the i maritime silk road, as some have referred to it.e we not paying attention, and is this something that the trump administration is now able to catch up to, or are we too far behind? >> well, we weren't paying attention. it's never too late to do manager. but, you know, in -- something. in our own hemisphere, we have chinese ports all throughout south america, central america and the caribbean. and one of them is within 87 miles of the florida east coast. that's in freeport in the bahamas. and china, of course, has extensive operations in cuba which are mostly military, so we have a region which is closer to china thans it is to the united states. -- we saw that when biden was humiliated when he went to peru last year. so this is really the first time that that we've had a president who is focused on diplomacy in the western hemisphere. and that's a really good thing, because these threats are critical. griff: well, and to your point for our viewers, so cuba here, and you're talking about the influence of china. that, of course, now t

by the way, donald trump recently pardoned, gave an unconditional pardon to the guy who founded silk road, which is which was a major drug trafficking site. so how much does he actually care about any of this? and what are the objectives here? and if he doesn't know the objectives, i don't know how our counterparties, how these other countries negotiate with him. it's very hard to negotiate with someone who doesn't know what they want. >> all right. catherine rampell, as always, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> still ahead, senior fbi leaders ordered to retire, resign or be fired by monday. and it stems from their involvement in investigating january 6th and or any investigation around president trump. what the purge means that's ahead. >> kobe didn't want to be one of the all time greats. he wanted to be the best. >> he may be the one to self-sabotage everything he's ever wanted. >> that's when the black. >> mamba was born. >> kobe the making. >> of. >> a legend. tonight at nine on cnn. >> one a next. >> level clean. >> swish with. >> the whoa of listerine. it kill

that article that silk road marketplace was shut down by the fbi in october of 2013.nd this is andres. republican, good morning. so where do i even start on today's program. let's start with this. we just heard on your program the president of the united states arguing for ethnic cleansing. and arguing for the force reduction -- repatriation, actually arguing for expelling the palestinians from palestine. what does that sound like to you. is that a really democratic person, or is it some deranged individual that thinks he's god and he can move 3 million people out of that area. it is a large area of neighboring to israel. is that really a person that cares for democratic values, someone advocating on that asis with the biggest bullhorn in the universe, which there should be that there should be ethnic cleansing in palestine. host: did you vote for president trump? caller: of course not. you've cut me off before when i dared mentioned national socialism. this guy, but he's got empower today, are running like mad men to be able to take over this government and make trum

it is been a part of their belt and road strategy, the maritime silk road for decades. they believe this influence, this investment in owning maritime ports is important to their economy. chair cruz: senator fischer? sen. fischer: i would like to follow up on the ports and where we are on that. in 2021 hutchinson was awarded those two ports, port balboa and port cristobal in a no-bid award process. did you tell me, does the united states have any authority or recourse with the panama canal authority under our current agreement with panama to rebid those terminal concession contracts and perhaps mr. kontorovich, that is more your purview. mr. sola: both of those ports were redone for 25 years until 2047. they have to pay $7 million is what the rate is for the port of houston and the port of miami sized concessions. sen. fisher: can it can't be rebid until after that date? mr. sola: i believe that is what the comptroller's office is auditing, both of those ports and that contract and that was done under the previous panamanian administration. a new administration came in

familiar with ross albert, he started the silk road, made millions of dollars selling drugs, providing a vehicle by which people could get things that were going to kill them, and people died. he also sought a couple of people to murder on his behalf, because who thought his empire was threatened. what is your opinion about trump pardoning this drug dealer and attempted murder? mr. patel: my opinion on pardons is one, i was not consulted. sen. welch: i am asking you your opinion. the person who created the dark web, drug dealer, should he be pardoned, in your opinion? mr. patel: it's not appropriate for me to talk about pardons. sen. welch: i am with you on that. ok, i am with you. i am just trying to find out about ulbricht. bottom line, you will have a tough job and a tough boss. because he gets it in his mind that he wants to do something, nothing will come in his way. there will come a time when an fbi director or an attorney has to make a decision about the constitution and what is being requested. and can that person at the time when the values of the constitution are at stake, s

mexico cartels consider this, donald trump less than two weeks ago on january 21, 2025 pardoned the silk roadmeone who is sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin. the district judge had to say that nobody -- he was no better a person then any other drug dealer. they say that he also solicited six morton -- murders for higher including one against a former employee, probably a snitch. and the answer is to why. while seeking the court votes, he hinted that he planned to commute his sentence during his speech last year at the libertarian national convention. he kept his promise, this is the hypocrisy at the same level that you find when we get cash patel -- when you talk about patel. host: john in new york, line for independents, and he will be the last call for today. caller: i was going to say there are a lot of racist callers calling in on both sides of the aisle. i hear people calling the majority of trump supporters white supremacists. that is a racist remark. that poor olde

earlier this week, i had the pleasure of visiting the silk roads exhibition at the british museum.'ll bring you a special report which explores the trade networks that link communities across asia, africa and europe. we'll travel together from xi'an to samarkand to sutton hoo , as to samarkand to sutton hoo, as we enjoy some extraordinary artefacts, and stefan kyriazis has once again had a theatrical week in the west end, and he'll be here to award star ratings to the stars. but first, your news headunes the stars. but first, your news headlines with sam francis. >> very good morning to you. just coming up to 11:02. the top story. while the uk is set to become the first country in the world to criminalise owning ai tools that create images of child sexual abuse, the home secretary, yvette cooper, says offenders could face up to five years in prison under the new crackdown. owning so—called ai paedophile manuals could carry a three year sentence. ministers warn ai generated images are being used to blackmail children and push them into live streaming abuse. the united states is impo

and i know firsthand ross ulbricht, the guy who founded the silk road website, who was given two lifeerms and 40 years with no parole. he was going to pardon ross. during his first term in 2017. he was, his mother has told me he was bounced around by doj deep state, as they would call it, operatives this time around. the argument is from trump and his team that he knows how to handle government. he knows how it works. >> well, he may know. there's no doubt he's learned more about how to run the government that i give you that. but i don't think in the end, the chainsaw cutting of the federal government is going to end up being a net plus for him. i don't think it's i think already you can see the pushback from the public. for instance, i saw a guy on tv last night from outside philadelphia, went to work for the irs, voted for trump, loved trump, said. i figured trump will know how to cut the government as a businessman. he got fired this week. he's one of the many people losing their jobs, he people losing theirjobs, he said. biggest mistake of my life was voting for donald trump. and

and i know firsthand ross ulbricht, the guy who founded the silk road website, who was given two lifems and 40 years with no parole. he was going to pardon ross. during his first term in 2017. he was, his mother has told me he was bounced around by doj deep state, as they would call it, operatives this time around. the argument is from trump and his team that he knows how to handle government. he knows how it works. >> well, he may know. there's no doubt he's learned more about how to run the government that i give you that. but i don't think in the end, the chainsaw cutting of the federal government is going to end up being a net plus for him. i don't think it's i think already you can see the pushback from the public. for instance, i saw a guy on tv last night from outside philadelphia, went to work for the irs, voted for trump, loved trump, said. i figured trump will know how to cut the government as a businessman. he got fired this week. he's one of the many people losing their jobs, he people losing theirjobs, he said. biggest mistake of my life was voting for donald trump. and,