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President Fires Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs, General CQ Brown; Pentagon Announces Plans To Fire 5-8 Percent Of Civilian Workforce; Former Employees, Lawmakers Express Concerns Over CDC Layoffs; Voters Express Outrage At Town Halls Over Trump Cuts; U.S. Proposes U.N. Resolution Marking Anniversary Of War In Ukraine; Zelenskyy Hopes For "Fair" Minerals Agreement With U.S.; Final Living Hostages Released Under First Phase Of Gaza Ceasefire. Final Living Hostages Released Under First Phase Of Gaza Ceasefire; Patrice Willoughby, NAACP Policy Chief, Discusses Trump, Black History And DEI; Woman Accused Of Drugging, Robbing Older Men In Deadly Scheme. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired February 22, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences. Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

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[13:00:24]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The BAFTA-winning film for Best Documentary "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story", airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we're following major developments at the Pentagon. President Trump has fired the highest ranking military officer in the country. On top of that, thousands of Pentagon employees are expected to be fired next week.

In a late-night media post, social media post, President Trump announced the dismissal of General Charles Q. Brown. He was the second black man ever to serve as the most senior military leader. Along with Brown, Trump fired Vice Chief of Air Force and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a sign of the administration's attempt to eliminate leaders appointed by former President Joe Biden and those who support DEI initiatives.

CNN's Oren Liebermann starts off our coverage with these details.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This is an unprecedented purge at the top of the military, one that's been rumored and speculated about for weeks now. It started with President Donald Trump announcing on social media that he was firing the top U.S. general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General CQ Brown.

Trump said Brown was a, quote, "fine gentleman". Brown had been a frequent target of right-wing criticism, and there had long been speculation that he was going to be fired quickly. We just didn't know quite how quickly. Now we have that answer one month into the Trump administration.

Now, just days before he was picked to run the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Brown should be fired, along with the other, quote, "woke generals and admirals". But at least for the time, the two had worked together, having daily or near-daily meetings.

In fact, Brown was visiting the southern border just hours before he was fired. Trump immediately announced his pick to replace Brown, recently-retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Razin Caine. Trump has long had a fascination with Caine.

Bringing him up in several speeches over the last four or five years, he says Caine was instrumental in the defeat of ISIS. Trump hinted at more firings to come, and it was only a few minutes later that Hegseth announced the chief of the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, was also being terminated. Hegseth called her a DEI hire in his book that came out last year.

In a Friday night statement, Hegseth also indicated that the top judge advocates general in the Army, Navy, and Air Force will also be replaced. That, too, is an extraordinary move. The JAGs, according to a former judge advocate general, are the conscience of the military, the guides on what's right and what's wrong, what's ethical and moral.

Hegseth called them JAG-offs in his book and questioned their value. Taken together, these firings are an unprecedented reshaping of the top of the military.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in Washington.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you, Oren.

The Pentagon firings don't stop there. It has announced plans to fire more than 5,000 probationary employees next week. CNN's Betsy Klein has that.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Fredricka, the Trump administration is clearly moving swiftly here to reshape the very top of the leadership of the U.S. Department of Defense, but also taking steps more broadly to enact sweeping cuts to its civilian workforce.

Now, getting into the numbers here, the Pentagon has about 950,000 civilian personnel. That includes people who do things like research and analysis, who build things, also teachers who are teaching our service members' children at points abroad. But to -- starting next week, the first tranche of about 5,400 civilian employees, people who are probationary employees, meaning that they were hired recently or recently promoted, will be fired. And ultimately, we do expect these cuts to be much bigger, impacting between 5 and 8 percent of the Pentagon's civilian workforce, according to sources. That could be, doing the math, 47,000 to 76,000 civilian workers.

Now, initially, this was supposed to be an en masse firing of about 55,000 Pentagon workers, and that was temporarily paused to give officials a little bit of time to sort out what would impact military readiness.

