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Erin Burnett Outfront

Supreme Court Deals Trump Blow, Rules Government Watchdog Can Stay On Job; Trump Admits Russia Attacked Ukraine After Blaming Ukraine For War; Accused CEO Killer Appears In Court As Supporters Rally Outside; Chinese Cancer Drug May Be Outperforming U.S. Competitor. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired February 21, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:34]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Breaking news, testing Trump's power. The Supreme Court tonight just ruling the head of the government watchdog agency can remain on the job despite being fired by Trump.

Plus, facing the facts. President Trump finally admitting the truth, what the world witnessed, that Russia started the war in Ukraine. But is he willing to call Putin a dictator?

And a blow to New York's embattled mayor. A judge not ready to dismiss the DOJ's case against him, and tonight, assigning a new lawyer to review the case.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, a supreme setback. President Trump suffering a temporary blow after the Supreme Court just ruled that the head of the government's ethics watchdog agency can remain on the job despite being fired by Trump.

Now, this ruling is just until the court can take up the case in the next week or two. But it is the first major test of Trump's efforts to reshape the federal government.

And this comes after a federal judge gave Trump the okay to put thousands in humanitarian -- of humanitarian aid employees on leave, dismantling USAID was one of President Trump and Elon Musk's first orders of business. And since then, they've shown no signs of slowing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We created this department, DOGE, and the kind of numbers are incredible. It could be $500 billion, but it could be $1 trillion. Elon is doing a really good job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But tonight, the concerns are growing that Musk's cuts are going too far, even as he's only just getting started.

We're now learning the Pentagon has temporarily paused most of its plans to ax tens of thousands of employees. The concern is that those cuts could affect the U.S. military readiness, according to officials.

Still, Defense Department officials just announcing tonight they'll terminate more than 5,000 probationary employees next week.

And tonight, Trump suggesting his next target may be an agency that every single American relies on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: There are reports that you were considering merging the United States Postal Service with the Commerce Department.

TRUMP: Well, we want to have a Post Office that works well and doesn't lose massive amounts of money. And we're thinking about doing that. And it will be a form of a merger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And on the ground, Republicans are starting to feel some blowback from Musk's decision to take a chainsaw to the United States federal government. In deep red Georgia, Republican Congressman Rich McCormick, facing a barrage of pointed questions and accusations about DOGE's cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's clear from all the writings of our Founding Fathers that our great republic was never meant to be ruled by a dictator, nor a king, who controls the budget, not the president. And you are doing us a disservice to set that down and not stand up for us, and control him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT live at the White House.

And, Jeff, the Supreme Court citing against President Trump, at least temporarily, on his ability to immediately fire the head of the agency that investigates whistleblower claims. How does team Trump view this setback?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, temporarily is the key word here, but this is extraordinary because its the Supreme Court for the first time, weighing in, having their voice on what is sure to be a raft of legal cases that were already seeing from the first month of this Trump administration.

But again, the Supreme Court is stepping in and saying they will not make a decision, basically a lasting decision until next week at the earliest. And this is all about the watchdog, the government watchdog, the head of the office of special counsel, who was put in position last year by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a five year position. This is one of those positions in government that expands and spans the presidential administrations by design for independence.

So there is nothing unusual about that. But the Trump administration tried to dismiss him. And the Supreme Court is, for now, siding with the challenger here and saying that they will rule in a more fulsome way, perhaps as early as next week or hear the case.

[19:05:08]

But that is -- is it to be determined? But we know the Supreme Court has had a vast view of -- of presidential power, the flexing of the presidential muscle, if you will. So this is only the first word. Certainly not the last word, but it's coming as we are really learning more about what judges are doing. And the Trump administration had a slight win earlier today in the case of USAID, as you were saying, the judge there saying that the Trump administration can go forward and begin dismantling the USAID.

Of course, it provides assistance around the world, around the globe. And that had been something that the workers there had been hoping would be a different direction just a couple of weeks ago when the judge put a pause on that, it was viewed that the judiciary may be stepping in here, but there are going to be a lot of wins and losses, there is no doubt. But in this case, there have been several judges ruling on behalf of the administration, saying that the workers here have not shown proper harm.

