>> you've got to win first. >> still worth it. >> now that's bargain bliss. >> grocery outlet, bargain market. >> we are 100% committed, focused, and determined to get our clients the best result possible. justice takes more than a fighter. you need a champion walk. a personal injury law. call 866. walk up >> announcer: "this week" with george stephanopoulos starts right now. >> jonathan: doge dismantles washington. >> the people voted for major government reform. >> jonathan: elon musk takes on the federal work force as democrats struggle to fight back. >> this fight is about hardworking people versus the billionaires. >> this is part of the most corrupt bargain in american history. >> jonathan: but are their counterpunches having any impact at all? i'll speak with democratic

leader hakeem jeffries, a "this week" exclusive, and markwayne mullin about president trump's government shakeup. an end in sight? >> i know that president putin wants to make a deal. >> jonathan: president trump kicks off talks with vladimir putin to end the ukraine war as vice president vance picks a fight with europe. what does this mean for president zelenskyy? >> maybe there is something at the table, but not on our table. >> jonathan: martha raddatz and ian pannell join us on the stakes for europe, america, and the rest of the world. and -- >> my attorney will handle the legal part. i'm going to handle running the city. >> jonathan: top federal prosecutors resign after refusing to drop the corruption case against new york's mayor. aaron katersky has the latest. plus, our round table on the battle within doj and the courts.

good morning. welcome to "this week." there were major developments overnight regarding ukraine. we've learned that president trump is sending a high-level american delegation including secretary of state marco rubio and the national security adviser, mike waltz, to saudi arabia this week to begin talks with russia about ending the war in ukraine. it's a first step perhaps towards finding a peace agreement, although it's a step taken without ukraine. here's what president zelenskyy said last night. >> we don't have any papers, any invitations, and it's something strange for me to speak in this case, in this format. before we don't have any negotiation between us and our strategic partners. >> jonathan: we will get to that, and the surprising challenge that jd vance made to america's european allies. he suggested they may pose a greater threat to the region than either russia or china, but

we begin with the extraordinary events at home this week. the breathtaking actions which president trump is taking, much of it following what he promised on the campaign trail, pink slips or thousands of federal employees. some fired, others now taking an expired offer to leave their jobs in exchange for getting paid without working until september. and getting played out for the justice department to drop at least for now. corruption charges against new york city mayor, eric adams. the top prosecutor in the southern district of new york, danielle sassoon, a highly respected conservative, who was appointed by donald trump blasted the move and she resigned in protest. six other career prosecutors followed her lead and resigned, an exodus that has drawn comparisons to the darkest days of watergate. i'm joined by our senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky in new york, and

mary bruce who starts us off this morning from the white house. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, jon. this may have been the most frenetic week yet since donald trump returned to the white house. thousands of federal employees across the country told to pick up and leave, and at the center of it all, elon musk. >> hello, everyone. >> reporter: a remarkable scene in the oval office. elon musk holding court, answering questions for the first time about his efforts to dismantle the federal bureaucracy. president trump standing by. >> you would have a majority of the public vote for president trump who won the house, who won the senate. the people voted for major government reform, and that's what people are going to get. >> reporter: on the chopping block this week, tens of thousands of federal job. >> we want to downsize government, but make it better. run it better, but downsize. >> reporter: the administration first targeting the roughly 200,000 federal employees who have been on the job less than a year or two. at least a dozen departments and agencies impacted. at the department of energy, at least 2,000 workers let go.

more than a thousand people fired from veterans affairs, and at least 1,300 from the centers for disease control and prevention. employees even targeted at the national nuclear security administration which is responsible for maintaining america's nuclear stockpile. after initially letting go some 300 employees, sources tell us managers frantically called back the fired employees telling them, they weren't fired after all, at least for now. speaking to an international summit, musk making it clear this is just the beginning saying, entire agencies will have to go. >> we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave part of them behind. it's kind of like if you don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back. >> reporter: overnight friday, the courts delivering musk a partial win allowing doge to continue accessing sensitive

