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>> cnn. >> this morning. >> i will. >> never accept. >> any decisions between the. >> united states and russia about ukraine. >> negotiating peace. >> u.s. and russian officials. >> prepare for high stakes talks. >> in saudi arabia. but it is. >> who is not invited that is raising alarms. >> it is republicans. >> that are running the government. they better learn. >> how to. >> run it, because right now it is pure chaos. >> fighting back from policy shifts to slashing the federal workforce, can democrats find a counterpunch against president trump's government shakeup? >> if they don't rule in our favor, we will go to the united states supreme court. >> a test of power. the trump administration's first appeal lands on the doorsteps of the supreme court as the president pushes his bid to fire government watchdogs. 5 a.m. here on the east coast,

here's a live look at the capitol dome on this president's day. good morning everyone. i'm manu raju in for kasie hunt. it's so wonderful to be with you. talks between russia and the united states are set to begin on tuesday in saudi arabia. the goal is to bring an end to the war in ukraine. but ukraine is not invited. more on that in a moment. secretary of state marco rubio special envoy steve witkoff and national security adviser mike waltz touching down overnight in riyadh ahead of the talks. now president trump is confident russian president vladimir putin is ready for a deal. >> i think he wants to stop fighting. i see that we spoke long and hard. steve witkoff was with him for a very extended period, like about three hours. i think he wants to stop fighting. >> the trump administration says a, quote, dual track of negotiations will be held in ukraine this week. but president volodymyr zelenskyy of ukraine

insists nothing meaningful can happen unless ukraine gets a seat at the table. >> so i will. >> never accept any. >> decisions between the united states and. >> russia about ukraine. never. and our people never. >> let's bring in joel rubin. he's a former deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the obama administration. joel. good morning. >> good morning. >> it's great to see you. all right. talk to me about how you see these talks playing out. i mean, ukraine is not going to be part of these initial talks. trump is saying they're going to be involved. we'll talk to them on a separate track. but they gave some concessions pretty early to to russia, which is giving some hope that russia may come to the table, but it's raising alarms in europe. >> yeah, it should be raising alarms in europe. first of all, the united states, we do not have the right nor the capacity to negotiate on behalf of ukraine. ukraine is a country that has been invaded by russia. their people are the ones fighting the war. their people are the ones dying. their land

is the one is. the land has been captured. so we can talk to russia all we want. but ultimately ukraine is going to have to decide if they want to have an agreement with russia. so starting out talks right now without having them at the table really creates a very weak foundation for true talks to have a sustainable solution. >> there's this emergency meeting that's happening in europe, in paris right now among european leaders. there's some concerns about the nato alliance. how much concern is there that this alliance is really at its shakiest moment since its conception? >> well, the last week landed like a thunderclap in europe. pete hegseth, the defense secretary, vice president vance, they went out. they gave speeches that were incredibly, uh, maga, very strong speeches from the american perspective, but ones that set europe back. nato allies are now questioning the reliability of the united states. and to add in these talks, there is no european

presence either. and europe has put down half the money. they're the ones sitting there next to the front lines of the war. they need to be at the table for a real negotiation with russia. >> i want you to listen to how president zelenskyy talked about this issue, talked about the negotiations, and talked about trump and putin. >> do you think president. >> trump is negotiating in good faith? >> i hope so. >> i hope so, yes, i count on it. i count on it very much. >> is putin capable of negotiating in good faith? >> no. you will see. everybody will see. he will he will try to begin something new. >> i mean, he says putin can't negotiate in good faith. how do they get a deal when there's no trust? and obviously so much has history between these two nations. >> that's the key question. what are the enforcement mechanisms any deal can be agreed to in theory. the