So the bottom line on all of this, the Supreme Court is going to hear a lot of these cases. So this ruling tonight is a temporary a win for the challengers, I guess, if you will. But again, we know the majority of the Supreme Court rests on the conservative side. And that's perhaps something to keep in mind going forward -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you.

OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, thank you so much for being with us.

And I just want to get your reaction. And I notice your hat, the fire fund there. But I just want to get your reaction to the Supreme Court keeping Hampton Dellinger in his role for now as special counsel, rather than allowing President Trump's firing to go through for now. We should stress.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): The courts are finally catching up to Trumps chaos and corruption. And people in my district, at a town hall on Tuesday night, they're scared, they're concerned, they're anxious. But we're seeing now that the courts can at least be a speed bump.

Of course, as Jeff mentioned, the Supreme Court also gave this guy absolute immunity. So we will see what they do. But the courts can be a speed bump to some of this chaos and corruption. Also, attorneys general in every state in America can also be a speed bump in the work that they're doing to hold Donald Trump accountable, as this affects them. And your top of the hour lead with Donald Trump changing his position on Ukraine.

That is because public sentiment. So we are not helpless either. People at home should know that your reaction, your disapproval of Donald Trump calling Vladimir Zelenskyy a dictator and siding with Putin, that has put Trump in a position where he is now changing those words, whether he changes his actions, we don't know.

But we're not helpless here. And so it's encouraging to see some progress this week.

KEILAR: President Trump said that DOGE could save the country $1 trillion. I suspect you probably doubt that. But I do wonder where you see room for cuts.

SWALWELL: I would love if DOGE could save the country $1 trillion. I hate government waste. In fact, I have. 40 percent of my constituents were born outside the United States and they are frustrated with an immigration process that is almost entirely done by paper and pen. So let's digitize that and reduce the staffing needed and expedite the good immigration cases, and get rid of the ones that are not worthy.

Many people, when they apply to work for the federal government, it takes up to eight hours to fill out their application. That should be done in less than an hour. So there's a lot of efficiencies out there, but I'm worried about DOGE making us less safe. When you get rid of the bird flu monitors who protect us against -- protect the chickens against bird flu, and then keep the cost of eggs down, that does not make us economically safe.

When you get rid of people at the FAA as planes are crashing in America, that makes us less safe. When you get rid of FBI agents who are supposed to watch out for terrorism, that makes us less safe. When you get rid of people at the CDC who are supposed to protect, protect us from a measles outbreak in Texas, that makes us less safe. So in California, when you get rid of firefighters at the Forest Service, as we have unseasonable winds and the fires that have ravaged across southern California and northern California, that makes us less safe.

I'm all for efficiency, but I'm also for protecting the people who count on the government.

KEILAR: I do want to play more of what one voter said to your Republican colleague, Congressman Rich McCormick, at this town hall, and his response? Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 congressman, are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House. [19:10:06]

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. The funny thing is -- the funny thing is -- the funny thing is you're sitting here and comp -- a lot of you would probably say those January 6s who are yelling just as loud as you, who are upset, just like you.

(BOOS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I do wonder what your reaction is, but a noting, as I think we should, that Tia Mitchell of the "AJC" pointed this out earlier. He is in, yes, a pretty red district. This place where he was, it's a -- it's a slight its a bluer part of it in Fulton County.

How much stock then should Democrats put in something, a scene like that?

SWALWELL: Well, they should understand, my colleagues, that people are scared. They're pissed off. They don't want us to be nice. They want us to use the leverage that we have. And also, I reject comparing those peaceful dissenters to the violent rioters on January 6th.

But, you know, Brianna, they have essentially the Trump administration shut down the government. They're shutting down the government with what they're doing on public safety, what they're doing on fire safety, what they're doing on our health safety and what they may go after as far as retirement and health care safeties.

So as we approach government funding in a couple of weeks, we should not, as Democrats, enable the shutting down of services that protect people. They have a one vote majority essentially in the House. They can't lose a single vote to fund this madness. So if they can't put the votes together on their own. We have a lot of leverage to shut down this madness that they are inflicting on the American people ourselves.

