bruce willis and ben affleck and probably stand down, at least for now. a new hour of cnn news central starts now. >> confusion, chaos and questions. so many questions. elon musk says federal workers have another chance to answer his email, or they will be fired. president trump says they must answer, or they may be semi fired, whatever that means. but it's administration says you don't have to answer at all. this chaos and confusion, just part of everyday life for federal workers right now. all right. house speaker mike johnson facing pushback from hardliners in his own party as he tries to pass a budget plan with a razor thin margin. will that vote happen today? and defense secretary pete hegseth heads to guantanamo bay today as officials scramble to make the base ready for the hundreds of migrants the trump administration wants to detain there. i'm sara sidner with john berman kate baldwin out today.

this is cnn news central. >> all right. breaking this morning, new republican pushback on elon musk and his confusing orders to millions of federal workers. pushback from congress just moments ago. also pushback from within the administration itself. overnight, musk said that federal workers now have another chance to justify their jobs or they will get fired. the president said they could get semi fired if they don't follow those orders. but officials with the administration itself, they pushed back and let it be known. the response is voluntary. you won't get fired if you don't respond. sound confusing? well, just moments ago, right here, republican congresswoman nicole malliotakis, an administration ally, said that all this is sending the wrong message in the wrong way. >> i think some of this is happening too fast and furiously. there are rash

decisions being made, and it needs to kind of slow down a little bit and involve the people who are actually appointed to head these agencies to incorporate efficiencies and changes. >> sounds like you think musk went too far in this one case. >> well, yes, i do. >> all right. cnn's katelyn polantz is with us. alayna treene is at the white house first to the white house. and alayna treene any effort to sort of clear up this confusion? elena. >> there's just been more of it, honestly, john. but look, i actually do want to just address the congresswoman said, obviously, as you mentioned, she is a republican, which is notable, but it's also very emblematic, what she said of what i've been hearing from people within the trump administration itself, which is, you know, they support this idea of wanting to find bloat in the government to see if there is waste, fraud and abuse, and acknowledging that cuts should be made. but they are questioning and raising concerns about the way in which it is happening. that chainsaw approach, rather than the scalpel being, you know, far more swift and quick with these

cuts and other moves that musk and doge are making, rather than having a more thorough review process. so i found that notable. but just to get back into some of what, you know, the latest on this is there's been so much confusion and questions of who to listen to. i mean, we've had federal employees tell cnn that they do not know which, you know, email to respond to. you have musk saying if you do not respond initially by that deadline last night, you would be forced to resign. you hear the president saying, yeah, you could be semi fired, but then you have different agency heads. who are these people's, you know, direct bosses saying, do not respond to this email. that includes places like the department of justice, the fbi, secretary of state, et cetera. all people who are handpicked and hand-selected by donald trump. and to add to more confusion of all of this, you know, even employees who were at the agency that sent to this email at the office of personnel, u.s. office of personnel management, they didn't have guidance until last night around 6 p.m., telling them that actually, this email would be voluntary, despite

being strongly encouraged. and then we heard musk weigh in once again, saying that subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. he's referring to these employees, he said failure to respond to a second time will result in termination. so, look, i think a lot of this as well is kind of symbolic of what we've seen doge and must do so far. there have been a lot of confusion around a lot of what doge has been doing and a lot of questions about one, not just musk's authority. i'd note, of course, he is a special government employee. he was not an elected representative. he was not senate confirmed. but also, you know, we've seen this happen with some of the other initiatives and rollout they have. i remind you of the fork in the road initiative, the one about the deferred resignation or so-called buyout. there was a lot of confusion about that. there was also confusion about that move to pause federal grants and loans that was ultimately reversed by the white house. so this is a common theme now that we've seen with some of the other things that doge has tried to do. but importantly

here, john, of course, is where is the president on all of this? he, of course, is the one who is going to be calling the shots on the administration. and he is standing by musk. over the weekend, he said he actually wants musk to be more aggressive. and then this is what he told reporters in the oval office yesterday. >> 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. >> now, john, and also just of course, to put a bigger point on all of this and to bring this back to the real world consequences of some of these things, there are real people who, you know, these jobs are their livelihoods, and they are really trying to figure out what they should be doing. they're afraid of getting laid off. they're afraid of being forced to resign. they want to make the right move. and we've heard a lot of concern and fear from employees themselves who are saying, you know, we don't know how to move forward. so hopefully we can get some more clarity on this today. >> well, there is no clarity. i mean, you have elon musk saying you'll get fired. the president saying semi fired in the administration itself saying

voluntary. don't worry about it. in a way. so many questions. alayna treene stand by because there are also legal questions and judges not getting answers. let's get to katelyn polantz on this. what are the questions and what aren't the answers? >> john, there aren't a lot of answers right now, but the question is what is doge and what is elon musk in the federal government? there have been, by my count, almost two dozen lawsuits challenging musk and doge in different ways. two really big cases where people are saying musk just shouldn't have any authority to do what he's doing, and then a dozen more cases or so over privacy concerns of doge accessing data that may be sensitive in various agencies, and in order for the courts to respond to those lawsuits in an emergency way, like right now, to stop things that musk or doge may be doing, they have to know what it is. and so yesterday was the first

hearing where a judge really dug in with about 30 minutes of very pointed questions to lawyers from the justice department representing the trump administration, asking, what exactly is this guy doing? and who are the people working for? if they are affiliated with doge and they're going into agencies like the treasury department getting access to sensitive payment data. the questions came from judge koehler in the d.c. district court. here's just a sampling of what she had to say. where is mr. musk in all of this? is there an administrator of usds? that's the u.s. digital service. doge. at the present time, i.t. administrator is important because it's specified in the executive order from trump setting up doge. she also asked rhetorically, who's involved, who's in charge? who's giving them direction? i would hope by now we would know the structure of doge and the justice department lawyers in that room. they side more very audibly than they gave any

