Major Airport Takes a Day Off
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One of the world's busiest airports forced to close for the day. How this could impact your trip no matter where you're going. Plus, Elon Musk takes a trip to the Pentagon today. Is there a top secret reason for his not-so-secret visit? And then there's this. The cuts benefit from the veterans. That's ridiculous and it's wrong. Fear and confusion over doge cuts that could impact veterans' care. We'll talk to Republican Congressman and Green Beret Pat Harrigan. And later...

McNeese has its first ever NCAA tournament victory. Bracket busters and big plays, a wild start to March Madness. How are you doing in your office pool this morning?

It is 6:00 AM here on the East Coast, but here's a live look at London Heathrow Airport, a shutdown there causing travel headaches around the world. Good morning everyone. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me. We're going to begin with the breaking news overnight as one of the world's busiest airports

is now shut down. A fire that burned near London's Heathrow International Airport is being blamed for knocking out power and the airport's backup power supply. It's now expected to be closed all day. Aviation experts say the effects will be felt around the world.

London, aside from being one of the busiest airports in the world, it's also one of the airports that collects the largest number of airlines. So an impact to a daily closure in, say, Dallas would affect American Airlines, but pretty much only American Airlines. A closure of London Heathrow really affects multiple airlines and many airlines around the world.

I want to bring you in on the latest with CNN's Nada Bashir. Nada, as we just heard, one of the busiest airports. So is there any word about whether things will be able to get back to normal anytime soon? Well, look, we know that Heathrow Airport will be closed for the duration of today at least. But officials at the airport are warning of significant disruption over the coming days with no clarity as to when that power supply will be back up and running. As you mentioned already, even the

backup power supply said to have been affected by this fire at the substation in Hays, just about four miles away from where we are now outside of Heathrow Airport. And of course, we've seen that dramatic footage of the fire, which broke out late last night. The fire brigade says it was called at around 11.20pm to deal with the incident. We've seen videos and heard from residents nearby, some of whom were even told

to evacuate as a precaution. But now officials from the London Fire Brigade have said that the fire is under control. But there is still an ongoing investigation as to what exactly caused the fire. What we do know at this stage is that there is a huge amount of chaos that has been caused as a result. Hundreds of flights today alone have been cancelled or diverted. We've been hearing from passengers who have been re-diverted to other locations with

no clarity as to how they can actually get back to London. And of course, there are thousands of passengers who are impacted. Airlines have been rolling out emergency measures and precautions as a result. We've been hearing warnings telling passengers not to head to the airport. At this stage, there really isn't very much clarity for passengers, no clear signal as to when Heathrow Airport will be back up and running. Audie? That's Nada Bashir. Thank you so much. I

I want to turn today to Elon Musk heading to the Defense Department. He'll be at the Pentagon. This is raising questions about what exactly the world's richest man is going to do once he gets there. The Pentagon tells CNN that Musk will be there at the invitation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and that he's just visiting.

New reporting from the New York Times suggests Musk will actually be briefed on the U.S. military's top secret plan for any war which might break out with China. They actually cite two anonymous U.S. officials in the story. President Trump denies this reporting. In a post on Truth Social, he calls it, quote, completely untrue. The news of Musk's visit, though, comes as angry town hall attendees continue to question why he's playing such a large role in the federal government at all.

Having looked at Musk's Doge website, you are a lawyer. Where is this fraud? This is the fraud. Spending is the fraud. As an example. But that's your job, not Musk's job. That's your job. That's what we need.

Joining me now to talk about this, Margaret Tulliv, senior contributor at Axios, Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, and Rob Bluey, president and executive editor at The Daily Signal. So I want to start with you, Rob, because you have talked about Democrats really just

You think they're way out going too far in their reaction to Musk. But what do you see when you actually listen to town hall clips? Do you consider that activism? Do you consider that legitimate criticism from the public? - Well, we know Chuck Schumer talked on PBS about how Democrats were activating people to go to these town hall meetings. So I'm sure that there's some component of that,

Generally, I think it's great that citizens are taking an active part in their democracy and participating in these conversations. And Republicans and Democrats should be hearing from constituents and taking their feedback and going back to Washington and delivering. Let's face it, at the end of the day, I think most people want to see changes in Washington. When it comes to cutting government, though, that's where the rubber meets the road and people sometimes have differences of opinion. Mark Grant?

