information. but we're also learning that intelligence officials placed what is known as a red flag on patel's security. security clearance file to document their broader concerns about his handling of classified information during trump's first term. now, we have a statement from a spokesperson for patel saying, quote, the leaking of years old bogus referrals is evidence our government is in desperate need of reform. it's ironic that the same people who try to stir up the phony narrative that kash would abuse power are the very ones abusing power to attempt to damage kash. now, to be sure, all this and more will come up during kash patel thursday confirmation hearing on capitol hill. he's going to face a lot of tough questions from senators before he's ultimately confirmed as the next fbi director. >> one of many confirmation hearings that we are set to hear from trump nominees that could be extremely controversial. zach cohen, appreciate the reporting. thanks so much. and thank you so much for joining us this evening. i'm boris sanchez in for wolf blitzer in the

situation room. erin burnett outfront starts right now. >> outfront next. >> the breaking news. >> a setback. >> for trump from a. >> federal judge. >> who. >> is blocking trump's sweeping federal spending freeze. with seconds to spare. >> it's only a temporary. >> pause, though. >> democrats warning it's a constitutional crisis. >> plus. he's a, quote. >> predator. that is from caroline. kennedy about her first cousin. she grew up with rfk jr.. who faces a grueling confirmation. >> hearing tomorrow morning. >> she is speaking out for the first. >> time tonight. >> and breaking news. the german chancellor calling elon musk disgusting in exclusive comments to cnn. you'll see them first out front. >> let's go out front. >> and good evening, i'm erin burnett and out front. tonight we begin with that breaking news. a federal judge shutting trump down just moments ago. this federal judge rejecting trump's sweeping freeze on an estimated $3 trillion in federal spending. now, the ruling

literally came down seconds before the funds were set to freeze at 5 p.m. eastern. and that ruling stops trump. for now from halting approved government funds from being paid out. now, the judge's order specifically stops the order laid out in this memo, which reads, quote, federal. agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance. words that today, those words plunge. states, schools, hospitals, nonprofits across america into chaos. because federal funding is important for so many of them for part of their budgets. now, the judge also torpedoed the white house's repeated claim that this pause, which obviously is very broad stroked, would not affect individual assistance, writing the government doesn't know the full scope of the programs that are going to be subject to the pause, which makes sense because they said must temporarily pause all activities related to disbursement of federal financial assistance. that is why here in new york, nonprofit groups this afternoon received an email that we found out about that states that their contracts

have been, quote, paused. and we'll see if there's an update after that judge's ruling. but that's what they had received before that. and so then we spoke to the head of citymeals, which provides meals for about 2 million low income seniors in new york city every year. now, that particular group, citymeals, doesn't receive federal funding. so what happened to them today was phone calls. they were deluged with them all day. they said 30 groups in new york city that do get federal funding. we're calling them and asking for help. they were desperate, trying to line up literally meals. the next meal, terrified they wouldn't be able to feed older adults who rely on their services. now, this is just one small example, obviously replicated across the country and tens of thousands of ways. and republicans and democrats have both been demanding answers. just listen to republican dan bacon i hope it's short lived because there's real people that depend on these grants. >> there's no reason for the disruption. >> and there is more than that. a veritable cacophony from

democrats. >> this is cruelty. >> this is lawlessness. this is a heist done on a. >> national scale. >> this is what a king does. >> this is not. >> how a democracy works. >> one man. >> does not decide. how taxpayers. >> money is spent. >> i've never seen anything. >> quite like. >> this in. >> american history. >> we have a constitutional crisis, okay? >> a constitutional crisis, says merkley. but the white house is defiant, suggesting that the rules don't apply because trump won the election. >> the american people gave president trump an overwhelming mandate on november 5th, and he's just trying to ensure that the tax money going out the door in this very bankrupt city actually aligns with the will and the priorities of the american people. >> jeff zeleny is out front, live at the white house to begin our coverage. so, jeff, now you've got this. you know, the order comes out and it's freezing. essentially all 3 to $3 trillion of

this federal spending. and then the judge temporarily halts it. so then now the ball is in trump's court. how far is he going to go to fight the order? >> well, erin, he is likely to go all the way to the supreme court. and that is likely what the end game here is. of course, there are many steps between now and then, but that is what's at issue here. after a very confusing day, really a confusing 24 hours of, you know, which programs are going to be paused, which ones will be halted. and here in washington, they, you know, are on spreadsheets. but across the country they actually affect real people's lives. now, the white house pushed back on the fact that any individual programs actually were affecting individual people. but then they acknowledged that the medicaid portal, which is called, you know, that computer system that sends federal money to the states and the states give it to medicaid recipients, that was not working. so there was some confusion, some overreaction, and just uncertainty throughout the day. so as we sit here right

