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CNN International: Judge Pauses Putting USAID Workers on Leave; Trump: Musk to "Review" Just About Everything"; Japan PM Meets with Trump at WH; Hamas to Release Three Israeli Hostages; Trump Revokes Biden's security clearances; Trump Freezes Aid to South Africa; North Korea Tourism; Super Bowl Commercials. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 07, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It's really tough to bet against Patrick Mahomes. Chiefs have won 17 straight one score games, but I think that streak finally comes to an end. I think the Eagles are victorious --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, there we go.

SCHOLES: -- on Sunday.

TAPPER There it is. There it is. Andy Scholes, thanks so much. Coming up Sunday on State of the Union, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. That's Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern, and again at noon here on CNN.

The news continues on CNN with Jim Sciutto in for Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. Fly, Eagles, fly. Go, Birks.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming on CNN Max. I'm Jessica Dean.

And just ahead, a federal judge temporarily blocking the Trump administration from putting thousands of USAID workers on leave. Donald Trump says he's told Elon Musk to review just about everything in the federal budget, including spending for education and the Pentagon. And North Korea's efforts to transform a remote town into a tourist destination.

We have breaking news at this hour on the Trump administration's plan to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development. A little over an hour ago, a federal judge blocked efforts to place thousands of those USAID workers on administrative leave. That leave notice was set to take effect at midnight in Washington.

Workers had already removed the USAID signage from its headquarters, as you see there, and President Trump kept up his attacks, accusing the agency of rampant waste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The whole thing is a fraud. Very little being put to good use. Every single line that I look at in terms of events and transactions is either corrupt or ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Trump also attacking USAID on Truth Social saying, quote, "close it down." Alex Marquardt is joining us now with the latest on this. Alex, I know you've been doing extensive reporting over what's going on there at USAID. And now, we get this breaking news about the judge stepping in. What more can you tell us?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, this has been an absolutely brutal week for USAID. They accused the Trump administration of trying to gut them of taking away their independence to try to move them into the State Department. So, what we've just learned from this federal judge, who by the way, was appointed by Donald Trump in his previous term is that he has put a halt to these 2,200 people who were supposed to go on leave as of midnight tonight.

Now, these are what are called direct hires. So, they're U.S. government employees versus U.S. government contractors who are a little bit more flexible, hundreds of whom, if not thousands, have already been furloughed and laid off. This does not apply, we understand, to 500 USAID officials who had already been put on leave. It is just this group of 2,200.

There had been USAID staffers who had brought a lawsuit that was announced yesterday against President Trump, against his secretaries of state and treasury, accusing them of essentially illegality, of going against the Constitution and federal law, which states that USAID had been created by Congress and essentially only an act of Congress could change its status.

And I've been speaking, along with my colleagues, to USAID officials here in Washington and all around the world for the past few days. Many of whom had been ordered in this earlier directive by USAID to come home, essentially, within 30 days. Many of the -- many missions around the world had been left with only one USAID official to manage all these massive projects.

And so, what this lawsuit said was that the Trump administration had thrown the lives of these public servants into turmoil, had created all kinds of chaos, but had also created a humanitarian crisis affecting many, many people around the world, and that's the real fear here is you're going to have a lot of potentially American officials, American contractors who are out of work or put on leave, and then you're going to have all these projects around the world that are just -- they are grinding to a halt.

And so, there is -- this is a moment of relief. Certainly, I've been speaking to the USAID officials in the past hour who are happy with what they have heard from this judge, but they certainly recognize, Jessica, that there is much more to come in this saga. Jessica. DEAN: Yes. And, Alex, we keep hearing from the president and Elon Musk, all of these accusations of corrupt spending and that there is just rampant corruption within this agency. Is there any truth to that?

MARQUARDT: From what I hear from USAID officials, they do acknowledge that there needs to be some reform. And of course, that there are Programs that could be examined, programs that could be cut. But at the end of the day, to a man and a woman, they all say that we signed up to this agency to do good around the world and that all we are trying to do Is be apolitical, political civil -- political servants, political officials and try to make the world a little bit of a better place. Now, that may sound a little bit sappy, but that is what I've heard time and time again.

[18:05:00]

So, they do acknowledge that there is room for some reform. There are -- there is room for cuts and things that can be changed. But what they reject is this notion that they are woefully corrupt, as Elon Musk said, a ball of worms. And they're also feeling extremely targeted in a way that makes them feel insecure. When you hear Elon Musk say things like, this is a criminal organization, I've had a number of people say, well, that puts a target on my back.

