>> 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

team to order up reciprocal tariffs on u.s. trade partners. how that could affect the global economy. 6 a.m. here on the east coast. here's a live look at the statue of liberty. looking beautiful this morning on this valentine's day. good morning everyone. i'm jim sciutto in this week for kasie hunt. great to have you with us. a showdown between the trump administration and its own justice department prosecutors, at least six doj officials resigned in protest because they were ordered by the acting deputy attorney general to dismiss the new york city mayor's federal criminal charges. acting attorney for the southern district of new york danielle sassoon told attorney

general pam bondi that dropping the corruption case against eric adams would be, quote, inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and advance good faith arguments before the courts. end quote. so soon refused to sign the document dismissing that case. so too did other prosecutors working on it. acting deputy attorney general emil bove then turned to officials in the doj office of public integrity. they too resigned. rather than comply. bove, you'll remember, represented donald trump during the new york state case in which he was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. the president has denied any involvement in the adams case. >> 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. i did not. that u.s.

attorney was actually fired. i don't know if he or she resigned, but that u.s. attorney was fired. >> in fact, contrary to the president's claim there, sassoon's letter spoke of resigning, not getting fired. in it, she claims that mayor adams attorneys sought a quid pro quo arrangement with the doj, arguing that adams would only be able to help with president trump's immigration crackdown if the doj dropped the case. >> 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. >> biden's policy. president trump's borders are tom homan visited new york city on thursday, meeting with adams and members of the city council. the mayor then announced he will increase cooperation between city officials and federal officials on immigration. all of

this raising concerns the trump administration is using the justice department for political purposes after president trump himself campaigned on what he called weaponization and lawfare. that possibility is something mayors. mayor adams attorney was asked about earlier this week. >> is there truly this looming threat that i think a lot of the mayor's political opponents have speculated on, that the trump administration could just bring it right back? >> um, there is no looming threat. this case is over. this case will never be brought back. it wasn't a real case in the first place. this isn't hanging over anybody's head. this case is over. i think everybody knows this case is over. >> not what the new york attorney said. joining me now to discuss alex thompson, cnn political analyst, national political reporter at axios. heimer, former regional communications director for joe biden's 2020 campaign. and brad todd, republican strategist and cnn political commentator. good to have you all on. brad, um, i wonder you have a very

conservative new york attorney, long history in conservative causes alleging a quid pro quo here. president trump campaigned, saying he wanted to end weaponization, politicization of the justice department here. so what's your reaction to seeing a case against the mayor dropped after it seems he says, i'll work with you on immigration. >> well, i think the department of justice and the president had been talking about the fact that they thought eric adams had been targeted for his criticism of joe biden's immigration policies for quite some time. and, you know, the departures at the southern district of new york, the firings, this is normal every time a new president is elected, the u.s. attorneys are removed from their jobs. if they don't. >> have to to resign in protest. a series of protests, right? not just the new york attorney assigned to the case, but then the plan b in effect. right. they go to the office of public integrity and they say, no, we're not going to drop this case under pressure. that's not normal.

>> no, it is absolutely normal. appointed u.s. attorneys retire or resign or fired immediately after every after every presidential election. >> after change of the administration. they did it in protest to this decision. >> well, i wonder. >> i wonder what your view. >> what you know, what they're going to fire. >> it's just a fact. it's a fact. >> they know they. >> did you read the letter? did you read the conservative new york attorney's letter about this case? >> are you asking questions or are you on the panel? i mean, they retired because i'm. >> asking you. i'm asking merely for a recognition of the facts here, as opposed to a repetition of talking points. >> no. every time there's a change of administration, the u.s. attorneys turn over. they either resign or they are fired. that's the way it works. it's worked that way in every presidential administration since we've been alive. that's what's happened here. >> okay. given that he will not acknowledge the letter from the conservative new york attorney explaining her reasons for for leaving. what's your reaction to seeing this? >> look, jim, i'm not surprised by this. and i know mayor adams. i've been with him a couple of times. i'm not surprised by how this has played out. i mean, when you think about what happened over the last two years