KEILAR: Congressman Swalwell, thank you so much for being with us tonight. We appreciate it.

SWALWELL: My pleasure.

KEILAR: And OUTFRONT tonight, Brian Barrett, the executive editor at wired, whose team has been breaking a ton of news about Elon Musk and DOGE.

And, Brian, you just heard us talk about those voters voicing their frustrations with Musk. What's your reaction?

BRIAN BARRETT, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, WIRED: I think it's not surprising. I think on the one hand, to begin with, as a its not surprising that a significant number of Americans aren't excited about the idea of the worlds richest man having free reign to reshape the government however he wants, which is pretty much where were at.

But -- but I think even if you believed in the DOGE project going into this, if you thought that it was going to do some good, what were seeing is not surgical precision strikes to root out corruption and fraud from the government. We are seeing a slash and burn process that is eliminating programs and jobs that are focused on helping American farmers, preventing fraud that affects consumers from -- from financial corporations and preventing diseases and curing diseases.

We are seeing real impacts. And I think as we see those impacts grow after these changes take place, people are only going to get more upset and its only going to become more real as it hits home.

KEILAR: And I also want to get to your new reporting at wired about Tom Krause, the top DOGE staffer at Treasury who is also CEO of a multi-billion dollar software company. It's not unprecedented for a corporate executive to work in the government. There's no evidence he's doing anything improper with these dual roles.

But what are you learning about the federal contracts that his company has?

BARRETT: Yeah, I will say so. It is not unprecedented, but the idea of having a -- keeping your job as CEO and working in government at the same time is surprising. You have to go back pretty far to sort of World War I and World War II for that to be a more normal kind of thing to happen.

We reached out to Tom Krause. We reached out to Treasury. We reached out to a cloud software group, his company. No one got back to us, but what we found was Tom Krause, while he is working in the treasury and has access to federal payment systems or oversees a lot of that. His company, meanwhile, has tens of millions of dollars with the federal government, including over $10 million of contracts with the Treasury Department itself.

As you said, there's no indication that there's any self-dealing going on right now. But on the face of it, the level of conflict of interest is something that we haven't seen in a very long time in this country. And I think the fact that it has been just sort of allowed to go on, no ones raising flags is really concerning, I think speaks to the larger issues, of DOGE representatives going in and trying to transform the government in the sort of startup way, while also potentially benefiting from those changes.

KEILAR: Your reporters also just spoke with the recently fired security lead for va.gov. Tell us about his role and also the potential impact of the firing.

BARRETT: Yeah. So I think there are two things. One, there's the fact of it the firing itself. This guy Jonathan Kamens who was working at the V.A., he was in charge of cybersecurity for va.gov, which is a site where 20 million veterans went to last year alone to work through various benefits, whether its health benefits, retirement benefits.

It's got a lot of personal information in there, a lot of sensitive stuff. And this was the guy in charge of it and he got fired. Now, I think what's important to remember here is and to know is that he was actually had been deployed from a different agency, the U.S. digital service, which would become the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE took it over. He was fired as part of a culling of that agency. And it seems as though the people who fired him may not have even realized what they were doing. They may not have even known that he was also over here trying to protect veterans online.

It's a sort of indiscriminate firings that we've talked about already, where DOGE is just kind of making these big moves without thinking through the implications and leaving veterans online a little bit less safe. There are still people working on cybersecurity at the V.A., but when you lose top talent like that with no real justification that we could find, it's alarming and upsetting.

KEILAR: Yeah, they're not seeking out that important information even as they do these firings. It's really a firings. It's really astounding.

Brian, thank you so much for sharing all the reporting and insights. We appreciate it.

BARRETT: Thank you.

KEILAR: OUTFRONT next. Trump finally conceding it was Russia that started the war in Ukraine, while at the same time tonight escalating his war of words with Zelenskyy again.

Plus, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO back in a New York courtroom today. Why his attorney is now blasting prosecutors.

And China already surpassing the U.S. when it comes to A.I. and now they\re shocking the medical world with a new cancer drug. It's a special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:21:06]

KEILAR: Breaking news, President Trump refusing to say if he thinks Vladimir Putin is a dictator. That's after calling Ukraine's president a dictator twice in the past two days. And Trump keeps bashing Zelenskyy while offering warm words for Putin.

