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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Plans For FEMA Cuts Worry Some Republicans; Musk Wields Chainsaw Celebrating Thousands Of American Job Cuts; GOP Lawmaker Faces Tough Questions On Trump Contentious Town Hall; Trump Claims Zelenskyy Could Have "Talked" Putin Out Of Attacking; Luigi Mangione Faces Murder & Terror Charges In NY State Case; Hamas Hands Over Body Believed To Be Shiri Bibas. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 21, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's six times what Turkey normally sends us, but hopefully this will help alleviate prices.

[16:00:02]

But if this avian flu goes on in the way that it has, the American Farm Bureau thinks that a lot more is going to have to be done. This is a temporary fix. This is not a fix for fixing prices, guys.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Good to know. And we're not eating turkey eggs. They're still chicken eggs.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you very much.

And THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

(MUSIC)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So pro tip. Read the safety instructions before operating a chainsaw.

THE LEAD starts right now.

Elon Musk strutting on stage, gleeful about DOGE's power as federal jobs are being slashed left and right.

But on recess, some Republicans in Congress got an earful from their constituents as Americans voiced their concerns about a possible DOGE gone wild.

Plus, moments ago, in a New York City court, Luigi Mangione the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO, what went down in the courtroom? Straight ahead.

And President Trump's tense exchange in a room full of bipartisan governors talking about transgender athletes in women's sports.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Today, new signs that some Republicans are getting a little

uncomfortable with some aspects of these massive changes to the federal government being made by President Trump and first, buddy, Elon Musk cuts being made. We should note, with very little transparency. Not much compassion, questionable planning and very little apparent attention to detail, at least according to critics.

For starters, a plan for deep staff cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is raising alarm among Republicans as well as Democrats, including Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who told CNN, quote, FEMA provides critically important role in disaster recovery.

Also today, after bipartisan outcry, the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has restored the contract for 9/11-related cancer research after the DOGE directed cuts tried to cancel it.

As for other potential chopping block items, Trump today sent a stop work order to federal scientists working on a vital global climate report.

While over at the Pentagon, the Defense Department was set to fire 50,000 civilian employees until they realized doing so could possibly violate the law. So this caused Pentagon lawyers to hit the brakes. And now, the department will do a thorough review of the impacts firings could have on military readiness, not to mention the constitutionality and legality of it all.

A couple of weeks ago, when this all started, we described the DOGE cuts as, quote, an ax being brandished and swung recklessly, unquote. We apparently didn't go heavy duty enough as Elon Musk yesterday on stage at CPAC, wielded an actual chainsaw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy. Chainsaw.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The South African chainsaw massacre reveals something more serious, a lack of empathy for the thousands of Americans whose jobs are being slashed and lives are being upended.

This same sense of callousness, minus the chainsaw, was also on display yesterday from another top Trump official, Kevin Hassett.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Being told by a lot of people who have been let go at other agencies that they were told they were being dismissed because of poor performance, when in some cases they haven't even had a performance review yet because they've only been on the job a couple of months.

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Yeah, I've never seen a person who was laid off for poor performance say that they were performing poorly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Kind of a heartless thing to say about thousands of your fellow Americans, many of whom are not being fired for poor performance.

So now, as the DOGE chickens come home to roost, some Republican members of Congress are beginning to see the impact these cuts are having on their own communities. In Roswell, Georgia, for example, Congressman Rich McCormick faced a lot of tough questions from constituents over Trump's firings and Elon Musk and other moves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elon was going to be the main topic tonight, and he's going to continue to be the main topic tonight because we are all freaking off about this. You're going to hear it and feel it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is a supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tyranny is rising in the White House and a man has declared himself our king. So I would like to know rather, the people would like to know what you, Congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House.

[16:05:05]

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): When you talk about tyranny, when you talk about presidential power, I remember having the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We're going to hear more from that. Congressman, Congressman McCormick, in the next hour. He's going to discuss the town hall and talk about his views of the criticism. Meanwhile, Utah's newest senator, Republican John Curtis, is striking a different tone about these cuts, one that you might have expected to hear from his predecessor, Senator Mitt Romney.

Curtis saying, quote, I think if there's one thing I could change about the DOGE, it's that it's moving so fast, it's not really factoring in the human element that these are real lives, real people. They have kids.

And we're really adding a tremendous amount of stress, even to jobs that are not going to go away, unquote.

