>> ryan and bill is with us now. so bill trump remaining firmly in favor of combustion engines. can't elon musk just maybe win him over with this idea of electric? >> that's a great question. it looks like he's going to claw back the incentives that benefited a lot of tesla buyers. it's interesting that in blue states, tesla loyalty seems to be going down. it's going up in red states as the cybertruck becomes sort of a maga symbol. but globally, it's taken a huge hit. sales dropped over 40% last year over the years before. and you got to look at china. in china, there are hundreds of different ev companies that will likely be winnowed down to a dozen or two just global superpowers in the next decade. but that's a race that donald trump seems he wants to sit out. >> yeah. no. is there a good roar with the vehicle? >> no. you need to do it artificially. it's it winds too much. and it would beat any nascar right off the line. but you need a break to recharge the batteries, so. but so much faster.

>> hmm. bill weir. thank you. and thank you for joining us. the sauce starts now. >> straight from the sauce tonight, let's call it doge ball. as the white house now says, elon musk is not actually in charge of doge and doesn't even technically work there. a lot of new questions tonight for senator bernie sanders. he'll join me live in moments. also, an faa employee who says he was just fired by doge and why that makes him, quote, scared to death. and also what these layoffs mean for air safety. also tonight, president trump is revealing how soon he could sit down with president putin while echoing the russian leader's own words. when it comes to who's to blame for the war in ukraine? hint it's not russia. i'm kaitlan collins and this is the source. tonight, the burning question here in washington is who's in charge? specifically a doge as elon musk's team is blitzing through the federal government, the

white house actually revealed something quite revealing in a court filing. musk is not actually technically in charge of doge and doesn't have the authority to make decisions there. now, when president trump was asked about this matter that was revealed in this court filing overnight and asked to clear things up, essentially this is what the president had to say. >> elon is to me, a patriot. so, you know, you could call him an employee. you could call him a consultant. you could call him whatever you want. but he's a patriot. >> employee, consultant, patriot. that still leaves us tonight with a potentially very important question. who is running the team that's going from agency to agency, digging into budgets, accessing sensitive data, and also recommending the firings of thousands of employees. that question, which could be key in the legal fights that are playing out, remains unanswered tonight. >> who is in charge of doge?

>> the president of the united states? >> he's the administrator of doge. >> no, the doge. >> is the what was formerly u.s. digital services. it's an agency, the federal government, that reports into the office of the executive office of the president, which reports to the president of the. >> united states. >> does elon musk. no, he's not in charge of doge. howie roseman. doge. >> again, the president runs the government. then the president appoints advisers, including elon, including myself. >> that still leaves a lot of questions and doesn't really clear things up. as far as who's in charge at doge. what is clear and what we do know tonight is the president, who has been asked time and time again about who is overseeing potential conflicts of interest for elon musk, is not concerned about it. >> doge and spacex employees are now working directly at the federal aviation administration and the defense department. agencies that have billions of

dollars in contracts with musk's companies or that directly regulate his companies. how is that not a conflict of interest? >> well, i mean, i'm just hearing about it. and if there is and he told me before i told him, but obviously i will not let there be any conflict of interest. he has done an amazing job. any conflicts? i told elon, any conflicts. you can't have anything to do with that. >> now this major question about elon musk's role in the federal government comes tonight, as democrats themselves are locked out of power across washington. they've tried to highlight those potential conflicts, as jonathan swan just laid out there, to little avail. my lead source tonight says he is hitting the road, launching what he's calling his fighting oligarchy tour starting this week. joining me now, independent senator from vermont, bernie sanders and senator sanders. it's great to have you here. when it comes to questions about who is the administrator of doge, actually, do you believe that's an important question to have the answer to? >> the issue is not who is technically the. administrator who has the title. elon musk is

clearly running the show. the wealthiest person in the world who has enormous conflicts of interests, who is helping to fund right wing extremist organizations all over the world, who is looking forward to get massive tax breaks from congress? he is running the show. >> so if he is technically if he's running the show, but not on paper as they essentially argue, but you say in practice he basically is you're a co-equal branch of government. as a senator on capitol. >> hill, i kind of thought so. but i think you have to explain that to the president. >> do you feel that you have oversight when it comes to what elon musk. >> is doing? look, what we're seeing right now. caitlyn is is a very dangerous moment. i'm laughing here. but it is it is not funny. this country is moving very rapidly under trump into an authoritarian form of society. you know, the founding fathers, way back in the 1770s. these were nobody's fools. and

