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Washington State Father Suspected in Death of Three Daughters; Job Market Cooling?; Trump-Musk Spat Continues. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Battle of the billionaires, President Donald Trump and his one-time ally Elon Musk fighting it out online, and also at stake, the possible fate of the president's big, beautiful bill and his economic agenda. We could hear from the president this afternoon.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Plus, a manhunt for a father in Washington state accused in the killings of his three young daughters. We will tell you why a lawyer for the man's ex-wife says the system let him down and believes the girls would still be alive if it weren't for that system breaking down.

Plus, dare to dream, an Indiana dentist going toe-to-toe with the world's best golfers at the U.S. Open, a major competition that means more to him than anyone could ever imagine.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

DEAN: Irreconcilable differences, at least for now.

President Donald Trump telling CNN he has no plans to talk to Elon Musk -- quote -- "for a while," saying he's not even thinking about Elon, and so far today not posting about him either on TRUTH Social, a sudden 180 from just 24 hours ago as we watched their relationship implode in real time and in a very public way.

In the coming hours, we could see President Trump for the first time today when he leaves the White House, with Washington now consumed with what this dramatic split could mean for both the fortunes of the Republican Party and for the fate of the president's legislation on Capitol Hill, upon which most of his economic agenda rests.

Not even a full week has passed since Trump was praising the world's richest man, who a week ago was employed by the government.

We have a team of reporters standing by.

Let's go first to CNN's Kevin Liptak, who is at the White House. Kevin, we will start with you. What is the mood at the White House and

what are you hearing there today?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I think the question hanging over the White House today is whether there's any glimmer of hope that these two men might be able to make up.

When you talk to a lot of Trump advisers, they downplay the prospect that could happen. They point specifically to Musk's allegation last night linking Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, the world's most famous pedophile, saying that that was essentially a bridge too far. That's not something that President Trump is going to forget.

And when you listened to President Trump this morning, he is eager to make the case that he's ready to move on, to turn his focus to that giant piece of legislation that, at the end of the day, was the origin of this feud in the first place. On the other hand, he's also very eager to let reporters who call him up on his cell phone know just how much he's not thinking about Elon Musk.

He told Dana he has no interest in talking to him and that he says he's got a problem, the poor guy's got a problem, so not sounding like someone who's really ready to forgive. He's also thinking about selling or giving away that red Tesla that he bought on the South Lawn in March. I just noticed the Tesla is still parked here on the driveway.

Now, allies of both of these men do seem to be holding out some hope that they will be able to reconcile. And it is true that there are a lot of Republicans who are now kind of caught in the middle of all of this. One of them is J.D. Vance, the vice president. Obviously, he's very close to Trump, but he's also very close to Elon Musk.

As all of this was playing out yesterday afternoon, yesterday evening, he was relatively quiet. We are told that Trump encouraged him to be diplomatic in his response. But he did post on his personal account today saying that: "President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I'm proud to stand behind him." He didn't mention Musk.

DEAN: All right, Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you very much.

We do have -- I did want to ask you, though, what else you're hearing about some of the claims that Elon has made.

LIPTAK: Yes, and I think the biggest one and probably the most problematic one for President Trump is his claim that this major piece of legislation would explode the U.S. deficit. That is what started this whole feud in the first place.

And you did hear Peter Navarro come out today, the president's top trade adviser, questioning the math, saying that the dog won't hunt when you do the math properly. But, at the end of the day, that could be the biggest problem for President Trump. Musk here is voicing some of the same concerns that a lot of Republicans already had about this bill.

And I think the fear is that he could embolden them to be more vocal in their own opposition, in their own skepticism about what this bill would do for the deficit. And so that, I think, are the stakes here. For as sort of catty and nasty as this feud became, to be clear, one man accusing the other man of not wearing makeup in the Oval Office is about as catty as it gets at the White House, the stakes here are enormously high, even if the insults themselves were pretty low.