with mayor adams and the immigration crisis in new york, he has not been a friend of joe biden. and joe biden was not a friend of his. and so i'm not shocked that he's kowtowed to donald trump in order to get this dropped. i mean, he's fighting for his life right now. he wants to be mayor of new york again. but look, i think people are right. i think this is a bit of quid pro quo. and i think he has been very clear that if he's friend, if he's friends with donald trump, he will not be prosecuted. and that's what's happening. >> alex, the you've heard from some. well, from mayor adams himself and from others that this case was purely in response to an, in effect, retribution for adams criticizing trump's immigration. rather, biden's immigration policies in new york, the prosecutors say the investigation began before that. and we should note that other members, many several members of adams administration, have been under prosecution themselves. corruption charges, et cetera.. what are the facts of the case here?

>> yeah, both things can be true here that the biden administration and eric adams had a lot of tension over the immigration issue, and that they clashed behind closed doors, also out in public. it can also be true that this case is different than those tensions, and it had nothing to do with them. i would also say to your point, the person that resigned here was a member of the federalist society, had clerked for supreme court. scalia was not some sort of left wing activist or just like a liberal democrat resigning in protest. so those are the facts of this case. i would also say that eric adams has been campaigning subtly for this. he met with tom homan, um, you know, the trump supporters are, you know, very early after trump's victory. and he also went on even tucker carlson's podcast just the other week, a very close trump ally. >> so, brad, what is your response to that? does it change your your characterization of the case? >> well, the u.s. attorney's and the districts work for the

department of justice. this has always been the case. and the department of justice issued a directive to the southern district of new york that it did not follow. the attorney general, pam bondi, is going to get her way when it comes to the u.s. prosecutions. that's that's it's just that's an insubordination. and, you know, the kinds of people who become u.s. attorneys are strong, confident, self-assured people. they're not going to they don't like taking direction from department of justice. but that's what's going to happen in this case. >> several of them resigned in protest. stand by. we have a lot more to talk about this hour straight ahead on cnn this morning. today, vice president jd vance meets with volodymyr zelenskyy in munich as questions mount about what seat at the negotiating table ukraine will hold. plus, senator mitch mcconnell, the only republican know on rfk jr.'s nomination, reigniting a years long feud with president trump and a new wave of firings. two trump's tariff era how democrats are trying to find leverage if they can in a second term in the white house.

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as he meets with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. earlier, the vice president told the wall street journal that the u.s. could hit russia with sanctions and even possibly send u.s. troops to ukraine if the russian president failed to negotiate in good faith, saying, quote, there are economic tools of leverage. there are, of course, military tools of leverage as well. cnn national correspondent alex marquardt joining us now live from munich. and i wonder, alex, who do european diplomats and officials believe because you had say one thing, you have vance saying another and you have donald trump. now making concessions prior even to the start of the negotiations. >> yeah, jim, it's a very good question. and i think the biggest concession is the question of nato membership for ukraine. pete hegseth really alarming. european nato allies just a few days ago, saying that that ukraine would not end up with nato membership in any kind of peace deal with russia and donald trump essentially

confirming that yesterday in the oval office. but we are hearing from the vice president, jd vance, who is essentially taking a tougher line on russia than we have been hearing out of the administration over the past few days and saying very generally that all all possibilities remain on the table, that nothing is really set in stone. and so you have jd vance, who is already here in munich, secretary of state marco rubio on his way. they will be meeting with president zelenskyy later today, and in just about two hours time, we'll also be hearing directly from the vice president, who is expected to speak about ukraine, among many other issues. but you can imagine, jim, behind the scenes, there's going to be a flurry of meetings, not just with ukrainian officials, but also with european officials, and they're going to want a bit of a finer point from these top americans about how they see this playing out. what would a deal actually look like in terms of that? nato membership for ukraine? is that even a possibility? but then also remember, pete hegseth ruled out the possibility of u.s. troops