records from at least three federal agencies. democrats decrying musk's actions and access. >> if an unelected, unvetted individual, private citizen is hacking our government systems, breaking the law, firing federal employees, dismantling statutorily created agencies, withholding funds, we are going to fight you in the courts. >> reporter: but the president stressing he and musk are playing for the same team. >> actually, elon called me. he said, you know, they're trying to drive us apart. i said, absolutely. they're so bad at it. i used to think they were good at it. they're actually bad at it because if they were good at it, i would never be president. >> reporter: now this process to slash the federal work force has been anything but smooth. court rulings have prevented the administration from firing thousands at usaid and the consumer financial protection bureau, but jon, the white house is not slowing down. doge is reviewing operations at the pentagon, and we've learned that 15,000 employees at the irs

are now facing possible termination as early as this week right in the middle of tax season, jon. >> jonathan: undoubtedly more layoffs to come. thank you very much, mary. now let's get to that tense standoff in new york over the corruption case against mayor eric adams. so far, seven career prosecutors including some with significant conservative credentials have resigned in protest. our senior investigative correspondent, aaron katersky is there in new york with the latest. aaron? >> reporter: jon, good morning. not since the nixon era saturday night massacre when two officials resigned rather than obey the president's order to fire the special watergate prosecutor, has there been such a crisis of confidence at the heart of the nation's justice system. as of this morning, seven federal prosecutors in new york and washington have resigned in protest of an order to dismiss the corruption case against new york city mayor eric adams. one of them said dropping the charges would only be carry out by a fool or a coward.

it's a remarkable repudiation. career prosecutors who clerked for conservatives like brett kavanaugh and the late anton scalia quit. adams denied there was any such trade. >> and i absolutely never traded my power as an elected official for any personal benefit. >> reporter: adams appeared friday with trump's border czar, tom homan, clearing federal immigration agents to operate on ryker's island, and homan publicly leaned on the mayor to follow through. >> if he doesn't come through, i'll be back in new york city, and we won't be sitting on the couch. i'll be in his office up his butt saying, where the hell is the agreement we came to? >> reporter: adams pleaded not guilty in september to bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations, but for the trump justice department, whether adams committed the crimes was beside

the point, a memo from acting attorney general, a member of trump's criminal defense team deciding the case should be dismissed what assessing the strength of the evidence. instead he wanted adams focused on accomplishing the immigration objectives established by president trump. the wave of resignations began with u.s. attorney danielle sassoon, a member of the conservative federalist society appointed by the trump administration. she warned the justice department was setting a breathtaking and dangerous precedent and said, i cannot agree to seek a dismissal driven by proper considerations. several of her predecessors cited her commitment to integrity. a judge still needs to sign off. so in the end, jon, the trump administration gets its way, but it's also triggering this unprecedented upheaval as president trump tries to exert more control over the justice department and the nation's largest city. jon? >> jonathan: all right. aaron katersky, thank you, aaron. i'm joined by hakeem jeffries of new york, the top democrat in the house. leader jeffries, thank you for

joining us. i want to start with that extraordinary situation in new york. before she resigned, the acting u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, they accused him of engaging in a quid pro quo. she wrote, rather than be rewarded, adams' advocacy should be called out for what it is. it is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward adams' opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters. how concerned are you that the trump administration is trying to use the justice system to control the mayor of new york city? >> very concerned, and the situation is very disturbing.

mayor adams has a responsibility to convince the people of new york city that he will be able to continue to govern in a manner that puts their best interests first at all times, and that he's not simply taking orders from a trump administration, a trump department of justice or trump officials who do not have the best interest of the city of new york at heart. >> jonathan: because this prosecution has been suspended which means the justice department can renew the prosecution at any time if they don't like what adams is doing. >> that's correct. listen. this department of justice is not promoting law and order. it's promoting lawlessness and disorder, and that's been consistent with what we've seen from the trump administration from the very beginning, including but not limited to pardoning hundreds of violent felons who attacked and brutally beat police officers, and then

were released back into communities all across the country, threatening public safety. many of these individuals who were pardoned, this was all facilitated by the department of justice. many of my colleagues in the house have said nothing about this, or worse, they continue to support what has occurred, this lawlessness and disorder. many have extensive criminal records for things like domestic violence, weapons charges that are serious, and rape. so this is not an administration that is committed to the safety of the american people. they continue to undermine it and flood the zone with chaos. >> jonathan: more broadly, we're in four weeks in this second trump administration. what of all that we have seen play out over these four weeks, most concerns you? >> well, donald trump and republicans consistently promised that they were going to lower the high cost of living and they've done the exact opposite. they've shown no interest in

