and nephew who my my niece is actually graduating from high school this year too. and one of our other crewmates, his son, is graduating from high school too. so, you know, we've all missed some time with our family up here. and and that's that's unfortunate. but you know what? you know, they're also, like butch said, very resilient and, you know, ready for, you know, to support us. and that is that's a huge task to ask them to do. but they're up for it. >> yeah. well, i mean, you know, all folks in the military make tremendous sacrifices serving overseas and away from their families and their kids. and you guys are just you're doing incredible things, and it's such a sacrifice. and i appreciate talking to you, and i appreciate all you're doing. thank you. it makes us all proud. >> anderson, it's been a pleasure talking to you today. and thank you so much for being interested in the international space station and our space program. we have a lot of things to do in the future, and we're looking forward to having a bunch more space explorers join us.

>> yes. thank you anderson. >> all right. you take care. stay safe. more news ahead on cnn. >> this friday, february. >> 14th. >> i think. >> that's valentine's. >> day right now on cnn this morning. >> no american should have had to have gone through what i went through. >> the domino. effect back to back resignations at the doj after the order to drop charges against new york city mayor eric adams. >> i believe he wants peace. and i trust him on this subject. >> negotiating peace. president trump talking about vladimir putin there. he trusts him. but now there's a new threat. if russia does not come to the table in good faith. >> accessed federal employment and liberal ideology go hand in hand. >> widespread layoffs, thousands of federal workers fired in the trump administration's latest effort to shrink the government.

to 5 a.m. here on the east coast. here's a live look at my hometown, new york city. always looking beautiful. good morning everyone. i'm jim sciutto in for kasie hunt this week. great to have you with us. we begin with a widening controversy at the department of justice and a slew of resignations, raising questions about the weaponization of president trump's doj. the acting u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, danielle sassoon resigning on thursday to protest an order from a top justice department official to drop the corruption case against new york city mayor eric adams. in a letter to the new attorney general, pam bondi, sassoon writes, adams's attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that adams would be in a position to assist with the department's priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. i remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached.

sassoon's eight page resignation letter started a chain reaction, leading to five others stepping down in solidarity. all of them interestingly, members of the doj's public integrity unit. >> the u.s. >> attorney has. >> resigned over the doj's request to drop the. case into eric adams. did you personally request the justice department to drop that case? >> no, i didn't know nothing about it. that u.s. attorney was actually fired. i don't know if he or she resigned, but that u.s. attorney was fired. >> that's not true. so soon so she resigned. was not fired following a meeting with president trump's border czar. tom homan. mayor adams has agreed to allow ice agents to conduct criminal investigations inside new york's rikers island jail complex. the mayor is insisting he says there is no quid pro quo and that he was unfairly targeted. >> i believe the president was clear and the incoming attorney

general was clear. we're going to stop weaponizing our systems against americans. no american should have had to have gone through what i went through. >> joining me now, cnn legal analyst, criminal defense attorney joey jackson. joey, thanks so much for joining us this morning. >> good to be here, jim. >> in all your years as a criminal defense attorney, have you ever seen an order such as this one to drop a case, given the evidence which sassoon cited in her letter? no change to the evidence, just a change, it seemed to the leadership. >> yeah. >> jim, we are in different times. i think you can have diverse opinions with respect to the 57 page indictment of the mayor of new york city, whether it's meritorious, whether it can be proven what the underlying facts are, whether they meet with the law. that's what trials are for. but in terms of the department of justice, right,

it's an independent entity. and as an independent entity, historically, it's operated. as we look at the mayor there, it's operated in a way that's disconnected from the president, disconnected from political considerations, disconnected from what's going to happen at rikers island with respect to immigration, disconnected with suggestions that it would interfere this indictment with his reelection efforts or his crime enforcement efforts. so we're in different times. and so whenever, jim, we're having a conversation that's not predicated upon the merits of the case, but is predicated upon political considerations. i think we're in different times. so, no, i have not seen this. i think this is going to be the new norm. i think there looks like there will be interference from washington, d.c. and again, i'm not condemning the mayor in my statements. he's entitled to a trial. but with respect to how this went down, this is highly unusual. >> yeah. and we should note, the acting u.s. attorney in new york, a lifelong conservative here. i mean, you have these in variably in situations like this, you have allegations coming from the right liberal,

