America’s Weak Jobs Report Flashes Warning Signs About The Economy

24:13And I know there's a temptation among a lot of people, I think, especially in my party to kind of tune out because there's so much bad news about freedoms being taken away, harm being done in our country. But I think that means we need to redouble our efforts to put forward better leadership. Look, we know that the American people don't like what they're seeing under the Trump administration. The Republican agenda is clearly so unpopular that one of their biggest efforts right now is to change the way the districts are being drawn in the middle of the decade, because they know even on today's maps, if they just ran on their ideas, they would lose.

24:45That's something that should signal to us that we've got to go into these fights with everything that we've got. And as a private citizen, I'm going to do everything in my power to help. Pete Buttigieg, thanks so much. Appreciate your time. And you better go catch your flight. Will do. My pleasure. Thanks for having me on. Two breaking news stories that we're following right now. First, from the White House, President Trump just spoke about those dismal jobs numbers out today. We're going to bring that to you. Also from New York moments ago, Mayor Eric Adams, who was running for re-election as an independent, addressed his political future.

25:22In our politics lead, may the record reflect President Trump had a not great week when it came to court cases. An appeals court ruled that his national emergency went too far to justify tariffs. In Boston, a federal judge ruled his administration illegally canceled funding for Harvard. In New Orleans, a judge said he could not use that 18th century wartime law, the Alien and Enemies Act for deportations. And another federal judge in California said he broke the law, Trump, by deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles. Let's discuss with our panel. Now look, obviously they're appealing and obviously who knows what the ultimate result will be, but there is a commonality is that judges say he was overstepping his executive authority.

26:06Yes. And a lot of the judges are Biden or Obama judges, which happens. And this is not a really Not all of them. Not all of them. However, Trump has lived in the courts his entire professional life. And I keep saying this. He is going to use the court system. He's going to take everything up to the Supreme Court that he has. Now, they did overturn, I think, this morning, the alligator Alcatraz. It can stay. So that's one thing that he won. But I think all of these cases are going to continue to go up to the Supreme Court. And they're going to be really tired of going on this, you know, docket that's so quick.

26:39Well, I think what this administration is sort of doing masterfully is overwhelming the courts. I mean, they're doing that with D.C. I know the feeling, by the way. Right. We all do. Yeah, exactly. It overwhelms the news media, too. Exactly. What happened to August recess? Right. I mean, I don't think there's ever going to be one, at least in this administration. But they're clearly, they see a path here in overwhelming the courts. They're doing it strategically. And like you were saying, they're going to continue to appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court. But I do think you are seeing Democrats in states fighting back, counter-suing.

27:10You're going to see that with some of the redistricting legislation as well. Will it work? You know, again, that's for the courts to decide that are completely overwhelmed. So President Trump just spoke briefly about one of our top stories today, the bad jobs report. Here's a little bit of what the president had to say. One of the things we've learned, and we learned that the hard way, watching over the last few months, are the corrections that people have been making. And they'll say you're losing jobs. And then they say, by the way, we have a correction a month later of, you know, 100000 jobs are missing.

27:41Now, look, this is a real issue and has been going on for several years. The businesses have basically they're supposed to return. It's a survey and they're supposed to return the information within the month. Some of them take two months, some of them take three months. And the numbers have to get revised to make them more accurate, et cetera, et cetera. He tends to cast it in terms of there being some conspiracy to embarrass him or to hurt him or to rig things against him. But it is a legitimate issue. And it was going on during the Biden administration, too. Yeah, and we took issues when numbers would come out that weren't favorable when we said and put policies in place that felt that the economy was coming back.

28:20But the numbers didn't reflect that. But we never attacked the credibility of the numbers. And those numbers fluctuate. I think what's important here is this is Trump's economy. And when the numbers are great, he wants to embrace them. When they're not, he wants to run from them. The reality is Joe Biden, Kamala Harris have not been in office. It's now, you know, Donald Trump has been in office. It's September. This is his economy. People are running from his, you know, so-called beautiful bill. And of course, the tariffs are having a real impact. And, you know, people are not spending right now.

28:47What are you hearing about the tariffs affecting businesses? I know you're connected to the business community. Yeah, no, absolutely. It's a concern. And I think the rule is like after six months, you can't blame the previous administration anymore because it's really not their fault or the public opinion don't care. Here's the issue. I think that just like under Biden, the stock market's doing well. The big picture economy is doing well. I don't know how many people are sitting around their table worrying about what the numbers were today, like truly in West Virginia, Iowa, whatever. But the problem is if they're still going to the supermarket and their prices are high, obviously gas prices are down.

29:23But more importantly, mortgage rates and rent and things like that. That's the problem that this administration has to get a grasp. And if the Federal Reserves in two weeks do cut the interest rate, that will help on housing. Yes, I do too. But that's the problem. And he's not doing well on that, just like Biden did. There's a crisis in confidence when it comes to the economy. And I think also injecting this chaos about the numbers. Markets around the world look to the United States for steady leadership. And when you don't have that and you have the president saying, well, don't believe this, don't believe that, only believe me, that doesn't instill consumer confidence.

29:59So I want to turn to the mayor's race in New York because sources tell CNN that top Trump aides approach current mayor Eric Adams, who's running for reelection as an independent, about taking a job in the Trump administration if he drops out of the race. The intention being, of course, to clear the deck. So it's just Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist, who was the nominee of the Democratic Party, against Andrew Cuomo, the former governor who resigned in disgrace. That's what Trump wants. He wants to clear the deck so that Cuomo wins. Anyway, Eric Adams, who possibly has been offered the job as ambassador to Saudi Arabia if he drops out, called a press conference today, and this is what he had to say.