now, there is this a pause until next week, february 3rd. and then at that point, all the parties have a chance to argue their case again. but the bottom line here to this, erin, is something called the impoundment control act of 1974. sounds arcane. we've talked about it. we'll be talking about. >> it. >> a lot more. that is what the president, he says, that he can decide where the spending is, not congress. of course, that law was passed back then in the nixon era when congress wanted to control the spending. president trump believes that's unconstitutional. his white house counsel's office agrees with him. so that is what is setting up here. so yet one more example of the expanded view of the presidential authority that donald trump has in his second term. erin. >> all right. thank you very much, jeff zeleny. and i want to go now to the democratic congressman jim himes here with me. and it's nice to have you in person. so this judge coming out temporarily pausing, as jeff zeleny points out, that this gets you essentially a week and trump is is, it appears very clear

going to keep pushing it. but it also i mean, what's a week if you're worried about literally lining up your next meals and the example of meals on wheels, which we gave. right. i mean, this is this is a state of limbo. and, and and instability and insecurity for many. >> yeah. >> and you know, look, the constitutional question is not at all up for debate here. and every judge. >> like the last judge is going. >> to say something that we all learned in. >> sixth grade. >> civics, which. >> is. >> that congress. >> has the power. >> of the purse. >> and no. >> the president. >> doesn't have the. >> right. >> to say, sorry. >> congress. >> even though you appropriated. >> i'm not. >> going. >> to spend it. yes. >> under the impoundment. >> act. >> there's very, very limited. >> circumstances. >> not policy related. >> and. >> not because. >> you. >> won an election. >> but there are very limited. >> circumstances under. >> which the president can pause. but what we. >> have here. >> is a full blown. so anyway, my point is the constitutional. >> question here is not complicated. this should go

tthe courts in no. >> but along the way, as you point. >> out. >> the tragedy, yknow, federal. >> energy assistance.>> rignow >> that represent. >> that minnesota, you. >> know. >> tonight whether they should order another round. of heating oil to. keep their houses. >> warm. you know what? >> look. >> i understand that donald trump. >> was elected to disrupt stuff, but i bet he wasn't elected. >> to make. >> people hungry, to make. >> them homeless, and to make sure that they couldn't heat ho> this is about this is even though it said all spending, right. it was to be paused, that this is actually about things about die gender green new deal. you know, they gave us they gave some. well, this is what we really meant. and then the majority leader, john thune, defended it. okay. so i gave obviously don bacon, who was critical john thune defended it. and i wanted to give you his reasons. here he is i think. >> they they. >> are clarifying it. >> and i think this is not unusual for an administration to pause funding and to take a hard look. >> and. >> scrub of how. >> these programs. >> how they're being. >> spent and how. >> they interact with a lot of the executive orders that the president signed.

>> he's saying this is the norm. it is not unusual. >> it's not unusual. >> i mean, i don't know how to respond. >> to that, right? >> i mean. >> what you see there is. >> you're saying it's not only unusual, it's unprecedented. no. >> never has a history. >> in our 250. >> year history. has a president said. >> stop all. >> foreign. >> aid, stop. >> all spending? >> so john thune is saying this is not unusual. no. >> no, it's not unusual. it is. >> completely unprecedented. it is unconstitutional. >> it's causing. >> an. immense amount. >> of pain. and what. >> john thune is. demonstrating there. is the fact. >> that every. >> maybe don. >> bacon is the exception. you sort of put don bacon up there, but, you. >> know. >> every don bacon gave his obviously genuine punched in the gut response. >> right, right. >> because don bacon understands the pain that this. is going to cause. but with the exception of don bacon, pretty much every other republican member of the house and. >> almost every republican. >> member of the senate. >> is a wholly owned subsidiary of donald trump. so. i mean, you heard the president's press secretary who said, the reason we can do. >> this totally. >> unconstitutional is. because he won the election. well, guess

what? right after you win the election to become president, you raise your right. >> hand. >> and you promise to support and defend the constitution of the united states and to see that the. laws be faithfully executed. that is not what is happening here. so what you see in. the president's press secretary and in john thune is the extent to which donald trump owns them hook, line and sinker. >> so something else happened today that i don't know if you've seen on your way here, you might have, but fox news is reporting that pete hegseth, the defense secretary, is planning to pull general mark milley portrait off the wall, which, you know, trump did too. but it goes further than that personal security detail getting pulled. his security clearance is getting pulled. and that he's also looking into stripping milley of a star. so these are very, very serious things. the portrait obviously is the least of it. obviously, milley stood up to trump. trump as as joint chiefs chairman. we know what trump thinks of milley. but what's your reaction? possibly stripping a star security detail, security clearance. >> taking the security detail off of john bolton, off of the people who have been threatened by iran.

