heard, killing me softly, with his song. a smash hit back in the early 1970s, she also leaves a legacy of social activism. roberta flack died today at her home following several years of health challenges. she was 88 years old. may she rest in peace and may her memory be a blessing. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. this important programing note starting next monday, the situation room is expanding to two hours and moving to mornings. join me in my colleague and good friend pamela brown every weekday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon eastern. we'll continue covering important stories from around the world and across the country. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett outfront starts right now.

>> outfront next, the breaking news. trump coming to putin's defense. >> refusing to call. >> him a. >> dictator as the russian president tonight says, trump's. >> on the cusp. >> of throwing. >> russia a. >> vital lifeline. plus, a major backtrack tonight. the federal government now dismissing elon. >> musk's ultimatum. >> that employees explain what they're doing or risk termination. so why the retreat now? >> at literally the. >> 11th hour? and then. nasa versus musk, the agency's top officials, claiming that the spacex ceo never offered to bring home. >> the two. >> u.s. astronauts stuck in space. astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson will be with us. let's go out front. >> and good evening. i'm erin. >> burnett, outfront tonight. >> don't call. >> him. >> a dictator. >> the president today refusing to call russian president vladimir putin a dictator. >> president zelenskyy. >> a dictator.

>> would you use the same words regarding putin? >> uh, i don't use those words lightly. >> so we wouldn't do it. trump would not call vladimir putin a dictator, even though he's very quick to call someone else. one. >> a dictator without elections. zelenskyy better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. >> i wonder what he thinks about those russian elections. >> it has now been three years to the day since putin unleashed a devastating assault across ukraine. trump went out of his way. today on this anniversary, while sitting next to the french president, emmanuel macron, to compliment and show deference to putin. >> when i got here, one of the first calls i made was to president putin, and we were treated with great respect. and they want to they want to end this war. >> it's been reported that. >> that call. >> was extensive. we talked for 90 minutes, but is putin on the same page as trump? the russian president actually just tonight, an interview airing very late on

russian television said that he and trump have not actually discussed ending the war in ukraine. here's how he put it. >> in the phone conversation. >> by the way. >> and during the. >> meeting in riyadh. of course, we. >> touched upon. >> issues related. >> to the ukrainian. >> crisis, but it wasn't discussed in its essence. >> we only. >> agreed that we would address. >> this matter., only agree they would address this matter. >> sort of a vague rhetorical dance. um, you know, not saying he was prepared to end the war imminently, as, of course, trump has said he hopes is the case. trump today was not just contradicted by his current ally, putin when it comes to ending the war, but also by american ally french president emmanuel macron, the leader of the country that backed america at its formation in the revolution. the country that sent the statue of liberty an ally since the day america as a concept was born. well, today, macron contradicted trump on his totally counterfactual insistence that it was ukraine

who started the war with russia. >> i mean, this war costed all of us a lot of money, and this is the responsibility of russia because the aggressor is russia. >> macron saying the obvious, a fact that shouldn't need to be stated, right? putin is the one who started this war. this russian troops that invaded ukraine. these are just simple facts. i was there in ukraine three years ago today when putin launched that massive attack in ukraine. the world responded imperfectly for sure. maybe those f-16s should have come sooner, and people shouldn't have been so afraid of the nuclear threats from putin. there were mistakes aplenty. but the world sided against a country invading its neighbor because that's wrong. they did so with weapons, with technology, and with unprecedented sanctions against russia. but now putin, in that interview tonight said that trump's move to open the economic floodgates for russia is already starting. >> great for. >> some of our companies are. >> in contact with each other. >> and are discussing such

projects. >> such projects. this is significant, right? the companies are already talking. i mean, economic ending of sanctions or relief at all is a massive lifeline to putin. if trump goes ahead with it. and just look at a few numbers from jeffrey sonnenfeld at the yale school of management. food inflation in russia, depending on what you're buying, 12 to 25% interest rates in a consumer loan, 25% or higher. russia now accounts for close to zero of revenue for american businesses, well under 1% close to zero. so if trump keeps his word and opens up what his administration is calling, quote, potentially historic economic partnerships with russia, he saving putin, it is what it is. and that's just like he did today when the trump administration sided with just a few countries, including russia, north korea and putin's puppet state of belarus, to reject a resolution which condemned russian aggression in ukraine, a resolution that overwhelmingly

