judge chutkan says it's possible they have a pretty good case. it's just something that she can't work with right now in court. but she also said something very important. sarah. she told the justice department lawyers they have to be careful what they represent to her. we've seen lawyers from the justice department scrambling to nail down the language on exactly what doge is when they're trying to explain it in court. and she had to remind these lawyers that they must be truthful in her order yesterday. >> all right, katelyn polantz, thank you so much for the reporting there, john. >> all right. here are some quotes. time for him to go. eric adams is a traitor. 100% compromise. that's what some new yorkers told the times. as the fate of new york city mayor eric adams hangs in the balance, and a setback for america in the area of defense. defense compromised. >> i don't know. >> if there's going to be three fights off the start. i mean, we'll see how it, you know, gets going, but i'm sure the intensity will be the same. the passion will be the sa

tanya chutkan said the case has strong merits, adding plaintiffs legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by congress and over which it has no oversight. the judge considered an affidavit presented under oath by the trump administration, claiming that elon musk has no role at all in the so-called department of government efficiency. judge chutkan said, referring to that affidavit, quote, defense counsel is reminded of their duty to make truthful representations to the court. that is something judges say only when they think the lawyers are not being truthful. judge chutkan refused to grant the plaintiffs emergency injunction, shutting down the activities of the so-called department of government efficiency. at this particular stage of the case. case remains open for the plaintiffs to provide sufficient evidence to the judge to merit that injunction that they are seeking. leading off our discussion tonight is andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and former chief of the criminal divis

judge chutkan said, referring to that affidavit, quote, defense counsel is reminded of their duty to make truthful representations to the court. that is something judges say only when they think the lawyers are not being truthful. judge chutkan refused to grant the plaintiffs emergency injunction, shutting down the activities of the so-called department of government efficiency. at this particular stage of the case. case remains open for the plaintiffs to provide sufficient evidence to the judge to merit that injunction that they are seeking. leading off our discussion tonight is andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and former chief of the criminal division in the eastern district of new york. he's also an msnbc legal analyst. and, andrew, i want to begin on the latest principled resignation in the justice department. and how this has now become from the start, it was something we haven't seen before. it had it had heirs of what we had experienced during watergate, when there were resignations against richard nixon's attempt to take over the justice department. but today took

that's judge chutkan's ruling. they are still coming after doge. anything that would so egregious that she had to stop a government employee from carrying out his presidentially appointed role because that's what elon musk has been doing. i had to chuckle bret. i cannot believe that the united states treasury is still closed. that the door was just open today when covid has been over for years and people have been back in their jobs. it is so striking to me when you think about the fact that 6% of federal employees were actually showing up to their jobs for work. there's a ton of low hanging fruit here. one of the other details that came out, it was posted by elon musk. $4.7 trillion worth of treasury disbursements, 4.7 trillion have no discernible line item as to what the payment is or where it went. 4.7 trillion. just think about that in terms of your own credit card bill. i mean, if i have something that shows up that says paypal, martha, what is this where does this go? so i find it shocking that the treasury department has that kind of number

let's just talk to what tanya chutkan said.a lawsuit as it relates to discovery and information. we know that doge and elon musk's people are in these systems, but because we're not in the systems with them, we don't know exactly what they're doing. and that is something that judge chutkan has asked you and your fellow attorneys general to, to address. what do you what do you say to that? >> actually, we. >> we. >> do. >> know what they're doing. >> i was in federal. >> court today with tish james, the new york attorney general, to stop an unelected billionaire, elon musk, and his army of hackers and wannabe stormtroopers from tearing up the treasury department. we know they're now in irs and committing what we all know is the largest data breach in american history. so what's happening is unelected people, not just elon musk and his army of hackers, but also tom cruise, the ceo of citrix. these tech barons are in the central payment system of the treasury department. they're seeing ratting. >> information. >> bank account info

what is judge chutkan considering here? what's she weighing? >> okay. >> so first. >> of all, i think it's really. >> important to note that this is a temporary. >> restraining order. >> that you needed to take a deep breath ahead of that because there was so much. >> totally. >> and like. >> i said, not to. >> forget the. >> most boring but kind of. >> most important. >> thing. which is the. >> procedural posture. >> so a. >> temporary restraining order. >> is just not usually appealable. so there's a question about whether or not we're even going to have an answer on this. it's particularly interesting at. >> this point that. >> said yes. >> so the key here. >> the question. >> is. >> what is dodge? >> so is. >> it. >> an agency. >> is elon musk an agency head? these questions matter for a whole lot of. >> issues, including. >> the ones that you just. >> outlined. >> that are so important. >> like. >> the access to private information. and that is because statutes all over and regulations all over control what. agency heads, what agencies and