lowering costs in the united states of america which are too high. housing costs are too high. grocery costs are too high. child care costs are too high. utility costs are too high. it's too high in the united states. this country is too expensive, but they've broken their promise. they have no interest in improving the quality of life of hardworking american taxpayers. instead, what they're trying to do, while they distract the american people is to jam the gop tax scam down the throats of people all across this country all in service of massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations. it's a toxic bait and switch that is under way, and we will continue to push back forcefully. >> jonathan: but donald trump's favorability rating is actually higher than it ever was the first time around. let me ask you. a recent poll by marquette

looked at several of the things that he has done or says that he is going to do, and 63% favor federal government's recognition of only two sexes. 60% favor deporting immigrants who entered the united states illegally. 60% favor expanding oil and gas production. 59% favor declaring an emergency at the southern border. is there anything you are seeing that trump is doing that you are in favor of, that you think is the right thing? >> let me say as it relates to all of those issues, we're just at the beginning, and the core promise that donald trump made is that he's going to lower costs for everyday americans. in fact, we were told that grocery prices would go down on day one, on january 20th. costs aren't lower. in fact, costs are increasing. the price of eggs is skyrocketing out of control. inflation is on the way up. that was the core promise that's been broken. with respect to immigration, listen. we have to secure the border. we have a broken immigration system, and we need to fix it in a comprehensive and bipartisan way. at the same period of time as democrats, we're going to protect dreamers, protect farm workers, and protect families who help our communities across

country thrive. >> jonathan: i'm sure you saw speaker of the house johnson say that the democratic party has no leader right now. by your colleague, a big supporter of yours in the house basically said the same thing. he said, we're still looking for that national spokesperson, and it could be that hakeem, you, becomes that national voice. it hasn't happened yet. so are you effectively the leader of the democratic party nationally right now, the main spokesperson? >> it's my honor to be house democratic leader and we're going to continue to work

together in an all-hands-on-deck effort to push back against the far-right extremism that is being unleashed on this country with record velocity. we've got to fight in the courts, push back in the congress and continue to push back in the community, and as house democrats, we're doing just that particularly as it relates to their efforts to not only jam these massive tax cuts down the throats of the american people for the wealthy, well off, and well connected, but they want to stick working class americans and middle class americans and everyday americans with the bill by effectively ending health care as we know it, hurting children, hurting women, hurting people with disabilities, hurting older americans, hurting everyday americans by slashing and burning medicaid to the ground, effectively trying to jam up the

affordable care act, and they're going to target social security and medicare. we're pushing back forcefully against those efforts every day, every week, every month, every year, and that will continue. >> jonathan: government funding runs out in less than a month now. we've seen over the past two years, republicans cannot -- or have not been able to pass government funding without democratic support. some of your supporters on the outside are saying you should use as leverage, the possibility of a government shutdown to push back at some of what the trump administration is doing right now. what will you need from mike johnson and from the republicans to agree to go along with efforts to fund the government? >> republicans have consistently shut down the government in the past, and it would be no surprise if they do just that this time around. as a republican president, a republican house, and a republican senate, they have a responsibility to make sure that government remains open and can function. as democrats, with respect to

any spending agreement, our view, our test is whether that spending agreement meets the needs of the american people in terms of their health, their safety, our national security, and certainly the economic well-being of everyday americans. we have the top democrat on the % she's in off and on conversations with her republican colleague in the house as well as our republican and democratic colleagues in the senate. we'll see how that unfolds over the next few weeks, but we are going to make sure that any agreement that is ultimately signed off on has to be one that meets the needs of the american people and it has to be implemented fully in compliance with the law. >> jonathan: have you had any conversations with the white house? have you talked to chief of staff susie wiles or the president about this? >> i've not had any conversation with the white house, but i do expect that as we get closer and closer to march 14th, that those

conversations will perhaps intensify and at the end of the day, what we have been clear about is that this budget that is working its way through the house of representatives is a nonstarter. every single democrat opposed it a few days ago, and i believe that will continue to be our position because it's out of control. >> jonathan: all right. democratic leader hakeem jeffries, thank you very much. up next, trump officials a heading to saudi arabia for peace talks on the war in ukraine. ian pannell and martha raddatz join us next. >> announcer: "this week" is sponsored by pacific life -- creating financial security for nearly 160 years. in ukraine. ian pannell and martha raddatz joi join us next. during its first year, a humpback calf and its mother are almost inseparable. she lifts her calf to its first breath of air, and then protects it on their long journey.

