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U.S. Economy Added Jobs in April; Trump Ousts Waltz; Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is Interviewed the Economy; Jury Selection Begins in Combs Trial. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 02, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

MAJ. ERICA VANDAL, TRANSGENDER U.S. ARMY OFFICER: VANDAL: Proven soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, proven leaders with very specific skill sets would be what's detrimental to the readiness of the military. They would be removing decades and decades of training that's gone into these people, millions of dollars invested in these individuals, and they'd be removing it for no reason associated with their ability to do their job or meet their standards.

MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): MJ Lee, CNN, Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Moments ago, a key jobs report just released and unexpectedly stronger than forecast. We're going to tell you what that says about the health of the economy and the impact of President Trump's trade war.

Also this morning, the fallout from the first major White House personnel shakeup in Trump 2.0. Marco Rubio adding more to his plate. And what we're learning behind the scenes about Mike Waltz getting ousted as national security advisor.

And the criminal trial for Sean "Diddy" Combs starts Monday. CNN has exclusive new reporting on who's expected to testify.

Sara Sidner and John Berman are out this morning. I'm Omar Jimenez, with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the breaking news moments ago, the long resilient jobs market continues to be resilient, beating expectations, even in the wake of a sea of uncertainty that everyone is living in around President Trump's trade war. Here are the numbers for you. The economy added a stronger than expected 177,000 jobs in April. Unemployment rate, unchanged, staying at 4.2 percent. The report marking another solid month of job gains. Whether that continues, obviously we don't know the future. Let us see.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Who does?

BOLDUAN: We're going to ask someone, though, to see into the future for us. Zain Asher once again.

And this is a - this, we talked about yesterday -

ASHER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: This one's closely watched because it's the first report -

ASHER: Right.

BOLDUAN: Post liberation day -

ASHER: Right.

BOLDUAN: Or the most, you know, stringent, highest tariffs that Trump was putting in place setting in.

ASHER: That is the reason why everybody was watching this report closely. And let me tell you, Kate, this came in as a huge surprise.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ASHER: 177,000 jobs added. Much better than the 135,000 jobs that everyone was expecting. So, it doesn't really show the full effects of this trade war and of tariffs just yet. Obviously, the key word being yet.

And the fact that you had March numbers and February numbers being revised down, this actually means that this particular job gain is actually the second largest in the year so far. So, this is something the administration is really going to take to the bank.

BOLDUAN: Oh, wow. I was looking at that. March was - March was reported initially at 228, right?

ASHER: Yes. And it was revised down to 185,000. February was revised down to 102,000.

BOLDUAN: OK.

ASHER: And so this is a surprise. And I'll tell you why. Earlier this week, remember I told you we got the ADP numbers, that came in -

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

ASHER: That's private sector. That came in half of what we were anticipating, half compared to the previous month. So, everybody looked at it and thought, oh, this does not - the writing is on the wall for the labor market on Friday in terms of the jobs report.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ASHER: What I will say - I do want to talk about some of the sectors that really stood out to me in this report.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ASHER: Health care being number one. This is an area that has seen solid and robust job growth for quite some time, and that is because of an aging population in this country. Also a lot of people with chronic conditions.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ASHER: You're seeing that continue to be robust. And it is somewhat shielded from tariffs. I mean, yes, of course, you might have health care facilities that end up having to spend more in terms of equipment from China, but the jobs numbers -

BOLDUAN: We haven't yet seen an impact on prescription meds. Like, we haven't seen that yet.

ASHER: Right. Right.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ASHER: Another sector that stood out to me is transportation. That number is higher this time as well because of e-commerce. Obviously when people are buying stuff online, they need to transport that.

BOLDUAN: Got it.

ASHER: But that is affected - that is certainly vulnerable with these tariffs. When you think about the fact that the Port of L.A. is talking about a 35 percent decline in imports coming into the port even as soon as next week -

BOLDUAN: Right.

ASHER: That affects freight services in this country. And so, you have to then think, OK, what is that going to mean for transportation jobs in the future if these tariffs continue? I think that the two sectors that I was really watching very closely was construction and manufacturing. Those two sectors stayed the same. But when you think about the fact that we're dealing with 25 percent tariffs, Kate, on steel and aluminum, that affects raw materials, that affects demand for construction services, that, of course, is going to affect hiring.

And, on top of that, there's an immigration story there because -

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ASHER: Thirty percent of construction workers in this country are undocumented immigrants. When you have this kind of climate of fear, a lot of them are not showing up for work. So, that is something that I'm watching very closely in the future.

And I think just in terms of manufacturing, when you have factories in this country that really do rely on certain parts coming in from China, those parts aren't going to get in -

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ASHER: That affects factory output. We did get ISM manufacturing data that wasn't very good at all this week that tells you that there is a gloomy outlook in the manufacturing sector in this country.