And that's really a lot of the point here, because whatever you think about waste in the federal government and whether deep job cuts are needed, beyond the recklessness of how these jobs are being cut, proven by the firing, then rehiring of experts on nuclear weapons and infectious outbreaks and 9/11 responder health and veterans crisis hotlines, all these individuals fired and rehired when they realized what had happened, beyond the recklessness, there's a heartlessness, a glee, and that glee has not gone unnoticed by one of the people whose Department of Education job is now gone. She's a disabled veteran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHELSEA MILBURN, FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEE: This loss is it -- it's financial stress but it's also more than that for me. I served my country for 11 years, nine of them on active duty. I deployed twice. I spent so much time away from my family. I know. I was gone when my mom passed away, and I missed that to serve my country.

And I was excited to continue serving in this capacity. And they not only tore that out from under my feet, but couldn't even just grant me a layoff and instead place the blame on me that it was my performance and I've gotten nothing but positive reviews.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That veteran's tears, all while the world's richest man waves a chainsaw in the air and giggles.

Let's bring in Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

Congressman, thanks for joining us. So your congressional district in Maryland, right outside D.C., is filled with federal workers.

What are you hearing from them about how these cuts from DOGE are impacting them and their lives?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, it's tens of thousands of federal workers and federal contractors as well, and, its a savage cut into not just their livelihood, but their professional and career commitment.

So these are people who are air traffic controllers, health and safety inspectors for agriculture, FDA, medical researchers on cancer or cystic fibrosis or multiple sclerosis at the NIH. And, these cuts are indiscriminate and they're savage. And, what gets me now is how many of my constituents are telling me that they're being sacked because they're in their probationary period, which sounds like something bad. But in fact, the probationary period is used for people who are getting a promotion.

So these are the people who've done very well in their jobs. They're getting promotion to another job in their department or in another department, and they're just being sacked indiscriminately by DOGE.

Now, the other problem is people don't even know who DOGE is anymore because the administration took the position in court this week that Elon Musk is not the head of DOGE and is not leading DOGE.

So who is leading DOGE? Is it the young man who calls himself Big Balls? Is it the racist on the night crew who's proud of the fact that he was a racist before all of his friends were racist and says that we should legitimize Indian hate? Who is DOGE?

TAPPER: I want to play this exchange President Trump had with Democratic Governor Janet Mills of Maine today. He was meeting with Democratic and Republican governors at the White House. Just want to get your reaction to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Your population doesn't want men playing in women's sports.

GOV. JANET MILLS (D), MAINE: We're going to follow the law, sir.

TRUMP: So you better -- you better comply because otherwise you're not getting any -- any federal funding. Every state --

MILLS: We'll see you in court.

TRUMP: Good. I'll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don't think you'll be an elected politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So just if people couldn't hear, Governor Mills was saying, were going to follow the law, sir. We'll see you in court. Having to do with the issue of trans athletes in women's sports.

[16:10:05]

But what is your reaction, President Trump there saying that they're going to withhold all funding, all federal funding to Maine if she takes that position?

RASKIN: Well, it's obviously a coercive threat. A godfather offer from the self-styled mega boss. But look, they're losing in court. We're beating them everywhere.

We've gotten more than 20 different temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions by judges who were appointed by Obama, by Trump himself, by Bush, by Ronald Reagan. They're all ruling against this administration because what they're doing is violating Congress's power to set up departments and agencies.

We created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we created the NIH. We created the Department of Education. And if anybody is going to dissolve it or terminate it, it's going to be congress, not Elon Musk or Donald Trump. They don't have the power to do that.

The core job of the president himself, under article two is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not that the laws are ravaged and trashed and dissolved and flushed down the garbage compactor.

So we're winning in court. And Governor Mills, who's a fantastic public servant, is absolutely right. The place to decide these things is in court. And that's where Donald Trump and Elon Musk are losing every single day.

TAPPER: I mean, I think there have been some victories for the Trump administration, labor unions that have requested restraining orders. I don't doubt -- I don't doubt that your side --

RASKIN: Yeah, the Boston case you're referring to judge -- yeah. Judge O'Toole in Boston found that the workers have standing. The union doesn't have standing in that court. So they're winning on a couple of procedural issues like this.

But on any of them that go to the question, for example, of whether Elon Musk can take possession of the privacy data of 300 million American citizens, we're winning on that treasury case. We're winning on the case with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Those people cannot be sacked en masse. And the CFPB defunded and all of operations, entities and activities be absorbed into the Department of Treasury.