question is how can it be executed in a way that is sustainable and verifiable? who is going to do that? is the united states going to do that? are we now going to be the ones that are going to verify whether or not vladimir putin is living up to his agreement, which we know over the past decade, he has continued to break agreements, going back to 2014 with ukraine. he has a bigger goal on ukraine, which is to take over all of ukraine. and that's the real problem here, is that president trump thinks he's done with war. but based on what what has shown vladimir putin to suddenly want to sue for peace? nothing. it's just that donald trump thinks he can get a deal. but how can we verify that? >> i do want to ask you quickly about israel, because there's obviously a lot of news about what's happening there over the weekend and this cease fire that is holding at the moment. but there was trump floated the notion that the u.s. would take over gaza. now it seems to be something that is central to some of the at least the belief in israel about how this will proceed. then benjamin netanyahu

said over the weekend, he said the only viable plan to enable a different future for the people of gaza, for israel and for the region is this gaza plan? how is that going to look? we are only in phase one of this deal to release some of the hostages. they got to get to phase two. how much is it going to impact the ability to bring the rest of the hostages home? >> that is the big fear, is that this concept of a plan is going to frighten hamas and others from going forward on any more hostage releases, but there is no plan. this is just a theory. this is just an idea. one thing that is very striking as well is that president trump basically has turned, aside from more than five decades of american policy, he is no longer supporting a two state solution. he is calling for some idea of a plan, but has no actual numbers as to how many american troops would be required to implement it, how much american money would be required, who would pay for it? the saudis don't want to pay for it. the egyptians and the

jordanians don't want to see millions of palestinians come into their territory. so this is just a fantasy plan. and unfortunately, now it's becoming what people are talking about, which is a good way to distract from the hard questions of negotiations. get all hostages out, stop this war and rebuild gaza with a government that will not threaten israel again in the future. >> and you see that banner very quickly as we wrap here. netanyahu vows to finish the job with iran. he said over the weekend. where do things go from here with iran? >> uh, i've seen that line many times over the years. finish the job. look, iran is is provoking chaos in the region. there's no doubt that they have been supporting militant groups for decades, and that hezbollah and others have been struck, as they should have been. but the idea that somehow there is a way to finish this job, that israel is going to bomb iran, and then it's going to be over, is fanciful. they need to find a way to get in negotiation with iran that verifiably constrains their nuclear program and restrains their ability to fund these terror groups. just

bombing alone is not going to do the job. >> there's a lot of developments on the foreign policy front. thank you so much for sharing your insight. i really appreciate it, joel. and straight ahead on cnn this morning, finding their lane, how democrats are grappling with how to push back against trump 2.0 plus live from new york saturday night live legends reunite at 30 rock to ring in the show's golden anniversary. and new york city mayor eric adams under the microscope as he plans to. he announces his plans to allow ice agents into rikers island. and that was shortly after the doj dropped those sweeping corruption charges against the embattled mayor. >> imagine him going inside saying that the only way mayor adams is going to assist in immigration, which i was calling for for since 2022, is if you drop the charges, that's quid pro quo. that's a crime. come on, this is silly.

>> 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? saturday at nine on cnn. >> let the conclave begin. >> why do i feel like a cow. being pressed. >> by the farmer? >> the new york times raves. it's every cardinal for himself in hands down, the best picture of the year. afi hails rare as the film that endlessly entertains and is a stunning cinematic achievement. i understand. >> the. >> trick is. >> to offend. >> no one. and now conclave is nominated for eight academy awards, including best picture of the year. >> let god's. >> will be done. this year. >> have faith conclave, rated pg. >> aveeno introduces new daily moisturizing cream. it's clinically proven to. moisturize dry skin for 48 hours and instantly strengthens skin's barrier for softer, smoother skin. aveeno the power of oat for sensitive skin. >> what happens in vegas stays.