district court judge chutkan declined to issue an order that would halt doge's access to personal. >>orary restraining order within 24 hours, and expressed skepticism on the state's argument, it would mean proving something ma major would happen right away that could not be undone' like demolishing a building. and consumer financial protection bureau, judge bates acknowledged privacy concerns argued by worker union but decided that doge likely qualifies as a federal agency ands that authority to access government records, they have been asked to file a briefing. with less urgency. david: thank you so much. for more on this, let's bring in mike davis, president and founder of article 3 project, and julian epstein. good to see you. mike, it appears when you look at ruling of judge chutkan, and ruling of judge bates they are both skeptical of the claims for different reasons by the states againsts president. it just seems logical, president, to put it in business terms, he was hired by the american people to run the executive branch of government, yet we can't get into the records of tha

judge chutkan repeatedly questioned what imminent harm the states were facing from musk and doj's worke also said that plaintiff's use of words like perhaps and may, when describing how states could be harmed by doj's actions, undercut their argument that irreversible harm was imminent. you're saying i should tell dodge and their officials to stop what they're doing because we don't know what they're doing, she said. and this is from daniel barnes of nbc news. so what is your take on this, general brown? are the are you all going to come back and retool your argument to narrow it a little more? your motion here, or do you believe that the broadness of the suit that you all have brought is warranted? >> i think. >> it's warranted. the broad nature of the suit. we're going to be responsive to the. judge's request. but look, in maryland alone, the central payment system in the u.s. treasury. spends $11 billion to the. >> state of maryland. >> 50 billion to the. >> residents of maryland. >> we've seen elon musk go literally into federal agencies telling them to shut down without. >> using

now, judge chutkan declined this request. she said that, quote, they have not shown that they will suffer imminent, irreparable harm absent a temporary restraining order. so what they were asking for. she went on to say the court is aware that doj's unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents. it remains uncertain when and how the catalog of state programs that plaintiffs identify will suffer, and this is doj's second big legal victory on this issue. just today. earlier today, another obama appointed judge here in washington, judge randy moss, ruled that doge would not be blocked from accessing data at the department of education. and that came after a group of students that receive a financial assistance sued to try to protect their data. but again, the judge ruled that they had not shown how they would be harmed. and at least four times in recent days, emergency lawsuits and legal actions against doge have failed, mostly on this idea t

and caitlin, judge tanya chutkan, who's over my shoulder. this is a name that people will be familiar with when it comes to donald trump. and being in a courtroom. what does her decision mean this time? >> well, kate, this is a temporary decision because that's how the courts are being asked to step in right now. in all of these cases where they're being asked to curtail what doge is up to. and judge chutkan, she did preside over donald trump's criminal case that is now dismissed related to the 2020 election, but she's a pretty experienced judge on the federal court in d.c., and she and two of her other colleagues on that same bench, they keep saying that they can't actually step in right now to stop doge because there just isn't enough evidence and enough understanding of what doge is doing to show that people are being harmed. so in this case, the judge, chutkan, said she was not going to grant a temporary restraining order against doge yesterday. what she was looking at was a challenge from a number of democratic state attorneys general,

judge chutkan is. >> actually following. the law. >> and the rule set. >> she said that these a.g.s. >> didn't have standing yet. that's not to say that they won't have standing. this may not be just right just yet by these cuts, and the attorney generals may not be the ones to bring this case. >> look, there's. >> a lot of cases that are going to. >> be. >> filed out there. >> i think standing is always a problem. but i put a, you know, look, i'm a big fan of judge chutkan for a lot of reasons. and if she sees some issues, then you know that she's also not just answering the questions. and that is. before us. she's also signaling to others that this is the way that you can get this done and abide by the rule of law. the thing that the trump administration doesn't really care about, but do it appropriately. that's what she's signaling. watch for these things to be amended or refiled by different parties. >> this is why we love doug jones. you see how you look, how you just talk me down. look how you just did that so calmly.

