donald Trump or anyone in the White House, can really predict how this court is going to rule on some of these questions.

MATTINGLY: Tim, you think that's a fair assessment?

PARLATORE: Oh, absolutely. I think Elliott's absolutely right. You know, it can go either way. And it's -- this is one of the risks of litigation is you bring a lawsuit and you don't know what way the courts going to rule. But whatever the way they rule, that's going to control how every decision and every action going forward is governed.

MATTINGLY: Elliot Williams, Tim Parlatore, thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Well, outside of the courts, President Trump says he wants to impose a new set of tariffs. But it's not like what we saw last week against Canada, Mexico and China. But the question is, is any of it good for the U.S. economy? I'll talk about it with the former treasury secretary, who's closely watching the numbers.

Plus, nearly three years of conflict between Ukraine and Russia, new signals by President Trump could bring Zelenskyy and Putin to some sort of negotiating table.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff.

REPORTER: What about aluminum, sir?

TRUMP: Aluminum, too.

REPORTER: Ten percent?

TRUMP: Ten -- no, 25 percent.

REPORTER: Twenty-five for both --

TRUMP: Twenty-five for both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Those are the brand new tariffs. President Trump just threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum.

I want to bring in CNN's Paula Newton.

Paula, how are these tariffs different than the threats that we saw against Mexico, China and Canada? What consumers need to know? PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no difference in terms of what the impact will be. And I would argue this is not going to be like the shock that we've had over eggs. No, this is going to be more like a trickle down effect on the economy.

And also, the president has been here before. He did this in 2018. And in terms of the impact, he is saying, look, this is about national security and he wants to make sure that he has a strong aluminum and steel industry.

Having said that, they're not the most strategic of things. You could handle this by having quotas and just taking a certain amount of steel and aluminum from places like Mexico and Canada and other countries.

He's not doing that. And what this does is it risks a wider trade war. And that could not be the kind of trickle down effect on prices. No, that could in fact lead to trade wars, which will raise prices along a range of goods for Americans within a few months, likely.

And remember when I say that there's a threat of a trade war that is still looming out there. He was talking about 25 percent on aluminum and steel. The threat of 25 percent on all imports coming in from Canada and Mexico are still out there.

And to that point, I want you to listen now to an auto parts manufacturer. I spent some time at Martinrea. It is in the industrial heartland of Ontario. They make auto parts and they do so in Mexico, the United States and Canada. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB WILDEBOER, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, MARTINREA: I don't know anyone in our company that wants tariffs between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico because we work very well as a unit. We take care of our people everywhere. We make great parts in every jurisdiction, and quite frankly, we benefit from that. We've got some great plants in Mexico, in the United States and in Canada.

NEWTON: Do you believe a U.S. made car then would be more expensive?

WILDEBOER: Yes, for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: So pay attention to that line for sure. What he is saying is that these supply chains, they have some certain low cost centers like Mexico, and they also have some efficiency in them, right? Whether they're auto parts, steel, aluminum, at a certain point in time in the supply chain, it works intricately and it works well to keep prices low.

I will note as well, Fred, that some of those plants are in the state of Kentucky. I spoke with the governor, Governor Andy Beshear, from there today, and he agrees, and so do many Republicans in his state that these tariffs really could hurt his economy, for one, and could hurt it immediately, especially if this threat of the trade war actually becomes a reality, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Paula Newton for us, thanks so much.

Well, also in our money lead, a major warning from five former treasury secretaries, all Democrats, about Elon Musk and the DOGE team's activities inside the Treasury Department. In a New York Times op-ed, the former secretaries say flat out, Musk's team doesn't know what its doing, and that's creating a serious risk that could mess up the basic government functions like Social Security payments to everyday Americans who rely on them.

They write, quote, we are alarmed about the risks of arbitrary and capricious political control of federal payments, which would be unlawful and corrosive to our democracy.

I want to bring in one of the authors from that opinion piece, former treasury secretary under President Clinton, Larry Summers.

Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for taking the time. I think one of the questions kind of to start off with, is there are reams of GAO reports and IG reports issuing warnings about the controls or lack thereof, around the bureau of fiscal service, around these treasury payments, around the agency process that they go through.

For the people who say, why can't the DOGE team look into these payments and try and figure out what's not going to the right place -- why are they wrong?

LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY, CLINTON ADMINISTRATION: Well, I hold no brief for the current system, and there may well be abuses. And if there are, it's absolutely imperative that those abuses be corrected.