going into ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, whether the u.s. would partake in any kind of security guarantees to make sure that russia doesn't invade ukraine again in the future. pete hegseth ruling that out. but now the vice president saying that that is on the table. so there is a lot of confusion. jim. the bottom line is we are going to be going into some weeks, if not months of talks about a potential deal, talks that ukraine is insisting they need to be at the table for. that is something that president trump has agreed with. one interesting thing that president trump said just yesterday is that there will be meetings with top russians here in munich as well. it's not clear who he is referring to, whether that is going to happen. the ukrainians, for their part, say that that is that that it is way too early for that. they will not be meeting with russians anytime soon. jim. >> alex marquardt there in munich, thanks so much. still to come on cnn this morning, firings now underway at several government agencies as president donald trump looks to slash

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one( 800) 269-9522. that's one( 800) 269-9522. >> i'm valeria leone in mexico city, and this is cnn. >> closed captioning brought to you by guilt. visit gilt.com today for up to 70% off designer brands. >> guilt has a designers that get your heart racing at insider prices. new everyday. hurry! they'll be gone in a flash. designer sales at up to 70% off. shop gilt.com today. >> i think we need. we do need to. um. >> delete entire agencies as opposed to leave part of them behind. because if you leave part of them behind, it's easy. it's kind of like if leaving a weed, if you don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back. but if you remove the roots of the weed, it doesn't stop weeds from ever growing back. but it makes it harder. so. so we have to really delete entire agencies. many of them. >> elon musk there and president

donald trump directing widespread cuts to the federal workforce. and as he's saying to entire agencies. part of the president's push to cut costs with musk and what he calls the department of government efficiency leading the way. now, scores of federal workers jobs are already on the chopping block. probationary workers have been employed for less than one year or two year, are taking the 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 government 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. democrats trying to push back against the changes. certainly 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. >> let's bring our panel back in time. axios had a focus group it did with arizona swing voters, and they were asked about these cuts and they said bring them on, in effect, that they want to see these cuts. and i wonder from on the politics in your view, do does trump do trump and musk have it right on what voters, or at least a majority of voters want to see? >> look, i mean, i think, jim, if you think about democrats, republicans, independents, most people want an efficient government. but it's not about cutting and slashing and burning. it's about efficiency. it's about services that people feel like they need to receive a little bit more directly. and so i don't think the politics of this is going to work out well

for trump only because when he got to dc, i think people were hoping that he would cut costs for them personally. it wasn't about cutting the government costs. it's about personal costs. inflation is still way too high. job numbers are going down. you guys saw these job numbers just yesterday. and so i don't think people really care about this government slash and cut that he's doing. they care more about their egg prices their housing prices. they care more about the child care prices. and so i think once that starts to hit the ground in a couple of weeks, then people will feel a little differently about what's going on with elon musk and president trump. >> to that point about prices, it was notable to hear from the new treasury secretary, scott bessent, on that issue. have a listen. >> if prices go. >> up and i'm not sure they will, that because a huge amount is absorbed by the currency. big amount is absorbed by the foreign producer. but if they do, we could see a one time slight increase and it would be very slight. >> not everyone is convinced,

brad, that that will be a one time increase. if you look at what the fed is saying to about holding off on further interest rate cuts, are you concerned, given that president trump ran on lowering costs for americans, that inflation, uh, could stick around longer, might even increase, and call into question trump's promise to immediately lower prices? >> well, i think first off, the fed does have to keep lowering rates, right? that's the way we that's the way we move the economy forward. but secondly, this administration is going to unleash an energy boom. the cost of energy under joe biden was artificially driven up by the administration's actions. and so donald trump is going to cut the regulations on energy, bring down the cost of energy, which will make it reduce pressure on prices, on everything. it really is the key part of it. i also think that the trump administration is is going to reduce regulations. and by doing reducing regulations, you also reduce pressure on prices. >> well, economists will say that cutting interest rates often put upward pressure on prices. alex, i wonder when you speak to republicans on the