(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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Trump also today finally admitting it was not Ukraine who started Russia's war with Ukraine.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) TRUMP: Russia attacked, but they shouldn't have let them attack.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: Nick Paton Walsh is OUTFRONT in Kyiv.

Nick, you've been covering this from the beginning. It has been a head spinning three days amid these mixed messages from the White House. What is Ukraine saying about the latest attacks from the president?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, they've not responded directly. And this is absolutely a bid by Ukraine to calm this all down. But regardless of their bid over the last 24 hours to get back on track with Trumps envoy here, Keith Kellogg, talking about their negotiations, Zelenskyy is being productive, saying that they've restored hope in the alliance here, even though so much of this is now focused on whether or not Ukraine will sign up to a rare earth and resources deal, that it does appear to be pretty much not in its favor for now, although negotiations continue.

We are, of course, still hearing from Trump these pretty relentless at this stage disparaging comments about President Zelenskyy himself. That is remarkable, frankly, particularly the statements we've heard about him suggesting that Zelenskyy has no cards and that Trump is sick of it, and that the meetings that Zelenskyy has been in for three years, he's not managed to achieve anything, so he shouldn't be at them any more. A consistent suggestion that Zelenskyy is somehow the problem when it comes to peace, and that somehow Russia, who invaded Ukraine, are indeed the ones who would easily stop the war.

That runs counter to so much of the assessments of Ukraine and its own allies, and indeed the Biden administration itself. We're hearing more details, though, about the visit of General Keith Kellogg, kept pretty much under wraps and away from the media. While he was here, he met with Zelenskyy at great length, and it does appear that this whole rare earth minerals situation has overshadowed this visit, as well as the animosity clearly on the surface now between Trump and Zelenskyy.

But Kellogg visited a hospital for the military wounded while he was here. A pool reporting there shows that he visited some wounded soldiers, amputees receiving prosthetics. One of them, according to this pool reporting, asked if it was okay to trust Russia in negotiations like this, and Kellogg paraphrased here, essentially said, look, wars end through negotiations, so they have to try and give something like this a chance -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv for us tonight, thank you so much.

And OUTFRONT now, John Bolton, former national security adviser to Trump, pardon me, also former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Ambassador Bolton, you know why. In your experience, why do you think Trump is attacking Zelenskyy like this? And what kind of damage could this be doing? JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, he's

attacking Zelenskyy because he doesn't like him and he hasn't liked him since the famous perfect phone conversation in the summer of 2019 about basically threatening to withhold U.S. security assistance to Ukraine unless Zelenskyy and his government cooperated in the hunt for Hillary Clinton's computer server and all the other things in that big bowl of spaghetti that people like Rudy Giuliani were feeding to Trump.

On the other hand, Trump believes he and Vladimir Putin are good friends. After all, just a day or two ago, he said that Putin -- he felt Putin was sincere about wanting peace.

[19:25:03]

He trusted him. And he thought that if Putin didn't want peace, he would tell him.

People search for policy reasons on what Trump does. There are no policy reasons. Trump believes that if he has good relations with a foreign head of state, United States has good relations with that country. And conversely, if he doesn't have good relations with a foreign head of state, we're in trouble with that country.

So it's unfortunately pretty straightforward, pretty simple minded. But that's Donald Trump.

KEILAR: And Trump says Zelenskyy, he has no cards to play. He's not important in peace negotiations, that Putin wants to negotiate but doesn't have to because if he wanted, he'd get the whole country. We know he tried and wasn't able to, although he certainly making progress.

You have been in this position of working with Trump's set of alternative facts and sort of the situation that you just described.

So how do these American negotiators manage this and still come up with a workable deal? Is it possible?

BOLTON: Well, I think they could -- I think there will be a workable deal because Trump and Putin will agree to it. And the question is then whether they can impose it on Zelenskyy. I think the test of those who are working for Trump today when he says something like Zelenskyy is a dictator. Only 4 percent of the population of Ukraine support him and various other things, he said, which come almost directly from the Russian propaganda machine.

