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max. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning. you are live in the cnn newsroom. i'm pamela brown in washington, and we are following multiple breaking news stories today. right now, escalating feud. president trump's russia ukraine envoy is in kyiv meeting with ukrainian president zelenskyy as the firestorm is intensifying over trump calling zelenskyy a dictator. plus, vice president jd vance is speaking at the conservative political action conference as he and trump take a victory lap. and on capitol hill, a crucial test for linda mcmahon. she is facing a key vote in her path to become education secretary. we begin this hour with president trump's unraveling relationship

with an ally at war in kyiv. volodymyr zelenskyy is meeting with the u.s. envoy to ukraine. as i mentioned, as trump ramps up his attacks on the ukrainian president, he has called zelenskyy a dictator repeatedly. and nearly three years after russia invaded ukraine, he has blamed zelenskyy for the war. it has been a remarkable 48 hours, including these comments yesterday. >> a modestly successful comedian, president zelenskyy, talked the united states of america into spending $350 billion to go into a war that basically couldn't be won. the only thing he was really good at was playing joe biden like a fiddle. he played him like a fiddle, a dictator without elections, zelenskyy better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. got to move. got to move fast. >> we have a fact check on this. president trump's embrace of russian talking points is so

extraordinary that even a key putin deputy appears shocked. former russian president dmitry medvedev posted on social media, quote, if you had told me three months ago that these were the words of the u.s. president, i would have laughed out loud. end quote. joining us now is cnn chief international anchor christiane amanpour and cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel cedric leighton. kristie, i know you want to respond to what we just heard from trump and fact checking that, but also help us put this into context. how big of a deal this is? is this a leverage move to pressure zelenskyy? or could we be witnessing the beginning of a new world order here? >> i think a little bit of both is going on. certainly, allies are concerned about what appears to be a realignment away from alliances and towards adversaries. in this case, russian. she trying to cool and calm this situation down, saying

that i'm paraphrasing now, but i just saw it cross that that, you know, they need to get back on track and cool this personal exchange that's going on with what is, after all, a key american ally. why? because it is ukraine. the trip line between russia and the rest of the u.s. alliance. and i think we have to be super, super realistic about what actually has happened over three years. president zelenskyy has stood up and confronted and defeated russia's maximalist aims. that was president zelenskyy before even getting one single weapon, one single bullet from the united states. if you remember when president biden called him and said, do you need a ride out, an airlift out right after russia invaded, he said, i don't need an airlift. i don't need a ride. i need ammunition and weapons. on the issue of the money, 320 million, as president trump said, or thereabouts, he said, is about the amount. but it's not all from the united states. at least half of that is

from europe. and the money from the united states comprises about $67 billion worth of weapons, old stockpiles right now. you know more about that than i do. and then another 30 plus billion in terms of loans and stuff to buy back american weapons. so it's actually being plowed back into the american economy. so just to be clear, the europeans have absolutely stood up. everybody admits that the europeans are actually doing a pretty good job in the three years since, since this full scale invasion, because they know they have to stand up and they know they have to do more. but this is a crucial point. and, you know, you said that medvedev reacted in shock. shock? but glee, i mean, they are thrilled. absolutely. they are thrilled. and this is very important. whatever your end game is, you cannot show your hand to the adversary from the beginning. >> mhm. yeah. you know, earlier i was. >> speaking with a former trump administration official from the first time and he said what's different here. you know trump was always sort of friendly with russia the first time. but now

we're seeing more actions um sort of bolstering those words, supporting russia's narrative. and you know, it is remarkable when you think about trump calling zelenskyy a dictator. we're not hearing him say putin is. >> yeah. >> that's right. even though the facts are that putin is a dictator. and when you look at, you know, you look at the election results from ukraine back in 2019 when they had the election for zelenskyy, zelenskyy won the second round of that vote with almost 75% of the vote. and his popularity, according to the latest polls, is at at least at 52%. the most recent poll has him at 57%, so he is not going anywhere. and in fact, trump's remarks, president trump's remarks against zelenskyy will serve to solidify ukrainian support for zelenskyy. now, zelenskyy is seen as the bulwark against the meddling from the united states. he's seen as the one guy that can basically keep russia at bay,