hill, are they concerned that that high prices will stick around longer than they wanted? >> yes. and, you know, save that clip. i'm it's sort of a cautionary tale. a lot of democrats are remembering in the first six months of 2021, they were saying inflation is transitory. it's going to be fine. and then, you know, sometimes events can get in the way that you do not expect. and that clip could come back to haunt the trump administration. republicans are definitely worried about it because they know those swing voters, not all the republican voters, but the swing voters, really, that put trump over the line were because of inflation and all these issues. and, you know, high grocery prices. >> yeah, i did as i was listening that clip, i had the exact same thought. it sounded like that transitory moment a few years back. my panel will stick around. we'll be back in a bit. still to come on cnn this morning, an unlikely member of the resistance, how senator mitch mcconnell is defying president trump in his second term. plus, mixed contradictory

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former president biden and kyiv's ambition to join nato. >> the reason the war started because biden went out and said that they could join nato, and he shouldn't have said that from day one, long before president putin, they said they cannot have ukraine be in nato. they said that very strongly. >> fred pleitgen joins us now live from moscow. and, fred, i wondered how russia, russians are receiving those many comments from president trump. well, i think from president trump and obviously from jd vance as well. the russians certainly seem to be indicating they'll stick with what president trump says. >> it's quite interesting because today, obviously, we saw those comments from jd vance that he made to the wall street journal about the u.s. even possibly putting boots on the ground in ukraine if russia does not agree to some sort of peace deal. well, the spokesman for the kremlin, he just got off the phone off a conference call with a couple of journalists, and he there said that these are not comments that the russians have heard yet, and they want clarification about all this

from negotiations that could take place soon. and of course, also from the contacts they have within the trump administration. in general, though, you do feel a huge degree of optimism here on the ground. jim, it's hard to overstate how much of that there is here in moscow. right? right now. yesterday, the spokesman for the kremlin, dmitry peskov, came out and said he was impressed and that the kremlin was impressed by the position that president trump holds on the whole ukraine question. so they definitely feel that right now they have a good inroad with this new administration and especially the head of that new administration, obviously being president trump. it was interesting because yesterday i was also at a press conference with the foreign minister of russia, sergey lavrov, and he did exactly almost mirror some of the things that president trump was saying there just now in that soundbite. he blamed the biden administration for isolating russia. he said it was a completely unnatural position for russia to be in, and that now that president trump was in office, that that is the correct way to speak to russia, speaking to russia directly. the russians are already, by the way, trying

to put all of this into action. they already say that they've designated people to take part and to organize any sort of direct meetings between the russian president and the u.s. president. last night, the spokesman for the kremlin was asked about this as well, and he said that he believes a meeting in a third country is definitely the first thing that's going to be on the agenda, not president trump visiting russia, not vladimir putin visiting the united states, but a direct meeting in a third country. he says that that could happen within a matter of weeks. jim. >> fred pleitgen in moscow, thanks so much. and this just in to cnn, the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy, answered a reporter's question about whether he might meet with any russian leaders at the munich security conference today. listen to his response. >> i don't want to meet just with russians. just to meet for what? no. we see the order of meetings. as i said, the order is united states, europe, then russia to ready to be ready to this meeting.

>> there. volodymyr zelenskyy in a position of having to react to a lot of public comments from u.s. officials, sometimes contradictory at pete hegseth say no u.s. military presence in ukraine in any circumstances. you had the vice president then tell the wall street journal, actually, that might be on the table. joining us now, cnn political national security analyst david sanger. he's in munich. and david, good to have you here this morning. i mean, you watch this back and forth here. contradiction inside the trump administration. at the end of the day, the only position or comment that really matters is president trump. so i wonder where you are. who do people believe and do they see trump with his positions and statements even endorsing russia's rationale for invading ukraine as preparing to force ukraine into a deal it doesn't want? >> well, jim. >> i've rarely. >> heard the.