We're winning on those things. And so, were going to continue to win, because this is a lawless administration, and, Jake, it is serving a totally corrupt agenda. That's why they got rid of 17 inspectors general when it got started. These are the people who saved us $91 billion last year in waste, fraud and abuse. Those were the first people Elon musk got rid of, the people who are actually fighting corruption. Meantime, they come in and say that they're not going to enforce the foreign corrupt practices act anymore, and they disband the units within the Department of Justice that are fighting Russia and China and the foreign kleptocrats.

So I think its becoming obvious to the American people that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are not opponents of corruption. They are agents of corruption.

TAPPER: All right. Congressman Jamie Raskin from Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, thank you so much for your time.

RASKIN: You bet.

TAPPER: Let's discuss with the panel now. We have with us, "Politico's" White House bureau chief, Dasha Burns, CNN's Phil Mattingly, and "Axios" national political correspondent Alex Thompson.

And, Phil, you have some reporting taking us behind the scenes at DOGE. What are you learning?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I think what's been most striking, and. This came from with my colleague Tony Sneed, hundreds of pages of court documents, interviews with a dozen or more government officials, and then a lot of government memos that were able to get our hands on, and some employment agreements as well, is just how deeply and strategically planned and intensively so this was heading into January 20th, and I think there's necessarily an appreciation for how they deployed immediately.

We talk a lot about kind of the young engineers who are going agency to agency, getting their hands on I.T. systems. We talk less about the fact that it kind of the critical nerve centers of the federal government, the Office of Personnel Management, the General Services Administration, we don't talk about them very often on television or in the news in general.

Those are the backbone of the federal government. That's personnel. That's information technology, that's real estate portfolio. That's pretty much the way contracting works.

Within the first opening hours of the administration, top Musk deputies, folks who worked for him and with him in his private sector world were in the leadership positions as appointees at all of those agencies rest in control of that? That has been what everything has built off of over the course of the last several weeks.

TAPPER: And we were just talking with Congressman Raskin about the fight in court over this stuff. You have some breaking news about a Trump victory when it comes to his efforts to fire people from USAID, the aid organization.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, it's very interesting to hear the congressman talk about the places where they feel like they've won. And you pointed out there's been places where they've lost one of those places that they did have a temporary restraining order was in the dismantling of USAID in terms of being able to put on leave thousands of employees.

That temporary restraining order has now been dissolved by the judge saying the case didn't have the merits, saying that they thought the USAID officials were doing enough to try and prevent irreparable harm.

[16:15:02]

We'll see how this plays out.

We expect an appeal, but we've seen this throughout the course of the last several weeks. There have been some freezes, but the pushes for significant injunctions just haven't landed like I think people thought.

TAPPER: And, Dasha, we've seen in the last day, some images, two images, conflicting images when it comes to these cuts. First, you have Elon Musk on the stage at CPAC --

DASHA BURNS, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: With the chainsaw.

TAPPER: With the big chainsaw, gleefully talking about how they're cutting the bureaucracy. And then you have all these town hall meetings across the country where members of Congress, Republican members of Congress.

BURNS: In deep red areas of the country.

TAPPER: Yeah, are facing angry -- angry voters.

BURNS: Yeah. And this is where the White House right now is concerned that this might be a trajectory towards kind of an untenable level of frustration with some of the constituents for these lawmakers and Republican districts. And at what point does that really spill over enough for the people in the inner circle to have to do something?

Now, the sources I've been talking to, and I'm going to have a little reporting coming out on this later today, say they don't feel like they're at the five alarm fire place yet, but they feel like they might be on the edges of it.

TAPPER: Hmm, interesting.

And, Alex, there's a town hall in Albany, New York, held by a Democratic congressman, Paul Tonko, where voters expressed their frustration not just with what Trump was doing and Musk, but with Democrats' fecklessness. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you ask us to show up, Congressman Tonko, we will show up. And we fight. And you have to go. He came in for protocol. They're not playing by the rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: But do you sense the Democrats have any sort of plan here?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No, they don't have a plan. And part of the reason they don't have a plan is because they still don't quite, there's a division on deciding why they lost last November. Some people feel like they have to moderate. Some people feel like they have to fight.

And that's what's creating this muddle. And to your point, you know, there are potential consequences to using a chainsaw rather than a scalpel, right? And you are seeing that blowback as a result. And you -- and also to your point, you know, Russell Vought and many of the Trump acolytes have been planning this for four years. It wasn't just something they planned in the transition. It was something they calculated and thought through every single day for four years, the Biden presidency.