they may prevail with chutkan temporarily.they go to the supreme court, look at this appointment clause, congressional approval. here's what he thinks they will say. >> the law is on your side. plus, when you are serving in the public interest and the public is in favor of it. that's something that i think the supreme court recognizes. democrats here are picking the wrong battle. what person in their right mind wants to continue billions of taxpayer dollars squandered on waste and fraud? they are so reflexively against anything that trump does. their lawsuits make them look like they favor financial abuse. what doge and musk has uncovered so far is really shocking americans our federal bureaucracy is the definition of bloated. isn't it about time that a president had the courage to put the government on an ozempic diet congress is making they have oversight all of these agencies. >> steve: which is true. >> lawrence: they are not cutting. you haven't been watching. you have not been watching your government agencies, except fo

judge tanya chutkan yes, that judge tanya chutkan agreed there were concerns about how much access doge has, but she voiced concern that a blanket ban would, quote, functionally grind the workings of the government to a halt. instead, judge chutkan gave the states that sued doge until 5 p.m. tomorrow to file a more limited request. but these lawsuits could reveal a new legal strategy by doge doubters. sue elon musk himself. with me now, former assistant u.s. attorney jeffrey toobin. he's also the prolific author you all know and the author of the brand new book the pardon the politics of presidential mercy, which just came out this week. jeffrey, good to see you. let me ask you first about these lawsuits, because they are targeting not just doge, but musk directly arguing he has too much power, too little oversight. what do you think? could this work in the courts? >> you know, one of the things you know, laura, what always matters in courts is facts. you know what? what is actually happening. and for all that we've heard about elon musk, um, i think it is somewhat ambiguous what he is

judge chutkan called the doj's actions, quote, concerning and troubling. the state's argument was too broad and hypothetical, basically, that she needed to see more evidence of imminent harm before she granted a request for a temporary restraining order that would curtail what musk and his team are doing. and then, in a surprise filing last night, the department of justice stated musk is actually not the administrator of doge, nor is he making personnel decisions at federal agencies. might be news to many of us as we've been following this, because elon is clearly at the center. but in that three page declaration, a white house personnel official revealed that musk's title is senior advisor to the president and that he has no, quote, actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. it's there that we're going to start with former u.s. attorney and msnbc contributor barbara mcquade. i want to get your reaction to that, barbara, because it seems important from a legal perspective that these suits are being filed against musk and doge. but the

but the case in front of judge chutkan in d.c. is about the appointments clause. and so in the constitution, it says if you exercise significant authority, you've got to be confirmed. nominated by the president but confirmed by the senate. that didn't happen here. his appointment, his work is in utter violation of the u.s. constitution and the appointments clause. >> all right. now, as for the fate of this suit, as everyone who listened, almost everyone who listened to the arguments observed, judge chutkan seems skeptical of the argument you were making for the temporary restraining order on the basis of the fact that she indicated you had no specific or not enough specific evidence of harm to get that order, she said. you were basing it on media reports. what's your response to that? >> yeah. >> so i don't agree with that. obviously. i think she sees it the way we do on the merits and knows that the that doge and elon musk and his army of hackers pose a grave risk to connecticut, to people in our state, to this country. and of course, now we see michelle king, th

that's what judge chutkan wanted today. that kind of we have that evidence and we're going to. >> go to court and we are. >> going to seek start the process of seeking relief for those individuals. and mr. musk is operating in violation of the constitution. we're going. >> to start. >> enforcing that constitution in our latest case. >> let me ask you, it's see, i wonder why it seems to be you're getting a little bit under elon musk's, you know, a little bit under his skin here. he tweeted he ex he posted on x about you a number of times today. what do you do about that. what do you say in response to it? >> many many tweets today. >> many we're showing them on the screen. >> about about our work and our case and. >> me from mr. musk. >> jen, he's supposed to be in charge of government efficiency. how does he have time to do all this tweeting? i think he's not used to being held accountable. but what we're doing in our case is the case tomorrow under the constitution. >> but we also. >> have done. dozens of foia requests. i

federal judge tanya chutkan. now, you may know that name. she's the person who, you'll recall, earned the president's insults and other verbal attacks for being the trial judge in his election interference case, which is now dropped. in this latest case, she ruled in his favor, denying a request from a number of states for a restraining order against musk and doge, saying that they lack sufficient evidence of immediate and irreparable harm from the job cuts. now, this comes just days after a federal judge in boston, george o'toole jr.. lifted a similar restraining order. by the way, he's a clinton appointee. judge chutkan was appointed by president obama. both ruled in president trump's favor. back to the question of who runs doge, though. and that court document claiming that it's not elon musk. here's what the white house press secretary says. >> this affidavit actually says he doesn't work for doge at all. so what is his role at doge? >> sure. i'm happy to clarify. elon musk is a special government employee here at the white house, servin