passed thanks in part to america's allies. the very same allies who were in ukraine today, on the anniversary of putin's invasion. jeff zeleny is outfront to begin our coverage tonight live at the white house. nick paton walsh is in kyiv this evening. i want to begin, though, with jeff zeleny and jeff, president trump refusing to call putin a dictator despite repeatedly calling zelenskyy won. just it's a very clear signal. he obviously knows that it is a signal that he is moving the u.s. closer towards russia and away from ukraine. >> there's no question. but it's one of the reasons that emmanuel macron spent so much time here today. erin, starting in the oval office at 8:00 this morning, sitting right at the desk there with the american president for that to g7 meeting of world leaders, a virtual meeting, spend a couple hours return for a long lunch meeting, and then again in the the east room this afternoon, making the case that there is a strong alliance through repeated

handshakes between these two leaders. yes, there was friendship, but the deep divide was also very, very clear. but one thing macron was trying to do, obviously, was get security guarantees. it's something that the american president, donald trump, did not offer. he was uncharacteristically quiet in that news conference in the east room this afternoon, allowing macron to do much more of the talking about the security guarantees about, you know, the threat. but it is that u.n. security vote that you mentioned there, the u.s. siding with the russia, north korea and belarus that perhaps spoke volumes. that was the action of this administration here. so certainly at the end of this day, the president said that he believes the war in ukraine may be weeks away from ending. he said he would like to meet with vladimir putin, but it's unclear exactly what those terms would be. but this is the beginning of the meeting. on thursday, the british prime minister also coming here to bolster macron's case. so the western alliances are trying to keep trump away from putin. unclear if that's

working, erin. >> all right. jeff zeleny, thank you very much, because it comes amid the growing concern in ukraine, the president trump's role. talks to end the war is bad news for ukraine. nick paton walsh is outfront tonight in kyiv. >> with the hope is there that the war's fourth year might be its last. but in reality, the recent spirals just exacerbated ukraine's bitter conflict, where russia, still advancing into an unprecedented crisis for europe and beyond. >> we hereby commence. >> they came to kyiv to honor, mourn in unity. >> it's also. >> about having skin in the game. >> the words, the pledges of aid and sanctions were familiar. >> we need to make sure that might no longer makes right. >> the uk. >> is ready and willing to support this. with troops on the ground. >> a show of. solidarity. >> but really key here is the absence of senior figures in the trump administration. the change in that alliance hanging over

this key show of unity. >> but then the whiplash that's left u.s. ukraine relations in freefall. suddenly got a reprieve, perhaps due to this man sidling up to president donald trump during a g7 video call. >> there he is. emmanuel is on. >> french president emmanuel macron, seeking to bring trump on to ukraine's side. >> olaf. >> good to. good to have you here. i know it was a tough, tough day yesterday. >> but a lot of change here. canada's prime minister justin trudeau leaving germany's chancellor olaf schultz, voted out, too. but this is day by day for ukraine, who welcomed a chance. >> i mean, with. >> donald trump. now, we had a conversation. it was very good conversation. thank you very much, justin, for organizing this meeting. >> minutes later, the world seemed to change again. the key u.s. ukraine resources deal close to done. >> i think we're very close. do you have something to say about that, scott? we are.

>> very close. >> good. >> one yard run. >> i will be meeting with president zelenskyy. in fact, he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement. >> just add macron to trump results in minutes. >> he's a smart customer. i will tell you that. >> sure. >> harakat al-muqawama al-islamiyya ukraine urgently needed good news and a brutal fight. a source telling cnn a final draft of the resources deal left the tough stuff to later talks, removed the worst parts for kyiv, but also the security guarantees they needed. that might be something for the presidents to discuss later. >> good to have you. >> with me. >> yet the madness has one winner. the kremlin head surely seeing a telenovela plot of a week leaving the west in panic trading dictator insults, but not at him. and then suddenly healed. next week could well be different again. i should point out that about 2 or 3 weeks ago, trump did also say he'd meet with zelenskyy in the coming

days. that didn't happen, but this time it does feel different, really, because of the intervention of emmanuel macron. we began the day here, frankly, with despondency setting in europe, trying to look strong, but a feeling that maybe america was fading into the background and frankly, not interested in assisting ukraine. macron's intervention with that g7 meeting seems to have ushered this resources deal to a better place. as far as we can tell, it's not been signed yet. there's no date for zelenskyy's visit, but i think the tone of american presence here, and certainly the way the europeans are casting it, has changed slightly. we are also hearing how more advanced the european peacekeeping plan is, how they want to see verified steps from the russians. that's all. something yet to be seen in practice, but a different tone, potentially. after macron's visit to trump. >> all right. thank you very much, nic. in kyiv. and i want to go now to the democratic congressman seth moulton sits on the house armed services committee and served four tours as a marine in iraq. and, congressman, i really appreciate your time. i just want to start with a moment that really stood

