Trump Order Fails First Legal Test
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It's Friday, January 24th, right now on CNN This Morning. You are an American citizen if you were born on American soil, period. Nothing that the president can do will change that. The first test, a judge blocks the Trump administration's birthright citizenship order, the president promising to appeal. Plus. If you don't make your product in America, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff. A warning to the world, President Trump urging global businesses to build in America or else. Then later.

It's obviously a Hail Mary then and it's not going to work. Pete Hegseth is going to get confirmed. A final vote despite new revelations, the Senate advancing Pete Hegseth's nomination. Two Republicans say they'll vote no, but will that make a difference? And releasing the files, President Trump ordering the government to declassify the records surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. All right, it is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill.

On this Friday, we are back in a Trump administration. So when Friday rolls around, you realize just how much longer the weeks start to feel. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. As Donald Trump wraps up the first week of his second term, already the nation is seeing this president take his very different approach to immigration. Immigration Customs Enforcement announcing the arrest of over 500 people on Thursday. Among them, multiple people working at a seafood distributor in Newark, New Jersey.

A couple of the guys couldn't show their identification. Three of them got arrested. 26 years in business, I've never seen anything like this.

Newark's mayor claiming that ICE officers arrested both undocumented immigrants and American citizens in that raid. In a statement, the mayor, Ross Baraka, writing this, quote, one of the detainees is a U.S. military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned, end quote. Immigration raids also occurring this week in Boston, something that Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey was asked about yesterday. I wouldn't describe them as raids. What it seems to be is what we expected,

and what I support, which is the apprehension of criminals in our communities.

Worth noting that Maura Healey is a Democrat. Across the country, President Trump is facing new legal challenges to another key piece of his immigration plan, the push to end birthright citizenship. A federal judge halting enforcement of the president's order, sounding almost exasperated as he did it, saying this, quote, I've been on the bench for over four decades. I can't remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order. Where were the lawyers when this decision was being made? End quote.

No surprise, President Trump saying he'll challenge the restraining order and implying that the judge's decision was political. Mr. President, a US judge temporarily blocks the birthright citizenship order. Do you have any reaction? No, obviously we'll appeal it. They put it before a certain judge in Seattle, I guess. And there's no surprises with that judge.

All right, joining us now to discuss our panels here, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios. Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor. Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former communications director for the Biden White House. And Mike Dubke, former communications director in the first Trump administration. Welcome to all of you. Thank you guys so much for being here.

Elliott Williams, why don't I start with you on birthright citizenship? But this is kind of one piece of a broader push that we are seeing play out immediately here in the initial days. Clearly, the Constitution says one thing. Trump is trying to do another thing with an executive order. But it has a lot of people concerned about what's going to happen if they're pregnant right now. They're not sure what the status of their baby is going to be.

what, in your view, is the status for those people? I mean, there's a temporary restraining order here. And is the goal just to get this to the Supreme Court, to actually just challenge it? The goal is certainly to get it to the Supreme Court. Now, the status of those people right now is what it was two days ago or three days ago because of the fact

that the judge has put in place a national hold on the executive order. At least for now, the law remains what it was. But let's be clear, when you have a federal judge calling your action blatantly unconstitutional, you kinda screwed up. And whether it was merely to move the political needle or actually change the definition of birthright citizenship, we will find out. But again, Casey, to echo your point,

This all comes from the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, shall be citizens of the United States. That language is plainly clear on its face. And if you look at all of the fraught

cases over the last decade or so, whether it's abortion, affirmative action, whatever else, there's some ambiguity in the law there. That's not here. This is pretty unambiguous. This is on its face pretty clear. And the reason why it hasn't come up since 1898 in the Supreme Court is because nobody's challenging it because it's plain on its face. So

Yeah, so there you have it. Here we go. Which speaks that in some ways it's not as much of a legal challenge as a political ploy, right? I mean, they want this fight. They expected it to be appealed. And to your point, they expect this to go to the Supreme Court. They want it to go to the Supreme Court because the longer that this fight is in the news, they think it's their political ploy.

So we're seeing the tension here for this political side of the table in both of these instances, right? The humanity of people who aren't sure if their kids who are born here are going to be able to be citizens because of this executive order. These people in these raids who, you know, the Newark mayor says was an American citizen and like a military veteran, right? These people who are going to have their lives impacted possibly in really difficult and unfair ways.

versus what you saw from Maura Healey, the governor of Massachusetts, who says, actually, this is what I want as well. I wouldn't even call them raids. I want these people apprehended. This is what the voters voted for. I mean, Mike, what is the right...