And more than anything, it is the uncertainty about what comes next. So, many of the people have been just cut out of the system, their communications have been cut off. I was speaking with someone who was based in a war zone who says they're not sure how to pay their hotel bill. They're not sure how to get home, might have to go and sleep on a couch.

And so, rather than sort of addressing all of these issues, once they -- once the Trump administration gets into office and can really examine things, they just came in with this blanket statement saying, we're shutting everything down, we're cutting most of you and we're absorbing USAID into the State Department. But as you can see, the USAID officials are fighting back. Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Alex Marquardt with the latest reporting. Thank you so much for that. And the uncertainty for people who work for and with USAID is enormous as Alex was just outlining there. Esther Zeledon and her husband, Dr. Paul Rivera were contractors for the organization. They say 95 percent of their income has already been lost, and they are joining us now.

Thank you both of you for being here with us. Esther, let's start first with you. Help us understand your situation. Walk us through it.

ESTHER ZELEDON, FORMER USAID INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT CONTRACTOR: Yes. So, we've definitely lost 95 percent of our income and contracts. You know, we were contractors for USAID and we also had other things. But I think as a -- you know, what's been noted is that, you know, we encompass the exact same -- the exact everything that's being targeted, right? We're humanitarians. We signed up to do good in the world, to serve the country in whatever capacity. So, we've been left with, well, not only no income, but also, we're scared. We have fear, right? We're being called criminals online. We're being -- you know, the whole sector is being attacked. And it's far from the truth because the sector -- when you're in the system, we're a previous foreign service officers, everything is scrutinized, everything goes through Congress. It's planned. Planned through them, approved through them. We even -- we didn't have to report to them.

So, no, there is none of that stuff going on because we have due processes and systems in the system to protect from all that.

DEAN: Paul, tell me a little bit about the work you all were doing and just how this very abrupt situation kind of hit you all in terms of, it was, you were working, my understanding is, and then suddenly you weren't.

DR. PAUL RIVERA, FORMER USAID CONTRACTOR: Absolutely. I mean, you know, I mean, the work that we do -- you know, and this is what we do, what our Foreign Service colleagues do, what thousands and thousands of contractors do over the world around the world. This is how we serve our country.

Our specialty happens to be in localization, which is, you know, fortifying local communities to really identify their own challenges and their own solutions and implement them sustainably. I'm a particular specialist in strategic planning. And so, I've had the opportunity to do that for USAID, specifically, as Esther said, in creating the plans, the systems, the implementation plans, the monitoring and evaluation plans that are sure that all of that funding is used properly.

You know, and all of that is fine, as was mentioned earlier that, you know, if you want to -- you can -- if you want to reform, if you want to lessen the scope somehow, you know, it's about having a conversation and really, the impact has been just this sudden knee jerk, very reactive kind of a thing that frankly, it has been extremely cruel to our thousands and thousands of colleagues around the world who are scrambling for what's going to be their livelihood. Is there going to be a target on my back? Is it safe for me to come back to my home country, you know?

So, it's just been such a massive upheaval, uprooting of -- frankly, it's a terrible way to, to treat America's best and brightest.

ZELEDON: And it was one day to the next. It's like we got an e-mail. Stop everything. It wasn't, oh, let's review. Let's review for 90 days. It was stop everything you're doing. But then, you don't know. For example, we did work in January. Are we going to be paid for January? And we're the least of the problem. There's local organizations that won't survive a month without payment.

You know, we serve all these communities, these communities that with this work, right, create -- make -- they do make America safer, right, by strengthening communities overseas. We're creating allies. We're creating safety for us. And now, we've left them all dry. They don't know what's going on. They don't know if they're going to get paid. They can't do the work. And we're actually, frankly, wasting our funds because it's already been approved. So, there's -- it's a lot of fear and uncertainty.

[18:10:00]

DEAN: And I'm just struck by both of you saying that you're -- it sounds like you are concerned too for your own safety, that you have friends out in the world that are concerned for their own safety because of how this has been kind of described by the president and Elon Musk and their allies that you feel like You're afraid there's a target on your back.

ZELEDON: Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's even the way it was gone about, that all of a sudden, you know, while people are trying to figure out and interpret the policy and the changes, all of a sudden, people are going on admin leave left and right. And then, you know -- and then, we're seeing the things, Tweets, right, from our own government representative saying you're a criminal. You're this. And at the same breath saying, oh, you know, criminals we're going to take out of this country and we're going to do these things.