We have been pretty consistently hearing this in focus groups and seeing some of it in polling for a couple of months now since the start of the administration. A component of the public that likes President Trump and voted for President Trump but doesn't view Elon Musk as Trump.

someone who they have anointed, right? So they're like, we understand that President Trump anointed him. We're not as comfortable with him because we didn't elect him. I think on top of that, look, at these town hall meetings, sure, people, there are Democratic constituents, there are Republican constituents,

If you live in an area and you're going to a town hall, you know in your community who is a Republican and who's a Democrat. There is some bipartisan concern about this. And Elon Musk has a lot of conflicts of interest. And the problem is under a normal process or sort of the old-fashioned way of politics, if you were appointed to a role like this, you would be vetted, your information would be publicly available, you would under...

a regular voter could understand what he stands to gain in China, what businesses are at stake, because all of that is out the window. It has added a level of opaqueness that gives some people concern. - Eliane, I want to come to you, but first I want to play a suggestion from Tim Walz about kind of this reporting on Musk and what it portends.

I don't know how to convey, I don't possess the language ability to convey how far out of the norm this is. These are closely guarded secrets because our national and our global defense depends upon them. I don't understand where the Republicans, where are Lindsey Graham's, where are these people who know how this works to not be terrified of where this is at.

We might be hearing someone later in the show from the House Armed Services Committee who can talk about this, but I want to get a sense from you, Elliot, kind of how you think about this connection. The thing that I'm seeing is why can't we just get a straight answer as to what's happening now? The administration has been pretty consistent in saying that this meeting will not be about China.

and Elon Musk is just going to have a face-to-face Pentagon. Reporting from the Wall Street Journal and other places seem to blow that out of the water. Why is the meeting happening in what's called the tank, the secure briefing room at the Pentagon? And I just think regardless of who's meeting when and where, it would just be good to know what's actually happening. And I think that

that would have been hearing from both of them a threat of transparency when you don't have it becomes a problem people fill the gap and in this case must has billions of dollars of federal contracts with the defense department in the area of surveillance

and reconnaissance. So it's like him being there is actually not such a stretch. His conflicts of interest, though, as you said, we don't know. Transparency is great. And remember, Donald Trump has said he's the most transparent president that we've had. So I mean, I think that if he's going to live up to that moniker, he needs to obviously demonstrate the fact that he's allowing his cabinet secretaries and others to speak about what Musk is doing specifically. I do think that that will go a

long way in easing some of the concerns. But going back to the earlier conversation, remember, Americans are okay with cutting spending. They understand that the national debt is not sustainable and a $2 trillion budget deficit is not a good thing. But when it comes to the specifics, that's where you get into these issues. And I think that

The Pentagon is actually an interesting- It sounds like they were saying though, who's cutting, why they're cutting, what their own conflicts of interest are. Like people are raising more- How are they qualified? Yeah, how are they qualified? What's the accountability if they're not nominated and confirmed if it's not an official job? And that that same person has said, mistakes get made. And you're like, what? Isn't that why Trump in that cabinet meeting said, it's up to you, cabinet secretaries, to take the recommendations that actually follow through on that. Do the courts believe that? No. Oh, no.

Oh, same order. No, and there's been a question at least in one lawsuit as to whether the cuts are being made in a proper manner by Elon Musk or they were just directives to cabinet departments. That's an open factual question being litigated right now, the question of who's actually doing it. And if it is in fact someone who is improperly appointed or is not in the role as a cabinet secretary, that is a problem.