What are the people around him say? Do they try and say, well, actually he has a lot more than 4 percent, you know, actually the country's at war. That's why they're not holding elections. There are thousands of things they have to correct.

Are they making the effort and failing, which is possible, or are they just not making the effort and saying, yes, sir, which I fear is more likely the outcome? Trump will make up the set of facts that he wants and -- and expect everybody else to conform to them. KEILAR: We heard from National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, he said

that Ukraine will agree to this rare earth minerals deal. He was adamant about it. The White House is pressuring them to sign. The U.S. gets 50 percent of the revenue for Ukraine's natural resources as payback for past military aid.

Let's listen to part of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Here's the bottom line: President Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term. And that is good for Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Do you see Ukraine signing that without security guarantees about the future?

BOLTON: Well, they shouldn't sign it, but they may feel so pressured that they have no alternative since we don't know what the deal actually says, it's pretty difficult to comment on it.

But one can say, in a normal world, you don't extort your friends. You know, I have I have no objection in principle to seeking some kind of compensation for the United States for the aid that it's given, although it was given in the Biden administration without strings. But leaving that aside, you know, if you go back to what the United States did when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, we went out to our friends and allies and basically said, we're going to throw the Iraqis out of Kuwait. You can contribute troops or you can contribute money.

And the vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense and others went out on what they called the tin cup exercise to get people to pay for the war, to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, which they did. I think we actually made a small profit on that war.

So I don't object to it in principle. The question is whether you do it through compulsion and extortion, which Zelenskyy apparently feels is what's happening.

KEILAR: Ambassador Bolton, thank you so much for being with us.

BOLTON: Glad to be with you.

KEILAR: OUTFRONT next, Luigi Mangione, who is accused of assassinating the UnitedHealthcare CEO appearing in court, and his attorney tonight slamming the court for how her client is being treated.

Plus, the judge in the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams makes a major move. Is he signaling that he may not ultimately dismiss the charges against Adams?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:51] KEILAR: Tonight, accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione entering court with shackles on his hands and feet today and wearing a green sweater and a bulletproof vest. Crowds gathering for hours chanting Mangione's name outside the courtroom today, many also wearing green to show their support. During today's 20-minute hearing, his lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, arguing Mangione is not being granted the right to a fair trial, saying the Mangione is being treated differently than other defendants.

I want to go straight to Kara Scannell, who was in that courtroom today.

Kara, you were on the 15th floor with Mangione today. What more can you tell us about what happened inside of court?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, as you said, he walked in, flanked by security, wearing a bulletproof vest and his ankles and wrists both shackled. Now, inside, the prosecutors focused on the evidence that they've recovered and have begun turning over to Mangione's defense team, including police body cam footage, some of surveillance videos. They also say DNA evidence and records from a cell phone that they recovered at the crime scene, the New York Hilton Hotel, where the United Healthcare CEO was gunned down.

[19:35:02]

And they also said they were turning over some of the materials that they received from the Pennsylvania police, who searched Mangione when he was arrested at that McDonald's. And that is where his lawyer started to carve out what some of her legal strategy here might be. She was saying that she thinks that Mangione was illegally searched, and that this evidence should not come into trial. The judge saying he's going to set a motion schedule, that they'll be back in court at the end of June, where they can make some of these legal arguments and he might rule. Then the whole hearing took just about 20 minutes.

But, Brianna, the scene here began hours earlier. We talked to some spectators who showed up in support of Mangione, some wearing free Mangione scarves. Some had said they had lined up as early as 5 a.m. to try to get inside that courtroom. Only about two dozen of them actually made it in.

But the hallway was lined with supporters, majority of them young and female. And outside, there were more supporters. They were chanting free Luigi that we could even hear when we were inside that courtroom for just that 20 minute hearing.

But as this case is moving forward, there is no trial date yet set. But everyone will be back in this courthouse at the end of June -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Kara Scannell, thank you.