answers, because they just don't have them. that's what we heard over and over again. the only thing they could say about musk, he's an advisor to the president. but the judge did come back to them and say, you know, this is actually pretty important, guys, because if you can't articulate the power that musk has and where people are getting direction from, i can't tell. the judge can't tell in the federal court if they're getting direction through the proper chain of command in the federal government, somebody that would be nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate, which musk doesn't appear to be to that the justice department lawyer said, well, there is a secretary at the top of the treasury department who has been confirmed by the senate, and yet there still has not been clarity on exactly how the people working, at least in the treasury department, are doing what they're doing with data on behalf of doge and the judge also, john, i should point out, had a lot of social media posts from from elon musk to

read out loud, and that did not help things either. >> yeah. audible sigh always makes for an interesting legal argument. katelyn polantz thank you for that explanation. our thanks to alayna treene as well at the white house. appreciate both your reporting on this. sara. >> all right, let's discuss this and more with defense attorney and former federal prosecutor shan wu. okay. shan got a lot of questions here. federal judge grilling the trump justice department, as you just heard, reported there by our katelyn polantz. and they simply cannot come up with an answer as to exactly what doge is. if they cannot answer that question to a judge, then how will any of these cases go forward? >> the answer. >> is, in my. >> opinion. >> in almost. >> all of these cases. >> they should be frozen. i mean, they can. >> proceed as a matter of a lawsuit. but at the first step, as we saw in one of the cases with the federal teachers union, the american federation of teachers, there's a tro imposed just to freeze this. and a big

part of why those trolls are being granted and why i think they should be granted across the board, is because these answers aren't very clear. i mean, the main themes in these lawsuits are, of course, violation of privacy laws and violations of the apa administrative procedures act because there is no procedures going on whatsoever. but if the government can't answer that, really it's got to be frozen right now because it's a per se violation. there's no authority to do anything right now because they haven't articulated who they are. >> i wanted to ask you that. what is musk and doj's authority? the president couldn't seem to answer exactly what he is legally. he called him a patriot, which is not a legal term. what is the authority that they are basing this on? they have not been confirmed. musk, nor the group of of his doge guys been confirmed by congress. so can you give us some sense of what their authority is to do these firings?

>> from a legal sense right now? forget about the burden of proof. we just don't have any information to understand what category to put them in. we're speculating, kind of like making their arguments for them. if they were regular government employees, if they had, the agency has engaged in some sort of normal administrative procedure act process. some of these things maybe could pass. judicial scrutiny as not requiring requiring a statute passed by congress. but in this situation, we're just extrapolating from these things. even musk's role, you know, first, he was not a government employee, and now he's a special government employee. let's not even touch upon the problems for his lack of disclosures, of potential conflicts of interest. and who looks at that? besides trump saying, oh, no conflicts there. so the answer is it's really unknown. and if you have a legal posture where the government is unable to articulate who they are, what safeguards are in place, what is their authority, then everything should stop.

right now. it's hard for the judges, obviously. i mean, there's so much confusion. i mean, one analogy i make is if you had a surveillance camera during a bank robbery, but the camera's actually a microscope, you're not going to get a great view of the robbery that's going on. and that's one of the problems with legal focus is it's got to be very small and minute in a lot of ways, and it's hard from a single perspective like that. such a microscopic perspective, to take into account these gigantic problems that are happening. >> yeah. ultimately, you think that congress would also have to step in here. so far they've been mum, when it comes to the power of doge and elon musk, i do want to ask you a question. and i don't love snark, but i just had to ask what is the definition of semi fired? is there a legal definition for that or. >> no, there's not. so not to be a snarky, but it's just not a legal definition at all. >> this is part of the confusion, is it not? >> a government employee? >> right? >> right. >> shanon cook i made you laugh.

and that was my whole whole thing today. can i make shan wu laugh? you're usually a very serious person. it's nice to see you smiling. thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> good to. >> see you. >> all right. ahead. gop hardliners are still on the fence about speaker mike johnson's budget strategy, casting doubt on his ability to advance trump's agenda. so will johnson have the votes to go forward? all right. also, the air traffic controllers union is firing back at elon musk's email, calling the demand to justify their jobs actually dangerous. we'll explain why they say that. plus, an early legal blow to the associated press's fight to get back into white house events. what a federal judge is saying about the ap's battle with president trump over the use of the gulf of america versus the gulf of mexico. >> cooked books, corporate. >> fat cats, swindling socialites, doped up cyclists? then 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. >> i brought in ensure max protein with 30g of protein. >> those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. here, i'll take that. >> sure. max protein., 30g protein. one gram sugar and a protein blend to feed muscles. >> up to. >> seven hours. >> dry, tired, itchy. burning my dry eye. symptoms got worse over time. my eye doctor explained the root was inflammation. it was made for that. so relief is lasting. >> treats the signs. and symptoms of dry eye disease. don't use if allergic to hydra and seek medical help if needed. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort, blurred vision, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tipped, your eye or any surface before using to remove contact lenses and wait 15 minutes before reinserting. >> dry eye over and over. it's time for hydra. >> back pain. when you've got it, you know it. introducing the. >> x pack from. >> copper fit, our

groundbreaking. >> technology designed. >> for compression. >> support of your lower. >> back and core like you've never experienced before. engineered with our most innovative patent pending. >> advanced x. >> compression system. evenly distributes. >> the support across a broader. >> surface area. >> of your back for relief of. >> lower back aches and pains. >> a super lightweight mesh fabric ventilated to increase. >> airflow and. >> release excess heat. an orthopedic designed alloy support panel and four built. >> in flexible stabilizers. >> to help improve. >> alignment and promote better posture. the all new x back from copper fit the most customizable support for relief of lower back pain you will ever wear. guaranteed. or your money back. get yours now at get back.com or call one( 800) 712-6995. order right now and. >> your shipping. >> is free. copper fit. feel the difference. >> yet another. toothpaste that does not whiten. girl, this one works.