Obviously, voters want immigration enforcement. Can the president go too far at this point? Where's the line? So I think you're hearing from the governor of Massachusetts and from the mayor, you're hearing exactly the debate that's happening in America. And you're hearing the debate that was happening prior to the election. There are a lot of people that are really torn about how to handle immigration. How do you handle violence in immigration?

Look, I think this is, you've got a president that is going to test the limits. This birthright citizenship is an example. I mean, Elliot, I was shocked, shocked that lawyers disagree with each other on this, right? But you are gonna see more and more and more of this, but you've got a president that wants to test the limits.

And you've got Americans that are truly conflicted when it comes to immigration. And how do we deal with them? How do we deal with the millions? - You know, really interesting point about this debate that's been ongoing. This kind of enforcement action, and I'm not using the word raid, I will say enforcement action quite deliberately, was common in the Obama administration. At the very beginning of the administration, I was at ICE for those four, I believe five years.

In the beginning, workplace enforcement showing up at, whether it's the meat packing plants or the factories or whatever else, and sweeping people up were a common tactic. Now, the administration stopped doing that by about April of 2009 because of exactly

I believe the mayor was talking about there, which is that you start sweeping up military veterans and so on, and it's just inefficient. The approach that the Obama folks went to at a certain point was auditing the files of employers to make sure that the employers were actually checking who was working for them. But it's a little bit going in with a hatchet rather than a scalpel when you just start sweeping people up. And you're going to see more of that where people who

who plainly should not be removed from the United States, but are getting caught up and having to go through the hassle of pulling out their certificates from the military or whatever else. - I do think Maura Healey is kind of largely in the right place here though for Democrats, which is, especially for Democrats who are in executive office, that they take it seriously, that they are focused on violent offenders. I do think that reading the results of the election in November, I think you'd be crazy to not say people are asking for tougher

on immigration. So I don't think Democrats should shy away from that. Of course, I think they should show humanity. They should show empathy. I mean, the point of immigration enforcement should not be cruelty. I think this is where Democrats can really split with the Trump administration. I think Trump seems sometimes to be quite gleeful in his

pursuing policies that are hurting young children or hurting young families. You'll see, we'll continue to see, I would imagine more and more images of women with young children crying because they don't know what is gonna happen to their kids. I mean, there are human and painful images that emerge that Trump, I think sometimes comes across as seeming gleeful about. And that is where I think Democrats can very aggressively split with him. - There are two words you're not hearing though, sanctuary city.

I'm not hearing sanctuary cities coming from Democrats right now. I think exactly because of that point. With the possible exception of Denver. I mean, they've been pretty, you know, the mayor. The mayor said he's already ready to go to jail to Tom Homan. I've been taking them out, yeah. But to your point, there's every political incentive for a lot of Democrats to end up, to try to stand up to the Trump administration when they start doing these orders. And when we start seeing these images, potentially of families being split up, potentially, you know, oh,

you know, this gleeful nature. And so I think you're going to actually see a bunch of Democrats, not even just Denver, I think you're going to see a bunch of Democrats across the country try to actually stand up to some of these actions. Yeah. Elliot, let me ask you about this, just because the one pregnant woman talked to The Independent, the newspaper, The Independent, and her name is Monica. Monica and her husband arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela six years ago. They've

building a life trying to do everything to make their home here they're in the process of seeking asylum obviously venezuela has had so much political violence and challenges working paying taxes we were able to buy a home she said we had reached a point of stability in this country and wanted to have a child she's now 12 weeks pregnant i should be worried about the health of my child i should be thinking about that she said instead she is stressed anxious and depressed facing reality that my child might not be able to become a u.s citizen

- And I guess, I mean, you note that there was this stay, but there was a period of time there where babies were born and this executive order was in effect. What does it mean? - It shows the arbitrariness of how it was all written. Were that baby born a month ago?

that baby would have been a United States citizen without question, even under this executive order. It was quite deliberate that some of the immigration groups that filed suits named pregnant women as plaintiffs, knowing that this sort of legal limbo was going to come up and they could present to the courts that, you know, look at the mess that this has created for people who plainly by any reading of the constitution are citizens and will be citizens of the United States. You don't have to like it.