and he's also the person who can make that connection to nato, to the nato countries in europe that no other ukrainian leader could do. so the indispensable person appears to be zelenskyy in this. >> and i think it's very important watching these pictures of mr. kellogg there, who also has obviously a military background, and he knows the lay of the land. certainly zelenskyy was hoping to take him to some of the frontline because a false narrative is also being taking hold in this country. and it's russian propaganda and disinformation that zelenskyy and the ukrainians are losing. yes, they are under threat, there's no doubt. but the russians have not been able in three years, in three years, have not been able to get the whole of the donbas region. they've got some bits. yes. they keep probing. yes, they. but in the last year this fight has been over inches, practically inches. the russians have not been able to get their maximalist demands either on the battlefield or politically. and it's really important to recognize that the ukrainians are fighting. and regarding the elections, yes. zelenskyy

hasn't had an election. that's true. it should have happened, you know what, last year or something. but when i asked him about that, he said, look, we have martial law. i'm here trying to save my country. and if we raise martial law, then we risk losing our army, because martial law is all about gathering the army, gathering the troops for ukraine to fight its fight and our fight. ukraine are the foot soldiers right now. >> exactly. and you know, they are they are the foot soldiers. and the fact of the matter is, under the ukrainian constitution, you cannot have elections. i think it's article 30 of the ukrainian constitution that says if there's martial law, if you're being invaded, you cannot have elections. they can only happen once martial law is lifted. so that's the kind of thing that we're dealing with here. and in terms of the military picture, you know, you look at how hard it has been for the russians to move forward. they've had a significant problem doing this logistically. they're not capable of doing it. we saw that when they tried to capture kyiv and that long,

40 mile long convoy ended up in utter destruction because the ukrainians stopped it and they were able to do that not only with soldiers, but with regular farmers who volunteered their time and effort to do what they needed to do. >> i want to i want to hear what you have to say to that, but i first want to go over to nick paton walsh, who's in kyiv, and he can bring us into this meeting that's happening right now between zelenskyy and kellogg. the significance of it during this critical time. nick. >> yeah. look, uh, important just to give you some breaking news here, we had been gathered around the presidency on the potentially, as you'd expect, in situations like this, that after the two men met, they might take questions from the press. but we have been told by an aide to the ukrainian president that there will not be press availability after this meeting, and that is at the request of the american side. now, i read into that what you will. i think it certainly speaks to the frostiness maybe that's set into this meeting

after the remarkable comments of president donald trump last night on air force one, that president zelenskyy was asleep when the u.s. treasury secretary came here to deliver a deal over rare earth minerals. and i think it also potentially speaks to the complexity of what general keith kellogg came here to do, which was to listen to the ukrainians, to hear the things that they felt would work for them, for a peace deal, to hear their concerns about security guarantees. and he has had the meetings. he has met the foreign minister, he has met zelenskyy's chief of staff. he's met military chiefs. so he's heard firsthand on the ground. there's been talk from ukraine's president who'd like to take him to the front lines is unclear. indeed, if that is potentially going to happen, and complex as it would be at the best of times. but this trip has been no other way to put it. overshadowed by the intensifying personal spat between donald trump and vladimir zelenskyy, initiated when trump's gesture, ukraine started the war and zelenskyy had 4% poll ratings, both false. then, zelenskyy

said, trump was in a different information space, and that led to the remarkable claim that zelenskyy is dictator who refused election and even suggesting the money had been stolen. so we are out here waiting to see how this meeting progresses. but the fact that neither men together at this point think they're going to speak to the press and discuss the results of their meeting, potentially suggests, certainly, how the american side feel this may go. it's possible things may go well between them, and they have common ground, but there is a frostiness here. certainly that may have led to what you would normally expect. answering questions from the press. that's simply not happening for now. >> yeah, it's literally and figuratively right. and certainly we have a lot of questions. what do you think about this? >> so look i think it's absolutely has to be a reduction of this kind of temperature. there has to be something that comes together to put this relationship back on track. i can't see any other way forward

other than giving russia what it wants. russia has not, in any forum, changed its maximalist positions and demands than it did on the day. it it, you know, it invaded. i want all of the donbas. i want all of crimea. are they still say that? are we want the nazi puppet regime out of kyiv? we want kyiv to be essentially a no nato, no independent space. that is, that is what they want. they want a neutral. ukraine back into the russian fold. that's what they want. and they also want territory that they haven't even won at the moment. they're asking for territory that they haven't even occupied or won at this moment. so that's an issue. now, i know that probably the trump administration has questions about what kind of weapons we know that actually, yes, president trump did supply javelins to ukraine, which were, you know, after a lot of conversation. and you have more of the details on that, which