>> basic toothpaste stops at the top. >> crest goes deeper to dissolve the bonds that hold stains to. >> teeth for whiter. >> teeth in one day. >> it's a. >> smart move. >> to get a second opinion. you do it when. >> you're looking for a contractor. >> you definitely do it with. >> medical advice, so why not with your stock market investments? we can help you see opportunities you may be missing at hennion and walsh. it only takes a second to schedule your free second opinion. so what's there to lose? speak to heenan and walsh. the second opinion, people. >> what do people want from a medicare advantage plan? let's find out. >> i want. >> a $0. >> monthly premium. i take a lot of medications. >> so i need prescription drug coverage. >> if you. would like. >> help making. >> an informed decision about. >> your medicare coverage. >> aetna licensed. >> agents are. >> standing by ready to help you find health coverage that meets your needs.

>> if you're turning 65. >> you may qualify for medicare's initial. >> enrollment period, which. >> is the. three months. before the month. >> of and the three. >> months after the month of your 65th birthday. >> you are. >> not automatically. >> enrolled in a medicare advantage plan. aetna has medicare advantage plans, with monthly. plan premiums starting at $0. >> plans may also include. >> part d. >> prescription drug. >> coverage, dental. >> vision and. >> hearing coverage, fitness memberships. >> and more. >> to find out if an aetna medicare advantage plan. >> is right. >> for you, call now to speak with a licensed aetna agent. >> call one( 833) 771-3383. >> to find out. >> if you qualify. >> for medicare coverage. >> hi. >> i'm jay jackson. for almost 20 years, abacus life has been purchasing life insurance policies for seniors. and in just seconds, you can use the free calculator@abacus.com to learn what your policy might be worth. >> for many of my clients, selling their life insurance to abacus was right for them and their estate plan. >> don't sell.

>> or lapse your policy without going to abacus.com first. there are no fees and no obligations. get the real value from your life insurance when you need it. with abacus. >> twitter. that's a great name. >> we invented. >> a whole new thing. >> no one. >> could possibly have understood where it was going. >> twitter. breaking the bird premieres march 9th on cnn. >> all right. developing this morning, does speaker mike johnson have the votes? unclear. and it's over a big issue. basically, the starting point for the entire republican agenda. johnson can only afford to lose one republican vote on the floor. but so far, more than one says they might be leaning against all this. let's get right to cnn's lauren fox on capitol hill for the latest count this morning in the hallways. lauren, what are you hearing? >> yeah, i'm standing. >> right outside the. >> republican conference. >> meeting where the republicans are going. >> to. gather this. >> morning and get some more guidance from their. leadership

about whether or not they're going to go forward with this vote later this evening to take the first step to trying to advance the president's agenda. as you noted, the margins are really tight. and one of the challenges for mike johnson right now is that he has members on the conservative side who believe that the spending cuts are not severe enough. then he has people who are running for reelection in swing districts, who have deep concerns about how deep some of the spending cuts that are outlined in this budget proposal are, and what impact it could have on programs like medicaid specifically. so that is the really difficult position that johnson finds himself in, because, as you noted, he can only afford right now to lose one vote. now we'll see if democrats have full attendance. if they don't, perhaps that that margin for error grows a little bit for speaker mike johnson. but we heard earlier this morning from steve scalise, the majority leader, just before he went into this meeting, saying that he does believe that they could vote today. here's what he said.

>> we're going to be moving. >> the house budget on the floor. >> later today. so probably around 6:00. >> we've got to. >> do some of the procedural motions earlier, around 130 debate the bill. >> be a robust debate. >> on that. >> bill as. >> there should be. >> you know, we want to get our country back on track, deliver. >> on the promises. >> and the mandate that president trump was given. and the budget does. >> all. >> of those things. >> and now this is just the very first step, john, we should point this out. this is really just a blueprint. it gives the house committees directions for how to proceed to the next part of this negotiation, which is really writing legislation for trump's agenda. now, house republicans have a very different vision for what they want to do. they want to include a debt ceiling hike. they want to include more money for the border. more money for defense. they also want to package into this their tax plan. that would essentially renew those 2017 tax cuts, although it would not make those programs permanent. so that is much, much more expansive than what the senate

passed last week. there's still this big divide between the house and senate republicans right now over that one bill or two bills strategy. >> yeah. and look, you make a great point. this is just the first step. it may not even be the hardest step. so if they're having so much trouble getting over this first point here, what does it mean going forward? >> yeah, i mean, because this is really just giving those instructions to the committees. in fact, i just talked to marjorie taylor greene right before she went into this meeting. and i said, are you supporting this budget? she said, absolutely, because this is not the fight we should be having. i'm much more concerned about what is in the tax and spending bill that comes forward in the next couple of weeks if we can pass this budget. and i think that that is really what's so interesting about this moment for speaker mike johnson. he is battling this out on what is really just the very first easy blueprint step of this process. this is before you get into whether or not you're specific tax provision is included in legislation in a couple of weeks. this is before you get into specific medicaid cuts that could be outlined in

that package. so this is really bare bones at this moment, which is why it speaks volumes for the challenges ahead for mike johnson john. >> all right. great to have you there. let us know what happens in this meeting that begins shortly. lauren fowlkes on capitol hill. all right. new video this morning of a building explosion on a quiet street. new details on what caused the blast. and this is one expensive hairdo. a man busted with $10,000 worth of. cocaine in his wig. >> 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. >> why suhl the information on this show so terrible? >> have i got news for you? saturday at nine. at nine on cnn. >> easy. >> find a pet friendly.

