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CIA And FBI Jobs In Jeopardy Under Trump Administration; President Trump's Allies Look To Clarify His Ideas For Gaza; President Trump Expected To Attend Super Bowl. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 06, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it is 5:33 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at some of that traffic amid this winter weather on the East Coast in Philadelphia.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
The Trump administration's federal deferred resignation offer expires today. The White House says more than 40,000 federal workers have already taken the deal of eight months' pay with benefits to resign, although it's still not clear if the arrangement is even legal.
Also murky whether the deadline applies to the CIA. Sources say the agency just sent the White House an unclassified email with a list of all new hires from the past two years in order to comply with an executive order to downsize the federal workforce. The list has first names and last initials. Still there are concerns that is plenty enough to expose the identities of those officers to foreign government hackers.
[05:35:20]
Here is Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan who, remember, served as a CIA analyst in Iraq.
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SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): American don't know half of what goes on to protect them from threats. They have no idea what goes on in the dark of night, and these are the people doing it. And I think it's just like taking a machete to the federal government without a concern for how it imply -- it impacts our national security.
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HUNT: Theres also turmoil at the FBI. Deputy Acting -- Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove accusing bureau leadership of insubordination for refusing to identify a core team of employees who worked on January 6 investigations. He is now trying to reassure rank- and-file agents who "simply followed orders" that they will not be fired unless they "acted with corrupt or partisan intent."
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SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): They don't want an FBI that's going to examine anything they're doing.
REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): We are less safe because hundreds of FBI agents are on the verge of being fired for not being sufficiently loyal to Donald Trump.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Is the criteria to be an FBI agent in the future one who swears allegiance to Donald Trump or one who upholds the Constitution?
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HUNT: All right, former FBI special agent Ken Gray joins us now. Ken, good morning. Thank you very much for being with us.
Let's start with the FBI and then I also want to talk about that email from the CIA. But what are you hearing from former colleagues in the bureau about how they're reacting?
KEN GRAY, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning, Kasie.
The bureau is in turmoil right now. You have this hanging over your head if you are an agent that worked either the January 6 problem or if you were in Mar-a-Lago.
The bureau sent out a survey to all employees requesting whether or not you have worked on either one of those cases, and then those surveys are being used to identify people who were on a target list -- who were placed on a target list. That information was turned over to DOJ at DOJ's insistence. And this has employees concerned that they may be fired for doing their job.
If you're an agent and you're given a direction to go out and conduct a search or to go out and conduct an arrest you are following up on a lawful order. And then to be placed on notice that you may be fired because of that, that is very distressing for the bureau right now.
HUNT: Ken, let's talk a little bit about the CIA piece of this. This buyout offer expires today. It's not clear the CIA buyout we learned about earlier this week -- those names that were on the list. What are the implications if, in fact, someone was able to intercept -- a foreign adversary was able to intercept this unclassified email?
GRAY: Yeah, that's a real problem in that it may reveal the identities of case officers who are posted all over the world and place them at jeopardy and really make it impossible for them to do their job. If you're identified -- if you are working, say, out of an embassy or a consulate and you've been identified as being agency, you can no longer stay in that country. You can -- and it's very difficult for you to continue doing your job in that capacity.
So this very well could render those case agents -- case officers into a position where they can't carry out their duty.
HUNT: All right, Ken Gray. Very grateful to have your perspective on the show today, sir. Thanks very much for joining us.
GRAY: Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING President Trump's allies try to clarify his proposal for what should happen to Gaza. The former chief of staff to the Israeli prime minister joins us to share his take on the plan.
And CNN's Coy Wire taking all things Super -- talking all things Super Bowl with NFL legend Marshall Faulk.
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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are finally putting America first. Our policy of never-ending war, regime change, and nation-building is being replaced by the clear-eyed pursuit of American interest.
We do not seek nation-building.
We're going to end the era of nation-building -- a disastrous concept, a disastrous era.
Why are we nation-building over there? We want a nation built over here.
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HUNT: When President Donald Trump first entered politics nearly a decade ago, he did so with promises of putting an end to nation- building and removing the U.S. from foreign entanglements in the Middle East. But now he's, of course, said that he has a new plan to redevelop the Gaza Strip -- or as his Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it, "Make Gaza beautiful again."
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Rubio clarifying some of the details of the president's proposal yesterday.
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MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: The only thing President Trump has done very generously, in my view, is offer the United States' willingness to step in, clear the debris, and clean the place up.