And not only that, but we're also looking on social media and we're seeing people share this information and sharing the slander and saying, yes, yes, they're criminals. So, how can we all not be scared, right? And we're terrified. This is going around the internet.

And then, even if, like, let's say, right, we're all now without employment, when we go look for a job, people, are they going to target? Are they going to see that? Because we work for this organization, which has been doing amazing things, you know, since it's since its inception, right? We were -- we've all been proud. We've all served multiple different administrations to now be slandered our whole entire sector. It's terrifying. And especially with all the division going on in the country.

DEAN: Yes, I'm sure. All right. Esther and Paul, our thanks to both of you for sharing your story. We really appreciate it.

DR. RIVERA: Thank you.

DEAN: President Trump is ordering a wider overhaul of government agencies following the steps already taken to dismantle USAID, as we just talked about. Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency aiming to slash public spending and reshape the federal bureaucracy. His operation has moved from agency to agency, requesting and accessing internal systems with very sensitive data. The president says Musk is now looking into the Education Department and the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Just about everything. We're going to go through everything. Just as it was so bad with what we just went through, with this horrible situation we just went through, and I guess 97 percent of the people have been dismissed. It was very, very unfortunate. You're not going to find anything like that, but you're going to find a lot. And I've instructed him to go check out education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military. And you know, sadly, you'll find some things that are pretty bad. But I don't think proportionally you're going to see anything like we just saw.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Larry Sabato is joining us now. He's the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, thanks for being here. We are seeing, just zooming out for a second, Elon Musk and his team with the blessing of the president coordinate this wholesale dismantling of major parts of the U.S. government that we now know is going to touch the Pentagon, among other things, Treasury, of course, USAID. And obviously, people voted for this. He talked about doing all of this. But these moves are not without significant consequence.

LARRY SABATO, CENTER OF POLITICS DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: They're having tremendous consequences. Look, we thought the first term was chaos. This one is chaos with a capital C. A lot of it's due to Musk, but of course, Musk has been granted all this power by Trump. We'll see how it all turns out as they always say.

But look, here's an indication. The courts are starting to get into the action here. And pretty substantially, they've come down against what Trump wants. In fact, the newest, of course, is delaying the dismissal of about 2,200 employees of USAID, and this decision was reached by a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump.

So, you can't even, in his case, depend on all the judges that he's appointed, because some of the actions he's taking are just outrageous. And now, he's going after the FBI agents and saying that, oh, yes, some of them are really corrupt and we're going to find them. We're going to fire them.

How do you think that makes the FBI personnel feel? Do you think they want to continue their work? Do you think they're going to be worried about their futures? Do you think they will take on any investigations of Donald Trump or any of his minions that come up during this term? That's the real purpose of this.

DEAN: Yes, and I do want to talk about that because he confirmed today, the president did, that he plans to fire some of the agents who worked on the January 6th cases, and there is growing concern, as you kind of talked about, about the safety, potential safety of some of these employees if their names are released to the public, which is a concern amongst some of the employees and their union.

[18:15:00]

Again, it's hard to believe that FBI agents who were -- again, these are line agents. These are people that just do what they're told and swear allegiance to a constitution, not a president one way or the other, are potentially afraid for their safety.

SABATO: Well, they are. I'm sure they can defend themselves. On the other hand, they know that if their names get out there, then they're considered by some of the more violent January 6th criminals, people who were convicted and then pardoned or commuted by Trump. They know that these people, including some of the ringleaders, have already said publicly they're coming after them. And I don't think they're coming after them to invite them to tea.

So, they're completely justified in the fears that they have. And again, it's interrupting their real work. They're working on all kinds of cases involving terrorism and everything you can think of. And yet, they're having to worry about their own safety and their family's safety.

DEAN: Yes. And when we know that the threats have never -- that the threats are really at an all-time high, where these FBI agents are really needed. I do want to ask you too about President Trump also saying today he really downplayed these concerns, about the access that these DOGE teams have at these various agencies and departments.

But as you noted, there's a lot of lawsuits in progress right now saying, hang on, this is actually quite serious. The type of access you want, you know, is not appropriate. That there could be matters of national security. Again, just kind of layering in just how dangerous this could be because of just the way that it's being handled.

SABATO: It's being handled sloppily and it is proceeding without careful thought in advance. And I'm delighted that young people are so bright and capable that they're put in charge of these things at the ages of 20 and 21 and 22 as Musk has done in deputizing some of these people. But, you know, they lack one thing that really matters -- well, two, really, experience and judgment.

