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>> president donald trump loves to put on a show. and the headliner at his first cabinet meeting was elon musk, touting sweeping cuts and mass firings as president trump warns workers who don't respond to that. billionaires. what did you do last week? e-mail saying they are now, quote on the bubble. and the white house facing backlash after the president posted a bizarre a.i. video of a reimagined gaza depicting the war torn region as a vacation destination, complete with a golden statue of trump and a sunbathing benjamin netanyahu. >> and the supreme court hears a key dui case. why an ohio woman believes she was the victim of what she calls reverse discrimination at her job. we're

following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news center. >> elon musk takes center stage as president donald trump assembled his cabinet for their first meeting of his second term. today, the tech billionaire stood before agency leaders, solidifying his power and influence in the new administration. even though some of his moves are ruffling feathers among top officials. for weeks now, musk and the government efficiency team have essentially chainsawed their way through the federal government, gutting its workforce, attempting to take over systems containing sensitive information, and now threatening employees with their jobs if they don't respond to an email. but the president praised his special government employee, who, by the way, is not an official part of the cabinet or even an elected official. and he defended the mass firings we've seen carried out by musk and

doge. let's take you now live to the white house with cnn's jeff zeleny. jeff. talk to us about the dynamic in the room between trump and musk and the cabinet secretaries. well. >> boris, in that ornate cabinet room in the west wing of the white house, the world's richest man held court in a black t-shirt and a black make america great again hat, clearly being invited by the president to make his case for how he believes the federal workforce should be reshaped and shrunken. and this is something that, of course, has been going on for the first four weeks of this administration. but we have not seen this dynamic before, as virtually every member of the cabinet, most confirmed by the senate, a few awaiting votes of their own, were largely sitting in silence as they were watching elon musk talk about what he is doing and would like to do to their own agencies. now, he said that email that was sent out last weekend that caused so much consternation. what did you do last week was meant as a pulse

check, not a performance review. again, advancing the argument and the the question without evidence that there are many people on the federal payroll who don't actually exist or who are defrauding the government. but the president also made clear there is little room for dissent in his cabinet. he said he hears some of the concern, but then jokingly said, don't air it. let's watch. >> you very unhappy to say it. you know, if you are, will throw them out of here. is anybody unhappy? they have a lot of respect for elon and that he's doing this. and some disagree a little bit. but i will tell you, for the most part, i think everyone is not only happy, they're thrilled. >> patrick oppmann not only happy, they're thrilled. that actually wasn't the case over the weekend when many of these agency and department heads advised their employees to ignore these emails from the office of personnel management, which elon musk is heading as his as his part of his role as a

senior adviser of the department of government efficiency. but never mind all that, it was the power dynamic that was on display in the room. one of these cabinet meetings, they usually are not broadcast live, but the white house made that decision and it was something truly showing that elon musk is perhaps does not have a seat at the table, but he is center stage in this administration. there is no question about it. and besides all of that, there was some other news made. of course, the president said that ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy will be visiting the white house on friday, one step closer to a potential peace deal, perhaps. and he also talked about his desire for the budget. he said medicare or social security will not be cut. actually, just a few moments ago, speaker johnson walked into the white house to have more discussions about the legislative agenda. so a lot going on here. but that power dynamic certainly leads today, boris. >> yeah. we'll wait for details on that meeting with speaker johnson. jeff zeleny live for us at the white house. thank you so much. meantime, donald trump

directly addressed what would happen to federal workers who didn't respond to musk's email ultimatum. let's listen. >> i'd like to add that those million people that haven't responded, though, elon, they are on the bubble. you know, i wouldn't say that we're thrilled about it. you know, they haven't responded. now, maybe they don't exist. maybe we're paying people that don't exist. don't forget we just got here. this group just got here. uh, but those people are on the bubble, as they say. you know, they may be they're going to be gone. >> cnn's rene marsh has been covering the fallout from this email. rene. the president essentially saying that federal workers who don't respond by monday night might be at risk of losing their jobs. >> right? certainly sounds like he's suggesting that those folks could be penalized for not responding to musk's email. and the president also with that statement, is making clear his support for elon musk and all the actions that both musk and

