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An Off-Duty Nurse Helps Save an Umpire at a Kid's Baseball Game; Polls on Trump's VP Pick; Biden to Make a Speech in Normandy; U.S. Economy Adds 272,000 Jobs; Christy Turlington Burns is Interviewed about Maternal Deaths. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 07, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Delaware to where she's, once again, expected to be in court today. She, in fact, will jump on another plane to France as she is set to be there for the state visit tomorrow.

But the first lady, at the start of the week, spent hours in that courtroom sitting behind hunter Biden. At times, she would have to listen to the re-airing of many of the sorted details of his struggles with addiction. A very tumultuous period for the Biden family. She could also be on hand today when other members of the Biden family testify. Sources have said that the defense could potentially call her granddaughter, Naomi Biden, up to the witness stand.

And what the first lady's office has stressed to me is that she wanted to ensure she could be at this trial as much as humanly possible. Her communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, told me last night, "it's something that a lot of parents, and maybe mothers especially feel, that when your children need you, it doesn't matter how old they get, they're always your children and you always want to be there to support them."

I think what this also all shows is how central she is to the president and his family. The president has often referred to her as the glue of the family. That is something that you're seeing play out as she continues to maintain this continued presence at this trial of their only living son.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: An incredible balance, especially with an entire ocean in between those commitments.

Arlette Saenz, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: An off-duty nurse jumping into action when the umpire at a kid's baseball game suddenly grabs his chest and falls to the ground. Lakeysha Pack, rushing from the stands, then to help save him.

CNN's' Camila Bernal has more on one woman going beyond the call. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUDY LOPEZ, UMPIRE, CALIFORNIA BASEBALL UMPIRES ASSOCIATION: Ball. (INAUDIBLE).

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was just another day for umpire Rudy Lopez.

LOPEZ: Two balls, no strikes.

BERNAL (voice over): Until it took a turn for the worse.

LOPEZ: I stepped in to call another pitch, and I was out. Gone. Face first into the ground from what I understand. Because I don't remember anything after that.

BERNAL (voice over): It was a heart attack. His seventh. Rudy says he suffers from congestive heart failure.

The 72-year-old has been an empire for over 50 years. And thankfully for him, on this day, Lakeysha Pack was on the bleachers.

LOPEZ: Ball.

BERNAL (voice over): She was there cheering for her son.

LAKEYSHA PACK, REGISTERED NURSE, RONALD REAGEAN UCLA MEDICAL CENTER: And I look up and I'm like, did he get hit with the ball? And then, like, he's laying there and he's not moving and I'm like, what's going on here? And then that's when I - I ran around to the field to go check him out.

BERNAL (voice over): Lakeysha says her instincts as a nurse kicked in and begin chest compressions.

PACK: And I realized he was in cardiac arrest. We helped get his belt and close and vest off and all that stuff off. I knew that I had to save his life because I didn't want 40 plus kids, their last experience on the baseball field is experiencing something so traumatic.

BERNAL (voice over): As a NICU nurse for over 24 years, Lakeysha says she had never performed lifesaving measures on an adult or outside of the hospital.

PACK: I didn't even have time to think about it. Everything was just so fast. All I saw was me and Rudy. I didn't hear anything. I didn't see anything. It was just me and him.

BERNAL (voice over): Rudy was eventually rushed to the hospital, where he had stents placed in his heart.

LOPEZ: It takes a lot of courage to come out of the stands. I'm very blessed that she didn't give up.

Lakysha says it was meant to be. PACK: When I think of Rudy, I'm like, oh my God, thank God. God puts

you in the places where you're supposed to be. And I think it - this is where I was supposed to be that day.

BERNAL (voice over): And Rudy says he's gained a guardian angel. He's grateful for her and their your friendship.

LOPEZ: I thank her every day. I'll text her, send her little messages, just to say, you know, I'm here because of you.

PACK: Hello, Rudy. You look good.

LOPEZ: It's nice to see her all the time, every day. And I'm just really grateful, like I said. I'll say it over and over again, thank you doesn't say enough. And I told her that. It doesn't say enough.