>> italian restaurant. >> with outdoor. >> seating nearby. >> and text it to luca. >> find it. >> real quick. >> send it to the good. >> when i started. >> walton goggins goggle glasses, i needed a website. >> and godaddy. >> arrow uses. >> a.i. to. >> make a beautiful website so fast it'll blow my customers. >> noggins while they're shopping for goggins for their noggins. >> cidp is no walk. >> in the park. >> that's true. >> but i take. >> the. >> high low same. >> it's the first major innovation in cidp treatment in over 30 years. >> it has been proven. >> to. >> significantly reduce the risk of symptoms. >> getting worse. >> my cidp can be treated with once weekly injections that take about 30 to 90s. >> do not use if you have a serious allergy to any of its

ingredients. serious allergic reactions like trouble breathing and decrease in blood pressure, leading to fainting and allergic reactions such as rashes, swelling under the skin, shortness of breath, and hives have been reported. the most common side effects are respiratory and urinary tract infections, headache, and injection site reactions. it may increase the risk of infusion related reactions and infection. tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or symptoms of an infection. >> i'm hitting fairways with the fellas. >> i'm hitting the road with my number one. >> oh. >> look at you. that's how we live vividly with viv. >> visit live vividly.com or talk to your neurologist. >> nobody's born. >> with grit. >> bruise is really struggling. >> it's something. >> you build. >> over time. it's 21 million. >> cuts in a row. >> for 89 years, morgan stanley has offered. >> clients determination and forward thinking to create the future. >> only you. can see rose back

in the winner's. >> circle. from the. number one rated brand in cordless outdoor power, the igo zero turn riding mower with ease. >> steer technology. >> drives like a. >> car. >> turns on a dime, and it cuts up to 2.5 acres on a single charge. find an eco retailer near you. >> you make good choices. >> they've shaped. >> your journey. to leave all. >> that your. >> life built rock solid. >> for generations. with ambition like that, you need someone who elevates advice to a craft. at ubs, we match your vision with insight and expertise to shape a unique our xfinity network is built for streaming all the stuff people love. how can it get any better? -i'm just spitballin' here, but, what if we offer people apple tv+, netflix and peacock? for one low monthly price. -yes. so, people could stream the shows they love. and we could call it... xfinity streamsaver! mmmmm.

what about something like: streamsaver? ooooooo. -i love that. add streamsaver with apple tv+, netflix and peacock included for only $15 a month... and stream all your favorite entertainment, all in one place. cancel? >> nope. no whole times or anything. and we'll even. >> try. >> to get. >> your. >> refund for. >> the money you spent, which i'm sure. >> your wife. >> will. >> appreciate. >> downloading rocket money

right now. >> it's been great to. >> watch nhl on tnt. >> you guys got. >> a pretty good group there. >> wayne gretzky. >> he's the goat. >> this keeps. >> the light. >> up there. he's definitely the grinder of. >> the group. hank's a man. rocket always looks dapper. they're all a bunch of beauties. >> watch nhl on tnt. and stream. >> on. >> max wednesdays. >> this morning, the union that represents more than 10,000 federal air traffic controllers is calling. elon musk's report or resign. email a major safety concern. cnn aviation correspondent pete muntean is with us now. what's your reporting here, pete? >> well, air. >> traffic controllers tell me they're. >> pretty because they're already stretched. >> so thin. >> remember that. >> workforce. >> chronically understaffed. john. >> many controllers working mandatory. >> overtime. >> six day weeks of ten. >> hour shifts. >> the department of transportation. >> one of the few agencies that ordered. >> its workers to respond. >> to musk's. >> what did you do last week memo? >> meaning that each of the more than 10,000 air traffic controllers who work for the federal government had to reply, justifying their work. their union now insists that takes

controllers away from their main role. >> and makes flying less safe. >> here is the new statement from the national air traffic controllers association. this request, they say, has created a distraction that affects our members ability to focus on their primary mission safely directing aircraft and carrying passengers and cargo throughout the national airspace system. that is especially poignant when you consider the string of high profile crashes involving planes this year. last month, mid-air collision over the potomac river in d.c. killed 67 people. and we reported at the time of that crash that one air traffic controller in the tower at reagan national airport was responsible for two positions at the same time. now, union natc-a says they have issued guidance to controllers on how to respond to that message. but also of note here, other aviation workers got that message, which includes investigators from the national transportation safety board. they're leading at least three major investigations into crashes involving commercial flights this year alone. a small agency that's fighting to keep investigators on the job right now. right now, it's not really clear whether each of those 435 workers at the ntsb will have to justify their jobs to elon musk.

>> john. >> yeah, just a small sample of the dissatisfaction within the federal ranks right now. pete muntean, thanks so much for that report, sara. >> all right. elon musk and president trump's mass layoffs of federal workers has hurt families who rely on their paycheck. like most americans do. but this includes veterans who are part of the federal workforce. joining me now is william attig. he is the executive director at the union veterans council, a labor group that represents many military veterans who were also deployed in iraq from 2003 to 2009. all right. i do want to ask you this just sort of generally donald trump, as almost every single person that you hear from in congress says they support veterans. is he supporting veterans? >> not right now. >> sarah, thank you so much. >> for having. >> me on here. >> you know, for the last 40 years, and especially. >> following the 2008. >> recession, we've. >> realized the. >> importance the veterans. >> community and lawmakers.