>> europeans. >> um. >> so despairing at the conflicting messages that they're hearing from, uh, from washington. as you said, what you heard from pete hegseth, the new defense secretary, doesn't match up with what we've heard from vice president vance, who was also here. uh, it mr. hegseth himself had to back off of some of his earlier statements. um, but what i think the europeans are fearing the most is that president trump, for all of his negotiating prowess, or what he describes as such, um, has already given the russians two of the things they want the most, basically a statement that ukraine will never enter into, uh, into nato, if not never, not any time in, in, in our working lifetimes. jim, i think that was sort of the sense of where they were. and i think the second big point that he was making along the way was that the united states was

not going to be part of any kind of peacekeeping force, whether it was a tripwire force or actual full peacekeepers along the border of whatever that border is negotiated to be. and so if you take those two together, those are two of the things vladimir putin wants. the third thing he wants, of course, is for the u.s. to pull back from many of the of the newly created nato countries, or what we once called new created. >> that was going to be my next question. is that beyond any potential, uh, concessions or forcing ukraine into a a weak deal for peace, there is a broader concern about u.s. retreat from europe. um, and i wonder how europeans, how concerned they are about that and what their plan is. right. because the fact is this has been on the table for some time. trump, the candidate, made that quite clear, and he took some moves in his first administration, his last his

last move as president in his first administration was to reduce u.s. military forces in germany. so do europeans have a plan to fill that void? >> they have a plan. but the timeframe for it, jim, just doesn't work. when you sit down with the europeans and you say, how quickly are you planning to build your force? how quickly are you planning to add tanks and other armament? it's they're talking on ten year and 20 year scales. we haven't heard any timetables out of president trump, but i don't think he's talking about a 10 or 20 year, uh, period here. and i think the europeans basically ignored their opportunities from 2014 forward to get into overdrive here and now. to some degree, it may be a little bit too late for them to catch up. >> yeah. can i ask you a question, a bigger picture question, because there's been some concern about this in asia with america's asian allies. if they calculate that the u.s. won't come to the defense as he

previous u.s. president might have to think about south korea, japan, et cetera.. do european officials talk about expanding their nuclear arsenals or other countries in europe, adding nuclear weapons to defend themselves against the russia threat? >> so far, we have only heard sort of little murmurings about this. it's not like what you hear, jim, in south korea where, you know, you and i have both visited in recent times, and of course, a majority of the population wants to go do that. i think the problem here is not one of adding nuclear weapons. i think it is trust in the american nuclear umbrella. i don't think that they believe that donald trump, at the end of the day, would risk a nuclear confrontation over europe the way many of his predecessors claimed they would. now,

fortunately, we never had had to test that that proposition. and let's all pray that we never do. uh, but it's certainly going to be a significant issue, especially if the president and president putin do not find a way to come up with a replacement for new start, the last arms control treaty, which expires, i think a year from now, almost exactly this week. and if they don't, then, uh, the russians are going to be free to expand their arsenal and the u.s. free to expand its without limit. >> yeah. which is an outcome. well, few would like to see. david sanger in munich, thanks so much. >> great to be with you, jim. >> and coming up on cnn this morning, mayor eric adams of new york in the clear now after the justice department dropped his case. now, however, several federal prosecutors are resigning as a result. plus, a

bitter rival, senator mitch mcconnell, defining president trump as he votes against yet another one of his cabinet picks. >> we do have to do something about mitch mcconnell. he's he's a disaster. we got to get him the hell out. he's a problem. big problem. >> ah. >> it's a good. >> day to cough. oh, no. >> bye bye. >> cough later. chest congestion. hello. 12 hours of relief. 12 hours. >> not coughing at the movies. >> still not coughing. ah. >> mucinex dm 12 hour. doesn't just quiet coughs. it treats coughs caused by excess mucus at the source and controls them for 12 hours. it's comeback season. stubborn chest congestion. try mucinex 12 hours. >> i started brightstar care to provide a higher standard of care. it's been my goal for 20 years and it always will be. if you're an experienced caregiver

