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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Seventh Prosecutor Quits Over DOJ Order To Drop Mayor Adams Case; Vans Slams European Leaders, Says Biggest Threat Is "From Within"; Mayor Adams Denies Quid Pro Quo As DOJ Seeks To Drop His Case; Police: Teen Planned Shooting Inspired By Parkland Massacre; Former Kennedy Center President Speaks Out About Changes Under Trump's Leadership; Philadelphia Eagles Celebrate Super Bowl Victory. Aired 5- 6p ET

Aired February 14, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:01:04]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. In this hour, battle over the arts, one of the first moves of the new Trump controlled Kennedy center for the Performing Arts is the cancellation of a children's musical about sharks. This comes after Trump gutted the organization's board of trustees. The recently fired Kennedy center president joins us live with her first interview I have.

Plus, the total humiliation of all European leaders. That's how one U.S. ally is describing Vice President Vance's first major speech on the world stage. Another ally of the U.S. is calling Vance's comments, quote, "unacceptable." What exactly did Vice President Vance say that upset so many leaders? And how is the White House responding? Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is here to discuss.

And leading this hour, a blistering rebuke and growing fallout after the Trump administration moved to dismiss corruption charges against New York City's Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, a seventh federal prosecutor has now quit over the case. And on his way out the door, he accused top leaders of the Justice Department of looking for a, quote, "fool or coward to carry out their orders." This afternoon we're going to hear from both Mayor Adams and President Trump about this case. But let's start with CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Evan Perez.

Evan, walk us through where this case against Adams stands right now it's a corruption case against the sitting mayor of New York, but Trump's Justice Department is trying to dismiss it.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Jake. Well, right now we're still technically at a Standoff, we expect, and the Justice Department says that they expect that at some point today they are going to finally file the paperwork to dismiss this case. Now, how we got here and what happens between this hour and then, we will see, right? But at this hour, we expect that that dismissal will come at some point. We began the day, Jake, with six people who had resign, including the top acting -- the acting U.S. attorney in Southern District of New York who resigned yesterday and accused the Justice Department, the leadership of the Justice Department of essentially having a quid pro quo trying to hold over this dismissal for Eric Adams' corruption case in exchange for his cooperation on immigration matters here in New York.

And as you know, after she resigned, there was a blowback and the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, moved the case to Washington to the public integrity section, where people quickly decided that they would rather not do what he was ordering. And so you had a number of people who resigned yesterday, including top career lawyers in that section, the public integrity section.

Now today, as you pointed out, there was a seventh resignation. And this was another top prosecutor here in New York who had handled the Adams' case. And he went out with a blistering, blistering letter that reads in part, he says, "I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion, but it was never going to be me."

Now, Jake, after this letter was filed, after this letter was sent, this resignation letter was sent, we know that Beauvais convened a meeting of the remaining lawyers in the public corruption section here -- down in Washington and basically told them, find someone who's going to file this. And so we expect -- we understand that there was a meeting of all the public integrity lawyers, dozens of them, trying to decide whether they were going to resign en masse. And they finally decided that there is going to be one person who is going to fall on their sword and they are going to file this dismissal.

Now, late this afternoon, we also heard from Chad Mizelle, who is the chief of staff of Pamela Bondi, the attorney general. She's traveling in Munich and said she expects this to be done today. I'll read you just a part of what Mizelle said in his statement. He said, the fact that those who indicted and prosecuted the case refused to follow a direct command is further proof of the disordered and ulterior motives of the prosecutor. Such individuals have no place at DOJ.

[17:05:14]

And by the way, he also said, Jake, that this was a politically motivated witch hunt. So, of course, you know, that's the kind of words that we've heard a lot from Donald Trump when he was a candidate and of course, still as president. Jake.

TAPPER: Yes, I mean, just two notes on that. One is Adams is a Democrat.

PEREZ: Right.

TAPPER: And two, I don't know all seven of these prosecutors, but the two you mentioned, Danielle Sassoon, she was a former clerk for Justice Scalia.