>> the importance. >> of good. stable employment. >> for our veterans. and that's why. >> we've seen. >> massive work to create programs to ensure veterans have a priority and have great pathways to achieve the american dream through federal employment. and that's what we see. a disproportionate amount of veterans in the workforce right now. so when we see attacks on the federal workforce, especially blanket attacks both on the va, but every agency, just like the faa, we were just talking about, which is packed full of military veterans. we see a direct attack on our community and not only on the workers and the employment. you know, over a million veterans between contractors and federal workers work in the federal workforce. we know that there's going to be a degradation of the the basic needs that our veterans community needs. and when these agencies are attacked. >> how are these cuts? i mean, how how much are these doge cuts affecting veterans in general? >> i we've been hearing from dozens of veterans. >> our unions. >> have been hearing from hundreds of veterans. you know, we've heard over 6000 veterans. >> fired in the last. >> in the last 30 days, 6000. we

saw the unemployment rate for veterans increased by 1%. last month, or almost 1%. and we fear what's going to happen next month when that report comes out. um, there's a lot of fear. there's a lot of uncertainty when we think about this. this is, you know, 1 million. there's only 7.5 million working veterans in america. so right now, you know, 12% of the entire veterans population that works is sitting in fear of waiting for an email, wondering if they're going to be able to pay their bills next month. and that is devastating. again, financial stability is one of the key parts to making sure and maintaining our veterans community both whether it's making sure mental health veterans, suicide, veteran homelessness is taking care of. and right now, you know, unfortunately, you know, these decisions are putting a loaded gun to our veterans community, community. and that's a really scary thing to think about right now, especially when you see that some of the places that they want to attack are the places that ensure the care for our veterans through the va and through the, you know, places like the department of labor

that ensure veterans employment. >> i do want to ask you about this, because the american public voted in donald trump, and all along the way, as he was campaigning, he told everyone he was going to, as he put it, get rid of the deep state, which is his mean spirited word for the federal government or for much of the federal government. so isn't this what america voted for? >> i don't think so. i think i think the american people, you know, we have issues in america right now. you know, 30% of veterans make less than $31,000 a year. i want that to sink in with your listeners. right. we have issues in this country. there's a reason why donald trump was elected, but he wasn't elected to be an oligarch or. and we didn't elect elon musk, that's for sure. so right now we're seeing these blatant unfounded attacks against these workers. and i don't think that that's what people voted for. and we're seeing that as this story gets into communities, as more stories are told about the veterans impact, 1880 veterans who served 18 years in the federal workforce, who who got a

promotion last year, who now got fired, and their entire service was not taken for granted because someone hit a button on a computer and an algorithm said this person should be fired. that is disgraceful. and that's not supporting our veterans. and we see people wrap themselves in the flag so much. but when it comes time for these really hard fights, right, we we see them turn their back on us every single time. that's why we have to fight for every issue we fought for. that's why we had to sleep on the steps of the capitol to fight for the pact act. a few years back, when they tried to kill that. so the fight for veterans is a fight for american workers, in my opinion, because when we leave the military, that's what we become. we became part of the society. but we have this extra bag of our military service that adds a lot to our lives and makes it much more complicated. and that's why we have these critical programs to make sure that veterans can work in the federal workforce and have preference. and again, right now, you know, if elon musk does what he wants to do, there's the potential that between 200

to 300,000 veterans are fired this year. >> i do want to ask. >> you, 300,000 veterans. >> that's a lot of people. i do want to ask you about. um, i hear this sort of anger and pain in your voice as you're as you're talking about this. um, if you were able to say something to elon musk directly in person, what what would you say to him and donald trump? >> there's a way to do this. we this, this democracy we live in, people would die for in places that i've been, um, around the globe. um, but there's a way to do this. there's a way to use our systems and the and the framework that our founders gave us to make sure that everyone is taken care of. and we aren't just, you know, putting this is heartless the way they're doing it. they're operating like these folks are just numbers on a on a spreadsheet. i just wish they would listen to and talk to more of these veterans that aren't just in washington, d.c. they're in every county, you know, everywhere across this country that are being devastated right

now. >> william, thank you so much for coming on and explaining your point of view on this, and thank you for your service as well. we really appreciate you coming on. >> thank you so much. >> all right. ahead, a federal judge declines to temporarily restore the associated press access around president donald trump, but leaves the door open for the news agency's legal fight. that story is ahead, and defense secretary pete hegseth is headed to guantanamo bay for briefings on the migrant transfer mission. the administration's new concerns over housing plans for migrants there. >> cookbooks, corporate. >> fat cats, swindling socialites, doped up cyclists, then, yes. >> more. >> crooked politicians killing. 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.

dheisheh camp zoe lofgren. >> to all those who. >> never give a. >> second thought. >> to being the first. >> ones in. >> thank you. servpro. >> proud supporter of our. >> nation's first responders. >> my eyes. >> they're dry, uncomfortable. looking for extra hydration. >> now there's tears. it works differently than drops. blink neutral tears is a once daily supplement clinically proven to hydrate from within, helping your eyes produce more of their own tears to promote lasting, continuous relief. you'll feel day after day. try blink neutral tears a different way to support dry eyes. >> blink. >> i'm a patient guy. >> but searching for a hotel. >> trivago compares hotel prices from hundreds of. >> sites so you can save up to 40%. >> look how easy. that is. >> now i can relax.

>> hotel trivago. >> welcome to the neighborhood. >> the wayfair vibe at our place is western. >> my thing. >> darling. >> shiny. gardening. >> some of us go for the dramatic. >> how did. >> i know. weaver had vanities and tile? >> oh. >> this? yeah. >> whoa! >> do you have any ottomans without legs? >> shawn, you'll flip for the poof card. >> in the neighborhood, there's a place for all of us. >> wayfair. >> every style, every home. >> are you sitting at home, living in pain? the good news is, you don't need to live in pain because there is omega xl drug free non-habit forming. its small, easy to swallow, and it's backed by more than 40 years of clinical research. try omega xl. see the difference it can make in your life? >> buy one, get two. free two bottles of omega xl plus vitamin d3, a value of more than $85. call today and you pay only 39.95. plus, it's backed by our

