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Vance, Musk Push Back Against Judge's Ruling; Trump: Judge Blocking DOGE Access at Treasury is 'Crazy'; Back-to-Back Storms Impacting Central and Eastern U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 10, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Monday, February 10. Right now, on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:00:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No three-peat, no dynasty. In Philly. South Philly, baby. That's where it is. Here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Fly, Eagles, fly. Sweet revenge for the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia routs the Chiefs, denying Kansas City what would have been an historic third consecutive Super Bowl victory.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they charge us, we charge them.

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SCIUTTO: Trade war. President Trump announces his plans to unveil more tariffs this week.

And --

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TRUMP: I ran on this. And the people want me to find it. And I've had a great help with Elon Musk.

Did you see his rocket?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Some roadblocks for DOGE. Courts take on the president's push to overhaul the federal government. The legal battle that lie ahead.

Then --

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TRUMP: I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended.

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SCIUTTO: Ready to talk? President Trump says he has spoken with Vladimir Putin. How he is hoping to bring an end to the nearly three- year-long Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Six a.m. here on the East Coast. That's a live look of the Superdome in New Orleans. You might notice the home of last night's Super Bowl is green. Green, of course, for the Eagles after they walked out victorious.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Jim Sciutto, in for Kasie Hunt. Wonderful to have you with us.

We are now entering the fourth week of the second Trump administration. And even on Super Bowl weekend, you cannot help but notice where he is and what he's doing.

Last night, President Trump officially became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl in person. He was seen once on the broadcast during the national anthem.

Even on the way to the game, he stayed in front of the cameras, holding a press conference while flying over a body of water he wants to rename Gulf of America. They even brought a poster.

Also, adding his -- to his flurry of executive orders with more promises to add tariffs on imports to the U.S.

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TRUMP: We'll also be announcing steel tariffs on Monday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this, tomorrow?

TRUMP: Monday? Yes. Tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What countries will those go on?

TRUMP: Everybody. Steel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Including Canada and Mexico?

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about aluminum, sir?

TRUMP: Aluminum, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCIUTTO: While Trump stays in front of the cameras, it is what is

happening behind the scenes and in federal courtrooms which could decide wide-ranging impacts to the federal government as his chief election supporter and donor, Elon Musk, continues to take a sledgehammer to U.S. agencies.

Now, a lawsuit filed by 19 Democratic attorneys general seems to be playing catch-up with one of the president's sweeping actions.

Over the weekend, a U.S. district judge ordered Musk's DOGE team to suspend access to a sensitive Treasury payment system, which processes more than $5 trillion in payments every year.

He also ordered the team to destroy any information it had collected since the inauguration.

Elon Musk is lashing out with baseless accusations against the judge, writing, quote, "A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached now," end quote.

The vice president followed Musk's lead, saying in part, quote, "Judges are not allowed to control the executive's legitimate power."

And the president himself seems to be completely on board with wherever the world's richest man decides to turn his attention next.

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TRUMP: What Elon and his group of geniuses have found is unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And that's just in USAID.

Soon we're going into Education. It'll -- you'll find the same thing, but bigger. Soon, we're going into the military, and you're going to find a lot of bad things happening there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now to discuss: Stephen Collinson, CNN senior politics reporter; Meghan Hays, former White House director of message planning under Joe Biden; Matt Gorman, former adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign.

Tim [SIC], I wonder: when you listen to the vice president of the United States say, We don't like what this judge is doing here.

You're aware of how the Constitution works. There are three branches. There are checks and balances, et cetera. And courts have the ability to -- to challenge decisions, even by the executive.

And the response, at least as I understand it -- and I'm not a lawyer -- is if you don't like that decision, you appeal.

But I wonder, should we take this as a message that Trump and team are willing to defy the courts if they don't like what the courts tell them?

That's for you, Matt.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER ADVISOR TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Oh. Sorry, I thought I thought you said "Tim." I apologize.

SCIUTTO: Not --

GORMAN: No, look. No. Clearly, this -- they disagree with the ruling, and they will fight it.

And look, we have to look no further than the last administration that, when the Supreme Court ruling came down on student loans, Joe Biden bragged about, "They tried to stop me, and I found a way around it."

So, I assume that the Trump team will likely do the same this -- this time around.

I think we can -- I vehemently disagree with the ruling here. I mean, it's totally within the executive branch's power to do this sort of thing.

But I would expect them to comply. But then to find a way, legally, to remedy it while they're appealing.