But it has to be done in ways that are entirely legal. Just like when you crack down on crime, that's the right thing to do. But it doesn't mean the police get to do anything they want, and it doesn't mean it's okay to convict innocent people.

[16:20:03]

And the concern here is not with reform. The concern here is that people who have no security clearance, no substantial amount of vetting, who are direct political appointees rather than civil servants, are getting access to the computer files that have enormously sensitive information about large numbers of Americans. That's one concern.

And the other concern is that they're asserting that they're going to turn off payments, not that are fraudulent, but turn off payments like payments made under USAID. That correspond to congressional mandates that the president doesn't like, which is threatening constitutional rights, that the Congress has.

So if this was a consulting project to improve the computer systems of the government, where run by a superstar entrepreneur, I'd be way enthusiastic. I'd think it was a great idea. I would be cheering it on.

But if it's giving access to peoples social security records, to people's medical care, payment records, to people who haven't gone through any vetting, if it's an annunciation of a new idea that the president can just cancel money that's been appropriated by Congress or his designates, can that, I think is something that's very troubling. And that's why the past secretaries of the treasury as a group, have been so concerned about this.

MATTINGLY: You know, you -- you mentioned a -- you know, a project, a consulting project from a superstar entrepreneur. Elon Musk is an entrepreneur. World's richest man. I'll let others quantify the superstar tagline.

But he responded to the op-ed on X saying, listen, Larry -- quote: Listen, Larry, we need to stop government spending like a drunken sailor on fraud and waste, or America is going to go bankrupt. That does -- that does mean a lot of grifters will lose their grift and complain loudly about it. Too bad. Deal with it.

I saw you responded and offered to work with him, said you wanted to work with him. What do you say to Elon Musk and the way he's approaching this?

SUMMERS: It's the point -- it's the point I just made. He says he's going to cut off payments that he doesn't like. Well, you know, that's not what his power is. Of course, if it's fraudulent, the government shouldn't be doing it.

But that doesn't mean that a set of people who haven't been vetted, who don't have security clearance, who don't have security clearances, get to do whatever they want according to their discretion. That doesn't mean, as some email traffic, suggested, that the government gets to decide that it doesn't like the payments, that USAID is making, you don't get to just bring in new people to enforce against crime who are entirely untrained as policemen and who have no legal status because you've got concerns about the job. The police are doing.

And that's why this is a big overstep. If this is a -- if the idea is to improve the systems, that's the right thing to do. And I would hope and this was kind of the point of my response, that in addition to worrying about this, that there are trillions of dollars being lost because the IRS isn't able to enforce against people who don't pay all the taxes they owe, where the laws entirely clear.

And that relates to computer problems. And unfortunately, the Trump administration is trying to slash the budget to get that right. And I would be delighted to work with Mr. Musk or anybody else to collect all the taxes we owe, because that's another part of confronting grift.

Yeah, we absolutely, ought to be confronting grift. But you don't get to just come in and do whatever you want as a political appointee who hasn't been removed from conflict of interest and all that. Look, Elon Musk competes with all kinds of other companies. Do we

really think that he should have access to see, to monitor, and possibly even to stop payments to those other companies because he thinks that those are wasteful or fraudulent?

[16:25:04]

I don't think that's the way our democracy works. So we're not saying that we shouldn't be drawing on that expertise, but to say that anybody who's worried about civil liberties, should just get over it, to say that privacy is not a concern, to say that it's okay to decide that congressionally appropriated funds shouldn't be spent. That's not the way we've ever done things in America.

It was tried a little bit during the Nixon administration and the Supreme Court unanimously said that it was illegal. A court has already made an order here that it is problematic.

MATTINGLY: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, thanks so much for your time, sir. Appreciate it.

SUMMERS: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, we've got live pictures to show you right now in Philly. We're not looking at light poles here. Those are probably all gone at this point.

Fans, though, are on the lookout for the new Super Bowl champions, Philadelphia Eagles, headed home, but their MVP Jalen Hurts, he's down in Florida and we plan to speak with him in just a few minutes.

But, first, an urgent turn in the Middle East. Threats from Hamas and Israel and hostage families caught in the middle of yet another dispute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:50]

MATTINGLY: In our world lead is the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, on the verge of collapsing. Today, both sides accused the other of breaking the agreement, and Hamas said it would not release the next group of hostages on Saturday as planned.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Jeremy, tell us what happened here.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, Hamas is threatening to delay the release of three more hostages this coming Saturday over what it says are a series of violations of the cease fire agreement by Israel. Hamas has released a list in which they include the shooting of multiple Palestinians in Gaza during the ceasefire by Israeli forces, the entry of shelter equipment, including ready-made homes, which they say have not yet entered the Gaza Strip but were supposed to, and the delay of medicines into Gaza. Hamas says that it is making this statement five days ahead of the

agreement, with the intention that this will give the mediators time to pressure the Israeli government to remedy those violations. Now, we have reached out to the Israeli government. They've yet to comment on those specific violations, accusations by Hamas.