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>> cnn's brian todd explains how adams is navigating his relationship with the president and his team. >> mayor, can. >> you. >> reassure the. >> embattled 64 year old new york mayor being intensely scrutinized for cooperating with the trump administration on immigration? eric adams, a democrat, is allowing trump's immigration and customs enforcement agents to operate on rikers island, new york city's largest and most violent jail complex. it comes as trump's justice department has moved to dismiss charges in a sweeping corruption case against the mayor. adams denies a quid pro quo, telling fox news, while trump border czar tom homan sat right next to him that he simply not bucking the trump team on immigration like he claims the far left is. >> let's be clear i'm not standing in the way. i'm collaborating against so many others that don't want to collaborate. >> but adams is coziness with the trump team has caused upheaval in the justice department, where more than half a dozen senior officials have resigned after refusing to sign off on dismissing the corruption case.

>> it's a nice little arrangement all the way around except for justice. this is not justice. you know, the the scales of justice are are going haywire here. >> adams wasn't always so chummy with trump in 2019, posting messages on twitter and facebook slamming the president over his immigration policies, once saying trump's hatred is bottomless. but since the corruption charges were brought against him in september, and with trump's ascent to power, adams has changed his tune. >> since donald trump has been elected mayor, adams has worked even harder to firm up his relationship with the trump administration. >> adams has recently praised trump in public, praised elon musk he made a pilgrimage to florida to have dinner with trump, greeted trump at a ufc event in madison square garden, and skipped martin luther king day events in new york to attend trump's inauguration. following a playbook for ingratiating himself with the president used by canadian prime minister justin trudeau and a string of powerful tech billionaires. >> i think to get on trump's good side, you got to go down to mar-a-lago and kiss the ring. if

you're a democrat, you've got to be willing to not just criticize democrats, but specifically criticize the biden administration. you got to feed into this kind of broey, alpha male way swagger, if you will. >> trump said he would consider a pardon of adams if he was ever convicted. adams was asked in november by wolf blitzer if he's asked for one. >> that is not on my agenda. >> it's possible for trump and the justice department to bring these charges back in some form. so only a pardon will solve his problems, and he may get a pardon if he continues to cooperate fully. >> we asked analysts, how might eric adams best navigate this relationship with donald trump moving forward? they said compliment trump often in public. and if he ever gets to a point where he disagrees with trump, think twice about speaking out about it because that could erase everything that adams has so carefully built with the president. brian todd, cnn, washington.

>> all right. still to come on cnn this morning, just weeks after the deadly mid-air collision over washington, d.c., the federal aviation administration is facing cuts as part of president trump and elon musk's cost cutting efforts. plus, president trump's second term agenda is facing legal battles. he's now taking the first one of those to the supreme court. >> the itch and. >> rash of moderate to severe eczema disrupts my skin night and day. despite treatment, it's still not under control. but now i have rinvoq. rinvoq is a once daily pill that reduces the itch and helps clear the rash of eczema fast. some taking rinvoq felt significant itch relief as early as two days, and some achieved dramatic skin clearance as early as two weeks. many saw clear or almost clear skin. >> rinvoq can lower ability. >> to fight infections. >> before treatment, tests for tb and do blood work. serious

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again.( 800) 858-2816. >> all right, 21 minutes past the hour. so here's your morning roundup. the trump administration is firing hundreds of federal aviation administration probationary employees. now the move comes less than three weeks after the deadly mid-air collision over washington, dc that killed 67 people. the faa system that provides critical safety alerts failed days after the crash. transportation secretary sean duffy posted on x that the doge

team would help upgrade the aviation system. the department of education has sent a letter to schools threatening to cut federal funding if they consider students based on their race, color or national origin. now, the four page document outlines a sweeping and controversial interpretation of current federal laws and how the department intends to assess compliance. rudy, you're. america's mayor. >> you're beloved. >> all across the country. this is. >> your big shot. what are you going to do with it? >> simple. >> i am throwing away my shot. >> up. >> election conspiracy. >> is going to rise up. >> i'll plant the seed. >> and that's lin-manuel miranda. alongside former snl cast member kate mckinnon, reviving her rudy giuliani impression from for last night's 50th anniversary celebration. a wide range of former snl cast members, hosts and guests of the sketch comedy show made cameos in the three hour long special. now, at least