And joining us now, CNN legal analyst, criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. Joey, in all your years as a criminal defense attorney, have you ever

seen a spectacle like this crowd, young women cheering, screaming outside of court, even Mangione's lawyer was cheered as she arrived.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah. So, Brianna, it's been 25 years, some as a prosecutor, most as a defense attorney, and I have never seen this. I think it really has struck a chord. And because of the whole implication of the health care industry, people's feelings about it, the fact that it's known for profit, it rejects claims people die. I think people have really gravitated towards that.

So it's highly unusual. I think it's unprecedented. Free Luigi, we saw, right, Brianna. The actual footage where it appears to be an assassination, that's no matter. He seems to have a lot of support, and that could certainly translate to people being on that jury.

And that could certainly translate to getting into a verdict if it goes really that distance, it could resolve itself before that. We don't know. But it could have implications legally to his case. That is people sympathy towards him.

KEILAR: Mangione's lawyer is blasting the NYPD, saying it was, quote, shocking to see an HBO documentary about the case that featured New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD chief of detectives in full hair and makeup, as she put it, talking about evidence that she didn't yet have.

Is this a problem for the NYPD?

JACKSON: Yeah, it's -- it's somewhat outrageous. I mean, just from an objective point of view. Think about that, Brianna. You have a case that's proceeding. You don't even have all of the discovery. That is the evidence that's possessed by Pennsylvania, by New York, by certainly the feds. Collectively, you need to evaluate that, and it needs to be turned over.

And they're on a documentary speaking about things that his defense attorneys don't even know. Talk about being prejudicial, talking about really polluting a jury, talking about having preconceived notions. In this country, it's the presumption of innocence. Yes. We saw what we saw on videotape. That could be a lot more to it. Let's see the defense play out.

But that certainly is not a good optic. And it's not good practice. It's not good form for the NYPD, the mayor or anyone else to be talking about substantive evidence as the case is proceeding.

KEILAR: Yes. So unusual. Joey Jackson, thank you so much.

JACKSON: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: And also tonight, a judge has declined to dismiss the criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Instead, Judge Dale Ho is leaving the charges intact, and he's appointing an outside attorney to argue against the Trump DOJ decision to drop the charges against Adams. OUTFRONT now, Ryan Goodman, "Just Security" co-editor-in-chief.

And, Ryan, the judge did not dismiss the charges against Adams today, even though he himself said he doesn't have much discretion in the case. Does that signal to you that he may not ultimately dismiss it?

RYAN GOODMAN, JUST SECURITY CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: It does signal that to me for a couple of reasons. First, the judge is setting up a process, and that process might kind of reveal information that will be hard to turn away from. If that process reveals an underlying an underlying illicit quid pro quo between the Justice Department and Mayor Adams, then I think he can turn away from that. And then the law does allow the judge to reject the dismissal if it's against the public interest, and that's what might happen. And then the person that he picked as well might mean that this is actually going to be an advocate who will present strong evidence and strong arguments on the other side of the equation.

KEILAR: Yeah. So this is -- the role will be presenting arguments against the DOJ. This is Paul Clement.

Can you tell us a little bit more about him?

[19:40:02]

GOODMAN: So he is a tried and true conservative lawyer. He was solicitor general of the United States as well as acting attorney general. He has appeared before the Supreme Court many times.

And one thing that's quite elegant about Judge Ho's ruling is Judge Ho says, I pick Paul Clement, and then he gives us a citation. The citation is the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, and a very similar circumstance in which both parties were in the same page. And so he didn't have an adversarial, they didn't have an adversarial hearing. And the Supreme Court picks Paul Clement.

So he has a direct quote from the Supreme Court saying, in this kind of situation, we need an adversarial process, and we choose Paul Clement and Judge Ho picks Paul Clement. I think that's a really strong indication that they'll get a formidable argument, and he'll be able to have a fulsome process.

KEILAR: Elegant. We -- who doesn't like elegant? And then Ryan, at the heart of all of this are these allegations of a quid pro quo that the Trump administration would clear Adams of criminal charges if the mayor went along with Trump's immigration crackdown? Are these the arguments that you expect we're going to hear?