what they you know, they had fought the king of england, an autocrat, had all the power. they said, you know what? we don't want that in the new country. we're going to set up three separate, equal branches of government. and every kid in the sixth grade knows who they are. but trump does not. and what trump is doing now is trying every day to usurp the powers of congress to challenge the powers of the court. it is a very dangerous moment. >> well, the question, though, when it comes to what this looks like, is we haven't seen a ton of resistance from capitol hill. and we have seen some efforts in the courts. these democratic attorneys, democratic attorneys general stepped in. but today, a federal judge here, tanya chutkan she's well known to our audience from the trump trials. she declined to block musk's and his team from getting access because she basically said she wasn't getting specific enough examples from these ags about how musk could cause irreparable harm to their state. and if they can't prove that in court, what does that say? >> well, i tell you what i happen to believe at the end of

the day, the struggle against trump, the struggle against oligarchy, which is led by elon musk, the struggle against authoritarianism, the fight to make sure that the working class of this country gets a fair shake. that is not going to be won here in capitol hill. it's going to be won by millions of people all over this country standing up and saying, you know what? we fought and died for democracy. we're not going to move toward authoritarianism. we fought to create a country that works for all, not just the billionaire class. that's the struggle. and i'm going to be active in trying to rally the american people to do just that. >> well, and you're embarking on this tour to to combat this, it's a national tour. you're starting in nebraska and iowa. how do you break through to people, though? there are some people, trump voters who are even independent voters who who like what elon musk is doing and say, yeah, the federal government does spend too much money and it is too bloated. >> and the truth is, the federal government is a bureaucracy. we

have to acknowledge that federal government perfect. far from it. do we need to bring about reforms? absolutely. but let us be clear what these guys really want to do. do you think that elon musk is staying up night just worrying about excessive spending in the cdc? i don't think so. at the end of the day, what these guys want and what trump wants is to cut programs that working class people need. they are talking the house budget committee, uh, released their report, their budget. $880 billion in cuts to medicaid. do you know what that means. it's not only that millions of people, kids are going to be thrown off their health insurance. they have devastating to nursing homes. 40% of the revenue coming in to community health centers. 30 million people get their health care, community health centers. that's coming from medicaid. you cut medicaid, you're going to dismember an already broken health care system. what are

they going to do with that money? they're going to give it to tax breaks for the richest people in america. over $1 trillion goes in tax breaks to the top 1%. that is what these guys want. they want more wealth. they want more power. american people are going to have to stop them. >> well, and what you're referencing this is like the blueprint essentially, that we got from house republicans. it's not clear what realistically they're going to be able to pass here. but but they're looking to to have 5.4. 5 trillion in tax cuts. and basically this plan instructed the energy and commerce committee, which oversees medicaid, to find those $880 billion in cuts. realistically, what should voters be worried about? if you hear from some moderate republicans who say, we're not going to touch medicaid, that's not going to be on the table. >> well, no one is saying that. i mean, right now what we are trying to do in a house which is almost evenly divided, if two republicans, two out of 435 members say, you know what, we're not going to vote to give

tax breaks to billionaires and cut programs that children and the elderly and the hungry desperately need. to republicans, their proposal is dead, and we're going to work hard to make sure not only do we get two, that we get a hell of a lot more than two. >> now, on the elon musk front, when it comes to to social security payments and what is actually wrong with government and what's exaggerated, we're hearing this line from the white house that tens of millions of people are getting social security fraudulently. either they're dead or. >> i don't believe that for a second. >> and i've gotten no evidence of it. but i looked into this. and what we do know is that there's a lot of people that still remain in the database. but as far as people who are actually getting payments, it was 44,000 who got payments, according to an audit that was done in 2023. >> out of how many millions. >> there's tens of millions. so when they say tens of millions. >> that would be this is what we are dealing with. we're not only dealing with oligarchy. the incredible power of the very, very rich. we're not only dealing with a move toward authoritarianism, we're dealing

with what is new to america. you know, politicians have always lied. nothing new about that. but the level that we're seeing right now, the big lie over and over again and it goes out, there's a big lie, and then it goes out on musk's twitter to what, several hundred million people repeated over and over again. and now the word is out. oh, people are on social security 150 years of age. can you believe it? the whole thing is corrupt. it's broken. well, where does that lead you, caitlin? what's the next step? if government can't do anything? if social security doesn't work, if medicare doesn't work, if medicaid doesn't work, we're going to get rid of all of those programs, and we're going to give it over to the billionaire class to run it. >> that's what you think they're ultimately trying to do. >> yeah. at the end of the day, not only. >> do they security. >> a they want massive cuts to programs for the working class in this country in order to give tax breaks to the very rich, and then they want to move to the privatization of every important government agency. just the other day. and it's really upset