and human services, energy, transportation, commerce and the office of personnel management tanya chutkanconvince q. instanced. she wrote yesterday the things i'm hearing are serious and troubling indeed. the things you are hearing not seeing it so far. awaiting a ruling on whether this request for a temporary restraining order can move forward. meantime doj lawyers are arguing that elon musk does not have federal authority to make decisions himself. chutkan disagreed issue a filing musk is not the administrator of doge nor is he an employee of the department of government efficiency, declaring him instead a special government employee and senior adviser to president trump. they cited anita dunn as a previous holder of a role of this type under former president joe biden. the president trump has credited musk with his work on doge many times. so it's a little bit unclear what tangible effect that statement from the white house might have. meantime, anti-trump protesters took to the streets in washington on presidents' day with not my president signs also saying no one voted for elon musk.

judge tanya chutkan.and she seems inclined inclined to not grant a temporary restraining order that has been asked for by a number of state attorneys general. the reason is, she says, is that she doesn't believe they've been able to prove that there is enough harm to those states. from some of the actions done by elon musk's department of government efficiency. i'll read you just a part of what judge judge chutkan says in her. she said from the bench today, she said the court can't base, can't act based on media reports. we can't do that. we can certainly take judicial notice of them, but they can't form the basis. i don't think of me finding that a temporary restraining order is warranted because of imminent harm. now, she said she obviously had read all these media reports, including reports on friday, that there were thousands of people who had received termination notices. what the states were asking for, wolf, was for a restraining order stopping musk's department of government efficiency from access

>> reporter: the implications are that this one particular federal judge tanya chutkan, is not goingin the way of elon musk and doge doing what they want to do which is to gain access to various government computer systems and to identify more federal positions that can be eliminated. but there are plenty of other federal lawsuits out there, particularly having to do with these mass firings and with the refusal to pay some contractors so those lawsuits will go on. interestingly, john, on. interestingly, john, with the state ags who brought the case, that it appears that elon musk and doge have unprecedented, unchecked power within the federal government. she agreed that's a concern but she said basically the state ags hadn't provided enough evidence there was irreparable harm that was about to take place that required her stepping in so it almost seems as if she was telling them to just go back to the drawing board and try again. >> john: chief white house correspondent nancy cordes. thank you so much, nancy. new video of the runway crash of that delta regional jet in toronto gives u

and that is an important aspect of judge chutkan ruling. come to me with a harm that someone has suffered, and i absolutely will wi, will revise this now. again, it's important to note that this is just a preliminary step. this case is not done and she will rule on these issues once again. but it's also important to note that privacy issues, as a general matter, create very strange bedfellows, not just in politics, but in the law too. it is very hard to predict how individual judges are going to rule on privacy issues. on right, left, liberal, conservative, just because of how thorny questions of what to do with data are. so it will be an interesting one to watch, to see what she, and quite frankly, other judges around the country deal with those questions around data. >> right. i want to pivot to something else that i find interesting. and it's this executive order that president trump signed to claim presidential power over independent government agencies, notably agencies that were created by congress to not come under a president's cont

. >> chutkan said there. >> wasn't proof of. >> imminent harm at. >> this point. judge chutkan is. >> the same judge everybody remembers who was overseeing. >> trump's 2020. >> election. >> interference case. joyce, what do you make of this. >> ruling. especially given. >> the history there? well, this. >> ruling has. >> nothing to do with the substance of the case. this is a preliminary skirmish where the attorneys generals went into court trying to get a temporary restraining order that would freeze the status quo for the next few days while they tee up the early stages of the litigation. she found that they hadn't met their burden of proof, but she also had some discouraging comments for the trump administration about where this case might ultimately head. i wouldn't read too much into this early ruling. >> yeah, i mean, just read. >> at least part. >> of what. >> she did say. >> because i. >> think it's important. >> just for. >> the context there. >> she said. that the. >> the suit did, quote, legitimately call into question what. appears to be the unchecked

it seems unlikely that district judge tanya chutkan will stop what doge is doing to reshape the government. a group of states filed a lawsuit. but the judge says they are relying mostly on news reports and not showing enough evidence that elon musk is doing damage. >> thank you. >>> now to a terrifying scene at toronto international airport where a delta airlines plane coming from minneapolis overturned during a crash landing. as you can see here, the plane is upside down on that runway. everyone did survive, but 18 people were injured. the question now for investigators, how did the plane lose at least one wing on landing, then flip over, causing jet fuel to spill onto the runway? >> i think it's possible the wing may have touched the runway due to a gust. and if that's the case, then the rest of this makes sense. but the recorders are going to show that. >> the investigation will be led by the canadian transportation safety board with the faa and ntsb to assist. it follows a recent string of aviation incidents in north america that has many passengers on edge. >> reporter: the surreal si