out today, which which i mentioned, which was president trump refusing to call putin a dictator today. it's not a controversial thing. um, but but he wouldn't do it. i just want to play again for you. what? he said. >> the president spoke. >> didn't see. >> a dictator. would you use the same words regarding putin? >> uh, i don't use those words lightly. i think that we're going to see how it all works out. >> congressman, why do you think it is that president trump is willing to call zelenskyy a dictator and not vladimir putin? >> because trump is selling out ukraine to russia. and this is just truly an unbelievable turn of events. i mean, the fact that we're three years into a war that at first many people predicted wouldn't happen, and then everyone predicted russia would win in a few weeks. it's absolutely remarkable that ukraine has held on for three years. what no one in the world ever imagined is that ukraine would be betrayed to russia by a

president of the united states, but that's what's going on today. >> i mean, you know, we saw also that u.n. resolution today, which was an odd moment, you know, as an american, when you see the united states on the list with north korea, belarus, sudan, um, that didn't, you know, would not condemn russian aggression in the war against ukraine. right? i mean, again, just to state the obvious fact, of course, putin sent his troops over the border and invaded ukraine. um, did you ever think that you would see something like this where you've got north korea and the united states on the same side? >> no. honestly, never. i really didn't think that. i mean, and it's hard to imagine that even in, in, in trump's first term. but here we are today. and on top of that, he's trying to extort the ukrainians. again, remember, he did that the first time around trying to extort zelenskyy to get him to attack biden. now he's trying to extort them to pay for a war that they didn't start. the aggressors

supposed to pay for a war, not the victim. and yet, that's what's going on with president trump right now. >> congressman moulton, i want to ask you, obviously, you're in the house armed services committee and you spent so much time yourself overseas in iraq as a marine. i want to ask you about president trump's decision to fire the joint chiefs chairman general, c.q. brown. and that's someone you had urged president biden to consider for the post. and you've posted in part, i quote you dictators or wannabe kings, fire generals who don't agree with their politics. this isn't a banana republic. what trump and hegseth are doing is un-american and unpatriotic. and then jd vance, a vice president vance, fired back at you. he said truman fired macarthur. obama fired mcchrystal. civilian control of the military is banana republic. according to this very thoughtful congressman. what do you say to vice president vance? >> well, vance apparently hasn't studied history because macarthur was fired for insubordination. mcchrystal was fired because he made a mistake. although he was later exonerated. that's not what's

going on here at all. people have repeatedly asked hegseth, as i did in a bipartisan letter, very significant, that it was bipartisan, to simply explain why are you firing cq brown, one of the unquestionably most qualified generals in a generation? that's why i did something i've never done before, which is write to to a president of the united states and say this, general, who is so forward thinking about modernization, about meeting the next generation threats, he should be your chairman of the joint chiefs. that's why cq brown is there. and hegseth has not been able to answer the simple question, why are you firing him? and when when you end up having generals put in place not for loyalty to the constitution, not because they're qualified, but purely because they're politically loyal to the commander in chief. that's not a democracy anymore. >> congressman moulton, i appreciate your time, and thank you very much. >> good to see you, aaron. >> all right. well, the federal government tonight just now telling employees they don't have to respond to elon musk's

email. that was the one that said, you know, tell us what you did at work last week that the president had then dropped the or else. that hasn't stopped some government workers, though, from speaking out, fighting back and frankly, responding to that email. one employee calls what musk is doing insulting and more is our guest next. plus, trump is now rapidly remaking the fbi. a right wing maga podcaster is now number two at the agency. >> my entire life right now is about owning the libs. that's it. >> i remember working with dan bongino many years ago. well, who is he now? the special report and trump's sweeping cuts to the government are taking a major toll on one group that's been very loyal to trump. harry enten here to tell us something we don't know. >> erin burnett out front, brought to you by etsy for affordable home and style finds, etsy has it. >> tap into etsy for home and style finds like custom shelving

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>> no, michael. >> 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 and stream next day on max. >> breaking news. elon musk moments ago, in a major and confusing backtrack now saying federal employees may get a second chance to respond to his email, demanding to know weekly accomplishments, accomplishments or lose their job. the deadline from the email that he sent over the weekend is midnight tonight. now musk is saying, quote, subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. failure to respond a second time will result in termination. it's very confusing because, you know, um, many of the agencies run by trump's appointees are basically saying, don't reply to the email. and this, this new kind of, okay, you get a second chance and then you're fired. came just a few hours after president trump had warned that anyone who didn't reply to the first email would be punished. he had praised musk's ultimatum as a, quote, ingenious idea.