30:37Take a listen. Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar. I am in this race, and I'm the only one that can beat Mindani. I have two spoiled brats running for mayor. So he's staying in the race, I take it. Absolutely. And this is like the fight of the egos right now. And what's going to happen is Mondami is going to win. And I heard on the earlier segments that, yes, in theory, that helps Republicans, because especially it helps Elise Stefanik, if she runs for governor, that she can point to some of those policies. But it's very interesting that he's definitely not going anywhere. I would take the Saudi job because you're going to like bathe in gold.

31:17Yeah. One note that Dave Weigel from Semaphore brought to my attention or reminded me of when Obama was president. You guys might be too young to remember this. But when Obama was president, Congressman Joe Sestak, who Democrats wanted out of the race, said the White House offered him a job to try to get him out of the race. Daryl Issa, Republican congressman, Oversight Committee chair, called for an investigation, called for an investigation. But here we have pretty much the exact same thing going on. No investigations are being called. It's the exact same thing. And Daryl Issa is yet back in Congress, in the House.

31:54And I have heard crickets from him. So it's all very interesting. It's a bit of they want to play by a different set of rules. But at the end of the day, this will be a very interesting mayoral race. All right. Stick around. We've got a lot more to talk about.

32:09Our health lead now, we are paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta again. He's here to answer some of your questions about innovative and unexpected ways to treat and manage pain. Sanjay has spent more than three years researching these methods for his brand new book, It Doesn't Have to Hurt, Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life, as well as for a documentary that you can see this weekend on CNN. We'll have more on that later. But Sanjay, let's dive into the questions. Karen Duke wrote in. She asked, what effect does diet have on pain? Which foods, drinks should be limited or eliminated? Which foods, drinks are helpful?

32:41Dr. So the way that we nourish ourselves is really the only signal we're giving from the outside world to our inside world, inside our bodies on a regular basis that we choose. Air, obviously, you breathe. That's a signal. But the food you eat, that's one that you choose every day. And I think two things have become clear when I was working on the book. One is that we're pretty inflamed. There's a lot of inflammation that most of us carry in our bodies. and a lot of that is from nourishment and is simply replacing more and more of our foods with plants. That makes a huge difference. I noticed myself when I started doing this and when I was writing the book, just simple aches and pains that I might have after a workout, those things diminished by doing more of an anti-inflammatory diet.

33:23But another thing that came up, Jake, I think is really important is keeping a food journal for a couple of weeks and just trying to correlate the foods that you're eating with the aches and pains you might have can go a long way as well because everybody's different. There are certain foods that are going to trigger you and maybe not trigger somebody else. Keeping tabs on that can really be helpful. Arun Jindal in San Francisco wrote in and asked, I really wish there was a way to measure the pain like body temperature. How far are we from that? Well, you know, it's interesting because yesterday we talked about this on your show, this idea that there are these biomarkers in the brain and people are measuring signals in the brain to sort of give people an idea of that.

34:03And if you go to an emergency room with some sort of injury, they will measure your heart rate and your blood pressure and your oxygenation sort of as indirect measurements of how much pain you might be suffering. But I think, you know, one of the challenges, Jake, is always this idea that pain is still very mysterious. And it's physical and it's emotional. And so the way, like if I hit your thumb with a hammer on a Tuesday, it could be a totally different experience than on a Wednesday. And the thing you got to pay attention to is the patient and their experience. So they always have to be the North Star.

34:35We're going to get better at measuring pain, but the patient's always going to be the ones that really tell us. Evelyn from Boca Raton wrote in about how she fell and landed on her lower back 14 years ago. And despite doing physical therapy, dry needling and medications, the pain has not gone away. And She asks, quote, I wonder if meditation or deep controlled breathing can help me get control of the pain? I think the answer to that is absolutely yes. And I think anecdotally we have known this for some time. But understandably, people have wanted data. And that's why I spent a lot of time with these researchers in San Diego who focus on meditation.

35:14Hundreds of thousands of patients who have chronic pain who went through these meditation protocols. And what was interesting is that you find they wanted to give context to this, and they said a meditation sort of session, the way that they outlined it, was equivalent to about five milligrams of OxyContin. That's the context. Now OxyContin doesn't last forever, it wears off, nor does meditation last that long. But during the time that these folks were meditating, many of them with severe pain, they were able to significantly reduce their pain scores on par with an opioid. So the answer to Evelyn's question is yes, it can be really, really helpful.

35:54It doesn't necessarily last forever. Nothing does. But meditation changes your brain in ways that could really alleviate your pain. Fascinating stuff, Sanjay. Thanks so much. Be sure to watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports It Doesn't Have to Hurt this Sunday, September 7th at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. And, of course, there is the companion book It Doesn't Have to Hurt. Coming up, one man's huge task trying to put a smart comedic spin on some of the week's biggest headlines, plus the startling headline from The Wall Street Journal today about RFK Jr.'s plans to announce a link of Tylenol used during pregnancy to children with autism.

36:35Uncovered windows can make your home feel up to 20 degrees hotter. Stay cool and save up to 45 % off custom window treatments during the summer Black Friday mega sale at blinds.com. From outdoor shades to room darkening blinds, finding the perfect fit is easy. Get free samples, expert design help, and professional measure and install services, or DIY with confidence and support every step of the way. Shop up to 45 % off site-wide, plus huge savings on doorbusters right now during the summer Black Friday mega sale at blinds.com. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. My guest is Dr.

37:12Dhruv Kular. He has seen firsthand the effects GLP-1s can have on addictive behaviors. Today, we're going to talk about how GLP-1s are changing us, changing us as humans. And when the cravings go away, sort of trying to figure out, is there something else that we're losing as well? People who had cravings for opioids said that those were being diminished. And so, you know, we thought about these as kind of digestive medications, maybe diabetes medications, but they're actually psychoactive medications, or so it seemed. What was so interesting about that is if you're playing with the reward system, that can have real implications for people's maladaptive behaviors, all sorts of addictions, but also a potential downside.