PEREZ: Right.

TAPPER: And the one, Hagan Scotten, that resigned today, he was a former clerk for Justices Roberts and Judge Kavanaugh when he was a judge. So these are conservative Republicans that are resigning out of the sense of ethics. Jeff Zeleny, what is the Trump White House saying about this all?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And, Jake, given that background there, is very important for what we're about to hear and what we heard from President Trump in the Oval Office, he said he had nothing to do with the decision to remove the charges here. Of course, the allegations are that the White House wanted a sympathetic figure in Eric Adams to help enforce immigration law. That was the underlying cause of all this. But the president fought falsely said that these DOJ officials were all political appointees who preceded him from the Biden administration. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They had a problem. And these are mostly people from the previous administration, you understand? So they weren't going to be there anyway. They were going to all be gone or dismissed. If not, they know on Tuesday they're all being -- you know, the whole country is being, because what you do is you come in and you put new people in.

So when you say resign, they're going to be gone anyway. But I know nothing about the individual case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So for the second day at a row in the Oval Office saying he knows nothing about it, however, he knew enough about to say that they were political appointees, which is simply incorrect as you were pointing out. The acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York was appointed by the Trump administration right after he took office. She has major conservative bona fides and records, as do others. And there were career prosecutors as well. So, the president has now flown down to Mar-a-Lago, where he spent most weekends. We will see if he says anything more about it today.

But there's no doubt the underlying issue to all of this is looking for a friendly immigration hand in New York.

TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny and Evan Perez, thanks so much.

Let's discuss with the panel. Elie Honig, let me start with you. You say there's more than meets the eye when it comes to actually getting this case dismissed. Take a listen to what the attorney general, Pam Bondi, had to say when asked about the status of this case earlier this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: At this point, though, the case has not been dropped actually because of this pushback. What happens in that?

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, Martha, I'm on a different time zone, but it's my understanding it is being dismissed today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you think that's going to happen today? It's going to be dismissed?

ELIE HONIG, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF N.Y.: No, Jake, I'm quite certain that AG Bondi is actually wrong about that. She's jumping the gun here. There are two things that have to happen before this case can actually be dismissed. First of all, someone at the Justice Department has to sign a motion to the court saying, we, the Justice Department, hereby move to dismiss this case. Now, Evan Perez just reported that that will happen.

But what the attorney general is overlooking is the second requirement. Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the judge then has to sign off on it. Now, 99.9 percent of the time, judges do sign off on that. However, as Danielle Sassoon argues in her letter, she doesn't believe, and I agree, she does not believe that a judge will accept this dismissal. So, there's a whole separate process that has to happen here.

It would not surprise me at all if the judge rejects this dismissal and then we're going to be in a real showdown. So not as easy as just saying, I snap my fingers. Is the attorney general case dismissed?

TAPPER: Right. You can't just say we're dismissing this case because we want him to cooperate. We think he'll cooperate with us on this other priority --

HONIG: Right.

TAPPER: -- without commenting on the corruption allegations.

Karen, this morning, Mayor Adams and Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, I mean, this is just the weirdest story. They went on FOX together to discuss their meeting on immigration enforcement with this huge background about all of this questionable behavior on Fox. And in a statement moments ago, Adams said this was not a quid pro quo. He denied being offered anything by the Justice Department or offering them anything. And then Homan said this about their alliance.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER POLICY ADVISER: If he doesn't come through, I'll be back in New York City and we won't be sitting on the couch. I'll be in his office up his butt saying, where the hell is the agreement we came to?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, he wiped that smile off his face, didn't he? My goodness.

TAPPER: That's really weird.

FINNEY: I mean, it's not weird. I think that is -- that's a little bit of strong arm tactics where he was saying, look, you got to stay on the reservation if you want to play ball with us. I mean -- but let's call this what it is, right? This is another example of the kind of patronage system we have seen Donald Trump and Elon Musk putting into place across the federal government, where the most important thing is loyalty. My read on that interview this morning was Homan was going back to say, now, don't forget, we've got a deal, and if you break the deal, I'm coming -- we're coming for you.

