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vindicating violence. trump pardons more than 1200 january 6th defendants, including people who viciously beat police officers and later an escalating threat. >> china is operating the panama canal and we didn't give it to china. we gave it to panama, and we're taking it back. >> president of panama is now speaking out about that. good morning. you are live in the cnn newsroom. i'm jim acosta in washington. we start with the major crackdown on undocumented immigrants that is expected to begin at any time now. after president trump declared an emergency at the southern border, city and state leaders across the country are preparing for a potential wave of mass deportations. the administration, already shutting down the app that

allowed migrants to apply for asylum, leaving many of them in limbo. ya todo estaba logrado se viene abajo todo dio mio. >> qué va a pasar? y me pregunta? qué va a pasar? qué le doy a mi nino? no tengo ninguna respuesta. porque no sé qué va a pasar con nosotros en la calle. >> e.r.a. un tenemos una manera de legalmente hacia los estados unidos. y ahora sido completamente. el bano de sacrificio para nuestro pais. miles de baha'is para ayudar diciendo hacia un golpe muy, muy, muy duro. >> trump is also beginning the fight to remove constitutionally protected birthright citizenship here in the u.s. here with us now to discuss is democratic congressman robert garcia of california. he's on the homeland security committee. and, congressman, thank you much so much for being here. i do want to talk to you about trump's border czar saying today is the day when he takes

the, quote, handcuffs off of ice. what are your thoughts right now as we're starting to see what looks like the beginning of these mass deportations? >> well, i think first, what's really important is i think everyone agrees. of course, we want a safe border. we want a secure immigration system. but what trump has proposed and what he's trying to do is inhumane, illegal and against the constitution. this idea that we're somehow going to start these mass deportations of people who, by the way, who are these folks? these are the folks in our kitchens and our favorite restaurants. these are the folks that are working hard in, in our offices and businesses, taking care of our kids. people in our kids are going to our schools. we're going to do these mass deportations across the country is completely inhumane. and this idea that we're going to somehow remove united states citizens, people that were born in this country because one of their parents or their parents might be undocumented is completely illegal. and so we've got to be very clear that what donald trump wants to do is not supported by a majority of the american people. it's inhumane, and it's not what this country was actually founded on.

>> and i'm sure you saw this. trump signed an executive order attempting to revoke birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants born here in the u.s. opponents say of course, this violates the constitution's 14th amendment. what are your thoughts on that? >> i mean, completely unconstitutional. i think he's going to continue to try to push and push to do things that are actually not allowed under the law. but we know that donald trump doesn't care about the law. he's someone that continues to break the law, support people that are that are criminals. he pushes the boundaries of what the courts have said. and unfortunately, we have a supreme court that oftentimes bends the knee to whatever donald trump wants to do. and so i think we're in a very dangerous position. and that's why i'm hoping, and that's why we're hoping that that the courts actually push back on this because it's not constitutional. what he's trying to do. >> and i did want to ask you about the inauguration yesterday, elon musk, i'm sure you saw this. the head of the new department of government efficiency, he he spoke yesterday and during his speech he used a hand gesture that

looked like a nazi salute. let's watch that. >> you know, there are elections that elections that come and go, some some elections are, you know, important, some are not. but but this one, this one. this one really mattered. and i just want to say thank you for making it happen. thank you. >> after this moment went viral, congressman, the anti-defamation league released a statement. we can show this saying in part, it seems that elon musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a nazi salute. of course, if you go on social media, there are lots of other people with lots of other opinions and say this looks very much like a nazi salute, no matter how they're trying to clean it up. what was your reaction to that? >> that was a nazi salute. and he didn't just do it one time. he did it twice for emphasis. and if you talk to anyone,

that's historians, folks who actually study the nazis and study this actual kind of disgusting display will have been very clear that what that was and he should not just apologize, he should be condemned for those kinds of actions. so gross, disgusting, but more of what we can expect, i think, from elon musk and donald trump. >> and i do want to ask you about trump pardoning nearly all of the january 6th rioters. we mentioned this at the top of the program. you actually visited the d.c. jail where some of these defendants were detained. what are your concerns about about this? because, i mean, there's obviously the potential for some of these rioters, some of these people who attacked the capitol to go out there and re-offend. i mean, what happens if one of these pardoned criminals goes out and commits another act of violence? >> well, let's be real clear. what donald trump did. he completely went in and essentially pardoned commuted sentences. some of those violent people that that, that we know of, whether it relates to damage and trying to