If you don't like it, amend the Constitution, get two-thirds of the states to agree to it. But this is the law. It has been since the founding of the nation. Make it work. - Do you have an answer for if there's a baby that was born under these circumstances, like on Tuesday morning at midnight after this executive order was in effect, but before the stay? Do they have a problem? - No, I don't think they have a problem because the stay, it'll all depend on how the judge enforces the stay. Does it go retroactively to the signing of the order?

But it's a mess now. That child will have a right to sue if somebody dares say they're not a citizen. - What a mess. Okay, coming up here on CNN this morning, an America First ultimatum, President Trump issuing his most direct tariff threat yet, plus eliminating government waste, Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, who serves as ranking member on the new Doge subcommittee,

here to discuss. And as a new fire rages in Southern California today, the president will head to Los Angeles to tour the damage and apparently speak to Governor Newsom for the first time since 2020. I certainly plan on being there at the tarmac and look forward to continuing to work not just with them, the administration, as it relates to the disaster recovery. ♪

I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast, Terms of Service. On January 7th, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta will discontinue its third-party fact-checking program in the United States. Fighting disinformation is more crucial than ever. Fact-checking is a huge piece of that puzzle. What do third-party fact-checkers actually do? Follow CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.

Many, many things have been unfair for many years to the United States. President Donald Trump now taking his second term message overseas. He spoke virtually to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland yesterday for more than 40 minutes. He listed many of his America First grievances about U.S. trade deals. And he again threatened to slap tariffs on our neighbors to the north.

My message to every business in the world is very simple. Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth. If you don't make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff. I say you can always become a state.

And if you're a state, we won't have a deficit. We won't have to tariff you, et cetera, et cetera. But Canada has been very tough to deal with over the years. We don't need them to make our cars, and they make a lot of them. We don't need their lumber because we have our own forests, et cetera, et cetera. We don't need their oil and gas.

Mike Dubka, I don't know if he's called General Motors lately, which makes some of its most best-selling cars in Canada. But this is clearly a tactic that he uses, right? What real-world impact do you think it'll have? I think it's going to have... I actually do think the rhetoric matters, and there is going to be some real-world impact here. Major corporations are going to look, what can we do to open up operations in the United States? You're right about GM, but you're, you know, Honda, BMW,

BMW, all these other manufacturers make their SUVs in the United States. So all of this does- And right to work states, but yes. And right to work states, but all of this does matter. He's got a very strong Made in America platform, and that's what he's doubling down on. And he's taking it right into the belly of the beast at Davos.

But this is kind of a rerun. I mean, we saw a lot of this tough talk from him in his first administration. We saw a lot of promises about bringing manufacturing back to the United States, and it didn't really happen. It's all the people of Lordstown, Ohio. Right, exactly. Or the Foxconn plant in Wisconsin that was supposed to be a huge job creator that never materialized. So, you know, the rhetoric is one thing, but the reality is another. And I think...

threatening tariffs that are ultimately probably going to drive up prices for American consumers. That's going to create a real political pain point for him very quickly. And he's going to have to make decisions about whether the rhetoric is worth looking the American people in the eye and saying, prices are going up because of what I did. And so it's easy to bluster in your virtual world

address to Davos in the second week of your presidency. But the reality of some of what he's proposing here will mean higher prices for people in the United States. - Just a really quick point on this though. When is this happening? Like in the first administration, Trump 1.0, it was a year, a little later into the administration, he was getting his feet under him. This is now what we're seeing as a confident Donald Trump.

And we're seeing him straight out of the gate. What are we, five days into the presidency now? We are seeing him straight out of the gate going to several of the places, as you point out, that this, we've already seen this. But it was, he was trying to figure it out in 1.0. 2.0, this is, we're on steroids at the moment. We're just blasting through, you know, several of the plays that he ran in four years ago. He knows a lot more about manipulating the levers of power.

Yes. All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, rain expected in Southern California. You would think that would be good news because of the wildfires, and it may help in that way, but we'll tell you why that rain could cause even more problems for L.A. Plus, President Trump's first days back in office came with a slew of pardons and executive orders. Michael Smirconish, it's Friday. He'll join us to break it all down.

All right, welcome back. Firefighters in Southern California grappling with new wildfires this week. Now, though, it does look like rain is heading that way. However, it could also cause more problems like mudslides on the charred areas. So people are putting out thousands of sandbags to try to protect what they have left. Let's get to meteorologist Allison Chinchart with more on this. Allison, good morning.