Now, again, I'm thrilled. I'm a teacher. I want them involved. But I don't want them making these decisions, no matter how smart they are or how high their IQ is. That doesn't give them the tools necessary to evaluate personnel, people who have been in government for decades.

And I've seen some of these people. Some are former students of mine who've written me and said, what do I do? And of course, I don't know. That's the problem. No one knows what to advise them.

DEAN: Right. Right. I mean, this is pretty unprecedented. All right. Larry Sabato, as always, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

SABATO: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Earlier Friday, President Trump also welcomed the Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, to the White House. The meeting started out on a tense note as Mr. Trump said the trade deficit between the two countries is too high, and warned he could impose tariffs if it's not reduced. Mr. Ishiba spoke about his impressions of Mr. Trump in a news conference after their meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIGERU ISHIBA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): For many, many years I have watched him on television. So, it was quite exciting -- I was so excited to see such a celebrity on television to see in person. On television, he is frightening and he has a very strong personality. But when I met with him, actually, he was very sincere and very powerful and with strong will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: For more on this, we're joined now by Tobias Harris, founder and principal at Japan Foresight LLC. Thanks so much for being here with us. I just first want to ask you, what stood out to you from today's meeting?

TOBIAS HARRIS, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, JAPAN FORESIGHT LLC: Well, on the Japanese side, you know, there's a lot of concern about what does make America great again? Foreign policy mean for U.S. allies like Japan? Of course, if they watch the standoffs with Canada, Mexico and tariff threats. And you know, there are questions, too, about Prime Minister Ishiba. He's relatively new to the office. He's not as experienced a statesman as Prime Minister Abe, of course, had famously had a close relationship with Trump was.

There's just lots of anxiety about what the bilateral relationship would look like and how it would be managed. And I think coming out of the meeting, it looked like Ishiba actually managed it quite well.

DEAN: Yes. And the meeting was coming, as we mentioned, with the threat of tariffs looming large, the president even mentioning it today as it's connected to the trade deficit. How do you see that playing out?

HARRIS: We didn't get a lot of details about what Trump has in mind exactly for Japan, and it certainly sounds like the combination of Japan buying more energy, Japan buying more weaponry from the United States, I think Trump would be happy to see that close the trade deficit as well with Japan.

[18:20:00]

I mean, it just sounded like there wasn't a whole lot of focus on the threat of tariffs, on the negatives of the trade deficit. There was a lot of talk about Japanese investment in the United States, Trump's appreciation for how much Japan is invested. And of course, Ishiba made clear that there is going to be more investment to come, both from automakers, building plants in LNG project in Alaska, hopefully various A.I. related investments that we've seen already announced with Masayoshi Son from SoftBank. That really was what was emphasized much more than the balance of trade.

DEAN: Yes. And on that note, Nippon Steel being focused more on investing, the president saying, as opposed to purchasing U.S. Steel, that was a purchase that neither President Trump nor former President Biden supported. What does that say to you?

HARRIS: Well, it's certainly, I think, the search for a compromise and it sounded like, you know, President Trump met with the CEO of U.S. Steel yesterday. I mean, clearly, there's a lot of logic behind Nippon Steel's bid for U.S. Steel. And so, if there's a way to still get that investment, clearly, there are a lot of benefits to go around for the workers, for the company, for the U.S. economy as a whole. And so, you can see why that might appeal to Trump.

But I think if you listen to his remarks today, I mean, clearly there was -- and I think this was clear throughout this debate, that there's a lot of sensitivity around a company called U.S. Steel being purchased by a foreign company. And I think that explained a lot of the discomfort.

And so, clearly, this might be a middle path to still get that needed investment in U.S. Steel but the company would remain independent and not owned by Nippon Steel. And so, Trump said that he wanted to mediate that. We'll see what actually happens with that, but clearly, that was maybe part of the goodwill that seemed to shape today's discussions.

DEAN: All right. Tobias Harris, thank you. We appreciate your time.

HARRIS: Thank you.

DEAN: It is early Saturday now in the Middle East, where Israel is set to receive three hostages today from Hamas. This is all part of that ceasefire deal reached last month. And in return, Israel is expected to release more than 180 Palestinian prisoners. Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv with details on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: We've now learned the names of the three Israeli hostages set to be released from Hamas captivity on Saturday as part of this ceasefire agreement. The first one is Eli Sharabi, a 52-year-old who was taken captive by Hamas from Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7th. His wife and his two daughters were sadly killed in that October 7th massacre. His brother was also taken hostage from that same kibbutz on that same day, but he died in captivity, likely killed by an Israeli airstrike, according to the Israeli military.