overthrow our government. these are people that stormed the capitol because donald trump told them to do so. they attacked police officers, police officers, as you know, were either greatly harmed. some died after the attack because of what happened, and they desecrated the capitol offices, storming the house, the house floor. and yet, donald trump, with the stroke of a pen, frees them. i mean, these are dangerous people. many of them should not have access to guns, should not have any sort of access to being out in the public. i visited these folks in the d.c. jail on behalf of the democratic house conference. >> what did you find when you went to the jail? >> first of all, they had no remorse. they kept chanting, let's go, brandon. they kept saying they were proud of what they did. these are people that should no business being free and certainly should be held accountable for their crimes through the court process. and so, look, donald trump did a lot of shameful things yesterday. i think this is the top of one of the worst. >> and what do you make of this idea that we heard bandied about before the inauguration that, well, this time around,

donald trump will be different, things will be toned down. he'll be much more, um, you know, closer to the to the middle of things and maybe learn the lessons from the last time around. did what did today and yesterday tell you about all of that? >> i mean, the opposite of that is, you know, what we're going to see is the opposite of that. he's going to double down on what he knows. he can get away with. the man was told through the court system, through his supporters, through the election, that you can break the law. you can you can attack people, you can be racist. you can essentially support the most wealthy in this country, bring in billionaires to help run the government, and then you're going to be rewarded. and so i think that we've got to be very clear that donald trump and his administration is going to be a threat to our democracy and a threat to our institutions, and we've got to push back. >> all right. congressman robert garcia, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. all right. coming up. happening now. more of trump's picks face questioning up on capitol hill. doug collins, the nominee for secretary of veterans affairs, is in the hot seat right now.

that's senator rick blumenthal at one of the hearings taking place up on capitol hill. collins was a republican congressman from georgia. as a colonel in the air force reserve and the senate foreign relations committee is questioning congresswoman elise stefanik. she is trump's nominee for un ambassador. stefanik serves on both the house armed services and intelligence committees. coming up, some of the most violent january 6th rioters are getting a pass from president trump. a look at the most egregious offenders next. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres saturday at nine on cnn. >> home. it's where we do the things we love with the people we love. celebrating. sharing. >> living. >> so why should aging mean we have to leave that in the past?

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approximately 1500 for a pardon? yes. full pardon? >> just hours into his second term, president trump essentially erased the largest criminal investigation in u.s. history. the president has granted clemency to more than 1500 people charged in the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. more than 140 police officers were injured during the seven hour siege, which led, directly or indirectly, to the deaths of four trump supporters in the mob and five police officers. michael fanone, a former d.c. police officer, highlighted in this video you can see right there and others tried to block the assault. fanone suffered a concussion and was attacked with his own taser and went into cardiac arrest. here is his reaction to the mass pardons. >> i have been betrayed by my country. rest assured, i have been betrayed by my country. and i have been betrayed by those that supported donald trump tonight. six individuals

who assaulted me. uh, as i did my job on january 6th, as did hundreds of other law enforcement officers, will now walk free. >> cnn's katelyn polantz joins us now from the dc jail, where the first two defendants were released overnight. caitlin, what are you seeing? what happens next? >> well, jim, there are there's the expectation that more of the people detained at this jail, this local facility, a holding facility, essentially will be released this morning overnight. the two men released were brothers. they had just been sentenced on friday. and the. and the judge sent them to jail immediately. and they both were convicted and sentenced for assaulting police at the capitol. there are a smattering of folks here, someone with an american flag right now. there's someone with a maga hat on. there's another person who actually was among the capitol rioters here. he's here