I think many people can agree on the underlying goal of making government smaller, more efficient, but you've got to do it within the confines of the law. And it's just not entirely clear that that's happening. I'm going to leave it there because to your point, it is an open question. It is being litigated right now. And we have a lot more to talk about. Group chat, stick around. Coming up on CNN this morning, furious and demanding answers. We're going to hear from more voters calling out their lawmakers at town halls. It's happening all over the country.

and Republican Congressman Pat Harrigan is here with us, what he's hearing from his constituents. Plus, out of the octagon and into politics, why Conor McGregor wants to be the next president of Ireland. And Tesla says there's a problem with its Cybertrucks, the big recall this morning. - They just recalled nearly all Cybertrucks, 'cause the roof panels can detach while driving. It's dangerous. I mean, if the roof blows up, people could see you in a Cybertruck.

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It is 16 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup, some of the stories you need to get your day going. And this first one's kind of a bummer if you're driving because 68 bridges in the U.S. need to be assessed to see whether they would collapse if they were to get hit by a ship. This is from the NTSB, which has been investigating last year's bridge collapse in Baltimore. Some of the bridges on that list, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, and the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan.

Former Ultimate Fighting Champion Conor McGregor seems to be eyeing a new prize, the presidency of Ireland. He just announced he will run on an anti-immigration platform. The role is largely ceremonial and the vote is up in November. McNeese has its first ever NCAA tournament victory.

That is the sound of people crying in their cups of coffee because their brackets are busted. 12-seeded McNeese State pulled off the upset against fifth-seeded Clemson last night. After yesterday, the NCAA says that less than 1% of all brackets are still perfect.

And you gotta see this. Or should I say, you goat to see this. So many puns here. A bad guy on the run. I'm gonna do it. I'm just powering through it. Police in Ohio chased a runaway goat down a busy highway, the animal darting in and out of traffic. The great goat chase ended when police finally nabbed her and Animal Rescue took her in. They're calling her the fugitive.

Still coming up on CNN this morning, a complete shutdown. London's Heathrow Airport is at a standstill after a fire caused a power outage. How this is affecting flights around the world. Plus, from The Apprentice, reruns to, say, Duck Dynasty, returning to our screens as Hollywood trying to appeal to President Trump's base.

Good morning, St. Louis. You are under a red flag warning right now because of high winds and low humidity. They're creating dangerous fire conditions there. Stay safe. This, in a way, you'll understand. We is like China. It's a lot stronger than it was when you were in high school.

Hey, everyone. I want to go off script for a second and talk about something-- bear with me-- that is happening in Hollywood. The sitcom Shifting Gears stars famous Hollywood conservative Tim Allen. And the premise is that it's a family that's actually reuniting and putting aside their political differences. The Wall Street Journal is suggesting that this is an example of Hollywood trying to appeal to the right. So I wanted to talk about this with entertainment journalist, Agun Odolowu.

about this shift, if that's what's happening. Now, Sagun, first of all, thanks for waking up with us. Welcome to the program. I wanna ask you about the idea of political shifts. I mean, certainly it happens in a place like Washington when there's a new administration, and you have talked about Hollywood pandering in the past. Is that what we're seeing?

Audie, thank you for having me. Look, I really don't think it is. You know, Duck Dynasty, for example, debuted during the Obama administration. The Cosby Show debuted during the Reagan administration and right alongside with Growing Pains and Family Ties and Married with Children. Good television has always been on the air. What we had was maybe an agenda that didn't

woke shows or quote unquote woke shows were being aired, but they weren't that good. And Tim Allen and the show that you've just mentioned, it's funny. And Tim Allen sells. I don't think it's a woke agenda pandering to President Trump. I think Hollywood is doing what it's always done. It's show business. And we should never let the shine of the show blind us to the bias of the business. They're not nonprofits. They're about money.