And good morning. Yes, we've got a lot of active fires to talk about in two separate regions of California. Here you can see this is in and around the Los Angeles area. You've got six particular fires here, none of which are back up to 100% containment. So that is certainly something we are going to have to keep a close eye on. Now, if we had a little bit further down to the south now down near San Diego, you also have several fires here. All of these three, however,

are at 0% containment. Now the winds are expected to improve as we go through the day today. So that is some good news, especially for the firefighters right now. You still have a couple that are in like the teens and even the low 20 mile per hour range. And that is expected because we do still have the red flag warning up until 10 a.m. Pacific

time this morning. We cou of those winds around 40 northern side up to 60 mi side. But that goes away and we finally start to s back down. We also see so back down and that's the today, the high in the

but then the rest of the week is actually below average. But the most important thing that's on this chart is the rain chances. It should begin in the back half of the day Saturday for Southern California and then continue through the day Sunday and maybe even the wee hours of Monday morning. And that's good news. They need the rain to really help out most of these areas. You're looking at a half of an inch, maybe in some isolated spots up to one inch total snowpack is also going to be a pick up a little bit here. You'll see a lot of the snowfall for the higher elevations. But yes, Casey,

The big concern here is if that rain comes down too quickly, it could end up triggering some flash flooding and also some mudslides around the burn scar areas. Tough to hear people in LA could really use some relief. Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thanks very much for that.

Still coming up after the break, President Donald Trump looking to slim down the government with his new so-called Department of Government Efficiency. We're going to talk to the top Democrat on the congressional subcommittee that deals with Doge, Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury. Plus, today, Congress will take the final vote on whether to confirm Pete Hegstaff to lead the Pentagon.

I do believe the president deserves deference, but obviously I take seriously the advice and consent role assigned to the Senate. We're taking on some of the most unique and challenging projects we've ever done. I definitely want a catio. A what? Have you ever heard of a catio? No, I haven't. For Dave and Jenny Mars, the bigger the challenge. An old lodge. How much work does it need? A lot. We have today and today only to do it. Five.

Go, go, go, go, go! The greater the reveal. Oh, my God. Fixer to Fabulous, all new Tuesday night at 8. See it first on HGTV. Stream next day on Max. To restore competence and effectiveness to our federal government, my administration will establish the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency.

President Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE for short, officially established earlier this week after a first-day executive order. The new entity, which plans to try to slash billions in government spending, will operate as part of the executive branch.

And they will have a congressional arm, the House Subcommittee on Doge. My next guest, Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, has been named the top Democrat on that committee. She tells Axios she'll, quote, fight back against efforts to dismantle federal agencies to take away critical programs like Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare, and will fight back against the dismantling of environmental programs. The man tapped to lead Doge, Elon Musk, has shared little so far about his intentions for those programs.

Elon, is Social Security and Medicare, is it off the table? Is it off the table? And joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico. Congresswoman, thanks for being here. It's great to be here. I want to talk a little bit about this subcommittee and how you think it is actually going to work. We have seen in the initial kind of

onslaught of executive orders, right, in this first week that a huge focus for President Trump is the federal workforce and trying to make impacts there. You have started to talk to some of your Republican counterparts on this subcommittee. What's your understanding of what they're going to try to do? Well, at this point, we don't know what exactly they're up to, but my sense is it's not good.

whatever it's going to be. You know, immediately after the election in November, the very first committee hearing that the Oversight Committee had was on DEI initiatives. And here we are this week. Donald Trump, of course, put on leave all of the federal employees who work on diversity initiatives. We believe that they're going to use the DOGE subcommittee to eviscerate the federal workforce. We think they're going to go after federal departments, agency heads. We think they're going to go after

after the retirement benefits, and use it also to restructure the government as a way to be essentially a personal piggy bank for Elon Musk. I mean, I think none of us really understand why Elon Musk is even interested in restructuring the government, except for that he has billions of dollars in federal contracts. And I think it's notable that up until the inauguration, he was operating his arm of Doge out of SpaceX, which is the company that he has billions of dollars in front of the federal government with.

Congresswoman, you mentioned retirement benefits and other ways to eviscerate the federal workforce. What's your understanding? A lot of these employees are protected by unions. Is it possible for Republicans in Congress to take away federal retirement benefits? Oh, absolutely. I mean, the entire Schedule F executive order that was signed by President Trump on Monday is designed to take away the protections that federal employees actually have.