>> with death because. >> of the soleimani strike. this comes back to what i just said, which is that. you know. wholly owned subsidiary of donald trump. and if you're a four star officer in the navy or in the. >> marine corps approved that. >> strike or the army. exactly. >> and. you know. >> the. >> iranians, you. >> know. >> were going to go after people. >> and trump pulled their security detail. why is that? because there's a change in the security situation. no, i'm on the intelligence committee. i'm here to tell you, no, there is not. but again, i just said that, you know, the senators and the congressmen are wholly owned subsidiaries of donald trump. he wants flag officers. he wants senior bureaucrats to be what he asked jim comey, remember this? you know, jim comey eight years ago, he said, i want your loyalty. i want your loyalty 100%. >> jim comey said. >> well, i'm loyal to the constitution. he got fired. so the message that donald trump is sending here is that if you're a flag officer and you're doing what you think is right and constitutional, that's not good enough. you do what i tell you to do. and, you know, chris murphy said that that's the action of a king. it's kind of the action of a king. >> all right. well, i appreciate your time. thank you very much,

congressman. it's good to see you. all right. and meanwhile, stephen miller, the president's deputy chief of staff, said tonight that president trump issued the executive order for this reason. >> there were some bureaucrats in the federal government who tried to push out money, billions of dollars for wicked and pernicious purposes that had to be frozen. a guidance memo was written. omb guidance memos are, by their nature, complicated to read because this involves the federal budget. the choice here is simple. it is very simple, and i want to state it clearly. either donald trump gets political control over this government and ends the waste, abuse and and fraud on the american people. or we let bureaucrats autopilot federal spending. >> right out front. now, former governor tim pawlenty and lulu garcia-navarro. so, governor, you know, you get this temporary halt from a judge. this whole thing is going to run its way up. but it does affect people

across the country. the omb order reads in part. and this is, you know, to me, was the most clear, although not clear, part. federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal assistance. you know, when they said, oh, gender ideology and those things, but not limited to those things, all this is pretty simple when you look at it. and this is why you've got now you're going to have disarray or this, this, this time frame of uncertainty. i mean, it says everything. >> i do think it's fair for a new administration to say, hey, look, we're going to disperse these funds, but we want a little time to review certain things and within our discretion, try to decide when and how we might do that within the law. that being said, this was mishandled. and to your earlier point, erin, it could have been categorically said, look, when it comes to things like nutrition. >> and meal programs for. >> needy people, those are exempted when it comes to heating people's homes in the winter. those are exempted. and you could go down the list and get to what they're really after, which is certain things. >> like, d e, i. >> or organizations that may.

>> be facilitating. >> illegal immigration, those types of things. and so good aspiration, bad implementation. >> lulu, you know, i am curious though, you know, obviously he's testing this right to the point of, you know, john thune saying, well, this is not unusual. and you heard congressman himes say, well, no, it's not unusual. it's unprecedented. but there's a pattern here. trump is trying something. birthright citizenship, perhaps another example. he knows the initial whiplash reaction from a court is going to say, no way, no way unconstitutional. but he's testing it. it sounds like again and again. >> yeah. >> you know, i am. >> a student of language. >> and i like to. sort of. hear how things. >> are described. >> and if you hear stephen miller there. apart from the use of wicked, um, you know, he is talking. about the fact. >> that donald trump needs to have complete control., and this is. the project. >> that we know, um, has been trying to be implemented by. >> this administration. >> there is this, you know, theory, unitary executive

theory. that they've been pushing for a long time, which is really empowering. >> the president. >> to make as many decisions as they can to sort of hold the power of the executive in the. >> person of donald trump. >> and so you're seeing these lines being pushed and pushed and pushed with the explanation that they're looking for die or they're looking for, you know, um, fraud or waste. but really by putting a blanket, um, a blanket statement out like this, what they're actually doing is saying, try me. this is my decision, and i'm going to take it to the courts, and i'm going to push this as far as i can. >> so, governor, you know what? what it means on the ground. i mean, just some some headlines. and so we just were looking across the country, right? you're a former governor. um, um, in arizona, chaos and confusion. trump pauses federal aid. new york nonprofits feel federal grants could stop critical charity work. um, you're it's across the country. there's this concern and we're seeing it. if anything, it's just it's confusion and fear, right? are we going to be able to deliver the meals? what do we do, you