doge have taken so far. but this email has also really highlighted the tug of war power struggle between trump appointed cabinet officials and the unelected elon musk. because we saw, as jeff noted, several cabinet secretaries tell their employees not to comply with musk's email request. so it was interesting to see musk taking center stage at this cabinet meeting today, where he appeared, even at times almost lecturing the cabinet secretaries about the need to move fast to make cuts to government spending. at one point, musk was asked how many federal employees he was looking to cut, and he didn't give an overall number. but he did say he wanted to cut all jobs that were, quote, not essential. and the president said that the administration was going to start firing federal employees more quickly. take a listen to that moment. >> i spoke with lee zeldin, and he thinks he's going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental, and we're going to speed up the

process, too. at the same time, you had a lot of people that weren't doing their job. they were just obstructionists. and a lot of people that didn't exist. >> well, we have seen that many of these federal agencies have listed poor work performance at the as the cause for terminating many of these federal employees. but cnn has found that many of these employees actually had perfect performance reviews and were still fired. but again, the president here is just previewing what is on the horizon for us. we know that federal agencies right now are creating a reduction in force plans and reorganization plans as we speak, and that work should be complete in another two weeks from now. so the bottom line is we will be seeing a lot more firings. >> renee. it's really stunning. not only the role that musk has played in these firings, but also at today's meeting. considering the government contracts that his private

business has. >> it was, and i think that also was something that we just really can't state enough. i mean, there is this blurring of the lines of, you know, private industry and private interests with the work of the federal government, which is supposed to be carried out independent of all of that. and as you mentioned, musk has lots of contracts with a variety of government agencies where the cabinet secretaries were in the room there today. and also, let's not forget that a lot of his companies fall under the oversight, the regulatory oversight of a lot of these agencies where the cabinet secretaries were today. and so i'll leave you with this question. i mean, after an endorsement, like what we saw from president trump for elon musk, which one of those cabinet secretaries is going to allow their agency to launch an investigation into elon musk or his businesses, slap him with a violation for any regulatory violations? i mean, who is going to have, uh, the gall to do that

after seeing so much support from president trump on display here at this cabinet meeting? boris. >> yeah, an important question to keep in mind. rené marsh thank you so much, jessica. >> many questions remain over house republicans budget blueprint, which calls for as much as $2 trillion in spending cuts. a lot of americans out there now worried that these drastic cuts could severely impact the type of aid that they depend on from the government. and joining us now, republican congressman marlin stutzman of indiana. congressman, thanks so much for being here with us. we appreciate it. >> thanks, jessica. great to be with you this afternoon. >> i want to start first with with a lot. there are a lot of questions. admittedly, this is a blueprint. now the senate's going to have to figure out what they want to do. my colleague spoke with republican senator josh hawley, who said that any potential cuts to medicaid would be an absolute nonstarter for him because, in his words, he doesn't want to punish working people. are you supportive of any cuts to medicaid? >> well, first of all, you know,

medicaid is a very important program for my district. and, you know, i come from a strong republican district in northeast indiana. and i know that a lot of businesses, a lot of my constituents have been put in a very difficult place to to pay for their healthcare costs. and medicaid is is one of those options that many people turn to, you know, whether it's a medicare type program or medicaid. we know that that health care costs have just are out of control and are skyrocketing. and i think what's really important here, as people talk about all of these programs, whether it's, you know, what the doge team is doing at the white house, what president trump is asking for is that we look at every facet of government to make sure that there's no waste, fraud and abuse. and i will tell you, we know in the medicaid program there are professional fraudsters out there. there's a lady in connecticut that was just charged with taking over $1.5 million out of the medicaid program. that's money that could have been given to a single mother in my district to help her make sure she covers her health care costs. so there's a lot of work that can be done on

all spectrums of government spending. >> and i hear you on that. i just want to clarify, you would or would not be okay with any cuts to that program. >> no. again, i think it's about looking at the program. and that's what elon musk and president trump have, or what president trump has asked elon to do, and his whole cabinet. i mean, that whole cabinet room is a is a strong group of leaders that are going to go to each of their departments and ask each person to make sure that there is no waste, fraud and abuse. what is excess? what could be eliminated? i was a president and ceo of companies, and i know that you have to depend on your teammates to make sure that we eliminate the the abuse of any sort of spending. so if we're going to look at all of government and including medicaid and of course, all of the snap programs, the welfare programs, subsidies, tax credits, i think everything should be on the table to look at. but again, i think we can do this without cutting the benefits that people in my district and other districts really depend on and eliminate