me because i used to be chairman of the veterans committee, and i feel very strongly about making sure that those men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this country get a fair shake. uh, right away. a thousand employees at the va laid off at a time when the va health care system certainly needs more help than they have right now. so at the end of the day, yeah, they're going to want to privatize veterans administration, social security, medicare, medicaid. president trump, by the. >> way, if president trump were seated next to you, he might say, well, i pledged on the campaign trail that i'm not going to touch social security. what would. >> you say to. >> voters? i think the president has many attributes, but credibility and honesty are not one of them. so i would have my doubts, i think. i'm not saying they're going to go after social security tomorrow. they're not. but this is the groundwork. i mean, this is what you do. you destroy the credibility of programs, programs that are complicated, programs that have tens of millions of people. you know,

this is the welfare queen again. look at this person. they got this. they got that. kill the whole program. >> well, the interesting part about that is actually, before trump took office, the treasury department clawed back and recovered $31 million in payments from social security. that shouldn't have gone out. that went out. that was something that they were doing over a five month period to deceased individuals. but they got. the point is, i think that what the doge team says they're doing was already happening. they were going back and getting the money. that was being. >> all that. i would ask the american people to understand is that when you have programs dealing with tens of millions of people, is anyone going to say, hey, there is no fraud? everything is running efficiently. of course not. there are going to be problems. every bloody program out there. there are going to be problems. but you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. >> so what's the solution? >> the solution. >> is they are concerned about. >> the solution. is the solution is that of course, we try to get rid of fraud and waste and

abuse. and maybe they want to take some of their attention onto the corporate world. and the kind of price fixing that goes on there as well. but we want to get rid of fraud and waste. but at the same time, we want to make sure that programs that people desperately need, like social security, remain strong. and you know what? you go out and ask the american people where they want to cut social security. they don't want to cut it. they want to expand it. they want to expand medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision. they want to expand medicaid. in fact, as you well know, we're the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people. health care should be a right. most americans agree with that. >> you're an independent, but you caucus with the democrats. we have heard from a lot of democrats privately, some publicly, who say they don't essentially know how to respond to trump on capitol hill. are there things that you could be doing to respond to them claiming social security is. >> yeah, of course we've got to. you know, i think there's an effort to bring forth a war room. there's a ton of lies and misinformation going out there

to respond to that. but the truth of the matter. >> is a war room. is that a is that enough? i mean, trump was elected three months ago. >> yeah. well, one of the things what's not enough is that elon musk could say the most outrageous thing tomorrow. it goes out to hundreds of millions of people. democrats do not have that capability, which takes us to a couple of other issues. it takes us to the fact that should a guy who put what was it, $270 million into trump's campaign, now become the most important person in the government, is that really how democracy is supposed to work? which takes you to a corrupt campaign finance system and the need to overturn citizens united, among other things? >> elon musk agreed with someone on twitter, a conservative influencer who called you a fraud recently. >> really? >> because you because you didn't vote for tulsi gabbard? >> someone that makes me a fraud. >> what's your response to that? >> i don't want to respond to. i've been called many things by elon musk, and i think not. musk is nervous about is that we're going to rally the american people to say that there is

something profoundly wrong when a guy that's worth over $400 billion is cutting programs so that he can get more tax breaks. enough really is enough. >> and how do you do that? >> well, as i said, we're starting off in nebraska. in omaha, we're going to iowa city, and i and others are going to be going all over this country to make it clear to the american people what's at stake. bottom line is, look, this is america. people fought and died for our democracy. we need a government that works for all of us, not just elon musk and his fellow billionaires. >> senator bernie sanders, great to have you, as always. >> nice to be. >> with you. thank you very much. we'll be sure to cover that tour. up next, president trump is blaming ukraine for russia's invasion as he is sending his top diplomats to meet with senior russian officials about achieving peace. ukraine was not at that table. >> i hear that, you know, they're upset about not having a seat. well, they've had a seat for three years. >> we also have brand new video tonight of that moment. the delta plane crash landed in