Now, stepping back, the Pentagon budget and defense spending is about 14 percent of federal spending overall. President Trump and his team here are clearly looking to take steps towards slashing that dramatically. And President Trump, for his part, said in a post to social media earlier today that Elon Musk, whom he is tasked with cutting a lot of this federal spending, needs to get more aggressive.

[13:05:02]

But we are hearing from American voters that there is some skepticism here. According to a new CNN poll, 51 percent of voters say Trump has gone too far in cutting federal programs. Thirty-two percent say it's been about right. Seventeen percent say not far enough.

But, Fred, we are starting to see signs of lawmakers heading back to their districts and hearing from their constituents real concerns about these cuts to federal spending, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Betsy Klein, thank you so much.

So as mass layoffs are spreading across several federal agencies, people in North Carolina took to the streets to protest the recent firings there. IRS workers who lost their jobs this week expressed frustration.

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LIV ALVARADO, FIRED IRS EMPLOYEE: They were just like, hey, come in tomorrow and turn all your stuff in. You're no longer with us. I wish it would have been handled a lot better than it was. I wish they would have looked at performance and not just the day I started.

ALICIA SCULLY, FIRED IRS EMPLOYEE: The reason we took this job was for career stability and because we wanted to be with the company for a long time. The only thing we can do now is just have hope.

RICHARD SYRACUSE, FIRED IRS EMPLOYEE: It feels terrible. I got two kids. I got a turning four and one, mortgage. This is the best job I've ever had, to be entirely honest.

NICHOLAS BERANDI, FIRED IRS EMPLOYEE: It even says here in the email that they're citing the reason why I'm fired is because of my performance. But until today, I hadn't gotten a performance review.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like the first person on my team that got the email and I just broke down into tears. (END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: I mean, these federal workers are everywhere. They're Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Missouri, just representing the IRS there. So many of these federal workers are really across the country. I mean, 80 percent.

CNN's Rafael Romo with me now to talk about specifically the CDC, a lot of notices going out there in Atlanta. What are you hearing from people who are finding out that their days are numbered on the job?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's been a very sad couple of weeks, Fred. And the employees that are being terminated are doing the one thing that they can, right, speaking out. And there were dozens of current and former CDC employees at a rally held at the Georgia state capitol. And many were holding signs with messages like CDC saves lives and CDC makes America great.

Some told us they feared the first round of CDC layoffs announced earlier this month may just be the beginning and are deeply worried the layoffs will mean that an institution seen around the world as a leader in public health may ultimately be unable to fight the next pandemic.

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EMAAD HASSAN, PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISER: This is a situation that's very scary for Americans and for America.

ROMO (voice-over): After 10 years of fighting diseases, both here in America and countries like Egypt, Pakistan and South Sudan, Emaad Hassan suddenly found his name was on a list of people getting fired.

HASSAN: While I'm all for efficiency, if we do things the right way, if we go through a rift, but these -- the sledgehammer approach or just creating a list, knowing that those lists could be wrong and not correcting those things and then just, you know, firing people on a whim is unethical.

ROMO (voice-over): Hassan was one of hundreds of CDC employees who were notified earlier this month that they were being laid off. They have made their voices heard outside the CDC headquarters earlier this week, and at the Georgia state capitol on Friday.

SONYA ARUNDAR, HEALTH COMMUNICATOR: Valentine's Day massacre.

ROMO (voice-over): Sonya Arundar, a health communicator who was hired by the CDC in December, was also among those impacted by the layoffs announced on February 14. Poor performance, she says, was the reason she was given.

ARUNDAR: I was so new that I didn't have a performance review yet, even though my manager seemed to be very pleased with my work. But I do know two people personally who did have good performance reviews who were also fired in the same way.

ROMO (voice-over): The man in charge of downsizing the government says voters gave President Donald Trump a mandate.

ELON MUSK, TESLA CEO: The people voted for major government reform, and that's what people are going to get.