were actually quite instrumental in the early days of the invasion, the ukrainians, i was there, watched it. they used these shoulder held missiles and were able to stop russian tanks and armored vehicles that were coming down from the north, from belarus, to try to capture kyiv, and that was instrumental. so that shows what ukraine can do and did do with with american help. and certainly one of president trump's previous envoys, kurt volker, who was his envoy to ukraine, is also very clear that he believes the u.s. will have to keep arming ukraine because it actually works. and you don't want necessarily i assume even this administration doesn't want russia to have the whole kit and caboodle in ukraine. >> yeah, i think that's absolutely correct. and, you know, you're absolutely right, christiane, about the javelins, because they were instrumental in really stopping the russian onslaught, because the russians were basically going to do a pincer movement to capture kyiv and basically decapitate the ukrainian regime. they were

obviously unsuccessful in that. and when you look at what is happening right now, you have ukrainian forces in part of russia in the kursk region, a very small part of russia, you know, it's about maybe half the size of a normal u.s. county that they currently occupy. and it is one of those things where right now, in the tactical sense, the ukrainians are preventing the russians from capturing the town of pokrovsk in the east. and that is also significant because it's an area that has been decimated by fighting. but the russians have been at it for months now, trying to capture that one piece of of ukrainian territory. and, you know, christiane, you're absolutely right. they have not been able to capture parts of donetsk and luhansk, those provinces that are part of the donbas that they say they want as as part of a settlement. and if the russians get a settlement, what they will do with this is they will use it as a pause to move forward once the opportunity presents itself for them to capture more of

ukrainian territory, or even the entire country. >> and also threaten other countries. that's what the alliance is concerned about, that what is going to stop putin? but i think, you know, also really interestingly, really the question is what is president trump's negotiating style? many people say the things that he puts out are a way to get people to come to some kind of table and discuss. and i think it's really important to remember that just a few weeks ago, i can't remember exactly what date, but, you know, towards the end of january, i think president trump put out a tweet that essentially told vladimir putin, you can do this the easy way or the hard way. you know, either you're going to come to the table and end this, or we're going to add sanctions, add this, add that. and he put pressure on putin. so it's interesting to see that then and then this now. and you know, what is the actual end game and strategy for some kind of talks towards end this. obviously this has to be ended in some way, but it has to be

done in a way that does not surrender and maintains a secure europe and a secure part of the world, which is still part of the nato alliance, not ukraine, but europe, obviously. and and i think that stuff is what we're going to be really waiting for. and don't forget, you know, russia, which has four times the size population of ukraine, has lost many more tens of thousands of people than ukraine has many more, many more. something like i mean, i heard a top british, you know, the head of the defense force there saying in the region of 700,000, in three years, dead and injured russians and 400,000 in the last 12 months alone. >> yeah. wow, wow. christiane amanpour. colonel cedric leighton, thank you so much for bringing your analysis to help better understand what is unfolding right now on the world stage. soon, vice president jd vance will speak at a key conservative conference. will he double down on president trump's turn on ukraine? we're going to take you there live.

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>> well, i'll be that bird. really? did it. >> only pay for what you need. >> liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. >> in moments. vice president jd vance is kicking off cpac's annual event with opening day remarks. the conservative conference is being held in national harbor, maryland, and wraps up saturday with expected remarks by president trump. cnn's steve contorno joins us now from the event. steve, what are we hearing from the vice president. >> and your courage and your strength? >> well, he hasn't taken the stage yet, pamela. we're expecting him any moment now. and he will especially talk about the first month of the trump administration for this cpac crowd breaking down what the administration has done in those first four weeks in office. and we will be watching closely to see if he continues to double down on the anti ukraine rhetoric coming from donald trump and as well as jd vance. yesterday, he was