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>> up together. >> so i knew if he didn't get what he wanted, he would try to take it. the man took a shot at his own boss. >> bang bang bang. bang bang. >> huh? >> ooh! ah! >> this is. >> now. >> a circus. >> you're not. >> a gangster. >> you're a. >> clown. all right, you gotta. do something. >> don't do. >> anything. i know what to do. >> the alto knights rated r only in theaters march 21st. >> tonight, as the u.s. and russia officially have just held the most extensive talks that we have seen between these two nations in nearly three years, president trump is effectively blaming ukraine for russia's invasion. >> i think i have the power to end this war. and i think it's going very well. but today i heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. well, you've been there for three years. you should have ended it three years. you should have never started it. you could have made a deal. >> now, the blame on ukraine is something that we've heard from president trump before. it's

also an echo of what we often hear from president putin himself. ukraine, of course, did not start this war. russia did when it invaded ukraine. but trump's comment is all the more important now. after ukraine was excluded from that meeting between senior u.s. officials and russian officials in saudi arabia. this morning, my white house insiders tonight are some of ford's white house correspondents shelby talcott, new york times white house correspondent zolan kanno-youngs and cnn national security analyst beth sanner, who is the former deputy director of national intelligence. a critical role. when you hear trump's tone there, and you and i were talking last week after trump had that 90 minute call with with putin, you were saying it's not such a bad thing. it's not a hair on fire moment. it's a good thing that they're that they're speaking. but what do you hear when you listen to trump and the way he talks about zelenskyy and ukraine, period. >> exactly. >> what i. hear is anger. >> and that is one of the things that worries me the most is this anger toward ukraine, toward the victim in this war. and and, you

know, it strikes me that it really takes me back to the entire who's to blame for stealing the dnc servers. and in influence in the elections. right. that he would blame ukraine for those things. and so, yes. and so there's, there's this long standing thing that i thought had been kind of pushed to the side after some very positive meetings with zelenskyy, but now we're seeing kind of the thing emerge again. and, and it's not at all helpful in terms of the negotiation obviously. so when i said it's a good thing that they're talking, and it doesn't even bother me that they would meet separately. it's the way that all of this is going about. it's the tone of it. it's not talking to the allies in advance. it's not setting it up in a way that doesn't look like it's completely on russia's side. so so that's one of the big concerns. >> yeah. and shelby, we saw this

meeting this morning that happened. secretary of state marco rubio national security advisor mike waltz and steve witkoff all came out after. and we're talking about this this meeting and essentially how it went and why ukraine was not included in this. what are you hearing from from sources about the takeaways from that meeting? >> well, they're. >> saying privately that they. >> think that it was a positive meeting, but there's also. >> acknowledgment that there's a. >> long ways to go. and i think you're going to see general. >> keith kellogg. >> he's actually meeting with ukraine later this week. i think that's going to be a vital meeting. i think it's even more important now based on what the president said earlier today. so it's really interesting, you know, i'm told essentially there are different factions and they're all sort of working separately but also together. and that's the strategy that the white house has decided to take with this, instead of having all of the groups together in one room. now, of course, the problem with that is you have ukraine outside of the talks, right? ukraine, despite keith kellogg going there and talking to them later this week, doesn't feel like they're being

adequately included in these conversations. >> yeah. which led zelenskyy to delay his own trip to saudi arabia where he's been on this tour. he was in turkey this morning, i believe. he says he's not going to go there now until march 10th. but things seem to be moving pretty quickly. i mean, trump told reporters he could meet with putin before the end of this month. that's ten days away. i don't know, we'll see what actually happens. but in terms of how they are looking at the putin meeting, that seems to be progressing a lot faster. >> between the u.s. >> and russia. >> right now. and it. >> raises the concern. >> amongst european allies. >> including, again. >> the nation. >> that did get invaded. >> in this case, that. >> not only. >> will they not. >> be at the. >> table, but will. >> they be consulted. >> after a deal. now, zelenskyy. >> says that. >> they will not agree to a deal unless they are a party to these negotiations, unless they come. >> to them and. >> they have some. >> buy in here. but do you have a situation where it's clear right now, when you look at the trump team, that there is more interest in ending this war than penalizing moscow and putting pressure on moscow? so how does