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>> call one( 800) 269-9522. that's one( 800) 269-9522. closed captioning is brought to you by uqora. help maintain a healthy urinary tract with uqora. >> uqora offers. >> uti relief and science backed. supplements for proactive urinary health. >> life's too short to be put on hold by utis. >> join us at uqora.com. >> you are the only person who has the power to effectively fire mayor eric adams and remove him from this position. >> the allegations are extremely concerning and serious. >> yes. >> but i cannot, as the governor of this state, have a knee jerk, politically motivated reaction like a lot of other people are saying right now. i have to do it smart. what's right. and i'm consulting with other leaders in government at this time. >> the new york governor, kathy hochul, there at least not ruling out removing the new york city mayor, eric adams, after the justice department ordered prosecutors to drop corruption charges against him, a move that led multiple multiple resignations at justice raised

questions about weaponization of president trump's doj. the acting u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, danielle sassoon, resigned on thursday, refusing to obey the order from the doj to drop the corruption case against adam. five other people also quit, according to a memo from the acting attorney general. adams prosecution was restricting his ability to focus on illegal immigration and violent crime. >> obviously, if you indict the sitting mayor of new york city who has lots of responsibilities for public safety, that has an impact on his ability to function. and so, sure, when you're weighing the equities of what to do when you charge a doctor who's dedicated his life to helping people, you weigh the equities. when you change, when you charge a schoolteacher, you weigh the equities. and when you charge a mayor, you weigh the equities. so of course, that is part of the conversation. >> more on that in just a moment. for now, we're 47 minutes past the hour. and here's your morning roundup tiktok is back on apple and

google app stores. it comes after president trump's executive order delaying a ban that was supposed to go into effect if its parent company in china did not sell the ad. a federal judge has ordered the trump administration to restart the flow of foreign aid paused by trump as part of an executive order. the judge said the administration must continue paying any contracts, grants or loans that were in place at the end of the last administration. louisiana's department of health says it will no longer provide mass vaccination. that announcement comes on the same day that vaccine skeptic rfk jr. was sworn in as health and human services secretary. the city of new orleans has its own independent health department that does not plan to abide by those state guidelines. now turning to this the nation has a new head of health and human services, the senate, confirming robert f kennedy to the position largely along party lines. one

notable republican, however, joined democrats in opposing that nomination. he is the former senate majority leader. kentucky senator mitch mcconnell. he has now voted against three of trump's cabinet picks, more than any other republican senator, prompting trump to seemingly question mcconnell's not only his leadership, but he even questioned whether he had polio as a child. >> he's not voting against bobby. he's voting against me. but that's all right. he votes against almost everything. now. he's a, you know, very bitter guy. i don't know anything about. he had polio. he had polio. >> are you. >> doubting that he had polio? >> i have no idea. if he had polio. >> he had polio. that's a fact. cnn's brian todd has more. >> it's happened again. mitch mcconnell, so instrumental in getting donald trump elected the first time, once a key driver in advancing trump's agenda has defied the president. the soon to be 83 year old republican stalwart voted against the nomination of robert f. kennedy jr. to be health and human services secretary, saying in a statement, quote, i'm a survivor