And they've always been about what's going to sell or what they think is going to sell. And so right now, Tim Allen, who's wildly popular, his shows always do well, is in favor. I think that's just the way Hollywood is moving. It's going after what's sold. But at the same time, and this is a good let me jump in, when you think of Taylor Sheridan and his empire over at Paramount with all of his programming, I think one of the things we've heard from...

tim allen in the past and others is that they felt like they were on the outs with hollywood right that they somehow were blacklisted because of their politics but you're saying that it's not so simple or are you saying that it really just depends on which way the wind is blowing financially

One, it depends on which way the wind is blowing financially. But when these actors are saying that they are on the outs of Hollywood, I would ask that they just turn on the dial and look around. Right. Who is getting all of these shows that they're not getting? Hollywood still remains one of the most segregated businesses that we have.

The writers room, the heads of the studios, the producers, the directors. These aren't a ton of people of color or people who find themselves under the rainbow flag. That's not what Hollywood is. It's only 10 years that we're removed from hashtag Oscars so white. So let's not think of Hollywood as this altruistic place where everyone comes together. Too often what happens is you see black, brown or black,

people, minorities on screen. And we feel that this is the rule rather than it's the exception. It's the exception when you see The Cosby Show, because if it was wildly successful, how come there aren't that more black shows on television? If the, you know, if 227 or Martin were as popular as these shows were, how come we haven't seen more shows like this

dominating the airwaves. Where's the next in living color? We don't see that like we should with these shows that have been so popular. Hollywood goes after the money and there've always been a ton of shows that cater to middle America. - One other context here, Hollywood after the labor strike movement,

Hollywood after cuts to the streaming age and spending there, it feels like there are fewer projects, right, compared to the golden age of TV, sort of heyday of spending. And people are more cautious. Can you talk about how that is affecting things?

Well, it's our phones, how we consume content. You have younger people that are on TikTok and are on Instagram and they're cutting the cord. People are scrambling to find a foothold with shows as much as we used to have, you know, pilot season here in Hollywood.

You don't see that anymore because people just aren't watching TV. You'll hear younger viewers or a younger audience say, I don't even own a TV or I don't really even watch TV or I get my information or I watch my phone more than I'm invested in a certain TV show. And as you mentioned, with the strikes, the writer's strike, the actor's strike, it's harder to...

to make shows that are going to find a foothold. And honestly, the woke agenda that people talk about is kind of tired because it look, is it good? Is it funny? People watch television to escape. And if you're not giving them good things to view, then they're going to they're going to turn the TV off. Like Kendrick said, turn the TV off, turn the TV off, except when you and I are talking.

So many references, Sagun. So little time. Thank you for joining me this morning. Straight ahead on CNN, a major power outage shutting down London's Heathrow Airport, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of people. Plus, not so fast, a judge blocks Doge from getting your personal data from the Social Security Administration.

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I also signed an executive order to dramatically increase production of critical minerals and rare earths. It's a big thing in this country. President Trump tries to boost U.S. mineral production as he attempts to mine some from Ukraine. Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me here on CNN. I want to give you the news on what's happening right now.

Washington and Kiev are expected to sign a deal on Ukraine's rare earth minerals that could be happening very shortly, President Trump telling reporters that Thursday. It's all part of the negotiations to end Russia's war on Ukraine. Those peace talks are expected to continue on Monday.

And Elon Musk going to the Pentagon today, the invitation coming straight from the Defense Secretary. The Pentagon says this is just a visit, but the New York Times reports that Musk will be briefed on the U.S. military's top secret plan for any war which might break out in China. This is something that the White House, however, denies.

And the fire that shut down London's Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest, is now under control. But the airport will be closed all day because that fire caused a power outage and affected its backup power supply. That's impacting flights around the world because Heathrow is a major hub.

And among those passengers affected by all of this, CNN's very own Richard Quest. He joins us now from Sao Paulo, where he was supposed to take off hours ago. Richard, you are in air traveler hell, basically. Tell me about the situation there for people like you trying to be on the move.