et cetera., but that's not her background. she alleged a quid pro quo here that in effect, the mayor was saying, hey, listen, i'll play ball with you on the immigration stuff, but you got to make this case go away. do you see the circumstances here of a quid pro quo? >> yeah. well, you know, it depends, right? i think there are varying views with respect to the meeting that took place between the mayor's lawyers and between the department of justice officials and the southern district of new york. what was said, how things were, you know, really presented. but ultimately, jim, this is not about, hey, if you do this for us, right, we will allow you in and conducting immigration, uh, you know, efforts and immigration enforcement, that's a different issue. it's a separate issue. it has nothing to do if the conversation is about. look, this was an overzealous prosecution. this is a prosecution that wasn't predicated upon the facts. this is a prosecution that was based upon and motivated by biden. if,

again, that was the conversation, it was motivated by biden saying that you criticize me for migrants. that's another story. if it's a politically motivated prosecution and the facts are really puffed or they don't really meet the law, you should. any conversation should be about that. there's one consideration, jim, and that consideration is can you prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt? can the facts be sustained? do the facts meet the element of the law concerning bribery, concerning illegal campaign contributions, concerning what would be, as they said, they would upgrade obstruction of justice? if it's about anything else. we're in different times. the department of justice runs without fear or favor. zero period. end of story. >> and we might want to remind people, the number of people around eric adams under investigation, who resigned under a cloud of investigation. it's not an isolated thing, right. at least the allegations of this. joey jackson, thank you so much. coming up on cnn this

morning, a for tat president trump wants his team to come up with a plan for reciprocal tariffs, one that could change the face of global trade. plus, heavy rain drenching southern california. now, boy, he wished that had happened a few weeks ago, triggering mudslides and evacuations. and vice president jd vance reveals how the u.s. might pressure russia into a deal for peace in ukraine. >> will ukraine have a seat at that table for those negotiations? >> they would. i mean, they're part of it. we would have ukraine. we would have russia, and we'll have other people involved to. >> it's the news. >> welcome back. >> but it's also kind of not the news. >> we don't fact check here. we don't care, man. why sell the information on this show. >> so terrible? >> have i got news for you tomorrow at nine on cnn. >> good morning with dulcolax. >> good, good. >> good morning. yeah.

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>> new overnight, a russian drone has hit the damaged chernobyl nuclear power plant. this, according to the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy. the video shows the very moment. look at that flash. the drone hit radiation background limits have remained normal. the ukrainian military claims russia fired 133 drones at ukraine overnight. this comes as president trump says the russian president, vladimir putin, is ready for peace talks. zelenskyy tweeted overnight that these attacks show, quote, putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations. he's preparing to continue deceiving the world. mixed messages from the white house over how to end russia's war in ukraine. in fact, what the u.s. position is, vice president jd vance told the wall street journal the u.s. could hit russia with sanctions, even send u.s. forces to ukraine if putin fails to negotiate in good faith. quote, there are economic tools of leverage. there are, of course, military tools of

leverage. today, the vice president is meeting with ukrainian president on the sidelines of the munich security conference. this comes as president trump is refusing to even acknowledge that russia invaded ukraine, and is to blame for this war. instead, he has placed the blame squarely on former president biden and ukraine's ambitions to join nato. >> now, russia has taken over a pretty big chunk of territory, and they also have said from day one, long before president putin, they've said they cannot have ukraine be in nato. they said that very strongly. i actually think that that was the thing that caused the start of the war. and, uh, biden said it and zelenskyy said it. and i think that was one of the reasons, one of the starts of the war. >> joining us now, democratic congressman jason crow, who is live from the munich security conference. congressman, thanks so much for taking the time this