of childhood polio. a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle mr. kennedy to lead these important efforts. trump was asked about mcconnell's resistance. >> i have no idea if he had polio. he voted against bobby. he voted against almost everything. now he's a, you know, very bitter guy. >> mcconnell has now voted against three of trump's most high profile nominees. kennedy, tulsi gabbard and pete hegseth, the lone republican in the senate who has gone against all three. >> for mitch mcconnell. this is what liberation looks like. >> and not just with his votes. mcconnell just wrote an op ed in the louisville courier journal saying kentuckians can't afford trump's tariffs. trump brushed off mcconnell. >> well, i feel sorry for mitch. he wanted to go to the end and he wanted to stay leader. he wasn't. he's not equipped mentally. >> for the long term, loyal republican, a late career change, of course. mcconnell telling 60 minutes now that he's no longer his party's senate leader for the first time in 18 years. >> i will be more outspoken about things that i particularly

care about than i have been in the past. >> also, what makes mcconnell throw care to the wind? analysts believe his age, his failing health. he fell twice in recent days. he sprained his wrist from a fall back in december, and he sometimes appeared to freeze during press conferences. add to that the fact that he has not yet announced whether he'll run for reelection in kentucky next year. how is his relationship now with donald trump? >> we haven't. spoken for quite a while. um, i was very upset about what happened january 6th. >> it was that period. mcconnell biographer says that really turned him against trump. >> i think the final. >> straw was the 2020 election and the decision. by president trump not to accept the results. but the riot itself was the thing that truly turned him away. >> at the time, mcconnell publicly scolded trump on the senate floor. >> former president trump's actions preceded the riot were a

disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. >> there was a time when trump lauded mcconnell, especially for getting conservative justices confirmed. >> mitch mcconnell has been fantastic. he has been really great. >> but since their split over january 6th, trump has turned on him. >> mitch mcconnell is a disgrace. >> analysts say it's trump who appears to have come out on top. >> there's not a lot of donald trump opposition left. >> in the united. >> states congress. >> so maybe. >> mitch mcconnell is a. nonentity to. >> the white house. >> at this point. >> analyst leigh ann caldwell says even if mcconnell does not run again for his senate seat, the mcconnell trump feud will loom large in kentucky in that senate race next year. she points out that donald trump jr., a key figure in shaping his father's support for congressional candidates, has put the word out that anyone running for office in kentucky who wants his support needs to

stand in firm opposition to mitch mcconnell. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> more now on the resignations at the justice department. joining us is jeffrey toobin. he has a new book out about the pardon power. uh, jeffrey, thanks so much for joining this morning. thank you. >> hi, jim. >> question for you. i'm going to read from sassoon's letter an eight page resignation letter. adam'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, based on our understanding of the facts. is she right? >> you know, jim, i'm. i'm a former assistant u.s. >> attorney. >> and i have covered the justice department for a long time. there has never been. anything like what the justice

department did with the eric adams case. um. miss sassoon is exactly right. um, this process whereby a pending case was dismissed not because the evidence was sufficient. insufficient, not because the prosecutors did something wrong, but because the defendant is of some political use to the president is just something that is a perversion of what the justice department is supposed to stand for. and it is completely understandable why there have been resignations in protest. >> i wonder what the consequences are because we've already seen this justice department. well, drop prosecutions against january 6th rioters. the president, of course, pardoned all of those who were prosecuted, including those who attacked police officers on that day. do you see any consequences to this, or just does the system roll on? >> i jim, i just think this is this is where we are at this

political moment that the republican party, um, is so unified behind donald trump. there is absolutely anything he can do. going back to the 2016 campaign when he said he could shoot someone in the middle of fifth avenue and have his supporters stay with him. i think he's absolutely right. he was there. he was right then, and he's right now. but, you know, that doesn't change our obligation to call out something that is is just completely outrageous and something that's actually going to very likely hurt new yorkers, because at this moment, eric adams is more dependent on donald trump than he is on, you know, the people of new york city, and he is still the mayor. >> he and others have claimed that this prosecution started purely because adams criticized, uh, the immigration policy, stuck his neck out against joe biden. prosecutors say, well, the investigation began before and we should note there are

