>> listen, it's not to pick on marco rubio. we have many clips on both sides of the aisle of things where it gets weird, but we were saying, you go from the energy of the president of the united states in a packed house, and then it just it's one person. >> to be fair, marco rubio secretary of state. >> now he has. >> it's worked out for him. but yeah, yeah. >> you have to go all the way back 30 years ago when fred thompson did it, the actor from hollywood who became a u.s. senator from tennessee, that's the last time anybody really did it. well, everybody else just gotten by at best, you know, and not kill their career. so it's. >> a. that's it. >> the it's a it's a hard job. i wish her luck. >> yeah. well we will see how it goes. thank you to all of you for being here. and one quick programing note for you before we go today, starting on monday, audie cornish will be hosting cnn this morning. she has spent years interviewing newsmakers and everyday people on tv, radio, podcasts and more. and now, audie is going to bring her fresh angles and deeper questions to the bigger stories of the day. cnn this morning with audie cornish, weekdays at

6:00 eastern. it's right here on cnn and it starts on march 3rd. we will be cheering, audie, on. thank you so much to the panel. and thank you for joining us. i'm jessica dean. cnn news central starts right now. have a great weekend. >> after weeks of high tension demands and insults, president trump set to meet with president zelenskyy at the white house this morning. will there be a deal over ukraine's rare minerals? >> and breaking overnight, a judge halts some of president trump's mass firings of federal workers. we're going to tell you what this means for doj's sweeping and aggressive actions across the country. and a school bus full of middle schoolers engulfed in flames. we're going to tell you how a hero bus driver managed to save the day. i'm omar jimenez with sara sidner. kate and john are off. this is cnn news center.

>> a live look now at the white house there behind me this morning. high stakes talks begin with president trump and ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. president trump aiming to secure and sign a rare earth minerals deal. he calls a repayment to the united states. not exactly how zelenskyy see it. zelenskyy is trying to get security guarantees against russia in return. there are also questions being raised over just how lucrative ukraine's rare earth minerals and materials would be. as for u.s. military support, trump has so far downplayed it, saying just yesterday he trusts russia will keep their word. cnn's nick paton walsh is live for us in kyiv. but first, let's go to kevin liptak, who is at the white house where this meeting will happen just shortly. kevin, what is the white house saying about this meeting as they go into what could be a tense meeting? >> yeah, the white house is

framing this meeting as sort of narrowly around that minerals deal. but the consequences certainly extend well beyond that one piece of paper. i don't think it's overstating it to say that zelenskyy will be here at the white house to argue for his country's entire future with the counterpart, who at best has viewed him skeptically and at worst has viewed him hostilely. so the stakes really could not be higher. this minerals deal, i think, is really meant when you listen to white house officials to sort of rewrite the u.s. ukraine relationship, according to president trump, it would act essentially as back payment for previous u.s. support for ukraine. but what it does not contain is any future guarantees for financial assistance or security guarantees. now, when you listen to what american officials say, they say that this could provide its own type of security guarantee that if the u.s. and the ukraine are so intertwined financially, that essentially that will be incentive enough for russia not

to go back in. but certainly that's not the type of security guarantee that zelenskyy is looking for. he's looking for military support. so are the europeans. you know, if they are to send their own peacekeeping troops into ukraine, they will require some u.s. backing. and so the stakes of this are really enormous. yesterday, what we heard from president trump was kind of interesting. he essentially backed off some of his harshest criticism of zelenskyy. he did not repeat his claim that zelenskyy was a dictator. he sort of made light of it, said, oh, did i say that? what i think was most interesting was how he talked about vladimir putin essentially taking somewhat of a credulous assessment of the russian leader. listen to what he said. >> i think he'll keep his word. i think i think he's i've spoken to him. i've known him for a long time now, you know, i've known him. we had we had to go through the russian hoax together. that was not a good thing. it's not fair. that was a rigged deal and had nothing to