that translate in this pursuit to end the war ceding to putin's demands as well? do you have a situation where ukraine needs to cede more territory? those are going to be the questions we have. >> and we keep hearing what ukraine may have to give up, but we're not necessarily hearing what putin may have to give up. trump today was complaining and essentially echoing what we hear from the kremlin that zelenskyy is not a legitimate leader. and trump was arguing that because they haven't had elections, they're the country, of course, has been martial law. and the ukrainian constitution doesn't allow for for elections during martial law. but this has been a thorny issue even in ukraine itself. >> it has been. and there's certainly people arguing that there should be elections. i personally think that bringing them up now, however, is just weakening zelenskyy and his position going into elections. it's demoralizing the ukrainians on the front, as we're starting to hear, and it's worrying ukrainians now. ironically, it might actually improve

zelenskyy's popularity. trump incorrectly. i'm not sure who gave him this number of 4% popularity, which is just insanely wrong. it's like over 50%. and i don't know, you know, how that that compares to other leaders. but, you know, in the middle of a war that's not going great. i don't think that that's that bad. so i just think it's a bad idea to talk about elections right now. it is a putin talking point, no doubt. >> can i just quickly also play when we hear what trump has been saying about putin, what we are hearing from republican senators today. >> do you think that putin can. >> be trusted in these negotiations? >> no. putin is a war criminal and should be in jail for the rest of his life if not executed. vladimir putin has a black heart. >> he clearly has stalin's taste. >> for blood. >> he's an evil man. >> it's a very different

message. >> yeah. and there there's clearly a disconnect between lawmakers and the white house. and i also think there's an aspect of this where donald trump fancies himself as a dealmaker and a peacemaker, and he doesn't really see ukraine as the winner in this. and so therefore, he feels like they should be making more concessions than russia. >> yeah. we'll see everyone. thank you for that. we'll continue to follow this very closely. up next, another top u.s. prosecutor has just quit here in washington, refusing a request from her trump appointed superiors to investigate funding from the biden administration. we'll tell you the details ahead. >> cooked books, corporate fat cats. >> swindling socialites. >> doped up. >> cyclists and. >> yes. >> more crooked politicians. >> i have a feeling we won't. >> be running. >> out of those anytime soon. >> a new season of united states of scandal with jake tapper, march 9th on cnn. >> thinking of updating my kitchen. >> thinking of redoing. >> our kitchen. we are finally updating our kitchen. >> for all those people who never seem to get around. >> to it.

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>> tonight. another abrupt resignation is adding to a growing crisis inside the department of justice. this time here in washington, a 24 year veteran of the department. her name is denise chung, announced that she's stepping down as the top criminal prosecutor in the d.c. u.s. attorney's office. she says it comes after she refused a request to open a grand jury investigation into a biden administration era contract at the epa. now, chung says she and other veteran prosecutors determined the evidence just didn't meet the threshold for an investigation. but this request came from emil bove. he is the department's acting deputy attorney general right now. who? before this, you'll remember him. he was president trump's personal attorney. and also from ed martin. who the president just named and nominated to be the permanent d.c. u.s. attorney. and martin, for those who don't know, is an election denier, a one time organizer of the stop the steal movement, but now is about to be elevated to an incredibly powerful position by legal sources. tonight, tom dupree, former u.s. deputy assistant

attorney general shan wu, former federal prosecutor and cnn legal analyst elliot williams. and shan, you actually worked in this office. is it unusual to see someone who is a 24 year veteran kind of get this request and say, this doesn't jive with with how this works, and i'm going to leave over it? >> yeah, it's very, very unusual. >> and i think it's an example. >> from what we're seeing in the reporting. >> of yet. >> another career. >> prosecutor standing. >> up and saying. >> we're not. going to do. >> things improperly without. >> evidence, without. >> a good law. >> enforcement reason. >> to do things just. because we're being told. to do that. and that's really. a great example of how. the career. prosecutors act as the. conscience and wisdom of an institution, that it doesn't just. change from. >> administration to administration. >> well, and, elliott, you also had had time in this office. what does it have to to have to meet the threshold for a request like the one that, that emil bove made of her and her colleagues? >> well.