many members of adams administration under investigation for corruption in a number of in a number of ways. what are the facts? >> the facts are there is absolutely no evidence to support the idea that this case was some sort of political retribution. and, um, the, the, um, the there's no evidence that this office, the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan, ever engaged in that kind of behavior regarding regarding anyone connected to trump. i mean, it's just a completely made up, uh, justification for, for for the for this action and for, uh, adams upset. adams was upset that he was indicted. that's most people are upset that they're indicted. but the idea that there was some sort of untoward motive, um, there's just no evidence for it. and lots of evidence against it, including the evidence in the case. and that's why he was indicted. >> jeffrey toobin, thanks so much. the new book, the pardon the politics of presidential

mercy, available now. thanks, jeffrey. thanks, jeff. turning back now to russia's war on ukraine, the trump administration's concessions to russia. our panel is back with us now. and when you look at this, brad, entering a negotiation, trump has already said ukraine is going have to give up territory. it will not be a member of nato. and he's also saying he wants to welcome russia back into g7. of course, he was kicked out because of the invasion. help me understand why with allies, trump begins with maximalist positions. you think of canada, 51st state, denmark. i'm going to take greenland. panama. i'm going to take over the canal. but on this he makes concessions prior to the negotiation. is that strong? is that strength? >> the question that was asked was, should ukraine return to its pre 2014 borders? that's when russia invaded crimea and took it from ukraine. and barack obama did absolutely nothing to

stop him. and so i think that's the original sin in this situation in ukraine. and both president biden and president trump have struggled to put the genie back in the bottle for obama's failure to stop russia from taking over ukraine. i hope he takes a hard line with trump. >> is president now who's saying he's willing to allow russia to keep territory that it invaded, which would be the first time, we should note since world war ii that a leader of a country would be allowed to take territory and keep it by force. >> jim. that's false. barack obama let russia keep crimea after they invaded crimea. he did nothing to stop it. that's that's just a false assertion. >> president trump talked about that. and the the he did not recognize the annexation. that's the point. that's the difference. >> he did nothing to stop him. he said he did nothing to stop. >> criticism. >> he said he said he couldn't do it because of russian identity. there. >> i understand you're not willing to criticize anything president trump will say. but let me ask you. let me ask you. let me ask you. uh, jaime, is there a way forward here between the u.s. and europe? let's set

aside ukraine for a moment where they maintain this alliance, as we've known it for the last several decades. or are we seeing a fundamental change in that relationship? >> jim, i don't think anyone knows. i think that's part of the problem with president trump. i think there's a bunch of chaos. i think vice president vance has said one thing. the secretary of defense has said another thing, and president trump has said something else. and so i think most people, not just americans, people around the world, just want to understand what the heck the president wants to do. and so, look, i think things are going to be fundamentally different. i think the president has been very clear that he not only wants to reshape the american government, he wants to reshape the international politics. and so i think we have to be clear about that. president trump is trying to reshape international politics. so this is not about just doing something for the sake of doing it. he's doing it intentionally. and i think we've got to be clear about that. >> alex, you know, that, you know, ukraine used to be a bipartisan issue. you still have a bipartisan, uh, group going to go to the munich security conference. um, but i wonder, do republicans on the hill you speak with say that, uh, they

will stand up right against a deal that they would perceive as against ukraine's interests or against europe's interests? or is the is are the politics of the town such that, listen, it's largely a done deal. >> there are definitely some republicans, including mitch mcconnell, which you talked to earlier and then others. i think that would speak out. i mean, you saw senator wicker of mississippi just speak out over at the munich conference saying that defense secretary pete hegseth made a rookie mistake. i think that there are some interests. that being said, even the ones that are supportive of ukraine recognize that the politics that trump tapped into of america first sending money over to ukraine are unsustainable. >> yeah. and there you go on on the politics point. um, he may have his finger on the pulse. uh, gentlemen, thanks so much to all of you for for sticking around so long this morning. and thanks to all of you as well for watching this morning. i hope you have a good weekend. i hope you have a good valentine's day. i'm jim sciutto and cnn news central starts right now.