60 day money back guarantee. act now. >> this is where you are, but this is where you want to go. we give you the rewards and you choose where they'll take you. introducing the credit one bank american express card. >> some people like doing things the hard way, like doing their finances with a spreadsheet instead of using quicken. quicken pulls all your financial info together in one place and updates it automatically. how easy is that? >> if you're only maxing out a 401 k, you could add a robinhood ira with a 3% contribution boost. >> roger that. >> robinhood gold gives you a 3% match on your annual ira contributions. >> are you sure? you tend to exaggerate? >> you're turning. >> 65 soon. you should really call and ask them yourself. >> thank you for calling aetna. >> how can i help you? >> do you really have medicare plans that cover dental, vision

and hearing? >> yes. all three. >> plus. >> we have plans. >> that. >> include a monthly. >> allowance for. >> certain over-the-counter products. >> really? >> that's right. >> aetna also. >> has medicare advantage plans with a $0. >> monthly plan premium. >> oh, i like that. >> turning 65. call 188865. >> aetna to find an aetna. >> medicare advantage plan that meets your unique needs. >> this is what it feels like to file with taxslayer. confident you'll get your guaranteed maximum refund. >> harakat al-muqawama al-islamiyya. >> and. >> taxslayer file. >> fearlessly. >> here you go. >> is there any. >> way to get. >> a better. >> price. >> on this? >> have you checked single care? whenever my customers ask how to get a better price on their meds, i tell them about single care. it's a free app accepted at pharmacies nationwide. >> before i pick. >> up my prescription, i always check. >> the single. >> care price. >> it's quick, easy, and totally. >> free to use. >> single care. >> can literally. >> beat my insurance copay. >> you just search for your prescription and show your

single care coupon at the pharmacy. >> so i just show the coupon and. >> get this price. >> that's right. go to single care.com and start saving today. >> i'm natasha bertrand at the. pentagon and this. is cnn. >> all right. today, secretary of defense pete hegseth travels to guantanamo bay, where he will visit the facilities housing migrants deported by the trump administration. they halted efforts to build tents to house more at guantanamo after concerns they did not meet detention standards. let's go right to cnn's natasha bertrand for the latest on this. natasha, what are you learning? >> secretary of defense hegseth. he is expected to land in. >> guantanamo bay. >> pretty imminently. and this is the first time, of course, that he's going to be visiting the facilities there since the department of defense started transporting migrants to guantanamo several weeks ago. but at the same time, we are learning that guantanamo bay, they've actually stopped. building tents there because of concerns. >> that these tents don't meet. i.c.e. detention. >> standards. >> namely, they don't have air conditioning. of course, it's very.

>> hot down there and. >> they don't have electricity. and in addition to this, there also is not currently a justification for building more tents because there are simply. >> not enough migrants. actually being. >> deported to warrant setting up more housing. facilities for. >> these migrants. >> currently, there are only about. 17 migrants. >> being held at. >> the higher threat area. >> of guantanamo, known as the detention facility, and 177 migrants were deported back to venezuela last week. >> so right. >> now. >> there simply is not the need for these. >> additional tents. >> and there is not the. >> justification, of course, because they are not meeting those standards. set by immigration and customs enforcement. >> now, this. >> is all indicative, of course, of the. >> really varied. >> efforts by the department of defense and dhs. >> to scramble. >> to set up additional housing facilities on the island because they. >> were anticipating. >> that they would need housing. >> structures for up to. >> 30,000 migrants that were going to be deported from the u.s. southern border. but now, of course, as i mentioned, there. >> are. >> currently only about 17

people being held on the island, and at the. same time only about 50 people. only about 50 migrants are even going to be able to be held at the migrant operations center, which is that transit point for migrants who are not considered high threat or violent, but that are going to be stationed there until they are deported back to their home countries. so all of this together paints a picture of guantanamo being used, of course, by the military, because they wanted to send this signal that the higher threat, more violent criminals were going to be held at guantanamo. but at. >> the. >> same time, there simply are not enough people being deported to the island to justify setting up additional housing structures. so remains to be seen what secretary hegseth is going to be doing there today. he has said he's going to be receiving briefings about the migrant operations facility on the island. there are about 1000 service members currently stationed at guantanamo in preparation and dealing with this new tasking by the

department of defense. >> john bertrand at the pentagon, atasha, thank you so much for that reporting. and with us now is john sandweg, former acting director of ice. thanks so much for being with us. you know, natasha's reporting there. not enough need to justify the expansion at guantanamo. gets to something bigger that's happening here, which is that right now we're hearing that donald trump, the president, is not satisfied with the number of migrants being deported. they can't do it fast enough or big enough for him. how surprised are you that they're not able to reach the numbers that in his head are acceptable? >> well, john, at. >> this point, i'm not that surprised. >> right? >> this is what we've been talking about previously, which is. that when you target a criminal population, that is tedious work. it is slow work, and you're not dealing with a large criminal alien population that's present inside. >> the. >> united states. so this idea that by just saying we're going to take the gloves off and then deploy ice assets to go after,

and they're going to encounter all these, you know, huge numbers of criminal migrants out there really was never based in reality to begin with during the biden administration. ice routinely focused and prioritized this population. so you didn't have that many targets to begin with. and then you have to deal with the resource challenges that you face at i.c.e., where you only have 7000 officers, and the number of arrests they can make is really just driven by exactly that. how many officers you can deploy? look, i expect that the administration is going to make a shift in tactics here. i think they're going to start pulling into all these state and local officers to deploy them, to focus on the, you know, immigration problems. they're going to pull these other federal agencies in, but they're also going to have to reduce their targeting and expand it to where their primary target is. not anyone who has some nexus to the criminal justice system, but probably just migrants who have been in this country seeking a better life. um, and probably have been here a long time. >> so if they want to expand the numbers, they have to change the targets. >> that's right. they're running. part of the problem they're facing is they're running out of these criminal targets. what they've been doing, john, is pulling, you know, data from the criminal justice system, looking at

