Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Administration to Axe Thousands of USAID Staff; Concerns Grow Over Elon Musk's Access to Federal Data; Rights Groups Condemn Trump Plan for U.S. Control of Gaza; Elon Musk Targets U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer Over Abuse Scandal; Fighting in Goma Leaves Thousands Dead. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 07, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Multiple sources tell CNN that all but 294 USAID personnel deemed essential are expected to be put on leave, fired or furloughed in the hours ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I honestly can't thank him enough for doing this because we need justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Musk appears to have picked Oldham and the abuse scandal to reignite attacks on U.K. PM Keir Starmer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're looking at inmates fleeing from a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a feared and dangerous rebel group called M23 battled government troops for control of Goma.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Friday, February the 7th. It's 9 a.m. here in London and 4 a.m. in Washington, D.C., where the Trump administration has been taking drastic measures to shrink and dismantle the federal government.

According to multiple sources, USAID is about to be decimated. Nearly 10,000 workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development are bracing to be put on administrative leave today or fired outright. Only about 300 personnel deemed essential are expected to survive the mass layoffs.

Special government employee and Trump ally Elon Musk posted USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.

But staff aren't going down without fighting. Two labor groups representing USAID employees filed suits against the U.S. President, but it's unclear if the court will intervene on emergency grounds before the day ends. The lawsuit also targets the Trump administration's freeze on humanitarian assistance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMANTHA POWER, FORMER USAID ADMINISTRATOR: This is devastating and it is seeding the field as well to the People's Republic of China, to the Russian Federation and other malign actors who would like nothing more than to see the U.S. ground game in American foreign policy, the face of American values disappear like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The U.S. Secretary of State defended the gutting of the agency, claiming foreign aid is the least popular thing the government spends money on. But he also tried to provide an assurance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not trying to be disruptive to people's personal lives. We're not this is we're not trying to -- we're not being punitive here, but this is the only way we've been able to get cooperation from USAID.

We are going to do foreign aid. The United States will be providing foreign aid, but it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: An expert on international aid and development blasted the sudden funding freeze, which he says is being met with a mixture of frustration and anxiety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER TAYLOR, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES: The USA has been by far the largest international aid donor, $70 billion a year. So a sudden stop order on USAID funded activities has had an immediate negative impact on critical humanitarian and development work around the world. And it's affecting communities and those who are already most vulnerable children, those with disabilities, those who have health challenges and many other groups.

And it's really undermining those long term efforts in the U.S.'s own interests. And it's derailing efforts to address poverty, malnutrition, spread of disease and global health security. So to stop immediately the flow of aid is really, I would say, catastrophic.

We had colleagues who were on the ground undertaking a participatory workshop with community members from -- who'd come from a significant area. And this was part of a longer term project where they'd been working together for some time looking at sanitation, how to provide clean water and also better facilities, sanitation facilities for all members of the community, particularly those who are most disadvantaged. And during the first day of the event, they received a stop order where they were told that they had to cease the activity instantly. And all those community members who traveled quite far and had given up all their own activities to come there were told essentially just to, to go home. So obviously, people who were there at that time are incredibly frustrated in the knowledge that the work that they're doing with people who are vulnerable and need that support just had to instantly stop.

[04:05:03]

And they're struggling really to understand why this freeze could have that kind of implication where it has such an immediate impact and an ongoing activity should have to stop there and then, not only disrupting the activity itself, but much longer term efforts to build relationships, build trust, work respectfully and actually to achieve real concrete impact on the ground through better sanitation for women, for children and for vulnerable people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, a U.S. judge has halted another effort to thin the federal workforce by pausing the deadline for federal employees to accept the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer. But a White House official says 65,000 staffers have already agreed to the so-called buyout. CNN's Jeff Zeleny picks up that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: A midnight deadline for federal workers to accept an offer for an early resignation was halted on Thursday by a federal judge in Massachusetts. Three federal labor unions came together to ask the judge to put a pause on this plan being pushed by the Trump administration. Now, the judge agreed to hold a hearing on Monday, which means it puts this entire question of the federal workforce being reshaped, at least in this respect, on hold until Monday.

Now, one of the central questions here, as federal workers are deciding whether to return to the office or decide to leave the government altogether, will they actually be paid? Now, some federal labor unions are warning them there could be issues with this. There is deep skepticism and suspicion among the ranks of federal workers, largely because of comments like this from the White House press secretary.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUS PRESS SECRETARY: We encourage federal workers in this city to accept the very generous offer. If they don't want to show up to the office, if they want to rip the American people off, then they're welcome to take this buyout and we'll find highly competent individuals who want to fill these roles.

ZELENY: So late Thursday, all federal workers receiving a message from the government saying that they have now until Monday at midnight to accept that offer, which would extend payments until September in exchange for leaving work early. But that is very much an open question based on how the judge rules on that. So we have one more example here of a federal judge stepping in to block or at least temporarily hold a Trump administration move.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The Environmental Protection Agency is the latest government arm taking action in the Trump administration's fight against diversity, equity and inclusion. An internal EPA email obtained by CNN shows that on Thursday, more than 160 workers in the agency's environmental justice and external civil rights divisions were placed on paid administrative leave. Those employees were told they could still take advantage of the federal government's so-called buyout offer.