37:55Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

38:02Big news in our health lead. The Health and Human Services Department Secretary, RFK Jr., has long been on a quest to find a villain on whom to blame increasing autism diagnoses in the United States. And this has led to a shocking pending announcement. HHS is expected to link Tylenol use during pregnancy to the developmental disorder. It's a move first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier today. This despite the fact that the FDA and obstetrician gynecologists across the country continue to assure millions of pregnant women that Tylenol is safe to use. Although, as with all medications over the counter included, all pregnant women should consult their doctor before taking any medicine.

38:45What's even more curious about this pending announcement, though, is that for years, RFK Jr. has been peddling the long debunked theory that autism is actually caused by childhood vaccines. And RFK Jr. says he believes that. He can believe it all he wants, but he's wrong, according to credible medical and scientific experts. Now, of course, RFK Jr., according to our new reporting, has a new villain. It's Tylenol. Ken View, the maker of Tylenol, said today in response, quote, We have continuously evaluated the science and continue to believe there is no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism, unquote.

39:22The HHS responded this afternoon saying, quote, until we release the final report, any claims about its contents are nothing more than speculation, unquote. Joining us now, CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, is there any credible data, any credible evidence suggesting that there is a causal link between Tylenol use by pregnant women and autism? Not a causal link, no. But at the same time, this whole theory is not coming totally out of the blue either. There's been about a decade's worth of studies that have sort of looked at this, Jake. People have raised the specter and the possibility of acetaminophen or Tylenol.

40:02It's the same thing, potentially being associated with autism. There were studies, I think, about 10 years ago that did not really show this link. And by the way, hard studies to do. You're basically saying a child who has autism, asking that woman to go back, look at pregnancy. Did you take Tylenol? How much Tylenol did you take? When did you take it? It's hard to remember. And that's the nature of those sorts of studies. But in 2019, we reported on a study out of Hopkins where they looked at cord blood. They looked at blood in the umbilical cord, measuring acetaminophen levels. And they did find in that pretty small study that higher levels of acetaminophen was associated with higher rates of autism.

40:40But again, it was an association, not a causal link. I think what has attracted a lot of attention is a study just from last month, Jake, August of this year, basically looking at 46 studies and 27 of them did find an association between acetaminophen use, Tylenol use, and autism. But again, I will tell you, these are hard studies to do. And also when you have something that's as ubiquitous as Tylenol, there are so many other factors that could come into play. Like why were they taking Tylenol? Do they have a fever? Could the fever be the culprit? You sort of get the idea. And just to give you some statistics, I think 45 to 60 % roughly of women during pregnancy have used Tylenol.

41:26So it's widely used across the board and widely used within this population as well. Quickly, I'll just tell you ACOG, which is the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, they did release a statement about this. And they have long advised that if you use Tylenol during pregnancy to reduce fever. It is better than having a fever, which can be detrimental. But they said acetaminophen has long been established as a safe pain reliever for pregnant individuals during pregnancy. There's no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues.

42:00Neurodevelopmental disorders in particular are multifactorial and difficult to associate with any singular cause. So they've all, you know, if you go to your doctor and they would say, if you have a fever, take Tylenol, but take the lowest amount for the smallest amount of time to be, use it in the most prudent way, Jake. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I find it so confounding because, um, I mean, women who are pregnant have pain, uh, and they take pain relievers quite often. 2024, I'm sorry, pregnant women are told Tylenol is a way safer pain reliever than Advil or ibuprofen during pregnancy. And you say 45 to 60 percent of pregnant women have used Tylenol.

42:49I don't want to be flip about this, but I mean, they also drank water while they were taking the Tylenol. I mean, it's just it's so omnipresent in terms of how many pregnant women take this. I mean, if it caused if Tylenol caused autism, there would be so many more autistic kids right now than there are. So what would you tell a pregnant woman right now who has pain? I think the guidance that has been out there for a long time, because, again, we're not talking about something that's new. People have been talking about this issue for a long time. I'm not sure why it's getting this new enthusiasm, probably because RFK Jr.

43:31is talking about it. But yeah, a fever is a bad thing to have as a pregnant woman. You need to control that fever, take the smallest dose for the shortest amount of time. That's been the guidance. Also, I will say that part of this new reporting as well is he's suggesting that a B vitamin known as folic acid or folinic acid specifically might be a treatment for autism. As you know, Jake, you have kids. Jen probably was told to take folic acid when she was pregnant. So my point being that these have been recommendations that have been out there for some time. But your point about it being omnipresent, that's a really important point.

44:08There's this thing called the paradox of ubiquity. When you have something that's that common, it's very hard to start pinning it down to causing a specific problem like a neurodevelopmental disorder. As one of the researchers said who wrote the study, do not draw a cause and effect relationship from this study. They specifically said that. It would be like saying in the summertime, people eat more ice cream and there's more violent crime. Those two things have nothing to do with each other, but people may associate them together because they both happen in the summertime. I'm guessing more than 60 % of pregnant women have pizza.

44:40And yet, you know, that's not an Association. But again, I'm not trying to be flip about it, but it's everywhere, Tylenol. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Let's talk now with an OBGYN, Dr. Veronica Gillespie-Bell, also a vice chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee. Dr. Gillespie-Bell, you are practicing OBGYN. What do you plan to tell your patients about the use of Tylenol during pregnancy? so i will maintain the guidance that comes from acog the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists that tylenol is safe we have no studies that show tylenol causes autism a 2024 study published in the journal of the american medical association looked at more than two million children born in sweden between 1995 and 2019 and found no increased risk of autism in pregnant women who use Tylenol.