do with russia. i don't believe he is going to violate his word. i don't think he'll be back when we make a deal. i think the deal is going to hold. >> so later, trump said that his attitude was trust and verify. but it is that trusting attitude that does cause so much concern among the europeans, certainly, but also the ukrainians. each of the european leaders that was here at the white house this week was trying to argue to the president that putin cannot be trusted, that he has violated these peace agreements in the past. but so far, that message hasn't seemed to penetrate. >> trusting putin would have been laughable for any other president. prior to mr. trump. it is sort of a shocking thing to hear from a u.s. president. all right, kevin liptak, thank you so much. let's go now to nick paton walsh, who is in ukraine for us this morning. i know you've been out to your shanks where you watched some of the digging up of, of these materials. what's at stake in order to see this minerals deal

go forward today? >> yeah. look, i think it's pretty likely we will see this deal actually signed. i mean, trump made it clear the white house made it clear that that was the reason for the zelenskyy visit. um, and it's important to bear in mind the deal itself isn't particularly toothy. i mean, it talks about the need for relevant resources to be addressed in it, but they'll specify the further details of that in a later fund agreement. and indeed, the document itself doesn't contain any security guarantees for ukraine at all. it does suggest that the people involved in these resources and minerals would have an interest in their protection. but it is essentially a symbolic statement in which both sides get over the enormous hurdle of this idea pretty quickly. the ukrainians don't have to refer to this all as debt and don't have to make specific commitments to named elements. but at the same time, the trump administration gets to point out the fact that they're going to get money back from ukraine. the details will be the devil, but they're going to be decided at a later stage. this is really about making sure that

trump and zelenskyy can heal that personal relationship. as zelenskyy said to me in a press conference on sunday, you know, it was never in the best way. um, but i think there's a clear effort by macron and starmer, the french and british leaders, to try and heal that. and you heard remarkably yesterday, donald trump talking almost as though his words were without consequence, saying he can't believe he said that zelenskyy was a dictator. that's a stark change, though, and it's reason for optimism. certainly here in ukraine and indeed to is the fact that zelenskyy will meet trump before vladimir putin does. but there are key details, really, that have to emerge after this meeting. and essentially, even if they get on, well, this is just ukraine getting back to where it was about six weeks ago under the biden administration. this is not some remarkable leap forward. zelenskyy needs to hear from trump that the trump administration will continue u.s. aid. without it, they are in a terrible mess. and the europeans also need to get their plan for a reassurance force more clearly arranged. but

frankly, even though the uk committed air forces to it yesterday, it is a further stage away. as trump said, the deal is going to be the hardest part with putin. and then he said, well, he thinks putin will honor it. most of the normal allies of the united states simply do not agree. sarah. >> all right. our nick paton walsh there. thank you for all your reporting for us this week. there in ukraine. appreciate it. omar. >> well. >> breaking overnight. >> a federal. >> judge has halted some mass firings of federal workers at some agencies. now, the immediate impact of this decision could have on president trump's plans to cut federal workers. we'll tell you about that and new details in the investigation into the death of legendary actor gene hackman and. >> his wife. >> why police now are calling the circumstances suspicious. and how does a 19 year old who can't write or read or graduate with honors? it's happened in real life, and now she's suing her high school because of it. >> i'll tell you. >> all about it coming up.

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disturbing new details. i mean, what are you learning at this point? >> yeah, we got a significant update yesterday from the sheriff's department. they say that autopsies have now been conducted on gene hackman, as well as his wife, betsy. and what they found initially is that there were no signs of any type of external trauma. they say that the medical examiner has ordered carbon monoxide, as well as toxicology tests, which is pretty standard when they're trying to investigate deaths that happen under suspicious circumstances. and so we're waiting for that information to come through. that could take some time. but, you know, this is obviously a tragedy, but it's also a mystery. what we're learning, i'll just kind of walk you through what we know right now. on wednesday, a911 call came in to the sheriff's department. this was from a caretaker at the residence of gene hackman, who discovered the two people there that were not moving. authorities arrived. they found betsy on the ground floor of a bathroom. nearby. her