ROMO (voice-over): Democratic lawmakers are asking Georgia's Republican leadership to intervene.

SAIRA DRAPER (D), GEORGIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: What we are asking them to do is put partisanship aside, put politics aside and maybe even set their fears aside and stand up and speak out for the Georgians that need their support right now.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ROMO: Well, that doesn't seem likely right now. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp told Political the day after the CDC layups were announced that, in his opinion, quote, "government can stand a little right-sizing". It's a policy that he has pursued during his years in office, wishing to limit the growth of the state government workforce.

But again, many sad employees. And that lady, she hadn't even had a performance review. And her email said, you're getting let go because of performance issues.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Yes, and that has been stated many times over. And some people who were in a probation period, not because they just started the job, but perhaps they were about to move on to a promotion.

ROMO: Right.

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WHITFIELD: And so there's a probationary period in between that. They may have been with the federal government for 16, 20 years, we've heard from some people.

All right, Rafael Romo, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right, joining me right now to talk more about the developments surrounding President Trump's first month in office is Lynn Sweet. She is the Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. Lynn, great to see you.

I mean, lots to talk about. We'll zero in on as much as we can here. President Trump, Elon Musk, continuing to push full steam ahead with their mass firings of federal workers and the dismantling of U.S. government agencies.

Some GOP lawmakers now are starting to feel the heat at some of these town halls. And new CNN polling is showing that a majority of Americans believe these cuts to federal programs have gone too far. We've seen no signs, however, of Trump changing course.

How do you suppose the White House will be responding to what is now a lot of frustration and criticism? LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, hi, Fred. Thanks for having me on. Here's my analysis, is that the White House will shrug off criticism. Given how Trump has treated polls in the past, he will just declare any poll he does not like as rigged or has some flaw.

He will find some poll of MAGA done by a MAGA outlet of his staunchest followers to reaffirm he's doing the right thing. So I don't think you could look to any poll to try and change any behavior. And then we ask, will any heat in the red state from these closings?

Look at what you just put on about Atlanta and the CDC closings. Will that have an impact on Republicans? I don't see that right away. I mean, this is a pretty dangerous intersection we're at, where an empowered president is ignoring some laws, testing his limits and power, and he's using Elon Musk as his chief executioner of these plans.

But no one's against, per se, major government reform or reduction in force. But what I -- again, I think I keep urging this to people to use their common sense. Does anyone think that a wholesale firing, discharging everybody with per performance, so clearly there is no real look, is that the smartest way to do something?

Was that the smartest way to reduce forces at CDC? And does every agency need the same 5 percent cut? It's usually not that easy to right-size something. And we just don't know if any Republican will actually get the nerve to complain when some actions are being taken that hurt their own constituents.

WHITFIELD: Yes, except they're hearing from their constituents and maybe not immediately, as you say, you know, maybe not right away. But if they continue to receive that kind of heat in person at their town halls or the phone calls, we know in many of the congressional members' offices, they're getting something like 1,600 calls a day and some when before they may have gotten a couple of dozen.

But then next week, they're going to head back to Washington. Perhaps they'll be collaborating, talking, you know, with each other, comparing notes about their experiences. Will they also be kind of back channel trying to plan? How do we present this to the White House? How do we answer to our constituents who are red hot right now?

SWEET: Well, that's an excellent point, because let's look at the calendar ahead. On the evening of March 4th, Trump is going to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress. We often think of it as the State of a Union, but the first year of a presidency, it's just called a joint address.

There are some things that actually may embolden Republicans. You know, there's just been a story out about a revamping or collapsing the postal service into the Commerce Department. Well, there's a lot of post offices in rural parts of red states that are important parts of the civic life of a community.

They exist there for reasons more than if they really -- if their revenue equals the cost. Some things like that, where it's a service that's close to home, not amorphous, where somebody could feel it, and perhaps in time.