often holding vigil with many of the january 6th rioters supporters. they're here waiting to see if they can get word on who else will be coming out this morning. there is the expectation people will be coming out quickly, and we're seeing in other places across the country prisons, federal prisons where people are serving time after having been sentenced. those people are being released. that includes enrique tarrio, the leader, the chairman of the proud boys extremist group convicted and fully pardoned by donald trump. he had only served a little bit of a 22 year federal prison sentence he had been given by a trump appointed federal judge. and then another man, stuart rhodes, the head of the oath keepers. he, too, is being released from federal prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy. sentenced to 18 years in prison was these releases are happening. people are cheering, especially on social media, where a lot of

supporters, family members of capitol rioters speak out. one of those people, the mother of enrique tarrio, saying that this is giving her son his life back. another person being released today whose sentence was commuted. dominic pezzola, the man who was among the proud boys to be the first person to break a window to go inside the capitol, leading the riot in. he is expected to be released as well. was sentenced to ten years in prison. now the people in prison are serving much longer time. the people in this holding facility here at the d.c. jail are often here just until they're sentenced. but some of them have been here for a significant amount of time as their cases are moving forward. and the people who were still awaiting proceedings in court, their cases are being dismissed. we're seeing i'm seeing many of the updates in the court. cases come in like rapid fire this morning with the trump justice department ending those cases and telling

judges, dismiss them with prejudice, meaning make it so they can never be brought again. >> all right, katelyn polantz, thank you very much. i want to take a moment to mark a stark juxtaposition in american democracy. this was president trump at his inauguration in the capitol rotunda up on capitol hill, speaking after being sworn in as the 47th president. but take a look at this. this was the exact same room four years ago on january 6th, 2021. his supporters walking through some storming through the rotunda after breaking into the capitol. look at this split screen. four years between those two photos. let's continue this conversation. joining me now is tim hafey. he was lead investigator of the january 6th committee. tim, good to speak to you again. thanks so much for joining us. first of all, just your your reaction to these pardons. we just heard katelyn polantz lay this out. we're not just talking about people who broke into the capitol and walked around and that sort of thing on january

6th. we're talking about people who are convicted of seditious conspiracy, people who were convicted of assaulting and assaulting police officers with american flags, and so on. >> right, jim. exactly. look, this is there's no argument here that these facts did not occur. i'm not hearing in the president's announcement or any of the folks who support him suggesting that it didn't happen. it's rather an excuse of the violent conduct. that's what's so frustrating and so outrageous in such a threat to the rule of law. oftentimes with pardons, there's been some new evidence emerge. or there's a question as to guilt or innocence that's not present here. these are people, as you said, many of whom were convicted of or pled guilty to engaging in acts of violence. that conduct has been excused by these pardons, which it really is a horrible threat to the rule of law. >> and just a couple of weeks ago, jd vance, the new vice president, made a clear

distinction between the rioters and the attackers who were there up on january 6th. let's listen to this. >> if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. and there's a little bit of a gray area there, but we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. >> i mean, that is quite a contrast to the action. president trump has taken. >> yeah, he disregarded that advice. the jd vance is right, jim, that there is a range of culpability among those convicted of offenses at the capitol. there are some who are convicted of misdemeanor offenses, trespassing or destruction of property, others who are convicted of things as serious as the advocacy of the use of force against the u.s. government, the seditious conspiracies. these pardons make no distinction between the most culpable and the least culpable. it's important to point out everybody the least to the most culpable has been

convicted for acts, not speech, that there's this false narrative that these are political prisoners prosecuted because of their political beliefs. absolutely false. everyone from the least to the most culpable, was only charged with things that they did not. things that they said. >> and, tim, i mean, how do you sort through some of the big questions at play here? i mean, you have the president of the united states referring to these people, many of them when they went to jail and so on, as hostages. he has attempted time and again to rewrite the history of january 6th. many of his allies and supporters have attempted to rewrite the history of january 6th. but you and i, we could look at this video that we're showing our viewers right now with our own eyes. we can listen to the violent assault that occurred. we can look at the injuries to people like michael fanone. we understand what the truth is. and yet the president of the united states continues to lie. and i use the word lie because it is a lie. by calling these