Now, sources tell CNN that a 23 year old member of Elon Musk's team was granted access to the Energy Department's IT system on Wednesday, despite not having clearance. The department's general counsel objected, calling it a bad idea since he hadn't gone through the required background checks. But that didn't stop Mr. Trump's new energy secretary, Chris Wright, from allowing the former SpaceX intern to access the system. Sources say he was able to get into e-mail and Microsoft 365. Brian Barrett, executive editor at Wired, spoke to CNN earlier about the secrecy surrounding Musk's team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN BARRETT, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, WIRED: We have reporting that shows that people who work for DOGE are trying to do so in secrecy. They're not saying their names in meetings. They're not being introduced.

So you could be a career civil servant and walk into a code review at the GSA and not know who this 20 year old is, who is making you defend your job. There's been a lot of messaging from the government saying we have to protect these DOGE staffers' privacy, which is ironic, given the level of access to sensitive data of everyday Americans that they are demanding without much justification.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: After a week of back and forth with the Trump Justice Department, the FBI has handed over the names of employees who worked on a January 6th Capitol insurrection cases. Agency acting director Brian Driscoll told employees in an e-mail on Thursday he has no information indicating the DOJ intends to release the list publicly. Many in the bureau had feared that would put agents in danger.

And whilst acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove didn't rule out that some agents could face consequences, he said the information was not collected to retaliate against anyone involved in the investigations. That's seen as a possible indication there may not be mass firings.

International Criminal Court is condemning Donald Trump's latest executive order, this one targeting ICC investigations. The court says it stands firmly by its personnel and their work. President Trump is placing sanctions on people who helped the ICC conduct their inquiries.

[04:10:00]

The White House accuses the ICC of engaging in, quote, illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and its close ally Israel. According to a fact sheet obtained by CNN, the executive order places financial and visa sanctions on individuals who assist ICC investigations and their family members.

The move amounts to an effort to punish the ICC for issuing arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Mr. Netanyahu met with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday. The Senate's Republican Majority Whip says the Israeli leader pushed for Congress to sanction the ICC, a measure passed the Republican controlled House but was blocked by Senate Democrats just last month.

The Republican Senate Majority Whip says Mr. Netanyahu asked senators not to dismiss the White House proposal for Gaza. Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu both claim U.S. troops won't be needed to carry out plans for the U.S. to take over the enclave after the war. The president posted this on Thursday, insisting the U.S. would oversee reconstruction and turn Gaza into, quote, one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. He promised U.S. soldiers would not be needed.

Israel's leader gave a definitive no when asked about U.S. troop involvement. Meanwhile, there's growing international condemnation of Mr. Trump's proposal.

Here's China's foreign ministry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUO JIAKUN, CHINES FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of the Palestinian Territory. It is not a bargaining chip to strike political deals, nor should it become a target of the law of the jungle. Gaza has already been ravaged by the flames of war and reduced to ruins with suffering everywhere.

The international community, particularly major powers, should join hands to provide badly needed humanitarian aid and contribute to Gaza's reconstruction efforts rather than adding insult to the injury.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, rights groups and leaders from the Middle East and beyond reject President Trump's plan as illegal and say it amounts to ethnic cleansing. But Mr. Netanyahu called it a, quote, remarkable idea and ordered Israel's army to draw up plans for large numbers of Palestinians to leave the enclave.

Elon Musk is spreading his political influence in Washington to the world now. Next, how and why the billionaire is pushing an old scandal that erupted when the British prime minister was a prosecutor.

Plus, inmates start a fire during a prison break in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The horrific result, dozens of sexual assaults on female prisoners who later died in the flames.

And new details on Sweden's worst mass shooting, a possible connection between the gunman and the school where he opened fire.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Tech billionaire Elon Musk is not only focused on shaking up the U.S. government, he's also set his sights on the U.K. Musk has been targeting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over a sex abuse scandal from more than a decade ago when Starmer was a prosecutor.

CNN's Nic Robertson examines how Musk's actions are opening old wounds in a northern English town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Demands for a national inquiry into grooming gangs. Very close to the center of which is Elon Musk.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): In these northern English streets, gangs of predominantly Pakistani heritage men groomed and gang-raped vulnerable young girls, exploiting them under the noses of authorities.

ROBERTSON: It is this painful national scar that Elon Musk has helped reopen using his social media platform X to call for a national inquiry into these awful events more than a decade ago.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): His intervention, targeting the UK prime minister, is winning Musk fans.

SAMANTHA WALKER-ROBERTS, CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR: I honestly can't thank him enough for doing this because we need justice and we can't keep going on year after year, decades on and still getting nowhere.

ROBERTSON: What's different this time?

WALKER-ROBERTS: Everyone's finally listening.

ROBERTSON: Because of Elon Musk.

WALKER-ROBERTS: Yeah.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Sam, who was raped by a South Asian grooming gang, doesn't want to show her face, fearing a backlash.