45:34But there's this also recent meta-analysis in the journal BMC Environmental Health that concluded there was strong evidence of an association, an association. What does that mean? And what is your advice to people who see these two different reports and don't know what to make of it? Well, just as Dr. Gupta said, an association is not causative. And I think it's important for pregnant women to understand that. And as was also mentioned, when we think about the reasons women take Tylenol, usually it's for pain. There is no safe alternative in terms of medication. Or they're taking Tylenol for fever.

46:14Again, there's no safe alternative, and a fever is detrimental to a pregnancy. And so for my patients, for other patients, I would just maintain that our guidance tells us that Tylenol is safe in pregnancy. What do you make of the HHS's additional recommendation, we're told is going to be in this report, recommending that pregnant women use folic acid, which is a vitamin found in prenatals, specifically to treat autism or prevent autism? What do you make of that? It's been long recommended to take folic acid to prevent neural tube defects. And so I do think that the ACOG will still be making that recommendation.

46:56There is no data that shows that it's curative for autism, but we do recommend folic acid for the prevention of neural tube defects. So what do you make of this whole thing? Because obviously RFK Jr. has been out there saying for more than two decades, falsely, that childhood vaccines are responsible for the increase in autism diagnosis. First, it was about thimerosal, which was a preservative used in some of the MMR vaccines, although it's not there anymore. And then he just has been disparaging childhood vaccines. So has President Trump, for that matter, with anecdotes that prove nothing about a kid who seems normal and then gets vaccines.

47:41And then all of a sudden the kid has autism. You must be asked about this all the time as an OBGYN. What do you tell expecting mothers? So I give patients the risks, the benefits, the alternatives. I let them know that there is no data that shows that vaccines cause autism. Of course, it is always going to be up to the discretion of that parent for how they choose to vaccinate their child. But I do let them know there's no data that shows vaccines cause autism. And we know that vaccines prevent diseases that can be fatal to children. And so I give them those risks and benefits and try to guide them to the best decision for them and their family.

48:25Dr. Veronica Gillespie-Bell, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Thank you. In our politics lead, President Trump is at it again, calling the demand for all of the documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, calling it a Democratic hoax on Truth Social today. He said, quote, the Department of Justice has done its job. They've given everything requested of them. It's time to end the Democrat Epstein hoax and give the Republicans credit for the great, even legendary job that they are doing. Unquote. This is just two days after several brave Epstein survivors spoke on Capitol Hill, pleading for recognition, justice for the release of all of the related documents and for the president to stop politicizing the issue.

49:07One of the most prominent Epstein survivors was Virginia Giuffre. She tragically died by suicide earlier this year. her brother and sister-in-law are here, Skye and Amanda Roberts. They joined those survivors in D.C. this week as they continue to advocate on Virginia's behalf. Skye, let me just start with you. President Trump says the department has done its job. They've given everything requested of them. Is that true?

49:34No, it's not true. I think what we've been asking for and what all survivors I've been asking for is, A, transparency, which in a lot of ways is just a word, right? We haven't seen a lot of action here with the slow roll of the document release. And we didn't ask for some of the documents to be released. We asked for all of the documents to be released. So I don't believe that to be true. I don't believe the survivors believe that to be true as well. And we don't actually feel that transparency. that is so-called being put out there by the administration and a lot of various officials. And Amanda, what is your reaction to President Trump saying that people should stop paying attention to this and Democrats never cared about the victims?

50:22If they did, they would have been talking about it long before this. I think it's another distraction. It's, again, trying to make this a party issue. survivors have been screaming about this for decades and again we have asked to stop making this a political party tool for any side to use because it isn't about party and quite frankly it's a continued insult by our president to continuously attack that feels hostile towards survivors and family of survivors to continuously call this a hoax and amanda some Epstein survivors two days ago said they wanted a meeting with Trump. Do you both want to be part of that should it actually happen?

51:08And if so, what would you say to them?

51:13It's a twofold thing. I will say if you get the chance to sit down with survivors and families of survivors and you hear their stories, it really does provoke that human element of change. It really calls on the empathy that is inside of you. But I don't want to sit down and relive these horrific actions if there isn't going to be anything done about them, if it's still going to be continued to use as like a political tool for the administration or a photo op. Sky, as of now, Republican Congressman Thomas Massey needs only three more members of Congress to sign his petition, which would force the full, well, it would force a bill onto the floor of the House for a vote.

52:01And if that passes the Senate, et cetera, it would release all of the Epstein files. Only four Republicans have signed this bill. 215 members of Congress have, but only four of them are Republicans, Massey, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Some Republicans who won't sign it say that this is a personal rift between Massey and Trump, or they say the House Oversight Committee is already trying to get all the Justice Department documents and this doesn't need to be done. What do you think? And if you think Republicans should sign this petition, what's your message to them?

52:41Yeah, I mean, I think first I would implore, you know, anybody out there that, and this would be just for the general American people to reach out to your senators, reach out Talk to your congressmen and women and let them know how you feel. Because really at this point, I am so tired of just talking about fancy words. I mean, we really got to start seeing some action here. And, you know, reality here is that you need to break this down to a human level. This is not about party. This is not about, and even if we want to call it political right now, okay. But this is a human issue. These, you know, these women were children at the time.

53:17And I know that there's some language in there. They said they were worried about redactions. I mean, Brad Edwards and Brittany Edwards were on the Capitol steps. That's the lawyer of many of the Epstein survivors, including my sister. And to be clear is that, you know, there's been a lot of work that's been put into it to make sure the safety and protection of the survivors are taken into account. And reality is, is when you start saying things like hostile acts, this would be a hostile act towards the party or towards an administration. It's really a hostile act towards survivors and their families by not releasing these documents.