[17:10:23]

And it's a symbol -- I mean, the level of expectation that somehow these lawyers would break their ethics, break their oath to, you know, basically serve Donald Trump, that's what we're hearing agency by agency, right? That is how they're treating people. They're asking them loyalty questions. They're asking them, do they -- who won the 2020 election? And they are expecting total loyalty rather than -- and it's really putting experts, right?

I mean, this is the thing, the civil service is supposed to be about, whether you're lawyers or you're engineers or firefighters, these people are -- many of them, experts in their field. But Trump is saying, no, I want loyalists.

TAPPER: So, I want to read a portion from the letter from the seventh person who resigned over the Justice Department request, the Assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. He wrote to Emil Bove, quote, "Some will view the mistake you are committing here in the light of their generally negative views of the new administration.

I do not share those views. I can even understand how a chief executive whose background is in business and politics might see the contemplated dismissal with leverage as a good, if distasteful, deal. But any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way."

This is Mr. Scotten, a U.S. veteran. He clerked for conservative Supreme Court justices. It's just -- don't you find this odd? How do you think the American people are going to take all this? Or is it just too complicated a story?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER & STRATEGIST: I think at one level, it's a very complicated story. And the idea that Donald Trump is at war with the Department of Justice, Donald Trump is at war with career prosecutors. All of that is, for better or worse, a headline that voters have been hearing for a long time. Even though I would agree on the merits, this is a very unique story. And so do I think this is the sort of thing that moves poll numbers?

Not necessarily. I also think part of the reason why you're seeing some of Trump's allies, folks like Senator Tom Cotton, come out and sort of make statements saying, you know, that they stand with the Department of Justice in saying, look, you're either on board or get out of the way. Is -- that is the whole approach Donald Trump has said he wants to take as president. You're either on the team or move out of the way.

Now, the legal system, of course, is intended to be one of those checks on the executive. The legal system is not necessarily just going to get out of the way for everything he does. But I'm not sure this will move numbers, and I certainly don't think this is something that will fracture Trump's base.

TAPPER: Right, right. But just to be clear on what it looks like is happening here, it looks like they're saying Mayor Adams is going to cooperate with us on our priority to crack down on illegal immigration.

FINNEY: Right.

TAPPER: And therefore, we are going to let him get away with corruption, alleged corruption. That is --

ANDERSON: And I think this is why Donald Trump -- I actually would be surprised if he comes out as a big, strong Eric Adams advocate in all of this at some point. I think it was interesting that he was keeping his distance. Eric Adams is not as politically as a sinking ship, right?

FINNEY: Well, he is.

ANDERSON: And I also think, why wouldn't Donald Trump say, hey, you can walk and chew gum at the same time. I expect you to clean up immigration in your city without me --

TAPPER: Yes.

ANDERSON: -- having to offer perils.

FINNEY: But in some circles, the fact that you have, as you've pointed out, Jake, conservatives, you know, individuals who toe the party line, for the most part, right? Who are part of the Federalist Society, who are the ones who said, no, this is too much.

TAPPER: That prosecutor right there, that Iraq-War veteran, he's like, you're not --

FINNEY: Yes.

TAPPER: -- I get it, leverage to get him to enforce immigration laws. I can understand why you might think that's a good idea, but it's not. You're not allowed to use the Justice Department as a cudgel, as a tool. If you do this, great, we will let you get away with corruption. If you don't do it, then we're going to come after you.

Anyway, thanks to all.

FINNEY: Yes. TAPPER: Vice President J.D. Vance addressing world leaders today and drawing some sharp criticism for his comments. Why he criticized some of America's allies. Plus why one state in the United States is now suing Starbucks and how the coffee chain is responding. That's ahead.

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[17:18:29]

TAPPER: In our world lead, the Trump cabinet making waves on the global stage. Vice President J.D. Vance using his first major speech as vice president at the security conference in Germany to blast America's European allies over free speech and immigration while downplaying in the views of his critics the threat from Russia and China.

Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also meeting today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after President Trump's phone call this week with Vladimir Putin and his announcement of peace talks with Russia. And that meeting comes on the heels of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying it was unrealistic for Ukraine to think it could recover the territory it's lost since 2014 and pouring cold water on any of Kyiv's ambitions to join NATO.

Joining us now, CNN's new Senior Political and Global Affairs Commentator Rahm Emanuel. Also the former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, also the former White House chief of staff under Obama, also the former mayor of Chicago, also a member of House Democratic leadership.

His Excellency, do I say His Excellency or Your Excellency?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I would like to note that I can't keep a job. That's what you just --

TAPPER: Your Excellency, let's play some sound from Vice President Vance's blistering speech today, the U.S. allies in Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:20:03]

TAPPER: Christiane Amanpour says the crowd did not exactly go wild for that one in Munich. What do you make of his threat from within language?

EMANUEL: Well, first of all, you got to put it in the context that just yesterday they adopted Putin's position before even getting to the negotiating table. They agreed with the basic premises that Putin laid out for as a (inaudible). What they didn't say there was the things that Ukraine would get like membership in the E.U., things that Europe would get like ending the gray zone attacks on the E.U. security apparatus.

These very parties that is being advocated as what Putin's been trying to do to basically break up Europe's unified position on a set of principles that we have always shared. And so in less than 24 hours, you're not only adopting President Putin's position for the negotiations even before they start, you've adopted his political strategy for Europe, which is to advocate for these far right parties to break up the democratic consensus that exists in Europe in not only confronting Russia, but about around certain principles.

And then I think it's a little ironic and this is now a personal privilege, if I can, Jake. You know, January 27, 2025 was the 80-year anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. To be sitting there in Germany, in Munich, to be advocating that they start working with a far right party that has never distanced itself from some of the things that were said literally 85, 90 years ago as a -- this is now not just analytic, this is a personal, it is a very dangerous recommendation, which is why the Germans so reacted.

They have confronted their history and dealt with it. Not to advocate work with these parties, these are the very parties that Putin's been backing, let alone they have never actually distanced themselves or disengaged and condemned what happened over 80 years ago in Europe.

TAPPER: Yes, it also comes at the same time --

EMANUEL: It's a -- let me just say -- let me do it this way. Do you think General Eisenhower or General Marshall would have agreed with that speech?

TAPPER: So it also comes at the same time, we should note Elon Musk speaking. I think he was speaking to the AFD, this far right political party that --

EMANUEL: Yes.

TAPPER: -- Vice President Vance met with the leader of. I think he also said something Musk in the last week or two about saying to these people that they don't need to keep apologizing for things that their grandparents did. Talking of course about the Holocaust.

EMANUEL: Yes. Well, again, I've said what my piece there. But there's also, let me step back beyond what the heads and tails of it. Both adopting the political strategy of Putin vis-a-vis Europe, which has been a consistent policy for every Russian and Soviet leader to break up unity in Europe because they want them divided, not unified. Second, adopting President Putin's policies before you even get to the table.

Remember Putin's going to get -- Putin's asked for the Donbas, Crimea and for no NATO. The United States has asked for Ukraine's minerals and special minerals. And what did Ukraine get? They get to give up their sovereignty and independence. That's not how this goes. And they never even mention what Ukraine would get when they said what the Russians would get. But then the deeper comparison is we have always adopted as a part of our foreign policy, expressed through NATO, through other efforts of the United Nations out of many one, it's a domestic position, but it has actually animated our foreign policy.

We're now adopting President Putin and President Xi's policy, which is might equals right and spheres of influence. And that's how not only what we're saying in Ukraine matters, what we're saying in Europe matters, but it is exactly the approach we're adopting with Greenland, we're adopting calling Canada the 51st state, making fun of that. And then also our approach to how we're going to deal with Panama.