people hostages. are you concerned about the long term damage to what the truth is about january 6th? >> yes, jim, i think what we're seeing here is the straight up justification of violence. right. there used to be a sort of a baseline in this country, regardless of party or ideology, that we don't abide violence, that we have a system in which you can raise your hand and express a strong perspective, but you can't take the law into your own hands and act violently. these pardons justify violence in the name of this cause. in the name of these lies, this false narrative that the election was stolen. that's a new frontier. and i do think that's extremely troubling. >> and are you concerned that a message has been sent that you can get away with political violence in this country? >> yes. look, if you accept the premise, as i do, that criminal consequences deter bad conduct,

then the excuse of criminal conduct arguably emboldens similar criminal conduct. so, yes, i do worry that there's this this sense out there that people can get away with committing acts of violence because there's this backstop or there's this protection currently in the white house. and that does make me fear for future spasms of this political violence going forward. >> and, tim, i'm sure you heard this yesterday, donald trump, on a number of occasions accused people on the january 6th committee of various acts of malfeasance, destroying evidence and so forth and so on. what is your response to all of that? i know you know it. it is not true. but i wanted to give you a chance to respond because the president was on tv all day yesterday making this comment over and over again. >> yeah, again, jim, i've said this repeatedly, as have the members of the committee. there is nothing destroyed. there's no evidence that has been hidden. everything that the select committee found was made public, was preserved, was sent

to the archives. and there are really there is no there there it is yet another lie and extension of the big lie of election fraud, that there has been some sort of nefarious conduct. it's just inaccurate. >> all right. tim hafey, there is still such a thing as truth, and there is still such a thing as lies, and we'll sort them both out and lay them out for the folks to decide. tim hafey, thanks so much. appreciate it. one of the people trump pardoned is the man who assaulted capitol police officer brian sicknick. sicknick died the next day of strokes, but the dc medical examiner said all that transpired on january 6th played a role in his condition. sicknick's family just released a statement. i want to read the whole statement to you. this is what they write. there are no words that adequately describe the pain of losing brian and the suffering we have endured every day since, never to end. the pardons are intended to end a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated on the american people to begin the process of national reconciliation. you can see

that in quotes there. it is up to the american people to decide whether this purpose will be achieved, involving far more serious questions than how our family feels about the death of a son and brother, and the undoing of the justice that was previously determined by the court sentencing of brian's assailants. it is our hope that the truth of what happened that tragic day will survive. irrespective of partisan political objectives. we are proud of our son's defense of american democracy and the continued efforts of his fellow officers to safeguard the seat of government and the constitution which guides it. our hearts go out to them as they cope with all that has occurred, and we pray for their strength and fortitude to continue their important mission lockerbie, february 16th on

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rocket money today. >> i'm oren liebermann at the pentagon, and this is cnn. >> president trump is laying out his top priorities with a wave of executive orders. one of them is making waves in the gulf of mexico. >> a short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america, and we will restore the name of a great president, william mckinley, to mount mckinley, where it should be and where it belongs. >> that drew a hearty chuckle from hillary clinton. while many republicans stood and cheered, the order calls for all federal government maps and documents to reflect the changes you heard. trump, also talking about his order to

change the name of north america's tallest mountain, denali, back to mount mckinley. undoing president obama's decision that restored the peak's native name. the white house says these actions will, quote, honor american greatness. in the meanwhile, meanwhile, during his inaugural address, president trump also doubled down on his pledge to take back the panama canal. >> we have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made. and panama's promise to us has been broken. the purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated. china is operating the panama canal, and we didn't give it to china. we gave it to panama. and we're taking it back. >> a quick fact check. false. that is false. china does not operate the panama canal. panama has run the vital waterway since the u.s. turned it over in 1999. panama's president rejected trump's comments, saying, quote, the

canal is and will continue to be panama's and its administration will continue to be under panamanian control with respect to its permanent neutrality. joining us now is democratic congressman jim himes. he's also the ranking member of the house intelligence committee. congressman good morning. thanks so much for being with us. what did you make of trump using his inaugural speech to repeat his vow to take back the panama canal? is there going to be a war in panama? and the united states is going to seize the canal? or is this just stuff that he throws out there? and you don't take it that seriously? >> yeah, jim, the answer to your question is no. but, you know, as i sat there and i must say, i sat there, i went to the inauguration, i went to the luncheon afterwards, and i said, look, i'm going to force myself to be open, to be optimistic that there will be ways to work together. but then the very next thought is, you know, donald trump probably won because my party took its eye off the economic ball on the cost of chicken on inflation. and donald trump promised to fix that before he became president. now he is president and he hasn't fixed it. and