ten people are dead following a powerful storm sweeping through the southeast. kentucky, being the hardest hit state. one driver showing those high flood levels on the street. officials say over 1000 rescues were performed by emergency responders. thousands still remain with no power. now the country is preparing for an arctic blast, which could bring another round of brutally cold temperatures. cnn's meteorologist allison chinchar has more. >> the cold front that brought all of the flooding rains across portions of the ohio and tennessee valley is now pushing out. but behind it, you've got some pretty significant cold air that's going to infiltrate portions of the central and the eastern u.s. and with that cold air in place as our next system begins to arrive, it's going to bring snow to some places that are pretty far south. here. you can see by tuesday morning you've already got snow and even some ice developing across portions of texas and even oklahoma. this system itself will continue to slide east so that by wednesday morning, as many folks are headed out on their commute in nashville, louisville, even around

huntsville, alabama, looking at some snow showers into the mix further south, it's mostly going to be rain for places like atlanta, montgomery stretching down towards new orleans. the system continues to spread eastward, eventually impacting portions of the mid-atlantic like washington, d.c., baltimore, and even into the northeast like new york and boston, bringing some additional snow there as well. here you can see some of these spots. you are looking at pretty substantial amounts of snow. lots of these locations across the central u.s. and even perhaps over the carolinas in virginia, could be looking at at least half a foot of snow before this finally pushes back out of the area. the cold air we talked about is also going to spread. so even for the areas that don't necessarily get the snow per se, your temperatures are certainly going to drop. look at dallas for example, 57 for the high on monday, looking at a high of only 28 on wednesday. their normal high would be in the 60s. they won't get there till the end of the week. similar scenario for omaha. the average high is 39 degrees. they are looking at barely getting just into positive numbers. by the time we get to the middle portion of the week, they

finally rebound. once we head into next weekend. >> all right, coming up on cnn this morning, peace talks surrounding the war in ukraine continue ahead. what secretary of state marco rubio can expect as he arrives in saudi arabia this morning? plus, the new strategy democrats are using to fight back against president trump and elon musk as it prepares for a showdown over government shutdown. >> republicans have consistently shut down the government in the past. there's a republican president, a republican house and a republican senate. they have a responsibility to make sure that government remains open and can function. >> are you 50 or older? this news is for you. it's recommended that you get vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia. even if you're healthy. why? if you're 50 or older, you're at 6.4 times greater risk of getting pneumococcal pneumonia. so schedule a vaccine. >> what's up? you seem kind. >> of sluggish today.

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>> robitussin. the only brand with true source certified. honey. i'm alex. >> marquardt in. >> munich, and. >> this is cnn. >> 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast. here's a live look at louisville, kentucky. good morning everyone. i'm manu raju in for kasie hunt. it's wonderful to have you with us. democrats are struggling to fight back against president trump and elon musk, as the two men dominate the headlines with a relentless stream of news prompted by their actions. while doge slashes federal jobs and programs. and musk has unfettered access to the oval office and controls, of course, a major social media platform, as posts pick up by many on the right, prompting response from gop lawmakers. and, of course, the cycle then continues. all of this ahead of a government funding showdown in march. and is the house and senate gop try to put together a sweeping agenda aimed at implementing trump's agenda? but democrats insist they are mobilizing. >> well.

>> we're winning in court. more than a dozen federal injunctions and temporary restraining orders have been issued against everything from their illegal seizure of computer data and every american's private data at the treasury department to their illegal, uh, attempt to ban birthright citizenship in america. >> we're going to continue to work together in an all hands on deck effort to push back against the far right extremism that is being unleashed on this country. with record velocity. >> all right. joining us now is kevin fry. he's the washington correspondent for new york one news. kevin good morning. good morning. good to see you. i see you a lot on capitol hill chasing various members, democrats as well as republicans on the democratic front. what is your sense of what their strategy is to fight back? because some of them are going outside federal agencies very upset about the shuttering of those agencies. others say, well, maybe we don't want to be