It is a reversal of America's historic view and strategic view on the diplomatic side, the economic side, the security side, organizing countries around a shared set of objectives and principles and adopting the outlook and tactics and approach of both Putin and Xi. That is a -- and we're going to basically be a cheap second tier knockoff of their approach. And America is going to enter a weaker position because we're not going to play that. We're not ably actually set up to play Xi and Putin's game who want to bury us.

TAPPER: Right. We only have about a minute left. I want to get your reaction as a former mayor to the current Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, and the Justice Department order to drop the corruption case against him after he cozied up to Trump. What's your take on this whole thing?

EMANUEL: Well, I mean, as you remember, in the first term there was a notion of what defined a quid pro quo. But the idea here is that you're going to adopt what we want on policies and using the Justice Department to both either prosecute or not prosecute. In this case, not prosecute a case. I mean, that is a real flip of what it means for the Justice Department, which is why you're seeing these resignations.

[17:25:01]

And what's ironic, and I do think this, whether it's at the U.S. attorney's office, whether it's at the inspector general's, whether it's at the FBI, whether it's at the consumer protection office, everybody who's a cop on the beat trying to deal with waste, fraud, abuse or corruption has been muzzled. These are not one offs independent. They're of a unified strategy to literally not eliminate a guardrail, but eliminate people whose job it is to protect the taxpayers and the consumers. That's what's going on.

TAPPER: Former Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, thanks so much. Good to see you and welcome to CNN.

EMANUEL: Thank you.

TAPPER: We're excited to have you on again.

EMANUEL: Thanks, Jake. TAPPER: What investigators are revealing today about an alleged school shooting plot and the tips that led them to arrest a teenager they claim was preparing to carry it out. Stay with us.

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[17:30:14]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, police say they have arrested a teenager who was planning to pull off a Valentine's Day massacre seven years to the day after the Parkland High School shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

I want to bring in CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, as well as CNN law enforcement correspondent, Whitney Wild. And Whitney, police say messages online tipped off law enforcement?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So a tipster who had been communicating with Trinity Shockley reported these messages to police. And when they went through the social media, this is what they found, Jake. They found that on January 12th, according to the affidavit, Trinity Shockley is accused of saying that she planned to shoot up. She said, I'm close to shooting up mine. I have an AR-15 and then later described the plan as Parkland part two. Of course, I've been planning this for a year.

And then later, Jake, in February, when communicating again with the -- the tipster, described that Trinity Shockley described that they had planned to shoot their best friend, saying plainly, I'm shooting him. So these were the very alarming messages that that tipster later took to police, which stopped this tragedy, Jake.

TAPPER: And John, police say this -- this student had something of an infatuation with the Parkland shooter and -- and idolized other known mass shooters.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: And that is not unusual. You know, when you talk to the people in behavioral science at the FBI and who study these shootings, they say these shooters study each other. They study past shooters. They lionize them, idolize them, collect pictures of them, even compare body counts on the idea of being competitive.

But behind all that, we always also find the other similar thread, which is they're hurting. They've been bullied or they perceive they've been bullied. And the question that the behavioral science people reminded me to ask in these things is, you know, when you're trying to get to those feelings, you say, who do you want to hurt the way you've been hurting?

And we also saw a school guidance counselor involved here who, you know, reported some of this after a disturbing conversation just a couple of days ago.

TAPPER: Whitney, what -- what do police know about this student and motive?

WILD: Well, quite a bit of what they know is what John was describing, this history of feeling bullied, these in -- intentions to commit harm to others, that these real harboring of homicidal thoughts. This is all laid out in -- in great detail in the affidavit. Further, Jake, the affidavit says that they were grieving the recent death of their mother and again had been bullied in school and then also had been hit by a drunk driver.

And then later, Jake, that drunk driver took their own life. And so Trinity Shockley was saying that she also felt immense guilt over that death as well. So quite a few factors here, Jake, as law enforcement continues to work through what her real, you know, singular motivation was, if there was one.

TAPPER: And John, did the teen have access to a -- to a firearm or any other tools to actually carry out this attack?

