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Kendrick Lamar Set to Perform at Super Bowl; Jobless Claims Rise; Did Trump Administration Expose Names of CIA Agents?; Interview With Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR). Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 06, 2025 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): We gave a questionnaire of saying, hey, under what authority are you even in the building? You haven't been confirmed. And we got no answers back. His file is incomplete.

And in that situation, the Republican leadership of the Senate has a responsibility to delay his confirmation. But they're not doing so because this is the momentum of the imperial presidency and the Republican majority in the Senate bowing to that and letting it run over the law and run over the Constitution.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: So are you saying that basically they're abdicating their Article I legislative branch duties by letting him become the head of OMB?

MERKLEY: Absolutely, because this is an individual who came to our offices and said, hey, I know what the court said when Nixon tried to impound funds, but you know what? President Trump doesn't agree with the court, and either do I, so we're going to do it.

That type of straightforward decision-making of violating the law and violating the Constitution means this individual should be nowhere near any government office.

BROWN: And also, though, the director of OMB is a partisan job. The duty is to enact the president's agenda. So why is he more dangerous than anyone else that Trump would put in the job to carry out his wishes?

MERKLEY: Well, this role -- and people are not so familiar with OMB, like they are the Defense Department or secretary of state and so forth, but this is the chief engineer of the administration.

All of those executive orders that were issued in the first two weeks, this was under Russell Vought's prescription. Not only was he the architect of Project 2025, but he wrote the 180-day plan for the first 180 days of the Trump administration. So he is the key person.

And to have the key person who says, we're just going to violate the law, and, if you don't like it, take it up with the courts, knowing that the courts will take years to decide things. I mean, we have an assumption of a foundation of law. And once that

assumption is gone, you have erased the line between a republic, in which there is a Congress to make the laws and an executive to implement them, and a dictator and our imperial presidency, where the president is given the power to do both.

And that is why he's so dangerous.

BROWN: I want to pivot to something else because you're also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. What do you think about President Trump's proposal for a Gaza takeover and essentially relocate, now the White House is changing its tune, saying temporarily, nearly two million Palestinians? What do you think?

MERKLEY: Well, let's understand that a plan to depopulate Gaza was the general's plan from the far right in Netanyahu's Cabinet to depopulate Gaza, so Israel could take it over.

Now President Trump is talking about, well, we will help depopulate it. This would be a crime against humanity. This would be a massive violation of international law. And this would destroy the possibility of a Palestinian state, which is why Trump and Netanyahu are giving some voice to it.

There's only one way to break the cycle of hate and violence in the Middle East, and that is for the Palestinian people to have the opportunity to have their own country and pursue their own aspirations. This type of strategy is just going to increase the hate and violation of basic human rights across the board.

And it's a horrific idea, and we should all stand fiercely opposed to it.

BROWN: Senator Jeff Merkley, thank you for coming on to share your perspective. We appreciate your time.

MERKLEY: Thank you, Pamela. All right, take care.

BROWN: Up next, details about the unclassified e-mails sent to the White House with the first name and last initial of every CIA staffer over the last two years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:38:18]

BROWN: New security concerns this morning after the White House ordered the CIA to send an unclassified e-mail with the first name and last initial of every CIA staff hired in the last two years.

CNN's Zachary Cohen joins us now.

Zachary, you have been reporting on this. What threat does this e-mail pose?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Pam, we're hearing a lot of concern about the counterintelligence threat here, and particularly because they sent it on an unclassified -- or in an unclassified e-mail.

That opens the door to potentially exposing the identities of these new hires, of these CIA officers that were included in this list. And that includes people that are training to go undercover, people who can conduct their missions based purely around the fact that they are able to hide their true identity from everybody else.

So that's been a prime target for foreign adversaries and foreign hackers in particular. We have seen them in the past target this unclassified White House e-mail network. You might remember the OPM hack just a few years ago. It was a massive breach by Chinese-linked hackers. Russian hackers also tried to gain access.

So this really is the concern here that foreign adversaries are going to try to identify these individuals based on this list that was provided to the White House. And, look, the CIA obviously values and prioritizes secrecy, right?