looked like the guardians of federal bureaucracy and the like. there seems to be a split on how to respond to trump and doge. what are you hearing from? >> well, i mean, you. >> see, some. >> like the aoc's of the world, who are much more aggressive on their social media platforms because they've already developed that as kind of their their means of conveying to the general mass public. and in some ways, that's combating against really a kind of new media, media ecosphere that, for example, musk and other republicans really have a dominant play in. at the same time, when you look at the leadership itself, particularly congressman jeffries, his message going back to november was, i'm not going to engage with every single thing that trump does on a single day. and earlier this year, he used the analogy of aaron judge because he's a yankees fan and said, i'm not going to hit it every ball. and ultimately, that means that they seem to be honing in, at least from the leadership perspective, on this economic message, trying to tout the fact that egg prices are still going up, saying that republicans aren't doing anything to

actually address what they perceive as really the main takeaway from the november election, which is economic issues. people were off about how costly everything was. that's where they're honing in on whether that's effective. when there's such a deluge of information, is where you're seeing some consternation amongst rank and file democrats that they're not doing enough. >> it's a very good point, because there's a lot of change that's happening with musk. and they're they're breaking things and things. there's lots of consequences, some unintended, some unintended. but you're right. listen to jeffrey's message. just so viewers get a get a sense of how the democratic leader is talking about trump. >> we're just at the beginning. and the core promise that donald trump made is that he's going to lower costs for everyday americans. in fact, we were told that grocery prices would go down on day one. on january 20th. costs aren't lower. in fact, costs are increasing. the price of eggs is skyrocketing. out of control. inflation is on

the way up. that was the core promise that's been broken. >> but look, they have been powerless for the first couple of months here. they're going to have a chance on march 14th when it's time to fund the federal government. jeffries votes. democratic votes will be needed in the house and the senate where they need 60 votes. they'll be needed to keep the government open. they have a chance to demand certain things, but it's unclear how. jeffries. how hard of a line that jeffries will draw in that fight. >> this is the clear leverage point that the democrats have, at least in the near future, is to try to extract something. and, you know, there have been plenty of questions that have been thrown to him at these press conferences and to his aides. et cetera. like, what are you honing in on? what are you focusing in on? and jeffries, maybe it's a negotiation tactic, it seems, basically keeps going back to, well, the republicans are in charge. they're the ones that say that they have this overwhelming mandate. >> they have votes to. >> exactly, exactly. particularly in the senate, where they need the republican or democratic buy in to overcome the filibuster. and it's not clear what exactly they want to extract. at least jeffries isn't showing his cards there yet. and he's known, of course, to operate very close to the

vest. one of the things that i'm keeping an eye on is, what do they try to do to maybe counter musk or try to rein him in? do they force something into this bill? they've been rolling out various pieces of legislation over the last couple of weeks. messaging bills purely to try to protect data, for example, the treasury and so forth. do they try to to lean in on some of that, at least from a messaging perspective? as we lead up to march 14th, perhaps. >> and it'd be interesting. does trump accept a funding bill that funds the agencies that he is trying to dismantle. >> slowly trying. >> to, which is going to raise the concerns about a possible government shutdown if that showdown emerges? i do want to ask you about new york, because you are a new york expert. there's been a lot i don't. >> know about expert, but. >> i'll try. there's a lot of news in new york with new york mayor eric adams. this deal that was cut to drop his corruption charges with the justice department and him being amenable to their push on immigration. now, what are you hearing from on the ground, the fallout for eric adams as he faces this june primary? >> well, so. >> there's like there's questions as to what exactly democratic leadership in new york is going to do. you're