BERNAL (voice over): Camila Bernal, CNN Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Camila, thank you for that story.

Just weeks to go for Donald Trump to make a major decision for his bid to win back the White House. We're going to get a check on the veep stakes.

And, what happens when you combine a helicopter, a speeding Lamborghini, and exploding fireworks? I'm not talking about a Michael Bay movie. Well, maybe. Maybe. That is a Michael Bay movie. But, in this case, those elements led to federal charges, apparently. We're going to explain, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:39:05]

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump talking more and teasing more to his eventual VP running mate reveal, saying now that he will announce his running mate at the Republican Convention next month.

The timing long suspected, but now officially confirmed, I guess you can say, by Donald Trump himself. And while there is a short list of candidates being considered, sources remind CNN that only Donald Trump will make the final decision. So, put this in the category of who the heck knows.

CNN's Harry Enten.

With that in mind, Harry, you're kind of - you're digging through some of the numbers. Who has the most momentum and how do you measure that?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, these are betting market odds. Essentially the conventional wisdom of what's going on, right?

BOLDUAN: OK. ENTEN: I can't get inside of Donald Trump's head, I can tell you that much. I barely can get inside of my own head. So, this is the chance of being Trump's VP choice. We have some Tim Scott momentum at a 21 percent chance of being the VP nominee, Doug Burgum, who had been rising last month, kind of flatlining a little bit at 20 percent. Marco Rubio up a little bit.

[08:40:02]

BOLDUAN: Flatlining suggests something different than what you're saying. Let's just say not gaining, not losing.

ENTEN: Fair enough. Fair enough.

BOLDUAN: OK. Let's continue.

ENTEN: But we want to keep it PG on a Friday morning.

And JD Vance at 14 percent. He's seen a little bit of a drop. So, at this particular point, these four gentlemen on the board seem to be the favorites. But as you were saying,

BOLDUAN: OK. It is clearly Friday.

OK, when it comes to people who are most talked about, the contenders.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: The frontrunners, if you will, when these lists come out and the reporting comes out, do they often - does one of them often become the VP?

ENTEN: It turns out that we really don't have that great of a clue at this particular point. So, this is a chance of being VP at this point. The last few cycles where, of course, there was a question of who the GOP VP nominee would be.

Sarah Palin actually had the best chance at 15 percent. But look at Paul Ryan.

BOLDUAN: That surprised me for some reason. I guess my memory is different about the 2012 campaign.

ENTEN: I - you know, I was thinking that same thing. I was looking and I was like, I was a little bit high. But that was, in fact, the number. There seemed to be this underlying market of some people who apparently were keeping track of Alaska politics, 15 percent.

Paul Ryan, 5 percent, was quite low. Mike Pence was just at a 1 percent chance. So, this goes back to what you were saying earlier. There's only one person who's ultimately going to decide who's going to be the nominee. And it's very difficult to get inside of that person's head. And oftentimes we do a bad job of doing it.

BOLDUAN: So, with all of that in mind, what do Republicans want from a running mate? ENTEN: Yes, what do they want from running mate? You may think that

they want somebody like Donald Trump, someone who's a full MAGA Republican. But, in fact, only 47 percent do. The slight plurality at 50 percent say they want someone who will help balance out the ticket. So, maybe we shouldn't be looking full MAGA. May Donald Trump will try and balance out the ticket. Maybe someone like a Burgum, who sort of, you know, runs on being this more fiscal guy than somebody who's full on MAGA, like a JD Vance.

BOLDUAN: I think you also then need to define what full-on MAGA is, because, as we see suggested often, that is the broad base of the Republican Party.

ENTEN: A lot of people want to call themselves MAGA. I guess some people, though, aren't as MAGA as they think they are.

BOLDUAN: Basis for another magic wall conversation.

ENTEN: There we go.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Harry. Thank you so much.

ENTEN: Nice to see you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Omar.