53:50Right. There's so many more to to be seen. And there really needs to be true accountability. There are names, very powerful names inside of there. But at the end of the day, this shouldn't be up to the survivors to have to come forward. It should be the Department of Justice and it should be this administration that makes it happen. Yeah, a White House official said that any Republicans supporting the Massey bill would be engaged in a hostile effort against them. Amanda, some Republicans said that they would be willing to read the names of alleged abusers compiled by survivors on the floor of the House where they would be immune from any defamation prosecutions.

54:29At the end of the day, would that be an acceptable way to at least bring some accountability? I think it would be acceptable if, again, they guarantee the safety and protection of the survivors and the people who are willing to come forward and name those names. I think it may be a start of of the eye opening the global scale of this thing, because let's be very, very clear. There are Democrats and Republicans in these files that have been implicated. And I believe the American people do not care which side they are on. If you have been implicated in child sex trafficking, you need to be held accountable.

55:18And that is the phase that everyone is in right now. All right. Skye and Amanda Roberts, thank you so much. And may your sister Virginia's memory be a blessing. Thank you. Thank you. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please dial or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The number's on your screen there, 988. If you or someone you love needs help, 988. There is love for you. There is help for you. We'll be right back. In our world lead, you're looking at video from inside the Pentagon this afternoon as President Trump signed his 200th executive order. This one renames the Department of Defense to call it what it was until what it was called until 1947, the Department of War.

56:01Unfortunately for the White House, an official name change needs congressional approval. But instead, this order allows Pentagon officials to use the new moniker on second reference in internal and external communications. Here's President Trump earlier today when asked if Congress will codify the name change. We're going with it, and we're going with it very strongly. There's a question as to whether or not they have to, but we'll put it before Congress. Joining us now, Republican from Montana, Congressman Ryan Zinke. He was the first Navy SEAL in Congress, no longer the only one. There are six SEALs in the House and one in the Senate.

56:37One in the Senate. What do you make of this name change as somebody who actually fought in war, and do you think that there will be the votes to codify it in Congress if it comes to that? It doesn't change the mission. Whether it's Department of War, as 150 years of Department of War. It changed right after World War II. It doesn't change the mission, but it does change the tone. And what I expect is you'll see letterhead change. I think they probably do have to go to poor Congress and get an official change, but we'll see letterhead change for all intents and purposes. But again, it doesn't change the mission.

57:15It doesn't change the structure, but what it does change is the tone. Tone of who? Because, I mean, it's not like Navy SEALs were arriving with flowers and chocolates before, and now they're going to arrive with weapons. You mean the change of tone of the president? I think the change of tone of the nation and the Department of Defense itself. You know, we have a carrier battle group. We have a Marine amphibious unit in the Caribbean. We still have problems in Ukraine and Russia. We have an aggressive China. We have, you know, Israel and Iran still being threatened and all that. So there's a lot going on in the world that is very contentious.

57:55And the U.S., you know, what's changed since World War II is we came out of World War II. We were the unprecedented leader. Right. We didn't have a peer. Today we do have a peer. It's China. And we have to take China very, very seriously. So you see all of a sudden Russia, China, and Iran in many cases. Iran, North Korea, Venezuela. Yeah, doing multiple nation organization. They're doing military exercises together. That's a threat. So do I agree with it? I don't think it makes a difference on certainly on the structure or the mission. But it does tone is that this president is very serious. Gunboat diplomacy, we're back in the Caribbean.

58:39Speaking of which, since you're a SEAL, I do want to get your take on this New York Times report that came out today on this failed top secret SEAL team mission into North Korea back in 2019. The purpose of it was to put in a spy wear in North Korea on Kim Jong-un as Trump was engaging in these high stakes nuclear talks back in the first term. The article states, quote, the seals rehearsed for months, aware that every move needed to be perfect. But when they reached what they thought was a deserted shore that night, wearing black wetsuits and night vision goggles, the mission swiftly unraveled.

59:11The North Korean boat appeared out of the dark. Flashlights from the bow swept over the water. Fearing that they had been spotted, the seals opened fire. Within seconds, everyone in the North Korean boat was dead, unquote. The article notes that Congress did not receive any notification of this before or after the mission. Do you have any response to that? deeply, deeply disturbing. World War II, loose lips sink ships. To disclose this type of operation, the leak had to come from somewhere. The details are too great. So this is treasonous to disclose, because what it does is that there's no doubt been multiple operations since then, and there probably will be.

59:54But when you disclose details of an operation like this, It puts at risk every SEAL, every warrior, every special operations, every soldier, sailor, airman, or marine on future operations. It incurs greater risk. I think it was irresponsible for New York Times to publish such an article. And what I'm hoping is, is they go back to the source and they find the source and they prosecute it. Just in the Times story, just to give a little context, says that the sources came forward because, and the Times said they also withheld identifying details, specific details of the kind of which you're referring to.

1:00:32I bet they withheld their name. That's one detail they absolutely would have. They said it was because they didn't, because there was this impression that every special ops mission is successful. And I think there was a concern about that. And that impression might actually put Navy SEALs' lives at risk if every time somebody thinks, oh, we'll just send the Navy SEALs, send the Green Berets, et cetera, et cetera. Well, there's a strategic interest when SEAL teams fail. Because whether it's Special Operations Delta Force or SEAL Team 6, their perception that that's our nation's best, and they are.

1:01:09And if they fail, that means our nation's best fail. So that's a lot different than a tactical failure of a normal, maybe, Army unit. You know, that we lose Army, Sailors, Marines all the time. But when we lose our nation's best, that has a strategic implication that somehow our best has failed. So it does. And there's been numerous operations from the SEALs that have failed. Sole Survivor being one of them. Morgan Luttrell's brother, Marcus. You know, that was a tragic mission. unfortunately not successful, cost the lives of a lot of folks. But again, it goes back to loose lips sink ships, and to disclose information about top secret information, what it does is it puts future operations more at risk, and it puts those individuals that sign for the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, it puts them at greater risk, and that I find deeply disturbed.