>> if you don't answer like you're sort of semi fired or you're fired. i think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea. >> katie drummond is outfront global editorial director at wired. she and her team, as anyone who watches the show knows, have been breaking so much news on musk and doge and what's going on. so now it's even more uncertain because it was, you know, respond or else. and then, you know, trump's own appointed secretaries were basically like, don't respond. now, i must say, we get a second chance or else or. else something. right. so what what what is all this? >> i feel. >> like i. >> have been. >> saying the. >> word chaos. >> on your. >> show a lot. >> for the. >> last month. >> and it's. >> because it continues. >> to be just this. >> this. >> erratic, irrational. >> baffling chaos playing out across the federal government. >> and this is just. >> another example. >> i'm confused. >> i don't know what. >> will happen. >> to these federal.

>> employees if they don't send. five bullet points. >> of. >> their accomplishments last. >> week to an email address ostensibly. >> controlled by. >> an unelected billionaire. >> right. it's chaos. it is. it is. it is absolutely bizarre. i mean, musk actually then called the email katie a very basic pulse check. sure. and that was the word. there appears to have been carefully chosen. the suggestion is that dead people are on the government payroll, and that somehow there's some sort of fraud going on. you know, you say you're working or else. and then trump actually brought it up this afternoon, this whole idea. here's what he said. >> a lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist. we have to find out where these people are. who are they? and we said, if you don't respond, we assume you're not around. >> where does this idea come from? >> this is not the first. >> time in recent weeks that that. >> musk and trump have. >> brought up. >> the. >> notion of of dead people, people who don't exist. you know, previously it was musk commenting on 150 year olds collecting social. security benefits. you know. >> so much of this. >> i believe. is designed to. cater to a conspiratorial part

of their base. right? it's the online fans. it's the followers who are attracted to this notion that, you know, dead people are collecting millions of dollars in federal funds or in federal salaries. >> or voting in georgia. >> they're they're they're everywhere and they're all dead. and they are taking money from. taxpaying americans who really like to believe in things that aren't true. and i think that this is another example of musk and trump playing exactly into that audience, exactly into that base. >> back to the famous movie. >> i see dead people. >> right. okay. musk's movies are causing a lot of backlash. i mean, the tvs at the department of housing and urban development, hud, this was kind of amazing. i don't know, it was like an a.i. generated. >> a.i. generated video. >> it was trump and he's kissing musk's feet. the words long live the king are on the screen. and then they had to literally, i guess, manually turn the tv off. >> they had to unplug all of the tvs. >> what what what what do you know about this? >> we don't know who's behind it. we don't know how it came to be that this, to be clear,

very stressful to watch. video was being played all across the tvs in this department. but what it signals, right, is that you have a federal workforce that is fed up. they are they have been plunged into chaos. they don't know if they have job security. they don't even know who they answer to. and it appears as though at least some of them are making their displeasure known. from what we can tell with a, you know, very provocative video that somehow ended up on a lot of tvs in at least one federal agency. >> provocative may be the. >> word choice of the day. i don't know whether to laugh or. >> be absolutely disgusted. >> i can't, in good faith tell people to watch the video. it's it's quite something. >> all right. thank you very much, katie. >> out front now, latisha thompson, she's a clinical social worker at the veterans affairs department. and, latisha, i really appreciate your your speaking because i know it doesn't come without real risk at this time, but you're choosing to speak out and and put a face on this for

so many in america. um, can i just start with you were instructed, i know by your department to reply to that email, you know, which basically said, hey, tell us what you did last week, justify the existence of your job. and and we're here up against the deadline for that reply. have you finished your reply? and what did you say? >> i have. >> not. >> finished my reply. >> as of yet. >> however, i. >> plan on just emphasizing the fact that i have, you know, supported my performance standards. um, and, you know, applied the, you know, the, the what is expected of me and my job description. >> so when we talk about doge and the impact. what was your reaction over the weekend when you get this email? >> astonishment. um, i did not expect to be receiving an email right on saturday. i'm not employed. my tour of duty is not at that time. and of course i