GOODMAN: Yes, I do, and there was a remarkable moment in the hearing, which I attended earlier this week, in which Emil Bove, the assistant deputy attorney general, actually says before Judge Ho that it doesn't even matter if there was a quid pro quo. He says, quote, I don't concede and I don't think it's correct that even if there was a quid pro quo, there would be any issue within this motion, end quote.

That's remarkable. He's actually saying even if we did it, you still have to uphold our motion. And I think that's exactly why the judge will, in all likelihood say, I need to go below just the documents you submitted me to me. I need to look at the other documents that are internal DOJ documents, but they're in the public record.

And in fact, one of the questions that he says that hell entertain is whether or not he should look at those documents. And I think it would be a very bad decision if the justice department says he should not, because it's just something that is ordinary for a judge to look at. And I think the Department of Justice actually invites it by saying, oh, you know, just even if its a quid pro quo, its fine. I think there are some quid pro quos that might be fine, but not the alleged one.

KEILAR: That's really interesting.

Ryan Goodman, thank you.

GOODMAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: OUTFRONT next, a vaccine safety panel postponing a major meeting with virus experts. And it comes just days after vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. became the nation's top health official.

Plus, is China on the verge of another stunning breakthrough, this time when it comes to treating cancer?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:46:58]

KEILAR: Breaking news. President Trump has just fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is the first of what is expected to be a number of top officials, Pentagon officials to be purged.

I want to go straight to Oren Liebermann.

Oren, what are you learning?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, this coming out on Friday night, obviously in a post on Truth Social where President Donald Trump has fired the top U.S. military officer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown.

To some extent, this had been expected, and there were rumors and speculation circling, circling in the pentagon about how long it would take Trump to fire Brown. Well, now we have our answer. One month into the administration, Trump announced on social media that he would fire Brown. He devoted two lines of his post to Brown, calling him a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and said he wishes a great future for him and his family.

He also hinted at more firings to come at the top levels of the military, he says I have also directed Secretary Hegseth, that is the new defense secretary, to solicit nominations for five additional high level positions, which will be announced soon. As we reported earlier this week, there are several names amongst the joint chiefs of staff that are on a list circulated to some Republican lawmakers that could be fired. It is also worth noting that Trump says on social media he will

nominate Lieutenant General Dan Raisin Cain to be the next chairman of the joint chiefs. He is a retired three star, so its a fairly unprecedented step here to nominate him to be the top U.S. military officer, not only a three star, but also someone who, as of a few months ago was retired.

KEILAR: Yeah. Very unusual. Oren Liebermann, thank you for that report on that breaking news. And this does come as were also learning tonight that a key CDC committee that studies vaccines was told to cancel its meeting next week on the agenda, flu, RSV and COVID-19 vaccines. This comes just days after vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. was sworn in as HHS secretary. No new date has been set and the postponement is raising major alarms.

OUTFRONT now, Dr. Paul Offit, he's the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He's also on the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee.

Just tell us, Dr. Offit, what are the implications of this meeting being indefinitely postponed?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, MEMBER, FDA VACCINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Well, you worry that it represents something bigger. I mean, in. Project 2025, the CDC is targeted basically to eliminate them as a recommending body for vaccines. So now you have an important meeting and it is important, you know, the -- they were going to discuss, for example, influenza.

This has been a very bad influenza year. We've had 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths. That's worse than the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Why? Do we have a bad match between the vaccine and the circulating strains? Is it that people aren't getting vaccinated? What's happening?

You know, the physician out in the field isn't going to intuit that. They need to know that from these experts, and it worries me that this is just step one in what will be a series of steps to weaken or arguably eliminate the CDC as a body that recommends vaccines for children.

KEILAR: I want to play some of what Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said during RFK's confirmation hearing that ultimately, he said, convinced him to vote yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and. Preventions Advisory Committee on Immunization practices recommendations without changes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Does it sound to you like RFK Jr. plans to make good on what Cassidy seems to think was a promise? OFFIT: No. And worse, now you're hearing that he is considering either

replacing or firing members of the CDC's ACIP, Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, if they have perceived conflicts of interest. Perceived by whom? By him?

You really get the feeling or fear that he's just -- people who don't go along with his sort of fixed, immutable, science resistant beliefs like vaccines causing autism, something he never backed off of during those committee hearings for his confirmation.