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DEAN: All right, Kevin, thank you very much for that -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Now, President Trump may say he's -- quote -- "not even thinking about" his escalating feud with Elon Musk, but the conflict is certainly sparking a flurry of reactions inside MAGA world.

At one point, a high-profile right-wing influencer called for impeaching President Trump and replacing him with Vice President J.D. Vance. Musk later endorsed that tweet.

CNN media correspondent Hadas Gold joins us now.

Hadas, we're seeing some in the MAGA world really drawing battle lines, others, though, pleading for peace. Where are folks coming down on this today?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I think many in the MAGA world were watching this, similar to everybody else yesterday, just shocked to see how this relationship was imploding in real time with these insults flying back and forth.

Many of them, as they themselves have known, expected that at some point the relationship would sour, but I think few expected it to sour as badly as it has. There is a bit of -- you could see from like three different camps coming out of this.

The first camp was the immediate defense of President Trump and sort of the, Elon Musk, you are dead to me. That was sort of Steve Bannon. Of course, Steve Bannon has never been a huge fan of Elon Musk, but he was calling for Elon Musk's immigration status to be looked into. He was calling for the government to take over SpaceX.

Then there was the camp who was like, we love you both. Please stop fighting. Please kiss and make up. And that's where you get people like Charlie Kirk. He's the founder of Turning Point USA, has an influential podcast. He had Stephen Miller on right away yesterday to defend the big, beautiful bill.

And then listen to what Charlie Kirk said on FOX News later that day.

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CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: President Donald Trump built this movement for 10 years. His supporters are not going anywhere. I hope that Elon and Trump reconcile. It'd be good for the country and to do so privately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: And then you saw another camp, and this was more of the sort of Silicon Valley right camp, who were saying Elon is right.

And I want to put up sort of two tweets that you can see the dynamics here. On the one side, you have got Catturd. Well, despite the name, he's got more than 3.7 million followers, very influential. He says: "Pay close attention to all the people who don't have President Trump's back right now."

On the other side, you have got Jason Calacanis. He is an angel investor. He hosts a very popular podcast called "All-In." It's very close with a lot of the Elon Musk world, DOGE world people. And he says: "The majority of Republican voters strongly agree with Elon and what the BBB trimmed down." He calls on the GOP leadership to give his counsel serious consideration.

So, very interesting to see how the MAGA world is still dealing with all of this, and still into today they are grappling with exactly what is going to happen here. Without question, Donald Trump is still the leader of this movement, but there is a recognition that Elon Musk has a lot of power, he has a lot of endless resources.

And very importantly for a lot of these MAGA influencers he controls a very important social media platform for a lot of them to reach their audiences.

FREEMAN: Well, to the point, you're talking about how different people have come into different camps, but also using the mediums, some on social media, others on FOX News. It's just fascinating to see how this is playing out today.

One last thing, Hadas, though. Has Elon Musk said anything more about this back-and-forth today?

GOLD: He actually has. If you follow Elon Musk on his social media platform, X, today, it's been a bit quieter. He's been posting more about starling, but just in the last few minutes or so he responded to another user who says: "Elon criticized Congress, not Trump. Trump then attacked Elon personally."

And Elon Musk writes back: "Exactly."

So it seems as though Elon Musk is confirming there that it was when Trump started talking about Elon Musk personally, when he brought up those comments in the Oval Office about Trump derangement syndrome, that's what really seems to upset Elon Musk and he seems to be confirming that now on his X account.

FREEMAN: Yes, fascinating stuff. Hadas Gold, I don't envy you tracking all of that, but I do appreciate it -- Jessica.

GOLD: My phone buzzes a lot.

(LAUGHTER)

FREEMAN: That, I believe -- Jessica, to you.

DEAN: House Speaker Mike Johnson says he was with President Trump yesterday when Trump's dramatic feud with Musk escalated on social media.

And in an interview earlier today, the speaker hit back at Musk's criticisms of the Republicans' bill.