WALKER-ROBERTS: I went to the police station to report a sexual assault that had just happened. There were two men behind me. They interrupted and said, we can give you a lift, which the officer said, yeah, go with them. ROBERTSON: Do the police handed you over to abusers?

WALKER-ROBERTS: Yes.

ROBERTSON: You were how old then?

WALKER-ROBERTS: Twelve, yeah. As children, we're meant to trust officials. I was hurt from that.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Musk appears to have picked Oldham and the abuse scandal to reignite attacks on U.K. PM Keir Starmer that began last summer. Picking up again early January when Musk began accusing Starmer, who was the chief prosecutor as the child abuse scandal surfaced, of failing, tweeting, prison for Starmer. Starmer must go.

Starmer accused Musk of, quote, lies and disinformation. The region's former chief prosecutor defends his and his boss at the time, Keir Starmer's record.

NAZIR AFZAL, FORMER CHIEF PROSECUTOR FOR NORTH-WEST ENGLAND: We had gone from being poor to having the highest conviction rate for child sexual abuse in British history.

[04:20:00]

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Says Musk's motivation is not about helping Sam and other victims.

AFZAL: He's just, just stirring up a racist pot.

ROBERTSON: Worse, he says, Musk's right wing tweets amplifying posts focusing on crimes committed by, quote, migrants, Pakistani, Muslim and Asian gangs are putting girls at risk.

AFZAL: When you just focus on the brown guy, you're telling girls, beware of the brown guy. You're not telling them that they're 40 times more likely in this country to be abused by a British white guy.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): For years, rape was happening in plain sight. Institutional failings repeated.

ROBERTSON: According to an independent national inquiry, the child abuse scandal spanned dozens of British cities, affected thousands of children through shame on national institutions, heightened racial tensions, particularly in cities like Oldham, historically poorer with higher than national average immigration.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Oldham, a Rust Belt type of town, is also pushing back.

ABDUL WAHID, OLDHAM COUNCILOR: Not just Elon Musk, anybody who gets the opportunity, to be fair, you know, when they want to drive an agenda, Oldham seems to get used.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Councilor Wahid supports Musk's call for an inquiry, but not the way he's doing it. WAHID: Some of the rhetoric he's coming out with is probably not helpful.

ROBERTSON: Which bit is that?

WAHID: Well, making comments that are specifically aimed at a race and a religion and cultures, etc.

ROBERTSON: Why is it unhelpful?

WAHID: It's unhelpful because everybody starts pitching against each other.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Musk's divisive onslaught has forced Starmer's hand, triggering new legislation and a new but non-statutory inquiry for Oldham. Sam says it's not enough. What she wants from Musk is to stop enabling the right wing. WALKER-ROBERTS: He needs to say that this is about survivors, not about everyone else. And too many people are jumping on this bandwagon.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): A bandwagon, Musk, perhaps figures, might drive Starmer from office.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Oldham, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, CNN has reached out to Musk's team for comment and hasn't heard back yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Silence the guns. Stop the escalation. It's time for mediation. It's time to end this crisis. It's time to peace. Let us all act together for peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The U.N. Secretary-General there on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has left 3,000 people dead in Goma over the past few weeks. Rwandan-backed rebels are now on the move, heading to another key city. Neighboring Rwanda is accused of helping the rebels. The President is expected to meet with his Congolese counterpart in the coming hours.

We're also learning about the horrific fate suffered by female inmates during a prison break and the chaos of Goma's capture.

The U.N. says male prisoners started a fire at the facilities as the battle for the city was underway last week. Salma Abdelaziz explains what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is truly horrible and a trigger warning to our viewers. We are learning that at least 165 female prisoners were raped. This video shows where and when this horrifying mass rape took place.

You are looking at inmates fleeing from a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, more than 4,000 detainees made it out that day. But before their escape, some of the men carried out the mass rape of 165 women.

Then they set the prison alight. Most of those rape victims died in the fire. That's according to the United Nations. Only around a dozen female inmates who had also been raped survived the blaze.

Now, fighting has been taking place after a feared and dangerous rebel group called M23 battled government troops for control of Goma, a city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a matter of days, the M23 rebels forcibly seized control of the city.

Systematic sexual violence has long plagued the country. And with the conflict now spiraling out of control, women and girls are yet again at risk.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: New details are emerging about the suspect in the worst mass shooting in Sweden's history. These are live images coming to us from Orebro in Sweden, site of the attack.

Now growing memorial to those killed as well, as you can see. At least 10 people were killed in Tuesday's shooting. Police believe the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. According to multiple media outlets, the gunman was 35-year-old Rickard Andersson.

[04:25:00]

Authorities carried out bags of items after searching his apartment and nearby trash cans. Police say they don't have a motive for the shooting at the school for adult education, but they're looking into information that he was somehow connected to the school or that he may have attended the school at one time. They also say he had a license for four guns. Those guns have been confiscated.

Still ahead, Japan's prime minister arrives in the U.S. ahead of a meeting with President Trump. What will the two discuss, next?

Plus, Panama Canal controversy. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio walks back some of his comments. We'll explain just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us here are some of today's top stories.

A pair of labor groups are suing the Trump administration.