know, in already cash strapped organizations. so as a former governor, what does that confusion and fear mean on the ground? >> well, these groups of course, do not like uncertainty. and ambiguity is nobody's friend. it's not the administration's friend, nor is it the recipient's friend. so getting this cleaned up, this judge's orders will give at least a week. they'll have time to issue further clarifying memos, which they probably should have given some more homework to this before they issued it. but on the ground, if you're an operational person, you're running a meals program and you say you have enough cash to get through next week, and all of a sudden you're out of cash, that's a major problem. and guess what? you do? you call your congressperson and say, get this fixed, right. >> all right. so you're speaking as a governor, lulu, i am curious. susan collins, today, the senator republican, said i was surprised at its breadth when she referred to the memo. republican senator kevin cramer said it's a pretty major test of separation of powers. and that that is really and it's interesting because, governor, you were saying, well, they could look at certain things in some pauses, but to this issue

of controlling the power of the purse, and it is that is sixth grade civics, right? this is one of the few things that everybody would learn at that point. that's really what this is testing, isn't it? >> it's testing the fundamental separation of powers in this country. and that's why, you know, having this happen so early, you're seeing democrats talking about a constitutional crisis. et cetera. et cetera. democrats really didn't want to be in this position to sort of have to stand up to donald trump so early. they wanted to hold their fire. they wanted to let donald trump, you know, sort of shape the administration in the way that he saw fit. but this goes to the heart of what congress does. these monies had already been appropriated. they had already been approved, and they were only supposed to be disbursed to these many organizations, trillions of dollars across the country. and i think the silver lining, perhaps, for this, for the american people, is that now they'll understand perhaps what the federal government does for them and what the federal dollars do.

>> it's an i guess there's an odd silver lining in it. all right, lulu, thank you, governor. thank you. i always appreciate spending time with you. and next, caroline kennedy breaking her silence, she waited and she waited. but then on this final night, she decided to speak out, taking on rfk jr. before his confirmation hearing, revealing some rather bizarre family truths. >> he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks. >> plus, the breaking news germany's chancellor, like you have never heard him before. coming out today, the chancellor of germany calling elon musk disgusting to our fred pleitgen, fred is going to tell you exactly what happened and how this exchange happened. and north koreans tonight, in their own words, tonight for the first time, explaining what they are doing, fighting for putin. it's an incredible story. and it's an outfront exclusive. >> this park.

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with xfinity mobile. >> made on shark tank. >> buy now at boost oxygen.com on. >> amazon and at major retailers. >> nationwide. >> anderson cooper 360 tonight at eight. >> on cnn. >> tonight, caroline kennedy speaking out for the first time in a scathing note, calling her cousin rfk jr., a, quote, predator, saying president trump's pick for secretary of health and human services is unfit, perverse and, quote, addicted to attention and power. now the letter, which she also read, comes a day before rfk jr.'s much anticipated senate confirmation hearing. kennedy, reading the letter aloud, urged senators to reject her cousin. >> we grew up together. it's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because bobby himself is a predator. i watch his younger brothers and cousins follow him down the path of drug addiction his basement, his

garage, his dorm room were always the center of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks. it was often a perverse scene of despair and violence. bobby is addicted to attention and power. bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children, vaccinating his own kids while building a following, hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs. >> i mean, it's unbelievably, you know, harsh to hear. the opposition has been fierce, even from trump's own party, for totally different reasons. a conservative group founded by former vice president mike pence released this new ad tonight. >> a lot of people think that junior is a conservative. he's not. he's more liberal than anybody running on the democrat side. don't think you're going to vote for him and feel good. he's a radical left democrat. i'd even take biden over junior because our country would last

about a year or two longer than it would with junior. it would collapse almost immediately. >> that was before they joined forces, of course, out front. now, the president of that group, advancing american freedom, tim chapman. and, tim, i appreciate your time. so i want to start with your ad. you're putting a lot of money into your own. rfk jr.. messaging tonight. have you heard any response from republicans who are deciding whether to confirm him tomorrow, which is actually what president trump wants them to do? >> yeah. well. >> thanks for having me on. first. >> let me just say. >> i mean, when president trump is right, he's right. and on this one, he called it right there in the video that you just played. >> he was. >> very clear. >> in that video about rfk jr.. >> s past. >> positions on issues. >> that. >> are. >> important to conservatives. >> now, yeah, we are hearing from senators and senators, staff. >> and various. >> people around. >> around capitol hill. here's the issue. there are 6 to. >> 12. >> senators that would. >> like to have a permission structure.