Then we are also expecting the release of 56-year-old Ohad Ben Ami, also taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri, alongside his wife, Raz Ben Ami. You can see the reaction of the family here as they learned the news that he would be released. His wife, Raz, is in that video because she was released as part of that November 2023 ceasefire agreement.

And lastly, Or Levy, a 34-year-old who was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival will be released. Sadly, his wife was killed on that day alongside so many others in that Nova Music Festival. But he will be returning to his son, a three-year-old boy who has been waiting more than 15 months now for his father to return.

491 days of captivity so far for these hostages. And of course, we know that dozens still do indeed remain in captivity.

We are also expecting that 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees will be released in exchange for these hostages. According to Hamas, 18 are serving life sentences. 111 were detained in Gaza since October 7th. The Israeli government has yet to actually confirm the number or the names of those Palestinian prisoners.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Jeremy, thank you. And coming up, protests in India against Donald Trump just days before Narendra Modi visits the U.S. We'll explain why these protests are happening after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

DEAN: We do have some breaking news to bring to you. President Donald Trump has just said he is revoking the security clearances for former U.S. President Joe Biden. Joe Biden. He posted this on Truth Social. You can see it's rather lengthy, but he says there's no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden's security clearances and stopping his daily intelligence briefings. He goes on to, quote, "The Hur Report" and then finishes there with Joe, you're fired. Make America great again.

So, again, the breaking news here is President Trump revoking the security clearance for Former President Biden. It's something that we are going to continue to track and bring you more as we get it. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

DEAN: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Jessica Dean. And let's check more of today's top stories. The U.S. Coast Guard is sending more search teams to find a missing plane near Nome, Alaska. That Cessna aircraft disappeared Thursday morning over the Norton Sound with 10 people on board. It was operated by Bering Air. The incident comes as U.S. Air Safety faces scrutiny for two deadly plane crashes last week.

An investigation is underway into what caused a small plane to crash into a busy street in Brazil, killing two people there. That aircraft hit a bus in Sao Paulo. Those who died were on board the plane. Six other people were injured by flying debris.

New York is temporarily shutting down live bird markets in several countries after bird flu was detected in poultry. In the last month, cases have been confirmed in more than 130 flocks nationwide, that's according to U.S. Department of -- the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There is also an ongoing outbreak among dairy cattle.

U.S. President Donald Trump has now signed an executive order aimed at freezing aid to South Africa. It is over a law which allows the government to seize farmland without compensation, and the order says aid will be frozen if the policies continue. South Africa's president has denied the country was, quote, "confiscating land." And returning now to our top story today. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the White House from placing some 2,000 USAID workers on leave just hours before that order was set to take effect. USAID has come under relentless attack from President Trump and Elon Musk, who accused the agency of wasting taxpayer dollars.

The agency operates in some of the world's poorest countries and people there rely on its help and face an uncertain future without it. Larry Madowo has more now from Uganda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMUEL LINDA: I feel traumatized. I feel low.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 36-year-old Samuel Linda has been living with HIV since 2014, getting his lifesaving drugs from a USAID project. But his supplies are almost out.

LINDA: I feel like the world is ending tomorrow, because I don't know where I'm going to go. I don't know my tomorrow, if I'll be alive or dead.

MADOWO (voice-over): He distributes U.S. funded condoms in his community to stop new infections. And make sure the infected keep taking their medications.

Meanwhile, patients at this USAID funded facility in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, wait, hoping their treatments are still available. Nearly 1,000 employees here have been followed after the U.S. stop work orders. It's still running, for now, though no one knows for how much longer.

Its leader, Dr. Andrew Kambugu, is a U.C. Berkeley alum, who is grateful for American generosity, but worries about the future for his staff and patients.

DR. ANDREW KAMBUGU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INFECTIOUS DISEASES INSTITUTE UGANDA: We are in the throes of an Ebola outbreak, and before the Ebola outbreak, Uganda is grappling with an Mpox outbreak. So, we find ourselves in a situation where a number of infectious diseases have converged.

MADOWO (voice-over): USAID is a lifeline to millions here. Millions who would be stuck without it.

MADOWO: These are thank you notes from patients here to the medical team at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Uganda. They cover HIV, TB, Mpox, and even the current Ebola outbreak, the country's eighth. The implication is that U.S. funding has kept patients like these ones alive.