the waste that this government hasn't had anything like this that i can remember in a long time. and we're going to find a lot of savings. >> and yeah, and you mentioned a lot of people in indiana. we got some stats on that. medicaid covering 41% of births in indiana, 3 in 8 children and 2 in 3 nursing home patients. as you were just saying, you you you know that. yeah. and and i, i just want to ask on kind of their behalf, should they be worried about any of their benefits going away? >> no. and, you know, again, medicaid is a partnership between the federal government and state government. and so i know that this is a big issue for our governor, mike braun in indiana and our state legislature. they're already looking at this. let me give you an example. i was talking to a hospital ceo, and this just shows how the the system is entirely upside down. 60% of his patients at a hospital system are on medicaid, but it's only 30% of the revenue for that hospital system. that's just

not a sustainable, uh, solution. and so we're going to have to address the real problem. it's not medicaid. the real problem is the cost of health care. inflation has driven these costs out of control. and that's what we really need to start focusing on. next is the cost of health care, not necessarily how these programs pay for them one way or the other. we shouldn't force those who depend on a program like medicaid to to pay for the program. and the abuses that have, we know are going along with it right now. >> and i do want to ask you what how you see this playing out, in the sense that the republican senators on the other side of of the capitol there are wanting changes to this proposed blueprint. uh, house speaker mike johnson just told my colleague, don't don't change too much because essentially, it was tough to get that over the line in the house. where do you think house republicans will be willing to compromise with their senate colleagues? >> well, you know, this is we're a bicameral legislative body. and, you know, being a house

member, we have done our work. i'm on the house budget committee. and this was a tough lift. but at the same time, what i sense from those in our swing districts and those that are on, you know, districts across the spectrum in our conference is that they we all know that we have $36 trillion of debt that is not sustainable. we're paying more on our debt service and interest than what we're paying for our military. and so something has got to to be addressed. and every member of our conference, for the most part, is all said, we're here to make those difficult choices. and i applaud them. and i think, you know, in the long run, we do the right thing on policy. the politics will take care of itself. >> and i know you have said that the debt's important to you. you've called it the biggest threat to our national security. um, a lot of republicans would like to see trump's first term tax cuts made permanent. a nonpartisan committee for responsible budget, estimating those could cost a minimum of $3.9 trillion to make permanent.

republicans trying to find some $2 trillion in cut cuts. are you comfortable with that math? >> well, and i have been saying, you know, internally and i know that the idea has been tossed around, but because of the congressional budget office's scoring system, by making those tax rates permanent, that is a big cost to the to the federal government. but so i would i've proposed and said that, look, we could extend these tax rates for another 4 or 5 years. that would bring that cost down. so that way we don't have to if we get into the to the to all of the spending and different programs and we see that it would cut medicaid, i would say, look, let's back off the tax cuts and not affect medicaid. so that's something that i've talked about and proposed, because we can always come back in four years and make those tax cuts permanent. are those tax rates. and that way medicaid is not affected. and i think that's where most of us are all at on the republican conference, is that we want to make sure that we don't affect those folks in our districts that depend on

medicaid and have been forced to go to medicaid and making sure that the economy grows. we cut spending, and then we start getting to a balanced budget. a balanced budget is really critical for us to start paying the debt down. >> yeah. and would you vote no if if it did make them permanent? >> uh, no, i would support them. i mean, in the long run, we want to make those tax rates permanent. but again, because of the congressional budget office scoring, uh, they are saying that's a cost to the federal government. if that's what if what it takes is just to extend them for 4 or 5 years, uh, until we see what the economy does and we come back later when those are about to expire again, we can we can evaluate that. but i would prefer that we look at it from that perspective if we have to. but if we can, if we can make them permanent and, and make sure that medicaid is strong for not only those who are currently using the program, but it's strong for future generations. that's what our end goal is. >> all right. congressman marlin stutzman, thanks so much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> still to come this hour,

hamas is expected to hand over the bodies of four israeli hostages just hours from now. but this exchange is going to look very different from what we've previously seen. plus, the supreme court appears poised to side with a straight woman who claims she is the victim of reverse discrimination. we'll lay out that case for you. and a little bit later. dni director tulsi gabbard saying more than 100 u.s. intelligence officers will be fired for writing sexually explicit messages in a work chat. that, and much more coming up here on cnn news central. >> did they just hop from a baseball game to a show on max without leaving direct tv? >> it's like all their apps and channels are. connected. >> oh, it's all connected. shows, movies, sports? cooking shows. >> is she talking to us? >> tell me, how does direct tv put all your favorite stuff on one home screen? uncanny content suggestions based on your watch history or mind control. >> were you recently