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because i think -- i have had a lot of experience, and in my first term, i was fighting everybody because they were very aggressive toward me. i always said, survival and taking care of the country. not necessarily in that order. >> jonathan: president trump's moves to negotiate peace talks between russia and ukraine this week along some of america's closest allies. the german chancellor said they would not accept, quote, a dictated peace, and president zelenskyy responded overnight to news that ukraine may be left out of the negotiations in saudi arabia this week, but it was vice president jd vance's speech that most shocked european leaders. in munich this week, vice president jd vance stunned america's european allies by saying it is their governments and not russia or china that represent the biggest threat to security in the region. >> the threat that i worry the most about vis-a-vis europe is not russia. it's not china. it's not any other external actor, and what i worry about is the threat from within, the

retreat of europe from some of its most fundamental values. >> jonathan: in his speech, vance made no mention whatsoever of russia's invasion of ukraine as european leaders anxiously await clarity of how the administration plans to try to end the war. vance instead used his speech to accuse them of sidelining and censoring right-wing groups. >> in washington, there is a new sheriff in town, and under donald trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree. >> jonathan: after wards, the vice president met with vice president zelenskyy. >> we want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a durable, lasting pes. >> really, we want peace very much, but we need real security guarantees. >> jonathan: the week began with president trump taking a 90-minute phone call with vladimir putin followed by a call with zelenskyy. >> i want president putin wants

peace and president zelenskyy wants peace and i want peace. >> jonathan: trump told reporters he believes putin can be trusted. >> i know him very well. yeah. i think he wants peace. i think he would tell me if he didn't. >> do you trust him? >> i would like to see peace. >> do you trust president putin? >> i believe that -- yeah. i believe that he would like to see something happen. i trust him on this subject. >> jonathan: and he pushed back on fears he is sidelining ukraine in the talks. >> will ukraine have a seat at that table for those negotiations? >> of course, they would. they're part of it. >> jonathan: trump's call with putin came as defense secretary pete hegseth said would be a huge change in u.s. policy, and saying they would not regain all their territory seized by russia. >> we must start by recognizing that returning ukraine's 14 borders is an unrealistic objective. >> jonathan: one prominent republican senator called

hegseth's comments disturbing, a quote, rookie mistake. >> people know, and everybody know, and people in the administration know, you don't say before your first meeting what you will agree to and what you won't grow to. >> jonathan: though the administration walked back hegseth's remarks, the suggested policy shifts were not far off from what trump signaled on the campaign trail. at the abc news debate in september, trump declined so say whether he wanted ukraine to win the war. >> just to clarify in the question, do you believe it's in the u.s. best interest for ukraine to win this war, yes or no? >> i think it's the u.s. best interest to get this done. negotiate a deal because we have to some all of these human lives from being destroyed. >> jonathan: and this week in the oval office, trump wouldn't say whether ukraine should be an equal partner in peace talks. >> do you view ukraine as an equal member of this peace process? >> that's an interesting question. i think they have to make peace. their people are being killed, and i think they have to make

peace. >> jonathan: with trump officials set to meet a russian delegation for peace talks in saudi arabia next week, zelenskyy appears to be excluded. to help us understand what comes next in ukraine, i want to bring in ian pannell in london and my "this week" co-anchor and chief global affairs correspondent martha raddatz. ian, i want to talk about these russian-american talks in saudi arabia. here's what he had to say. >> we don't have any papers, any invitations and it's something strange for me to speak in this case, in this format if before we don't have any negotiation between us and our strategic partners. >> jonathan: i mean, this is rather extraordinary, isn't it? we've got basically the beginning of this peace process for ukraine, and ukraine's not part of it? >> yeah. absolutely. i mean, if you just step back