starting to see rank and file members try to lean on the governor to basically say, you should use this extraordinary power. you have to essentially oust him from office because there is there is a belief amongst several republican democrats that he is basically compromised, that he is doing the bidding of trump. and at the end of the day, he can't be trusted to actually lead the city on behalf of the city. so much so that even jeffries last week when i asked him who, of course, is the most prominent voice within the democratic coalition in new york, other than arguably eric adams himself, um, basically agreed that it's not an illegitimate concern from these democrats that he might be compromised. the question is, do you start seeing jeffries? do you start seeing schumer, who hasn't said a lot publicly about all of this move from being concerned to leaning in on the governor to try to put adams on the line? we haven't seen that yet. maybe if the judge ultimately agrees to allow these charges to be

dropped in the coming days, then perhaps. >> but what does she say? what does the governor said about that? >> the governor has herself gone from? it would be undemocratic to to remove him to. she was on msnbc the other evening and left more space than she ever had, suggesting that she has to review the situation before she decides what to do. >> yeah. so interesting. yes or no? can he survive a primary? >> i don't think so. >> yeah, interesting. and they're all lining up against him. we'll see what happens there. all right. thank you so much for your expertise. really appreciate it. and overnight, secretary of state marco rubio touching down in saudi arabia ahead of tuesday's negotiations with russia to end the war in ukraine. ukraine not offered a seat at the table, at least not yet. rubio, urging patience with the process. >> president trump spoke to vladimir putin last week, and in it, vladimir putin expressed his interest in peace and the president expressed his desire to see an end to this conflict in a way that was enduring and that protected ukrainian

sovereignty, and that was an enduring peace. not that we're going to have another invasion in 3 or 4 years. that's a good call. now, obviously, it has to be followed up by action. so the next few weeks and days will determine whether it's serious or not. >> the white house says dual track negotiations will be held in ukraine this week. president trump insisting he is not squeezing ukraine out of the process. >> do you expect zelenskyy to be involved in these conversations? what will his role be? >> i do, he will be involved. yes. >> he said today that. >> russia is going to. >> wage war. >> on nato. do you do you agree with that? do you have any concerns about. >> i don't agree. not even not even a little bit. >> cnn salma abdelaziz joins us live from london. so salma, what's ahead today for secretary rubio and his team. and how do we expect tomorrow's talks to play out. >> i think everyone is just simply trying to keep up at this stage. i mean, the secretary of state's trip to the middle east

should have been about the middle east, but instead this is now turned into a meeting about ukraine without ukraine. president zelenskyy saying over the weekend that he wasn't invited to these talks and emphasizing that the people of ukraine won't accept a deal. some comments have been made calling it a dirty deal, a deal that would be without ukrainian officials, alongside one that would be directly made between the united states and russia. the latest we know is that russia's top diplomat, of course, sergey lavrov, is on his way to riyadh as well. he's going to hold these high level meetings, of course, with the secretary of state and others, all beginning in earnest tomorrow. and there's one other key party that's not on the invite list here, and it's all of europe. it is, of course, europe, nato. that has been the united states partner in this conflict in ukraine. none of them have been invited to the table in riyadh. so european leaders are also scrambling from being left out. they're going to hold their own emergency meeting

in paris. but none of this brings anyone closer to those mediation efforts. and you mentioned that dual track. well, the u.s. envoy to russia and ukraine, kelly, will be in ukraine speaking with ukrainian officials as these talks take place in riyadh. the idea being at some point a divide will be bridged. >> what do you expect from those european meetings today that's playing out in paris and this emergency meeting? they called this emergency meeting. what what are we expecting to come out of that meeting? >> it's really hard to overemphasize just how important this is. i mean, we're upending basically decades long relationship between the united states and europe and what europe is trying to do is essentially figuring out how to survive without the security guarantees that the united states has given again for decades. how does europe begin to defend its border without that support from the u.s., one of the options on the table coming here from the u.k., from

prime minister keir starmer to provide a troop force there, is looking into that european wide troop force, military force, a peacekeeping force of some kind. it's actually a suggestion that came from the united states. so really, this is just the beginning of a meeting that is intended to forge a future ahead that looks a lot less friendly to the united states and the dependency on its security. >> all right. cnn's salma abdelaziz with all the latest from london. thank you so much for that report. and ahead on cnn this morning, president trump asking the supreme court to let him fire the head of a government ethics watchdog agency. plus, one more honor for steph curry at the nba all-star game. >> here are my five morning alarms and metaphor for everything else i'm putting on,