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hostages held in gaza are expected to be exchanged for hundreds of palestinian prisoners. this is the final handover under phase one of the israel-hamas ceasefire deal, and it appeared to be in doubt since saturday. israel has delayed the release of palestinian prisoners protesting what it called, quote, humiliating ceremonies held by hamas during previous releases. hamas now says it will scrap all future handover ceremonies. cnn's jeremy diamond is live in tel aviv. and jeremy, there has certainly been a lot of uncertainty around how this will play out. where do things stand right now? >> without a doubt. and all of that uncertainty stemmed from saturday, when israel refused to release 620 palestinian prisoners in exchange for the last four living israeli hostages scheduled to be released during the first phase of this ceasefire agreement. siting these ceremonies that hamas has been holding and what they called humiliating displays of some of the hostages who were

still remaining in gaza. so israel, declining for the last several days to release those 620 palestinian prisoners. and as a result, there was uncertainty about whether or not we would actually see what is expected to be perhaps the last exchange of hostages and prisoners during the first phase of this cease fire agreement. but just in the last few hours, israel and hamas have indeed reached a deal under which hamas is expected to release the bodies of four hostages this evening. it, saki, edan, itzhak. ohad, and shlomo mansour. their bodies will indeed be handed over after being held captive by hamas over the course of the last 16 months. only following dna identification will israel begin to release waves of palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released. but earlier today, what we also saw across the country of israel were emotional, sobering and very

somber scenes as the bodies of fear, ariel and shiri bibas, the two youngest hostages, and their mother were laid to rest today. we saw this winding funeral procession going from central israel all the way to their final resting place near kibbutz nir oz, from which they were taken hostage on october 7th. we also heard today from their father, yarden bibas, who was freed just a few weeks ago in this ceasefire deal by hamas, but returned to learn that his wife and his two young boys had indeed been killed today. yarden bibas asked for his wife and for his children's forgiveness that he did not protect them on that day. he said of ariel, i hope that there are plenty of butterflies for you to watch, just like you did during our picnics, for fear, he said. i miss nibbling on you and hearing your laughter. and he said, i'm sorry i didn't protect you better. heartbreaking scenes jessica.

>> it truly is jeremy diamond for us in tel aviv. thank you for that. reporting. boris. >> so late last night, president trump posted what appeared to be an a.i. generated video on his truth social account. it's basically a promotion for his plan for gaza, which is to essentially turn the enclave into a lavish golf resort. here's part of that video. >> donald trump set you free, bringing the light for all to see. no more tunnels, no more fear. top gaza is finally here. trump gods are shining bright golden future. a brand new life. the deal is done. trump gaza number one. >> let's discuss with kevin barron. he's a national security analyst and former executive editor for defense one. kevin, thanks so much for being with us. what did you make of this video? >> i mean, how many times do we have to see something like this

where it's it would be comical if it wasn't so serious and so exhausting. um, these images just, you know, they shock you, and then you laugh, and then you go, what are we doing? and where are we living? and in a time where, as your previous segment just showed, the hostages are being released, we're supposed to be getting to a new ceasefire phase. we're supposed to be getting toward some kind of future for this region. the saudi defense minister was just at the pentagon this week as well. so there are these enormous security concerns going on, and this kind of video just does nothing for american security or regional security. but it does show where trump's head is, right. it shows he's he's calling himself king trump. he's putting out images of him as a giant idol in the middle of gaza that looks like vegas. uh, i'm not sure what to say. >> it reminds me a bit of when he went to meet with kim jong un one on one, and he apparently showed him a trailer of what north korean waterfront property would look like. he obviously views things very much from the perspective of of a real estate tycoon. i do wonder, though, how this sort of video lands with palestinians. those who support