So if so many IRS agents are cut or somehow the automated systems are changed by the forces that are sent in by Musk, and you don't get your refund when you expect it, or it's not what you expected, there are some pulse points out there that may make a difference, especially if people know people who have been laid off under the fiction of a per- performance when that clearly wasn't true.

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WHITFIELD: All right, Lynn Sweet, thank you so much. Glad to see you.

SWEET: Good to see you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, the final living hostages have been released by Hamas as part of phase one of the ceasefire in Gaza, but it isn't clear if phase two will even happen.

Plus, a woman who the FBI says is behind what it calls a romance scheme on steroids is now in jail. Here what authorities say she did to older men who she met online.

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WHITFIELD: All right, as the world gets ready to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. is proposing its own version of the U.N. resolution. The draft U.S. resolution does not condemn Russia as the aggressor or acknowledge Ukraine's territorial integrity. It follows an escalating war of words between President Trump and President Zelenskyy.

Earlier this week, U.S. officials met with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia to hash out a deal to end the war. Ukraine representation was not there. And now Trump says he wants Putin and Zelenskyy to work it out.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that President Putin and President Zelenskyy are going to have to get together because you know what, we want to stop killing millions of people. You have young soldiers being killed.

If you saw the pictures that I saw of the battlefield from satellite, you've never seen any pictures like that. Soldiers are being killed by the thousands a week. Thousands of soldiers a week. As we speak, they're being killed. That's why I want to see a ceasefire and I want to get the deal done.

I think we have a chance to get the deal done.

(END VIDEOCLIP) WHITFIELD: Let's bring in David Sanger, he is a CNN political and national security analyst and author of the book, "New Cold Wars". David, welcome.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Great to be with you.

WHITFIELD: So what do you think Trump means when he says we want to get the deal done? And he says stop the killing, but he's not necessarily saying stop Russia from its incursion into Ukraine. And now the U.S. has language that it wants the U.N. and Kyiv to accept that really kind of removes responsibility from Russia. What's going on here?

SANGER: Well, what's going on here is to try to make the United Nations and the G7 in their resolutions and statements marking the third anniversary of the war this coming Monday, to basically rewrite history here and remove the references that have appeared in previous years that make it clear that this was an illegal invasion by Russia.

Now, that shouldn't be a terribly controversial statement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as a senator, frequently said it and, in fact, grilled Mr. Trump's first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, at his confirmation hearing to ask him whether or not he believes Vladimir Putin was a war criminal.

But the tone has changed. Now, the charitable interpretation of this, Fredricka, would be that they're trying to get a deal done, and doing that means not inflaming the Russians. The less charitable version of events is that they're trying to get international institutions, the U.N., the Group of Seven, to basically rewrite the history so it's unclear who triggered the war.

WHITFIELD: And now Trump is introducing this idea of Ukraine's rare earth minerals should be, I guess, a bargaining chip now, you know, and Ukraine, Zelenskyy, has not necessarily expressed a real interest in this. So who will ultimately gain from this?

I mean, Ukraine is being asked to give up one more thing. It's already lost people. It's lost land, at least in this conflict, and now it's being asked to give up minerals?

SANGER: Well, Fredricka, first, remember that at the start, this was actually a Ukrainian idea. And the idea was that if countries did not want to provide additional aid immediately, basically that aid in the future could be secured by an interest in Ukraine's minerals, which presumably have significant value if you can recover them. And that's a big if because a lot of them are in Russian-held territory in the Donbas.

Over time, as President Trump came in, this idea got morphed into a, well, these minerals should pay the United States back for the aid that was freely given starting before and during the invasion and then in the three years since. And that's the argument now.

And then a draft of the agreement that is circulating now by the United States makes no reference to future security arrangements for Ukraine, which of course is one of Ukraine's major demands.

[13:25:08]

And if they're going to give access, then the countries have to promise that they will help secure Ukraine in the future against a revived Russian invasion after the ceasefire.

WHITFIELD: Do you see that Ukraine is interested in being at the table since the conditions have changed?