Yeah, I was on my way from Santiago in Chile to London via Sao Paulo. We got to Sao Paulo, I boarded the plane. We were on there for about four hours. It was the BA flight from Sao Paulo to London.

and the crew were great but there's nothing you can do about it we're all on our phones we're looking we can see what's happening in haze in west london and i think there's a sort of a quantum leap in one's mind that a fire thousands of miles away at an airport or near an airport has this tentacles and ripples effects around the world and after four hours of sitting on the plane uh drinking coffee gossiping and chatting they cancelled the flight

And the basic rule when things go wrong, Arnie, is when things go wrong, look after yourself. So I grabbed a cab and found a hotel where I'm going to hopefully stay. Interestingly, thankfully, my plane is here.

So when Heathrow opens up in a few hours time, I think I'm going to be okay to get to London. The problem is for those people whose planes never even left Heathrow, because now they are in a rolling series of delays as the planes arrive and other passengers take priority. One other thing I want to say, we keep calling this a hub. It's almost more than a hub. I mean, the ripple effects of this, even if the fire is out, are tremendous.

Yes, Heathrow, I mean, for decades it was the world's busiest international airport. It's now still in the one of the top three. It's the busiest in Europe in terms of international traffic.

traffic. It's a real crossroads. And if you look at the U.S. carriers, I mean, let's just take New York, London, for example, which is a billion dollar route in its own right for British Airways. There are anywhere between 24 to 28, 30 flights a day between New York and London. Los Angeles, half a dozen up to a dozen. The number of flights backwards and forwards between these major

and between the UK and the US is vast. And that's why it's going to take many days because here's the awful part. If your flight never left London to bring you back,

Well, I'm afraid you're at the back of the queue because the next flight takes those passengers that were supposed to be on it. And the day after takes those passengers. And what the airline now has to do, and this is the same for all airlines, is they have to start fitting people in.

And I'm afraid if you're looking to get to London, you could be looking into early next week if you haven't got a, you know, if you're one of those people who have been badly affected. And that's unfortunate, but it's just the way it is. When travel goes wrong, it goes wrong spectacularly. CNN's Richard Quest joining us from Brazil. Safe travels. Best of luck.

We want to turn here to the politics of the U.S. because what if a judge ordered the Trump administration to do something, any kind of order, and they just refused to comply? That appears to be where we could be headed as the White House continues to frustrate a judge who's demanding more information about last weekend's deportation flights. President Trump has been calling for the impeachment of that judge in a Truth Social post. He calls the ruling ridiculous and inept.

All right, Elliot, we have talked about how you don't like to use the term constitutional crisis. I will join you in that because we're not at a crisis point yet. However,

People care about this because if you don't follow an order here, there may be something else down the road where you decide you don't want to follow an order. Am I getting that right? What is the legal concern? You absolutely are. It's almost like, remember Pee Wee's Playhouse from the 1980s? We're really taking it back today. I mean, I have heard so many 90s TV references. You guys get yours ready. You guys get yours ready.

But the magic word is constitutional crisis, and everybody screams when somebody says it. But most people don't even really know what that means. Well, nobody knows what it means. But the concept generally is, when are the systems of government incapable of dealing with a problem that is presented by a branch of government? So the Civil War was a constitutional crisis where literally a portion of America broke off and, in effect,

the country went into war. South Carolina in the 1830s nullifying federal government tariffs is another instance of that. Here, you have the president who's sort of constitutional crisis curious, if you want to say that, where suggesting that the government might defy court orders, but it hasn't happened yet. Until we have a point at which something goes through the courts, the Supreme Court rules on it, and the government refuses to honor that, then yes, of course we're at a crisis point. This is bad, and the rhetoric isn't great at all.

The rhetoric isn't great, which brings me to that. Is there such thing as a good ruling if it's against Trump? Well, Caroline Leavitt spoke about this. And obviously, I think one of the things that the White House would like to see, we've talked about this in the past, is clarity on these nationwide injunctions or universal injunctions. And I think that's ultimately, Adi, where I hope we get clarity from the Supreme Court. We've had a number of federal district judges. I think there have been, what, 100?

over 120 lawsuits or rulings issued against the Trump administration in one way or another. And these are big questions that we need answers to. - Right, although a lot of immigration attorneys say, look, there were legal ways to do some of this stuff, right? Like, just 'cause you don't choose that path doesn't mean