BURNS: And they also, by the way, thought about how to go about this, what order to go in USAID, low hanging fruit. They knew that for their base. People will be excited about that.

Now, what White House sources are telling me is -- it's not so cut and dry anymore, even among Republicans. What is okay to cut and at what point do they whack something that's consequential enough that it's really catastrophic?

TAPPER: Well, they have done that and then they've taken it back, right? The people in charge of nuclear weapons and the pandemic detectives.

BURNS: Yeah, we have reporting from "Politico" that the FAA, some of those cuts were critical safety employees. And we've seen what's been happening with the airplanes.

THOMPSON: And they've just gotten lucky that there hasn't been a huge human consequence to that, but maybe luck will run out.

TAPPER: Not that we've seen yet.

BURNS: Time will tell.

TAPPER: Thanks one and all. Appreciate it.

Later, we're going to talk about the enhancement given to Elon Musk's private security detail and what makes it so unusual. But first, some breaking news out of New York. A hearing just wrapping for the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO. Why Luigi Mangione's defense attorney is taking issue with how prosecutors are handling this case.

And a major update just in from Israel about the remains of Shiri Bibas, the mother taken hostage by Hamas and not returned. She's already been killed, we know, but her body was not returned in yesterday's exchange, despite Hamas claims.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:38]

TAPPER: We're back in the world lead.

President Trump trying to rewrite history, upend concepts of good versus evil, and slammed the president of a country that's been attacked, the country of Ukraine.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: Russia attacked, but there was no reason for them to attack. You could have talked him out. You -- there was no reason that he should have attacked.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: The notion that President Zelenskyy could have talked Putin out of seizing land and killing Ukrainians, which he'd been doing, by the way, for years, including during the Trump administration, is a bizarre one, one that the president shared on Fox Radio with no apparent pushback, after Trump's envoy to Ukraine met with President Zelenskyy and took a decidedly different tone, calling Zelenskyy an embattled and courageous leader.

Here to help make sense of this, if possible, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

Jeff, President Trump is only accelerating his attacks and revisionist history on Ukraine and Zelenskyy even stating it's not important for Zelenskyy to be at meetings where his country's face will be -- fate will be determined.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, that certainly has been his posture all week long, and we've really seen it escalate day by day. And here we are at the end of this week, and the relationship is afraid, to say the least, just a moment or so ago in the Oval Office, where the president is swearing in his commerce secretary, he was asked again if he believes Vladimir Putin is a dictator, did not answer that question. Of course, the reason that is important is because he has been calling Vladimir Zelenskyy of Ukraine a dictator. Of course, he was elected freely and fairly.

However, earlier today, the president explained in some context why he's so frustrated with Zelenskyy. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've had very good talks with Putin and I've had not such good talks with Ukraine, and they don't have any cards, but they play it tough. But we're not -- we're not going to let this continue. This -- this war is terrible. It would have never happened if I were president. But it did happen. So I got stuck with it and the whole world is stuck with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So the bottom line to all of this, this White House, this president is still trying to do a pressure campaign to get Zelenskyy to sign on to that rare earth mineral deal, to basically give the U.S. half of the minerals that are in Ukraine as payback for foreign assistance.

[16:25:06]

Of course, when the U.S. offered that in a bipartisan way, as this war was unfolding over the last three years, it was not designed to be paid back. The U.S. was weighing in as western allies were as well, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Nick, the U.S. envoy to Ukraine, retired General Keith Kellogg, met with President Zelenskyy today. It sounds like that was a surprisingly good meeting?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, the characterization from General Kellogg as he leaves on his personal X.com account was to call Zelenskyy embattled, courageous, praise his national security team. Talk about long, intense days of work, a stark difference from what we've heard from President Trump now.

And your most generous characterization, this is perhaps the two tracks that Trump officials have spoken of. Kellogg handling the Ukrainians, talking to them. It must surely be some complex meetings with the collapse, frankly, the freefall of the relationship. If there was one between Trump and Zelenskyy collapsing in the background over these personal insults, but certainly both sides trying to suggest Zelenskyy for his part, there was something productive that the meetings with Kellogg restored hope. I think according to what we know, he's probably on his way out of the country now, but we know very little about the details of what they spoke of.