So, that's not showing up just yet, but a lot of people are saying, when you speak to economists, that it will in May or June.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

[09:05:05]

ASHER: So, that is what we're watching for very closely.

BOLDUAN: So, we've got a good report, but it's complicated and you need to stand by for more news to come. That is - I mean, that's really what it is because we just are wallowing or treading water in this sea of uncertainty that we're in.

ASHER: Literally. Because you've got - you've got the - you've got the immigration story, you've got the DOGE cuts and you've got tariffs. And that, of course, is going to filter into the jobs report. If not today, then certainly in the months ahead.

BOLDUAN: Standby to standby. That's always my caveat.

ASHER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Zain, thank you so much.

ASHER: Good to see you too.

BOLDUAN: Omar.

JIMENEZ: I'm glad you all were working out the complicated numbers because better in your hands than mine.

We're also following a lot of news, including the growing fallout this morning from President Trump's first major staffing shakeup since he returned to the White House. Mike Waltz is out as national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking over the role, at least for the time being. Waltz was ousted less than two months after he mistakenly added a reporter to a Signal group chat discussing sensitive military plans to strike Yemen, and a day after he was photographed appearing to still be using Signal at a Trump cabinet meeting. You can see the zoom in on the picture there. And Trump says he will nominate Waltz for a new position, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. As for Rubio, who was seen entering the White House this morning, this is the fourth hat he's putting on in the federal government leadership, in addition to his role at State and as the acting chief of both the National Archives and USAID.

President Trump is in Florida this morning, which is where CNN's Alayna Treene joins us from in West Palm Beach.

What is the latest you're hearing on this shakeup? Why did it happen the way that it did?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this was actually something that had been simmering behind the scenes at the White House, Omar, for some time now. Yes, that Signal scandal from two months ago was really kind of a turning point for the president I was told from my conversations with White House officials. He was very frustrated with how that was handled and really his relationships and view of Waltz never really recovered after that.

But some of that had actually been kind of controversial thoughts about Waltz and many people's views within the West Wing of him were already on shaky ground before that Signal scandal had happened. People like White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, someone who is considered one of the most, if not the most influential people in the president's inner orbit, had really thought that he was too hawkish on some of the ideology shared around national security. So, he was already kind of on shaky ground before that Signal scandal.

And then, of course, there was a question, really, of when and not if he would be ousted by the president. We saw that all unfold yesterday. Part of the reason I was told it took so long for the president to make that decision and really make that move final was because he did not want kind of the chaos that surrounded his first administration, his first term to be considered as happening in his second term. He wanted to wait, what people were describing as an appropriate amount of time, we saw this happen after his first 100 days, to push out someone of Mike Waltz's stature, national security adviser position is a cabinet secretary level position, in Trump's term.

But look, we did hear Vice President J.D. Vance try to spin some of this and argue that this wasn't necessarily him being fired, but it was a promotion.

Listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why was Mike Waltz let go?

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, it wasn't let go. He is being made ambassador to the United Nations, which, of course, is a Senate confirmed position. I think you can make a good argument that it's a promotion.

Donald Trump has fired a lot of people. He doesn't give them Senate confirmed appointments afterwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So there you had him saying, consider it a promotion. It's a Senate confirmed position.

I can tell you, from my conversations with multiple Trump administration officials, and these were even conversations I was having when the president was still going through his transition, is that Trump doesn't really view the U.N. ambassador role as a, you know - he doesn't care much about it is really how it's been described to me. And that's partly why you're seeing Waltz be given this position. He'll be sent to New York.

One key thing, though, Omar, to watch for is now, what does this look like? Because if Waltz really does go through this confirmation process, the Signal scandal is going to play out very publicly. A lot of Democrats eager to try and grill him on what happened. JIMENEZ: Yes, not going anywhere. There are still questions to this

day over exactly how that unfolded.

Alayna Treene, really appreciate you being here.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, joining us right now to talk about all of this is Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California. He sits on House Homeland and Judiciary.

It's good to have you here.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Yes. Thanks.

BOLDUAN: Let's start - there's quite a few headlines coming in that I want to ask you about.

SWALWELL: Sure.

BOLDUAN: But starting with the jobs report just out.

SWALWELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I mean this is a jobs market that just won't quit.

SWALWELL: No.

BOLDUAN: I mean it just came in and it's quite strong and beating expectations. Your reaction?

SWALWELL: We want to see more jobs created. But, you know, south Florida is a beautiful place to be a couple days before a hurricane hits. And we have a massive hurricane that's going to hit our economy when this tariff moratorium is lifted. And also, retailers are already starting to price in these tariffs.