It has to be this way. Sure. And I think what you'll hear the administration say, and this is their defense in this particular case, is that this is a national security issue, and this judge is out of bounds trying to stop these flights from leaving. And by the way, the flights were already out of the United States. So in that particular case, he didn't have the authority to do so anyway. The only thing I would say in response to that is that the war on terror—

from going another deep cut to the early 2000s was in effect a question over the reach of national security and how far can the government go and that was resolved in the courts the courts decided what's too far administrations go jurisdiction shopping all the time so you want to aim for a specific district or a circuit where a judge or the appeals court is going to give you the result you think that you're going to want but then you don't want it when it doesn't serve your purposes this is

The part of the challenge is that there's so many ways in which this current administration is trying to push president, test president, test executive power all at once, that you've got this court pile up in multiple jurisdictions around the country all at the same time. And it's not just in the Venezuelan area. When it comes to social security and the latest standoff over social security, you've got a judge putting a hold on sharing data-sensitive information that

very likely is a privacy violation. And you've got the response from the administration so far being

If we have to abide by this ruling, it could shut down Social Security and it'll be the judge's fault. And so I don't think it's just in one area. The judiciary has really struggled, right? Because they're trying to, it's not their place usually to get into big political fights. It is a purposeful test. And the way it's being done is purposeful to try to have this standoff over who gets to decide. To your point, even the Biden administration in January asked the Supreme Court to take action on these nationwide injunctions. So I think it does extend regardless of political party.

It...

- Okay, stay with us. No, no, this is an interesting conversation and we are gonna bring some more voices into it. Still ahead on CNN this morning, lawmakers out on recess, which sounds fun, but it's not because they're facing angry voters at town halls. We're gonna have Congressman Pat Harrigan live from North Carolina with what he's hearing from his community. Plus, all she wants for Christmas is a win. A judge now ruling on a lawsuit that accused Mariah Carey of stealing her holiday mega hit.

More from the group chat after this.

With lawmakers out on recess, the arguments which usually play out in the halls of Congress are now spilling out into town halls nationwide. People are showing up angry and frustrated at events for lawmakers from both parties. Democrats facing blowback for not standing up to Republicans. Republicans hearing frustrations for things like Elon Musk's Doge cuts. Here's just a bit of what Wyoming Republican Representative Harriet Hageman heard from voters just last night. I'm a retired

military officer. I am still a Republican. You are a lawyer. Where is this fraud? This is the fraud. Spending is the fraud. ...accountable to. What qualifies him to be making these cuts? My husband is 100% disabled and you're all sitting there trying to cut the disability payments from him? That's ridiculous and it's wrong.

Joining me now, Congressman Pat Harrigan of North Carolina, is a former Army Green Beret and member of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thank you for joining us. - Hadi, thanks for having me this morning. I appreciate it. - I don't know if you were able to hear clearly some of the voters that were speaking there. They were asking some pretty valid questions. And I want to take the first one, the person who says, "Look, I'm a Republican, I'm also a veteran, and they're having a real problem with how this is being carried out." What's your response to that?

You know, look, very broadly, in November, the American people voted for change. They gave President Donald Trump a mandate to go in and clean out the inefficiencies in our government. That's one of the things that he committed to do on the campaign trail. And that is one of the commitments that he has followed through with in action since being sworn in on January 20th. Do you think that that has fallen disproportionately on veterans just because they make up such a large portion of the federal workforce?

No, I certainly don't think that that's been the case. But I think as you look at the overall cuts that have happened, we've got to remember that only one half of 1% of the entire federal workforce has been affected by these cuts up until this point in time. And so when you look back at historical changes that have happened with our federal workforce, I'd point back to 1995 with President Clinton when he let 400,000 federal workers go.

to make things a little bit leaner, a little bit meaner. This has happened before, there's precedent for this and everybody with their hair on fire right now I think should put that into perspective. - You're about to have a town hall, you're going to have it, I think it's virtual, right? It's not in person. This is not a judgment, but saying your hair is on fire, chill out, I don't feel like that works with voters. So kind of what's your plan to talk about this for people who really have serious questions?