But still, we do know from Zelenskyy and from another Ukrainian official I spoke to that that rare earth mineral deal is at the forefront of all conversations. Zelenskyy in his nightly address saying this is part of negotiations now that the details are indeed vital and they hope they can get to an agreement that improves relations between both of their countries. But the important thing to point out is this already about repaying aid that's already been sent to Ukraine, and Ukraine is trying to get put into that deal. What one Ukrainian official referred to me as security elements.

So, something essentially to assist their defense against Russia. I think it's really important, though, just to correct the record of what Trump has been saying in those remarks. He suggested that Zelenskyy didn't do much to try and stop the war. Neither did Biden.

Well, Biden sent emissaries to try and talk the Kremlin out of it. He also suggested that Zelenskyy hadn't been negotiating. Well, there's been no -- sorry. He has been negotiating and failed. There have been no negotiations until this point. So again, a litany of mischaracterizations continue, Jake.

TAPPER: And not to mention all of the Russian-led operatives that were trying to seize the Donbas region of Ukraine during the Trump administration, Nick.

WALSH: Yeah. Look, I mean, that was all part of the hot war that kind of picked in from 2017. And there were continued attempts to try and move forward. These were proxies backed by the Russian military, a hot war in the defense of Trump. He did contribute lethal aid towards the Ukrainians during that period of time. The conflict seemed to slow, but ultimately to suggest that somehow there would be a way to convince Vladimir Putin to not launch that invasion.

The Biden administration tried that relentlessly through exposing intelligence, sending people to the Kremlin to tell him not to do it. He went ahead regardless, misinformed that he was somehow win in a couple of days or a couple of weeks. And here we are now, entering into the fourth year. So many miscalculations, but perhaps one now potentially, that Ukraine can be left dangling like this and still hold the Russians back.

TAPPER: All right. Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv. Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thanks to you.

Some breaking news just in, "The Associated Press" just filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. We'll tell you about that.

We're also going to go to New York, where we just heard from the defense attorney for Luigi Mangione, of course, accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO. Plus, in Los Angeles, that city's fire chief has been pushed out, fired by Mayor Karen Bass.

We're back with all this in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:12]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, returned to a New York courtroom earlier today, attracting dozens of supporters, bizarrely enough. Today's hearing is related to the accused killers New York state case, where he faces an 11 count indictment which includes murder and terror charges.

Lets bring in criminal defense attorney Stacy Schneider. But before Stacy, I talk to you. Let me get a report from CNN's Kara Scannell, who was there for today's hearing.

Kara, what -- tell us what came out of the hearing.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the hearing lasted only about 20 minutes. But what we did learn is some of the evidence that prosecutors have and that they've begun to turn over to Mangione's defense team. That includes police body cam footage, surveillance photos and videos.

Also, DNA evidence records from a cell phone that they found at the crime scene. The Hilton hotel, where Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down, and also some body cam video that they got from Luigi Mangione's arrest in Pennsylvania at that McDonalds. Now, that's where his lawyer has already signaled what some of their fight might be. She said that she believes that the search and seizure of Mangione in Pennsylvania was unconstitutional, and some of that evidence should not come in. His lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, also said that she's been spending a lot of time right now dealing with federal prosecutors who brought similar charges against Mangione, accusing him of murdering the CEO.

She said a lot of her time spent is negotiating with them because, she said, they are considering bringing the death penalty against him. She spoke outside of court. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, LUIGI MANGIONE'S ATTORNEY: The federal government is still considering whether to execute Luigi and considering whether to seek the death penalty. So we are fighting that simultaneously while going first here in state court, and it impacts our ability to meet with him before court, after court.

[16:35:06]

He's constantly surrounded by -- by law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: And, Jake, that was the scene inside the courtroom, too. He was walked down the center aisle, flanked by court officers, his ankles, his wrists shackled. He was wearing a bulletproof vest. That was the scene inside. And while the security was high, there were

also dozens of supporters who turned out both on the streets and lining the hallway of the courtroom, trying to get inside, only about two dozen actually made it inside the courtroom. But when his attorney first entered the floor, that hallway where the courtroom is, that throng of supporters erupted into cheers and applause for her arrival -- Jake.

TAPPER: Just twisted. What are the next steps in any of the three criminal cases against this murderer -- accused murderer?