MADOWO (voice-over): The U.S. is one of Uganda's largest donors, spending more than half a billion dollars in health care alone every year. More than a third of USAID funds came to Africa in 2023. Those dollars saved lives, but also supported many Americans.

WINNIE BYANYIMA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNAIDS: Without U.S. funding, people die. Without global collaboration, people die.

MADOWO (voice-over): Winnie Byanyima runs the U. N. 's global response to the AIDS epidemic. They warn that up to 6.3 million people could die by 2029 if the U.S. cuts off funding. Americans will also lose out.

[18:35:00]

BYANYIMA: Actually, sometimes I say we have the diseases, they have the profits. They make money. The aid connects them to markets and markets benefit American jobs are created at home.

MADOWO: So, USAID is not just charity to African countries?

BYANYIMA: No, no, no. It's mutually beneficial.

MADOWO (voice-over): But the negative sentiment isn't one that's shared by all of Africa's leaders. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Rwanda's president says the continent has to wean itself off aid.

PAUL KAGAME, RWANDAN PRESIDENT: In President Trump's unconventional ways of doing things, I completely agree with him on many things.

MADOWO: Even though it will hurt you as Rwanda, which depends on some U.S. aid to fund your health care and development?

KAGAME: We might learn some lessons.

MADOWO (voice-over): Self-sufficient countries might sound ideal in theory, but it brings little comfort to the millions across the world whose very survival hangs in the balance.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Kampala, Uganda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Back now to our breaking news, U.S. President Donald Trump saying he is revoking the security clearances of former U.S. President Joe Biden. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is joining us now with more on this. And, Jeff, it was a lengthy Truth Social statement that he put out, essentially saying he wants to take this away from President Biden. But worth noting, President Biden did take away his ability to get those intelligence briefings.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, we will put this in the tit for tat category. It sounds to me like we are just seeing this Truth Social post that President Trump wrote as he was flying from here to the White House down to spend a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

And he just wrote -- without much explanation, he said this. I'll just read you a second of it here. He said, there's no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we're immediately revoking Joe Biden's security clearance and stopping his daily intelligence briefings. He goes on to demean the former president. And it says, Joe, you're fired. Make America great again at the end there.

A couple things. One, of course, his rival at the end of this campaign was not President Biden. It was indeed Vice President Kamala Harris. But we have seen just a repeated reference to President Biden throughout the week here as Donald Trump has made speech after speech, talking a lot about President Biden. Clearly, still wanting to use him as a bit of a foil, if you will.

But this is exactly what happened four years ago when President Biden, during the first month of his presidency back in February, 2021, revoked the security clearance and ordered the stopping of the daily intelligence briefings for the former president. He said he was erratic. And he did not need to receive these briefings. So, this now is a bit of a tit for tat on that.

A Biden spokesperson has not had anything to say on this yet. This is just coming in. But practically, this does not necessarily mean all that much. This is a security clearance. It's not actual security protection. Former presidents, of course, are afforded a lifetime of Secret Service protection, Jessica.

DEAN: Right, which Joe Biden -- president, Former President Biden does continue to have. But, Jeff, I think you make such an interesting point, and it's worth noting that we continue to see President Trump focusing on Joe Biden, whether it's at the rally he did a couple weeks ago, or as you mentioned, in the White House this week, he continues to look backward in that way, even as he's trying to move forward with his agenda.

ZELENY: He does. He clearly still senses the need to have an opponent. Even in the White House response to the January jobs report out this morning, it talked about the Biden administration, even in a national prayer breakfast yesterday morning, President Trump talking about President Biden. So, again, he was not the person on the ballot in November, but still, President Biden provides a bit of a foil for President Trump.

It very much reminds me, Jessica, of eight years ago when Donald Trump repeatedly talked about Hillary Clinton. So, with Republicans in charge of all corners of the government here in Washington, the president is in need of a foil, in need of someone to blame things on, and President Biden seems to be the top of his mind. But for tonight, at least, here in Washington, the president is saying that Joe Biden will not have access to security briefings going forward.

DEAN: And, Jeff, noting too that this comes on a Friday night, typically you know, a Friday night news dump idea but that kind of gets thrown out with President Trump back in office. And we certainly have seen that playing out where the news cycle and every time he's seen almost on camera and even off camera, he's making news.

ZELENY: It's a flood the zone mentality. We've seen it before, and this is just the second iteration of it. Really the president wants to be on television as much as possible. He holds more events than other presidents have. He'll be going to the Super Bowl on Sunday. No presidents have done that. So, clearly, he wants to flood the zone, and he is. Jessica.