for a second, we're almost at the three-year mark since the start of putin's large-scale invasion, and if ukraine is forced to give up 20% of its land, doesn't get a nato membership, and the trump measure is asking for 50% of its miss mineral resources, not in exchange for something now, but almost as a down payment for the military supplies that have already taken place. so i think for many ukrainians, this doesn't appear a starter. however, it's important to remember. general kellogg who's a trump special envoy for ukraine is going to be there next week. it's interesting steve whitkoff who hammered out that deal between hamas and israel, where you never had officials in the same room, is it conceivable, perhaps that you have a deal where zelenskyy is talking to kellogg and russia is talking directly to america? but also for the europeans, i mean, they have just announced they're going to hold an emergency summit tomorrow to discuss what in the words of britain's prime minister has

called a once-in-a-generation moment for national security. >> jonathan: yeah, and we saw strong reaction to the speech that vice president vance gave in europe, challenging the europeans. he -- it seems to me like we're seeing a broader breakdown in the u.s.-european alliance or a rather dramatic one. >> reporter: yeah. i would totally agree with that. you could probably go as far as to say is it the trans-atlantic relations are at their lowest point since the second world war? when jd vance went there, he met with the afd which is germany's far-right party. he suggested that europe need to take immigration more seriously and that somehow these barriers where we decided after the second world war to never again colluding far-right parties needed to be undermined.

it was in the words of elon musk. it's not make america great again. it's mega, make europe great again. the chancellor also said that never again means not talking to these people, that there have to be certain barriers. he also said germany will not accept outsiders interfering in his country's elections. this is sovereignty, and many other european countries are saying the same thing at the time moment. it's interesting what comes out of that summit, but to say relations are bad is an understatement but there are real challenges for europe. the europeans have got to get a handle on their own defense. they got to decide what to do about ukraine, and they can no longer rely on uncle sam just to support it. >> jonathan: on these talks in saudi arabia from the american side, what is the expectation? what are they going to achieve? >> martha: well, this is step one, and i think everyone is waiting for step two, and donald

trump has made it very clear he wants to meet with vladimir putin, but in so many ways, ukraine is the loser here. even starting off in this we heard pete hegseth, the secretary of defense, lay out what the u.s. would not accept and going back to the border's pre-2014, but you have to remember here, russia invaded ukraine and right now zelenskyy is not part of these talks in saudi. he basically had to say, we will not do anything unless we're part of these talks. his poll numbers are quite terrible. you remember at the beginning of the war, about 90%. you look at his poll numbers now, 50%. it is because exactly what ian said. this war has dragged on for three straight years. you go over there. i have been over there. ian has been over there, and you see the people, the morale really fading. so zelenskyy is really in the backseat on these negotiations as donald trump very strongly says i'm going to meet with vladimir putin and i'm going to see what happens here. >> jonathan: and russians clearly with the upper hand, and just now, we just saw marco rubio had a joint press conference with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and

he made some news about iran. >> martha: very, very strong statements about iran. the two of them. that is their primary concern, and that iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. we've heard that from donald trump before. we've heard that from joe biden before, but to come out and say that directly with rumors and talk about israel possibly going after iran's nuclear facilities, again, iran apparently has not made a decision to build a nuclear weapon, but boy, they sure could, and they could do it faster. >> jonathan: martha raddatz, ian pannell. up next, a top senate confidant of president trump. last year he helped convince trump not to oppose further aid to ukraine. find out where he is now, and what he is telling trump now

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>> jonathan: i'm joined now by republic >> jonathan: i'm joined now by republican senator markwayne mullin of oklahoma who is a member of the armed services committee. senator mullin, thank you for being here. you have been consistently a supporter of ukraine. you helped wage the battle to continue funding for ukraine over the past two years. what about now? do you think -- can ukraine still rely on u.s. support as this peace process unfolds? >> i believe they can, but keep in mind, jon, that this war would never happen if president trump was in office. so our whole position from the beginning was trying to put america in a position of peace through strength. underneath the biden administration, we looked weak which is why we started having wars break out everywhere. there was no negotiations when it was clear that president trump was going to build -- going to win the presidency back. we wanted to make sure we were still in a position of peace through strength, so as we were going through this process, we knew president trump once he got in office, could end the war. that's what people are doing