morning. >> thanks, jim. appreciate it. >> what's your reaction when you see president trump echo what our kremlin talking points, kremlin's false justification for invading ukraine. is that something an american president should be doing? and does that, in your view, show weakness? >> well. >> clearly it's not something that an american president should be doing, and it's not something that anybody who actually understands the threats that america and our allies face and the type of person that vladimir putin is. right. if president trump thinks that he can tough talk his way or chest pound his way to some type of deal, he is clearly mistaken. if we have learned anything about vladimir putin over the last couple of decades is that he understands only strength and one of our greatest strengths right now is our alliances and our partnership network. so the maligning of our partners, the bullying of our partners that we see in europe and other places actually undermines our position

and makes us less safe and less weak and makes us go into a bargaining position in a worse position than we would otherwise be. >> do you understand what the trump administration's position actually is on negotiations? because you get quite conflicting messages. you see there, jd vance saying that perhaps military pressure could be involved. pete hegseth said there would be no u.s. forces here. and of course, you have quite a difference between what trump says about the causes of the war and what others in the administration do. but but what is the u.s. position heading into these negotiations? is it clear at all? >> no, it's not clear. and that's part of the problem. and when you have partners and allies, you know, i'm here at the munich security conference with a bipartisan delegation of members of congress, and we're meeting with other parliamentarians, with other military leaders. and they don't know and we actually don't have the ability to tell

them because we're getting mixed messages. i mean, pete hegseth, the secretary of defense will say one thing that will run contrary to what donald trump wants him to say. then he'll put out a tweet saying something else. then jd vance will say something else. it does not portray a unified front. and what's worse is our allies who work with us, who serve with us, who fight with us when necessary. they also don't know. so this shows, again, a signal of weakness, of inconsistency. and it's exactly the type of thing that vladimir putin always takes advantage of. so we have to get our act together. donald trump has to work with us to portray a unified front, to establish a policy. and that has to start with showing that we support ukraine, because that's in our economic and national security interest. >> if ukraine, of course, for a time was a unifying, bipartisan issue, uh, it's not from president trump's perspective. he has quite different public positions than many of your

republican colleagues in congress have given. you're traveling there in a in a bipartisan delegation. do your republican colleagues quietly express to you concern that trump's going to abandon ukraine? >> they do. they express concern about the inconsistencies. they express concern about the mixed messages coming out of this administration. there are certainly some folks within the administration that believe that we have to stand by ukraine, although they are the minority voice, there's no doubt about that. but what we really need is public expressions of that. you know, people telling me privately behind closed doors what they believe and what's in the best interest of our national security isn't going to get the job done anymore, right? they need to stand up, and they need to add their voice to the chorus of voices of national security professionals, combat veterans, and others who i'm traveling with and who i serve with in congress who say, you know, enough is enough. we need to double down on our on our alliances, our partnerships. we need to make sure that our

economic ties and our trading partners are strong, and we need to make sure that ukraine is in a position to win, because if they're in a position to win, then they're in a position to negotiate a settlement to this. i do believe that this will ultimately end at a negotiating table, but only when ukraine is in a position to do that and forces vladimir putin to do so. >> before we go, can ukraine, in your view, say no to president trump if president trump tries to force their hand into a deal that they do not believe is in their interests, can they say no? and would they get backing from america's european allies to do so? if if nato allies believe an agreement is not in ukraine's interest or in europe's interests? >> well, ukraine is. i've always said ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation. that's the one thing that democracies do when they're dealing with other democracies is we don't tell them what they can and can't do with their own borders and their own country. that's what we're

fighting against with vladimir putin, with our with iran, with our adversaries, people who are trying to force others to draw their boundaries and to do something with their sovereign, independent states. we as a partner and ally, you know, have preferences. we will guide them a certain direction. ukraine has to make a decision on its own about what's going to work for them and their people, and then we will support that decision. if it's in our best interest. >> representative jason crow, we look forward to learning more. what you hear there in munich. thanks for joining this morning. >> thanks, jim. >> next on cnn this morning, slashing the size of the federal workforce. we're now learning the scope of the impact of those firings that struck federal agencies this week. plus a whale of a tale. a kayaker briefly swallowed. you heard that right? pole by a humpback whale. see the terrifying encounter. next, in our morning roundup.