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HUNT: As Israel's defense minister readies its military for the "voluntary departure" of Palestinians from Gaza, one thing that's clear -- President Trump and his plan have the full support of his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This is the first good idea that I've heard. It's a remarkable idea and I think it should be really pursued -- examined, pursued, and done. Because I think it will create a different future for everyone. He's the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.
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HUNT: All right. Joining us now, former chief of staff to Benjamin Netanyahu, George Birnbaum. Sir, good morning. Thank you very much for spending some time with us today.
GEORGE BIRNBAUM, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO BENJAMIN NETANYAHU (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning, Kasie.
HUNT: I'd like to start with the meeting itself and especially the look on the prime minister's face there as well as some reporting that he was as surprised by this as almost anyone.
The New York Times wrote this. "It wasn't only the Americans who were scrambling after the press conference. The announcement came as just as much of a surprise to Mr. Trump's Israeli visitors. Soon before they walked out for their joint news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump surprised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of Israel, by telling him he planned to announce the Gaza ownership idea, according to two people briefed on their interactions."
You've obviously worked closely with Netanyahu. What did you read into his reaction, and how surprised was he?
BIRNBAUM: Well, I will say this. Netanyahu is a very astute follower of political chess.
And we saw a few announcements prior to the prime minister's arrival that were a little strange. One was the announcement that the King of Jordan would be coming to visit the White House in a couple of weeks. And while, with all respect to the King of Jordan, I could think of two dozen world leaders that a president would invite to the White House prior to the King of Jordan.
We also saw the announcement of a very unique arms sale to Egypt just a day prior to the prime minister arriving. Of course, Egypt and Jordan being two key players in President Trump's plan.
So the prime minister may have been surprised that the announcement came so quickly but I believe that he probably was reading the tea leaves a little bit in that President Trump did have something in mind by having these two very strange events occur so early into his presidency regarding the invitation to the King of Jordan as well as the arms sale to Egypt. HUNT: Let's talk a little bit about the bigger picture of the relationship between these two men -- between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Because we saw -- Netanyahu spoke with reporters as he was boarding his plane to fly here to Washington and he referred to Trump as a good friend, an old friend. But it hasn't always been so.
Back in 2021, of course, after Donald Trump had lost to Joe Biden, Barak Ravid, who now is with Axios but longtime chronicler of the Israeli government and of Benjamin Netanyahu -- he quoted Trump as saying this. "'I haven't spoken to him since,' Trump said of the former Israeli prime minister. 'F**k him.' The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape."
So what has Netanyahu done to try to rebuild his relationship with Donald Trump, and what are the pitfalls for Netanyahu?
BIRNBAUM: Yeah. I don't think there is any need to rebuild a relationship. I think Donald Trump, at the end of the last election to Biden, was frustrated with the result. I think that was a reflection of that.
The prime minister of Israel, regardless of who it is, is always one of the first to congratulate a newly elected President of the United States due to the unique relationship between the two countries. So I wouldn't read too much into that.
It is clear that Donald Trump has changed the paradigm regarding the Middle East and his role. We were told for many decades, ever since 1948, that Israeli couldn't have peace with its Arab neighbors until we made a peace and had a solution with the Palestinians. Yet, Donald Trump, under the Abraham Accords, completely changed that paradigm. We now have peace with the United Arab Emirates, with Bahrain, and with other Arab nations, and probably heading toward the Abraham Accords, too.
So the relationship is very strong. Donald Trump did move the American Embassy to Jerusalem. I don't see any strain in that relationship going back to the previous administration of Donald Trump, including the current one as well.
HUNT: So I'm glad you brought up that sort of idea that Israel can normalize relationships across the region because, of course, the big one is Saudi Arabia. And that was on the table before the October 7 attacks. Obviously, it got set aside in the wake of that.
[05:50:07]
I want to show you a little bit of what was said on Tuesday by Trump and Netanyahu about Saudi Arabia specifically, and then we'll talk about it. Take a look.
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TRUMP: So, Saudi Arabia is going to be very helpful, and they have been very helpful. They want peace in the Middle East. It's very simple.
NETANYAHU: I think peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, I think it's going to happen.
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HUNT: So here is what Saudi Arabia said. This is The Wall Street Journal, which has under the headline "Mideast Powers Reject Donald Trump's Gaza Proposal." "Saudi Arabia, which the U.S. hopes to lead into a deal to normalize ties with Israel, said Wednesday it rejected any efforts to displace Palestinians from their lands and reaffirmed support for a Palestinian state." It called its position "non- negotiable" and said "...it wouldn't establish diplomatic relations with Israel unless that goal was met."