But what's really important to note here is that there's so much else happening in the background, and Hamas is very aware of it. Not only the images of those three hostages over the weekend emerging emaciated after 16 months in captivity, which have really driven more urgency in Israel for extending the ceasefire agreement, but also uncertainty about what the future of the ceasefire agreement actually looks like, especially as President Trump is now raising this proposal and doubling down on the idea of permanently displacing all 2 million plus Palestinians from Gaza and having the United States take ownership of it.

MATTINGLY: Jeremy, no official comment from the Israeli government yet, but what's the response been like in Israel? And do we have any sense of what's next here?

DIAMOND: Well, the Israeli defense minister did say that he is putting Israeli troops on their highest level of alert following this statement from Hamas. And we've now, in fact, heard from the Israeli military itself saying that troops in Israel's southern command near the Gaza border have indeed been placed on a heightened state of readiness.

And this, of course, raises serious concerns about the potential collapse of this agreement. And this certainly is one of the most serious challenges to this very fragile ceasefire agreement so far. But it doesn't mean that the collapse of this deal is guaranteed altogether.

What we have seen, though, are more protests emerging this evening in Tel Aviv, with the families of some of the remaining hostages blocking off traffic on a central thoroughfare in the city. They are pointing to the images that we saw over the weekend. They are pointing to the right wing in Israel, urging the Israeli prime minister to go back to war as they express their concerns that the loved one -- their loved ones who remain in Gaza, could be in just as frail of a state as those who emerge this weekend.

And there are concerns that this cease fire agreement may not make it to the end of the six weeks, or perhaps be extended at all -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Jeremy Diamond live for us in Tel Aviv, thanks so much.

Well, staying in our world, for the next two weeks could be critical to ending the war in Ukraine, which is almost three years running. President Trump says he spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin about stopping the conflict, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, quote, some serious people from Trump's team will visit Ukraine later this week.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow. Fred, could these talks really amount to anything?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Phil.

We certainly feel that there's momentum building, not just with the Ukrainians, but also here with the Russians as well. It's been quite interesting over the weekend with the Russians saying, look, we can neither confirm nor deny whether or not President Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin have actually spoken on the phone just yet.

But the Russians are saying that, of course, there are intense contacts going on right now at various levels of the government here. Of course, first and foremost, meaning the Russian foreign ministry and the U.S. State Department as well.

The Russians, though, however, are saying all of this is not going to be as easy as maybe President Trump has let on. The Russians are saying they believe that right now their forces are on the move in Ukraine, are making territorial gains in Ukraine. And so therefore, when negotiations take place, if negotiations take place, there are a lot of positions. The Russians say that they are not going to walk back on.

[16:35:02]

And the Russians say, look, there simply are realities on the ground right now where the Russians are holding territory and gaining territory, and therefore, they have some pretty strong demands that they're making.

I was able to ask the Russian deputy foreign minister about all of this here in Moscow today, and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEI RYABKOV, DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Undoubtedly, Ukraine joining NATO is one of the root causes of the special military operation.

In terms of Kursk, our president has said it all. This is an issue that is so obvious to everyone, even to those who live outside of Russia. I want to say that the certain cunning with which our Western opponents, mainly the U.S., primarily discuss these topics, is also quite understandable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So all of that, of course, seemingly would make negotiations between the U.S., Russia and of course, Ukraine pretty difficult. Of course, when the deputy foreign minister there talking about Kursk, that is the region where the Ukrainians still hold Russian territory. The Russians say they want that back.

At the same time, they don't want to give up any of the territory that they've taken on the Ukrainian side. So, certainly, not an easy position to start from. Nevertheless, the Russians claiming once again that they are open for talks, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Fred Pleitgen for us, thanks so much.