1:02:07Former Navy SEAL, Republican Congressman from the great state of Montana, Ryan Zinke, It's always good to have you here. Thank you so much. Too long to see you. Too long. I know. We'll come back soon. Will it be no discounts for foreign diplomats? Why the State Department might keep certain people out of Costco stores from hostile nations? That's next.

1:02:29In our worldly attention, Costco shoppers, if you are an Iranian diplomat, you might want to stock up while you can. Because ahead of a high-level United Nations meeting later this month in New York City, the United States government is now thinking about banning Iranian diplomats from shopping at the members-only wholesale stores such as Costco or Sam's Club, unless they first get permission from the U.S. State Department. Let's go to CNN's John Miller. John, why are Iranian diplomats clamoring for Costco memberships in the first place, and what would this mean if this rule comes down? Well, it's very hard because of all of the sanctions and all of the rules blocking imports to Iran or exports to Iran to get some of the things that people want there.

1:03:16And, you know, one of the coins of the realm are going to be famous American brands, whether that's Levi's jeans or North Face fleece. And Costco is one of the places where you can get some of these brands and get them at really great prices. So when they come to America for any diplomatic mission, which, because we don't have diplomatic relations with Iran, is going to be very rare, the U.N. General Assembly offers that one big chance to stock up on a lot of products that other people will want at home. And they come home as heroes. But it looks like that's probably not going to happen this time.

1:03:53And what might the rules actually be this time? And how would they even enforce them? Well, the rules this time around are going to be what we refer to in the NYPD as to and fro. Now, we've always had problems with the Iranian delegation, often the Turkish delegation, sometimes the North Koreans, stretching the envelope on what the rules were. One year, the Iranians came in with 137 guns with their security team. And I think Chief Tom Gulati from NYPD Intel cut them back to some reasonable number before he would let them off the plane. But in this case, the to and fro rule means you can go to the UN from the hotel and then to the hotel from the UN but nowhere else.

1:04:37So they're going to be on, unless that changes, a very tight leash during the UN General Assembly and Costco in New York City in Manhattan is in East Harlem on 117th Street. So to enforce that, they're really going to, A, I mean when it comes to the foreign minister and the president, the principals, they're under the control of Secret Service, the State Department. They can't exactly sneak out. But you have all these security people and staff members who can sneak out and they'll probably keep a very close eye on that hotel. And if one of the delegation is leaving and going somewhere that's not in that box or they're not on duty, they'll probably get stopped.

1:05:14All right, John Miller, fascinating stuff. Thanks so much. As President Trump reportedly prepares to send the National Guard to Chicago, we're gonna talk to the senator from Illinois, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth. She says Homeland Security officials fled from her when she tried to get more information at a local Navy base in the Chicago area. We're gonna talk about it with her next.

1:05:40In our Law and Justice lead today, Democratic lawmakers spent about 90 minutes at a Naval station near Chicago. The Trump administration may use during the expected deployment of National Guard troops as part of the president's crackdown on crime as well as undocumented immigrants. Among the lawmakers at this naval station near Chicago was Senator Tammy Duckworth, who joins us now. Senator, tell us about the visit. You say Homeland Security officials fled and did not meet with you? Exactly, Jake. We requested a meeting with them, and they actually locked up the building that they are borrowing from the Navy and gave all their people the day off and left.

1:06:17We have no idea where they were, not a single one. It was crickets. The Navy did meet with us and answered our questions and really were very cooperative. But Homeland Security was not anywhere to be found. JOHN YANG, President of the United States, what did you see at the base? And what are you expecting the Trump administration to do? Do you think that they're definitely going to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago? KATHLEEN MURPHY, National Guard Guard Department of Defense, I think it's a real possibility. But remember that this is all a distraction campaign from a president who is trying to scare Americans and trying to distract us from the failures of his administration.

1:06:49So I would think that the next time, you know, bad economic data comes out, more Epstein victims testify, anything like that happens, then he's going to do something to try to distract us. And it's going to be something along these lines. We do know that ICE is coming. That is who's going to be at Great Lakes, but they are only getting office buildings. They're not going to get the barracks or any facilities to detain individuals. And we made clear that we made it clear that that would not be acceptable. JOHN YANG, Director, The National Guard, You have called the possible deployment of the National Guard to Chicago a, quote, unwarranted, unwanted and unjust move straight out of the authoritarian's playbook, unquote.

1:07:27Is there anything that you think Illinois officials or Democrats in Congress could do to stop it? LISA DESJARDINS, The National Guard, Well, no, because this president does not actually listen to the rule of law, right? All that we can do is to make sure that we set the standards for how they can be deployed. We can certainly push back as hard as we can. But Donald Trump will go to red state governors and deploy these National Guard men and women into the streets of other cities. And frankly, what's ironic is that many of the National Guard troops are coming from red streets that have cities with far higher crime rates than Chicago.

1:08:04If the president wants to help us with crime, then he should perhaps give us back the$135 million that he diverted from Illinois for crime prevention. I want to play something that Trump border advisor Tom Homan told reporters yesterday about an immigration raid he launched in Chicago earlier this year. You're going to hear him talk about TDA members. I know you know this, but for viewers out there, that's Trende Aragua. That's a Venezuelan criminal gang. Let's roll that tape. On the first day, we arrested like nine TDA members. We arrested like seven or nine sexual, child sexual predators. We arrested two illegal aliens that had homicide convictions walking the street.

1:08:51We arrested TDA members that were selling pistols with a switch, which means the pistol's fully automatic now. We made Chicago safer in one day. Now, this is obviously different than deploying the National Guard. This is an ICE raid. Do you have an issue with the ICE raids going on in Chicago? I have an issue with ICE intimidating individuals and arresting and showing up in masks and grabbing individuals off the streets and throwing them into unmarked vehicles. And, by the way, the Trump administration's own data says that less than 15 percent of the people that ICE has grabbed off the streets of our cities and deported have actually had any type of a felony conviction.