critical of ukrainian president zelenskyy, saying that he shouldn't be attacking the president in public and maybe he wouldn't be in this situation right now. and he doubled down on that just before taking the stage today. he posted on x the following quote for three years, president trump and i have made two simple arguments. first, the war wouldn't have started if president trump was in office. second, that neither europe nor the biden administration, nor the ukrainians had any pathway to victory. this was true three years ago. it was true to two years ago. it was true last year it was true today. he went on to say that this war is bad for ukraine, bad for russia, bad for europe, and bad for the u.s. and this is a message that he has been delivering to this cpac crowd really, since the war began. in fact, i just went back and looked at his remarks to cpac in 2022, which were two days after russia first invaded

ukraine. and he was highly critical of those in the united states, saying that we should be supporting the ukrainian effort, saying even then that we should not be putting money behind ukraine until we have fixed our own u.s. borders. he said that washington was, quote, obsessed with this idea that ukraine needed assistance. and so that has been his message throughout this war. and now in a position of power, he is continuing to echo similar themes. themes. >> pamela steve contorno, thank you so much and happening now on capitol hill. a key senate committee just announced the nomination of linda mcmahon to be the next secretary of the department of education. of course, the department that president trump wants to get rid of. cnn's manu raju joins us now on capitol hill. so where do things stand now? >> yeah, this is a straight party line vote 12 to 11 vote. the debate that really was colored over donald trump's and

the efforts by the doge, elon musk's efforts to fire federal officials to try to potentially gut the education department. it was really a larger debate over the role that the education department would have in donald trump's administration, but nonetheless, the democratic concerns did not sway any republicans who joined helped push this nomination through. now she will go to the full senate. it will be considered as soon as next week and very likely to be confirmed as well. linda mcmahon to be the next education secretary. that confirmation vote probably will happen next week, but a key hurdle here is donald trump again, seeing republicans back his cabinet choices really down the line. even the most controversial ones, even some that have prompted major concerns from democrats. nevertheless, republicans believe she is the right person for the job and ultimately voted to push her through. pamela. >> the right person for the job that president trump said he wants her to put herself out of the job. very unusual times in that regard. so, manu, this

afternoon, the senate will vote to break a filibuster on kash patel nomination to become fbi director. what are you hearing from senators about his future? yeah. >> yeah, he's very likely also to get confirmed, despite this one also being a very controversial pick. remember, most of the time that fbi directors, they're not fired or they're not new presidents typically don't come in and install an fbi director. it's typically a ten year term that is filled out by that fbi director. but trump made clear he wanted christopher wray, the former fbi director, out. christopher wray stepped aside. and kash patel is now coming in. and now this critical vote this afternoon, where we do expect him to have the votes to get confirmed, maybe on straight party lines as well. two votes to watch. senator lisa murkowski. senator susan collins i asked both of them just now if they would vote to confirm kash patel collins said that she will have a statement out shortly. murkowski didn't say, but even if they were to vote no, pamela, it requires four republicans to break ranks on any party line vote to stop a nomination from going forward. so far, zero republicans have come out in

opposition, which is why republicans are very confident that after weeks of fighting, after efforts by democrats to try to stall, delay and derail the nomination, that kash patel will get the job later this afternoon. >> bonnie raju from capitol hill, thank you. and coming up, bracing for major budget cuts at the pentagon. the memo, sent by defense secretary hegseth on where to cut first. up next. >> welcome back. >> have i got news for you? news saturday on cnn. >> time to press rewind with neutrogena rapid wrinkle repair. it has derm proven retinol expertly formulated to target skin cell turnover and fight not one, but five signs of aging with visible results in just one week. >> neutrogena at morgan stanley. >> old school hard work meets bold new thinking to help you see untapped possibilities and relentlessly work with you to make them real.

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secretary pete hegseth says he wants the department to be ready for a, quote, war time tempo. ordering leaders to trim the estimated $850 billion budget by 8% each year for the next five years. and he wants their proposals by monday, less than a week after issuing the demand. i want to bring in colonel cedric leighton about this. we're also getting some news in, colonel, just in from our national security team that says u.s. intel believes putin is not seriously prepared to engage in peace talks. this is despite donald trump claiming that putin wants to stop and does not want control over the entirety of ukraine. but our reporting is that that putin does not want to engage in peace talks with ukraine, that he that do not favor his maximalist aims in the country. that's pretty significant. >> it's really significant, and it confirms a lot of our suspicions, pamela, that we've had because putin has started the ukraine war, at least the invasion part of it with very maximalist aims. he wanted to