Look, we've been very communicative with folks. The problem is and we just actually I'm sitting in our new district office and just three weeks ago we had an open house to dedicate the new district office and out of the couple hundred people that came, there's about 125 very agitated protesters that completely disrupted what we call the

what was supposed to be a nonpartisan dedication of a new federal facility to serve their interests in Washington, D.C., and whether that be Social Security or Medicare, Medicaid issues, veterans issues, whether healthcare or educational things. Look, during the prayer of dedication, they stood up and started cussing out the prayer.

These things have become unbelievably chaotic. These folks, many of them are actually paid protesters. About half of the protesters we were able to track to outside of our district. They're not even constituents of ours. And so we have a responsibility to create as small of a government as we possibly can in terms of our communicative nature with our constituents. That's something I really believe in. The more communication we have, the more trust

that we have in our elected officials and our government. But the current circumstances are unproductive. I appreciate what you're saying, although I recall Democrats going through the same thing with the Tea Party movement, also calling them AstroTurf, also saying that they were paid agitators and later finding out that they became part of a movement that really helped change the government. Because you're on the House Armed Services Committee, I also want to ask you about this meeting today with the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hexeth, inviting Musk's Doge team, uh,

or inviting Elon Musk. First of all, we know that the cuts that they're making there, working out to 0.1% of the total annual military budget, do you think that makes a difference? Or do you think that actually committees like the one you're on should be looking and making these decisions?

- Yeah, I think we've got some institutional differences here, right? Just laying out the facts. We've got the Hask and Sask chairman that have a perspective that we need to significantly add to defense spending. And we've got the executive branch through President Trump and Secretary Hegstead that are laying out that we need to make some cuts into defense. And look, I think frankly, if I'm being as honest as I possibly can be with the American people leveraging my background as a special operator and someone who's also a businessman in the defense industrial base complex,

Both are accurate, right? There is a lot of fraud, waste and abuse that exists within our contracting apparatus in existing contracts that service DOD. The American taxpayers need a better deal there. They need their money to be spent more principally, not just, you know, look, on its surface, we have not really won a conflict yet.

in our military since World War II, save Desert Storm. And so the equipment that we're using, the assets that we're using right now have not helped us to win the last 30 years of conflict. And I think what President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, Elon Musk are looking at is they're making sure that what assets, what capabilities we're gonna move forward with in re-envisioning defense are actually going to help us deter the next conflict, particularly the conflict against China.

- Do you believe that Elon Musk should be a key part of that initiative, that moving forward? And I ask this because he already holds billions in contracts with the Defense Department. - I think that that's the president's prerogative, right? He has enlisted Elon Musk because he trusts him to go in and say, look, from just a business perspective, Elon Musk is one of the most successful businessmen in the history of humanity.

And you trust him from a business perspective to go in and look at the P&L on the balance sheet effectively, right? The budgets of our military, of our different government agencies and say, look, if I was running this as a private business, this is totally duplicative. This is fraud, waste or abuse. This is not serving the American people with the intent that the executive branch has.

been given and the authority that they've been given through the election process. And so, look, I think when it ultimately comes down to defense, we need to get a little bit leaner. We need to get a little bit meaner. We also simultaneously need to spend more money on new capabilities, right? We can have the military that we have today. And there's the rub trying to do both at the same time.

All right, Congressman Pat Harrigan from North Carolina. I hope we can speak to you again maybe after those tone halls. Thank you for being on CNN this morning. I also want to turn now to the federal courts. They've ordered the Social Security Administration to block attempts by members of DOGE to access your personal data. The judge calls the data grab at Social Security a phishing expedition. Some voters seem to agree.

I feel like we're gonna lose Medicaid, Medicare, questions about Social Security, things that my family personally relies on. And it's just, it's a lot. I feel like things are just going way, way backwards.