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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): It's not personal. It shouldn't be personal. I don't tell my friend Elon how to -- I don't argue with him about how to build rockets and I wish he wouldn't argue with me about how to craft legislation and pass it.

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DEAN: Now, Johnson's comments are notable. He and Republicans have often defended Musk's unprecedented power within the federal government.

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JOHNSON: I think there's a gross overreaction of the media to what is happening. We don't see this as a threat to Article I at all. We see this as an active, engaged, committed executive branch authority doing what the executive branch should do.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think the American people ought to be saying to Elon, thank you, thank you, thank you.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): I love what Elon Musk is doing. He's a genius, probably one of the most brilliant, accomplished, effective human beings ever to walk on planet Earth.

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REP. MARIA SALAZAR (R-FL): He doesn't have to be doing this. He's the richest guy in the world. He could be on a rocket somewhere. Where is he? He's helping us.

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DEAN: CNN's Arlette Saenz is live on Capitol Hill.

Arlette, we have this legislation that's now moved over to the Senate. They have to kind of grapple with what they want to do with it. If they make any changes, it's got to go back to the House. There's still a long way to go and Republicans are going to have to stay united. What are you hearing as this is all unfolding while that's going on, on Capitol Hill?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, Republicans up on Capitol Hill are certainly in a tough position as they are watching this very public feud between President Trump and Elon Musk play out at a very critical time for the future of President Trump's economic agenda here on Capitol Hill.

Now, most lawmakers really want to keep their distance from this feud, saying that they hope the two men will work it out. The House leadership, like Mike Johnson, have said that they hope that this could be resolved. And they're arguing that it's not going to have any impact on the president's bill that's making its way up here on Capitol Hill.

You even have Majority Leader Steve Scalise saying that the conference is more united than ever, even as this fight is playing out. But there are some conservative lawmakers who express concern that a prolonged fight could cause a distraction. And then there are others who are seizing on Musk's initial opposition that set off to this huge rift when he said that this bill spends too much money.

Here is a sample of how Republican lawmakers have been reacting to this over the course of the day.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I hope this gets worked out. But I will tell you right now that people are going to be focused on making sure that we get the agenda that we voted for. And that's President Trump's agenda.

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): Elon's not wrong that we need to cut more and find better ways to get to balance. And then, look, and we're working with the president hard to do that. And so I will let those guys tuss it out.

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I think Elon probably did change his trajectory of this bill two or three days ago when he came out against it, because people trust the guy who can land rockets backwards more with the math than they do the politicians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So that really captures the challenging dynamic that Republicans in the House and Senate are facing in this moment as they are still trying to push forward the president's economic agenda here on the Hill, even as this rupture still continues between President Trump and Elon Musk.

DEAN: More to come on that. Arlette Saenz on Capitol Hill, thank you so much.

And still to come: Elon Musk says President Trump's tariffs are going to send the U.S. into a recession. The latest jobs report paints a revealing picture about the economy. Ahead, we're going to walk you through it.

Plus, some terrible scenes in Ukraine after Russia launches one of its largest aerial attacks yet after Vladimir Putin vowed to retaliate for Ukraine's audacious attack last weekend. We're going to tell you what we know about those strikes.

FREEMAN: And, later, police in Washington state are urging people to lock their doors and open their blinds as a father accused of killing his three daughters allegedly goes on the run.

These important stories and much more all coming up this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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FREEMAN: A new jobs report is out, coming in slightly better than expected.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the U.S. labor market added 139,000 jobs in May, with the unemployment rate staying flat around 4.2 percent. Now, the new numbers follow that very public breakup between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump.

Musk, meanwhile, predicting Trump's tariffs would lead the U.S. into a recession this year.

For more on all of this, we have CNN's Matt Egan. He's here to break all this down.

Good afternoon, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Danny.

Well, look, the latest jobs report shows that the labor market is cooling, but it is not collapsing, and that is a very big relief, given all of those recession fears earlier this year and the chaotic trade war.