decapitate the ukrainian regime. he wanted the russians to take kyiv within three days. and when he was thwarted in that ambition, in that, in that plan, it really set him back considerably. he thought he had a military that could take the ukrainian military and in essence, destroy it. that has obviously proven to be not the case. and now we've. three years on, we have a situation where what putin is trying to do is he's trying to achieve these ends, these maximalist aims of, in essence, taking over ukraine and then using ukraine, potentially as a jumping off point for even further action, potentially against a nato country like poland, like the baltic states, even romania. those are the kinds of things that could potentially happen if he gets that foothold in there. so this reporting from the intelligence community that says that putin is not really serious about these negotiations. i think that's very accurate, because this would be in line with the russian playbook that we've seen before, where you

have a situation where they're going to move forward when they're stopped, they'll try another way to go forward. and if they can get their aims in this case, what they're trying to do is use the diplomatic approach to achieve aims that they were not able to achieve through force of arms. and that is really significant. >> it's significant, too, because president trump has been adopting some of russia's talking points. and we should remind our viewers, russia wants to weaken the u.s., right? i mean, that's one of its its goals. that's vladimir putin's goal. >> both vladimir putin and foreign minister lavrov have said it in basically those words. and former president russian president medvedev has also said similar things. so what the russians were doing is they they're basically already engaged in a war against us. we just don't recognize that fact. and what the russians did, they announced putin himself at the 2007 munich security conference. he announced that he was breaking his previous policy with the west, which was more a

policy of engagement. he announced that he was going a separate way. and what we're seeing now is a manifestation of this. he's moving forward not only in ukraine, but he also hopes diplomatically to isolate the united states. he's continuing with cyber attacks. the chinese are also conducting major cyber attacks against the u.s., against our infrastructure, and they're moving forward in that way. so these are ways in which he can conduct this kind of conflict, these kinds of operations. >> so you lay out the threats to the u.s. at a time when there is all these cuts coming at dod. what do we make of that? >> so this is a very dangerous game that the administration is playing. now. everybody wants to look at for more efficiencies. i think, you know, i think everybody with a with a brain looks at this and says it's absolutely important to cut out waste, to cut out fraud in any abuse of funds. but you got to do it the right way. and if you have more threats, if the threats are multiplying against you, the last thing you want to do is get rid of the workforce that has the expertise to help us with threats like this. you also want to make sure that you

have a way in which you can plan for any kind of eventuality. for the so-called black swan events. you know, those those things that are unlikely. but when they happen, there are disasters like 9/11. those are the kinds of things that we have to be prepared for. and our pentagon has to be prepared for those. and if we are not prepared for those, if we cut in the wrong place or cut too much, even if it's an across the board cut, that could have significant impacts on force readiness and on our ability to actually respond to the threats that are out there. and the threats are out there, and there are many of them. everything from unconventional warfare to cyber to conventional warfare like we see in ukraine. those are the kinds of things that we could be facing. and it's a really, in essence, a multi-front war is a possibility here. >> all right, colonel cedric leighton, thank you as always. we'll be right back. >> lockerbie sunday at nine on cnn. >> what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking about our

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>> if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. call now and we'll come to you. >> 821 4000. >> today. >> the irs is becoming the latest target of the widespread federal job cuts. a source tells cnn the tax agency could fire nearly 6000 workers. cnn's rene marsh joins us now. so, rene, these cuts are coming right in the middle of tax season. could this delay getting tax returns? >> it's certainly creating some anxiety and uncertainty. it really remains unclear. we know that most of these people will be auditors, people who are support workers with compliance work. but the full impact on it happening in the midst of the filing season remains to be seen. we know the biden administration worked to increase this workforce simply to make sure that the customer service component of the irs was improved, and this may have an impact, but we shall see. >> let's talk about the overall impact of what doge is doing.