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further medical exams. the 88 year old pontiff has faced numerous health challenges, undergoing abdominal surgery in 2023 and now beginning to use a wheelchair. in recent years. >> 100 years plus. >> there has been a. dispute about the federal designation of north america's tallest mountain. >> disputes say the least. alaska senator lisa murkowski introduced a bill to bring back the name denali, its native american name, after president trump's executive order renaming the mountain back to mount mckinley. in 2015, it was officially changed from mount mckinley to denali under former president obama. and a story straight, it seems, out of the old testament caught on camera. watch this moment. wow. a man swallowed by a humpback whale while while kayaking with his father in chile. his father caught the video. thankfully. there he comes, spit out just seconds later. the 24 year old

recounted his terrifying moments inside. that's right inside a whale to cnn. >> when i turned around. >> i felt a slimy texture on my face. i could see colors like dark blue and white approaching me from behind, closing around me and pulling me under. in that moment, i thought, there's nothing i can do and i'm about to die. >> i want to know how the dad kept filming that while his son was swallowed by a whale. when asked if he would go back out kayaking, he said, of course. still to come? on cnn this morning, the idea of sending u.s. troops to ukraine is, quote, on the table. vice president jd vance taking a tougher stance than president trump regarding negotiations with russia. plus, trump and his tariffs and why more could be on the way. >> whatever they charge us, we're charging them. so it works out very well. it's very it's a beautiful, simple system.

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brunt of this hit, officials targeting their positions because they have fewer job protections than other federal employees and are not able to appeal the decision, according to recent data, there are more than 200,000 employees who fall into that category. some of the agencies hit hardest this week the department of education, the consumer financial protection bureau, the department of veterans affairs, the small business administration and the department of energy. those firings come as president trump, with the help of elon musk and his so-called department of government efficiency, or doge, swiftly moved to shrink the size of the federal workforce and restructure the very workings of the federal government. democrats are trying to push back against the changes. it's proven an uphill battle as they have little leverage in republican controlled washington. >> there are public servants across. >> the nation. >> who go to work. >> every single day. >> to fulfill their duties and their obligations.

>> to the american people. >> and all. >> of them. >> are at risk. >> excess federal employment and liberal ideology go hand in hand. we again need an efficient government. not one. not a government creating jobs for the sake of creating government jobs. >> joining me now, cnn senior political analyst and senior editor at the atlantic, ron brownstein. ron, thanks so much for joining this morning. >> good morning. >> so set aside policy for a moment here. and let's talk purely politics. axios has a story out this morning about focus groups in arizona where folks they're swing voters saying keep at it, keep chopping government. and i just wonder, from a purely political standpoint, do trump and musk have the politics right for now? >> yeah. well, look, first, you know. >> i. >> think this. >> what we're. >> watching is less. about reducing the deficit. >> than it is. >> about changing. >> the federal government's role

in u.s. society. um, you know, federal workforce is a lot of people, and it seems. >> like a lot. >> of money, but it's. kind of kind of small change next to the big entitlement. programs social security, medicare and medicaid that drive the federal budget. so this is really about changing what the federal government does. i think under the guise of efficiency, more than it is about trying to, you know, control federal spending. and yeah, look, i don't think this is going to be the central front of how the public reacts to to trump. um, i do think the question of whether they are following the law in all of these cases, and certainly with the resignation of the, you know, southern district of new york attorney yesterday kind of crystallizing that issue, i think that is a that is a question. but really, jim, i think the central argument is going to be about whether trump is delivering on his promise to make life more affordable for average families or whether he is, in fact, his agenda, making things harder for average families and further enriching

his rich buddies. the budget fight, which is kind of heading down the tracks after last night's approval in the house budget committee, which essentially will put tax cuts that mostly benefit people at the top against spending cuts on programs for people in the middle and below. i think that is going to be a more central front in defining the political terms of this than the reductions in the federal workforce. >> well, i want to get to that budget plan before we do. you mentioned entitlements and medicaid being one of them seems to be one of the biggest targets of coming cuts. notably, former trump adviser steve bannon. he issued a warning about cutting medicaid. have a listen. >> stop whining about entitlements. get into that discretionary spending. get into the pentagon. get into medicaid. >> medicaid. >> you got to be careful because a lot of magas on medicaid. i'm telling you, if you don't think so, you. >> are dead wrong. >> medicaid is going to be a complicated one. just can't take a meat ax to it. >> although i would love to.