hamas, those who don't support hamas and want to find peace. is this the kind of thing that just generates animosity? >> uh, i wonder too, i wonder how many see it, actually, who's who's watching? you know, trump's truth social account out there right now? um, i think if you think of it as what it would take to get to something like this, go back to his original statement. when he mentioned this, he was, you know, giddily saying giddily, giddily, just saying, we're going to expel all the palestinians and rebuild this area to make it look, you know, to what these images look like. and then he sees it and he, you know, promotes it just like he promotes a picture of time magazine for himself. look, he's called himself king trump in recent days. he's he's portraying himself as a savior for these areas, not for the palestinian people. but like you said, because he's real estate tycoon, he sees a business opportunity. we know there's family connections that would be involved in this. there are people that think this is smoke and mirrors. this is ridiculousness. this is never going to happen. focus on things that are more serious. but i think in the security world this absolutely matters. because why

would anyone in that region who was serious about the future of palestinian palestinian peace, or the palestinian prosperity, think anything other than this is absolute absurdity? >> to your point about focusing on things that are more serious, and you mentioned we're supposed to be getting to the second phase of a ceasefire deal. this 42 day truce is set to end this weekend. negotiations over phase two were supposed to start several weeks ago. they haven't even started. are you confident we're going to see some kind of deal? >> of course not. i mean, nobody should be. um, but also a deal for what? right. in the last week, we've seen israeli tanks going into the west bank. and word that they're going to be there for a year. israel seems to be doing everything possible, as it says, to prevent another attack like october 7th, to to tamp out terrorism as much as they can. um, and the military world, i used to cover the pentagon in the old days. they said, you know, you can't kill your way to freedom. you can't kill your way to the end of the war. there has to be a peace

negotiation. but right now, that's all that we're seeing. so a lot of people would like to know what's that deal going to be? does netanyahu really on the side of trump, who wants the deal more than he wants anything? and no matter what it looks like, or is it going to be more of the same? >> so we saw this deal that jeremy spoke about for the return of these four men's remains. we also saw these images. the huge crowds that came out for the bibas funeral. would you say that public opinion in israel is at all altered by these developments? does it sway people toward netanyahu or more towards some sort of deal? >> i mean, i would imagine people are pretty entrenched, and we saw even the families wanting to keep government officials away from the funeral. you know, a lot of these protests they have from day one have been aimed at netanyahu for failing to secure them in the first place. you know, forget about what's happened since in israel's, you know, unbelievable response. um, to into gaza. so again, i think you're seeing lots of

entrenchment, but you also hear from people out there that people are exhausted. it's been a long conflict. um, there have been young people that have grown up in it now. and so any glimmer of hope for the future, you know, should be welcome. um, it will depend on what side you ask for. and i would again assume the palestinians are not looking for a giant statue of a gold trump on their beachfront property in a land that they want to rebuild for themselves. >> kevin baron, appreciate the perspective. thanks for joining us. still plenty more news to come on news central. coming up, a fired cybersecurity official is sounding the alarm here. why he believes doge has put the sensitive information of millions of veterans at risk. we'll speak to him in just moments. >> philippe lazzarini home. it's where we do the things we love with the people we love. celebrating. sharing. living. so why should aging mean we have to leave that in the past? what if we lived tomorrow in the same place as we did yesterday? what

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pentagon, and this is cnn. >> a warning from a fired cybersecurity official for the department of veterans affairs. he sounded the alarm, saying sensitive information on millions of veterans is now at risk. joining us now is jonathan kamins. he was the cybersecurity lead for viacom. that's the online portal for the department of veterans affairs. thanks so much for being here with us. i know you oversaw the cybersecurity efforts for the va's benefit portal. you say you're now worried that this information is at risk. why are you worried and what are you concerned is going to happen? >> well, jessica, thanks very much for having me on. i appreciate the opportunity. the reason i'm worried is because in the time that i was at va, what i saw was a bunch of dedicated employees trying to do their best to maintain va.gov and keep it online and secure. but they were overworked. there just weren't enough people to do all the work. and now with me being gone and other people being gone because doge has fired them or fired them by

proxy through va, there's even fewer people to do the work, and it's inevitable when you don't have enough people to maintain the cybersecurity of va.gov or any other website, it's going to deteriorate and eventually there's going to be an incident. >> and what? just to give people an example, what kind of information are we talking about and what what is like a an incident that you would be concerned could happen. >> well, we're talking about people's private medical records. we're talking about their therapy notes. we're talking about the conditions that they're being treated for. we're talking about the prescriptions they're taking. we're talking about diagnoses like addiction or ptsd. we're also talking about financial records, their bank account information, their social security numbers, their names, addresses, phone numbers, relatives, the most private information you can imagine about a person is collected by va for the purpose of providing veterans with the benefits that they're entitled to. and if that information is not kept secure, then the veterans who belong to that information belongs to are put at risk.