[09:10:03]

The Port of Los Angeles, for example, they say next week, 35 percent fewer ships. So, if there was 100 ships last week coming into the port, there's going to be 65 ships this week. So, consumers are going to start paying more. And we're already seeing that costs have been going up.

Donald Trump said, I'm going to lower costs on day one. He's zero for 100. He hasn't done that yet.

BOLDUAN: Part of this, though, is - but the jobs market remains strong. I mean, look, you had the president this week blaming bad numbers, GDP numbers, saying that was Biden's economy. But you look at this. I mean are you - and when - and when he said that, I heard a lot of Democrats, including Republicans, saying, no, this is Donald Trump's economy.

SWALWELL: Yes. BOLDUAN: But this strong jobs report, Donald Trump's economy?

SWALWELL: This is Donald Trump's economy, yes. And it's the same amount of jobs that was created in April of 2024. Almost exactly the same amount of jobs. It's good. We want jobs. But what I'm concerned about is that when people go to the grocery store, or Walmart, where four out of five of the items in your shopping cart are made overseas, that they're going to start paying more.

Also, the GDP has already been driven into the red under Donald Trump. That's also his economy. And 401(k)s are 201(k)s because of this tariff war that he's imposed on the American people.

And so that is what we have to focus on. And I've been meeting with CEOs. I've been meeting with my Republican colleagues who also privately express a lot of frustration about what Donald Trump's doing. I would like to see the Congress assert more authority over the tariffs. And you're seeing more and more Republicans express a willingness to do that.

BOLDUAN: You mentioned ports. A huge portion of goods coming from China, the majority I believe -

SWALWELL: That's right.

BOLDUAN: Goes to ports in California. And when you - you - you correctly stated what we are hearing from the Port of Los Angeles, that they're expecting a huge drop off in arrivals starting next week. And that's when shipments that are tariffed with the bigger tariffs are going to be starting to arrive. What does that mean for your district?

SWALWELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: What does that mean for California? Because the trickle down, I mean, you go from port workers, to freight, to - to semi drivers, to, you know, go down the line.

SWALWELL: Yes. There's a long tail as far as what the collateral damage will be. The Port of Oakland is just outside my district. So, yes, the longshoremen who work on the ports, they're going to see a reduction in work. The -

BOLDUAN: Is there a way to protect - is there a way to protect them from this or help them from feeling this - the blow that the ports say is coming?

SWALWELL: Reduce Trump's tariff tax. This is a tax on Americans. There's no other way to look at it.

And also, everywhere in America today, from, you know, the top floor of the biggest financial institutions, you know, from Blackrock to blacksmiths, decisions are being frozen. Americans in, like, their personal lives, making decisions about vacations, making decisions about family trips. I'm seeing it in our own family. You're freezing decisions until you know, you know, until you have more certainty about this tariff and the tax on the American people and what it's going to do to your finances. And that's devastating for the economy.

Jobs report, great. But what we're going to see in the next couple of weeks on our, you know, retailer's shelves are costs that we're not used to as Americans.

BOLDUAN: Different thing happening. Mike Waltz, former colleague of yours, he is now out. The president wants him to be the next U.N. ambassador. What do - what do you think of this? You could - you can present it as two things, right, chaos and disaster, or Donald Trump's trying to clean up shop. What is it?

SWALWELL: Well, it was chaos and incompetence that made Americans know the name Mike Waltz, right? He put national security secrets in a group chat. He leaked national security secrets.

BOLDUAN: So, do you think it's good that - do you think - do you think it's good that he's out?

SWALWELL: Yes. But when you are incompetent, you don't move someone down the ladder, you lead them off the ladder. So, he should not have the important job of U.N. ambassador. Most people in the military or national security who did what Mike Waltz did would be surrounded by lead walls. They wouldn't be getting another job in the government.

BOLDUAN: I've heard from many that the - what we - I would say read from many that they had the wrong guy. A lot of people thought that Mike Waltz was kind of -

SWALWELL: A fall guy for Hegseth.

BOLDUAN: A fall guy for Hegseth, but that they liked - Republicans and Democrats, if they had to choose, they liked having someone like a Mike Waltz near the president. They thought he was a stable guy. They thought that what Pete Hegseth did on the Signal chat was far worse than what Mike Waltz did.

SWALWELL: I think what they all did was awful. I mean, they made a mistake. It was a huge mistake that others would pay a big price for.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SWALWELL: But worse than that, they tried to gaslight the American people and say that what was in that group chat was not what was in that group chat.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SWALWELL: And - and it was insane. And so, if you're willing to, you know, make a mistake and then double down and lie to the American people, you shouldn't be making decisions about our troops.