The Starbucks at Langley at CIA headquarters doesn't even write the names of employees on their Starbucks cups when they order coffee. This is something that is essential to the mission that CIA provides and the service they provide. And it's really something that people are warning is a national security threat just by the pure act of sending this information an unclassified e-mail.

BROWN: So what are lawmakers saying about this?

COHEN: Yes, Democrats, in particular, are very concerned, outraged even, really highlighting some of these same security threats we were just talking about.

In particular, Congressman Himes, who is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He was -- he called this an unforeseen unnecessary national security risk. Take a listen to what he said when this news broke yesterday.

[11:40:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): The ones that are operational, the case officers who are operating in very, very dangerous places around the world, they are living undercover.

If they are discovered, and especially those that don't have diplomatic immunity, I mentioned them earlier, it can be curtains for them. It's just not that hard to convey classified information from one government department to the other. So we have put a lot of people needlessly at risk here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, obviously, this list was provided to the White House by CIA after pressure from the Trump administration to really comply with that executive order from Trump to downsize the federal government.

Once source put it as, this was the least bad option, sending only the first names and the first letter of the last name to try to obscure the identities of these individuals.

BROWN: Not hard to figure it out, right?

COHEN: Right, but while also sort of going along with what the Trump administration wanted here. At the end of the day, though, the CIA says they were doing what Trump directed them to do, saying -- quote -- "We are complying with the executive orders and are providing requested information through the appropriate channels."

But, I mean, ultimately those concerns are still out there. And Congressman Himes and other Democrats are still speaking out against -- are speaking out about them.

BROWN: All right, Zachary Cohen, thank you.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:35]

BROWN: Right now, Kendrick Lamar is speaking about headlining the Super Bowl's halftime show in New Orleans.

Fresh off his Grammy wins on Sunday, the rap megastar says he is excited to bring hip-hop back to the Super Bowl.

CNN's Lisa Respers France joins us now.

Lisa, what else did Kendrick Lamar preview during his press conference?

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Yes, unfortunately, Kendrick hasn't spoken yet.

BROWN: OK.

RESPERS FRANCE: So, we're still waiting for him to speak.

BROWN: That's important.

RESPERS FRANCE: Yes, that is very important. But people are excited to hear what he has to say, almost as excited as they are for the Super Bowl halftime show.

There's, of course, a lot of interest because he won five Grammys on Sunday. And he won some really important awards and song of the year and record the year for "Not Like Us." And, of course, "Not Like Us" was the Lynch pin in his rap beef, his battle he was having last year with Drake.

So everyone wants to see, is this going to be just a regular Kendrick Lamar performance, because he has such a deep well of hits, or is it going to be another takedown of Drake? Is he going to perform "Not Like Us," especially given the fact that Drake has filed suit against his own record label over that song for defamation, even though he did not name Kendrick Lamar as one of the defendants, Pamela.

BROWN: So who are some of the other performers?

RESPERS FRANCE: Well, Ledisi is performing, Jon Batiste. It's really going to be like a real New Orleans flavor because, of course, that's where the Super Bowl is being held.

But Kendrick is being joined by SZA, who's a frequent collaborator with him, and she is going out on tour with him as well. But that's something else that people are looking for, because oftentimes with these halftime shows we get surprise guests. And so he's had so many collaborators.

People want to know in particular is Taylor Swift going to perform with him because they collaborated on her "Bad Blood" song, and, of course, she will be there because someone special to her just happens to be playing again in the Super Bowl. So since she's already going to be there for her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, playing in the Super Bowl, people want to see is she going to pop out and perform with him?

My colleagues and I have been talking about this, and I personally -- if I can venture my own opinion, I don't think she's going to do it. I think she wants to keep the focus on her boyfriend, who this is a huge deal for them to be returning to the Super Bowl. So I just don't see her taking to the stage to kind of take away the shine from him.