what he's doing right now, it's a hunger games thing, right? don't look over here. look over there. look at the panama canal. look at mount mckinley. look at all these crazy high school football pep rally. things that i can say to you to get that little adrenaline rush so you forget the fact that there is no way i'm going to deliver on the economic promises i made. so it's a distraction. and by the way, jim, it's a dangerous distraction. we you know, the panama canal has a long imperial history, right? teddy roosevelt basically stole parts of colombia to build the panama canal. and yes, it's important to us, but when when you treat a country like panama, the way the president treated panama yesterday, colombia notices, venezuela notices, brazil notices, argentina notices. these are countries that we need economically. and there are countries that are absolutely essential to working with us to stop the flow of fentanyl into this country. so i guess the short way of putting that is that there's really nothing good about this new president deciding he's going to emphasize, you know, taking back the panama canal. >> well, you mentioned the countries in latin america noticing, i assume china

notices, too. >> yeah. look, i think china i mean, if the president can say we're going to go take the panama canal, i mean, couldn't china say, okay, well, then i guess that means we can take taiwan. look, i think china is sophisticated enough to see exactly what president trump is doing, which is a game of distraction away from the issues that really matter to the american people. you know, jim, i look at polling every once in a while and i can tell you that panama or the name of mount denali, is not on the top 50 list of american concerns. so the chinese understand that this is a distraction mechanism. and i think they're probably happy that now panama, which is a critical ally, we've got military in panama. the canal is really pretty important to us now. they've been subjected to, as you pointed out, a series of lies, that we've been treated badly, that the chinese run absolute lies. and the chinese are saying, you know what? the president trump is gratuitously, for no apparent reason, damaging american relationships with critical allies. pop the champagne folks in beijing. that's what they're thinking. >> well, it's interesting because, i mean, you were saying and others have been

saying, oh, don't take this seriously about the panama canal. he's not going to he's not going to do this. but when it comes to january 6th, he was out there on the campaign trail. he was vowing to release the so-called hostages, as he's called them, which is not the case. they're not hostages. and let's talk about trump's pardons of the capitol rioters. i mean, he said he would do this, and he's done it. he promised to do it on a case by case review. and that is not what took place. they were just blanket pardons and commutations. what was your response to that? >> yeah. you know, i said, jim, i you know, i went to the inauguration, i did my best as a democrat to say, i'm going to be i'm going to put as happy a face on this as i can. i'm going to find ways to work with this administration. and then four hours into his presidency, to see the people who attacked this building, who came after me. and by the way, i was one of the last people out of the chamber to see them pardoned, to see them held up as political prisoners. i got to tell you, it was enormously painful. painful for what it portends for the rule of law in this country, but painful for my institution. you know, the very next day, after january

6th, every republican in this chamber had signs on their doors saying, thank you, capitol police. thank you for your heroism today. not one of them is going to say that the pardoning of the people who killed and attacked and wounded and hurt capitol police, that that's a problem. and that just shows you that this place has become, at least in the republican party, a cult, a one man cult. >> and i do want to ask you about president biden's pardons, because could you make an argument that that outgoing president biden undermined the sound and fury that you're voicing right now, and that what we're hearing from others by issuing some of these pardons to his family members and so on, raising questions about the use of presidential pardons. might somebody sitting around the kitchen table in omaha say, well, biden did it. trump did it not? i am not conflating those things or saying that they're on an equal level. i'm just saying that that some americans might do that. and are you concerned about that? >> i am, and, jim, i'm going to do something for you that