judge tanya chutkan said she would rule on the state's case within 24 hours. meanwhile, the president taking to social media showing words of approval from various conservative media outlets and touting what his administration has done so far. this country has made more progress in the last three weeks than it has made in the last four years. in what could be a test for the supreme court, the trump administration is asking justices to overturn a lower court ruling that reinstated a fired government watchdog. earlier this month, the trump administration fired the head of the office of special counsel. he is a biden appointee and claimed he was fired illegally. in washington, yamiche alcindor, nbc news. all right. thank you very much. a new push tonight to end the war in ukraine. top u.s. and russian officials confirmed they will hold peace talks tomorrow. those are set to take place in saudi arabia. diplomats say they hope to improve their relations and negotiate an end to the war. this marks a pivotal step by the trump administration to reverse a former policy

in a victory for the president trump administration, judge tanya chutkan ruled against 14 states thate from firing employees or accessing data from seven federal agencies. cbs news has learned doge workers are also seeking access to the irs database. >> one of the biggest functions of the doge team is just making sure the presidential executive orders are actually carried out. >> president donald trump, please come down and see what's really going on. >> reporter: the cuts have sparked pushback from a union representing government workers in florida, including several probationary employees who were fired from their jobs at a veterans hospital in tampa. >> people there are the heroes behind the scenes. everybody looks at the physicians and nurses, and they're very important too. but the people that support the hospital, they're the ones that's being harmed. >> reporter: earlier, president trump signed additional executive actions aimed at making ivf more accessible and calling for more government transparency. >> these are treatments that have become unaffordable for many americans or

. >> a sign of approval, they are break down doors even judge chutkan, capitulated said they can go inencies, that is a very important victory. another federal judge said no student loan cancellations of joe biden are not permissible. this -- everything is changing all of a sudden. everything is going the president's way. >> i think has been to talk about it all as one idea. it is really a culture shift. i feel we've seen, you know i have said it to my father-in-law for years, i don't know that culture shift would have been possible had he served 8 consecutive years at president, i that people needed 4 years of joe biden and kamala harris, their lunacy and ineptness at overing they it and the way they took country in the wrong direction, in comes donald trump, a different donald trump, not same from 2016 he has learned so much, he is so good at this job of being president, executing it like the ceo of america. it is because of that, it feels different. we're hopeful again, the young people are onboard, it is cool now, to be a conservative, a republican. >> i think you are right. and i

tanya chutkan and that may be familiar to the viewers and listeners because key voice in january 6 casesinst president trump here to the fact they will be a hearing before her this morning and take as another one to monitor is that e out that essentially he is going beyond his authority and doesn't have the authority he needs. he needs senate confirmation and underlying doge entity needs congressional approval. >> john: why does he need senate confirmation. he is basically auditing here to speak of this argument that the state attorney general all of this is the appointments clause so it's got to go through this process because deputized with so much authority to act on behalf of the executive it is like a cabinet secretary. they have to go through nomination. with these arguments this and it has to get involved with this one too. speak of the democrats are losing collective minds hollering profanities at president trump. dean phillips, democratic candidate for president in the last cycle said the democrats are little misguided. listen here. >> i think we are missing that boat as democra

judge chutkan said if she went forward to block access for doge, the broader request would effectivelyto a halt. that is why a lot of the judges are siding with the trump administration. right now we only have one or two outstanding ones that is not a win for the trump administration. that is because thankfully that judges are acknowledging coequal branch executive branch has to be able to exercise legitimate functions like conducting audits like accessing data within the agencies. they should have the same access if not more than career colleagues. it is remarkable, john, we are at this point in the conversation we are talking about the fact political appointees who are federal, government employee should be able to do their jobs and access information like everybody else but that is where we are at. >> john: on the idea of cost cutting and waiting out waste, 2011 barack obama said this. >> we thought entirely appropriate for the government inner agencies to try to root out waste large and small in a systematic way. these are important steps to save taxpayers billions of dollars over