did not check my email to know. but you know, i did find out through my colleagues and through the news circuit that it was there waiting for me on monday to respond to by the end of today. um, once i saw the content of that email, i found it to be very disrespectful and insulting. um, the american, the federal workforce goes to work every single day and provide critical services to working families. veterans, seniors, students every single day. um, we have to actually complete performance standards about every six months. that accounts for our, um, necessary duties in the federal government. so, you know, it was just clear to me that the email was, you know, yet another scare tactic meant to humiliate, dehumanize, demoralize the federal workforce. um, and in fact, you know, we want to go to work every day. we, you know, are accountable to the american public and not to a billionaire.

>> so president trump praised the idea from elon musk, right. this idea to send the emails. here's what he said. >> what he's doing is saying, are you actually working? and then if you don't answer, like you're sort of semi fired or you're fired. >> and, you know, we did then learn that agencies were saying, well, that's voluntary for you to respond to the actual email itself. but then president trump also posted a meme which was mocking. it showed a character of spongebob squarepants and the list of tasks under spongebob was, quote, cried about trump, cried about elon, made it into the office for once, read some emails, cried about trump and elon some more. how do you respond to those? you know the meme, the statement that's coming from the president of the united states. >> yeah, it's it's really unfortunate and demoralizing to

hear that. exactly. because i know how hard me and my colleagues work every single day to make sure that the, the, the america is running. essentially, we make sure that, um, you know, mail gets processed and delivery veterans get the care that they need, protect air and water from, you know, corporate pollution. um, yeah. and as far as the crying noted in the meme, yeah, this is causing a lot of emotional distress. um, i talk to colleagues every single day that are feeling tormented, terrorized by the incessant attacks by doge and elon musk. >> so we have seen some government workers. i mean, you're actually out here putting your name on it, your face out there. uh, some people have started to speak out. you know, there were tvs at the department of housing and urban development at hud that shows a fake video of trump. obviously, this was fake, but it had been somehow, um, that someone had been able to mess with the televisions at hud. and the image was a video of trump

kissing musk's feet. the words long live the real king on the screen. over the weekend, the american flag was upside down at yosemite national park, which would signal a distress call. you know, what are you hearing from your colleagues about people speaking out? >> yeah. um, i think, you know, everybody does have a good understanding of how demoralizing, stressful, intimidating, humiliating all of this is. um, and luckily, there are folks like myself, um, who understand what is truly at risk here. we're talking about essential and vital services being entirely removed, depleted. if, um, elon musk is successful. >> leticia, thank you so much. we really appreciate you taking the time and being willing to speak out tonight. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> leticia was a department of veterans affairs employee and a union member of the american

federation of government employees. just to be clear, though, you know, her views are her own and don't represent her workplace or her union. all right, we take a break next, though. outfront, trump's mission to reshape the fbi in full, full swing. a right wing podcaster who has long wanted to dramatically change the agency is now in charge. >> i mean it when i. >> say it. it's way past. time to clean this fbi house. >> up. >> plus, one group of americans who have been steadfast trump supporters are now getting hit especially hard by the sweeping cuts. >> anderson cooper. >> 360 tonight at eight on. >> cnn. >> makes me want to tear up. i swear to god, there ain't no way i would be here without tiktok. i got really good at tearing motors apart and putting them back together, and the car still worked. i received so much support for that, and it made me feel like, okay, maybe i can really, really, really do this. my business has tripled in the last year because of me sharing

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saatva luxury mattresses made affordable. >> tonight. quote this is insane. the democratic senator chris murphy, lashing out at trump's justice department, responding to this statement from trump's pick to lead the washington, dc, u.s. attorney's office, which referred to federal prosecutors as, quote, president trump's lawyers, it comes as trump taps right wing podcaster dan bongino to be kash patel number two at the fbi. he's a former secret service agent, but more recently, he was banned from youtube for spreading misinformation. tom foreman is out front. >> you have to lose. i'm sorry.