[18:40:00]

DEAN: All right. Jeff Zeleny, again, with our breaking news about President Trump revoking Biden's security clearances. Jeff, thank you so much.

I want to go now to David Sanger who is joining us. David, thanks so much for being here. As Jeff was just laying out, he says, you know, you could put this kind of in the tit for tat column. Biden revoked President Trump's ability to get intelligence briefings. Now, President Trump revoking his security clearances. What do you make of it?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Jeff's exactly right, this is tit for tat, and we've seen some of that -- a lot of that going on. You've seen it in the revocation of the security details for Mike Pompeo and John Bolton and other former members of his administration that he feels he's got grievances with.

In the case of the Biden revocation for President Trump, it was on the basis of the various issues that they had about the treatment of classified data, participation or encouragement in January 6th. And clearly, this aggrieved President Trump, and when he had the opportunity, he just decided to go do the same thing.

DEAN: Practically, David, what does it mean?

SANGER: Not a lot. I mean, former presidents get these briefings in part as a courtesy and in part because sometimes sitting presidents call their predecessors and say, I have this problem with Iran, with China, with North Korea, tell me what you thought about this when you were in office. The chances that Donald Trump would do that with Joe Biden are pretty low.

The tweet or Truth Social item that he put out doing this, then quoted from the Hur Report, you remember the investigation into Biden's right. And basically, quoted the section in which Hur referred to the president as sort of a kindly but memory lost old man. So, there was sort of this dig in.

There was no effort by President Trump in this notation to suggest that there was anything that President Biden had done that would be a potential security threat. So, he was doing this. He wanted to make it pretty clear for purposes of getting even, not because there was a real cause here.

DEAN: All right. David Sanger, thank you for the context. We appreciate it.

SANGER: Thank you.

DEAN: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:45:00]

DEAN: North Korea's Kim Jong Un has begun efforts to transform a remote town near the border of Russia and China into a must-see destination. It's part of a slow reopening five years after the government sealed the country's borders because of COVID-19. But is it worth the risk with so many western government advising their citizens not to go? Will Ripley takes a look at the secretive country's tourism plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even by North Korean standards, Rason is not exactly a tourism hotspot. A remote economic zone, closer to China and Russia than the capital Pyongyang.

Rason is known for its shoe factory and banking system. There's also a textile factory and sea cucumber breeding farm. A typical work day includes outdoor exercise, weather permitting. In almost any other place, tourists probably wouldn't be lining up for the chance to open a bank account. But this is North Korea, the secret state has chosen Rason as its first post-pandemic destination for western tourists, allegedly.

SIMON COCKERELL, GENERAL MANAGER, KORYO TOURS: Will it happen next week? Entirely possible. But will it be delayed? Entirely possible.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Long time tour operator Simon Cockerell knows there are no guarantees when it comes to North Korea. Simon's made nearly 200 trips. He says traveling there is not for everyone.

COCKERELL: You're choosing a highly restrictive time in a very complicated country on a trip that your family will be worried about.

RIPLEY (voice-over): And some say, for good reason. American college student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, accused of stealing a propaganda poster from his Pyongyang hotel. After 17 months in detention, he returned home in a persistent vegetative state. And died days later. The State Department has banned U.S. tourists from visiting North Korea ever since.

RIPLEY: What's the number one thing you tell people not to do when they visit North Korea?

COCKERELL: Don't proselytize religiously. It's illegal. Don't break any law, regardless of whether you agree with it or not. Simple is that.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Not as simple for some anyway. The question, should tourists go?

RIPLEY: What do you say to critics who argue people's money is basically supporting and a regime and its illegal nuclear program?

COCKERELL: It's not really supporting any of those things because the State of North Korea does not stand or fall on tourism revenue. If it did, it would no longer exist.

RIPLEY (voice-over): For the past year, North Korea has only allowed Russian tourists to visit. Soon, maybe a handful of visitors from the west arriving just in time for one of North Korea's biggest holidays, the late Kim Jong Il's birthday.

RIPLEY: For now, only a handful of western tourists are expected to be allowed back in if this happens. And we don't know if this is the beginning of a wider reopening or perhaps just an extremely limited test run, thus putting them in such an isolated city.