>> again, it's not likely or common for headquarters and tom work there to to to make any request, frankly, of the day to day affairs going on inside an office. i think what's striking about this one, caitlin, is what we don't know about it, the specifics of what she was being really asked to do because staff and and management have disagreements all the time over how to proceed with cases, but they don't rise to the level of resigning. so either she was asked to do something that just felt unethical with respect to her law license, or just simply did not comport with the law. it is so rare for someone at that. >> this is unusual by any conceivable. >> metric. >> and what. >> it underscores. >> in. >> my mind is the profound. >> difference between trump one and trump two. from the get go, we'll know and trump one. trump was pushing back constantly against the political appointees in his justice department and was on the news every night. all the tension between jeff sessions and trump. they have hard wired doj. >> now to execute. >> the wishes of donald trump. that's how they built it. we saw that with. eric adams thing. we saw that today. and this is not going to be the last. i

think we. >> are. >> going to be back here next week. the following week, the week after with some other instance where there's a prosecution, an investigation that the politicals are pushing the career people to take, and you're getting pushback and resignation. >> you know, you got to ask yourself, what is the value of resigning? at a certain point, it is an important step that people can take. it's sort of like the one act of i hesitate to use the word resistance or whatever it might be, but the simple fact is who is the bulwark against unethical behavior or lawless behavior, if not the people who have been there for 25? >> what's the i guess the question is then what's the option if you don't resign? is it to carry out something that you think is unethical? and the other part of this, you know, if someone who voted for trump is watching, the justice department responded and said, you know, refusing a basic request to pause an investigation as they described it, so officials can examine the potential waste of government funds is not an act of heroism. it's just a failure to follow the chain of command. >> yeah, they seem so obsessed. >> with making sure they. >> point out. >> this. is not heroic. this is not an act of conscience that's come up before in what. they

said to the southern. >> district of new. >> york's acting attorney when she resigned, said people who romanticize what you're doing as an act of heroism, that's wrong. they just want. >> to argue. >> you need to follow orders here. but they're so obviously aware that this kind. of taking. >> a stand is really different. >> and it's so interesting when you contrast. >> it to the. >> watergate era. right. that saturday night massacre. those are political appointees resigning, taking that stand. the attorney general there, the deputy attorney general. this is so. >> to me, more. >> significant because it is the career people taking the stand. >> and also, look, the president has the. >> right. >> to have the people in his administration who execute his orders. there's no question he's a commander in chief. he won an election. but here's the thing for purposes of effective law enforcement, you can't begin every prosecution or investigation with a flurry of resignations from your people. in other words, if this is going to be kind of the way it's going to happen, it will be very difficult to execute the laws of the united states. if every time a political appointee gives a command, it's preceded by a flurry of resignations, and there are. >> some questions about who

would be named to be the d.c., u.s. attorney, ed martin has been filling in this job on an interim basis. it wasn't clear completely to people inside that he was going to actually be named permanent, but he has now been named that by trump. what does that tell us about what this office is going to look like for. >> quite a lot? and, you know, to tom's point, the president is allowed his people. we've all worked in republican and democratic administrations. and, look, republican presidents going to put republicans in. the problem with ed martin is he simply does not have the qualifications to run this office. he has not been a prosecutor. he has not been a judge. i don't believe he's even been a criminal defense attorney. but but, you know, i'm not certain about that fact. he's an activist politically and he's a loyalist of the president. that is the criterion that the president is using to put people in the largest or if not the largest, the second largest u.s. attorney's office in the country, and the only one that prosecutes both state and federal crimes. it is a serious management job and a serious prosecutor job, and he's just not fit to have it. >> it's actually worse than not having been a criminal defense attorney. he was he represented one of the january 6th defendants that dismissed the case against.

>> and he was there at the stop the steal rally. and he posted that day, rowdy crowd, but nothing out of hand. ignore the fake news. we'll see what that looks like. thank you all for being here. all of our legal experts. up next, we have new details that we are getting in this evening and a new video of that moment that a delta plane flipped over and burst into flames. my next source also tonight, as we're following all of these stories here in washington as well. he's one of the hundreds of faa employees who was fired by the trump administration. will ask him why next. >> it's the news. >> welcome back. >> but it's also kind. >> of not the news. >> we don't fact check it. we don't care, man. >> wants all the. >> information on this show. >> so terrible. >> have i got news for you saturday at nine on cnn. >> oh. >> with flonase. >> allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase. >> daily gives.