So, um, our unions have told us that actually there is,

There is much less to fight back on in the way that this Schedule F order has been structured. But Congress essentially is the arm of our government that passes laws that regulates everything from your benefits to how the federal workforce is structured. And so that's why there is a congressional arm. So this is intended to provide the congressional heft, if you will. Now, I think it's notable that they put Marjorie Taylor Greene in charge of it on the report.

Republican side. So you have to ask, how serious are they? Or is this really a political stunt just to generate interest amongst their base in the nefarious stuff that they're about to do? Let me ask you about Elon Musk as well, because obviously-- I mean, you mentioned SpaceX. He has all sorts of interests. He's also--

came in in the last 24 hours for criticism from the Anti-Defamation League because he seemed to be joking about the Holocaust. Shocking. And they wrote about, they put this up on Musk's platform, making inappropriate, highly offensive jokes that trivialize the Holocaust, serve to minimize the evil and inhumanity of Nazi crimes, denigrate the suffering of both victims and survivors, and insult the memory of

of the six million Jews murdered in the Shoah, and that's, of course, Jonathan Greenblatt as their leader, and he says, "Elon Musk, the Holocaust is not a joke." Are there gonna be any recriminations for this from Republicans in Congress?

Well, I mean, I think we have seen time and time again that Republicans do not hold members of their own allies accountable for their actions. I mean, look, they put Donald Trump back in the White House. But, you know, if you actually look at the tweet that Elon Musk put out yesterday, I mean, it's shocking. When I saw it, I just I couldn't believe it.

But on the other hand, in addition to supporting Donald Trump, he's been endorsing and supporting these ultra-right-wing fascist Nazi, pseudo-Nazi government entities across the world, including in Germany itself, where it's very clear even the arm gesture that he made in the inauguration ceremony that the German government says that is a Nazi salute.

I mean, I don't see my Republican colleagues turning their backs on him unless it becomes politically toxic for them. But they've clearly mobilized and allied themselves with the far right. And so there seems to be a level of comfort amongst my Republican colleagues that is frightening. And I think this is the kind of stuff that we warn the American people on as we were heading into this election. And we're seeing it play out now.

All right, Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, thanks very much for spending some time with us this morning. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, coming up next here on CNN This Morning, a flurry of executive orders, a sweeping pardon for all the January 6th rioters, and a speech on the world stage. Michael Smirconish here to discuss week one, and it was a whirlwind week, President Trump's second term. Plus, fulfilling a campaign promise, President Trump orders the declassification of the JFK assassination files.

JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, he's also planning to declassify the KFC files and finally get to the bottom of those secret herbs and spices. Do you feel like you've gotten enough information about Mr. Hexeth? Yeah, I actually feel I do.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says she's seen enough about President Trump's choice to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth. On Thursday, Hegseth cleared a procedural vote in the Senate, setting up a final confirmation vote on his nomination as defense secretary for later on today. Murkowski was one of two Republican senators joining Susan Collins of Maine to break ranks with their party and vote against Hegseth's nomination.

In general, I do believe the president deserves deference, but obviously I take seriously the advice and consent role assigned to the Senate.

In separate statements, both of these women senators called Hegseth's character and experience into question. Senator Collins saying, quote, he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job. And Senator Murkowski saying of Hegseth, quote, he lacks that strength of character and good judgment that in all departments we need to have, but most particularly in the Department of Defense. Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking that he denies.

But two more Republicans would have to join Murkowski and Collins, in addition to every Democrat, to sink his nomination. Now I'm going through this last allegation. But unless I can point to specific, firsthand, corroborated testimony, I'm not going to cave to pressure. I'm going to vote for his confirmation.

All right. Our panel is back. Mike Dubke, this seems like it's on a glide path here. There were some 11th hour pieces of new information. A former family member of Hegseth's submitting an affidavit claiming she was told that if she were to come forward, there would be Republicans who would vote against Hegseth. Doesn't seem to be the case.

No, I think we saw that the two senators, Collins and Murkowski, look, for both of them, this is on brand. So I am not surprised by that. One thing, if I thought this was going to be derailed on that procedural vote, I'm

You know, we've got Mitch McConnell out there. We've got Todd Young. We've got John Curtis. There are several other senators who may choose. And Tom Tillis there, too. Well, I think Tillis may be a little less. You know, I take Tillis at his word. I think he's voting for this. But I kind of view Hegseth probably going forward. What will be interesting is when we get to some of the other nominees. But this Hegseth vote tonight seems to be...