probation and parole records, looking at people who might have been charged with a crime, you know, in court, but were never booked into custody. but this is a tactic that ice has been doing for the last 20 years in a population they've been focusing on. so you're not finding that many targets out there who meet that criteria. the only way to solve this is, is really by two things. one is expand that target range. and i think we've already you know, we know that they're already grabbing collateral. so when they go out there in the streets and they target that criminal, anyone else they encounter is undocumented. they're arresting. so a significant percentage of the arrests they've made thus far are not actually criminals. but the second thing they need to do is they're going to need to expand that target base and then expand the the, you know, force multiplier, get other agencies involved in the game targeting those other non-criminal populations. if they continue down the path they're on, they're not going to solve this problem that they perceive of increasing the number of arrests. the only way to do that is by expanding that target list. >> john, i'm not hearing you at all. i think our audience is. so i'm going to go ahead and ask a question, but be aware of the fact that i actually can't hear

what you're saying here. so i want to ask you about a politico report that came out this morning that's interesting and gets to what i heard you talking about right there, which is the staffing issue surrounding this effort to deport migrants. politico is reporting that before donald trump was inaugurated, there was a discussion about trying to privatize some of it, bring in contractors to help with deportations. this is from politico. a group of prominent military contractors, including former blackwater ceo erik prince, has pitched the trump white house on a proposal to carry out mass deportations through a network of processing camps on military bases. a private fleet of 100 planes and a small army of private citizens empowered to make arrests. now, this did not go into effect, but what does it tell you that there were these discussions and explorations to privatize some of these functions? >> yeah, i think many of the ideas outlined in that memo are crazy. the idea that we could have a private cadre of bounty hunters going out on the streets and arresting migrants is frightening and would would obviously be plainly unlawful.

but i don't know that the people understand that. a lot of the work that ice does is already outsourced. more than half of i.s.i.s. detention capacity is run by private detention providers, who work under a contract for i.c.e. i.c.e. air transportation operations are already funded by contract. ice does not maintain a fleet of, you know, government jets. they instead pay private contractors to do that. i anticipate that we're going to see an uptick in that work. i know the share prices of the detention providers skyrocketed when trump was elected. and i think going back to this kind of targeting problem the administration has, i would expect that they're going to outsource even more of that work to private contractors who will do the kind of painstaking work of identifying a potential arrest target. but but look, this i think we're going to see more of this. you know, a lot of money is coming i.c.e. his way when congress passes this budget. and i can promise you a lot of, you know, private contractors are out there looking for ways to get a piece of that money. >> john sandweg in a miracle of communications. i did hear that last answer. so thank you very much for being with us this

morning. thanks. so also this morning, who might get banned next after a judge let the white house ban on the associated press stand for now. >> five good things. >> listen, wherever you. >> get your podcasts. >> if you're looking for amazing deals on premium floors, yellow and black is back. at lumber liquidators, we cut out the middleman so you can buy more and save more at absolute low prices. get laminate flooring as low as $0.89 a square foot. waterproof flooring as low as $0.99 a square foot. pre-finished. real wood flooring as low as $1.49 a square foot. buy more and save more with the flooring expert. find our nearest store at lumber. >> a chewy. >> pharmacy order is in route for summit. who loves the outdoors so her parents use chewy to save 20% on their first order of flea and tick meds. >> delivered fast. so summit never misses. >> a dose. >> or.

>> an adventure. >> for. >> quality meds. >> for life. >> with pets. there's chewy. >> innovation in healthcare means nothing if. >> no one can. >> afford it. >> at evernorth, we're helping to unlock barriers. >> using our. >> 35 plus years of pharmacy. benefits management experience. >> to save. >> businesses billions while. >> boosting medication. >> adherence. >> helping plan sponsors. >> and their members. >> be at their best. >> that's wonder made possible. evernorth health services. >> really the third? >> oh. >> oh? >> höcke.

>> when your cat's hungry. >> you definitely. >> know when you want your attention. he makes it. >> clear when. >> he wants to be left alone. he makes it obvious. >> but if your. >> cat has pain, also known as osteoarthritis pain, he may be saying, oh, in different ways. it's a long lasting condition that makes it painful for your cat to move like they once did, like when walking or climbing, red flags are everywhere, but cats are really good at hiding their pain, so you just need to know what to look for. visit cat red flags.com to learn about the signs of pain and how your vet can help. >> we just signed the lease on our third shop. my assistant went to customink.com to get new uniforms. >> with all the locations. >> he found great. >> products. >> uploaded new art and had boxes sent to all the shops. custom ink makes it so easy. >> get started. >> today at. >> customink.com. >> your shipping manager left to find themself leaving you lost. you need to hire. >> i need indeed. >> indeed you do. sponsor jobs on indeed are two and a half times faster. to first hire.

visit indeed.com. >> when i started. >> walton goggins. >> goggle glasses. >> i didn't know how to turn all this fancy prettiness. into a classy looking logo. >> but godaddy arrow does, with its magical a.i., powers, it not only creates it, it slaps that sweet. >> thing everywhere. >> mhm. >> food is gina's. >> passion. >> but diabetes. >> threatened to take that all away. >> with dexcom g7. >> gina learned. items in the

channel. and maria already asked for a budget reminder. >> smart buy. >> got it. >> got it. boss. >> you got this. >> welcome back. >> have i got news for you? news saturday on cnn. >> there is an early setback for associated press efforts to. hello, john. >> i want to. >> make sure i'm in the right place. >> just kidding. here. this morning, we're just waking up. a federal judge says he will not issue an emergency order to temporarily restore the ap's access to some of the president's events. the president imposed a ban to