>> we win. >> you lose. >> the new rules. >> are, in effect. >> my life is. >> all about owning the libs now. >> fire breathing, far right and a fierce critic of the agency where he will now be second in command. dan bongino has said the fbi is no longer a law enforcement entity. it is an opposition. research firm for democrats. >> folks. >> the fbi is lost. it's broken, irredeemably corrupt at this point. what the fbi did to donald. >> trump, that. >> wasn't law enforcement. it was tyranny. >> bongino pounded that message when agents searched the then former president's home for what they said were illegally held classified documents. and again, when trump was shot during the campaign. an agent said the gunman's ideology was unclear. >> it's amazing how they can never find a motive when the motive is right in front of your face. >> bongino backed trump's false claims of a stolen election. >> terrified of a virus.

>> he promoted misleading information about the covid pandemic. don't put the. >> mask on. you're going to catch covid. you don't. >> catch the vaccine. >> you're going to die. nothing liberals tell you. >> is is true. >> he railed about president biden's enforcement on the southern border and teed up a slew of trump's lies. >> this is. >> a total failure, isn't it? >> there has never been anything like it. we had the safest border, the most secure border. >> after serving as a new york cop, secret service agent, and losing three races for congress, bongino finally found his success in such messages building a media empire that reaches millions if. >> the democrats. >> come out instantly. after this hit and scream conspiracy theory, then i know it's. >> true. >> and through his unfailing allegiance to donald trump. >> the fbi is. >> at it again. >> bongino has now found a fast track to the top echelon of an agency. he has long wanted to take down. >> i mean. >> it when i say it, it's way past time to clean this fbi

house up. >> it is. >> completely fair to say nothing. >> about this. >> is normal. >> normally, the. >> person who takes this. >> job is. >> an experienced. fbi agent who knows many people, who knows how it operates. the trump team is going to try something very different. >> erin. >> certainly. all right. thank you very much. tom foreman. i want to go now to gregg nunziata, because he was general counsel to secretary of state marco rubio in the senate. he's also a veteran of the conservative legal movement and a justice department alum. so you've been in there, greg. and i just want to start with a post you posted on social media. and i quote from you, greg, the trump administration is turning federal law enforcement over to unqualified, unprincipled partisan henchmen. you know, it takes courage to come out and say that because, you know, look, your former boss is part of trump's cabinet. you're a conservative, right? but you're coming out and saying this. obviously, you feel passionately about it. how come. >> the rule.

>> of law is. >> fundamental to who we. >> are as americans? it's really what makes america great. it's what. >> makes our freedoms possible, our democracy. >> possible. >> our dynamic. >> economy. >> our powerful. >> standing in. >> the world. >> the rule of law. >> is just. >> that. >> fundamental to america. >> and having this. >> administration increasingly making decisions, this is a pattern of decisions now in personnel, in policy, in the pardons. that appears to be warping the rule of law to serve the president's personal interests, not the interests of the american people, not the interests of equal justice under law. and we all need to be objecting to that. republicans, conservatives, even trump supporters should not want our justice department. systematically weakened and warped in this way. >> and yet, you are on a really lonely island, gregg. as you know, a veteran of the conservative legal movement, general counsel to secretary of state marco rubio before he took the job. i'm not saying there

aren't some who agree with you, but there aren't many, and there certainly are. i don't even know how many, if you can even count them who are out there publicly saying it. i mean, are you are you worried about retribution? >> i think it's essential for americans of all stripes and all roles to speak loudly, speak truths about basic principles that we share as americans. the more we do that, and i hear from conservatives and republicans all the time who share these concerns, but hesitate to say them out loud, it's time to start talking out loud. the more we talk, the less bad things will get and the more we will defend our institutions and our common values. so no, i'm not i'm not worried. but it is, you know, a chilling thing in america that you could even ask that question with, with some justice. >> yeah, yeah it is. i want to play for you, greg, a little bit more. i know we just played some clips of what dan bongino has said about the fbi. and, you know, obviously, the context here is usually the person who gets this job is someone who

knows the institution and the organization. that's why you pick that as your number two. and obviously his he's the opposite, right? he wants to dismantle it. and it just again here's a few of the things that he said. >> what the fbi did to donald. >> trump that. >> wasn't law enforcement. it was tyranny. i mean. >> it when i. >> say it, it's way past time to clean this fbi house up. >> so, greg, what are your you know, you worked for the justice department. i mean, what are your fears here? >> there's a lot to be worried about. we have a highly performing justice department with very professional prosecutors, very professional fbi agents. are they perfect? no. are there opportunities for improvement? of course. and i'm not opposed to this administration or any administration bringing in some reformers. but these are not the kind of leaders you would choose if you had actual concerns about any perceived or real bias in the fbi. you don't correct for bias in law enforcement by