you don't hear very often in this chamber, which is i'm going to revert to principle, the principle that the pardon power should be used by the president to reverse miscarriages of justice. and yes, i'm very concerned. i did not support joe biden's pardoning of his son, who was prosecuted by his own justice department. by the way, i did not support the outgoing last minute pardon pardons for members of his family for precisely the reason that you talk about what matters here and what's getting lost in washington today, starting yesterday, is any adherence to principle, any adherence to principle. it's all teams. it's all tribal. so yes, you're going to hear a democrat right now say that what trump did yesterday was an appalling attack on the rule of law. and biden in some ways enabled that by issuing pardons to his family without any reversion to principle of miscarriages of justice. so, you know, again, i'm not going to tell you this is a symmetrical problem. you know, pardoning violent attackers of police officers is different than pardoning your son, who has real problems. but this

country, if we're going to have a democracy, is going to get back to. principle. >> yeah. and congressman, we have just a few seconds left. what is going to happen to ukraine? >> jim? you know, here's the very short answer. we know how the president talks about it. but marco rubio and his national security team are people who i think are who understand the stakes with russia. so i'm not i should be, but i'm not as pessimistic about that as perhaps i was six months ago before the appointment of marco rubio and others. >> do you think the secretary of state can say no to donald trump? but we've seen this movie before. sometimes that results in a firing by tweet. >> well, look, you saw the way the president talks about panama. he doesn't know anything about panama. he doesn't know much about ukraine, russia either. so he's famously subject to whoever the last person is that talked to him. so, so long as somebody like marco rubio as opposed to steve bannon, is the last guy to talk to him on ukraine, i feel okay. obviously we don't know if that will be the case, but i think that we're still in the game there, so to speak.

>> all right. congressman jim himes of connecticut, thanks very much. we'll be right back. thank you. jim. >> laura coates live tonight at 11:00 eastern on cnn. >> hi, susan, honey. yeah, i respect that, but that cough looks pretty bad. try this. robitussin, honey. >> the real honey you love. >> plus the powerful cough relief you need. >> mind if i root through your trash? >> robitussin. >> the only brand with true source certified honey at this very moment. >> children at saint jude are fighting to survive with a gift right now. you can join the battle to save lives without saint jude. >> i don't know where we would be. they have given children with cancer like my winston, a chance. she has neuroblastoma and it has spread to her liver. >> i try to enjoy every minute with her because i do not know when

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repair. it has derm proven retinol expertly formulated to target skin cell turnover and fight not one, but five signs of aging with visible results in just one week. >> neutrogena. closed captioning brought to you by book.com. >> if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. call now and we'll come to you. >> 881 4000. >> all right. welcome back. we want to show you some live pictures right now. there's the national cathedral, the beautiful chapel there in northwest d.c. and inside you can see some live pictures coming in inside the national cathedral ahead of the national prayer service, which will be taking place within the next 20 minutes or so. just a few moments ago, we saw the pick for defense secretary pete hegseth. i think you can see mike johnson, the house speaker, right there greeting folks on hand. we're going to keep monitoring these images. we'll bring them to you. if anything interesting pops up. but in the meantime, in a

surprising new development, doge or the department of government efficiency will now operate as part of the federal government, not just an advisory group. after president trump signed an executive order on day one, the office is already facing multiple lawsuits filed just minutes into trump's presidency. they claim doge would violate federal transparency laws. and in another shakeup, vivek ramaswamy, who was tapped to run the office alongside elon musk, is leaving to run for ohio governor. joining me now to talk about this is attorney and white house. excuse me, white collar defense lawyer. seth berenzweig seth. good to see you as always. and i mean, there are some folks who might say the department of government efficiency sounds like an oxymoron. you have a department of the federal government to get rid of government waste. but putting that to the side, is it legal? >> well, the answer is probably yes. and i think as we'll discuss this entity called doge is probably a bit of a hybrid among all the activity that happened here in washington yesterday. there were three cases that burst into the d.c.