>> to vote against this. >> nominee, because they know. that there are reasons that they. >> fought for their. >> entire lives. many of them are pro life senators, right? >> i mean. >> just to get to. >> the core of this, this for many people that you're talking about, this is about abortion, which is actually something where caroline kennedy and democrats would agree with rfk jr.. 100%. right. your issue is that. >> yeah, our issue is abortion. i mean, look. hhs oversees a. >> multibillion dollar budget. it controls. >> abortion policy in the united. >> states. >> and whatever merits rfk jr.. brought to the campaign and could potentially bring to the administration, it. >> does not. >> warrant putting him at the top of. >> this particular. cabinet agency. so we. >> would like to. see the. >> president get. >> a. >> redo here. and we would like to. >> see pro-life. >> senators tomorrow in the hearing. and on. >> thursday in the help. committee hearing, ask pointed. >> questions about the. >> life issue and get. >> them on the record. >> all right. so, you know, i just want to play a little bit more of what caroline kennedy had to say today, because obviously she laid out serious

concerns about her cousin, which which are not the ones that you share. i mean, not that you're not going to do a double take when you hear someone talk about putting animals in a blender to feed their hawks, right? i mean, i'm sure you're like, wait, what? like everybody else watching going, wait, what? what? okay. but she also talked about drug addiction and being a predator and some pretty horrific things. but then she said a lot of these transgressions were a long time ago, but he's still not fit. but i wanted to play something else that she said, here it is. >> that was a long time ago and people can change through his own strength and the many second chances he was given by people who felt sorry for the boy who lost his father. bobby was able to pull himself out of illness and disease. i admire the discipline that took and the continuing commitment it requires, but siblings and cousins who bobby encouraged down the path of substance abuse, suffered addiction, illness and death. while bobby has gone on to

misrepresent, lie and cheat his way through life. >> so. so tim. again, i know your issue with him is is really on a topic like abortion, as you've been very clear, um, where of course, you and caroline kennedy would, would disagree 100%, but i'm more curious as to your view as a conservative here on this issue of of changing. is there such a thing as somebody moving past all of the things that she lays out and deserving of a true second chance? or if something like this, putting aside your view on abortion? >> yeah, of course. >> there is. i mean, look, not not even just as a conservative as a human being, i agree with her. i admire that he's gotten past a lot. of this stuff. i do think that shows character. >> i think that shows growth. >> i also am glad that. he's struggling. >> with his position on abortion. >> he's always been pro-choice, but he's. >> trying to moderate. >> that position. >> and as a pro-lifer, i welcome converts. >> but we don't have to have.

>> real time. >> discussions about this. while he's head of a cabinet agency. >> okay? >> that doesn't mean. >> that he that that warrants. him being leader of hhs. so what i would say is i would i would encourage people to yes, he deserves attaboys for that. sure. but let's. >> put him in. some place in the administration where. >> he can focus on what he was really good at in the campaign in terms of bringing some new voters into the coalition and talking about lifestyle issues. >> that. >> are important. >> all right. well, tim, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. we'll be watching those hearings tomorrow and next. the breaking news, germany's chancellor tonight going head to head with elon musk, taking on trump's closest ally. >> he is intervening in favor of right wing politicians all over europe. and this. >> is. >> really disgusting. >> disgusting. well, china now mocking u.s. tech giants for losing the ai game after a little known chinese startup turned the ai world upside down, shark tank's kevin o'leary,

with a serious warning about that next. >> it's the news. welcome back. >> but it's also. >> kind of. >> not the news. >> came dana bash. >> do that. >> you know. >> there's three. >> lesbians on. >> this panel. >> am i one. >> of them? >> if you. >> drink tap water. >> and your balls still work, please clap. >> no, michael. >> we don't fact check it. we don't care, man. >> why all the information on this show so terrible? >> have i got news. >> for you returns february 15th on cnn and stream next day. >> on met éireann. >> you'll be back. emus can't help people customize and save with liberty mutual. >> and, doug. >> well, i'll be. >> only pay for what you need. >> liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. >> for more than a decade, vasagar has been trusted again and again and again. >> for s. e. cupp.

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>> all there is with. anderson cooper. listen wherever you get your podcasts. >> breaking news disgusting. that is the word used tonight by germany's chancellor olaf scholz about elon musk exclusively to fred pleitgen, it's a remarkable moment. i mean, this is a major u.s. ally, the leader of a country going on the record to call out elon musk, who is now glued to president trump's side and call him disgusting. it comes as musk is under intense scrutiny for supporting germany's far right afd party, which includes members who have been convicted or convicted of using nazi rhetoric. so fred is out front in berlin tonight. and fred,