Margaret, I want to talk with you. We were just talking to the Congressman about Elon Musk and his connection with the Defense Department. Now people are looking at Doge and his workers having access to Social Security information. What are the ongoing concerns

about the access to this data, all of this data? - Yeah, they're primarily in two buckets. And one is that personal privacy data that's attached to your number. You know, like people say, don't give out your social security number. And then-- - But now like Random Engineer X maybe can-- - Getting all of it. So there is a concern on that front about your privacy. I would say many Americans

assume their privacy is already gone. So that may not be their top concern. Okay. I'm not ready to give away the store, but yeah. And or that it could be used to be tied to immigration enforcement. And that's not the reason why people... Are you hearing that in your group chats? I'm asking because he used to be at ICE. It's not on the ICE group chat. But you know, the most important thing, and it's

critical that we make this distinction. It's not a broadside against Doge, the judge's ruling. What the judge said is that if the information were anonymized, Doge could still have access to all of it. And so it's merely just a way of safeguarding the information. They can do anything they want with respect to recommending that the size of the agency be shrunk. But it's just a question of the precise data. And to your point, Margaret, absolutely.

people have an interest in making sure that their social security numbers are not given outside of those who absolutely need to know them. - Hold on a second, Rob, how do you see this? - Well, I wish we were as concerned about China and other hostile actors from foreign countries accessing this data, which we know in the past they have great interest in doing. So I don't think that anyone, that people should,

be respectful of the privacy of the social security. - Yeah, but when data escapes, it makes its way to China, et cetera, through data brokers. I mean, isn't this why we're concerned once it's out, it's out? - Of course, yeah, we should be concerned about that. I think Americans have a right to protect that information and obviously don't want to see it fall into enemy hands. - Can I have your social security number?

No, I can't. But that's the thing. I can know information about you, but you have an interest in your social security number getting out. It's almost a false debate that we're having here. The simple fact is you do not need individuals' actual social security numbers in order to do the work of shrinking them out. The other concern about social security that

many Americans have is that they are not going to be able to count on the benefits that they have been paying towards and planning when they're like, what does my life look like when I get older and I'm retired or I can't work as much or, you know, et cetera. So I think it's these dual concerns at the same time. One of them is technical. It's around why does Doge need my social security number and are my privacy rights protected? And the second one is, are my benefits being protected? Can I count on getting them or is that going to get clipped

in the process of the cuts. Yeah, because also in the atmosphere people are hearing about like cuts to these agencies, like cuts to the postal department. Like I think atmospherically it's

Am I going to get the services I need to live my life? Donald Trump has said, I think since at least 2015, if not earlier, that he would not take away Social Security benefits. I mean, he has been crystal clear. This is, again, conservatives and others who want to make reforms to entitlement programs have differences of opinion with Trump over this particular issue. Yeah, I think it's the word reforms also that gets people like, ugh, because of the details. But if you go back, think about it. If you...

this country had embarked upon the Social Security reforms back in the mid 2000s and the gains that we've seen in the stock market. Think about it, Americans would be better off today as a result of that. I love that leap. I love that for you. I also like that we moved from the 90s to the 2000s. By the end of this program, we will be in the terror of now.

We just have a minute left. Lightning round on what you are paying attention to, keeping an eye on? Pentagon spokesman demoted a day or so after the Jackie Robinson hubbub. It's the first public fissure within MAGA and within the leadership of the administration. Who's next? Will there be more? Rob? Yes, March Madness, of course. I mean, McNeese State pulling off the big upset. Wait, does your bracket serve?

I know. Oh, okay. I was like, that's the real news. Man's bracket maintained. I'm not perfect, yeah. Purdue, big game against Purdue. Margaret. You should have done basketball last. Mine is social security. I think this is going to be an animating issue, especially in the next few days because we're seeing the reduction of some offices, the closure of some offices at the same time that there are new rules to make it a little

harder to verify details to get disability benefits. You put all that together, people are going to be nervous. A lot of people are going to be watching that. I want to thank you for watching us. I'm Adi Cornish. CNN News Central starts right now.

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