courthouse federal doors claiming that doge is violating a federal statute requiring advisory committees to turn square corners if they're going to be advising the president on certain aspects relating to public policy in practice. and it's a very interesting read, because they say that they don't have a charter that needs to be filed with the library of congress and certain federal agencies. they're not operating in transparency and so forth and so on. here's the only problem. it bursts so quickly in the courthouse doors that it was instituted before doge was even authorized to form via an executive order. it's being served against two agency leads that haven't even been authorized to begin their job by the united states senate. so it burst in so quickly that they really got out ahead of their skis, and they arrived before the party even started. yeah. >> and what about the role of elon musk? i mean, people are making a big deal in talking about elon musk being a part of

this. i mean, you know, you have somebody who is the richest man in the world, somebody who has a variety of companies which over the years have had business with the federal government, received different benefits and loans and aid and that sort of thing. and he's now going to be in charge of the office that is going to be finding which parts of the federal government to get rid of, right? isn't there an inherent conflict of interest there? am i asking an obvious question? well, there could be. >> and that's going to be part of the allegations of the case. but on the flip side of the coin, mr. musk has a lot of experience trimming the fat, if you will. and the 47th president has said that this is an individual who can really do a good job putting the constituent body together to at least look at this issue. it burst in so quickly that it really raises the question, why are we even here? why did it even happen? and i think it's principally two reasons. the first is that these folks are trying to throw sand into the wheels to try to slow down the machine of change. this is going to be the biggest change proposed the federal government in over half a century. and the second reason is that they want a seat at the table. one of the

elements of transparency and turning these square corners is they have to be involved in meetings. they have to be able to understand what's happening. there has to be written agenda and soand forth, and they'll probably be included in that. but it's very interesting to see that some of the parties include unions that don't want to have these bureaucrats chopped and have some of these jobs go to, for example, federal government contractors that might be able to get the job done more efficiently. so this is going to be one of the biggest changes in over half a century. and now we have these three cases that will probably end up getting consolidated and combined as the cases move forward in federal court. >> there are a lot of lawyers are going to be busy. a lot of judges are going to be busy. the courts will be busy unpacking all of this. seth berenzweig, thank you very much. we appreciate it. coming up soon, president trump and vice president jd vance will take part in a prayer for the nation at the national cathedral here in washington. we will bring that to you. live when it happens. be right back.

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that he simply just can't agree with the decision that trump made to pardon or commute the sentences of january 6th. attackers, especially those who attacked police officers. he said he does have plans to file legislation later today that would strengthen some of the penalties for people who kill police officers. he also said that he has concerns about what it means for security on capitol hill. here's what he said that police officers could potentially be assaulted and there's no consequence. >> i mean, it's pretty straightforward to me. >> thank you sir. senator, can i just ask you, have you talked to any capitol police officers this morning? what is their reaction? >> well, i haven't talked to them. >> i wouldn't expect them to react because they're professionals. >> and if they're not happy about it, they will probably say that outside of this building, i would expect a single police officer to say a word about it. >> um, do you have concerns about the message it sends? >> uh, well, it's like i said, i think that it it raises, i think, a legitimate safety question here on capitol hill. thank you.

>> now, he also went on to say that in his last hours as president, that joe biden also raised questions on capitol hill because of some of his decisions on pardons. but i just want to point out, you know, tom tillis is up for reelection in the state of north carolina in two years. and i think that this does mark sort of a significant departure and concern. some of the strongest that i've seen so far this morning from a republican. i will say, i also pressed senator john cornyn, who's a member of the senate judiciary committee, on what he thought. he said that this is the president's prerogative to make these decisions. pressed on whether or not he agreed with it, he said that is not the question. jim. >> all right. lauren fox, with some very good reporting up on capitol hill, senator thom tillis, republican of north carolina, saying these pardons of the january 6th rioters are a legitimate safety issue. we'll have more on that in the hours ahead here on cnn. in the meantime, thank you very much for joining us this morning. i'm jim acosta. our next hour

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nation. thanks for america's democracy. and to, quote, seek god's guidance in the years ahead. cnn's alayna treene is live right outside at the washington national cathedral. elena, what will we see during this service? >> well, pamela, we actually just learned that donald trump is on his way here now for that service. both he and some of his family members, but also the family of jd vance, the vice president, are expected to attend the service. i'm also told that the presidential inaugural committee has invited several members of donald trump's cabinet, incoming administration. now, administration officials, i should say, as well as different lawmakers. we haven't seen any of them yet. i'm told they should be pulling up directly to the church momentarily. i have seen some faith leaders, including ralph reed, someone who is a close ally of donald trump. he leads the faith and freedom coalition, but still waiting to see some of the big names from