were several pills that were scattered in a nearby closet. there was a deceased german shepherd. gene hackman himself was found in a separate room. and so obviously, this investigation now underway. the authorities say they haven't ruled anything out yet. but what concerned them initially is that this could be some type of perhaps a gas leak or carbon monoxide. the fire department, as well as the local utility responded. they say initially they didn't see any type of gas leak there. obviously, the investigation continues. they also didn't see any type of struggle, any signs of that, nor was there any type of theft. interestingly, the door of the house was opened, but again, there were no items that were taken. so it remains an investigation at this hour. but a lot of questions. and, you know, gene hackman himself had retired many years ago from hollywood, and he hadn't really been seen in public. we did get a new video in which shows him just about a year ago, coming out of a shopping center here in the santa fe area. although he wasn't, you know, no longer acting in hollywood, he was obviously a revered member of the santa fe community. and so a lot of people here, obviously

mourning the larger hollywood community, also grieving. and for sheriff's investigators, they're trying to get them answers. >> omar and josh, look. i know you know this, but in death investigations like this, sometimes it takes time. obviously, we're waiting on the toxicology report. i mean, do we know at this point any estimate on cause of death report? i mean, when will people maybe get a little bit more clarity on some of these real questions right now? >> yeah, it's a great question. that's what everyone wants to know what authorities are saying. they're trying to manage expectations because there are essentially two investigations that are going on right now. you have the medical examiner that's trying to determine what the cause of death is. but interestingly, when sheriff's officials arrived at that residence on wednesday, they were so concerned about what they saw, they actually went to a judge to get the authority to search the residence, to look for any types of clues, any evidence to determine what might have happened. so very much. a sheriff's investigation that's undergoing a on going as well. but for the medical examiner, you know, they often have to send out laboratory tests, which can take some time. so we're

talking probably weeks or months before we get answers. but again, these investigations are ongoing. >> josh campbell, santa fe, new mexico really appreciate the reporting. as always. and coming up, brand new reporting as well this morning on the consumer financial protection bureau. that's the organization that is supposed to protect consumers from fraud and abuse. well, it's now dismissing several lawsuits against companies accused of taking advantage of customers. and a bus driver is being called a hero after rescuing a bus full of middle school students that suddenly burst into flames. we'll tell you that. >> story coming up. >> tap into etsy for original and affordable home and style pieces like lighting under $150 to brighten your vibe for under $100. put your best foot forward with vintage jackets or pick up custom shelving for under 50 to make space without emptying your

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greens.com. >> is an economic boycott protesting the power of corporations and their policies began at midnight. the social media driven movement calls for a 24 hour pause on spending at amazon, walmart, target and many other major retailers, restaurants and gas stations. now, the idea was proposed by john schwartz in early february. that post was viewed by millions and promoted by celebrities, which propelled the boycott even further, and many say they have joined in to protest corporate rollbacks of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as well. sarah. >> all right. new this morning, the consumer financial protection bureau is now dropping several lawsuits against companies accused of taking advantage of american consumers. one of the cases

dropped accused capital one of cheating millions of consumers out of $2 billion in interest payments they were owed. the move comes on the same day president trump's new pick to lead the agency, jonathan mckiernan, faced questions from a panel of senators during a confirmation hearing on capitol hill. cnn's matt egan with us now. tell us about these cases that are impacted. that is quite a big one. the one with capital one, $2 billion worth of interest payments that people were owed. >> yeah. sarah. >> consumer advocates. >> are dismayed. >> by these. >> dismissals because the cfpb. >> is supposed. >> to be the cop on. >> the beat, right? and now they're walking away from at least four cases yesterday alone. likely more to come. here's what we know about the four. just from yesterday you mentioned capital one. so just a few days before president biden left the white house, the cfpb accused capital one of cheating millions of consumers out of these interest rate payments. back in december, the biden led cfpb accused rocket mortgage of

an illegal kickback scheme to steer borrowers to its mortgages. speaking of mortgages, vanderbilt mortgage and finance this is a unit of warren buffett's berkshire hathaway, and it had been accused by the cfpb of knowingly trapping borrowers in predatory loans. also, a student loan servicer, american education services. the cfpb said that that company allegedly failed to recognize that some student loans are discharged in a bankruptcy. so you had a situation where borrowers were paying thousands or tens of thousands of dollars that they didn't actually owe. now, i should note that all four companies have denied wrongdoing. and all four cases have now gone away. you mentioned timing. this came up actually during the confirmation hearing yesterday for the new cfpb nominee. take a listen. >> literally. >> while you've been sitting. >> here. >> uh, and you've been talking about the. >> importance of. >> following the. >> law. >> we get the news that.