district judge tonya chutkan seemed skeptic of the a.g.'arguments saying the states haven't shown evidence of eminent harm. part of that has to do with the unpredictable way doge is operating making it hard to figure out what doge will do or not do next. lawrence, steve, ainsley and brian. >> steve: madeleine, you starlighted with $4.7 trillion. essentially untraceable. we don't know why they never said what account it was going to or where it came from this came came from here and went there. >> madeleine: exactly. that's the hope. that's part of what doge is trying to do. that's why they say they are doing what they're doing right now. they say part of the problem is that there is a lack of trainers over here. you can't figure out what certain payments are doing. this is part of cost-cutting effort or rather what their efforts are to trim waste and fat as they say. we will see whether or not now that that change has been made with certain payments, we'll see what efforts -- >> ainsley: what about doge worworking with social security. elon

per the department of justice order, you have the former chief judge, beryl howell, you have judge chutkan, you have amy berman jackson, just today talking about michael shannon's heroism will never be moot, speaking out about the fact that these cases cannot be whitewashed. and so, you know, what you are seeing is one branch of government really doing what it's supposed to and being fearless. and i hear your point about other people i just wanted to like and that's a totally legitimate point, but it's worth noting that there are people who are saying this is wrong. >> who did you report to? >> i reported to the section chief of. >> the capitol. >> siege section, and he reported to the. >> u.s. attorney and the u.s. attorney reported. >> to the attorney general. >> and if the attorney general didn't want cases prosecuted against insurrectionists, would the chain of command have done what it did? >> absolutely not. that would. >> have been insurrection. >> within the organization. >> so do you live with a real fear of being targeted and prosecuted? >> you know, there's obviously. >> you. ge

they don't really include -- and this was a problem this week before judge chutkan, is there's no harmre demonstrating. they see elon and his team go into a building, and they go, we've got to defend that bureaucracy, but they don't have any facts to allege any harm yet. i think it's going to be rough going for this lawfare in the courts. stuart: we shall see. james, we're going to watch you tonight -- >> okay. stuart: yeah, we are. 6 p.m. eastern, you're cohosting with the the bottom line with the can with dagen mcdowell. we'll be watching. >> appreciate it. stuart quick look at futures. the nasdaq's doing nicely, up every 100 points. look when's here now, kevin o'leary joins me. kevin, is the saudi meeting and the doge guys, are they having a positive impact on the market? is that why we're rallying? >> people see tremendous potential in earnings over the next 11, 12 the months. i think the market's looking forward just a year. if you were worried about a tariffs, it's not showing up in these numbers. we're up almost 5% in almost every market so far, and we're early into the first qu

they're breaking down doors, even left-wing judges in washington, d.c., chutkan, okay?ated and said, okay, yes, they can go into the agencies. that's a very important victory. another federal judge said, no, the student loan cancellations of joe biden, all $500 billion of them, are not permissible. this -- everything's changing all of a sudden. everything's going the president's way. >> yeah. and i think there's been, you know, to talk about it all as a one encompassing idea, it's really been a culture shift that i feel like we've seen in this country. and, you know, i've said it to my father-in-law for many years now, i don't know that this culture shift would have been possible had he served eight consecutive years as president. i think people needed the four years of joe biden and kamala harris, their absolute lunacy, their ineptness at everything they did and really the way they took this country in the wrong direction. and in comes donald trump, and it's a different donald trump. it's not the same donald trump we got in 2016 is. he's learned so much, and he is so g

seems like judge tanya chutkan will not. >> immediately stop what elon musk. >> and his team are doing. >> to the federal government. >> she says the states filing. >> the lawsuit. >> are relying mostly. >> on news. >> reports about what. >> musk is doing, and not showing enough evidence that he is actually doing damage. kelly o'donnell has a closer look. >> at what musk. >> and the doj's team are. >> actually up to. >> president trump's department of government efficiency and elon musk's doge team continue to make cuts, including at the federal aviation administration. close to 300 faa employees terminated this weekend, according to a union that represents workers there. 28 year old jason king was at faa for eight months. when you were doing your job at faa, did you believe you were helping to make the public safer? >> i truly did. >> king, an army veteran with a service related disability, says he worries cuts could be too deep. >> even for the people that are still there. their workload has drastically increased. >> and i think. >> that's where. >> a big part of my. >> concern for t