SCANNELL: Well, Mangione will be back in state court at the end of June. He's also due back in Pennsylvania next week. And the other big question here, these federal charges, and if they seek the death penalty. He was charged in a criminal complaint, but they have about another 30 days to seek an indictment. So it's possible Mangione will be just a few blocks from here in federal court at the end of next month -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Kara Scannell in New York, thanks so much.

Now, some breaking news in our politics lead. The associated press is suing three Trump administration officials in federal court. This is the latest move in the fight between the "AP" and the White House over President Trump banning the "AP" from covering news-making events in the oval office and other places because the "AP" refuses to use the term Gulf of America.

Let's bring in CNN's Brian Stelter.

Brian, tell -- tell us about the lawsuit and what is the "Associated Press" arguing?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right, a major First Amendment battle in the making here. The "AP" going to federal court this afternoon alleging violations of the First Amendment, as well as the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. The "AP" saying that this is not just about one news outlet, its about the press corps and the public as a whole.

Historically, the "AP" has served as a key part of the press pool, a valuable set of eyes and ears for the White House press corps writ large. But for the past week plus, the "AP" has been banned from the oval office, from Air Force one and from other presidential events. President Trump has indicated this ban will stay in place as long as the "AP" refers to the Gulf of Mexico.

Of course, the Gulf of America is the new name, according to President Trump and the U.S. government, but the "AP" has clients and customers all around the world, and the "AP" says it is referring to the Gulf of Mexico, while also acknowledging the name that Trump has decreed. The "AP" is saying in court this is a violation of the First Amendment and seeking an emergency hearing.

This is a little bit different than 2018, when CNN had a press pass revoked. Back then, it was about a press pass. This is actually a case about access. It is unclear what will happen and whether the "AP" will prevail. But the "AP" going to court because it believes it has no other options and must challenge what it says is a flagrant First Amendment violation -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

Also, breaking news this afternoon, in the national lead, in the wake of last month's wildfires in California. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has fired the city's fire chief, Kristin Crowley. During the height of the fires, Crowley appeared here on THE LEAD and made clear her frustrations with the leadership of Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE CHIEF: I have over the last three years, been clear that the fire department needs help. We can no longer sustain where we are. We do not have enough firefighters. With that, I have also requested multiple budgets, interim budgets to show how understaffed, under-resourced and underfunded the LAFD is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Last month's fires were among the most destructive fires in the history of the state of California. Mayor Bass has appointed former Deputy Chief Ronnie Villanueva, a 41-year department veteran, as the interim fire chief.

Just in from the Middle East, Israel is now preparing to receive a coffin, this one said to contain the remains of Shiri Bibas. She is the mother taken hostage by the terrorist group Hamas. She was killed in Hamas custody. They said they were returning her remains. But the remains they returned yesterday were not hers. That update next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:32]

TAPPER: We have some breaking news in our world lead.

The terrorist group Hamas says it has handed over what it claims is the body of Israeli hostage -- murdered Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas. They say they've handed over her remains to the red cross. They have said that before, though, and they were not telling the truth. Israel is now preparing to receive Shiri Bibas remains from the Red Cross. Bibas was not among the four bodies returned Thursday by the terrorist group Hamas, who were alive when they were seized on October 7th.

Israel says instead of returning Shiri's body, Hamas gave it the body of an unidentified Palestinian woman. Shiri and her nine month old son, Kfir and four year old son Ariel, were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, and Israel says the two boys were murdered by Hamas using their hands and then their bodies were mutilated to cover that up. That's what the IDF says.

I want to bring in U.S. envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler.

Adam, welcome to this new, incredibly important job. Best of luck with it. What more can you tell us about this?

ADAM BOEHLER, UNITED STATES ENVOY FOR HOSTAGE AFFAIRS: Jake, I'll tell you. I got a call last night from one of the chief Israeli negotiators. This is about an hour before the IDF released their announcement, and I talked to him a whole bunch before, and he's seen a lot and he was crying.

He was with the father, Bibas father. And he was crying because he couldn't believe that Shiri information, but also because of the condition that you just mentioned of a two year old boy and a nine year old boy.

[16:45:02]

TAPPER: Israel is still proceeding with the ceasefire. Six living hostages are set to be released this weekend. Where does this leave the future of negotiations to get the remaining hostages seized by Hamas and other terrorist groups, to get them home?

BOEHLER: Well, sometimes this works. Sometimes people make a horrible misstep, like putting somebody else's body in a coffin, and doing a horrible thing. And then sometimes they get afraid of the reaction.