- Yeah. - On a glide path to quote somebody else. - I would also note Tom Tillis is up for reelection in 2026. - So is Susan Collins. - Right, if he's not scared by it, if it's not, you know what I mean? It does not appear that all of the Republicans who are in tougher races are breaking one way. I just don't think they're that concerned about the nomination getting sunk. - Well, Tom Tillis is probably a little bit more

He might be more concerned about his right than Susan Collins is worried about the middle because Maine versus North Carolina, Republican primary. I mean, I take your point, though, that this seems to be going forward. The other interesting thing is, like, Peter Hexeth has no experience doing this job. And so now the hard part starts, as they say. Yeah, you know, so much...

so much of the debate has been over the personal misconduct or alleged personal misconduct and not the fact that you're talking about three million employees and an 800 billion dollar budget well that's hard enough to do sober i think is the issue i think the question is like is he is he can he pick up the

- And we forget that these are massive management roles and is this person competent to do it? - Right, and he has struggled. I mean, we've seen evidence that he has struggled to manage much, much, much smaller, less complicated organizations than the Department of Defense. So this is one of those things where

I agree with Mike, it seems very much like it's on a glide path at this point, but it also means Republicans are going to own Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the things that he does in that job. And that's where Democrats, I think, will start to focus their attention when it comes to Hegseth himself. Mike, who do you think is actually in trouble? Because I keep hearing, Tulsi Gabbard is the name that I keep hearing. Yeah, that's the name. I think that's the name that you're going to keep hearing.

It sounds like Senator McConnell is already a no vote. I mean, again, they have to get to four Republicans, assuming all the Democrats say. What was interesting in the Hegseth vote, actually, was that Fetterman voted against, which there had been some chatter that he was going to support Hegseth. So I...

I think you could potentially see him support some Trump nominees that other Democrats have put up. Yes, so is it four, is it five? But Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, but I think he's going to be okay. I think RFK Jr. is going to be okay. It's really, it comes down to Tulsi Gabbard. That might come down to a hearing.

too, depending on how that one goes. All right. Let's turn now to the big picture of what we have seen from the second Trump administration. They have only been in office for full, very busy, full days. Already, the president has issued a double-digit blitz of executive orders as he ticks through a laundry list of campaign promises. Tonight, I'm going to be signing a

on the J6 hostages, pardons. Protecting women from radical gender ideologies. They'll have 100% tariff if they so much as even think about doing what they thought. This next order relates to the definition of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the United States. That's a good one. This is to me a very big thing, $500 billion.

Stargate project. They didn't want the Kennedy stuff released, but I'm going to release them immediately. I'm also taking swift action to stop the invasion at our southern border. I signed an executive order to stop all government censorship. I'm also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. My team negotiated a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East.

And it's worth noting, guys, that Friday has barely begun. What does this first week tell us about the term ahead? Michael Smirconish is here to discuss. He's CNN political commentator, host of CNN's Smirconish, and of course, the star of Smirconish Fridays here on CNN This Morning. Michael, good morning. This has been quite a week.

Casey, first of all, congratulations to you on your upcoming move. I hope I'm allowed to say that. It's much deserved. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the afternoon. Yeah, that's really wonderful, wonderful news. So it's been a firehose of information thus far. And yes, the day is young. Who knows what today brings? But what occurs to me is.

Very few surprises. In other words, the things that are getting so much attention for those who paid attention, obviously you and the panel did to the campaign. He told us about DEI. He told us about birthright citizenship. He told us his definition of two genders.

For me, the big surprise, the item on the agenda that causes the most risk of any blowback from his base, the Jay Sixers. I thought that the breadth of the clemency that was granted to the Jay Sixers in the end, if you believe the news accounts, he just said, F it, I'm going to take care of them all instead of going through a case-by-case basis. And I think it carries real political risk as borne out by the fact that the largest party

police union in the country, which supported him in the past three elections, drew a line in the sand on that. And you look at those personalities who were just released from prison this week. They're not going quietly into the night. They want to be players. I think it's going to come back to bite them. I think there'll be recidivism.

from some of the 15 or 1600 who've been released. And what worries me most about that move is the message that it sends not only to those individuals, but the people who support them, that Trump has their back. So for me on this Friday morning, that's the headline of the week.