>> the cfpb. >> is dropping lawsuits. >> against companies. >> that are cheating american. >> families. >> or alleged to be cheating american families. they will not go forward in court. it seems to me the timing of that announcement is designed to embarrass you and to show exactly who is in charge of this agency right now, elon musk and his little band of hackers. >> well, listen, it's been a hellish february for the cfpb and its employees ever since elon musk sent out that tweet saying, rest in peace, cfpb. we've seen the regulator basically get sidelined. a policy analyst, ed mills. he said, look, the cfpb may not be it may not be a complete r.i.p. for the cfpb, but its continued existence will likely only be a shell of its former self. and i think we're seeing that play out in real time as case after case gets dismissed. >> this is one of those things where it would then be up to

consumers themselves to try to figure this out, not knowing that it's happening to many, many, many other people. >> yeah. that's right. and any relief that those consumers who were allegedly hurt in those four cases that they might have been getting from the cfpb investigation, that's not going to happen now. >> all right. we will have to see how this shakes out. thank you so much. appreciate it. all right. they were called operatives under thin cover. but now is donald trump and vladimir putin negotiate. will russian diplomats be allowed back into the united states? and breaking overnight, a federal judge says the mass firings of federal employees are likely illegal. does that mean that some workers might get their jobs back? we're going to discuss next. >> in this cnn business update is brought to you by intuit. turbotax. now, this is taxes. >> after taxes was taxing. now

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scan the code now and ask about the bosley guarantee. >> 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. >> welcome back. so the recent talks between the u.s. and russia have given the russians an opening to potentially

reestablish their diplomatic presence in the united states. and as a result, rebuild its spy network on american soil. now, following president donald trump's call with russian president vladimir putin, both countries agreed to begin talks on restoring regular operations of their embassies and consulates in each country. i want to bring in cnn's natasha bertrand, who has the latest reporting on this. so, natasha, what are you learning on this front? >> well. >> omar, we talked to over half a dozen current and former u.s. officials. >> who told. >> us that. >> moscow really sees these talks with. >> the u.s. >> about reestablishing its diplomatic presence on. u.s. soil. >> as a as an. opening to. >> rebuild its spy. >> network in the west. >> which has. >> been decimated. >> over the last several years, since. >> 2016, over 100. >> russian diplomats. >> who. >> the u.s. believed were actually intelligence operatives working under a very thin diplomatic cover. >> have been expelled from the. >> u.s. and, of course. >> there was a mass. expulsion of these so-called diplomats.

>> the europeans. >> said that they were actually also intelligence operatives from european capitals following russia's invasion of ukraine in 2022. and so this is now an opportunity for the russians to place an extremely high value on having intelligence operatives, actually on u.s. soil to conduct espionage and also to make contact with human intelligence sources to reestablish this network that they have really lost over the last several years. now, this is such a priority, we're told, for the russians that they have actually decided to withhold future high level meetings with the u.s. at the secretary of state level, for example, until serious progress is made on actually getting their diplomatic facilities and diplomats back on u.s. soil. the u.s. also closed several russian diplomatic facilities across the country beginning in 2017, in response to russia's meddling in the

2016 election, including consulates in washington, d.c., in new york, san francisco and seattle, where it was actually very close to a u.s. naval base, raising concerns there about espionage. but one u.s. official put this very bluntly to us, to me and my colleague zach cohen, saying that, quote, the latest wave of expulsions which happened in 2022 following russia's invasion, were almost entirely operatives under thin cover. it is absolutely ludicrous that this is even in the cards, given how endangering this would be to u.s. national security and how it would require more fbi counterintelligence resources to address, especially when the fbi is facing staffing reductions and dismissals. now, this is really key because fbi agents have also told cnn that there is a wariness right now about pursuing cases related to russian counterintelligence. russian counterintelligence cases and russian intelligence operatives because they don't want to be seen as pursuing things that are apparently at odds with the trump