inserting more and aggressive bias pointing in the other direction. you correct for it by insisting on high ethical standards and appointing real professionals that americans of all stripes can have faith in. >> all right. well, greg, i appreciate very much your choosing to speak out and sharing with us. thank you. >> thank you. >> greg nunziata. and next, why trump's mass firings could backfire on him with a key part of his base. and then nasa. nasa is taking on musk and astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson is going to walk us through it. >> meera joshi dejoy. >> the overwhelming. relief after miralax helps you go. miralax works. >> naturally with. >> the water in your body, putting you in a super. >> naturally good mood. miralax free your gut to free. >> your mood. >> for the acute treatment. >> of. >> migraine with or without. >> aura in. >> adults, nurtec odt.

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veterans better than anybody. the veterans say i was the greatest president for veterans. >> all right. harry enten is here. so, you know, many veterans could be out of a job under these trump cuts because there's sort of a definitional thing here to to know that you're pointing out there are more veterans in the federal workforce than any other group. >> that's exactly right. >> we're talking. >> about 30% of the federal workforce. >> is. >> made up of veterans. >> compare that to. >> the overall workforce. what are you looking at? you're looking at. >> 5%, 5%. >> so a. veteran is. six times more likely to be part of the federal government. >> than. they are. in fact, to. >> be. >> a portion of that workforce. >> so if you are in fact going to cut jobs from the federal government, you are more likely to hurt a veteran than you would be if you were to cut jobs from the overall workforce. >> it would be impossible not to be cutting some of those jobs. it's such a large, large share. okay, so now you layer into this. trump relied on support from veterans to get elected. i mean, this was a crucial group for him, right? >> i mean.

>> he. >> doesn't win this election without veterans. i'm willing to say that right here. you look at the exit poll. you look at how well he did among veterans. you look at a margin that's 31 points. trump won veterans by 31. >> 31. >> 31 points. you look over if you look at the rest of the electorate, look at that non-veterans kamala harris won that group by two points. you don't have to be a mathematician to know that if the electorate was completely made. >> up of non veterans. >> kamala harris wins that election. it's because of veteran voters who put donald trump over the top of the election. without them, kamala harris is the 47th president of united states, not donald trump. >> which is fascinating. is, again, the point of, you know, they voted for him and thought, as you know, that what he had said about federal government would not apply to them. of course, we'll we'll see how this all plays out. we know veterans have a lot of support in this country. and in fact, in a world where the media does not have respect, congress does not have respect. uh, there's just no respect for institutions. um, which which is a sad state of affairs. not the case for veterans.

>> no veterans are beloved in this country. and i want to put it into perspective for you. if you look at the positive views of veterans, you're looking at, 89% of the country has positive views of veterans. only 84% of the country has a positive view of abraham lincoln. how about 83% for mother teresa? i call it the mother teresa line. if you're above mother teresa, you're beloved. veterans are beloved george washington. just 78% veterans. beloved. >> who are the 11% who don't like veterans? who are who are the few percent who don't like abe lincoln? >> there are 11% of the country who thinks that we faked the moon landings so you can find. >> then maybe some venn diagram overlap there. there you go. all right, harry, thank you very much. all right, well, next, that city killer asteroid. astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson says it's not the only one we should be concerned with. also, taking on musk's comments against nasa. >> anderson cooper. >> 360. next on cnn.

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>> get the news you need. >> how about. this for an. >> earnings call. >> headline in. >> five minutes. >> or less. >> bravo. >> cnn's 5 things with kate baldwin now streaming on max. >> tonight, nasa versus elon musk. so nasa's top officials are firing back at musk. one former senior nasa official just moments ago told cnn that they never received an offer from musk's spacex to bring home the two u.s. astronauts stuck in space. they never got that offer. now, why were they saying that? well, because they were responding to musk's claims that the two astronauts had been left in space for political reasons. the astronauts themselves, they're up there, and they had to deny this. >> we don't. >> feel abandoned. >> we don't feel stuck. we don't feel stranded. >> i mean, they are on the international space station having to respond to this. i mean, there's just some moments in all of this where you go, this is really insane. multiple astronauts going after musk after these. claims, including

andreas morgenson, who called musk's claim a lie on x, musk responded. and i'm going to just quote what musk said. he called this astronaut, quote, fully and an idiot. uh, so on that note, let's bring in astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson, the author of the new book merlin's tour of the universe a traveler's guide to blue moons, black holes, mars stars, and everything far. it is a prominent place on my bookshelf. i put it in the travel section should i ever get to, just in case, travel. you know, when i when i was organizing, that's what i did. okay. um, this topic. right. musk says that this was, you know, political, that biden wouldn't bring them down. they have to be these astronauts denying it on the space station. nasa denies it. an astronaut says it's not true. and and musk, you know, uses those horrible words to respond to the person. i mean, what is your response to all of this? >> well, let's go to the beginning of it all. >> the two astronauts. >> were never stranded in.