this is incredible. just watching this. i mean, this jaw dropping moment, this exchange that you have with the chancellor of germany. so what more did he tell you? >> yeah, it's. >> remarkable in many ways. we caught up with olaf schultz, the chancellor of germany. >> on the. >> sidelines of a campaign event that he had here in berlin. and, of course, elon. >> musk has been attacking. >> olaf schultz. >> left, right and center. >> he's called him incompetent. >> but then. >> at an event for. >> the far right afd here in germany this weekend, he also said that germans need to get over what he called the historic guilt of. >> the holocaust. >> now, that's definitely. >> not something. >> that. >> you joke around. >> or take lightly. here in germany, of course, the. >> holocaust is something. >> that's. >> still ever present. dealing with the holocaust is still. >> ever present. >> here in the society as well. and so olaf schultz actually got really emotional. >> when i. >> asked him. about how elon musk has. >> been inserting. >> himself into germany's political process. >> here's what he said. he is. >> openly advocating for the afd. he has said that germany needs to get. over its historic.

>> guilt for the holocaust. >> and he's attacked you personally. are you going to raise. >> this with donald trump? >> i disagree completely with elon musk. >> and what he's doing. what is new is that. >> he is intervening. >> in favor. >> of right wing politicians. >> all over europe. and this. >> is really disgusting. >> and i'm absolutely. critical about what elon musk. >> said about. >> the history. >> of germany. >> this is. >> the week where we are remembering the freeing of the last people in the concentration camp of. >> auschwitz. >> and i'm absolutely clear there is. >> a. >> responsibility of. germany that. >> will continue to. >> be a responsibility. >> we are. >> very happy about. >> the united states that freed our country and helped us to become a. >> democracy again. >> and this is. why i'm. >> so angry about. >> elon musk intervening. >> for the far. >> right. and elon musk also. not acting.

>> adequate to this. >> killing of so many jews and other people in europe done by germans in the past. >> so that was olaf schulz there. speaking to me. earlier tonight, and he really. >> made a. >> point of coming. >> out and speaking to us and. making those. >> points, erin. and certainly he's. not alone. there's also politicians from other german political parties who have made the same points. >> as well. >> also, members. of society. there were. german historians who also came out and said elon musk simply doesn't. >> know. >> what he's talking about. and even germany's ambassador. >> to israel says. >> it's clear that elon. >> musk does not. understand germany's history. >> aaron. >> fred, thank you very much. really incredible conversation there that fred had. harry enten is here with me now. i mean, harry, this is huge world news. you have the chancellor of europe talk about elon musk and his support of far right wing politicians, as this is really disgusting. and that is why i'm so angry about elon musk intervening for the far right and elon musk acting inadequate to this killing of so many jews.

i mean, these are unbelievable comments to actually think that these are happening, you know, on the international sphere, it is obviously huge news. but he is not speaking into a a void. no, he is speaking out into a world where musk's standing has changed. right? i mean, tell me something i don't know. >> i'll tell you something. >> you don't know. >> elon musk isn't. >> just off germans. he's off americans, too. >> you can see this in his. >> net favorability rating. you know, once. >> upon a time, elon musk was pretty well liked nationally in the. >> united states. >> you know, plus 29 points back in 2016, by the eve of the 2024. >> election. >> he was. >> down to a minus three. >> and now of january. >> 2025, he's down to -13. that's going. >> in the wrong direction. >> he's falling down the mountain. >> like i do. when i. >> try and skate. >> he is. >> at this particular. >> point, not. >> a popular man, neither in germany and certainly not in the. >> united states. well, that's a precipitous change to okay, so then, you know, he's always with trump. yeah. now let's just talk about, you see, such a precipitous decline for musk. is that related to trump in any

way? i mean, how do how do their popularity measures line up? >> donald trump is a more popular. >> guy. than elon. >> musk is. that's the bottom line. >> again, you look at. >> that. >> net favorable rating. >> you see donald. >> trump hanging right. >> around that zero mark. >> you see elon. >> musk there with a -13. if anything. >> musk is pulling trump down not the other way around. >> with trump. pulling musk down, it's musk who's actually potentially someone who can make trump less well. >> liked in this country. i know personally of people who have gotten rid of their teslas because of elon musk, but that is seems to be at least very much the exception, not the rule. right? people say that not many people actually do it. i guess the real question is, is this impacting business? >> i don't think it's helping business. >> because if you look at. >> the. >> global deliveries of teslas, what you see. >> is you. >> had real growth in 2022 and 2023. >> look for the outstanding in 2023. >> fantastic. >> but in 2024. >> for. >> the first time in. >> a very. >> long time, in fact, there. >> was a drop a drop year over year. >> so look, this. >> isn't helping elon musk. >> there are a. >> lot of things going on in the

car business. >> but this relationship ain't working. >> for him. well, it just came on a day where, you know, gm and ford were, you know, actually looking pretty pretty sparkly. >> pretty sparkly. >> they look saquon barkley. all right. thank you very much. and next. china ridiculing the u.s. as their new ai app blows away the u.s. competition. so okay, we tested it. if you ask it a tough question about china, what does it say? >> has chinese. >> leader xi. >> jinping ever. made a mistake? i am sorry, i cannot answer that question. >> well, and an outfront exclusive tonight, north korean soldiers for the first time explaining their role in putin's war against ukraine. it's an exclusive. >> kobe didn't want to be one. >> of the all time greats. he wanted to be. >> the best. >> he may be the one to self-sabotage everything he's ever wanted. >> that's when the black mamba was born.