administration's stated desire to kind of reset relations with the russians. and so you are facing, on the one hand, the possibility that many russian diplomats who are, in fact, intelligence operatives are going to be coming back to the u.s. and, on the other hand, a lack of ability or reduced ability for the fbi to place continued counterintelligence pressure on them. so a perfect storm, in the words of one official that we spoke to omar. >> an interesting dynamic to watch. natasha bertrand, thank you so much, sarah. >> all right. new this morning, a federal judge is blocking the trump administration and doj's efforts to slash the federal workforce. the judge in san francisco ruled the mass firings of probationary federal employees are likely unlawful. labor unions and nonprofits are suing on behalf of thousands of probationary employees who have lost their jobs. cnn's rene marsh is joining me. marsh is joining me now from washington. it's good to see you, renee. what else did the judge say about all this? the big headline being that he thinks that it is

unlawful. what doge is doing. >> that's right. sarah. so this. >> judge basically said that opm overstepped its authority when it directed. >> the mass firing of. >> thousands of probationary employees, government wide. >> and the judge. >> judge who was appointed by bill clinton, president bill clinton said, and i'm quoting here. >> opm does not have any. >> authority whatsoever. >> under any. >> statute in. the history of the universe to hire or fire any employees but its own. so at the heart of this lawsuit is a february 14th opm memo asking agencies to send separation letters as soon as possible to probationary employees who are not deemed essential. now, probationary employees are those who have been on the job for less than a year. and the judge ordered opm to rescind its directive to inform and also to inform several agencies that it had no power to dictate these firings. lawyers for the trump administration argued that opm made a request, not a demand,

and that agencies were not obligated to follow. uh, and the acting head of opm made a similar argument. the judge wasn't buying that. the judge did acknowledge that agencies themselves have the authority to fire probationary workers within their own agencies. and he also said he could not order the government to reinstate previously fired workers. still, though, with all of that, this is a win for the labor unions who brought this suit. >> sara rené marsh, thank you so much for all of your reporting on these issues throughout the government. really appreciate it. all right. joining us now, cnn political commentator and republican strategist, shermichael singleton and democratic strategist and co-founder of lift our voices, julie roginsky. thank you both for being here. shermichael first to you, these firings of probationary employees don't seem based on anything except that they are probationary employees, making them easier to fire. is that a good enough reason in your mind?

>> i think so. and as rené marsh. >> stated, the judge indicated that the agencies themselves can actually let some of these people go. and so that there's clearly a workaround here for the president to have his cabinet secretaries relieve many of these individuals of their jobs. and as this becomes more complicated, as we see more lawsuits, the president stated a couple of days ago that they were willing to look at the appellate level process to see if they could get some of this stuff overturned. and i would also probably advise the president to consider going through congress. and the reason i say that is because i'm looking at this politically in terms of giving republicans in the house the opportunity to go back to their districts and articulate what they're actually doing to cut costs and save more for the american people. bill clinton did something very similar with congress in the early 90s. they approved of $25,000 federal buyout, which is the equivalent of $55,000 today. i think we could do something very similar, particularly as we get ready to

head towards reconciliation and budget talks. >> julie, you know, the court has said, look, we can't reinstate these employees. so isn't the damage pretty much already done to some of these agencies? it looks like they will no longer really exist, like usaid. >> yes. and to michael's point, bill clinton did do. >> something similar. he did it with a scalpel. he did it methodically. al gore, who was in charge of it for him, went in and actually determined where the fat was and where he cut it. this wasn't a nuke of entire agencies and just randomly, arbitrarily just cutting people's jobs. and so, sure, michael's point, a lot of people are going. congress people are going back to their districts. those are their employees who are being fired and their constituents, because 80% of the federal workforce lives outside washington. i don't know if people realize that a third of them are veterans. and the very people who the republicans claimed during the election to want to uplift the working people, the veterans of this country are the people who are getting shafted right now because elon musk, an unelected billionaire, is going out there and arbitrarily saying, you're fired, you're

fired, but you're not fired based on nothing other than his whim. and that's what we're dealing with. and that's why congress people all across this country are hearing it from their constituents, because they're the ones who are losing their jobs and also are not providing the care to the american people that american people expect to have provided for them from federal employees right now. >> julie, you and shermichael both mentioned this sort of the lawmakers taking this back to their constituents and things are getting really uncomfortable for republicans at several town halls that we've seen. and also now on conservative radio talk shows, including one by by one of the most popular fox hosts. take, take a listen to to what people are saying. >> no one voted. >> for elon musk. and if you say he's doing all these great things, when is he going to go before congress, with this report of all these so-called savings? >> we are also seeing people get