MILLER: You know, Jake, this did spur a search warrant by law enforcement and they found a bulletproof vest, which she had said online she had. They did find in her father's bedroom four loaded magazines for an AR-15, but did not recover a gun. But the -- the presence of magazines and ammunition suggests that there's a gun somewhere in that -- in that orbit. And we've seen that before as well.

TAPPER: John, is it me or are we seeing a lot more girls being accused of this kind of crime?

MILLER: It's not you. And it's -- it's interesting because we're also seeing conflict with gender identity and other things coming up as a factor here in the bullying. So one thing we've got to leave with, which is this worked because it was prevented. It was stopped before it happened. How many times have we said we've seen too many of these? The signs of what to look for, the who to tell, the what to do is all on FBI.gov/prevent. And that's their program to stop these things --

TAPPER: Yes.

MILLER: -- which -- which worked here.

[17:34:25]

TAPPER: When you see something, say something. And it worked. Thank God for the people who said something. John Miller, Whitney Wild, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our Pop Culture Lead now, the new Trump-led Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has canceled its tour of the acclaimed children's musical "Finn" about a young shark who doesn't feel like he fits in with the other sharks. Actress and director Issa Rae also canceled her event at the Kennedy Center, citing differences with the establishment under its new leadership. Trump was elected president of the organization this week. I obtained some audio of Trump calling into the board after the Trump-picked board backed him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO TAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It got very wokey, and some people were not happy with it, and some people refused to go, and we're not going to have that. We're going to have something that will be very, very exciting, and we'll do things both physically and in every other way to make the building look even better. I think we're going to make it hot. We made the presidency hot, so this should be easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: With me now is the former president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Deborah Rutter. She was scheduled to leave this coming August, but two nights ago, new Trump-led Kennedy Center fired her and put longtime Trump confidant, Rick Grenell, in charge. So thank you, and I'm sorry that we're seeing each other again under these conditions. You've worked in the arts industry for the past 47 years. What does it feel like to be part of this political craziness?

[17:39:59]

DEBORAH RUTTER, FORMER PRESIDENT, THE KENNEDY CENTER: For 47 years, I've loved working alongside artists and colleagues who support artists, creating experiences in theaters and concert halls. It's sad and disheartening to have it end so abruptly.

TAPPER: Trump shared his new vision for the Kennedy Center in this post on Truth Social, reading, quote, just last year the Kennedy Center featured drag shows specifically targeting our youth. This will stop for the Kennedy Center. The best is yet to come. NPR says that performances at the center have included drag brunches in the center's roof -- rooftop restaurant, a lip-sync drag salute to divas at its free millennium stage, and a single, full-fledged production of comedian Chris Anderson's silly solo show, Dixie's Tupperware Party. Do you think that those productions are why this all happened?

RUTTER: I'm an arts administrator. As I mentioned, I stand up for the arts. I believe in the fundamental value of freedom of expression. I also was brought to the Kennedy Center to open it up, to ensure that it represented all of America and all of the arts in America. As a result, we have invited artists from all over the country, all over the world, to come to the Kennedy Center.

TAPPER: Yes. You had that Ukrainian orchestra, I remember.

RUTTER: Exactly. We have Ukrainians. We have dance companies from all over the world, theater. It is important to understand that artists are really the mirror to who we are as a society. The artists are the ones telling our stories. If we really believe in the American value of freedom of expression, artists will stand up and tell those stories.

TAPPER: But I have to say, as somebody who's gone to the Kennedy Center for years, it's not just wokey entertainment, as President Trump would have it. It's the nutcracker. It's, you know, it's lots of mainstream --

RUTTER: Yes.

TAPPER: -- regular fare for any American, for people from the heartland. The Kennedy Center honors. There's almost always a country- western musician who's honored, right?

RUTTER: Yes.

TAPPER: I mean, there is an effort -- so it's not -- so for everyone, including conservatives, including middle America.

RUTTER: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean it. We do over 2,000 performances a year. And I personally sit with my programmers, and we look very specifically and say, where do we have gaps? What do we need to add in here? How can Millennium Stage be true to welcoming the world to --

TAPPER: Yes.