>> mhm. and you were hired over a year ago by the u.s. digital service, where duties have now been integrated into doge. what was what is that experience like now as opposed to when when you started. >> uh, well, so let me say that i actually don't think that the u.s. digital service folks have successfully been integrated into doge. it's my impression that there are still two groups of people in that organization. there's the the usds classic people that were there before the inauguration. and then there are the doge people that were kind of grafted onto the side of the organization. it wasn't really a good, uh, working relationship between the two. they didn't really integrate at all. they didn't really collaborate at all. and that's frankly, because i think the doge people and the usds people are working at cross-purposes. the usds people are trying to make services better for the american people, and trying to make them more secure and more successful and more scalable. and the doge people, it seems to me, are trying to tear stuff down, fire people, eliminate services, get rid of things, and those are not the same. and there really isn't a lot of

overlap or room for common ground there. >> mhm. and listen, there are americans out there who voted for donald trump to shrink the government. he was very clear about what he and elon musk wanted to do. and they they think the government is too bloated. what would you say to them. >> i would say that if the government has some waste that needs to be trimmed, which i don't dispute, this is definitely not the way to go about doing it. i mean, i can tell you that there is no way in a matter of days or even weeks, that elon musk can go waltzing into va or any other government agency and know with any degree of certainty or confidence where the waste and the fraud and the inefficiency and the bloat is. that's just simply impossible. i'm not saying there isn't room for improvement. i'm saying that the way doge is going about improving is not actually improving. it's actually making things less inefficient. it's actually taking away services that the american people rely on. i know that a lot of people voted for trump, and a lot of those people are going to be

hurt by what doge is doing. >> mhm. and you're concerned that even if the va wanted to replace you, that maybe they wouldn't be able to. >> yeah. i mean i have a couple of thoughts behind that. the first of all, trump signed an executive order saying whenever any agency wants to hire one new person, they have to fire four people first. and as i said that people that i work with were very dedicated, competent people, but they were overworked there. there was too much work to go around. so i don't think they can afford to fire four people just to hire someone to replace me. that's just not feasible. and furthermore, i came into government from the private sector in order to be a public servant. uh, because that's how u.s. digital service does things. they hire people from the private sector. they ask them to give some number of years of their life to helping make government better. they ask them, frankly, to take a pay cut to do that. and people do that because they want to serve the public. but, i mean, i don't know about you, but looking at what's going on in government right now, it seems very unlikely to me that anyone in the private sector is going to jump at the opportunity to go try to work for the u.s. digital

service or any other public agency. it's too chaotic right now. it's too unstable right now. they don't know whether their job will last a week after they take it. so i just don't see there being the capacity for anyone to come on board to replace me. >> all right. jonathan kamins, thank you for your perspective, for sharing your thoughts with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> the supreme court appears poised to side with a straight woman who argues she was the victim of reverse discrimination. her case and the precedent it could set. that's next. >> want a next level clean? swish with the whoa of listerine. it kills 99.9% of bad breath germs for five times more cleaning power than brushing and flossing alone. get a next level clean with listerine. feel the. whoa. >> you make good choices. it's a trait that runs deep. like to step into big shoes and still walk on your own path with

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appeal today. she argues that her gay boss declined to promote her because she is straight. such a decision could make it easier for some white and straight employees, or members of a majority group to win similar claims. cnn chief supreme court analyst joan biskupic joins us now. joan, this case had to deal with a requirement on how plaintiffs prove discrimination. what exactly is up for debate? sure. >> now, this is at the initial stage of a lawsuit. but the important context here, which is what made this case so closely watched, is the fact that you have donald trump talking about anti-diversity and he die, die measures. the supreme court itself, just two years ago, ruled against affirmative action in higher education. so, you know, there's a very racially charged atmosphere out there and questions about just what happens with anti-discrimination measures. i think the supreme court, mindful of all that context, really brought down the temperature. this was a very straightforward case in the end, as suggested by justices across