JIMENEZ: I'm using all those points for our next discussion because joining me now is Jason Osborne, a former senior adviser for the Trump campaign in 2016, and Jim Messina, a former campaign manager for President Obama.

All right, good to see you both.

Jason, I want to start with you because, look, you heard Harry, or maybe you did, but if you didn't, if you're on Trump's campaign team right now in this moment, who are you advising him to pick and why?

JASON OSBORNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN: Well, first off, it's good to be here. Thank you.

My first choice would be Jim Messina, but, unfortunately, Jim wouldn't do it.

I would say Doug Burgum actually. Doug, I think, brings a lot to the ticket. I think he's pretty even keel. He's - he's got the respect from Trump in terms of his business acumen, his stature as, you know, a governor during a trying time during Covid. I really think that he probably brings the most balanced to this ticket. And, most importantly, he's not someone that's going to overshadow Donald Trump.

JIMENEZ: Well, Jim, now that we know you're out of the race for VP, I want to shift over to what we're watching for from the president because, look, we're waiting for a speech later this morning from President Biden over in Normandy. He's likely to focus on America's duty and democracy as a country. But politically, how does Biden thread the needle with the duty of

being president and representing the United States with the election- year context of also trying to win over Americans?

JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Yes, Omar, it's the hardest part about being an incumbent president. When I ran President Obama's campaign, you know, the campaign sits back there and says, how many of these non-campaign events do we have to do? There are - there are moments like this, though, where it really overlaps. You know, this speech allows Joe Biden to be in his sweet spot, to convey what he wants to say to the American people, which is, we're at this moment of peril and I'm going to take it big and talk about this moment of democracy and attempt to make his theory of the case in a very hallowed ground, exactly the way Ronald Reagan did 40 years ago.

JIMENEZ: And, Jason, I want to pick up on that point because, obviously, yes, a big Biden speech today, but this draws parallels to when Ronald Reagan spoken in that same spot 40 years ago. And, look, Biden recently pushed through border legislation that many think is similar to Trump policy. Bottom line, it does show him taking executive action on the border and all of these - all of these things that he is doing, some would argue, could sway some of those folks that were previously voting for Nikki Haley or some that are on the line to go towards Biden's side.

And I'm curious, from your perspective, is there anything Biden could say in this speech today or do that would win over Republicans who may feel hesitant to actually vote for Trump?

[08:45:04]

OSBORNE: Well, I mean, look, there's a number of folks we know that - probably 15 to 20 percent of the electorate right now are - just wanting to not support Trump, but are having a hard time coming over to Biden, or returning to Biden, however you want to look at it. So, I think, to Jim's point, I agree with it. I mean I think there are those events where you have to show that you're presidential. I think this is a stage that Biden, if he stays away from kind of, I guess, the Trump playbook, which is to attack the opponents and attack everybody trying to get him or his family in this case with Biden, that he is going to remain even keeled. That, you know, I am the guy that actually can still lead this country in contrast to the other one who's on Dr. Phil and talking about retribution. I don't think it's a hard speech for Joe Biden to get through, although I do question sometimes what his message is, I do think it's a good platform for him.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

Now, look, Jim, I want to ask you about another thing that President Biden also has in his orbit, that, obviously, he's in Normandy. Obviously, this is an election year. But also he's ruled out pardoning his son, Hunter, if he is convicted on these gun charges in the trial that we're following here.

Do you even anticipate Hunter being an issue politically for President Biden over the course of this campaign season? Does that decision to go out and say right off the bat, I'm not planning to pardon him, help him politically? How do you see that dynamic playing into this campaign season?

MESSINA: Well, Omar, first of all, I think it's the right thing to do, to absolutely rule it out and be like, I'm not going to use my powers to help my family. That's exactly the right thing to do. I don't think voters really think about this stuff, about the kids and the family members. They look at this really clear prism, Omar. What are these two going to do to make my life better in the next four years? And that's what they're desperate to hear from both of these campaigns. And to Jason's very smart point earlier, that don't want to hear about revenge from Donald Trump, they don't want to hear about Joe Biden's family, they want both he's people to say, here's what I'm going to do and here's why.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

Well, we will see glimpses of a lot of that today, and particularly it will be interesting to see what Biden's message is coming out in the speech expected to happen again a little bit later this morning.