And one thing I will say is Israel is rightfully, extremely upset. And the president of the United States is extremely upset. And so I would suggest to Hamas, and I think Israel will take him the sooner they get hostages out, the better situation they'll be in. In particular, we have Edan Alexander, an American, and four American bodies that are still with Hamas.

TAPPER: So President Trump has -- has repeated a number of deadlines for Hamas -- for all hostages to be freed. First was, you know, his inauguration. Then I think the last one was a couple Saturdays ago. Israel is echoing that call.

What leverage does the U.S. do? The U.S. and Israel have here? And what -- what's going to happen if Hamas continues to not follow what President Trump is -- is demanding that they do to turn over all the hostages, including the one living American?

BOEHLER: Well, I think that when these warnings came forward back in the administration in Trump 45, there were a number of warnings that were given to Iran, a number of warnings that came and some deadlines that they continued to cross. And then at the end of the day, what the president did is he economically choked off the country, and he killed the number two person in a place where a lot of administrations were afraid to do things.

And so there's historical evidence of this. And so Hamas, by continuing to test Israel's patience and the president's patience on this, I do not think that's a very good idea. I have a general sense of what can eventually happen, but it's at the time and place that the president chooses.

TAPPER: I've seen news reports about what President Trump's reaction was when he heard about the -- these two little kids, one of them a baby being murdered with the hands of Hamas terrorists. I don't know what's true and what's not, especially when it appears in foreign press -- international press. What can you tell us about President Trump's personal reaction?

BOEHLER: I will tell you, I wasn't with the president when he heard myself. So I won't give you firsthand, but I will tell you that I've been with the president a number of times in situations like this. And despite what people might think, because the president has a job to do in front of the nation, he presents himself and is a really tough person. But inside, when these things come, he is very rocked to the core. He's a very moral person and he cares a lot. And he was rocked to the core and quite frankly, immediately extremely angry.

TAPPER: Yeah, those images of the Bibas babies are just heartbreaking.

U.S. envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, thank you so much for coming on.

We'll be right back.

BOEHLER: Thank you, Jake. I appreciate it.

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[16:52:39]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, an unusual step to provide extra security for first buddy and Department of Government Efficiency honcho, but not official leader of DOGE, Elon Musk.

Since he isn't precisely a government employee, Musk is not eligible for protection by the U.S. Secret Service. So, according to three sources, the U.S. Marshals Service has deputized members of Musk's private security detail.

Let's bring in CNN's John Miller, who has worked with the FBI and the NYPD.

How does this work and how is this going to enhance Musk's security?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I can say as a former special deputy U.S. Marshal myself. It works in that the people around him who provide his security are highly trained, a lot of them have ex-special forces background. But remember, they're not government employees. They're private citizens, working for another private citizen who happens to be a billionaire and a buddy of the president.

So that raises a lot of eyebrows about how can you make them federal law enforcement officers with all these additional authorities and privileges?

On the other hand, there's kind of a DOGE version of this, which is, wait a minute. The guys got more money than god. He's already got a security detail on the payroll, but his threat profile has increased. So why waste the taxpayers' money by adding an additional security detail of feds that he's not used to, when you could simply deputize his people, save everybody money, and not put pressure on either the Secret Service or the U.S. Marshals.

I get it. Here's the thing, though, Jake, and you understand this. You don't think Jeff Bezos, who does classified work for the government through his companies, or Bill Gates who does classified work for the government with his companies, would want the same privileges that their security details could have all of these special powers and legal authorities, probably. So it's controversial.

TAPPER: Has it -- has anything like this ever happened before?

MILLER: I have spoken to a lot of people in the last 24 hours asking, can you cite an example like it? And they can cite examples of other government people where government agencies had people deputized, but not private citizens who had other private citizens deputized and turned into law enforcement officers with a wave of the attorney generals wand.

TAPPER: Fascinating and odd. CNN's John Miller, thanks so much.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is coming up next. What she's hearing from the White House about President Trump's tense exchange earlier today about transgender athletes and women's sports.

[16:55:05]

The exchange, in a roomful of Democratic and Republican governors. We'll tell you more.

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

This hour, one of the most infectious viruses out there, the alarming spread of the measles outbreak in the Southwestern United States, with dozens of additional cases since the start of this week.

Plus, Republican voters have some choice words for Donald Trump and Elon Musk over their job cutting crusade in the federal government. And they're taking their message straight to Republican lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are all freaking piss off about this. You're going to hear it and feel it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is this supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist.