going to cheer you on anyway, okay? ledisi. thank you so much. i'm rooting for you. >> thanks so much. thanks for having me. >> hey, thank you for watching. anderson cooper 360 is next. >> tonight on 360. >> breaking news on the trump musk effort to dismantle parts of the government. a judge put some of it on hold. and the president welcomes a young staffer linked to racist posts online back into the fold. also breaking tonight, elon musk sends the justice department a list of people to investigate, and the dc u.s. attorney promises to, quote, chase them to the ends of the earth. later, a closer look at the people who will be hurt by the gutting of american foreign aid programs and impact it could have on u.s. influence around the world. good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin with breaking news. there's a lot of it, starting with a federal judge

>> as you know, is in the middle of dismantling. u.s. aid literally. today, workers took its name off the building. the gutting is being overseen by doge, elon musk's so-called department of government efficiency, which, as we've been reporting, is not an actual executive department. with the senate confirmed official at the top. nor, apparently have the people working for it gone through the level of vetting, which typically would come with having the kind of access they now have to highly sensitive government functions. today, democratic lawmakers sent letters asking the treasury department to investigate doge gaining access to the treasury payment system, and democrats on the house judiciary committee expressed concerns in a letter to attorney general pam bondi about any conflicts of interest. musk, who's a government contractor, may have. now, during the campaign, at least, musk was all in favor of full disclosure from the government. >> i think like the the strong bias with respect to government information should be to make it available to the public like it should be. let's let's be as transparent as possible. >> well, that was last october,

four days ago, when reporters and others began disclosing the names and backgrounds of some of his staffers. he responded by tweeting, quote, you have committed a crime. and earlier tonight. more breaking news. in a letter to musk, dc u.s. attorney ed martin vowed to investigate people on a list that musk sent him. it refers to, quote individuals and networks who appear to be stealing government property and or threatening government employees and promises, quote, we will chase them to the end of the earth to hold them accountable. martin goes on to say, quote, i'm proud that we have been able to assist local law enforcement in protecting the doge workers and others over the past week or so. well, today, one of those workers who resigned after the wall street journal uncovered racist posts of his apparently got his job back. his name is marko elez, and he was linked, among other things, to a series of anti-indian posts, including a message declaring, quote, normalize indian hate. today, vice president vance, whose wife usha is indian-american, tweeted in the man's defense, it's worth quoting in full. he wrote i obviously disagree with some of elez posts, but i don't think

stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life. we shouldn't reward journalists who try to destroy people ever. so i say bring him back. if he's a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that. keeping them honest. this person is 25 years old. he's not actually a kid, but even if he were a kid and therefore not responsible for what he says, the question then is what makes him adult enough to have his hands on the treasury's payment system and the $6 trillion a year that passed through it? the president today seemed just fine with it. >> the vice president says bring him back. what do you say? >> well, i don't know about the particular thing, but if the vice president said that, did you say that? i'm with the vice president. >> a short time later, elon musk tweeted, he will be brought back to err is human, to forgive divine, and in a larger sense, musk and company seem to have the president's backing pretty much across the board. >> is there anything you've told elon musk he cannot touch? >> well, we haven't discussed that much. i'll tell him to go here. go there. he does it.

he's got a very capable group of people. very, very, very, very capable. they know what they're doing. they'll ask questions and they'll see immediately as somebody gets tongue tied that they're either crooked or don't know what they're doing. >> one other item concerning those very capable people asking the question sees the president's term, in this case, the 19 year old doge staffer named edward coristine, who also was known online by the handle big balls. cnn has learned that bibi has now had access to the treasury department's $6 trillion a year payment system, that he was fired from an internship in 2022 for, according to his employer, then allegedly leaking internal information to competitors. that doesn't sound like a good thing, or certainly sounds like something you might want to know about. as for any doge member having access to that treasury system, there's yet more breaking news. cnn has just seen an internal treasury department threat assessment. it warns that doge access poses a, quote, unprecedented insider threat

risk. the memo continues, saying if doge members have any access to payment systems, we recommend suspending that access immediately and conducting a comprehensive review of all actions they may have taken on the system. so a lot to get to, including new action that the president just took toward former president biden. cnn's jeff zeleny starts us off at the white house. so president trump is clearly standing behind musk and the doge folks when he's asked about them in public. has the white house been surprised by any of these actions or controversies? >> anderson. surprised, yes. i mean, they are not directing elon musk in his lieutenants exactly what to do on a daily basis. there are no meetings in the oval office or the cabinet room where a president would normally send orders to people in his government. that is not the case, but concern. no. i mean, i do not detect talking to a variety of advisers really all week here is that we end our third week of this new administration, much sense of alarm or concern that they are following things in real time on social media, in the mainstream

media as well. they like what they see. they like the fact that this government is being shaken up and is being shrunken and dismantled in some respects. so there were white house staffers who were literally a gleeful watching that split screen today of the the letters coming down at usaid. but that does not mean they're not surprised. they are learning things as they are being reported. but you saw the president there. i thought it was very telling. he said, we've not discussed much. and that is true. they are sending elon musk and the officials throughout the government now to the pentagon, department of education. but again, it's a mission that they are learning about after the fact, not beforehand. >> and, jeff, i understand there's late word of action president biden is taking against former president. excuse me, president trump is taking against former president biden. what's that? >> we learned that as the president was flying down to mar-a-lago, where he is spending the weekend, and in fact, meeting with senate republicans there tonight at this hour. and he is revoking the daily

intelligence briefings of president biden. this is something that if it sounds familiar, it should. four years ago, president biden did the exact same thing. he said that because of the erratic behavior, both before and after january 6th, he did not believe that that donald trump deserved access to these intelligence reports. president trump seems to be taking it one step further, saying that he also wants to revoke the security clearance of joe biden. but i'm told that former presidents do not actually have security clearances. when you're president, you have security clearances and you can look at anything you want. when you're a former president, you do not. but the daily intelligence briefings is something that is a significant and it's something that joe biden did four years ago. in fact, on the same weekend of the super bowl. and he described it during an interview on cbs. we know that this is the super bowl as well. president trump likely to talk about it as well when he does his interview on fox tomorrow. anderson. >> jeff zeleny, thanks very much. joining us now, cnn political commentators, ashley

allison and shermichael singleton, shermichael. i mean, if musk is doing, you know, at the treasury and elsewhere through doge what he did at x, which is, you know, slashing the number of workers. is that a good, uh, is that a good sign? because the value of x has dropped like 75%? >> i think it's a good sign, depending on who you're cutting. so i think one can make the argument, anderson, that a lot of the duties and obligations of usaid could potentially be merged under the state department. i don't actually see a problem with that. that would allow you to probably lay off a significant portion of the existing staff. you could probably also cut the budget in half, potentially. that to me, would would be a more operationally sound decision to make. so hey, if we're going to reduce the size of this particular agency, we want to reduce the budget, merge it under the state department, allow it to be under the purview of secretary marco rubio, and then go from there. the state

department has great relationships across the globe. i think they would absolutely be able to manage those humanitarian efforts and continue on with great work. >> ashley, do you buy that? i mean, there is you know, there has been criticism over the years among some diplomats and others that that usaid is sort of this very independent agency at times. the counterargument to that is there's some 10,000 employees who have built up expertise over lifetimes or entire careers and have been doing very difficult and dangerous work without much pay, and that they have expertise that's going to be lost. >> do i buy it? no. and let me tell you why i think this is not just about usaid. this is about an attack on the federal government. if you've ever been if you've ever lived in a town or have family members that live in a town that have a plant or have a factory, new management comes in a lot of times and they just disregard the workers. workers who have made their whole career, who feed their

families, put food on the table with these jobs and they just lay them off. they don't care about those workers. and that's what elon musk is doing right there. he is the new management for the federal government, and he is just disposing of these employees who have are not making millions and millions of dollars working at usaid or at the department of education, or in the federal government. and he's just disposing of them. and my my warning is, why is he doing that? it's not to bring the cost of eggs and milk and bread down, because that's not happening right now. it's so that he will get a tax cut. at the end of the day, it is so that the rich continue to get rich and the workers continue to suffer. and so i just warn the american people, this is not about a federal agency staying open or closed. i think there's a constitutional constitutionality argument that we need to also talk about. but this is about the sanctity and the dignity of work and how you treat workers and how you treat people who are committed to being public service, public servants to our country, and you just dispose of them. and that is how elon musk treated twitter

when he just laid off all those employees. that is how he is treating federal employees. and my warning to the american people, that is how he will treat you as well. >> schmeichel does it. does it michael schmeichel, does it bother you at all that you and me, and really nobody has any idea what elon musk and his, you know, coterie of engineers and people are, are doing. like, shouldn't there be transparency? >> that's a fair critique. i'm not opposed to to to folks being transparent, letting people know what exactly you're doing. i think the aims are quite notable, but i continue to hear this argument from a lot of democrats that there, you know, these great agencies are benevolent in nature. they're doing great work. there's a lot of skilled people with a lot of wisdom and experience. and if i'm being honest, anderson, if you're analyzing the efficacy of some of this work, then you do see a lot of problems and waste and fraud and abuse in some instances throughout the federal government. and so for all of these talented people there that we have had for 20, 30 years, why haven't they used

their combined talent, wisdom and experience to improve the overall output of the job that they're doing, whether it's internationally or domestically for the american people? and so i think to attempt to address that is certainly not a negative thing. now, we can argue about what's the best vehicle to accomplish that mission. but the premise, we certainly should not dilute or discard. >> but that's a specious argument. i mean, two things can be true at once. there can be waste and fraud in a large organization, and there can be immensely talented people who have worked, you know, 20 years in niger who are experts at crops in, you know, western africa. and you are kicking that person out after, you know, they've been working very hard, they don't have control over the entire budget of u.s. aid, but they are experts in their field. you can have. i mean, you're making argument as if you have. why isn't the person who's an agricultural expert. >> in, you know, and you know, what you could do with a person like that, what you would do in the private sector, you can hire them as an advisor if you're going to downsize. that way, you

maintain that institutional knowledge and experience. that's a simple fix to that problem. >> but i guess my. >> my, my thing is this is about efficiency. just because you move fast doesn't mean you're efficient. and elon musk doesn't actually know what he's doing. what usaid probably even does. he doesn't know all of these programs. he's just releasing people. that is not an efficient way to do it. so what you're telling me is that you're firing people, and then you're going to rehire them because they're now going to be an advisor. that's not an efficient way to run a federal government. >> no, that's not my. >> argument of employees. >> no, no, that's not the premise of my argument. my argument is, look, if you're going to downsize, i agree with you. let's let's go line by line. you run a business, i run a business. let's see where we can make cuts. if there are individuals with great institutional knowledge and experience, you do either want to maintain them within the institution or if you're going to let them go because you're worried about cost and you would typically bring them on as an advisor for a set amount of time to maintain that. that's exactly how i would do this process. >> and actually, i want to show you the latest time magazine cover with elon musk behind the resolute desk in the oval office. president trump was

asked about it today. i just want to play what he said. >> is time magazine still in business? i didn't even know. >> that at the time magazine. >> elon is doing a great job. he's finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste. >> it's funny because i mean, famously, this is a president who has been fascinated by being on the cover of time magazine and, you know, had pictures in his golf courses and stuff. it is interesting, though, at least so far he seems publicly not to be bothered by all the attention that musk is getting no he doesn't, but until as he will be eventually, i mean, we're only i know it feels like it's been 15 years, but it's only been like 15 days of this administration. >> and so the thing about that photo, though, that is not just like maybe something that would aggravate donald trump. it is that when even people ask donald trump, what is elon doing? he does not know what it is that elon is acting without the order of the president. it's just go on and do something. and when

that happens, donald trump, when he doesn't know what is happening and somebody does something he doesn't like, he often fires them. so i think that this this relationship may last longer than some of us have expected, but i don't think it will last for the four years of this administration. >> ashley allison shermichael singleton, appreciate it. coming up next, more on the list of names that elon musk sent the d.c. federal prosecutor and what musk may want him to do with it. and later, cnn's fareed zakaria on what he believes the impact of losing u.s. aid and what that could have around the world on not only people's lives, but also on u.s. power and influence. >> lockerbie, february 16th on cnn. >> what's up, castle nation? it's your number one broker with the best full service wealth management skills in the biz. >> actually, i've seen something from schwab. >> uh oh. yeah. >> schwab lets you invest and trade on your own. >> and if you want, they can

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>> more now on one of our breaking items tonight. elon musk sending d.c. u.s. attorney ed martin a list of people who musk claims appear to be in martin's words, stealing government property and or threatening government employees. now, this follows several days worth of reporting, including on this network, about staffers with musk department of government efficiency. for more, we're joined by cnn chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid and former deputy assistant attorney general eliot williams. so what more are you learning about what or about whom elon musk may have referred to the justice department to and why? >> yeah. in this letter that the acting u.s. attorney posted on x, he doesn't say how many people he's investigating who he's investigating. he merely says that he's received this referral about individuals who appear to be stealing government property and or threatening government employees. this is incredibly unusual. this is not how federal investigations usually start with an official letter that is blasted out on social media, especially so early in an investigation where not much evidence is likely gathered. also, the language used in this letter further down

he said, quote, we will chase them to the ends of the earth to hold them accountable. i've never heard a federal prosecutor say anything like that. they usually conduct their investigations in secret. but clearly, the acting u.s. attorney wants attention for this effort, even though it's unclear exactly what it is he is doing. but this just adds to sort of the chaos and confusion around doge. and in speaking with a lot of current and former federal officials, they believe that's really part of the goal here, is to create fear and confusion, to drive people out of public service. >> and by the way, elliott editor martin was a former stop the steal advocate, i believe. he promised elon musk that he would pursue, you know, to the end of the earth. what do you make of this missive by him? >> oh, goodness. anderson. now, a couple of things. big picture. there's nothing wrong with any citizen of the united states, be they elon musk, a member of congress or whatever else, making recommendations or

referrals for prosecutions. that's a common practice. and quite frankly, we ought to encourage it. if people see wrongdoing or crimes being committed, the problem here, frankly, isn't elon musk. it's the prosecutor. he has, number one, committed, as paula said, to opening an investigation with the justice department. never does. we would get referrals all the time and never make a commitment to investigating. you simply say thank you and move on. the other thing, and there's another really big problem in the letter, is that he says that he they're committed. people have even acted simply, unethically, not even talking about law breaking or prosecuting people simply going after people for ethical lapses, which is also something that the justice department simply would not do. this is sweeping in scope and just not behavior that i have ever seen in 20 plus years. as a prosecutor or practicing attorney. >> paula, do we know specifically what martin is referring to when he says that his office has been, quote, able to assist local law enforcement in protecting the doge workers

and others over the past week or so. >> so we only know what martin tweeted out in another letter about a week ago where he again publicly announced that he was going to work to protect doge workers, who he says were publicly targeted. of course, no one wants people doing their job to be harassed or targeted or threatened in any way. but again, it's very unusual for a u.s. attorney to announce something in a formal letter. also, unusual language in this letter because he said, quote, we will not act like the previous administration who looked the other way as antifa and black lives matter rioters, as well as thugs with guns trashed our capital city. now, this is the same acting u.s. attorney who has ordered an investigation for certain prosecutors involved in january 6th and even fired some prosecutors involved in january 6th. and this is after trump pardoned nearly everyone involved. >> so he is portraying january 6th as antifa and and others.

>> he's just saying that they allowed antifa and black lives matter rioters, as well as thugs with guns to trash the capital city, but make no mention of the fact that he has been involved in undermining one of the biggest criminal investigations the justice department has ever undertaken. of course, that being the one into january 6th. >> so, elliot, are there any outstanding legal questions about the level of access to government data that's been provided to musk and his doge team? or is that moot as long as the president gives his blessing? >> oh, no. there's there's certainly whenever dealing with private data for individuals, social security numbers, background information, financial information that is all incredibly sensitive, protected data and typically, you know, only people with requisite clearances and a need to have access to that information would get it. under normal circumstances. now, these certainly are not normal circumstances, anderson. so i would assume that there are just going to be more lawsuits to come as people's data and privacy is to be breached if it is to happen. people have a right to file suits over this

information. it's one and two. just as a prudential matter, we simply good government means safeguarding and securing information and data. it is. it has worked quite well for several hundred years and hopefully it will keep doing so in the future. but i guess it remains to be seen. >> yeah. elliott williams, paula reid, thank you. coming up right now. more now on some of the people we've been talking about tonight and ever since we began learning their stories, the men and women on musk's doge team, their stories now from cnn's kyung lah. >> so here we have luke farritor, who is winning the first ladies prize on behalf of the vesuvius challenge. >> thank you. luke farritor was the first person to decipher a word from an ancient scroll that had been buried in volcanic mud for centuries. >> but for the kind of the first part of the challenge. through july, i was interning at spacex and just kind of doing this in the evenings and weekends. it's weird for us.

>> he went on to win the grand prize in a global competition. a 22 year old undergrad at the time. >> my friends were there and i was cheering, jumping up and down, you know, screaming, crying, all the stuff i run most of the things from my laptop. it's just a normal macbook, don't worry. but then i've just got like five surplus computers in here. um, this is what i do. most of my work from. >> what he does now is work for doge, the department of government efficiency, headed up by elon musk who's brought in a group of gifted young engineers, some in their early 20s, with no prior government experience. their current job assignments unclear, but it is clear they're part of the trump administration's plan to slash government agencies. democratic senators sent a letter to the white house describing how doge staff has seemingly unfettered access to classified materials and americans personal information in federal court, government lawyers said marko elez had read only access to a highly sensitive payment system

at the treasury department. >> ignition. liftoff. >> elez, who previously worked at spacex, has been the center of attention. his doge position was terminated after the wall street journal uncovered racist and eugenic posts on an account linked to him. but then elon musk, the vice president, and trump himself, weighed in. >> the vice president says bring him back. what do you say? >> well, i don't know about the particular thing, but if the vice president said that, did you say that? i'm with the vice president. >> another doge worker, edward coristine, who called himself big balls on social media, was fired from an internship with the data security firm called path network in 2022, accused of leaking information to a competitor. a spokesperson telling cnn his contract was terminated after the conclusion of an internal investigation into the leaking of proprietary company information that coincided with his tenure. the injection of unconventional outsiders is alarming. some

federal employees. this man, who spoke at a virginia congressman's town hall this week, didn't identify himself out of fear of retaliation. >> we had elon musk in our building, and after he visited the building, he called for a 50% cut of the entire agency. my colleagues are getting 15 minute, one on one. uh, check ins with 19, 20 and 21 year old college graduates asking to justify their existence. >> most of the hires are connected to elon musk's companies, like ethan shaotran. >> this is a really exciting time for young folks, for old folks, for for everyone. >> he was a runner up in a hackathon contest put on by x.ai, an artificial intelligence company musk founded. xiao tran spoke in 2023 about how a.i. will change the future. >> really, for the first time in modern history, it's not the physical laborers, the farmers, factory workers who are being displaced, but it's the white

collar workers, the knowledge workers, the engineers, lawyers, doctors, teachers. and for a lot of the folks in this room, that's really scary. that's really concerning. >> now, xiao tran is a special government employee. a source tells cnn gavin kliger on linkedin lists his job as special advisor to the u.s. office of personnel management. a 2020 berkeley graduate, kliger worked in silicon valley for twitter and then for a data intelligence company. he spoke about that work at a conference in 2023. >> additionally, any system with a human in the loop is not going to scale well. >> in blog post last year, kliger wrote about two of donald trump's then nominees and showed himself as fiercely loyal to the now president. kliger recently removed a substack post where he charged $1,000 to subscribe and read why doge why i gave up a seven figure salary to save america. >> and kyung lah joins us now. were you able to look at that at

his substack and find out why he joined the team? >> well, we did not pay that $1,000. so no, we did not take a look at that. we did though, try to contact all the hires that we were able to identify. we also tried to reach their family, their friends and classmates. we didn't hear back from anybody. we did though, see a post from elon musk about marko elez. he is the doge employee who was cut. he was let go because of that connection to those racist and eugenic posts on a twitter account associated with him. elon musk said he's getting his job back. writing on x, quote, he will be brought back. anderson. >> all right. thanks very much. up next, more on the fate of u.s. aid and the impact on millions of people's lives and u.s. security and influence in the world. fareed zakaria joins me to discuss that also. would you vote for someone found guilty of trying to overthrow or destroy the united states government by force? a key figure in the january 6th riots

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better everywhere. >> for the best deals, go to shop mando dotcom. >> 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. >> 800 821 4000. >> more now on our breaking news. a federal judge blocked the trump administration from putting more than 2000 workers at usaid on leave. the agency manages tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid programs. also, this today, just a few blocks from the white house workers, as we showed you earlier, removed signage for u.s. aid at its headquarters in the ronald reagan federal building. in at least one case, the signage was covered up with a black flag or black bag. i should say black tape was put across this sign indicating the location of the headquarters as well. perspective. now on all this from our fareed zakaria freed, you heard the news that a

federal judge has stopped the trump administration from putting some 2200 u.s. aid staffers on leave tonight. that's out of an overall staff of about 10,000 that was set to be reduced to less than 300. what do you make of of the whiplash at this agency, which seems very likely to be eliminated? >> oh, i mean, you can only. >> imagine how how difficult this would be. >> you know, if any of us were going through this. and remember, these are people who have chosen to go to work for humanitarian agency posted abroad. uh, on not making much money at all, learning how to, you know, develop expertise in humanitarian assistance, feeding people, water systems, vaccinations. and then they're told, you know, you've got 1 or 2 days to pack up the whole that the judge has, has placed makes perfect sense legally. >> as marco rubio used to point out before he was the secretary of state. this is a tiny fraction of the overall spending

of of the united states. what kind of an impact do you think it actually has beyond saving lives of millions of people in many cases, and improving people's health and longevity around the world, and a whole bunch of things just in terms of kind of soft power for the u.s. >> oh, it is it is one of the most important things the united states government does in the world. look, the united states government, uh, accounts for 40% of all humanitarian spending in the world. we are the richest country in the history of the world. and what we are saying to the world is we get it, and we want to try and help others. and most of the people we're helping remember, about half that budget is really humanitarian and health, in other words, literally saving lives, helping people who are, you know, who are about to get aids or who are on aids, helping people who are, you know, getting malaria, typhoid, cholera, things like that. and it's been an

incredibly powerful force multiplier, as you say, at less than 1% of the federal budget, there is very little waste, fraud and mismanagement. as far as i can tell. almost every example people have pointed to are programs they may not like, let's say usaid funded some cultural thing that that you don't like. that doesn't mean that there was any fraud. and the trump administration can stop that if they want. but there's no corruption involved in funding some kind of program that let's say, you know, provides, uh, pride in diversity or lgbtq, uh, awareness or something like that. that's not fraud. that may be a program you want to discontinue as a new administration. you're allowed to do that. but so far, what we've heard are a lot of accusations of fraud and very little concrete evidence. >> it was interesting because i talked to bill gates earlier this week and a lot a number of the initiatives of u.s. aid are also initiatives that bill gates helps support as well. with his foundation's money. and he was saying how he actually flies to

those countries. he goes there, he's on the ground to look at waste, fraud or any kind of abuse. and, you know, he said, you know, certainly there's always, you know, you can find savings. but he seemed to believe from what he has seen on the ground that there is great work being done there. >> of course, there is some, you know, mismanagement. and look, you're dealing with very inefficient countries. what i've noticed in my travels is when there is some kind of corruption or fraud, it's usually not the fault of the u.s. government or usaid. it's that they they have to partner with the with the government that is itself corrupt. and so that's a complicated issue. but i think that the the most important thing for people to remember is these are people who are going into this work because they're trying to save lives, they're trying to do good. they don't do it for the money. they work incredibly hard. i have seen i've seen these people on the ground. and to treat them the way we're treating them, it's just a shame, a shameful it's

it's a matter of great pride to me that the united states helps poorer countries in the world. as you say, with using very little of our money. it makes a big impact there. and, you know, at less than 1% of the federal budget, i would be willing to make a case to the american people that this is money that is far better spent than the $850 billion that the pentagon spends. if elon musk is looking for savings, it is the oddest place to look to choose this one place. now you know why he's doing it. because it's unpopular. because you're giving. you know you can caricature it and say you're giving money to foreigners. but i don't know what the budget for military marching bands is, but i would suspect that that budget is very substantial and might even be, you know, it might be something that that even compares with some of the the aid programs we provide. >> fareed zakaria, thanks very

much. an update on some of the january 6th rioters pardoned by the president, including former so-called proud boys leader enrique tarrio, who got the most time in prison 22 years after a conviction on seditious conspiracy. what he says he's planning to do now that's getting some attention. and later, super bowl mania with our own harry enten. we'll be right back. >> cooked books. corporate fat cats. >> swindling socialites. doped up cyclists, and yes, more crooked politicians. i have a feeling we won't be running out of those anytime soon. >> a new season of united states of scandal with jake tapper, march 9th on cnn. >> it's the news. >> welcome back. >> but it's also kind of not the news. >> ten dana bash do that. >> do 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?

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you're moving across town or across the country. save up to 20% at pods.com today. >> kobe. >> the making of a legend. tomorrow at nine on cnn. >> it's been a little more than two weeks since president trump granted clemency to more than a thousand january 6th rioters. and tonight, we've got an update on some of them. we begin with a guy named andrew. taki taki of houston. he pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement on capitol hill, which is a felony. that's him on the right. prosecutors say he used pepper spray and attacked an officer while holding a whip like weapon. here's another photo of him from january 6th. now, he just. yesterday he was arrested in texas on a 2016 charge of online solicitation of a minor. the harris county da's office, which is handling that case, condemned his release. they say that they told federal authorities to hold on to this guy due to his pending warrant in texas. the da's office says they faxed the bureau of prisons a copy of that warrant on january 15th. but taki was