SANGER: Ukraine is interested in being at the table. They can't afford not to be. Without U.S. help and without European help, this effort fails and Ukraine will lose. Zelenskyy knows that. President Trump knows it. And you've heard him in the past 24 hours say, the Ukrainians don't have any leverage, but they talk a tough game or words to that effect.

So, President Zelenskyy is really in a box here. He's going to have to reach some kind of an agreement. It probably won't be as the kind that he had in mind originally. But it was interesting, I think, that you heard President Trump make the case in that clip you played that Zelenskyy and Putin have to go talk to each other.

Because earlier in the week, it was that President Trump and Putin and their negotiating teams would work this out and then sort of go back and inform the Ukrainians of what was going on. I'm not entirely sure what he has in mind there, but my guess is that he's trying to impress on the Ukrainians that the U.S. has more influence here than Ukraine does.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Sanger, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

SANGER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. And new today, Hamas has released the final living hostages under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Israel. A total of six were freed today. And as we've seen in previous weeks, there were some emotional reunions once they were back in Israel.

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(Speaking in Foreign Language)

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WHITFIELD: Israel was expected to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of the agreement, but that has now been delayed. Earlier, I spoke with CNN's Nic Robertson in Jerusalem and asked him for the latest on the release of the Palestinians.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, this is an unexpected wrinkle and something that Hamas is actually calling a violation of their agreement with the Israeli government. The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is having what's being called a security consultation right around now this evening to decide about future hostage releases.

And also we're told that at that meeting, they'll take a vote on the release of these Palestinian detainees and prisoners. There are 620 of them, by the way, 151 life or long-term sentence prisoners, of which 97 are expected to be expelled from the country.

And also there were 445 men from Gaza who were detained, 23 children and one woman as well. So a big number of detainees uncharged who've been picked up in Gaza since October 7th. They were expected to be handed over too. Their families have been out there in the cold and in the rain waiting for them.

And as you saw there, a different day for the families of those six Israeli hostages held by Hamas. And one of them, Eliya Cohen, coming back to what can only be described as an amazing homecoming. He'd gone to the Nova Music Festival where he was taken hostage with his fiancee, Ziv.

Ziv survived the shooting there by hiding under the bodies of, unfortunately, her nephew and her nephew's girlfriend who'd gone there with them. She hid. Now, Eliya thought she was dead. So when he came back today, to his obvious amazement, she was alive. So an amazing homecoming there.

I was talking as well to the mother of the only living American hostage being still held by Hamas about her hopes for getting her son back. And this is what she told me.

YAEL ALEXANDER, SON BEING HELD CAPTIVE BY HAMAS: We don't know. He's supposed to be in the phase two. That's why we all need to push for having the phase two. There is more than dozens of young men that are waiting to be released. We know our son, Edan, is alive and is waiting to be released. I'm just hoping that he's staying strong and surviving and his day will come.

ROBERTSON: And what have you heard about him, about his condition, anything about him until now?

ALEXANDER: So we heard a lot of testimonials from people that released in November 2023, and they saw it done in the tunnels. They told us how strong he was. He was trying to help the workers to negotiate with Hamas, to tell them, listen, the Thai workers are not Israeli, maybe they can go home.

But we heard a lot of stories that Igan (ph) was standing up for people and trying to help them. And let's not forget, Igan (ph) was kidnaped, he was only 19. So to hear it about my beautiful boy, it was -- it gave me a lot of hope that he's strong and he's surviving.

And the last Thanksgiving weekend, we saw -- we all saw Igan (ph) in Hamas video speaking to Benjamin Netanyahu, to President Trump to please release them from this hell that they are living there. He spoke to the family. He told us to be strong. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: You know, and that's one of the things with all of these hostages that come back, there's a chance for the IDF to talk to them about other hostages that they've seen to pass on information to other families.