RUTTER: -- the National Cultural Center?

TAPPER: Do we think we're going to see other performers like Issa Rae cancel performances under the Trump administration?

RUTTER: I can't really predict, but I do know that in my career, lifting up and supporting artists, they need to have a great environment for work. They need to feel safe. They need to feel welcome. That is the best way to support an artist doing their work.

TAPPER: And I should just know, for the record, Trump claimed that he was elected unanimously by the board, but I -- I know that's not true. I know that there -- and he was well -- he was definitely elected overwhelmingly --

RUTTER: Yes.

TAPPER: -- with all this Trump-picked board, but there were people there that he didn't pick who voted against him or abstained. So, well, I'm sorry it's under these circumstances, Deborah. It's good to see you again.

RUTTER: Thank you very much, Jake.

[17:43:18]

TAPPER: On this Valentine's Day, my love letter to an organization very close to my heart, the Philadelphia Eagles. That's next.

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TAPPER: In our Sports Lead, it's Valentine's Day, so permit me a moment for a love letter. Philadelphia celebrated the Super Bowl victory of it's -- our beloved Eagles today. The team predicted to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs by so many experts, including the President of the United States, instead completely and utterly dominated them. This is par for the course for this team to be underestimated. A team that consists of a frankly special group of guys who have been consistently dismissed and discounted and derided. And for a lot of us Eagles fans, that is part of why we love this team, this team so much. And it starts with Jalen Hurts, our star quarterback, the Super Bowl MVP.

The University of Alabama and its alumni are all out there claiming Jalen. But back in 2018, Coach Saban benched him at halftime of the championship game in favor of Tua Tagovailoa. Jalen stayed at Alabama the next year as backup QB. But then after that, he transferred to Oklahoma so he could play. He was drafted by the Eagles in the second round, and that pick was trashed. Hate the pick, tweeted ESPN's Mike Greenberg. Don't get it at all. And the hate kept coming. Here's Chris Simms a year ago.

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CHRIS SIMMS, SPORTS ANALYST: I think Jalen Hurts is also like the most overrated player in football.

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TAPPER: Here's ESPN's Dan Orlovsky five months ago.

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DAN ORLOVSKY, ESPN ANALYST: I think we've seen the best of Jalen Hurts. So that 2022 season and playoff stretch, that's the high.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes/

ORLOVSKY: I don't -- I don't think we're going to recapture that.

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TAPPER: Here's Orlovsky nine days ago, saying that Jalen Hurts' name does not belong in the same breath as Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen.

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ORLOVSKY: I don't think there's anything that Jalen can do to be in the conversation with those three guys as players.

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[17:50:04]

TAPPER: Hot take about a guy who won the Super Bowl MVP, finished the game with two touchdowns. His 72 rushing yards are the most ever by a quarterback in a Super Bowl, Dan. Then there's Saquon Barkley, our amazing running back whom the New York Giants not only idiotically let walk, the Giants let a documentary film crew for the show "Hard Knocks" capture this ignominious moment for history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE SCHOEN, GENERAL MANAGER, NEW YORK GIANTS: All right, so I just -- I just talked to Ed, Berry, and I -- I think just mulling over this. The right thing to do is let you test the market and see what your value is. The organization thinks the world of you and everything you've done.

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TAPPER: I'm glad you captured that on -- on film because that's going to be the first line of your obituary, buddy.

The Eagles, Howie Roseman snatched him up and more hot takes about Saquon Barkley followed.

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DAN SILEO, SPORTS RADIO HOST: The signing of Saquon Barkley is once again another indication that the Eagles panicked. Saquon Barkley never lived up to the second pick in the draft. He was overhyped, overrated, and the Giants even knew it by allowing him to walk out the building with nothing in return.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tried to tell you, Eagle fans, you had that losing player, Saquon Barkley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I don't think he's going to be a difference maker for the Eagles.