Well, turning next to the story that has everyone talking. Another live look in Philly where the Super Bowl champions -- you see them right there -- they're returning home from a rematch two years in the making. Today after a big win, I'll speak about it all next. The game MVP Jalen Hurts on THE LEAD.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:55]

MATTINGLY: To our sports lead, it may seem easy to say in hindsight, the Kansas City Chiefs sadly never stood a chance against the Philadelphia Eagles, who were all too eager and ready to dismantle a dynasty. The Eagles dominating the Chiefs in last night's Super Bowl win, 40-22, and the party continues in the city of Philadelphia, where an Eagles celebration is planned for Friday.

If you're wondering why I'm here, not Jake -- well, Jake Tapper and his son Jack -- yeah, that picture kind of captures the absolute joy among Eagles fans right now.

CNN's Coy Wire is in New Orleans, where Eagles fans are likely still partying, likely haven't slept.

What was it like being there? And did the Eagles really kind of take down the chiefs in a way that made it almost look easy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Phil nobody saw this type of beat down of the two-time defending champs coming to Eagles, disrupting that dynasty in dominant fashion. The stars, the celebrities were out in New Orleans. President Donald Trump was there, the first sitting president to Super Bowl.

And Phil, of course, you know, Taylor Swift was going to be there in the stands cheering for her man, her boyfriend Travis Kelce. But this Chiefs Super Bowl Eras Tour did not end well this time around.

Defense rookie Cooper DeJean on his birthday, Phil he intercepted Patrick Mahomes. He took one to the house interception for a touchdown. Mahomes was sacked six times, running for his life all night long.

And how about quarterback Jalen Hurts? Having his moment, two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown. He led the team in rushing yards. It was a 40-22 smackdown.

Also, star running back Saquon Barkley's birthday. What a way to celebrate. Jalen Hurts was a Super Bowl MVP.

And, Phil, we can't talk enough about him. He hurts so good as Phillies say. And now he's the ultimate competitor trusted leader a true testament to hard work, dedication and never giving up.

After their Super Bowl loss to these Chiefs two years ago in the Super Bowl, he said, you win or you learn, not you win or you lose. You win or you learn.

So Jalen Hurts says tough times have made him tougher. After this game, Phil, when asked if he's heard about all the doubters that had popped up out there, he said, I had a purpose before anybody had an opinion. So take him to church. Jalen Hurts inspiration on and off the field, Phil.

What a win for Philadelphia and the Eagles.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, we're going to talk to him in a moment. It's remarkable, the whole story.

Coy, can I just ask -- look, you've played at that level. You've watched games like this before. When did you know? Because it seemed obvious pretty early on where this was going, but you never know with the Chiefs.

WIRE: Yeah. So everyone kind of thought the Chiefs were going to do what they did all year long, kind of win by those one score games. that championship pedigree and mindset and mentality. But it was right off the drum. Phil it looked like the Eagles were playing at a different speed. And that's no disrespect to the Chiefs. It was just the Eagles were that good.

Now I know you're going to talk to Jalen Hurts in a moment. When you talk to him you be sure to ask him about his One Mission Initiative he just launched. The young man is changing lives setting out to create positive change in this world. Now, as a Super Bowl champ.

MATTINGLY: I certainly will. Coy Wire, my man, in New Orleans, thanks so much.

Well, the victory celebrations, they are underway right now at Walt Disney World, of course, and that's where we find Eagles quarterback and Super Bowl MVP himself, Jalen Hurts.

Jalen, I know there's a little bit of a delay here. But first off, congratulations. Second off, I was chuckling last night watching every --

JALEN HURTS, EAGLES QUARTERBACK: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: -- reporter ask you how you were feeling. And you telling every reporter, I'm processing it, man. I'm processing it.

Have you processed it?

HURTS: Still processing it. I'm still processing it. I don't -- I don't know if there's an expected feeling you're supposed to feel. I just think about all the work and all the effort that and all the time. All the blood, sweat and tears that have been put in over the -- over the course of my career and -- and all of the lessons learned through the ups and the downs.

[16:45:01]

And so, it's something -- you know, something that I appreciate a ton I give a ton of gratitude to everything I've had to endure, and also give a ton of gratitude to my teammates, my family, and all the support.

MATTINGLY: I want to ask you about kind of your career and what you're talking about and the things you've had to endure. But before that, there's a picture of you that was posted by Albert Breer, a "Sports Illustrated" reporter. That was it immediately made me think about the iconic Kobe 2001 championship picture with the trophy. You sitting down the Lombardi trophy in front of you smoking a cigar.

What were you thinking in that moment?

HURTS: I was just processing it, processing it, you know? I describe it -- I describe it as happy feelings. Just vibing to my favorite artist. One of my favorite songs, and letting the words hit me.

MATTINGLY: How are you and your family going to celebrate at the place I see behind you right now, Walt Disney World?

HURTS: Right. A couple rides, you know, eat some good food, celebrate with the great fans.

(CHANTING)

MATTINGLY: We see. We hear the E-A-G-L-E-S chants behind you, of course.

HURTS: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: Your journey. It's remarkable. You said something last night in an interview. You said I'm the same kid, basically, that you were at Alabama, that you were at Oklahoma, that process that you went through. It's a story I tell my sons about in terms of perseverance. Explain that to people.

HURTS: Well, you know, everything happens right on time and you just have to run, run, run, run your course and stay the course and run your race and stay the course. And it's been a journey of highs and lows and different moments where I've had opportunities to learn from. And I've looked at it just that.

I never ran from any challenges. I didn't let a bump in the road deter me from what I envisioned for myself, and that's just to be the best man, best leader, and best player I can be. So to -- to find myself in Philadelphia and be able to make history and -- and bring a championship home to this city, it means everything.

MATTINGLY: There's a ton of questions about --

HURTS: The work that was put in. MATTINGLY: There are a ton of questions about the background on your

phone. My question is not about the specific photo of you after losing the Super Bowl. It's -- are you considering getting privacy glass on the phone going forward so rookies can't look at it when you're in a meeting?

(LAUGHTER)

HURTS: I need to. I need to.

MATTINGLY: Will you replace that photo now?

HURTS: You know, I've -- I've obviously gotten that question a good bit. And I probably won't. I probably won't.

MATTINGLY: The motivation never stops. The story is incredible.

Kirk Herbstreit said it best, there should be a movie about your career at some point, and yet only 26 years old.

Eagles Quarterback, Super Bowl MVP. Jalen Hurts -- congratulations. Thanks so much, man.

HURTS: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: It's going to be hard to top that one. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:52:45]

MATTINGLY: Now, to our health lead, an outbreak of highly contagious measles in West Texas. Health officials confirm at least 15 cases in Gaines County alone. It's a rural area where vaccination rates are low.

Let's bring in CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell.

Meg, how worrisome is this outbreak?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know. It's pretty worrisome because measles is such a contagious disease and it can be severe in some people, particularly unvaccinated small children and babies.

And so we've just learned that an additional case was identified over the weekend in Gaines County. I was talking with the executive director of the South Plains public health district, Zach Holbrook. He said that they've been running screening clinics with mobile busses. They've been running an MMR vaccine, that's measles, mumps, rubella, vaccination clinic.

He told me that, just as of now, his latest update, about a dozen people have come through to be screened, more cars are still coming through. He said 17 people today have been vaccinated against MMR, against measles, mumps, rubella. He says, you know, they're hoping to see more, but that is, of course, a start.

Now, part of the reason potentially, that we're seeing this outbreak is that the vaccination rates are low. In terms of the kindergarten vaccine exemption rate, it's one of the highest in the state of Texas, at 18 percent of kindergartners in the 2023, 2024 school year. That compares with about 3.3 percent nationally, which is still too high. You know, the CDC says that's the highest it's ever been.

They want to keep vaccination rates at 95 percent in order to prevent the spread of measles. And of course, we know the vaccine works really well, Phil, when it came out in 1963, we started to see cases drop significantly. And measles was declared eliminated in 2000. But, of course, we keep seeing cases.

MATTINGLY: I do want to ask you about bird flu. You've been leading our coverage on that. What are you hearing about the dairy worker in Nevada who was tested positive?

TIRRELL: Yeah, this is a really interesting case because we saw this different strain of bird flu in cattle in Nevada, this D1.1 strain. It has been associated with two previous severe cases of bird flu in humans. And so now we have confirmation from the CDC that a dairy worker who was exposed to these cows has this strain. They got conjunctivitis, basically red eyes. They were not hospitalized and they are recovering.

But one other thing about this particular strain of this virus is that an analysis from the USDA showed that it had mutations that could make it better able to replicate in humans.

[16:55:07]

So far, we have not seen human to human spread of this, but we are watching it closely.

MATTINGLY: Meg Tirrell for us, thanks so much.

Well, just a few weeks into their administration, President Trump is not exactly giving his own vice president a ringing endorsement for the future. His new comments about J.D. Vance, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Phil Mattingly, in for Jake Tapper.

This hour, a duo of winter storms is about to slam much of the United States, with double digits of snow predicted in some places, and icy rain, travel delays and power outages in others. Our meteorologists are tracking the latest threats ahead.

Plus, say farewell to the penny.