right now. that's why people are coming to the table and zelenskyy has put out he's excited about the opportunity of ending the war. putin is now at the table and you have other countries that are trying to accept and negotiate a peace deal through -- all because of president trump's leadership. >> jonathan: senator roger wicker is the chair of the senate armed services committee, and he said the united states should continue to supply weapons to ukraine until there is a ceasefire. do you think that's the way the white house sees it? >> you know, the chairman wicker and i haven't had a direct conversation about that since president trump's been in office, and neither has president trump and i. i know that negotiations are moving forward, and we want to have ukraine and -- and russia both at the table, and i think that negotiations go better if both sides are looking for a peace deal because they're at a neutral position. so now what the negotiation deal looks like, jon, i don't know.

that's going to be -- that's going to be dependent on those that are sitting at the table, and i'm not going to be one of those guys sitting at that table. >> jonathan: now you saw zelenskyy seemed a little miffed that ukraine is not being included in these talks with saudi arabia. it was pointed out over the last nine or ten days, you've seen marco rubio and the treasury secretary, the vice president jd vance, all meeting with zelenskyy. do you think we're going to see a two-track process here where negotiations on one side are going with russia and a separate set of negotiations going on with ukraine? >> i think what president trump is doing here is actually really smart. he's meeting with zelenskyy. he's having conversations with him. you're seeing rubio. you saw the senators and representatives both met with him while we're in munich, and also meeting with putin and saudi arabia. what that is doing, jon, is that's putting both people and getting them in separate rooms talking about what they will accept and then finding out a negotiation path forward before

you bring them to the table. a lot of times you bring people to the table too fast, jon, it'll blow up and they'll walk away and you'll set back the talks for maybe six months. right now people are dying every single day. we do know we had the best negotiator possible in the white house. i mean, literally president trump wrote "the art of the deal." he knows how to negotiate and i believe if we will trust the process, he'll be able to negotiate a peace deal for both countries. >> jonathan: i want to read what "the wall street journal" editorial page had to say about this. it said, mr. trump likes to negotiate from strength, but on ukraine, he sounds like the one who wants a deal more. mr. putin, meanwhile, is continuing to bomb ukraine's cities and power plants and take for story in the east, albeit at enormous human cost. if mr. trump wants to end the war on honorable terms, he may have to demonstrate he can raise the pressure on mr. putin. what's your sense? is president trump really poised

to turn the screws on putin? >> absolutely because putin knows the one person that can truly change the war is the united states. if we went all in for ukraine, if we went all in with the resources we have from air superiority to the weapons that we can deploy to ukraine, putin knows at that point he would be in an extremely negative position. that i think being the opportunity for president trump to talk to putin and say, listen, we want to end the war. we don't want to have to engage more, but we're not going to allow you to move forward. let's negotiate a peace deal here or you're going to force our hand to be more involved. that's what peace through strength is. it's negotiating peace, but using strength as a backup. if you make us do something, we will do it. we did this in syria when trump was in office in 2017. you saw that putin went ahead

and engaged with -- with syria. they used chemical weapons, and immediately what president trump did is he bombed the airport and took over the air space that russia was control over, and he controlled the air space for the remainder of his presidency. so we had the ability to do it and putin knows that. >> jonathan: so let me ask -- let me turn to what's happening here at home. do you have any concerns about the speed of the layoffs that we're see coming out of elon musk's, you know, doge efforts? >> well, jon, we hate that anybody's losing their job, but at the same time, we know that the -- the debt that we have in this country is not manageable, and it's becoming a national security risk, and we're spending nearly a trillion dollars a year just in servicing the debt. that is scary. we're spending more on interest payments than we are in our intense department now. anybody will tell you that is a road for disaster. so any time you take over a situation like elon musk has had many opportunities and many