Yeah, I mean, Michael, I have to say, if you watch the press conference that was given by members of the Capitol Police Force, and we played quite a bit of it yesterday, where, you know, we heard from Officer Daniel Hodges, who talked about, and he's in some of that best-known footage from the day where he's jammed in the door, you know, literally screaming for help, you know, and he talked about how the rioters tried to gouge out his eyes. And at the end of his comments, he simply said,

I don't understand. And I think, for me, I've covered the Republican Party for a long time and the sort of trajectory it has taken in the age of Trump, but even with Trump and the difference that he...

I started covering Mitt Romney's campaign, right? I'm not sure there could be two different people, let alone Republican politicians. But I never imagined, even as that transition was happening, that we would see a Republican Party that was pardoning people who were specifically violent against police officers.

Is that the piece of it that you think is ultimately going to be a problem here? There's Officer Hodges, by the way. Well, that's what I find to be. That's what I find to be the biggest shock, because if I go back to the days when I cut my teeth politically in the Reagan 80s as a Republican, one who served, albeit in a lower level position in the Bush 41 administration. But that's my pedigree. Like this is totally at odds with the Republican Party of my younger days.

it was always the Republicans. I can think of so many different RNCs, so many different Republican national conventions where law enforcement was a critical part of it. And, and they would always tout the fact that, you know, they were the party that had the back of the men, largely men then in blue. And this is totally at odds, but I, I don't know that, that president Trump thought it through when you, when you look at, uh,

Those two personalities, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, the guys who were released this week, I hate to even give them more heft by naming them, and the things that they said to the media upon their release. You know, somehow I would think that Trump wants to get the message to them like, hey, guys, I cut you some slack, but please, that's it. Go quietly into the night. They show no interest in doing so. That's going to come back in the future. I mean, is it...

I mean, I remember at the time the sort of stand back and stand by line in the midst of Trump fighting to not have to leave the White House after the election. Is is it a even more aggressive version of that message to those? And you're right to point that out as well. I mean, he groups. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, he meant what he said all along. He's been consistent, if nothing else. Look, I'm trying to give him, to be fair, and to give him the benefit of the doubt. I made sure that I started my comments today by saying, if you paid attention, he's doing that which he said he would do. The shocker for me...

is the approach to the Jay Sixers. I mean, I'm not the only one shocked. J.D. Vance, Vice President Vance, is apparently among those shocked because of the comments that he made just a week ago. But it's like everybody has lost their voice on it. I draw the line at just giving a blank slate to those that I watched, that we all watched,

being violent with cops and breaching the Capitol. My own standard is if you were violent on that day, if you breached the perimeter of the building itself, then we're giving you no quarter. If there were others who were overcharged, who have paid their debt to society and three and a half years behind bars. OK, let's have that conversation. Maybe three and a half years was enough. So that's what I think.

Yeah, no, it's fair enough. And I was I found it jarring. Also, our my colleague, Donio Sullivan, did an interview with the woman who became she had a pink hat on and she used an axe to break a window. And then he interviewed her outside the D.C. jail because, of course, she's now been released. So.

Michael Smirconish, I'm always grateful to have you. If it's Friday, it's a Smirconish Friday. So see you soon. And do, all of you at home, remember to tune in to Smirconish. It's tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Eastern. It's right here on CNN. All right, 53 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Tomorrow, four more Israeli hostages set to be released by Hamas. Sources say the fate of the other hostages expected to be released over the coming weeks could also come into focus tomorrow.

Although President Donald Trump says he hasn't met or spoken to any of the January 6th rioters to whom he granted clemency earlier this week, he said he's not opposed to hosting them at the White House. I don't know. I'm sure that they probably would like to. I did them something important. But what they did is they were protesting a crooked election. I mean, people understand that also. And they were treated very badly. Nobody's been treated like that. So I'd be open to it, certainly.

The president pardoned more than 1,000 people charged in the January 6th attack on the Capitol and commuted the sentences of an additional 14 people. Today, President Trump is traveling to California to survey the damage from those intense wildfires. The governor, Gavin Newsom, says the White House hasn't formally reached out to him, but he does plan to be there when the president lands.

I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him, and we're making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him.