judge tanya chutkan, who previously oversaw trump's january 6th criminal case, declined a request from 14 state attorneys general to prevent musk's doge from firing employees or accessing agency data. she determined that the mere threat of doge causing widespread harm was not enough to issue a temporary restraining order. this happened just one day after we learned that the acting head of the social security administration, michelle king, resigned after refusing to give musk's doge staffers access to sensitive personal data. she's not the only government official to resign in protest of the trump administration. today, denise chung, the head of the criminal division in the washington, d.c, u.s. attorney's office, abruptly stepped out. as nbc news reports, chung pushed back against donald trump's order to freeze bank assets and open up a criminal investigation into a contract that was awarded by the environmental protection agency. trump's acting deputy attorney general, emil bove, apparently tried to push the whole thing through yesterday, which was a federal holiday when presumably fe

and one of the things that we saw today with judge chutkan, um, she gave doge a big win. but one of the things she pointed to is that these the there is no clarity into what they're doing, so they can't actually show harm. and i think that that is there is deliberate. this is deliberate. i think it is deliberate that we don't know who is in charge of this, because in that chaotic sort of darkness, um, things can really, you know, grow and we just don't know what's happening. >> let's talk about that conflict of interest, though. >> yeah. >> go on. matt. >> i was just going to say, you know, he is, i believe, a special government employee, which is a classification of employee. you believe in every administration. >> you believe or, you know. i you know. >> i believe it's even been out there. i mean, i believe that's out there. there's a special government employee, by the way. that's not uncommon. that's how you bring folks from the private sector into the government to bring. >> their expertise. >> usually that's a. >> good thing. >> by the way. >> you know, i. >> don't.

. >> on the note of the courts, we are still waiting for a judge, tanya chutkan, to give her ruling on the access that doge has. a number of states, 17, i believe, have brought a lawsuit, attorneys general saying that the access is too widespread. he doesn't have the authority to do this. do you have a sense of where that ruling. might fall? barrett i know she was skeptical of both of the arguments during the hearing. >> exactly. >> so i think what we've. seen sort of across the board. right now from a lot of different courts is i think your word was perfect skepticism. >> we've seen. >> courts taking. >> action to pause various. >> action items from the administration in. >> order. to get more complete. >> information. >> because i think what the courts have really. >> focused in on at this point is that they. >> just don't have a complete record, either from the government attorneys. making arguments, trying to defend these legal actions. they have sort of these half. baked legal theories with. >> no real policies. in place. >> we're also. >> seeing a. >> rush on the plaintiff's side

i'm katie tur, judge tanya chutkan, who you will remember from the now dropped january 6th election interference

it's judge tanya chutkan, who we may know from some other high profile cases around in d.c.14 state attorneys general that she found the potential harm of doj's actions concerning and, quote, troubling, but that she needed to see more specifics. aside from a, quote, generalized fear that this is going to happen. where do you think she could land on this? what case law is she going to be looking at to evaluate this? and how could it impact other cases against oce? >> this is constitutional law. so the state attorney general's, the 13 state attorney generals who brought this lawsuit say that musk is acting like a cabinet secretary. he's hiring and firing workers. he's overseeing how federal departments are structured. and he's talking about our tax paying, our tax dollars under the appointments clause of the constitution. only the president has the power to nominate somebody with that authority. and that person has got to be confirmed by the senate. so the judge said that she's very concerned about what is happening with musk and dodge. she wants she's concerned. she says she'

judge tanya chutkan, you know, has has even thrown some a little bit of cold water on some of the state federal agencies being meddled with. so and this was one of the judges in donald trump's criminal cases to go back to you because the he's doing a lot of work there, ruth, because the he that's doing a lot of the work here is elon musk, somebody who is saying that 60 minutes producers should be in prison. they should be jailed because donald trump didn't like the 60 minutes interview. this is the person who's wielding through his young staffers, access to our personal data. you know, donald trump has unleashed a his biggest donor to do this work. and the people that are being fired, including this gentleman, he was the guy who was looking out for whistleblowers. they're getting rid of the parts of the government that end corruption or that at least try to stop corruption. it feels like there's a theme. >> there. >> yeah, well. >> this is part. >> of a shift in governance. >> culture to accommodate corruption. >> and that. >> was a feature of trump 1.0. >> but it's on steroids now. >>

judge tanya chutkan, you may remember her as the judge who oversaw trump's criminal case related to allegations of. election subversion. well, today, she declined to block elon musk and doge from accessing federal data at a slew of federal agencies. now, the suit was brought by a group of state attorneys general. they were also asking her to block doge from being able to fire federal employees or place them on involuntary leave. but she said that this group had not shown how they would be directly harmed. she said, quote, the court is aware that doj's unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for the plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents. but she said it remains uncertain when and how the catalog of state programs that the plaintiffs identify will suffer. this is just the second. this is the second victory for doge today. this morning, another obama appointed federal judge, randy moss, here in washington, ruled that doge would not be blocked from accessing data at the department of education after students filed a suit asking to protect their da