>> any normal way. >> we would use that term. and they. were joining a half a dozen other astronauts on the international space station. there's plenty of food. maybe they didn't bring enough changes of underwear. i don't know. but that. >> would be like the worst. >> case scenario. they both experienced astronauts. and while i don't remember whether this is the longest time they've spent in. >> zero g. >> in their astronaut career, but it's a. >> it's. >> a while. >> and so they have. >> to adjust to that. >> but they're professionals. >> so they're not stranded. second, what a luxury it is to have a conversation about he said she said. and who said what when? i mean, think about it. we have options to bring them back from space. one of them is space x and and that that's evidence to me that we are living in the future, that no one is worried about whether there exists a ship to bring them back. we, the

the starliner for boeing, that had some risk factors. nasa was not going to take that risk. so you push that aside. who's up next? there's space x. i'm good with that. and the rest of this is just distraction. >> yeah it is. i mean it is unfortunate. i say, you know, you read it and you think about people reading it and people using such words. um, especially people who have achieved so much. and have you run space x, you have all of the things that someone has to speak like that. um, at best, it's deeply unfortunate. um, let me ask you, neil, also, the other context here is these asteroids, right? so then the city killer asteroid, i guess it's called. >> meanwhile, there's. >> like there's an. >> asteroid down on earth. so maybe somebody should. >> in case we don't destroy it ourselves. there's something else to do it for us. um, okay. so, you know, it was kind of up and it was down. it was vacillating all over the place. and now they're they're downplaying that particular asteroid that that they say now is more unlikely to hit. >> a city. downplaying. there's better evidence available to

heighten the uncertainty circle such that earth is basically no longer at risk. all right. so, by the way, that circle still encloses the moon. so the moon's risk. >> the moon. >> seveneves becomes a reality to neil stevenson book i enjoyed. um, where you break up the moon and the pieces start coming down. yeah. but but i know asteroids are very serious thing, and there's only there's only so much ability. and i think this is what this brought to bear to see them within the time frame, that one could do anything about. >> yes. that's a perfectly stated concern. and so we have some telescopes coming online very shortly that specialize in the discovery of very dim asteroids. and these are the ones that can sneak up on us and not give us much time to react either to deflect it, which nasa has been building, that kind of technology. they had a mission, the dart mission double asteroid redirection test, just a couple of years ago, successfully altered the path of an asteroid. this was was not known whether

that would work, because the structural integrity of asteroids is not well understood. you can push on one piece that might break off and leave the rest in place. we don't know this. so? so the more of these kinds of missions that we launch, the safer we might feel going forward when one of these gets discovered that could be headed towards earth. >> yeah. all right. so now let me ask you also about these executive orders, the die orders that are now, you know, at first i think people felt maybe in some of the government agencies, okay. it's just rhetoric. call it whatever you want to call it, continue with it. it now appears that that's not the case, right? this is not rhetoric. this is reality. look at nasa, for example, the web pages that would talk about the diversity of the space program. just just to say look at how diverse our program is. this is something that we are proud of. look at the 404 warning you get now. um. it's gone. programs promoting diversity and inclusion. you know, even, you know, black history month. black history month. um, or black astronauts, women, astronauts, minority astronauts, just things again that that that space program that nasa was proud of. appear

at this point to have been shut down. you know, you sit here as a black astrophysicist. what's your how do you how are you putting your processing this? >> yeah. so when i grew up, people said, oh, did you want to be an astronaut when you were a kid? i'm old enough to have lived through the 60s, the moon landing and the rest. and i said no, because they it was clear they were not interested in me by who they were sending into space. by. >> you saw you saw the you saw. >> oh. >> lack of color. >> as a child, i knew this and but it was more than that. everyone was wearing like crew cuts at a time when the broadway musical hair was number one. so there was some mismatches between what who we were sending in space and and what culture was doing. i still i still valued that we were going into space,