SCIUTTO: Meghan, I wonder, do you agree? Do you see that they're running this through the process, as folks do, or as Biden did? Or do you see something different here?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER DIRECTOR OF WHITE HOUSE MESSAGE PLANNING UNDER PRESIDENT BIDEN: I don't think they're going to run it through the process. I do think that they're just going to ignore these rulings. And I think that they're going to be fought in court, and it's still going to -- you know, the judges are still going to put stuff down.

It's probably going to go all the way to the Supreme Court, and they're still going to do what they want to do.

I think that's pretty evident in the way that they are doing things; that they're not really concerned about the legality or the Constitution, if it's constitutional or not.

So, I don't agree, and I do think that the -- the student loan thing is a tad bit different. It wasn't the entire government. There were a lot of different factors there that, you know, we could sit here and argue the -- the legalities on that, as well.

But when people are showing over and over again that they are not willing to follow the Constitution, I think that this is -- and the law, then I think this is what's going to happen.

SCIUTTO: Stephen, you wrote about this overnight, saying, quote, "Multiple courts have now stepped in to temporarily halt Trump and Musk's plans, but everything is trending toward one of the most significant showdowns over the scope of presidential power in modern history, which is destined for a Supreme Court whose conservative majority has an expansive view of executive authority." They do have an expansive view of executive authority, but they're

also conscious of their own power and the power of courts. And I wonder, would this Supreme Court be comfortable with an administration who just says, I'm not -- I'm not going to listen to the courts?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: If you look at the past pronouncements of the chief justice, John Roberts, I don't think so.

But all of it, of course, depends on how you can get the majority -- inside the conservative majority of the Supreme Court.

I do think what the administration is trying to do is to actually initiate a lot of these court fights very early. They know they're going to get challenged in a lot of the things they do in executive power.

The thinking, I think, is that if you get, say, 45 percent or 50 percent of favorable rulings from the Supreme Court, eventually, you still have changed the structure of government and the size of presidential power.

And as Meghan was saying, in the meantime, from the Republicans' point of view, you can do a lot while these challenges are pending. Simply freezing government could be an end in itself.

If you dismantle large parts of USAID before the court challenges happen, even if the Supreme Court came back and said, well, that was illegal, USAID has gone away, and there's very little chance that a Republican Congress will reconstitute it.

So, there's a double-pronged political and legal strategy going on here.

SCIUTTO: Let's take a look at some new polling about Trump's first days in office. New CBS poll finds the president 53 percent approval rating. That, we should note, is among the highest he's ever had going back to his first term.

However, when those same people were asked the question, "Is Trump spending enough time on lowering prices?" Two-thirds said, effectively, no.

And I wonder, Matt, given how central inflation and high prices were in this election, is that dangerous for this president?

GORMAN: I mean, not yet. Clearly not, because that's -- I mean, that's the highest approval rating he's ever had that I can remember, 53 percent. I mean, in 2017, he would kill for that.

Look, I mean, you know, inflation and the economy is certainly a big part of why he was elected. It wasn't the only part. But I think that a lot of that will come in this reconciliation package, I think, that is likely to make its way through the House, at least we have intel from -- coming from Friday, in fairly short order. So, I think a lot of what can be done by executive order is, you know,

essentially disassembling the administrative state and things that can be done without congressional approval. The things that will likely lower prices and do that sort of thing, at least in large measure, will have to be done through Congress. And that process is ongoing.

SCIUTTO: Well, I'm trying to understand what's going to lower prices, actually? I mean, tariffs, from an economic -- economist's perspective, raise prices.

"The Journal" had a story the other day about how consumer sentiment is such that they actually expect prices to rise themselves, and the predictions are going from 3 to 4 percent. So -- so what -- what's going to lower prices, actually?

[06:10:08]

GORMAN: A couple of things. I mean, I feel like -- I feel like every time on Mondays, we have these conversations where there's new tariffs talked about over the weekend.

Look, this is a negotiating tool. We've seen this over and over again, whether it's Colombia, and now Canada and Mexico. I think these steel tariffs again, as we deal with the Nippon Steel imbroglio, to figure out who's going to own this sort of thing. It's certainly a bargaining chip. I think that's going to happen.

I think what we've seen with energy, I think that is a major thing. That's why Lindsey Graham wanted to get some of the defense reconciliation done first.

Lowering energy prices will lower the ability for trucks and -- and flights and boats and everything like that on the road, or in the air, or on water, to be able to get our products cheaper to the store. And that's the first part of all of this.