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>> 821 4000. >> president donald trump's aggressive second term agenda has so far faced a number of legal challenges. now, the first of his appeals is heading to the u.s. supreme court. trump is asking the nation's highest court to let him fire the head of a government ethics watchdog agency. now, trump attempted to fire hampton dellinger earlier this month in dellinger leads the office of the special counsel. but there are protections put in place by congress that require an administration to show cause for firing someone from the role if it is before their five year term has ended. dellinger is less than one year into his term. now, the federal district court temporarily blocked trump's move while it considers the case, and an appeals court declined to overrule that decision over the weekend. all that, prompting the justice department to take its appeal to the supreme court, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. now, last week, trump was asked about the legal fights his administration is facing. >> we're being hindered by

courts where they file in certain courts where it's very hard to win, and a judge will stop us and a judge will say that it doesn't make any difference what you find. you just keep paying the money. that's a hell of a way to be. and i follow the courts. i have to follow the law. all it means is that we appeal. but that gives people time to cover their tracks. and that's what they do. >> joining me now is one of the brightest legal minds, criminal defense attorney joey jackson. joey, good morning to you. thank you so much for joining me this morning. uh, talk to me about the implications of this appeal to the supreme court. is trump taking this try as he's facing all these other challenges here? if he wins? what are the implications for all these other cases that are happening? >> yeah. >> good morning. >> you know, we are. >> in different times. >> and i think we're going. >> to see the expansion of executive power. so just to really reset. >> the issue, as.

>> you well explained. >> at the beginning. >> what happens is, is that this is a this really is an agency that's independent. it's independent because it really looks over whistleblowers. it deals with ethics and other legal issues. and so the way that congress enacted the statute for this particular agency was to not allow or otherwise authorize the executive to remove, right, the person in charge of the agency, unless you engage in some kind of misconduct, illegality, dereliction of duty. and congress, right. that legislative branch of government specifically did that to make it independent. as we look at trump there. however, we have, of course, a supreme court that seems to be really looking at the expansion of executive powers. we saw that as it related to the president being immune, right from criminal prosecution for certain purposes. and so i just really think that this in terms of the implications in going to the supreme court now is really in danger of really the law that

says that you can only remove for these specific purposes that it's in danger. and i think the supreme court would be emboldened to allow the president to say, hey, look, you serve at the pleasure of the president. this is an executive branch position. and as a result of that, trump could do whatever he wants, notwithstanding the congressional language. and so i really think that the implications are we're going to see a very broad and sweeping powers that are granted to the president. >> yeah. that was my next question to you about the supreme court. how receptive that it might be that these lower courts were the judges that halted the administration's actions here. those judges, they were appointed by democratic presidents. here we have a much more conservative justice bench on the supreme court. how do you think that they are going to respond on this question? and just you mentioned the expansion of executive power that we are seeing with trump. how do you think that they would respond to all these questions about really expanding the power of the executive? >> yeah. you know, it's not

supposed to work this way and with this way that i mean, it doesn't it doesn't matter really, whether you are appointed or shouldn't, uh, you know, the in terms of the courts, you're a democrat or republican. this is the law. and the law should be interpreted in a way that really looks at precedent. right? that's what's been decided previously to give some indication of what you should do for the future. we know, however, that's not the way it is. uh, and as a result, i think that you have as we look at the supreme court, they're a super conservative majority, meaning six majority conservative. you only have the other three. and so i think as we move forward, we're going to see a supreme court that's very activist. that doesn't really let precedent guide what it does in the future. we saw we saw that certainly with the implications of the abortion decision. we saw that, as i noted previously, with the implications of, hey, you know what? you're the president. you're immune from criminal prosecution. and i think we may see that here. and so moving forward, i think what we'll see is a supreme court that allows the executive, if you're serving at their pleasure,