lambasted, republicans in particular, getting lambasted at their town halls. we heard from speaker mike johnson who said, oh, these these are just paid protesters. why would he say that? shermichael. >> well, i don't know if they're paid or not, but but but, sarah, i want to go back to my original point. as a strategist. i'm always thinking about an impact negatively on election cycles and how do i mitigate that negative impact as great as i possibly can, right. because the job is to preserve power, increase your majority. right now in the house, we do have a very slim majority. and so as i've been thinking about this more and more, the big question for me is how do we empower congress to be a part of this process so that when those congress members are going back to their districts, they can explain where we're cutting. they can explain why we're cutting. they can explain the cost savings to the taxpayers. they can explain what other mitigation efforts that they have considered or will come into effect to assist those individuals who have lost their jobs. so so i think the party as

a whole needs to come around the messaging here with obviously the president being the chief messenger to the american people about why we're doing this versus elon musk. we got elections coming up next year, as you well know, we're going to be talking about those things in a couple of months. i want to empower the republican caucus to increase our majority, not decrease it. and i think this certainly makes it a little more complicated. >> but i got to ask you as a strategist, when somebody completely sort of dismisses people's concerns, saying, oh, they're paid protesters. these are constituents. i mean, some of the republicans are saying, yes, these are my constituents. they are telling them where they live. is that a good idea? >> well, look, i think the speaker's point is democrats are obviously going to take advantage of this opportunity politically. and as a strategist, if i were a democratic strategist, you would be smart. if you're trying to win back the majority to say, look at what republicans are doing and how this is negatively

impacting you. i certainly understand that. which again, goes back to my point, sarah, how do we, as republicans avoid giving that opportunity to democrats to message against republicans as we prepare to increase the majority in the house? i don't think this is the way to do it. i think there's a way to make the cuts. there's a way to alleviate unnecessary workers. there's a way to save more money for the taxpayers while also maintaining a republican majority. and i don't think this is quite the way that i would personally want to do it. >> julie, when it comes to democrats and what they're doing, when you see these town halls, when you see what's happening on conservative radio, clearly these people are not paid protesters. clearly they are constituents. in most of the cases. you're hearing that even from the republicans who are there. but do does this do you think mean that there is going to be less fealty from republicans as they're getting a barrage of of concern, mostly over doge and mostly over what elon musk is doing? will this change how congress deals with what trump wants done?

>> well, the problem for republicans is that they are subsumed by the cult of donald trump, and they're terrified of being primaried by somebody who trump supports. they're terrified of having elon musk spend money against them in primaries. on the other hand, if mike johnson thinks that the people in his state of louisiana, which has a disproportionately large number of people who are on medicaid, are protesting because they're paid, as opposed to the fact that they're scared and terrified that he's taking their health care away. i don't know what he's smoking, but i want some of that because that's absolutely contrary to every single fact that's been on the ground. i mean, there's no way that people are not terrified that their healthcare is being taken away, that their benefits are being taken away, all to give tax breaks to the wealthiest among us, most of whom do not live in louisiana, his home state. so he's told people not to do town halls anymore, which i find fascinating because he knows. he knows that this doesn't benefit him politically. and yet, if he doesn't want his members doing town halls, the town halls will come to them. they cannot escape what they're doing because it's their constituents who are being harmed. >> all right. thank you to you, julie roginsky. and to you.