1:09:37So the vast majority of people that they have grabbed and harassed are not people with felony convictions. Again, I am all for finding violent criminals and getting them off the streets of any of our cities. But you know what? The way to do that is to actually cooperate with law enforcement and not divert funds away from law enforcement. Heck, they even diverted over$130 million from child protective programs. So if Trump truly wanted to fight crime, then he would work with the Chicago Police Department. The National Guard is not trained to do law enforcement duties. In fact, they can't even they don't even have the authority to arrest people even when they see a crime happening.

1:10:15So this is absolutely the wrong thing that he's trying to do. Very quickly, as somebody who was actually fought and sacrificed in war, do you have a response to President Trump changing the name as he is from the Department of Defense to the Department of War? Yeah, I think this is, again, this is a typical thing that Trump is doing. If he's going to be changing names of departments, maybe he should change it based on what he's doing to our country. How about the Department of Veterans Abandonment for the VA? How about the Environmental Polluting Agency, which is what he's doing to the EPA? How about the department formerly known as the Department of Justice, the Department of Workers Suppression for the Department of Labor?

1:10:59This is exactly what Trump is doing. He's trying to distract us, Jake. He's trying to distract us from his failures as president, from the economic data that is not going in his direction, from the fact that he just watched the dictators that he want to be like, do these great parades that he would like to have had. He couldn't get Vladimir Putin to do what he wanted to do. And now he's got protests against what he's trying to do. And so he's trying to distract us. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth from Illinois, thank you so much. Thank you. Our panel's back with me. We're going to get into these National Guard deployments in big cities right after this quick break.

1:11:35We're back in our politics lead. We've got a lot of news on this very busy Friday and our panel's back. So Ashley, we just heard about this possible crackdown on crime in Chicago. That's how Trump is describing it anyway in terms of sending the National Guard possibly into Chicago. There are, of course, constitutional questions about whether he has the right to do that. I want to turn to another priority for the administration. That's the crackdown on undocumented immigrants. And we saw earlier in the show this largest sweep yet at a Hyundai plant. And it was mainly Korean nationals at that plant.

1:12:05What do you make of this happening in Georgia, of all places. Well, and you know, my background is Homeland Security, so this is something near and dear to my heart. And I looked into this because I thought it was interesting, because I thought they were going after Hyundai. They weren't. They were going after the subsidiary of the contractors, and also they were going after, supposedly there's a lot of trafficking in regards to the labor world. And so I guess this investigation has been happening for months. Yeah, they said it was a criminal investigation, not just like a wandering into the planet.

1:12:35So I don't think they were going after the company. I think that they were going after this second layer of individuals. But listen, it's interesting. What they're trying to do is make sure that people stop coming across this border illegally, number one. And number two, if you're employing people that aren't supposed to be here legally, they're going to go after you. I think what's interesting, though, to that point is Donald Trump wants to bring jobs home. He wants to bring manufacturing home. Here are plants doing that. I think what I have been reading and what's being reported also is that some of the workers that this plant is employing are the skilled laborers that they need that maybe it's not available right here right now.

1:13:11So this is also going to his immigration policies are having economic impacts. And you're seeing that in some of the numbers that we're seeing coming out of this administration, even though this administration might not like those numbers. The immigration policies are going to see direct ties to the economic policies as well. What do you make of that? Because there obviously is, there's unemployment ticked up to 4.3 % today. But there is a question about whether or not the legal citizenry in this country right now is prepared for all the jobs, whether or not they're skilled jobs that we just don't have enough people trained, or unskilled jobs that American citizens don't want to do.

1:13:49One thing I want to say about these job numbers, which, by the way, I'm not going to try to put lipstick on a pig here. They weren't great. But also there's more Americans employed now than they were, you know, over the last 10 years. So it's not like you're losing jobs or just not adding as many jobs. And I think that's a big differentiation. But but there's still some softness in the economy. I'm not not going to try to. But I think that this is the debate, Jake, that we've been having forever since the president ran on this is the especially the farm workers. I mean, are. And so you see some of these special programs that are in place to make sure that there are enough workers because it is going to it could potentially be an issue.

1:14:25So there's speaking of job creators, some big news for the world's richest man, Elon Musk, who could become could become the world's first trillionaire. the Tesla board announced an eye-popping pay package giving the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, 423 million additional shares of Tesla stock if Musk is able to hit a series of admittedly ambitious targets. Here's what Tesla's board of directors here told CNBC about the offer. If he doesn't hit any of the milestones, he gets zero. This is not a compensation package. It's a performance package. And so if he performs, if he hits the milestones, the super ambitious milestones that are in the plan, then he gets equity.

1:15:13It's a lot of money. It's also it also comes obviously after. I think it's fair to say there are people who are affiliated with Tesla who were concerned earlier this year that Mr. Musk wasn't paying enough attention to the company. What does he have to do to become a trillionaire? Well, first of all, It's over 10 years, so he's got to be here for 10 years. I think he's got to concentrate on the company for 10 years, which is the main problem. But he has to grow the revenue from$1 trillion to$8.7 trillion. I wrote this down because make 20 million additional vehicles and sell them, 1 million robo-taxis, and a million AI bots.

1:15:45These are big, ambitious. I'm sure that there's details within there. But listen, if this guy can do it. I think there are incredible milestones that Elon Musk is going to have to meet. and he has also proven to be a very incredible, smart person. So I think he's up for a challenge. I think that is a lot of money. And at the end of the day, it is the company's decision. But I think looking at it from the outside, that was a shocking stat, that even if it's over 10 years, for someone to become the first trillionaire, I mean, we can go through all the things that this country is facing, but I think a lot of wealth being concentrated at the top, It's hard when people can barely make ends meet.