SCIUTTO: OK, Meghan, does that math add up to you?

HAYS: No, and I think that this administration is going to learn what the last administration learned, and you can't dictate prices to corporations and to companies. You can't lower prices by dictating them.

So, unless they're going to take real tax cuts for the middle class and not just wealthy people, and not at all these different -- you know, different things that are only going to benefit billionaires, then they are not going to lower costs for the average person and for the working class.

And these tariffs are for sure not going to lower prices in any meaningful way for anybody that really needs lower prices at the grocery store.

SCIUTTO: Well, we'll know. We'll have some numbers.

My panel will be back. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, Elon Musk targeting yet more federal agencies as the Consumer Protection Bureau's D.C. headquarters shutters this week.

Plus, the coveted Super Bowl commercial spot. Just how much dough does it cost? We're going to break down this year's top price for an advertising slot during the big game.

And President Trump doubles down, maybe even triples down on his wish to make Canada a state.

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TRUMP: I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state. Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially in subsidy to Canada?

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[06:16:36]

SCIUTTO: The Department of Government Efficiency, led, of course, by Elon Musk, is targeting yet more federal agencies. The latest: the Consumer Protection Bureau, which fights financial abuses. CNN's learned its D.C. headquarters will be shuttered this week, its workers told to work from home until further notice.

A district judge has also blocked Musk's DOGE team from accessing Treasury Department payment systems, which include sensitive and confidential information. Trump criticized the judge's move, saying there's even more to come.

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TRUMP: I disagree with it 100 percent. I think it's crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say you trust him.

TRUMP: Trust Elon? Oh, he's not gaining anything. In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it. He's so into it.

But I told him do that. Then I'm going to tell him, very soon. Like maybe in 24 hours to go check the Department of Education. He's going to find the same thing.

Then I'm going to go -- go to the military. Let's check the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: It's a big budget at the Department of Defense.

Panel is back. Matt, I just wonder, let's flip the script for a moment.

A Democratic president has a powerful donor, unelected, who is given fiat power, basically, to run through every government agency and budget, access personal information; make, in effect, spending decisions that were previously made by Congress, right with the power of the purse.

What would be Republicans' reaction to that?

GORMAN: Well, I would say, first of all, that that has been abdicated by Congress for, I would say, much of the last 20 years, right? This has been a creeping thing that Congress has ceded control over both administrations.

You can go back, I mean, shorthand to at least 2014, the second Obama term, where he talked about a phone and a pen. But really, this congressional authority has been receding in this area for a long time.

Again, I think what -- J.D. Vance said this the other weekend, I think it's true. Trump didn't -- hasn't hid the ball in any of this. We could have been talking about this in October as -- just as we're talking about it in February. Right? He was very clear what he wanted to do.

And he had people that tried to do this in 2017. They didn't have their act together at that point then.

I think this is not a case where he hid the ball for up until election day and all of a sudden trotted this out. If you knew what he was looking to do and you paid attention, this is not a surprise.

That's why you see the ratings as a CBS poll that came out yesterday are what they are.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, I don't remember during the campaign, Meghan Hays, him announcing broad powers for Elon Musk, if he were to win.

But -- but I wonder more substantively -- substantively from a Democrat's perspective -- what substantive work, in your view, are Democratic lawmakers doing to stand in the way of the measures, the steps, the decisions that they consider bridges too far?

HAYS: I don't see them doing a lot. I see a lot of outside legal organizations filing lawsuits, like Democracy Forward and the --

SCIUTTO: Right.

HAYS: -- the A.G.s. You saw filing lawsuits. I think those are the people who are ready, and those are the people who are paying attention during the campaign.

It seems like the Democratic lawmakers are caught a little bit flat footed here. I'm not sure what they can do and what's within their power.

But I do think that you will see, especially Democrats in the House, start to step up as they start to negotiate the reconciliation bill and some of these big measures that, you know, Donald Trump wants to get through.

That is where they have leverage, and that is where they have their power to do something here.

So, I think legally, I don't think that they're doing very much right now. But hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, we'll see more from them.

[06:20:05]

SCIUTTO: Yes. Stephen, I think "flat-footed" seems fair, right? Because the speed of these measures and exactly how they've been carried out. Right? It is clear that this administration did its homework prior. It knew what levers, buttons to push, et cetera, to move quickly on -- on these measures.

I wonder why Democratic lawmakers weren't thinking in a similar frame of mind.

COLLINSON: I think there was a period of mourning after they lost this election. The party was in disarray.