KEILAR: Let's listen now to some of what RFK Jr. has said about vaccines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: There's no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.

I do believe that autism does come from vaccines.

I see somebody on a hiking trail with a carrying little baby, and I say to them, better not get vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What worries you most right now in this moment when it comes to the spread of infectious disease and vaccines?

OFFIT: Well, especially measles. I mean, measles is the most contagious infectious disease. And now, you're seeing outbreaks in West Texas and five other states. It's now spread to New Mexico.

I mean, this is a man who, when there was an outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 people, mostly children less than four denied that measles virus, did it? I mean, when you ask him the question, for example, what was the cause of the 1918 flu pandemic? He'll say it was the flu vaccine, when in fact, the flu vaccine wasn't in the '40s.

He actually doesn't believe that viruses are causing these diseases. So how much is he going to believe about the importance of using vaccines to prevent them? Is this really the guy you want as head of HHS? Were there to be a bird flu pandemic, or were there to be a massive measles epidemic or pertussis epidemic? Is this the man you want?

KEILAR: Dr. Paul Offit, thank you for being with us.

OFFIT: Thank you.

KEILAR: Next, did China just take the lead in the global race to treat cancer? We have a special report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:45] KEILAR: Tonight, a major medical breakthrough, a new Chinese cancer medicine is shocking the world with how effective it is. China is now not just leading the way in A.I. and tech, but also in major medical advances.

Will Ripley is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chinese scientists celebrating a breakthrough, one that may have just outperformed a top U.S. cancer drug.

Akeso, barely known a year ago, is now shaking up the biotech world. Their new cancer drug, ivonescimab, their first to get major international attention going head to head with Keytruda, one of Merck's biggest sellers, more than $130 billion so far. Clinical trials in China show it kept lung tumors from growing for nearly twice as long, sending the stock of Akeso's U.S. partner soaring.

Some call it a game changer. Just like Chinese start up DeepSeek shook up A.I.

China's innovation push goes beyond biotech. From A.I. to robotics to medicine, China is racing ahead.

MICHELLE XIA, FOUNDER AND CEO, AKESO: I don't think it will be a threat because, you know, because innovation, science is the global thing.

RIPLEY: Akeso CEO Michelle Xia telling reporters in San Francisco, China's biotech industry is going global.

XIA: We participate more and more to this ecosystem.

RIPLEY: But in China, skepticism is everywhere, especially online.

On the streets of Beijing --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I've never heard of it.

RIPLEY: -- several people told us they've never heard of the company or its drug. This man says he still trusts pricier foreign drugs more.

GU ZIHAO, BEIJING RESIDENT: To be honest, I tend to choose the more expensive medicine. After all, you get what you pay for.

RIPLEY: They may have good reason to be wary. A public hospital scandal over questionable drug quality triggered a government probe last month. China's health regulator defended the drugs safety, saying the investigation found the quality concerns to be unsubstantiated.

But some say they're not convinced.

Is there any reason not to trust China clinical trials? REBECCA LIANG, SENIOR ANALYST, AB BERNSTEIN: Yeah, so there's been a

lot of scrutiny in the past. The FDA has made rejections because there's been -- the trial set up is not rigorous enough.

RIPLEY: Despite the doubts, China's biotech boom is undeniable. Investors are pumping billions into research. And, well, not all clinical trials are peer reviewed, China's low cost, high speed trials are getting noticed. How should patients feel watching this?

LIANG: Well, I think it's good news for patients worldwide when you're waiting for a life saving drug, you don't really mind where it originates.

RIPLEY: The U.S. still leads biotech for now, but Akeso's drug is proof China is closing in fast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): The U.S. House passed the Bio Secure Act, that's supposed to limit business with Chinese firms. Beijing fired back, accusing the U.S. of ideological bias, calling for, quote, here a fair, just and nondiscriminatory business environment.

So, Brianna, as you know, Chinas biotech rise, this is not just about medicine. It's also political.

KEILAR: Very interesting. Very interesting story indeed. Will Ripley, thank you so much for that report tonight.

And thank you so much for joining us.

"AC360" starts right now.