punish the news organization over its decision to continue using the name gulf of mexico, even though he renamed the body of water gulf of america. cnn's hadas gold is joining us now. okay. so give us a sense of what's happening here, because the ap didn't win on one thing, but they there's still more to come. >> yeah. this is not the end of the road. the ap sued after trying to resolve this behind the scenes. and they sued on the. grounds of both the first amendment saying that this is essentially viewpoint discrimination as well as the due process clause of the fifth amendment. >> saying that this. >> ban from. >> what we're. >> seeing is most white house events. severely impacts their ability to do their jobs. and that's because they haven't been able to go into a lot of these press availabilities. the press conference yesterday between president trump and president macron, both in the east room and in the oval office, they were not there. the ap is also a bedrock of the white house press pool, the rotating group of journalists that follows the president everywhere that the white house has agreed to will be managed by the white house correspondents association. so now the ap cannot do their job. now, the white house said in their argument, you know, just

like interviews, we don't have to give access to the president, to these spaces, to absolutely anybody. they say the ap still has their white house press passes. they can still go to the general briefings. and they say they can still do their jobs based off of pool reports, like other outlets who might not have a white house correspondent. now, what's interesting is in the hearing, this was a trump appointed judge. he did express some skepticism to the white house's argument, saying that it was problematic, saying at one point it almost seemed clear to him that it was viewpoint discrimination. however, he did not agree to the ap's request for an immediate restraining order that would have immediately lifted the ban, saying that a few things. he said that no, he didn't see any proof that the ap faced irreparable harm. he says that the ap still has access to the same information through pool notes. he said the delayed filing was evidence that there was no harm. i should note that the ap tried to solve this behind the scenes first before they went the legal route. there is a hearing scheduled for march 20th. this is this is not the end of the road for the ap. there could be a preliminary injunction issued. now, what's

at stake here, though, is precedent. and i want to point out that there are trump aligned right wing outlets that are on the side of the ap. this is what newsmax has said to the new york times. they can say, we can understand president trump's frustration, because the media has often been unfair to him. but newsmax still supports the ap's. right? and here's why. because they fear a future administration may not like something newsmax writes and seeks to ban. so they say it's the ap this time. it could be us next time. >> that is the argument that everyone should use. >> and the judge, to be clear, and i think i'm paraphrasing here, basically told the white house, you may want to go look at the law and the case law before we actually have this hearing, which was his way of saying, ultimately, the law may not be on your side. >> exactly. and so, again, the white house may be declaring victory right now, which they are. they're declaring victory over this. but this is far from the end of the road here. and they will be back in court in march. >> just one final follow. is it true it's your birthday? >> today is. >> my birthday today. >> let's sing happy birthday to you. that's how we do it in my house. i'm sure your happy birthday is a little different, but that's the stevie wonder version. >> i didn't get a second source

on that. although. although i did have single source approval because it was actually hadas gold who told me it was. >> her birthday. happy birthday. how does 21 feel? >> 21 feels amazing. >> i'm so excited. >> to go to the bar later. >> we will be with you. >> happy birthday. >> thank you. happy birthday. >> that is all for us today. this has been cnn news central with sara john berman soars kate bolduan. cnn newsroom is up next. >> twitter. that's a great name. >> we invented a whole. >> new thing. >> no one could possibly have understood where it was going. >> twitter. breaking the bird premieres march 9th on cnn. >> hi. >> i'm jay jackson. for almost 20 years, abacus life has been purchasing life insurance policies from seniors. and in just seconds, you can use the free calculator@abacus.com to learn what your policy might be worth. >> for many of my. clients. selling their life insurance to abacus was right for them and their estate plan. >> don't sell or lapse your

policy without going to abacus.com first. there are no fees and no obligations. get the real value from your life insurance when you need it. with abacus. >> it's a smart move to get a second opinion. you do it when you're looking for a contractor. you definitely do it with medical advice. so why not with your stock market investments? we can help you see opportunities you may be missing at hennion and walsh. it only takes a second to schedule your free second opinion. so what's there to lose? speak to hennion and walsh. the second opinion, people. >> oh. >> that grimy film on your teeth. >> doctor g. >> it's actually the buildup of bacteria which can cause cavities. >> most toothpastes. >> quit working in. >> minutes. >> but crest pro-health antibacterial fluoride protects all day. >> it stops. >> cavities before they start. >> crest. >> what do people want from a medicare advantage plan? let's

find out. >> i want. >> a $0. >> monthly premium. >> i take a lot of medications, so i need prescription drug coverage. >> if you would like help making an informed decision about your medicare coverage, aetna licensed agents are standing by ready to help you find health coverage that meets your needs. >> if you're turning 65, you may qualify for medicare's initial enrollment period, which. >> is the three months. >> before the month of and the three months. >> after the. >> month of your 65th birthday. you are not automatically enrolled in a medicare advantage plan. aetna has medicare advantage plans, with monthly plan premiums starting at $0. >> plans may. >> also include part d prescription drug coverage, dental vision and hearing coverage, fitness memberships, and more. >> to find out if an aetna medicare advantage plan is right for you, call now to speak with a licensed aetna agent. >> call one( 833) 771-3383 to find out if you qualify for medicare coverage. >> are you sitting at home living in pain? the good news is you don't need to live in pain

because there is omega xl drug free non-habit forming. it's small, easy to swallow, and it's backed by more than 40 years of clinical research. try omega xl. see the difference it can make in your life? >> buy one, get two free two bottles of omega xl plus vitamin d3, a value of more than $85. call today and you pay only 39.95. plus, it's backed by our 60 day money back guarantee. act now. >> this is what. >> it feels like to file with taxslayer. >> oh, i'm the refund, boss. all your refund is belong to me.

you won't be getting up. >> at night. >> for so many. >> bathroom trips. >> i wouldn't say it if i didn't. >> truly believe it. >> march madness. >> it gives you. >> all the. feels. >> the feeling. >> crowd going crazy. >> can you believe this? ice in. >> the veins. >> emotions on full display. this is. >> what march. >> feels like. >> i've got that feeling. >> baby. >> mass