But the problem they have is, every time they stand up and, say, defend USAID or the Consumer Bureau, they are defending a government that millions of Americans believe is not serving them.

So, it sounds like a good argument inside the Beltway. But to American -- many Americans, what Donald Trump is doing, it looks like action. It looks like somebody, finally, in Washington is starting to shred the federal government, which many people view skeptically.

I think once the impacts of all of this start to play out, that's when Democrats may have a bigger case. You saw a couple of weeks ago when that freeze in consumer spending came into force temporarily, as soon as government services started getting withdrawn, the Democrats had a bigger argument.

But I think that the White House, as you mentioned, they're acting with great speed. They realize, and it's a truism, I think, of Washington in recent years, that when you have power, you have to use it very quickly, because sometimes, because of the divided nature of the country, it doesn't last very long.

So, I think that's one reason why the White House is stressing all of these executive actions, taking aim at government rather than necessarily prioritizing prices. Because they may not have power in Congress in two years' time.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I wonder, Matt, do you see dangers here? I mean, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not -- I would guess, that most Americans don't know what it does.

But what it does do is it tries to keep people from getting scammed. Right? And there are loads of scams out there, right? And they -- they are alive and well.

Without it, one could imagine there might be more scams. Right? So, I wonder from your perspective -- and that's just one example. Are you concerned at all about when and how these effects will be felt? And folks will say, wait a second. Actually, I missed that.

I mean, you could say the same for USAID. And I know there's been a lot of talk, some frankly false about, say, $100 million for condoms in Gaza, which is just not true.

But USAID does deliver AIDS medications, saves lives to millions of people in Africa. When folks see the effects of that, do you see any danger for this administration?

GORMAN: Well, I think I think Stephen makes a good point. Right? They're testing the limits of what they can -- you know, what is politically palatable and what's not.

I think -- I think that this domestic spending freeze about a week or two ago was a pretty good example of them understanding, kind of hitting the fence, like, maybe we have to back out from that.

But look, I mean, I think it's politically advantageous. And I think it's -- I'm willing to fight on the battle of, you know, bureaucrats and foreign aid.

I mean, even Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, who folks don't often disagree with -- agree with our party, said these are savvy moves. These are politically palatable moves.

And again, you start getting to domestic spending. That's a different equation. And I think that's also, I think, to Meghan and Stephen's point previously, why you can do some of these things and wait for the courts to sort it out and get maybe, you know, 50, 60 percent of what you want instead of the whole thing.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, said, in effect, not the hill I'm going to die on at this point, talking -- talking about foreign aid.

So -- so, Meghan, what is the hill to die on at this point for Democrats? What is -- what is the message, issue that they should be focusing on?

HAYS: I think that the Democrats should be focused on what message they are going to get out to the voters for the midterms, because if they do not control -- get control back of the House, then that's one less -- that's one less opportunity they have to stop some of these things that Donald Trump's administration wants to do.

So, if I were Democrats, I would be focusing on a central message and how we can win our voters back, and how we can talk to our base again. And how we can really control power and bring, you know, costs down for the middle class in a real, actionable way.

I think some of a lot of this stuff is noise. I think, you know, the Consumer Protection Bureau does do a lot of things with junk prices and with -- when credit card late fees and those types of things, which is beneficial to middle-class voters and middle-class people.

So, I do think that that will be -- you know, people will feel that eventually, but those aren't things that people are going to feel right now in their pocketbooks.

So, Democrats need to focus on the right now, and that is getting a cohesive message and getting that out to -- to middle -- the middle of the country that, you know, actually, these things are impactful, too.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And maybe not just assume that people know. Right? Sort of take it for granted.

HAYS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: They've got to -- you've got to make the case, right? You've got to make the case. And that holds for a consumer financial bureau as much as it does for -- for foreign aid.

Panel, do stick around. I've still got more questions for you this morning.

Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says he is ready to negotiate with Russia.

[06:25:07]

What exactly he wants in return to end Russia's ongoing invasion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Another round of winter storms: 29 million people under winter weather alerts today as heavy snow is expected to hit central and Eastern parts of the country.

Let's go to our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Over the weekend, we had that system that slid across portions of the Midwest and the Northeast, dumping a significant amount of snow. A lot of areas picking up at least a half a foot.

Now comes a little bit of a break before the next round of systems begins to spread in.

Late Monday, we start to see the next system develop over the central U.S. And then by Tuesday, it begins to spread across the Tennessee, Ohio Valley, and eventually into the mid-Atlantic.

[06:30:00]