sure. yes, sure. michael. >> just just really quickly, i was just going to say, i think over time, we're going to probably see some shifting in the political strategy here coming from the white house, in part because if donald trump wants to see his agenda move forward, which the vast majority of the country would like to see, you got to maintain that support on the house side. you can't lose any of those seats. >> all right. appreciate it. thank you to both of you, omar. >> new this morning. an investigation is underway into the deaths of hollywood legend gene hackman and his wife, betsy arakawa arakawa. now, the couple's bodies, along with their dog, were found in separate rooms in their new mexico estate wednesday and moments ago, the santa fe county sheriff told nbc that the couple were likely dead for days or weeks before they were discovered. joining me now is joseph scott morgan, distinguished professor of applied forensics at jacksonville state university. professor morgan, thank you for being here. so i want to start with, okay, no external trauma, no immediate signs of foul play, at least according to preliminary autopsies. i mean,

what sticks out to you of all the details we know so far? >> that this is a multiple death scenario. this is not common. uh, particularly, you know, i worked for the m.e. in atlanta and for the coroner in the new orleans area. and, omar, i got to tell you, in, in my recollection, i've never worked a case with multiple deaths in a single structure that weren't either trauma related or there was some type of toxin in the air, or it was something that had been ingested. um, and then on top of it, we have this, uh, canine as well that was found adjacent to her in the bathroom. um, and for me, you're going to have to dig deep and take your time with this case, because in my opinion, this is very, very complex. >> and, you know, the santa fe county sheriff, you know, as we just mentioned, said it appears to have been days potentially even up to a couple of weeks

before they were found. and the affidavit said there were signs of mummification on the bodies. what does that mean? and how does a body that may have gone many days before being found change the nature of a death? investigation? >> well, yeah. so to that point, uh, it makes it a bit more complex, uh, because a lot of the things that would be obvious as far as trauma goes, you know, initially, particularly at the scene where you've got poor lighting and those sorts of things, um, you might not pick up on it as quickly. it's going to be to their advantage. and they've done that. that's probably occurring today. uh, those bodies are actually at the emmys office under the best type of circumstances to examine remains. um, secondly, you know, i begin to think about what they're going to be tasked with relative to kind of running down those things that are unseen. it's my opinion that they should do a very broad spectrum

toxicology report. and this issue of, uh, of carbon monoxide, uh, inhalation perhaps has come up time and time again. they're going to do a carboxyhemoglobin level on all parties concerned here. and in addition to having autopsies performed, which should involve head to toe full body x rays, they're going to do a necropsy, hopefully on this canine that is deceased to the point of mummification, though we have to understand that santa fe, new mexico, is a very arid environment and you only get mummification most of the time in very arid, uh, environments where you're absent any kind of significant humidity. uh, and plus you're in the winter months now, too. it makes it particularly dry in that environment. so there's a lot going on here. um, you know, reflectively, i'm thinking about these medications that were found scattered upon the, the vanity in the bathroom. this

toppled heater. and omar, one of the most troubling things about this is that this house was not secured. the door was actually open. and for me, as a death investigator, that's significant. and hopefully they will be exploring that very, very deeply. >> a lot of factors to explore right now, just in the preliminary stages, as you know, these these investigations typically take time. joseph scott morgan, really appreciate you being here. thanks for the time and perspective. >> you bet. >> all right. thanks. coming up, dozens of mexican cartel kingpins are now back on u.s. soil, including a notorious drug lord who was portrayed in the netflix series narcos and wanted for the murder of an undercover dea agent. and i'm sorry to you, nfl fans, you're going to have to deal with the swifties one more year specifically because of this guy. we'll talk about it coming up.

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district. how the heck did this happen? cnn's danny freeman has the story. >> did you ever think you'd be going to college here? >> no, never. no, i never in a million years. >> in some. >> ways, alicia ortiz is living an american dream. >> the 19 year. >> old began her freshman year at the university of connecticut in hartford this fall. >> she's excited. >> to study public policy. the culmination. >> of hard work after moving north from puerto rico as a child. do you remember when you first came to connecticut? >> yes, i remember i was very nervous, but i know it was going to be. a better opportunity for me to learn. >> but alicia says those opportunities never came to fruition even today. could you read this or would it take you a long time? >> it's impossible. i think it's worse everywhere. >> alicia graduated from the hartford public school system last year, but she says today she is illiterate. she still doesn't know how to read or write. when she was an early