But you never know. I mean, he's, like I said, collaborated with so many people, including Beyonce, I mean, just a lot of top names. So anybody could pop up with Kendrick Lamar. And a lot of people want to see Lil Wayne. There was a lot of disappointment that Lil Wayne was not announced as the halftime performer because nothing says New Orleans like Lil Wayne.

So there's an expectation that Kendrick Lamar might give the people what they want and bring fellow rapper Lil Wayne on, so just lots of excitement, Pam. We cannot wait.

BROWN: All right, we cannot wait.

Lisa Respers France, thank you. We will be right back.

RESPERS FRANCE: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:16]

BROWN: Well, new data show first-time unemployment claims bounced back last week; 219,000 people filed initial claims. That is still at near-pre-pandemic levels.

That reporting coming as all eyes will be on the first jobs report of 2025 set to be released tomorrow morning. Economists estimate that 170,000 jobs were added last month, with the unemployment rate expected to hold steady at 4.1 percent.

And while the data might be strong, some people who are looking for work are still struggling to find a job. And that's an especially important point to raise, because federal workers, some are either taking buyouts or they could be laid off soon. They have until midnight tonight to make a decision.

Vanessa Yurkevich has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANE EVANS, JOB SEEKER: This is what I'm doing now in the middle of the week, in the middle of the night, working in a catering hall on minimum wage and begging for tips. But this is only temporary, right? It's only temporary.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): On paper, the jobs market appears strong, but it's getting harder for people out of work to find new jobs, especially those looking for high-paying white-collar positions.

Since the end of 2022, the number of people looking for work for more than six months is up by 45 percent.

(on camera): Right now, we're on our way into deep Brooklyn to meet with Diane Evans. She's 59 years old. She's been working in the H.R. industry for 35 years. But about a year ago, she was laid off from her job, where she was making over $200,000 a year.

And since then, she's only been able to find one job. That's working at a catering hall as a bathroom attendant.

When you see the headlines, strong numbers, hundreds of thousands of jobs added, what do you think when you see that?

[11:55:04]

EVANS: That's not the reality that I see. That's not what I'm living.

YURKEVICH: How would you compare this job market to all the other job market cycles that you have been through in your career?

EVANS: I have never seen anything like this. They call it the white- collar recession. So it's like middle management and that kind of level.

I'm just not getting the traction that I think I should get, based on the amount of work I'm putting in. It's crazy. I have applied to over 1,000 jobs in a year, which is crazy.

YURKEVICH: And what is your success rate out of those 1,000 jobs of getting a callback?

EVANS: And I'm probably being generous here, but maybe one call to 25 applications, maybe more.

YURKEVICH: This is a lot of work.

EVANS: A lot of work.

YURKEVICH: Like, how much time are you spending every day searching?

EVANS: I start my day probably 7:30-ish in the morning. The first thing I do is go on LinkedIn. Over 100 people have already clicked apply, and they just posted it yesterday.

People will say to me, why don't you get a job? You know, you're such a snob. You have to be a V.P. I applied to Lowe's, Home Depot, Target, all kinds of stuff around here.

YURKEVICH: And what happened with that?

EVANS: Rejection letters. I got a rejection letter from Macy's being a spritzer person. I worked in Macy's when I was in college. Like, are you kidding me?

My oldest son, his friend got me a job as a ladies room attendant at a catering hall, a very high-end catering hall. But the first week or so, it was rough. I looked in the mirror and I cry.

YURKEVICH: How much are you making like an hour there at this job?

EVANS: Sixteen-fifty.

YURKEVICH: Sixteen-fifty?

EVANS: Compared to the hundred I used to make. When you figure out my salary, it was a little bit over $100 an hour.

This is where the Macy's is.

YURKEVICH: Oh, this is the Macy's you used to work at?

EVANS: Yes, the one that rejected me. I did think that I was going to be able to make a decent living, to be able to save, and have money for retirement.

And my job's gone. My money's gone. And starting all over scratch is scary.

YURKEVICH: Right. Oh, here we are. Oh, this is charming.

EVANS: This isn't exactly the life I envisioned, but I'm trying to make lemon drop martinis out of lemons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Pamela Brown. Stay with us.

"INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.