the spectrum. they were deciding just a single question. and it's under, as you said, title seven of the 1964 civil rights act that prohibits job discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation. and the question was for the initial. stage, the prima facie stage, you know, just what does a victim of discrimination have to show? and when marlene ames brought her case to court, the judges said, because you're the a member of a majority group, you're heterosexual. you're not a gay person claiming discrimination here. she was saying she was discriminated against, in fact, because she was straight. you have to show some background circumstances and the way the sixth circuit, which heard her case, said she could only win. she can only establish a prima facie case by showing background circumstances to support the suspicion that the defendant, her employer, is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority. now that's again just

at this threshold stage. that's not even what the eeoc says. that's not what other circuit courts of appeals say. but there was a division out there, and the justices obviously took the case to clear up that initial threshold. but it comes against all this backdrop, and it was interesting, boris, because not only did her lawyer and the government's lawyer representing kind of the eeoc position and even the state lawyer from ohio that she originally sued, they all agreed that, no, there shouldn't be this kind of heightened more. difficult additional factor coming in at this initial stage. and that prompted justice gorsuch at one point to say, we're in radical agreement today. but let me just read you an exchange from amy coney barrett with the state solicitor general from ohio. she said, so if we said it doesn't matter if someone was straight, she would have the exact same burden and be treated the exact same way under title seven. if she sued as someone who is gay in arthur tsui argued that they

were discriminated against, and the ohio solicitor general agreed and said i think she would have the same burden. so, you know, again, this is about the initial stage, and i think what the justices are going to do is just iron out that confusion later on in any kind of discrimination case. other context can come in about these kinds of issues. but at this stage, someone like marlene ames should be able to go forward with at least bringing the complaint. >> we'll see how it might impact other cases. joan biskupic, thank you so much. thank you. the nation's newly confirmed spy chief says that more than 100 u.s. intelligence officers have been caught exchanging sexually explicit messages at work. we have details right after this. >> stanley steemer is proud to be the leader in deep cleaning, cleaning over 1 million homes and businesses every year using powerful equipment custom built by us. it's not clean until it's stanley steemer cleaned., gets your home cleaner.

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free legal consultation. again, that's one 800 712 3800. >> more than 100 intelligence officers will be fired at the national security agency. but it has nothing to do with doge or cutting costs. newly confirmed

director of national intelligence tulsi gabbard demanded the termination, saying the officers took part in sexually explicit chats on a work platform. here's what she told fox news. >> they were. >> brazen in using an. >> nsa platform. >> intended for. >> professional use to. to conduct this kind of really, really horrific behavior. >> cnn's zachary cohen is joining us now. what on earth is going on here, zach. >> yeah. jessica. it's important. >> to note cnn has not independently verified or obtained these messages, but they apparently show that intelligence community employees were discussing and sending sexually explicit messages via this national security agency messaging board. and it was something that was first revealed by a conservative activist on x and quickly got the attention of top members of the intelligence community. a spokesperson for the dni, tulsi gabbard, said that these employees would be identified and fired, but we're also told

by a senior administration official that rank and file employees in the intelligence community were going to tulsi gabbard directly and raising concerns about these messages. now, gabbard herself spoke a little bit about this during an interview last night. take a listen to what she said when asked about these messages. >> there are over 100 people from across the intelligence community that contributed to and participated in this. what is really just an egregious violation of trust? what to speak of, like basic rules and standards around professionalism. i have people within the intelligence community reaching out to me personally and directly saying, hey, you need to know about this. you need to look over here. people are stepping forward because they are all on board with the mission to clean house. >> so gabbard's comments came hours after the nsa said that it was aware of the post, and that they appeared to show inappropriate discussions by intelligence personnel and that investigations are underway, the agency said in a statement on x that potential misuse of these platforms by a small group of individuals does not represent

the community. investigations to address this misuse of government systems are ongoing. we're going to see how this plays out. but broadly speaking, this is more evidence of the role that conservative activists on x play in shaping policy within the trump administration. obviously, we've seen cabinet secretaries responding directly to posts on x pete hegseth. the secretary of defense has done that on repeated occasions. and of course, elon musk has tried to implement u.s. policy via the x platform as well. so we'll see what happens in this specific case, but obviously more of the same as far as x in the trump administration. >> yeah, we're seeing more and more of that. zachary cohen, thank you so much. and still to come, safety officials are now investigating after an american airlines flight attempted to land at reagan, suddenly pulled up and away from the runway to avoid a collision. stay with us. >> okay, everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. >> to ensure. >> with 27 vitamins. >> and minerals, nutrients for immune health, and ensure complete with 30g of protein.

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