doge musk, for his part. who president trump says is overseeing doge despite what the white house claimed in this court filing. he's claiming that doge has saved taxpayers $55 billion. president trump says he likes the idea of sending that money back to americans in the form of a so-called doge dividend. what more can you tell us about that? >> yeah. so what this would potentially be is a check sent to every taxpayer with 20% of the savings that doge is able to save the federal government. now, this started when a user on musk's social media website, uh, platform x, floated this idea and musk replied to this user saying he would check with the president. and then the next thing you know, the president was floating this idea at his event in miami yesterday. but this sort of stimulus spending and checks for americans does raise concerns about the impact that it could have on overheating the economy, potentially pushing up

inflation. of course, this wouldn't be the first time that the federal government is sending relief checks to americans. we saw that during the pandemic. um, but then there are these questions about doge and how much money are they really saving the federal government? they are saying that they've saved some $55 billion. but cnn's investigative unit went through the federal database with these contracts. and they found some discrepancies, actually some inaccuracies. um, doge saying that they saved in one case an ice contract. they said it saved the government $8 billion. actually it was $8 billion. and that $8 million, uh, price tag was only the ceiling for how much the government could spend up to. in reality, the government had only spent some $2.5 million on that specific contract. so the math just isn't adding up. >> of millions. >> but they haven't changed the total amount on their website. they're still sticking with that $55 billion number. so the math.

>> is it no matter the fact. >> it doesn't add. >> up it's all about the pr. all right thanks rene. appreciate it. well over the last month, thousands of government employees have been fired by trump and elon musk. i want to speak now with one of those affected workers and the potential impact of all of this on americans. travis pettit worked at the national fire academy until he was laid off this week. travis, thank you so much for being here. so you were dispatched in the aftermath of hurricane helene to help with the cleanup efforts. what does the loss of federal firefighters like? you mean, for our country's ability to respond to future disasters? >> well, i. will clarify. i'm not actually a firefighter. i'm an instructional specialist at the national fire academy. so my role is working with national experts and training specialists to make sure that our firefighters and first responders have the emergency training they need when they respond to incidents like this. but as a fema employee, we always wear two hats. we have

our full time, steady state role, and then we have our emergency response role. so in this instance, because of the impacts of hurricane helene, i was called up. i was deployed to savannah, georgia for 30 days and worked with our individual assistance branch to provide one on one assistance to survivors to put a face to fema to be someone they could talk to for questions about their claims, needing assistance with filing their claims, that sort of thing. >> so what do you think the impact will be moving forward when there is a natural disaster, which is pretty inevitable? >> well, the obvious initial impact is going to be there are fewer people available at fema to be called up for these disasters. um, that will have a direct impact on how quickly they're able to respond, how broadly they're able to respond. but in terms of my individual organization, it's really going to strain their resources in terms of being able to offer cutting edge courses for first responders. before i left, we were working on a number of

updates to programs dealing with everything from how to deal with lithium ion battery fires to dealing with electric vehicles. all of these new technologies that are coming out that firefighters and first responders need to know how to deal with. we're the institution they come to to get that training. and i'm really afraid that we're not going to be able to offer them what they need to keep americans safe. >> yeah. and to be clear, um, and thank you for your clarification with the l.a. wildfires, because, of course, that is in recent memory. right. what would your academy have? what role did it play with that in responding to that? and of course, the aftermath and all the cleanup that's happening right now. >> well, we are incorporating content into our courses about dealing with the wildland urban interface. that's a drum we've been beating for a number of years. and, uh, because of incidents like the l.a. wildfires, it's now getting national attention. but when you take people and resources away

from the academy again, that's going to stymie their ability to incorporate that content into the courses, to make sure that the firefighters are properly trained to respond to those types of incidents, and to make sure that our communities are ready and prepared. uh, before these incidents even happen, so that we can save lives, we can save property, and that we can get responders back home safely after these incidents. >> what do you say to the americans who are out there? and there are many americans who are plotting this effort, who are applauding the firing of government employees like you? they think this is a good thing. they think that it's getting rid of bureaucratic bloat in the government. what do you say to them? >> well, i say there is a legitimate conversation to be had about cuts and reducing waste and fraud. i am not against that in any way, but i think there are legal and legitimate ways to go about it. and these blanket terminations that are happening that are sending letters out to federal

employees, making false statements about their performance being the reason they're being let go. um, i don't understand why you need to be telling lies about federal employees to carry out this administration's plans. if you have a legitimate mandate, you should be able to pursue it in legitimate means. >> well, what about on the performance issue? because so many people got that same letter that saying because of your performance, this is why we're letting you go. what was your performance review like? >> well, i actually just received my 2024 performance review in january. it was signed by both my direct supervisor and my second line supervisor, and i received the highest possible rating. so i don't know where the fema acting administrator is getting their information or their assessment that my performance is somehow unsatisfactory. but i know from reading reddit thread boards and seeing things online that thousands of federal employees are receiving very similar form