What's the way around or through this in your view?
BIRNBAUM: So Kasie, one thing I learned in the Middle East is that you've got 4,000 years of history of negotiation, and so everything is negotiable regardless of what may have been said.
And let's remember that the problem of the Palestinians and the problem of Gaza was not a Jewish or Israeli-created problem. It was actually an Arab-created problem going back to the refusal of the Arab League to accept the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947 which would have created two states with Jerusalem and Bethlehem being independent. And an economic trade zone between the Arab and Israeli state.
So the Arabs actually created the problem with the Palestinians. I believe, and I know Saudi Arabia as well as the neighbors in the Middle East also see it as they -- they're going to be -- have to be a part of that solution as well. They helped create the problem. I'm sure that Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, working with their Arab colleagues, will find a solution to this that has to be different than what we've tried since 1967.
HUNT: All right, George Birnbaum. Very grateful to have you on the show today, sir. Thanks very much for being here.
BIRNBAUM: Thank you, Kasie. Have a good day.
HUNT: You, too.
All right, in just three days a Super Bowl that's going to make history one way or the other. The Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs -- my Eagles.
Donald Trump is going to be there, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to attend a Super Bowl. However, he may need to brush up on his football trivia ahead of time.
This is what he said yesterday.
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TRUMP: And Tommy Tuberville, a great coach. You know, his quarterback was named Mahomes. He was a great college coach. And I said, "How good was he?" He said, "You don't want to know how good. He made me into a great coach." He's a pretty good quarterback, right? Yeah, he was very good.
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HUNT: So, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama did coach college football of Texas Tech at one point. But no, he did not coach Chiefs' quarterback Patrick Mahomes -- whoopsie.
Another opportunity, of course, to make history on the line this Sunday. The Eagles, the last obstacle standing between the Chiefs and a three-peat.
Our Coy Wire is in New Orleans for Super Bowl Week, and he caught up with the legendary running back Marshall Faulk to get his thoughts on the big game.
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COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: You played in this big game. You know all about the pressures that come with it.
MARSHALL FAULK, HALL OF FAME RUNNING BACK, SUPER BOWL CHAMPION: Yeah.
WIRE: From all these superstars -- Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley -- all of them, they're human.
FAULK: Yeah.
WIRE: What are the -- what are the distractions and the added pressures that come with this big stage?
FAULK: First of all, when you get here and you are then finding yourself out of your element, which is you're staying in a hotel for a week and then you've got to play a game. What I like is that the teams do travel. And we know that the Eagles went to Brazil, so they have some experience on what this is.
WIRE: Right.
FAULK: But the Chiefs -- they've been here a bunch of times, so I think both teams can handle that. But then it's taking care of your family -- making sure that everybody's settled. Making sure all of that stuff is taken care of.
And then getting back into your routine -- let's say, Thursday. You understand it's a road trip but then Thursday you feel like doing -- you're trying to create some normalcy. And then making sure that this game -- and everybody wants to say oh, play it like it's a regular game. No -- no, you don't. You play it like it's your last game and that it's the most important game. And you go out there and hope that you can perform and rise to the occasion.
WIRE: Yeah, because this might be the last time any of these guys make it back to this stage. FAULK: You never know.
WIRE: How about your thoughts for the big game -- the outcome?
FAULK: I'm looking forward to it, man -- yeah. Like, obviously, the spread is 1 1/2. I think by Saturday it will be -- it's probably going to be down to one. This game is so close.
WIRE: It is.
FAULK: It is so close, you know, when you think about what a Jalen Carter could do, what a Chris Jones could do. These quarterbacks and what they mean to the running and the passing game. And Mahomes -- it's -- I call it the "Mahomes Magic." Like, the dude has something, man.
WIRE: That elusive --
FAULK: It's -- he has something.
And I'm just excited to see the game, man. I'm like I can't -- like, I want to see -- I want to see a team win three in a row but then I want to see Saquon -- I want to see Saquon, like, just have one of those epic games like he's been having in the playoffs. But I don't know if I could have both.
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WIRE: Yes.
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HUNT: All right. Our thanks to Coy Wire for that.
All right, coming up here next on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump's new attorney general vowing to end the "weaponization" of the Justice Department as her DOJ pushes for information on FBI employees who worked on January 6 investigations.
Plus, deadline day for thousands of federal workers and the so-called buyout. How Democrats are pushing back against Elon Musk's growing influence in the White House.
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AGUILAR: I think it's pretty clear based on what happened in December who they answer to. They answer to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
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