released five days later due to trump's pardon. there's also 42 year old matthew huddle, who was pardoned by the president. he was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to entering a restricted building. the u.s. capitol, just days after he was pardoned. he was shot and killed during a traffic stop in indiana. the jasper county sheriff's department alleges huddle resisted arrest and an altercation took place, leading to an officer opening fire. state police are investigating the incident, say huddle had a firearm, one of the most well known of the people pardoned by president trump is one time leader of the so-called proud boys, enrique tarrio. he had the longest sentence handed down related to the january 6th attacks, which was 22 years. that's him. right after he was released from federal prison. he didn't say much as he got into an suv and eventually made his way home to miami, florida. but he's been talking ever since. and just this week announced during an interview on newsmax that he now knows what he wants to do next. >> i think my future is in politics. i think i'm going to take a serious look at running

for office at some point in 2026 or 2028, and i believe that there is a path for that because it is my passion, you know. >> normally i love it when someone follows their passion. his passions, however, have led him down some some pretty strange roads. i'm not just talking about the whole seditious conspiracy thing, you know, trying to overthrow the destroy the u.s. government by force. the same government he now says he has a passion to serve. he actually has a long history of criminal activity. back in 2004, he was charged and pled guilty to grand theft and dealing stolen property, which are both felonies, in 2013. tarrio pleaded guilty and was convicted of four felonies in a fraud case related to the labeling and sale of stolen diabetes test kits, according to reuters. he was sentenced to 16 months in prison. now the judge was going to sentenced to 30 months in prison for that. but this is where tarrio's passion apparently helped him. turns out, back then, tarrio had probably, unbeknownst to many of his proud boys, been a

passionate informant for federal and local law enforcement, according to reuters. tarrio's own attorney labeled him a, quote, prolific cooperator. the reuters story details how an fbi agent told the court that tarrio was a, quote, key component in helping with investigations from marijuana to cocaine and ecstasy, and helped in the prosecution of more than a dozen people. now, because of his history of helping law enforcement, his attorney was able to convince the judge to shave 14 months off of his sentence. back in 2014, when reuters asked tarrio about being an informant, he denied it and he told them, quote, i don't know any of this end quote. when he was then confronted with court transcripts that confirm his role as an informant, tarrio said, i don't recall any of this. he doesn't seem so proud of that. he did show another kind of passion at his sentencing hearing for seditious conspiracy. he seemed passionately remorseful about his role. in january 6th. i want a voice to this court and your honor, and to those present, how sorry i am for the events that occurred on january 6th. i thought of myself morally above

others, and this trial has humbled me and showed me how wrong i truly was to believe that. he also called january 6th a national embarrassment and said that when he gets back home, he wants nothing to do with politics. but of course, that was then when he was in front of a judge who was going to sentence him after the pardon seems to have forgotten all that. here's what he recently told cnn's laura coates. >> i don't see as what i'd done anything wrong. i was improperly indicted. um, i see it. i do see it as a miscarriage of justice. and i think, like i said before, you know, i don't i can't condone, like, assaults on a police officer. but i think president trump said it, right. he was going to go case by case, and he did. and it wasn't the actions that he pardoned. it was a miscarriage of justice that he pardoned. >> didn't go case by case. he's back in sort of the proud boy costume, the fred perry, they're the black and gold in.

in his first interview after being released from prison, he spoke to alex jones. and this is what he said. >> the trial should have never happened. and if it did happen, it should have been outside of the jurisdiction of of the. district. um, but, uh, that's how they it didn't matter what evidence we were going to bring in alex. they didn't care about the evidence. they cared about putting trump supporters in prison. well, now it's our turn. >> it's our turn. we'll be keeping track of what becomes of some of the other january 6th defendants who've been pardoned in the months ahead. coming up, super bowl fever. harry enten joins me next on what could be a historic game. >> it's the news. welcome back. but it's also kind of not the news. >> ten 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.