>> he'd love to. he's been attacking the administrative state for for ages. yeah. is he on to something there? right. because a lot of red states depend. they don't like to advertise it, depend on medicaid funds. >> well, you know, the affordable care act fundamentally changed the politics of medicaid. as i wrote, you know, a couple of weeks ago on cnn.com. you know, cutting medicaid was one of the cornerstones of the republican budget plan in 95, 96, which was the last time that they explicitly tied together spending cuts and tax cuts. they didn't do that in 0103 and 2017. they just did the sugar, the tax cuts. this refers back to the strategy of gingrich, who had one bill that cut taxes and cut spending. and ultimately, bill clinton turned around his presidency by arguing that republicans were cutting these programs that benefit the middle class to fund tax cuts for the rich. 72 million people on medicaid post the affordable care act. that includes people,

a lot more people who work, people between 100 and 138% of poverty. the medicaid expansion that was approved in the aca between the coasts, especially most of those people who are who are people very low income working people. they're mostly non-college whites in these, you know, in these interior states who are republican voters. rural communities are more dependent on medicaid than urban ones because fewer people have employer provided health care and rural hospitals will struggle if the kind of cuts that are now moving down the track, based on the house budget committee vote yesterday, actually do go forward. so this is going to be, you know, don't forget on the other side, you have the freedom caucus basically saying we are not going to let you cut taxes as much as you need if you don't pay it with explicitly, pair it with spending cuts, which, as i said, reverts to a strategy that really didn't work out very well for republicans 30 years ago, and that they've avoided it ever since.

>> all right. of course, another target of this administration has been die or including many things that identifies as die, die aren't actually die. regardless, i want to ask you about your new piece. you write this quote, this diversity counter-offensive is advancing precisely as kids of color have become a solid majority of the nation's youth since the start of the 21st century, young whites have been rapidly declining, not only as a share of the overall youth population, but also in their absolute numbers to an extent possibly unprecedented in american history. this tectonic reshaping of the american population means that demography, demography, not democrats, will likely emerge as the biggest obstacle to trump's campaign to uproot die. let me ask you, because there has been some reporting in some polling that indicates that some members of minority groups actually support the limitations on dei. where do you think the politics are, and is it clear? >> yeah. well, look, i mean, any the public has always had resistance to anything that seems like it raises racial

considerations over abstract notions of merit. that is a kind of long standing reality in public opinion. but the underlying reality that we face is that we, the administration and red states are on this tremendous offensive to uproot any, any kind of programs to promote more diversity in educational employment opportunities, precisely as the economies need to lift more nonwhite young people, is probably greater than ever. as you note in what i. what i wrote. the the demographer bill frey points out that not only is the share of white kids declining in the last quarter century, but the absolute numbers there are 8.8 million fewer white kids under 18 today than there were in 2047. of the 50 states that not only are white kids a smaller share of the total, there are a smaller absolute number. and that means

we kind of. and yet, uh, you know, if you look at educational opportunity, you look at economic opportunity, uh, black and latino kids are still significantly underrepresented in the most elite colleges, the highest paying jobs, et cetera.. and so you're left with one of two possibilities. either we don't have enough skilled workers going forward unless we move more of these nonwhite young kids into the, you know, into higher skills and middle class jobs, or we have a more expressly stratified two tier. almost caste like society in which nonwhite young people are a majority of our future workers, taxpayers. but the, you know, the people at the top are still predominantly white. either one is a pretty ominous future. >> well, and we're already seeing the effects of the supreme court decision on affirmative action in terms of the makeup of top universities. ron brownstein, thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> coming up, president trump says vladimir putin wants peace. how a new threat from vice

president jd vance could impact those discussions. plus, after a short but disappointing time with the new york jets. boy, for real, aaron rodgers is now out of a job. so where, if anywhere, will he land next? >> amazing. >> jerry, you got to see this. >> saying that. >> trust me. >> after 15. >> walks gets a little old. >> ah. >> stop waiting, start investing. e-trade from. >> morgan stanley. >> okay, everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. >> ensure with 27. >> vitamins and. >> minerals. >> nutrients for. immune health, and ensure complete with 30g of protein. >> here's to getting better with age. >> here's the bee's knees. >> to every thursday. >> help fuel today. >> with boost. >> high protein complete.