And you hear there just how important it is any time a tiny snippet of information really helps the families get through these really terrible and tough days -- Fredricka?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Right. And so, Nic, if this was to mark the end of phase one, and we heard from the mother right there who says, you know, we got to have phase two. Is it in jeopardy?

ROBERTSON: It is, for a multitude of reasons. The political pressures on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to continue the war, because phase two was always going to be harder because it talks about getting, you know, a final pullout of Israeli troops from inside of Gaza, talking about a final ceasefire.

It also includes the release of all the living hostages. That was going to be tough. And Hamas refuses to leave Gaza. And they're still present and still strong. They can't fire missiles the way they used to into Israel.

But Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump have both said that the only future for Gaza is one without Hamas. So there's all sorts of intersecting points in flux here.

And it's hard to see where they all meet and can actually join up and allow, therefore, phase two to actually happen.

WHITFIELD: Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

All right. Quoting now, "arbitrary and discriminatory." Why a federal judge just blocked the Trump administration's efforts to derail DEI programs, at least for now.

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[13:37:03]

WHITFIELD: All right. This just into our NEWSROOM, an update on Pope Francis' condition. According to a statement released by the Vatican's press office, he developed an asthmatic respiratory crisis this morning and remains in critical condition.

They also noted that he is in more pain than he was yesterday. The statement did go on to say that he continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair.

All right. Back in this country, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs at federal agencies are safe, at least for now. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from terminating grants or contracts that are, quote, "equity related." In the judge's ruling, Judge Adam Abelson also said the government

could not require recipients to prove their programs do not promote DEI.

This case centers on an executive order President Trump signed on Inauguration Day. And in this ruling, Judge Abelson said the action was likely unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs in the case allege the Trump executive order violated constitutional protections, including free speech. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

So while attacking DEI programs, President Donald Trump honored Black History Month with a reception at the White House. He talked about plans to salute black American heroes with the sculpture garden.

While the celebration itself is at odds with President Trump's campaign against DEI programs, influential Georgia pastor, Jamal Bryant, is pushing back on the administration's directives.

Bryant tells our colleague, Victor Blackwell, that he is calling for a 40-day boycott of Target after the retailer phased out it's DEI program.

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DR, JAMAL BRYANT, GEORGIA PASTOR CALLING FOR A TARGET BOYCOTT: The black church historically has always been on the front line of civil rights. And so Lent is the season that leads from Ash Wednesday to resurrection. So it is not just a withholding of dollars but a pushing forward of prayer.

A lot in America is shifting. And the church is going to have to be more active and vocal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me right now for more perspective on the Trump administration's crackdown on DEI is the NAACP's chief of policy, Patrice Willoughby.

Patrice, great to see you.

PATRICE WILLOUGHBY, CHIEF OF POLICY, NAACP: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: So what are your thoughts on what's happening?

WILLOUGHBY: So this environment is and the actions of the administration are just a demonstration of hypocrisy. And one in which actions should always mean a lot more than words.

You can't celebrate black history, understanding that the contributions of black Americans are important, and at the same time, take measures to end access to the marketplace, and to ensure that people have a level playing field in which to be considered for jobs and contracts.

[13:40:13]

WHITFIELD: So you've got conflicting messaging here. The Trump administration is saying, you know, eliminate DEI programs, even though we just heard the judge now put a halt on things for now.

Trump saying no celebrations or acknowledgments of cultural events or markers like Black History Month throughout government agencies. But then the White House has this event where mostly black guests, at least from what we can see from the vantage point of the cameras, were there.

And many we're chanting "four more years." I mean, this is exactly what the president wanted to hear. He is feeling galvanized. He is feeling as though this is exactly what his supporters, who -- many of whom are black, are happy with.

What do you -- what do you -- do you feel that the president now feels galvanized further, that he is only going to, you know, put pedal to the metal, so to speak, on his ideas about DEI?

WILLOUGHBY: Well, first of all, let's look at what is being characterized as DEI, which is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Those are efforts to ensure that people have an opportunity or consideration.