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download quick hit slots for free and get a 6 million coin bonus. make every day a winning day. >> i'm donie o'sullivan. >> in greenland and this is cnn. >> more than 123 million people watched the super bowl last year, according to the census bureau. that's more than a third of the entire population of the united states for many. super bowl lix this sunday is about the game. the chiefs, the eagles. that's kansas city and philadelphia and learning for the rest of us who are not the biggest sports fans, but who have been to both those fine cities. maybe it's about the halftime show and some of the commercials. my designated sports whisperer, harry enten joins us now for a segment. i have no idea what we're about to do. i don't know why i'm holding this dog who's very sweet. >> well, well, that's bernie, who, of course, is john miller's dog. bernie is adorable. we will get to the puppy bowl in a few seconds, but of course, it's super bowl sunday, and i know you're not a big fan of the game itself, but

i was learning. you're learning, you're learning. but i'm hoping you might get into the game a little bit more. if you enjoy some of the other activities that are involved with the game. okay. and so i want to put on my game show host act, right. very much like you. of course, his guest hosted on jeopardy! and we're going to start with the foods in front of us. okay. can you tell us what the top foods are for americans when it comes to their preferences for super bowl sunday? >> well, i'm assuming they're the foods in front of us, which is pizza. chili, chips, and buffalo wings, chicken. >> wings, chicken wings. chicken wings. buffalo wings. can you tell me which? is there a difference? yeah, there's a difference. chicken buffalo wings are specific sauce. and of course they were founded in buffalo and i'm wearing a buffalo bills jersey right now. can you tell me which of those is the top food on super bowl sunday? >> bernie i'd say pizza. >> you'd say pizza. >> pizza for sure. convenience. >> for pure convenience. you of course, are wrong. it is not pizza. >> is it the buffalo wings? >> it is, in fact, the wings. wings come in at number one at. >> 33, 33%.

>> wow, 33%. >> i can honestly say i've never had a buffalo wing. >> you've never had a buffalo? what are you doing? what are you doing? do you want a buffalo wing or. i'll take a bite of it right now. >> i don't want the things i have to like. rip them off. >> that's pretty gosh darn good. >> okay. >> that's pretty gosh darn good. and then pizzas number two at 19. and then chips and salsa at 16. okay. wow. now if you're not into food, what about the puppy bowl? of course we have puppy bowl 21 coming up on our sister network, animal planet. i do believe. and and of course, there's a big game. >> what's what. >> happens to the. they will put the puppies on the field and they'll compete each other to try and score touchdowns. this is a very adorable thing. i believe it's happening at two eastern burning. okay, okay. and here's the thing, team ruff. you can give bernie a treat. puppy bowl there you go. there it is. isn't it adorable i love it. team ruff will be playing against team fluff. okay, which of. >> these dogs. >> are those? those? those are dogs that can be adopted. in fact, i do. >> oh, really? oh, that's so cool. >> yes, it's very cool. okay. team ruff is playing against team fluff who has won more

times. they've played each other ten times. who has won more times? team fluff or team ruff? >> i mean, how would i know that? well, how would anybody know that? >> i mean, maybe if you're a big fan of the puppy bowl, you wouldn't. >> now you know team ruff. >> i'm sorry. the correct answer is, in fact, it is a tie between team ruff and team fluff at five apiece. i will note i believe cookie was the mvp of last year's puppy bowl. okay. all right, so we've spoken about the puppy bowl. but the next big thing of course is the halftime show. okay. now this is testing your memory. can you tell me which super bowl halftime act has starred in the most number of super bowls? which act? which act? yeah, like like a band. or. >> i. uh, i don't know. >> you're not. you don't know beyonce? no, it's not beyonce. i'm sorry. the correct answer, i believe, is up with people. up with people has starred four times. you remember up. >> i have not thought of up with people for a very long. that seems like a 70s thing.

>> yeah. 70s and 80s thing. right. okay. >> so that means they must have performed, like, all throughout the 70s. >> yeah, they performed all throughout the 70s. >> with people still in existence. i'm going to get letters from people who are. >> yeah, i think up with people still in existence. finally this year, kendrick. >> you went up. >> with people. i'm up with people finally this year. kendrick lamar not like us. feud. yes. occurred with drake. i want you to take a listen to this song. and then on the other side, i want to hear whether or not you think this is feud worthy. of course, he's performing at this year's super bowl. >> of course i know. >> that. >> why are you trolling like a aren't you tired tryin to strike a chord? and it's probably a. minor okay. >> are those lyrics feud worthy in your mind? >> i think there's more to it than that. >> do you think there's more to it than that? who do you side with in the future? >> i mean, i'm not taking a side on that, although i'm looking forward to the kendrick lamar performance. >> i am as well, and most people think he won the feud. >> well, that's what i read. >> that's what i read as well. >> harry enten thanks. the news continues here on cnn.