letters. um, and it's it's very troubling. >> yeah, we've been covering it here on cnn as well. travis pettit, thank you, and best of luck to you as you try to figure out your next steps. we'll be right back. i'm natasha bertrand. >> at the pentagon, and this is cnn. >> power etrade's easy to use tools like dynamic charting and risk reward analysis help make trading feel effortless. and it's customizable. scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e-trade from morgan stanley with powerful, easy to use tools, power e-trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e-trade from morgan stanley. >> an msc cruise isn't just a vacation, it's a holiday full of european style. >> and all the things americans love to come on bloom. >> there are a ton of football matches. >> games, football games. are you ready for some adrenaline? i

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800) 651-0200 coventry direct redefining insurance. >> it's the news. >> welcome back. >> but it's also kind of not the news. >> all the information on this show so terrible. >> have i got news for you news saturday on cnn. >> a top federal prosecutor in d.c. is vowing to investigate anyone who threatens president trump or his political allies. this is according to an internal email obtained by cnn, a trump appointed interim u.s. attorney writing in an office wide email, quote, we are the guardians of federal workers. you and i must do whatever possible to ensure government work is safe for all involved. we must protect our cops, our prosecutors, our doge workers, the president and all other government employees from threats against our nation.

cnn's senior legal analyst and former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, elie honig joins us now. um, i know you have some strong thoughts on this. who is ed martin and what is he trying to do here? >> it's a great question. >> so first. >> of all, i don't have any problem with that sentiment. we just read. i mean, prosecutors are there to protect federal employees. the problem is the way that ed martin has tried to apply that principle shows that he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. and by the way, if you look at his resume, he's never been a prosecutor for a day in his life. now that he's about to become the permanent head of the dc u.s. attorney's office, he has enormous power and he has no idea how to use it. so let me give you an example. one of the things that ed martin has said is we're going to investigate chuck schumer for potentially threatening the president. that is a ridiculous. >> 2020, right? >> right. from when chuck schumer said that you've reaped the whirlwind and you know, you reap what you sow or whatever it was. here's why that is not even close to a crime. first of all, federal law makes it a crime to threaten the president only if you threaten to injure, kidnap, or kill the president or other federal officials. there's nothing like that. second of all, people have very

broad first amendment rights when it comes to political speech. and, you know, who has been the number one beneficiary of that over the years? donald? john trump. i mean, think about some of the outrageous, aggressive, infuriating things he said. and you know what? he's been protected rightly by the first amendment. so what ed martin is talking about shows he just doesn't know what he's doing as a prosecutor. >> and i think it's an important distinction. like you said, no one wants threats against government officials that should be prosecuted. serious threats. how do you define that threat? and he's made it clear how he's defining that. >> he seems to define. yeah, he seems to be defining threat is things i find offensive. but that's nowhere near what the law requires. i should add. also, chuck schumer has the benefit of this obscure provision of the constitution, called the speech. >> and debate clause. >> so you went to law school? >> i did. >> it's a good thing you went to a guy. you got your degree in law. >> but i. >> knew that even before i went to law school, because it's pretty. >> speech and debate clause basically says a member of congress cannot be prosecuted or punished for things they say in the course of their job as a member of congress. >> okay. so i want to follow up because i think that there's like an overarching theme here with some of the actions that

are taking place. and i think you can help us put into context. so on tuesday, trump signed this executive order, basically increasing white house control of some federal agencies. it directs these federal agencies to submit all proposed regulations to the white house for review. how much of an attempt at a power grab is this, in your view? >> well, it definitely is an attempt to maximize and perhaps expand presidential power. so you're going to hear this phrase that people say sometimes don't don't eyes do not glaze over out there in our viewership. it's called the unitary executive theory. it's long been a favorite theory of conservatives of the right. but even that theory holds that the president is all powerful within the executive branch. but what's happening now is we're starting to see that sort of creep over into congress, into the courts. and so what donald trump is doing is pushing beyond the boundaries of anything we've seen before with respect to executive power. >> elie honig as always, great to get your insights. and by the way, we have a guest coming up in the show who also received one of ed martin's letters. so that should be an interesting conversation. all right. coming up, we are minutes away from a crucial moment for trump's pick

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