notwithstanding what congress says about you, can only remove for inefficiency, you can remove for, you know, dereliction of duty. that doesn't matter. you could remove because you're the executive, you're in charge, you could remove it will. and so i think the implications are significant as it relates to this specific case. and as it relates to other cases in terms of what trump's attempting to do and remaking the federal government, removing other whistleblowers and doing what is his prerogative because he's the policymaker and commander in chief. so this is a big deal. we are in different times, and it's going to be a very head spinning number of years in terms of the legalities and the court activities. >> yeah, and we are expecting a lot to go to the supreme court potentially. we'll see how this critical first case comes down as well. we can learn about it in the next couple of days here. of course. joey jackson, thank you so much for your expertise this morning. really appreciate it. and time now for sports. warriors star steph curry puts on a show in front of his hometown fans at the nba all

star game to earn mvp honors. carolyn manno has this morning's cnn sports update. >> good morning manu. >> this year's nba all-star game in san francisco. >> had a new look. so instead of. >> two teams playing a traditional 48 minute game, players were split into four squads facing. >> off in a tournament. >> style playoff. and steph curry set the tone early for team. >> shaq. >> draining a running three to open the championship game against. charles barkley's global stars. >> that shot. >> right there sparked an 11 zero run and later he'd connect. >> again, this time from. >> half court. curry scoring a combined 20 points in both games. he was named the game's mvp for the second time. >> in his 16. >> year career. >> this is a celebration. >> of a. >> lot of great things happening in basketball. >> to be playing with these guys. >> for as long as we have, like it's obviously our responsibility. >> to come out, put on the show and i thank them for helping me do that. and our golden. >> state. >> because, you know, a lot of history has happened out here, but the competition and the camaraderie and the legacies that we all create is what it's all about. so i'm i'm happy to

be a part of that celebration. >> for the first. >> time in. >> 21 years, lebron james did not play in the all star game. the lakers superstar announcing he would miss the mini tournament 90 minutes before it was set to start because of foot and ankle issues. he's going to start rehab for that injury again today, just a week after attending the super bowl, president trump made an appearance at another great american sporting event, the daytona 500. he led drivers on two laps around the track in his limousine. known in washington as the beast. the race was delayed for more than

>> there was a complete performance from genome 4m is husky, who came out swinging as the underdog in front of a sold out crowd, ac flood lead the way she had a game like 28 points sarah strauss end of the day with a double double, and uconn star paige bueckers also quietly became the third player in uconn history to record 2000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists, joining maya moore and diana taurasi in that. >> damian lillard is one of the best shooters the nba has ever seen. a loss against him in a shooting contest feels inevitable, but don't tell that to one fan who beat dame with this $100,000 shot on the line. so all the fans had to do was make one long range three before lillard could make three of them, and he did just that in the mr. beast challenge. i love the video. after jumping into shaq and kenny's arms, he did thank his dad for the shooting practice. he called the moment completely surreal. sitting in a tub of cash. great stuff for this incredibly talented and

lucky fan. going home with 100,000 bucks. >> and jumping in the tub of cash. you got to love that. wow, what a shot. and with the pressure on the line, amazing. i'm not sure if i'd be able to make that. definitely not. caleb vitello thank you so much for that. and up ahead on cnn this morning, a measles outbreak cases in west texas are doubling in size. plus, the president's foreign policy team gets ready to kick off peace talks with russia and saudi arabia. but ukrainian president zelenskyy says he won't accept any deal that's made without ukraine. >> president trump is rethinking the entire dynamic here. uh, that has some people uncomfortable, but i think zelenskyy would be very wise to enter into this agreement with the united states. >> good morning. with the collapse. >> good, good. good morning. yeah. >> try dulcolax chewy fruit bites for fast and gentle constipation relief in as little

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