But, for now, Jason Osborne, really appreciate it, and Jim Messina, not on Trump's VP list, but also great to see you as well. Appreciate you both.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: But you never know. You never know. Messina is capable of magic. Would Messina accept the job, I think, it's - that's also a question.

All right, breaking news coming in. The U.S. - U.S. job growth picked up in May, surpassing expectations. And there's a whole lot to this.

Let's get over - let's get over to, thank God she's here, Rahel Solomon, for more on this.

A big number.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You never know. with the jobs market. I mean, it continues -

BOLDUAN: I can't - like, every time I come to you I just feel like it's eyes open, jaw dropped.

SOLOMON: I know. It continues to defy expectations. So, yes, if it feels a little warm, if it feels like summer came a little early in the labor market, that's because it did so. Hirning picking up in the month of May more than we expect to the tune of about 100,000 jobs more than we had expected. So, in the month of May, the U.S. economy adding 272,000 jobs right here, right? We were expecting closer to 180,000. You look at the prior two months, these were actually revise slightly lower.

BOLDUAN: OK. SOLOMON: So, the month of April came in at 165,000. March came in at 310,000.

So, this is strong. Not quite as strong as this monster month, this month. But it did pick back up at a time when we were actually expecting things to start to simmer a little bit more.

So, taking a look at unemployment. So, this is interesting because for the first time since January of 2024, we actually saw the unemployment rate top 4 percent. So, take a look. So we have been sub 4 percent all the way back to January 2024, right. You -

BOLDUAN: 2022.

SOLOMON: 2022, excuse me.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SOLOMON: Exactly. So, we have been in that tight range through the years and now we have now tipped it. So, the curious thing to watch here is, is this the beginning of a trend higher, higher, higher, higher, right, because we had been sort of expecting that slow down. If you take a look at wages, and this is part of the reason, if you look at futures right now, they're actually solidly lower. Futures pick - or went down because wages went up, right? So, you think about, on a monthly basis, wages came in stronger than expected. You're thinking about on an annual basis, which is what we're looking at here, it also went up.

Now, this is good news, obviously, if you are looking for a raise, if you are a worker hoping for a raise.

BOLDUAN: It's that balance of the economy, though, right?

SOLOMON: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SOLOMON: So, its good news if you are working, looking for a raise. Not so good news if you're Wall Street, if you're looking at the Fed, if you are at the Fed thinking, well, I hope these wages don't fuel into higher inflation.

And then the last thing I'll really quickly say is, when you think about the job growth and where we have seen it, this month it continues to be the big three, government, health care, leisure, hospitality.

[08:50:04]

That's why we continue to see.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you.

SOLOMON: But it's feeling hot, right? BOLDUAN: It's feeling hot in here. It's feeling hot in here.

It's good to see you, Rahel. Thank you.

SOLOMON: Likewise.

BOLDUAN: Omar. Don't continue with the joke, just move on.

JIMENEZ: I was not even going to touch it.

SOLOMON: Just let it go.

BOLDUAN: Just continue.

JIMENEZ: Don't worry. Don't worry.

Now, look, soon, President Biden is going to try to take a page from Ronald Reagan. We will see in what could be a pivotal speech for Biden's re-election bid.

And Dabears (ph). I'm very sorry to my Chicago friends. That didn't come out totally on point. But a bear was spotted on a football field and we don't think anyone is going to try to tackle him. We'll see, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:55:01]

JIMENEZ: All right, let's take a look at what's on our radar this morning.

Additional fencing has been set up around the White House complex in preparation for large-scale demonstrations protesting the administrator's support for Israel and Gaza Saturday afternoon. Now, a Secret Service agent tells CNN they're anticipating up to 12,000 protesters in the area. President Biden will still be oversees this weekend.