President Trump has of course heavily criticized the governor over his handling of these wildfires. Kate Bedingfield, are they gonna let him onto the tarmac? Well, it's their prerogative. I mean, he's not gonna be able to get close to Trump if they don't allow it, so we'll see. But I think the loss of, or the potential loss, of these kinds of bipartisan moments, especially in the wake of natural disasters, is actually such a profound

for our country. I mean, the idea that even the response to something that has devastated the lives of people all over Southern California is about partisan politics is just, it's so demoralizing. I think it does so much to undermine people's

Faith in government. I think the idea that institutions have no longer people don't trust institutions is in part driven by exactly this kind of thing a Democratic governor and a Republican president should be able to greet each other on the tarmac When the president is coming out to survey damage and talk about what the federal government can do to help I just I think I it's a small thing, but it's actually not a small thing I'm gonna put on my MAGA hat for a second. I

And the argument and response is, well, Gavin Newsom has viciously attacked Donald Trump for his entire career. Why should Donald Trump pay him back? - All the more reason Donald Trump should look like the bigger person, I would argue, even from a political perspective. - But I would say people can be political opponents, but still in times of crisis come together. The one that comes to mind for me from my great home state of New Jersey was Barack Obama and Chris Christie in the time of Hurricane Sandy. - Although Mitt Romney has still not forgiven Chris Christie for that. - Which destroyed Chris Christie's career.

But sure. But political success versus taking care of the people in your state who are suffering. I mean, at a certain point you got it. The other part, though, what I do want to draw attention to here is that the president is going to California. One of the reasons you move the president around the country when there is a time of natural disaster or other times of strife is that he can show a spotlight on these California fires that have been going on for weeks now. I dare say I think some of the American people are kind of like,

I don't want to say they're over the fires, but it's not at the top of the news the way it is. And it will be again because Trump is going out there. I also expect that Newsom will make it onto the tarmac. And good for him for saying, look, we're going to give all the resources we can to give the briefing to the president. It is important for these folks to come together. We can agree on that. But I think going out there was something that most people probably did not expect Donald Trump to do. And I'm glad he's doing it.

All right, President Trump is burning through the Sharpie budget in his first week in office. Among the executive orders, he signed a call to declassify and release the remaining files on the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK Jr. That's a big one, huh? A lot of people are waiting for this for a long, for years, for decades. And everything will be revealed. Okay? Give that to RFK Jr. Yes, sir. Okay?

Give that to RFK Jr. It should be noted that according to the National Archives, 99% of the JFK assassination files are already publicly available. I got to say, I want to see the rest. I mean, this seems like a political winner. Well, and he said we've been waiting for decades. You want the 1%. Well, why not release 100%? I mean, we've waited decades. But unfortunately, if you actually look at the fine...

to find print, they have 15 days to create a plan and then 45 days to create another plan in order to finally release that last 1%. So people that, you know, as a journalist, I would like just to see it all. I mean, yes. Because that 1% also feeds the conspiracy theories. And like, as long as not all of them are revealed, people are going to keep speculating.

- Well, do the moon landing next because that fake moon landing, we need to know what happened in 1969, the American people were calling. - So the crazy side of the desk today is over there. - You know what? This side is like, you know. - We're reasonable. - All right, well, look guys, since it's Friday, I did wanna end on this. I just, I needed something cute for the end of the week and yes,

It's pandemonium, wah-wah, in southwest China. 25 giant panda cubs. Look at them. Oh my gosh. All the cubs were born in 2024 at two separate breeding centers. Two of those pandas, Bao Li and King Bao, made their big public debut. These are different pandas at the Smithsonian National Zoo in D.C. So that's here. You can go and see them starting today if you live here in Washington. They loved the snow that we got a couple of weeks ago.

And just because you can also see a picture of me from a very long time ago holding a baby panda in southwest China. I am like nearly 20 years younger in those photographs, but you know the fact that I still have them should tell you how much I love them because we love pandas here. Look at this. I mean, we should just play this on a loop, guys. Right? I will say this. For the senators that aren't used to spending their weekends in Washington, like they will be for the next several weekends, they should go see the pandas. You changed the show Pandas This Morning with Casey

I can support that. Thank you guys for being here. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. Have a wonderful weekend. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

After a decade of history, exes Christina Haack and Tarek Al Moussa finally face off. The flip-off is a house-flipping competition. There's so much at stake. It's the ultimate design showdown like no other. This is war. Things are definitely going to get heated. If I lose to my ex-wife... Bring it on. I'm back with a vengeance. The Flip-Off special series, January 29th at 8 on HGTV. Stream next day on Maxx.