[09:15:03]

BOLDUAN: Practically speaking, do you think Marco Rubio can juggle both being secretary of state and national security adviser?

SWALWELL: No. No.

BOLDUAN: When they say Kissinger did it, that was 40 years ago.

SWALWELL: He's not Kissinger. And these challenges right now from, you know, Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Russia, China, Taiwan and other challenges across the world, they command, you know, serious people who are focused and are bringing competence to the job. We don't have that in Secretary of State Rubio. And - and we don't have that in Pete Hegseth. And so, Donald Trump, it's just been - you know, we went from a Trump slump to now a Trump train wreck from the economy and national security. And there's a level of seriousness that people want to see on these consequential decisions.

BOLDUAN: Let's see what happens today. Thank you for being here.

SWALWELL: My pleasure.

BOLDUAN: It's good to have you in studio.

SWALWELL: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: Really appreciate your time.

SWALWELL: Of course.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, exclusive CNN reporting. What we're learning about the witnesses who are expected to take the stand in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.

And a measles outbreak in west Texas. It is still growing. And now RFK Jr., the HHS secretary, is directing the CDC to find alternative treatments for this already highly preventable disease.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:53]

JIMENEZ: All right, welcome back.

The criminal trial for Sean "Diddy" Combs is set to begin on Monday in New York. And CNN has exclusive reporting about the potential witnesses who could testify. He's pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including sex trafficking.

I want to bring in CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister, who has the details.

So, Elizabeth, what are your sources telling you here?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Omar.

So, I am hearing from sources that we are finally getting a bit of a picture of who may take the stand in this highly anticipated trial. Of course, everybody has been speculating who will we see?

Well, Cassie Ventura, who we just saw there with Diddy, she is a musician and an ex-girlfriend of Cassie - of Diddy, rather. She is going to be the star witness of this trial. In addition to her, I hear that there are three other key witnesses that the government is going to have testify.

Now, in addition to that, of course, there will be supporting witnesses who will be there to corroborate some of these key witnesses claims or to add other relevant information. Among those supporting witnesses, I do hear that we are going to hear from a friend of Cassie's, as well as a male sex worker.

Now, Omar, you remember that from the many different civil suits that Combs is facing, he is facing more than 60 civil suits, by the way, that there were allegations of male sex workers.

Now, also in the indictment from the government, they allege that at the center of this case is so-called freak offs, which the government says are drug fueled sex parties essentially where Combs forced women, along with others, to have sex, sometimes with male sex workers. So, that could be what we are hearing from that individual.

Now, I do want to note that the criminal trial, of course, is completely separate from the civil cases. Although I am hearing from sources that many of these witnesses who are going to take the stand, Omar, are civil accusers. So, they have already filed lawsuits against Combs. Some of their allegations on the stand may sound familiar from some of the other allegations that we have already reported on.

Now, as you said, Combs is facing five charges. There is one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. So, this is, obviously, very serious charges. And then after the trial, again, he still does have this mountain of civil suits that he is facing, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Elizabeth Wagmeister, really appreciate the reporting. Thanks for being here.

All right, coming up, breaking overnight, flames engulf an aid ship bound for Gaza after an alleged drone attack. We'll tell you what we're learning about it.

Plus, we're moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street where investors are reacting to a stronger than anticipated jobs report as well. So, we'll have more on that coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:27]

BOLDUAN: So, Mike Waltz is out as national security advisor to President Trump after mistakenly adding a reporter to the group chat on Signal on Yemen's strike - on the Yemen strikes. And President Trump is now tapping him to be the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and temporarily then giving national security advisor job to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the interim, further expanding his list of responsibilities, which you might forget, this is actually the fourth title that Rubio is taking on in this administration, listing them out there. He's also the national archivist and the acting administrator for USAID.

The vice president, J.D. Vance, making the case last - yesterday that Mike Waltz move is actually a promotion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why was Mike Waltz let go?

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, he wasn't let go. He is being made ambassador to the United Nations, which, of course, is a Senate confirmed position. I think you can make a good argument that it's promotion. Donald Trump has fired a lot of people. He doesn't give them Senate confirmed appointments afterwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All of these moves raising a whole host of serious national - questions about U.S. national security right now.

And joining us right now is a man who served in senior national security positions in four administrations, including President Trump, CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk.

Brett, thank you so much.

MCGURK: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I want to play for you what John Bolton had to say last night in response to J.D. Vance's take.

Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe Vice - Vice President Vance, his claim that Mike Waltz is leaving his job, not because of the Signal scandal, but because the White House wanted to promote him?

[09:30:07]

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Of course not. I mean, I think it really just shows how little about