Also, a popular YouTuber is facing federal charges for directing this scene, I mean straight out of a video game. Stright out of "Grand Theft Auto," anything like that. Twenty-four-year-old Alex Choi was arrested and after filming this video of an airborne helicopter shooting a moving Lamborghini with fireworks and faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.

And a high school football team in northern California gets a big surprise when their practice is quite literally interrupt did by a bear. This video was posted to the team's Instagram with the caption, "the possibilities at a football practice in Truckee are vast. Snow, lightning, storms, hail or a black bear making its way through the old wetlands of Meadow Lake." Thankfully, everyone on the team is OK, but now the Truckee Wolverines can say with confidence they have gone head the head with a bear on the football team. I'm sure all of their dreams are now fully accomplished.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

All right, let's turn to this. A new report out this week is offering us some sobering news. Among the world's wealthiest nations, the United States remains the absolute worst when it comes to maternal deaths. A truly failing grade when you see the data given that in some cases the U.S. has a maternal mortality rate double or triple what other wealthy nations experience.

Take a look at this comparison. In the United States there are about 22 deaths of pregnant women or new mothers for every 100,000 births. And for black women in America the death rate is much higher, 50 deaths for every 100,000 births.

Joining us right now is Christy Turlington Burns. She's the founder and president of Every Mother Counts, an organization with a mission of raising awareness about the maternal health crisis around here in the United States and around the world.

And when you compare it -- it's great to see you again, Christy. When you compare it to other nations, Norway serving up -- serving up a maternal mortality rate of zero. We've talked about this for years. This has been the mission of your organization.

CHRISTY TURLINGTON BURNS, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, EVERY MOTHER COUNTS: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Why is the United States still so much worse at caring for pregnant women and new moms?

TURLINGTON BURNS: Well, thank you for having me. And I think the sobering part about this report, which we're so excited about because anything that brings awareness and elevates this issue is really important to us. But when you think about some of the countries that were highlighted, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, these are the countries that have the best outcomes.

And when we look at those examples of what we're not doing here, two of the main things that stand out for us are the lack of integration of midwives. We underutilize that as a cadre of care that is quality and respectful and equitable. And then the other piece is paid leave.

You know, all of the countries that are talked about in the report are countries that, you know, a minimum of 14 weeks are offered. In some cases, 86 weeks. Can you imagine? Here in the United States, I think two weeks.

BOLDUAN: No can't, yeah.

TURLINGTON BURNS: Two weeks I think is the average and if that at all. So, you know, those are things we can do something about. I think that's, you know, the opportunity here now is to --

BOLDUAN: When you talk about midwives in some of my reporting that I've known -- done with you over the years, we focused on what midwives offer as well as what doulas and other services can offer women in this very important time. What is it about midwives? Why do -- what do you think it is that the United States underutilizes midwives and why they help in the outcomes so much?

TURLINGTON BURNS: I think the model of care that's offered by midwifery practice, it sort of centers women. There's more time involved. You're looking at a whole person. You're thinking about what's going on at home, what's going on in the workplace. It's just a deeper, more holistic level that it's very hard for providers to provide that kind of time and care here in the United States.

I mean, we have a shortage of all providers here in the United States right now, OB's and midwives. So this sort of, you know, this is something we've been very invested in is like building the diversification and growing the pipeline of health workers to be focused on women's health.

BOLDUAN: It really -- I mean, this is just, Kate getting on a soapbox. But I mean, every -- every person stating the obvious comes from a mother, comes from a woman. And the fact that it is not priority one, very clearly from the data that we do everything and the utmost to care for women in this -- in this point in their lives. It doesn't make sense. Is it -- is it lack of money or is it something more? I don't know. Something deeper about how women are viewed in the health care system or how pregnancy is viewed in terms of overall --

TURLINGTON BURNS: One hundred percent. I mean, women are understudied in terms of women's health. This is a huge problem. I mean, there are so many factors that -- I mean, breast cancer.

[09:00:01]

You know, there's so many things, which is why I think comprehensive, holistic care is what's required.

We enter the health care.