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800) 858-2816. >> lockerbie premieres sunday at nine on cnn. >> closed captioning brought to you by. mae sot 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. >> 882 one 4000. >> these negotiations are led by president trump. >> everything is. >> on the table. >> in his. >> conversations with vladimir. >> putin and zelenskyy. >> everything is on the table there. pete hegseth saying that vice president jd vance told the wall street journal that sending u.s. troops to ukraine is a possibility if moscow fails to negotiate in good faith to end the war in ukraine. but the vice president added he thinks there will be a deal that will shock a lot of people. that interview came after president trump and russian president vladimir putin

had a conversation about negotiations. this is a live picture, by the way, of the ukrainian president in munich. notably, they left out ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. joining us now is jasmine el-gamal. she's a former middle east adviser to the pentagon. she's now in munich for the security conference there. jasmine, thanks so much for joining. >> thank you. >> for having me, jim. >> i wonder who people in munich believe, right. because the vice president says sending troops is on the table. we're going to ratchet up pressure. the defense secretary said prior to that, no u.s. troops were off the table. the president, who really is the only one who matters here, is saying things like, we should bring russia back into the g7 and is repeating kremlin talking points for how this war started, and says he trusts putin. who do people in europe believe are actually going to lead these negotiations? what do they believe are the actual u.s. positions going into these

negotiations? >> well, i want to point out, jim, a couple of statements. >> that we've heard. >> from. >> the americans and the europeans over the last couple of days that really tell us a lot about the way things are going at the moment and the daylight between the europeans and the americans. now, as you said, i'm here in munich, not for the security conference itself, but for events around the security conference. but of course, this is where a lot of these conversations are going to be taking place. now, the u.s. defense secretary, pete hegseth, said at the ukraine defense contact group in brussels a couple of days ago, something that was really it couldn't be clearer in terms of the u.s. position, he said. we are also here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the united states from being primarily focused on the security of europe. he just laid that out very clearly, he said. europeans will have to take the

lead for security in their own neighborhood. and that is the way that you're going to see these talks playing out. and that's the way that these conversations with putin and with zelenskyy are playing out. the u.s. is basically saying we have to face the realities we're going to operate based on those realities. and now the europeans are quite nervous about that, because what they're saying is, wait a minute, you can't make any deal above our heads, because any deal will actually have to be implemented by europeans and by the ukrainians. >> the thing is, trump appears quite ready to make a deal above their heads. i mean, he directly called putin, and only later had a discussion with the ukrainian president. he hasn't made clear what central role, if any, european leaders will play in these negotiations, even though ukraine, of course, is part of europe. so how do european leaders say they're going to respond to this? do they have a

credible defense plan to replace what the u.s. would be taking away in terms of being a guarantor in effect of their security? >> well, that's that's the really big question is what can they do now, given that trump has already set the talks kind of way ahead of where they wanted to be? so kaja kallas, the foreign policy chief of the eu, said that you can't offer everything upfront before even starting negotiations. so the americans have already said no to nato enlargement. they said no to u.s. security guarantees in the form of troops in europe. and so the europeans are saying, well, how do you even negotiate now that you've basically given putin everything that he wants? so it's going to be really difficult to see how the europeans try to walk that back with the americans today and say, okay, if you're not going to provide nato enlargement or agree to nato enlargement, which is the, as the europeans say, the cheapest and strongest

security guarantee, how can we come up with other ideas? but the europeans too, to be very clear, are very, very uncomfortable and very, very nervous right now, jim. >> yeah, they have to deal with ukraine security going forward, but also their own jasmine el-gamal. thanks so much for joining. >> thanks for having me. >> all right. time now for a little break. sports. after two really disappointing seasons, the aaron rodgers era with the new york jets is officially over. coy wire has this morning's cnn sports update. listen as the new york sports fan. it didn't work, right. i mean, i got to say, when i read this headline, i had some relief. >> hey. >> you know, buffalo is in new york. >> jim, come on over to the bills, baby. >> i might take him at this point. there we go. >> the jets. >> they hoped aaron. >> rodgers would help end. >> their 14 season playoff drought. >> longest active. >> streak among. >> america's four biggest pro