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TAPPER: Oh, Nick. Saquon Barkley's season with the Eagles included 2,507 rushing yards, the most ever in a season, surpassing Hall of Famer Terrell Davis's 26-year record. Story after story like that of the guys on this team.

On the Saints, Zach Bond was mostly limited to special teams and outside linebacker, and here he is intercepting the ball during the Super Bowl with the Eagles. On the Lions, some jerk on the team slammed Darius Slay as a major cancer. Slay came to the Eagles and they voted this starter a team captain.

Mekhi Becton had two rough seasons with the Jets after injuries. They let him go. He was picked up by the Birds. Here he is crying with tears of joy after the Super Bowl. There's a Jets fan in the studio here shaking his head. The Titans, AJ Brown, a superstar with the Eagles. Here he is scoring a touchdown at the Super Bowl, and he is also, we should note, a champion when acknowledging and discussing his own mental health struggles.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What made you kind of come out and want to talk about that? I'm so sorry.

AJ BROWN, TENNESSEE TITANS WIDE RECEIVER: You're fine. You're fine. It's OK. Like I said, it was a dark moment, and it was a year ago where I had thought about, you know, taking my life, you know. And it was -- it was special to me because it just came with my heart that I wanted to share with others.

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TAPPER: I mean, that is just like, that is so special for a football player to acknowledge that publicly. And then, of course, last and certainly not least, our coach, Nick Sirianni, now one of the winningest coaches in the history of the game of football, criticized from the moments the Eagles introduced him in 2021.

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STEPHAN A. SMITH, ESPN ANALYST: He looked like a deer in headlights. I don't know what the hell he was talking about. He was mumbling his words.

This was a horrible start, like a puppet, like a puppet.

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TAPPER: I don't know what you're talking about, Stephan. Sirianni led the Eagles to a Super Bowl in 2022. The naysaying continued through last fall. Sports journalist and podcast magnate, Bill Simmons, in September, just a few months ago, suggested that Sirianni's career was over. He wrote, quote, I'm excited to hire Nick Sirianni for Ringer pods in about three weeks. He'll be good, unquote. And the criticisms continued in October.

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JOHN MIDDLEKAUFF, HOST, THE VOLUME: I feel like Nick sometimes doesn't get it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, to me, I -- I don't know if there's a -- a wager you can place with our friends at DraftKings, but I -- I think he's a borderline lock to not be the head coach for the Eagles in 2025. Yes, and that's not making a prediction. They're missing the playoffs, making the playoffs like he will not be the coach next year.

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TAPPER: I will definitely take that bet. And somebody doesn't get it. I'll tell you that.

Here's the thing. So many of the guys on this team, so many of the Eagles have been told you're not champions. You're not excellent. You're overvalued. They've been shoved aside. They've been dismissed. They've been told to move on and get over it. But their inner drives took all that crap from all those ridiculous voices and said, you are wrong. I do have value. I am a champion.

[17:54:58]

You know what? The Eagles were right. The Eagles were right. And we love them not just for being champions, but for proving the naysayers hugely, embarrassingly right. The Eagles were right. And we love them not just for being champions, but for proving the naysayers hugely, embarrassingly wrong. Fly Eagles fly. We'll be right back.

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TAPPER: We're ending the week with some more exciting news. Jack Monsein has officially joined The Lead family. Jack was born to our wonderful senior producer, Kirsten, her husband, Brett, a few weeks ago after growing strong in the NICU. He's now at home with mom and dad and his big sister, Millie. Welcome to the family, Jack. You are beautiful. Congratulations to Kirsten and Brett. We cannot wait to meet you, Jack.

[17:59:59]

Coming up Sunday on State of the Union, White House Border Czar, Tom Homan, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. That's Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern and again at noon only here on CNN. This programming, note for you, The Lead will officially change hours on Monday, March 3rd. We're going to slide. One hour later, we're going to go start at 5:00 p.m. and end at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. That's starting Monday, March 3rd, right here on CNN.

The news continues now with Pamela Brown, who's in for Wolf Blitzer, but she's still right next door in a place I like to call "The Situation Room." I will see you Monday.