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crash landed and flipped over in flames on a toronto runway. you can see here this view is from the cockpit of another plane that was nearby. experts point out that the plane's rear landing gear is buckling, as it makes that hard landing that you can see here. the right wing then rips away in a fireball as the aircraft skids over on its belly and rolls over. fortunately, as we know tonight, all 80 people on board, passengers and crew survived. what you are seeing here. officials tell us that two of the 21 people who were injured remain in the hospital. they have non-life threatening injuries. tonight, as we're getting new video of passengers dangling from their seats. what it looked like inside, and hearing from a survivor who is speaking out about just what a harrowing experience it was, and also how they helped other passengers evacuate. >> and we looked over and the windows were just there was just liquid pouring. >> over. >> the the, you know, the small windows. and suddenly it smelled very strong of what i heard people later call av gas. we all

made our way kind of, i don't know, 6 to 8ft and then climbed out and it felt like i was stepping onto the tundra. the most powerful part of today was there was just just people. no countries, no nothing. it was just people together, um, helping each other. >> we're hearing from officials this evening who say right now, it's still too early to tell if the weekend's extreme weather conditions were what led to the crash. investigators are still at the site examining what remains of the fuselage. as you can see here. we'll continue to follow that investigation separately here in the united states. we're hearing tonight a warning from one of the several hundred faa employees who was just fired. i'm quote, i'm scared to death. and the american public should be scared too is what we're hearing from charlie statlander, who says he was working on an urgent faa defense program in hawaii to detect incoming cruise missiles. he thought his job would be spared because it focused on national security. but on friday, along with hundreds of other faa probationary employees, he was fired. and

charlie joins me now. and thank you for being here. it's great to have you, because obviously, this warning, you say that the american public should be scared by by your firing, uh, and the hundreds of your faa colleagues as well. why is that? >> uh. >> hey. >> caitlin, thank you so much for having me. >> on tonight. and. you know. >> thank you for giving me the platform to to tell my story. uh. >> you know, i wish i was. >> here under under different circumstances. uh, but, alas, you know, here we are. so, uh, i do think the american public does need to be concerned about, uh, you know, not only my firing, but also the firing of so many public safety, national security professionals at the faa. and, you know, within the department of transportation, but, you know, writ large also throughout the federal government. and i just i said, gave that quote about being scared to death because while i

can't talk about the specifics of the project i worked on and and what all i was doing, what i can tell you is that the faa national defense program that i was a part of and, and was incredibly proud to to work for the mission, to accomplish the mission of has an incredibly important national security role. and i was working on incredibly important national security work. and by being summarily fired without any warning, actually, while i was in the process of working, i, i, i think that that is is detrimental to to national security. >> you were at work when you got fired. >> i was i had actually just returned from a, uh, a work trip, a briefing at one of our air force bases. and i was working late into the night, uh, you know, which again, is, i think, further evidence. i'm just one of of hundreds of thousands, thousands of federal

employees who work way more than 40 hours a week. uh, and it it goes to to show that the rumors that are being spread by the administration and doge that federal workers are just leeches on the government are incorrect. uh, but with that said, i just returned home from a briefing. uh, you know, a work trip. i had another one scheduled, actually, for today, and i was working late into the night after i had returned home to get my notes and my thoughts down so that i could prepare and to share with, you know, my boss and other folks in my branch before i actually went to my my briefing this week. >> well, and charlie, i just wonder what you say about this given you talk about this defense radar system that you're working on. i know you can't go into the details of that, but the white house defended these cuts by saying, no air traffic controllers, nor any professionals who perform safety critical functions were terminated. is that accurate? from what you know. >> um, so again, i was in the

faa national defense program, so i don't really have any, uh, any knowledge on the air traffic controller, uh, side of that. but i can tell you that the second part of that, regarding public safety or critical public safety, uh, from my perspective and the work i was doing is flat out false statement. >> charlie stadtlander, i know that this obviously came as a shock to you. thank you for for coming on and sharing your experience. it's good to hear from someone who actually went through this, instead of just looking at the numbers to to actually hear from a person who was affected by this. thank you for for sharing that with me tonight. >> hey, thank you so much, caitlin. >> absolutely, charlie, thank you so much. also tonight, the fate of new york city's mayor may soon be decided by new york's governor, potentially with a power that we have never seen. a new york governor wield before. we'll dig into what kathy hochul options are right after this. >> this park. >> changed my life.

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tomorrow, we're also going to see a judge consider the justice department's motion to dismiss his corruption case. that is really the background of everything. my sources tonight are bill de blasio, the former mayor of new york city himself, and elie honig, a former federal prosecutor for the southern district of new york. mayor, just to start with you, in terms of what is before kathy hochul right now, as she's meeting with these cities, city leaders and other officials, essentially what is is what is before her when it comes to to how big of a decision she has right now. >> it's an unprecedented decision for a major officeholder in. >> new york state to be removed. obviously, mayor of new york city, one of the most prominent positions in the country. i think what's happened in the last few days, caitlin, has been absolutely extraordinary. i have no parallel that i can remember. i think the trump administration and the justice department really set almost a perfect trap for eric adams by saying, well, we're going to drop the charges

for now, but we might revive them, leaving him looking captive. and and honestly, he had a chance to do something about that and didn't in terms of presenting a message or a plan that might have reassured yorkers and then seeing his own top aides start to move away from him. it's an incredibly messy, complex situation, but what the governor is considering now, literally no governor has ever done anything like this, certainly in recent memory. it's a very, very intense and i think a very careful decision that she's going to have to make. >> ellie, if she decides to do this, does that mean it's over for for mayor adams, or does he have an option to appeal here? i would imagine he has some due process in that decision. >> yeah. >> so the. >> law is way more. >> complicated than. >> maybe the governor would want it. >> to be. >> it's not. >> as if. >> she. >> can simply flip a switch and he's gone. >> this is. >> an ancient law. it actually, i have to say. >> has. been used.

>> one time when. fdr was the governor of new york state in 1932. he used it to remove a guy named jimmy walker. >> who was the. >> mayor of. >> new york. >> he did not have to use it because he actually. walker resigned. >> he invoked. >> the law. you're exactly. you got caitlin. you know everything, man. yes. he invoked fdr, invoked the law. and walker, rather than go with the process, then resign. now, the process is the big question here, because the law basically says the governor can initiate this and then has to serve notice on the mayor. and then the mayor is entitled to some type of hearing, but we don't know what. is it a hearing? is it a trial? is there a judge? is there a jury. do they submit briefs? so if kathy hochul goes down this road, she's going to have a fight on her hands from eric adams. and we have essentially zero guidance as to how this process works. >> mr. mayor, you initially we had you on the night that we found out about this case against mayor eric adams. you thought the charges were not that strong, if i remember correctly. tell me if you if you think differently, but when you have seen what has happened and why, this is a conversation that we're having tonight, do you think that governor hochul

should ultimately remove him? >> well, caitlin, first of all, as a new yorker, i have to tip my cap that, you know, you know, the history of jimmy walker in 1932, i proclaim you a new york city nerd. but the the. look, i'm not going to prejudge the governor's decision. it's a very complicated decision. it's not one that should be taken lightly. it really isn't. um, at one point, uh, when i was mayor and her predecessor, andrew cuomo, and i had some conflicts during the covid era, he dangled that threat. it's not even a threat that should be dangled lightly. so i would say this is a very thoughtful process that the governor has to bring to it. i do think the original case was weak, but what changed here? i think, for so many people, was this fascinating sort of turn of the screw by the justice department to not just either drop the case or say, we're going ahead with the case or a pardon. they came up with something none of us expected. we're dropping the case, but maybe we're not really dropping the case. and again, that put

that put adams in a seemingly captive role that the only person could get him out of was him. and what does he do? he goes on fox and friends with tom homan and and just doubles down the fears that people had that he was in some form or fashion, captive. that's what has set this crisis off. it's not just a legal thing, it's really a political thing as well. but that said, no governor should ever look at a situation like taking out a democratically elected official lightly. this has to be very carefully reasoned. >> yeah, it certainly doesn't seem that that governor hochul is here consulting all these leaders. but, lee, before we. i mean, i don't know. we'll see when we find out what she has decided here. there is a court hearing tomorrow before a judge asking the doj, you know, why they think this case should be dismissed. obviously, we've seen how that has has played out with the resignation of a lot of prosecutors over it. um, what are we looking for, though, tomorrow? in this case. >> we use the phrase unprecedented sometimes. but boy, what's going to happen tomorrow is really going to be

unlike anything we've ever seen before because the judge is going to bring in the parties. so we're going to have eric adams and his defense team at one table, and we're going to have doj leadership. we don't know exactly who, but perhaps emil bove, but people who are aligned with him at the other table and the judge is going to put them on record, doj on record. i need to know your reasons for wanting to dismiss this case. the law says the judge has to sign off. now. doj has very broad discretion if they want to dismiss a case as to why, but we're going to hear something, i believe tomorrow that we've never heard in an american court before, which is the justice department saying the reason we want to get rid of this case, dismiss this indictment, your honor, is so that mayor adams can help support our policy and political agenda on immigration. that's what makes this scandal about so much more than just eric