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>> lines filled instantly. >> and deep wrinkles reduced in four weeks. it's clinically proven. >> i'm melissa bell in. >> auschwitz-birkenau. >> and this is cnn. >> tonight china mocking the u.s. after its little known ai startup shook silicon valley in the world, wiping out $1 trillion in u.s. stock market in one day. it killed nvidia yesterday. there are some of the trending posts on chinese social media. deepseek makes meta panic. deepseek overturns the u.s. stocks overnight. the chinese startup claims that it made a chatbot that rivals american models at a small fraction of the cost. marc andreessen, calling it a sputnik moment. but there are clear differences when the app gets questions about china, right. we talk about truth and accountability and what are these things really do? well, here's just a stark example. watch this from our own ivan watson. >> has chinese. >> leader xi. >> jinping ever. made a mistake?

i am sorry, i. cannot answer that question. >> okay, well, any sane person could answer that. xi jinping, hopefully in his heart of hearts, could answer that. so we asked the same question to american made chatgpt, and we got a long answer. it noted covid, lockdowns, unemployment rate, human rights concerns, all sorts of things. on mistakes made by xi jinping. outfront now, kevin o'leary, chairman of o'leary ventures, one of the sharks on the hit television show shark tank. and i'm so happy that you're here so we can talk together. okay, so when you look at deepseek, which deep, deepseek deepseek, sorry, deepseek seek, it's a okay. it's something way bigger than a $6 million app. i mean, you're saying actually, when you look through the prism of this, in a sense, the u.s. is already at war with china, and deepseek is really on the front line of it. >> well, let's just take the premise that they built it with an old computer with $6 million. i call bs on that. what they did is they ripped off 50 or. >> 60,000 chips from nvidia in.

>> the black market somewhere, and basically this is a state sponsored enterprise, and they've done something very smart. listen i'm going to give them credit. they've basically built a free app for you that you can download. and then it scrapes all your emails. >> so if. >> you're if you're the if you're the supreme leader and you think that tiktok is going to go dark and you're losing your number one access to americans information, why not just leak out something like this? >> it's like a trojan horse. >> it's. and they've done this with other apps as well. while we're going through this debate over the next 6 to 8 days as to the fate of tiktok, they've got lemonade, which is owned by bytedance. they've got another one called mao's little red book. and these things. >> i mean, mao's little red book is hardly trying to disguise what. >> this is. this is on a chinese server. yeah. and so the idea i think you would do this if you're if you want to have other lifeboats, as you think your main tiktok is sinking. right. but there's a much bigger issue here. if you don't think we're in an economic war with

china, you would be wrong. if you don't think we're in a race on technology, you would be wrong. if you don't think we're competing to become the world's largest economy. that's what they're trying to do. if you think, do you think, erin, they would allow us to create an app in china where the american servers sitting here, the chinese downloaded and we scrape their emails. there's not a chance in hell they would let us do that. so why are we letting them do that here? the law that we created to deal with tiktok is the same law that could stamp this thing out. this is taking americans information for the benefit of the supreme leader. it's spyware all over again. >> right. and you use, you know, you say an economic war, an ai war. it's not a military war, hopefully ever, but certainly not yet. but that you've got front lines established. >> if you want to be the supreme country and you want to control militarily, you need the best ai for defense, right? and there is no question about that. so we have to make sure that we fund

our ai development for defending north america and our principles of democracy. this is not a democratic product. you can't get any information about the supreme leader. you just saw that guy try. the supreme leader is supreme. the bot knows nothing about him other than he's absolutely fantastic. and that's the way it should be. if you're supreme. >> all right, so you mentioned tiktok. you've got that offer to buy it for $20 billion. you've been looking under the hood more microsoft. trump says microsoft's in there. you know he's he wants to spark a bidding war. how sad on winning this are you as you look under the hood, are you still gung? >> let me make a statement. i think we should all think about, regardless of who's going to buy it. there is no scenario for any buyer that can take the existing algorithm and manage it. in the united states, that is not allowed by the law of any iteration of the act of congress or the decision by the supreme court. so who's ever thinking of buying it has to have a new solution to where the american