education. >> they were just either tell me to stay in the corner and sleep, um, or just draw pictures. flowers for them. >> and when she was in high school, she relied on speech to text programs and other apps to read and write essays. so if you had an assignment where you had to write something, you'd open up a document like this and then do what. >> i was go here to use the text to speech. >> it says dictate. >> dictate. yep. i love pizza. >> this is how you would do your assignments. >> and then cats of the world. >> vacaya sporting a twin. >> prop airplane. >> if you had to read something, that's how you do it. she said her mother, who does not speak english well, tried to get answers. >> she advocated so much she went to the school. the principal will promise her that they will do better. and sometimes it will be people from the district or the directors

promising her that they will do better. >> now alicia is suing the hartford board of education and the city for negligence. the suit alleges the school district documented and acknowledged alicia's learning challenges through multiple grades. but because they were not adequately addressed, she continued to struggle academically and began exhibiting maladaptive behaviors in the classroom. >> sometimes i will feel proud to be the best child because at least i was something to them and i wasn't invisible. >> while the city of hartford and an educator named in the suit declined to comment when contacted by cnn. in a statement, hartford public schools wrote, while hartford public schools cannot comment on pending litigation, we remain deeply committed to meeting the full range of needs our students bring with them when they enter our schools and helping them reach their full potential. >> watch dog man. >> doctor jesse turner is the leader of the literacy center at central connecticut state university. he feels the main issue here is inequality in

public education. >> america should be asking a question do we really. care about our children? >> all of our children? and i would argue that maybe we don't. >> a 2019 report from build, which promotes equity in public schools, found that majority nonwhite school districts get $23 billion less than districts that serve mostly white students. minority enrollment in hartford public schools is at about 90%. >> the department of education is a big con job. >> plus, turner fears a crucial guardrail will be lost if the trump administration follows through with abolishing the department of education. >> how do i protect the special education children? who do i go to if i close it down? >> college has presented its own obstacles, but aleysha says uconn has been accommodating, but she doesn't want any other student to go through what she experienced. >> i know we can do better, and i know we have a powerful community that wants to do better and want to be the voice for them. >> danny freeman, cnn, hartford,

connecticut. >> wow. >> a routine bus ride turned into a nightmare for a dozen ohio middle schoolers when their bus suddenly caught fire. you can see it behind me. thankfully, they all got out safely. but here's how one student said they were able to get out. >> but it caught on fire. we were all scared. we called our parents, but luckily the bus driver got us all safe and he already called for a backup. >> now the school district credits the bus driver's quick response and yearly bus evacuation drills for the students safe escape. they're now trying to find out what caused the fire. the bus had just passed its state inspection a few weeks ago. also, a notorious drug lord from mexico is back in the united states after spending nearly 40 years on the dea most wanted list. rafael caro quintero was allegedly involved in the kidnaping and murder of dea special agent enrique camarena salazar kiki camarena salazar, as he's known back in 1985.

quintero was released from a mexican prison in 2013, but mexico's supreme court later overturned that decision but didn't find him again until 2022. now, he and dozens of drug cartel members have been extradited to the united states for prosecution, and taylor swift is staying in kansas. okay, this is more about her love for travis kelce. but the chiefs tight end contemplated retiring after the team's missed out on a super bowl three peat. but now he says he's back for year 13. he told the espn host pat mcafee the game left a bad taste in his mouth, and he didn't want to go out like that. as a competitor. i understand because if you're a chiefs fan, that was not a good game. meanwhile, the transportation department is planning to supercharge the hiring of air traffic controllers, but with ongoing concerns about flight safety, some are questioning whether speed will come at the expense of quality. cnn's pete muntean has more. >> set. >> all this against the backdrop of federal job cuts, air traffic

controllers so far have been exempted from being axed by the trump administration, since a shortage of thousands of air traffic controllers has been a years long problem for the federal government. hiring them has not been easy. with a training academy still backlogged by the pandemic. now, transportation secretary sean duffy says he is going to supercharge hiring, and even elon musk is wading into this. more on that in a second. duffy's plan opens up a new hiring window for controllers starting march 17th. it's a good gig if you can get it. the average pay, according to the trump administration, is $160,000 per year. duffy insists he will also make the hiring process easier, trimming an eight step process into a five step process. of course, much of this has to do with ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives under trump. duffy says workers will be hired on merit. die hiring for controllers was in place under both republican and democratic administrations, and that includes trump's first term. elon musk posted on thursday that there is a