It doesn't -- those efforts do not demonstrate outcomes. They don't predict outcomes. They just ensure that the wide range of people in the United States is considered.

And so the chanting at "four more years" is very much like the rallies that we all saw in which paid seat fillers would go to those rallies. So I don't really think anything about that. That's performative silliness.

What's more important is intentional action. At the NAACP, we're very focused on what this administration does as well as its actions that limit opportunity.

And we are really focused on fighting back in a number of different ways to educate people, not to pay attention to what's said, but to pay attention to what the administration is actually doing.

WHITFIELD: All right. Patrice Willoughby, of the NAACP, glad you could be with us today. Thank you so much.

Still ahead, what we're learning about the woman charged with drugging and robbing elderly men in a deadly dating app scheme.

We'll be right back.

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[13:47:33] WHITFIELD: All right. It sounds like something from a movie. A woman who the FBI accuses of kidnaping and robbing elderly men who she may have met on dating apps.

Our Julia Vargas Jones has more on this very intriguing story and investigation -- Julia?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, a woman is facing dozens of criminal charges, and that includes kidnaping and wire fraud, after allegedly luring older men into dangerous and deceitful romantic encounters.

This is Aurora Phelps, 43-years-old, of Las Vegas. She is accused of using these online dating platforms, like Tinder, Hinge and Bumble, to target specifically older men, drugging them and then stealing their money and their assets.

The FBI says that this scam spanned for over two years, with at least four victims, three of whom died. Phelps is charged in one of their deaths.

And she allegedly used prescription sedatives to incapacitate her targets, first, allowing her to completely empty out their financial accounts.

In a press conference yesterday, they called this a romance scam on steroids. They said they hadn't seen anything as nefarious and sinister as this in recent memory.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER EVANS, FBI LAS VEGAS, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Two were residents of the state of Nevada when they encountered Phelps and were drugged by her.

We believe Phelps kidnaped one of these victims by heavily sedating him and pushing him across the U.S.-Mexico border in a wheelchair due to his inebriated state.

Phelps then took him to a hotel room in Mexico City, where the victim was found dead a few hours later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: The FBI claims that she exploited her victims after having this supposed romantic connection established, Fred. They believe that she tried to withdraw cash from their bank accounts, used their credit cards to purchase luxury items, gold, and even tried to access their Social Security and retirement funds.

She is in custody now in Mexico. And she's facing those 21 criminal charges, wire fraud, kidnaping and identity theft as well.

She could be convicted -- if she is convicted of all of these, she could face life in prison.

Now the FBI continues searching for more victims. They say that if someone who thinks that they or a loved one might have been a target of her scheme, they are encouraged to come forward.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's a shocking investigation.

All right. Thank you so much, Julia Vargas Jones.

[13:49:57]

We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: A farmer is harnessing A.I. and robotics to reshape how food is grown. The fruits of her labor in todays "START SMALL, THINK BIG."

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GILWOO LEE, FOUNDER & CEO, ZORDI: At Zordi, we're building the world's first A.I. robotic greenhouse solution to bring high-quality fresh produce to the world.

[13:54:59]

One thing that Zordi is doing fundamentally differently from anybody else is the use of robots and A.I. in a holistic way to grow and take care of these plants.

The robots monitor the plants every single day, taking pictures and videos and analyzing them through machine learning and having the A.I. make the best decisions on how to change the temperature, when to water the plants and when to harvest the fruits.

And have another set of robots that are actually doing the hard work of harvesting and sorting and packing the fruits to be delivered the next day to the consumers.

Zordi is actually a combination of my intellectual passion in robotics and A.I., and my personal passion in being able to bring better food with bigger impact.

What we are building here is an affordable way of climate resilient farming. We can reduce freshwater consumption by about 95 percent.

So what I love about what we've been doing, even though I'm a robotics nerd, is the fact that our fruits taste amazing. What I want to see is Zordi becoming the frontier of modernized farming.

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