experiences, we've taken over businesses, you had to start cutting some of the fact and unfortunately, the number one expense we have in the united states government right now is payroll, and when you start cutting departments, some people's jobs are lost, and it hurts us because we don't want anybody to lose their job, but at the same time, we have to get it under control because if we don't get our debt underneath control, it becomes a national security issue. can you imagine if we get downgraded if the dollar loses its value, at the inflation rate that takes place? and then what happens? our buying power, the ability for investing into the country, and the ability to invest in our military starts shrinking and then we start losing the strength part when we start wanting to be at the negotiating table from peace through strength. >> jonathan: i think the number one expense is actually entitlement, social security and medicare which of course, president trump has said he doesn't want to touch, and very

quickly before you go, should musk come before congress? should musk come before congress and testify? he's promised, you know, ultimate transparency here. should congress exercise some oversight and have him testify about all of this? >> i think that's up to president trump. he put in musk to be a consultant. just like many successful corporations around the world, including myself that have hired consultants to look it ate from an unbiased perspective. a lot of times they want to cut everything except their pet project or things in their backyard. >> jonathan: all right. >> when you have a consultant come in, they look at simply the numbers, and when they do, all that musk is doing is advising the president. at the end of the day, it's president trump's decision on what happens. >> jonathan: senator mullin, i appreciate your time. we'll continue this conversation in the coming weeks. appreciate it. coming up, the mass resignations of some of the justice department's most respected and conservative career prosecutors. the round table is next. respected and conservative career prosecutors. the round table is next.

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>> and remember when the nixon saturday night massacre happened, everyone agreed -- >> jonathan: that was just two resignations. this is seven. >> and they agreed that the president had the power to do that. they were simply signaling they didn't think it was a good idea. here there's something a little different going on. a lawyer actually has to sign this dismissal, and what those lawyers were saying is i will not put my name on this. i believe that this opens the door for a president to say, if you don't fully support my agenda sufficiently enough that i will bring criminal charges against you which is what they did when they are not dismissing the indictment with prejudice. they're telling eric adams they can bring these back at any point if he doesn't stay in line. >> one of the reasons they're not signing their name to it is they oversee this. he's going to make somebody who signed their name to this have to defend, why is this in the public interest that we're going to dismiss this case? that we're going to accept bribery from foreign nationals to fund campaigns and turn a blind eye to it? i don't think it's going to stand up well to whoever has to defend this in a case. >> the doj has the right to

determine whether -- the doj has the right to determine whether or not this prosecution goes forward. we can all agree on that. the one thing we can also agree on is we don't really know what the doj knows. maybe they're dismissing it without prejudice because they don't -- they're not comfortable with the case as it stands. there might be some things -- >> jonathan: actually, reince -- >> there are other things they want to look into as well. the president is very sensitive about this topic of public officials being prosecuted. he went through it. the president was very uncomfortable with this case. i'm not surprised they want to move forward and get rid of it. >> eric has a cloud over his head. he knows that. mayor adams -- he's up for re-election, he understood going into 2025 he wanted to cut a deal. he went down to mar-a-lago, and somehow when you read the legal documents, you say, oh my god. something here doesn't fit, doesn't fit the script and you

know what that something is? it's that line that says by november, 2025, if eric is unable or incapable of car rig out what trump wants him to do -- >> you don't know that. >> jonathan: he could be prosecuted again. >> quid pro quo? what is that? >> jonathan: can you please bring this home for a second? this acting u.s. attorney for the now former -- for the southern district of new york who resigned. >> trump appointed danielle sassoon. >> this is not some deep state left-wing deeper than the bowls of the justice system, she was a clerk for anton scalia. like you. >> all of those things which gives her letter a lot of gravitas or it should, and it's also worth noting that plenty of people thought the case against eric adams was not the strongest case to bring and as you said, a lot of those cases against public figures have fallen apart down the road for the department of justice. i think what she's flagging here is not just the underlying case, but why it's being dismissed is

her actual objective. >> jonathan: it's not explicitly because of the merits. >> it's not just this case. reince said, you know, the sensitivity that trump has. it's not just about this case. the pardon. we're dismissing the foreign corrupt practices act entirely, kill off the inspectors generals, firing the watchdogs. there's a bigger picture at play here. the fact that bribery should be condoned and saying, i don't care as long as you're transacting for my good, it all fell apart. >> jonathan: let me pick up on this. he makes news all the time. he posted on truth social -- i think we have it here. i'm going to try to read the whole thing. he who saves his country does not violate any law. >> yeah. >> jonathan: reince, what does -- what does that mean? >> it's catnip for the media. it's entertainment for trump. it's a distraction.