ask you about that effort to sort of block what doge is doing, because when it comes to judge tanya chutkan, she's an obama appointed judge. she declined to block doge from accessing federal data. her argument was that these 14 democratic attorneys general failed to show that they suffer imminent, irreparable harm from doge having access to these sensitive systems. do you have evidence to the contrary? >> well, listen, one of the challenges with these court cases is figuring out how to define standing and how these cases should be structured. but it's very clear that there is no american that i have met that believes that a private billionaire who has significant conflicts of interest and millions and billions of dollars in federal contracts, should have access to private treasury payment systems to your private irs and business information to your social security information. and we don't even know what he's using this data for. in fact, the folks who actually investigate waste, fraud, and abuse are the inspector generals. and donald trump fired them all on his first week in office. the ex

but as you noted, they've had a lot of trouble with this, particularly with judge tanya chutkan in d.c the administration has been talking a lot about elon musk's role. kevin hassett just told reporters he's, quote, an it consultant at a white house press briefing. is there a legal reason they're keeping his role ambiguous? >> there sure is, because if elon musk's role isn't understood well by nonprofits or states or other people who are going to bring legal challenges to what doge is doing, then he's not the right defendant for them. and that alone can defeat a lawsuit. christina. >> all right. lisa rubin, thank you so much for joining us. and thank all of you. that's going thank all of you. that's going to be it for me today. deadl with fatigue and light-headedness, i knew something was wrong. then i saw my doctor and found out i have afib, and that means there's about a 5 times greater risk of stroke. symptoms like irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or light-headedness, can come and go. but if you have afib, the risk of stroke is always ther

judge tanya chutkan, who oversaw donald trump's january 6th case, heard arguments on that late todaymmediately issue a ruling. joining me now is rob schreiber, who served as acting director of the office of personnel management during the final year of the biden administration. mr. schreiber, thank you for being here. i guess my basic question, the basic question that i think a lot of federal employees might be asking themselves is what rights do employees have? i always thought of these kinds of, we call them government jobs, these federal civil service jobs, as having certain civil service protections from things like abrupt firing. is that true? >> yeah they do, joy. >> and thanks. >> for. >> having me. and i'm happy to say. that democracy forward, the. >> organization i. >> work for. has been. >> at the. forefront of. >> protecting those. employee rights. >> so you hear a lot about. >> these probationary. >> employees today. >> these are folks. who are in their first. >> or. >> second year on the job. >> and they can't just be summarily terminated like. >> this on a mass scale. >

tanya chutkan just wrapped up a hearing in a case filed against the trump administration by democratiche department of government efficiency overreached when it slashed federal agency funds and programs. meanwhile, the white house set to file an emergency appeal at the supreme court to keep its fired government watchdog head off the job. joining us now, eugene daniels, playbook coauthor and white house correspondent for politico, and former federal prosecutor paul butler. eugene, first to you. this this emergency application to the supreme court is really the first major test of trump's powers when it comes to the courts. what are you watching for there? >> yeah, one. >> i'm watching. >> for if the supreme court takes it up, first of. >> all, obviously. >> but, you know, this is a continued show from this administration. and when they were, you. >> know, even just a campaign that they're willing to do things that other white house's other, you know, former presidents weren't willing to do. right. you think about. >> the fact that they. >> the supreme court took up the immunity case. >>

judge tanya chutkan says the request for a block on doge was too broad and gave states until sunday to more clearly define the potential harm. >> what we're. >> alleging is that elon musk and his sort of designation as some super employee violates the appointments clause, the constitution says if you're going to wield that kind of power as a federal official, you've got to be properly vetted and go through a confirmation process with the united states senate. he's done none of that. he's got access to financial data, personal information. it's dangerous. >> and democrats are once again questioning the true motives of doge, tying president trump's mass layoffs and budget cuts to some of trump's tax cuts, which expire next year. they're not concerned. >> about waste. if they were worried about waste, they wouldn't have fired all the inspectors general. this is really a reverse robin hood strategy. stealing from average americans to give to the rich. >> our reporters in place, covering all the new developing storylines. we're going to start with nbc's aaron gilchrist at the white house, w

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