1:16:28Yeah, we should also note shareholders have to approve the package in coming months. It's also, I mean, like it's worth noting that Elon Musk spent a quarter billion dollars, $250 million of his own money to help elect President Trump. But Jake, if you're a shareholder, if I was a big shareholder in Tesla, I would support that all day long because if he meets those milestones, that's just more money from the bottom line of the company. So, I mean, if you're a shareholder, you'll make more money. One thing I wanted to ask you guys, as part of the country's 250th birthday celebration next year, the Wall Street Journal is reporting there's going to be a UFC bout on the south lawn of the White House in June.

1:17:04The journal reports that wrestlers could likely warm up inside the White House, get weighed in in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I guess this is of a piece of the Mar-a-Lago patio replacing the Rose Garden and Donald Trump putting a lot of gold in the Oval Office. UFC fighting? You know, not my choice, not my sport. This is the president's choice. It is, it's clearly very performative. And, you know, the president, he comes from the television world. He likes these types of big events. It would certainly be a first to be done in the White House. Your son would love it, though, I bet. Well, no, that's what I was saying.

1:17:41I have a really good focus group of one that I called when this was announced, you know, a couple weeks ago. And he's like, this is the best thing that's ever happened. I mean, the Dana White movement, who I didn't know who he was either until the inaugural. I did know who that was. Okay, so this is something, the tickets to see, my son just went to a show, or a match, not a show, in Chicago. The tickets are like ten times the price of football tickets. I mean, it's just an amazing movement that's happening. So the president's smart, you're right. He's a media guy. All right, thanks to both of you, appreciate it.

1:18:14As we head into the weekend, one man's huge task, trying to put a smart comedic spin on some of the biggest headlines that flooded your social media feeds. Stay with us.

1:18:26Turning to our pop culture slash politics lead for this one, comedian Roy Wood Jr. is here ahead of the premiere of his show, Have I Got News for You, which is launching season three, right here on CNN this Saturday night. Roy, always great to have you. So your show, as people know, tries to put a comedic spin on the big news headlines of the week. A lot of crazy stuff going on already. We have President Trump reacting to the rumors on the internets last week about his imminent demise. Yeah, it's one of those situations where, like, you kept checking your phone, but you didn't want to tell anybody that you kept checking your phone.

1:19:08I've never seen a country more concerned about one person's health. But then what does Trump do after everybody was doubting his health? Come out swinging and put the troops in Chicago. Well, he seems to be fully cognitive. That's the Trump I know. He sends the military to cities that don't need it. He did try to quiet the rumors on Sunday. He wrote in all caps on his social media app that he never felt better in my life. That's all caps. Trump is 79 years old. What do you what do you make of of all this? And is this overcompensation, do you think, for for the last president? Yeah, I believe so.

1:19:51But I also think we're in a situation now where Trump has created a pattern for himself where he talks every day. He's seen every day. So if you want to go and hide and rest a little bit and maybe you want to rest your swollen ankles or something like that, I don't think the streets are going to allow that. This is a president who now to prove that he's healthy is going to have to do a TikTok dance every single day. He's got like you can't go from standing on the roof of the White House and then just being missing for four or five days. That's not the Trump we know. If you OK, well, then where's the stupid, pointless executive order?

1:20:25Where's that at? So President Trump had some rare praise for a Democrat after his federal police takeover in D.C. He told the D.C. mayor on his Truth Social quote, congratulations to Mayor Muriel Bowser, but don't go woke on us. D.C. is a giant victory that never has to end. She is handling him differently than the way other Democrats are like Gavin Newsom or J.B. Pritzker in your in your hometown of Chicago and in Illinois. boy, she is taking a more conciliatory work with him kind of tone. What do you make of it? I think it's a different strategy. I think Mayor Bowser's in a rock and a hard place, because if you talk trash to him, all he's going to do is let the troops sit there even longer, and the occupation lasts even way longer than what it has to.

1:21:11So you almost have to placate him a little bit just to try and get your city back to some degree of normalcy, rather than start arguing the statistics that we have already proven are flawed that they are using to justify putting all of these troops in all of these cities. And it's the same thing that's happening in Chicago or starting to happen in Chicago, rumored this week. I think that Mayor Bowser is in a rock and a hard place. I don't think that she does herself any favors by pushing back, but I also don't think she does herself any favors with, you know, with her liberal base by doing anything that remotely seems like, thank you, president, for saving my city.

1:21:49D.C. would have been nothing without you, which we know is not the truth. Lastly, President Trump's talking about giving the Medal of Freedom to Rudy Giuliani, who thankfully is out of the hospital after a car accident. What do you what do you make of Rudy getting the Medal of Freedom? I'm all for Rudy Giuliani getting the Medal of Freedom so he can take it and give it to them black ladies who sued him down in Georgia because he owed him a lot of money. Give Rudy all the trophies. Roy Wood Jr., don't be a stranger again. Have I Got News for You is back this Saturday night, September 6th at 9 p.m.

1:22:25Eastern, only here on CNN. Take that medal to the pawn shop, Rudy. Coming up Sunday on State of the Union, Trump administration boarders are Tom Homan and Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. That's Sunday morning at 9 Eastern and again at noon only here on CNN. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, ThreadsX, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper. You can follow the show on X at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show once you get your podcasts. Aaron Burnett out front starts now. I will see you Sunday morning on State of the Union.

1:23:09Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Well, now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. A high-stakes showdown in Michigan's fierce Democratic Senate race.

1:23:44Progressives and moderates battle for power. Who will come out on top? Join CNN for results and analysis. Michigan Primary, August 4th on CNN. And watch on the CNN app.