>> jonathan: he's president of the united states. this is a statement from the president of the united states. >> i have been through this. i have lived through this. >> jonathan: yes, you have. >> in good times and bad times, the president enjoys taking a grenade out on a saturday afternoon, throwing it on the floor and watching everybody react. now could it be a distraction? could bit a diversion? could it be just pure entertainment? >> jonathan: he's not saying the president is above the law. >> there is no downside. >> they have opened investigations into these lawyers. danielle sassoon and the other lawyers who have resigned, the doj said they are on leave and they are being investigated by the department of justice. >> jonathan: for taking a principled stance. can we talk about democrats? donna, you don't mind, do you? >> seriously? >> jonathan: there are some challenges facing the party. >> yes. >> jonathan: to put it mildly. >> what party? >> jonathan: i want to play something that senator mark

warner had to say about where democrats are right now. take a listen. >> i think the democrats' brand is really bad, and i think this was an election based on culture. i think the majority of the party realizes that the ideological purity of some of the groups is a recipe for disaster, and that candidly, the attack on over-the-top wokism was a valid attack. >> jonathan: does the senator from virginia have a point? >> he's up for re-election next year. >> jonathan: in virginia. >> in virginia. there's a major election that will take place for the governor of the state of virginia. look. the two of us can sit back and give you a laundry list of things that we hope the democratic party will begin to do. the first thing is they need to have a forensic analysis of what happened so they can build back stronger, quicker, better, but nobody wants a party that

whines. nobody wants a party that's just in opposition. donald trump was elected in part to lower costs. we want a party that will fight for the middle class, for people who are struggling every day, fighter those federal workers who some of them are being unfairly targeted. that's what they want democrats to do. stand for principle and stop whining. >> jonathan: you ran for dnc chair. you got some views on this. >> i'm frustrated because, you know, at this moment you've got an opportunity to build a working class party, jon, and the way in which you do it, you show the names and the faces of the people that are getting screwed right now. there are farmers, people on medicaid, people administering wheel on wheels, head start. these are medical researchers, grand canyon park rangers. all of them right now getting the axe. why? these are some of the people who serve america. they serve others beyond themselves. the democratic party needs to be champions for them. >> and farmers who are now being stiffed and worry about these tariffs. >> jonathan: is the congress not doing this strongly? >> they have power and they better use. >> it the brilliant thing the

republicans did was made the democratic the party of the establishment, the ones having to defend the status quo, and no americans right now think the status quo is working. they've elected change candidates like barack obama. they don't feel like they changed it. donald trump is going to change it. >> i think it's worse than that. the democrats have found themselves on the wrong side of normal, and in spite of the all challenges that donald trump had, court cases, all the ups and downs, the american people have said -- i identify more with donald trump than i do with kamala harris and tim walz. they're on the wrong side of all these cultural issues and until they get that straight -- and i sort of agree more with what you're saying is that populism of the left has a chance. progressivism on the left is dead. >> this is where elon musk will be a gift to the democratic party because you have a billionaire in control who has his own ideology and his government operates on his own whims and there's going to be a populist revolt, and if democrats can capture it and don't want to rule on a whim because they have to investigate me. what is that threshold? >> jonathan: what is the idea of rooting out waste and efficiency

in government? that's a bipartisan thing. >> think about bill clinton and al gore, and the efforts to reinvent government. they did it in a methodical way, and they didn't do it on a whim baa because you have dei, you're no good. you're not a good federal worker. federal workers are at the heart of our federal government, and it's time we stand up and support them as well. >> we are $36 trillion in debt. >> well, they didn't do it. by themselves. >> jonathan: we are out of time. we'll continue next week. thank you all. we will be right back.

>> jonathan: that's all for us today. thank you for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out "world news tonight," and have a great day. . check out "world news tonight," and have a great day.

to maintenance anything, so it's very scary for me because i have everything i love in this home. so, we've now implemented drone technology. how is that safe for me? it enhances the inspection, so it allows us to see things faster. your safety is the most important, and if you're feeling unsafe, that's not okay. it doesn't feel like that in our hearts.

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