data is maintained. so obviously we have a solution that says we're not buying the algorithm because we know we can't. so we're talking to oracle as everybody that's interested in it is because they're hosting it right now. there's 5 million lines of chinese code. >> i got to ask you one more thing before you go because you're half canadian, right? >> and half american. >> half canadian. i mean, you know, you're. >> my family. but, you know, i look at it, my my kids are born in boston. they're they grew up in i feel like i'm a citizen of both countries. >> okay, okay. well, you know, don't tell that to donald trump, okay. but in all seriousness, in the context here, you know, canada, the 51st state and all these comments he makes about it. so google's made this decision to update the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america. right now they say they've done that before. now when you do it before and it's denali mckinley, it's on us soil. american. you know, the american president issues an executive order. fine. the gulf of mexico is international waters. there's a whole international thing that deals with that. you know, we all you know, it's more complex. persian gulf, arabian gulf. okay. does

does trump changing this name and google going along with it as, as they have. and they're explaining their move. but does any of this make you squeamish. any of this, you know, sort of taking it? i mean, i know it can be silly, but sometimes things like names matter a lot. >> no, if i'm if i'm google and my policy is to take government issued data and put it into my mapping product, i'm not going to change my policy just because trump has decided to rename this gulf gulf of america. but when i look the same gulf up when i'm in the uae or britain, it's going to say gulf of mexico because they haven't changed their policy over there in terms of what they name these oceans. so it makes sense to me. i don't think it's that controversial. i think, you know, if people don't understand trump after 12 years, they're never going to understand trump. you got to separate the noise from the signal. the signal is important. the noise is bombastic, interesting. >> all right. well, kevin, it's great to see you. thank you. all right. and an outfront exclusive next. for the first time, we're going to take you inside. what

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feeling better. get boost oxygen at major retailers. nationwide health. >> is here. >> anderson cooper. >> 360 next. >> on cnn. >> tonight, an outfront exclusive, disturbing and graphic new images of a north korean soldier setting off a grenade under his face as he fights alongside russians in ukraine. he blew himself up to avoid capture. just think about that. nearly 12,000 north korean soldiers are fighting as part of kim jong un's alliance with vladimir putin, and cnn has gained extraordinary and rare access as north korean soldiers, in their own words, reveal their brutal and sometimes suicidal tactics. nick paton walsh is here tonight with this exclusive story. you will see first here, out front. >> are ah. these are the first. >> images on the ground. >> of the. >> capture of. >> north korean troops by ukraine. the soldier.

>> is injured. >> can hardly walk. >> but they spirit him away. russian shelling. >> intensifies to. >> prevent capture. >> a wild. >> prize pulled through. >> their wires here. from brutal fighting. >> in russia's kursk region against. >> a radicalized near-suicidal enemy. >> but one who'd never. >> seen drones in war before. >> the special. >> operations forces who fought them told. >> us no one. >> really knew. >> city of polokwane. >> it would be. >> there's a unique challenge here. >> ukraine wants. >> to take captives, but the north koreans seem to prefer to die. they shoot one. >> here in. >> caution. in the distressing images that follow. they pull.

one injured korean's leg, then realize he has a grenade. he detonates under his chin. >> his last words were to scream. >> north korean leader kim jong un's name. south korean officials say it's nothing. five. maybe we meet the ukrainians who show us the faked russian military papers he was carrying, suggesting he was from russia's far east and his military radio codes. another paper, handwritten pledges of brainwashed courage. >> coy wire. >> judge merchan narendra modi yantar. durunda sergio gor. chi onwurah. >> these notes from a soldier killed. really? a snapshot of the mindset inside the hermit kingdom. declarations of loyalty, even tactics on how to fight ukrainian drones, and also the suggestion that their presence here is about helping north korea prepare for war.

it's a remarkable insight, but also a reminder of how this biggest land war in europe since the 40s is becoming more global, but also a glimpse of the fear they live under, how they inform on each other. notes from an officer writing a critique of his fellow soldiers joseph ruta to. ukrainians filmed themselves taking dna samples from the dead, which they say prove these were korean. ukraine says up to a third of the 12,000 here are already dead or injured, and more are coming. amir shows us the newest ak 12 rifle and backpack russia gave the north koreans. they are overladen with ammo, he says, but sometimes no body armor or warm clothes and

minimal water. >> carry. >> just. >> as amorphophallus titanum. >> know each. >> year this thermal drone video shows that speed of attack below a seven ukrainians in a trench facing 130 north koreans above who race at them and then try to flank them. many died here, but they seemed to be learning. >> who the drone. but the only. >> sergio gor. nick paton walsh.