But one thing that we are noticing is that Chinese tourists have yet to return, which is interesting because you have a lot of Russian visitors but no Chinese tourists back yet since the pandemic. Some say that may be a sign of Beijing's growing displeasure with Pyongyang's deepening ties with Moscow.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Well, thank you. It is Super Bowl weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brother is a famous soccer player?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, how famous are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like Matt Damon famous?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe Ben Affleck famous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Coming up, how Super Bowl ads are set to steal the show, one break at a time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:00]

DEAN: Excitement is building ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFL championship. If the Chiefs win, they will become the first team to secure three Super Bowl victories in a row. And quarterback Patrick Mahomes will capture his fourth title. He is only 29 years old. Kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Eastern.

And of course, the Super Bowl isn't just about the football. It's also about all the commercials that keep everyone talking from hilarious to heartwarming. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. When you're ready, tell me about the job that taught you the most.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Well, it was a role where I learned to take constructive criticism.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she's -- nope, doesn't like it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I got pretty used to, you know, working long hours with a small team. I got very comfortable multitasking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: 50 brands are advertising during the big game this year, with more than 120 million viewers expected to tune in. Emory University Marketing Professor Jamie Turner is joining us now. Jamie, thanks for being here with us.

Obviously, everyone looks forward to the Super Bowl for a lot of reasons, but these ads always just have everyone talking. What are some of the things you're watching for on Sunday?

JAMIE TURNER, MARKETING PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, I love the line hilarious or heartwarming. That's a great line, but it's also true because basically what advertisers know is that in order to create a memory about a brand in somebody's brain, you have to either get him to laugh or to cry. They literally do fMRI brain scans and find that if you can get people to laugh or to cry, memory is embedded and then they'll remember the product later on when they're in the grocery store. So, I'm looking for all of that.

And then, in addition to the emotional side of it, there's so many celebrities that are going to be poking fun at themselves. You got to give Ben Affleck credit. He's made fun of himself a lot in a lot of the prequels that are leading up to the Super Bowl commercials and you got to like a guy who kind of does that and says, you know what? I get it. I'm going to have a little bit of fun with this. So, both those things, the emotion as well as the stars.

DEAN: Yes. Yes. And it's fun to see kind of different sides of them for sure. How expensive are the spots this year and are they worth it?

TURNER: Great question. 8 million bucks for a 30-second spot. A ton of money. And the question about whether they're worth it, it is one of those ones where it depends. If you have a large budget, let's say a hundred-million-dollar budget as your marketing budget, then dropping $8 million towards a big splashy ad you can do. But if your budget is $10 million or $20 million, which is still pretty big for most businesses, you wouldn't want to put the $8 million against it because it's putting too many eggs in one basket. So, it's a lot of money, but it can be worth it.

The other thing to keep in mind is the commercials cost a million to $5 million to produce. And then, if you get a celebrity on there, you're talking about many millions more just to pay them to be part of the commercial. So, there's a lot of money involved in it.

DEAN: Yes, no doubt about it. You know what? I'm curious too about why do you think this tradition indoors and you still -- we still have this collective experience when our media environment is so fractured now.

TURNER: Yes, you know what? Great question. It is something that brings us together. When you're sitting there watching a football game, you know, despite the fact that there's two teams battling it out on the field, everybody's there enjoying themselves having a good time. They're putting politics aside. They're putting a lot of cultural issues aside and they're just say, let's have some fun.

[18:55:00]

And then it's sort of like a game. Everybody can sit around and watch the football game, but they can also watch the commercials and debate on whether or not they think that commercial is better than this one. So, it kind of brings everybody together in a common sort of venture together to figure out, hey, what are we watching? And do we like these or do we not like him?

DEAN: Yes. What an idea. Not a divisive moment for everybody.

TURNER: Right.

DEAN: And we're looking at some of the ads that are going to play. I am curious, you know, when you think about Super Bowl commercials, you think about Pepsi or some of these -- you know, these companies we always see. Is that who we're going to see more of or are we seeing different types of companies now?

TURNER: It's usually the biggest brands that are going to be in there. So, Uber Eats is going to be in there. Stella Artois, Bud Light's going to be in there. All of these brands that are kind of the traditional ones that you consistently see, and that gets back to one of the original questions you asked about, is it worth it?

Bud Light has a -- I don't even know. It's probably approaching a billion-dollar budget, maybe even more than that. So, 8 million bucks is nothing to them. And they're like, hey, we're going to run a bunch of commercials during the Super Bowl.

So, yes, you'll see a lot of the familiar faces. And then you're going to see some new faces as well in terms of the brands that are jumping into the fray and seeing if they can make an impact.

DEAN: That'll be fun. Jamie Turner, thanks so much. We really appreciate it.

And thank you for keeping us company tonight. I'm Jessica Dean. Have a great weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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