sports leagues. but no rodgers debut with the jets two seasons ago ended with a season ending achilles injury just a few minutes into the first game last season, he and his jets only won five games, owner woody johnson said in a statement, quote, his arrival in 2023 was met with unbridled excitement, and i will forever be grateful that he chose to join us to continue his hall of fame career. he went on to say he will always be welcome and i wish him only the best in whatever he chooses to do next. now, rodgers is 41 years old, played 20 seasons in the league. he became a legend with the packers, super bowl champ, four time mvp. so what's next? he said after the season he needed some time to decide on whether he will play another season. the nhl's four nations face-off featured team usa taking on finland and brothers matthew and brady tkachuk were playing on the same team for the first time in their careers, and they made the most of it. brady scoring in the first period. he'd add another goal later. jim then in the third u.s. up two one. matthew said, hold my beer, bro. a wicked long range wrister on a power play. he'd score another

goal later, too. it sets up a monster matchup of world hockey powers team usa and canada on saturday. two canucks, two goals apiece. here's brady on the unforgettable family moment. first. >> it was my parents, my sister and all of our family that how happy they must be and how excited they must be. but i was like, all right, if we're getting here, then we got to play good and stick together. so it. >> was a lot of fun. it's honestly. >> it's a dream come true that really hasn't hit. >> me up. >> incredible women's college hoops clash last night jim. number six usc hosting number one ucla, who were the only remaining undefeated team in the nation, a perfect 23 zero until they weren't. 19 year old phenom juju watkins lights out six of nine from beyond the arc. she had 25 points in the first half. jim the rest of her team had 13 combined. the reigning first team all-american ended up dropping 38 on the night with eight blocks in a 71 to 60 win. afterwards, she said, i'm just like a kid out there living out

my dreams. the nba all-star game in san francisco this weekend has a new format four teams, led by shaq, kenny smith, charles barkley and candace parker playing in the tournament r&d. schultz caught up with some of the team gems. >> why is. >> your team going. >> to win on sunday? >> well, we got. probably got the two best players in the world. well giannis got hurt. we got joker. uh shea gilchrist is the mvp right now. so i want i know one thing about basketball. it's probably best to have the best players. i picked my team because. >> in 3 or 4 years. >> a lot of those names won't be here anymore. they're going to be doing what we're. >> doing. >> talking about the game and talking about what they used to do. so, you know, it's going to be a sad moment in time, even though we have a lot of great young superstars that could continue to carry the mantle. >> you can catch all the all star action this weekend on our sister channel tnt, beginning with the rising stars tonight at

nine eastern. jim, did you see how big shaq was compared to andy? you know andy does crossfit. >> so yeah yeah i mean well it's big. plus he had the hat right. >> yeah he has a little. >> he gives him a couple inches. coy wire. thanks so much. >> you got it. >> in our next hour on cnn this morning refusing to drop the case, several federal prosecutors hand in their resignations after the doj told them to drop the case against mayor eric adams. plus, revenge tour unencumbered by leadership responsibility. senator mitch mcconnell stands up against president trump. >> we have a very strong party, and he's almost not even really a very powerful member. and say he's not a power. he's lost his power. and it's affected his vote. >> look at this one. >> under-eye bag. >> it's gone. >> there's this side and this side. >> 50 and.

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>> it's friday, february 14th, valentine's day right now on cnn. this morning. >> this is unbelievably unprecedented. the biden administration and that department of justice is already showing their corrupt. >> calling it quits. a top prosecutor and doj officials stepped down over orders to drop the federal corruption case against new york city mayor eric adams. >> i know him very well. yeah, i think he wants peace. i trust him on this subject. >> trust putin. president trump believes vladimir putin when he says he wants peace. the vice president, however, has issued a warning to moscow if it does not work in good faith. >> i love to fire people. you didn't do your job. i'm sorry. say hello to your family. you're fired. get out! >> firing season. thousands of federal workers, many of them with families, are shown the door as the white house widens its blitz