So let me run you through some of the key numbers with this jobs report. We're learning that the U.S. economy added 139,000 jobs during the month of May. That's a little bit better than expected. It's also more than enough to keep the jobs market at a steady pace.

Also, the unemployment rate 4.2 percent, third month in a row at this relatively low level. And when you look at the trend for job growth over the past year, I think two things really stand out. One, clearly, we're growing jobs at a slower pace than last year, even slower than we realize, because we actually just learned that March and April were revised lower.

But the other thing that stands out to me is how stable the job growth has been this year, right? Given all of the instability out of Washington, it's interesting to see hiring just kind of continue to chug along. And when you look at where the jobs are, health care continues to be a major winner in terms of job gains, another 62,000 in May alone, leisure and hospitality up by almost 50,000 last month.

That is encouraging to see, because that's bars and restaurants, the places that you would expect people to start to cut back first if consumers were feeling pressure. So it is a good sign that they're still adding jobs.

One concern that I have heard from economists today is that the job gains have kind of narrowed, right, that these two sectors alone accounted for about 80 percent of the gains last month. Normally, you want to see broader job growth, still, though, significant gains there.

Now, some sectors did lose jobs, including manufacturing, 8,000 jobs lost last month alone. That's the exact opposite of what the administration wants with these sky-high tariffs. And the federal government losing 22,000 jobs, that is a trend that we can expect to continue. Markets are loving this report. You see solid gains across the board, 1 percent gain for the Nasdaq.

Look, Danny, I think the bottom line here is, if the trade board is breaking something in the economy, it is not showing up in the jobs market, not yet at least.

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FREEMAN: Matt, thank you for breaking all that down.

Before I let you go, though, I got to talk about the big story over the past 24 hours, Tesla seeing its largest single day stock drop in the company's history, of course, during that social media spat between CEO Elon Musk and President Trump. How's the company doing today?

EGAN: Yes, Danny, look, Tesla's shares moving higher today, almost 6 percent gain. This is, I think, a reflection of the fact that some investors, some analysts believe that yesterday's very intense sell- off was overdone.

I mean, we're talking about a company that yesterday lost a staggering $152 billion. As you noted, it's the most that Tesla's ever lost in market value in a single day. And also, when you zoom out, I mean, this is a stock that has actually lost about 30 percent of its value just since the president took office.

Now, this sell-off yesterday, of course, it wasn't driven by any new news that the company announced. This was all about this stunning battle between Elon Musk and the president of the United States. And there is this concern that perhaps some of Elon Musk's business empire could end up getting hurt.

I talked to former Medtronic CEO Bill George, who's now at Harvard, and he said, look, never go to war with the president of the United States. There's going to be a lot of collateral damage to your business. And, obviously, we're talking about a massive empire for Elon Musk. Tesla is the publicly traded company that gets all the attention.

The issue there, of course, is this is a consumer-facing company. And Elon Musk has already alienated some segment of his customers by going all in on Trump in the first place. Now, he threatens to also alienate Trump voters at the same time. But it's not just about Tesla, right? When you look at SpaceX, this is a company that relies on federal contracts, right? Its biggest customers are federal agencies; xAI is the A.I. company that relies on regulation from the federal government on artificial intelligence. Neuralink has to have its brain chips, they have to get approved by the FDA. The Boring Company also needs regulatory approval.

So I think the point here is that this was a messy situation between Elon Musk and the administration. And there is still some concern among analysts and investors that this battle is going to end up doing some damage to Tesla and perhaps the rest of Elon Musk's business empire -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Just fascinating, again, the cost of posting. Quite a lot.

Matt Egan, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.

EGAN: Thanks, Danny.

FREEMAN: All right, and coming up next, new details out of Washington state, where police are searching for a father wanted on suspicion of murder after his three young daughters were reported missing and then found dead. Now, CNN just spoke with an attorney for the suspect's ex- wife and mother of his children.

Plus, jurors in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs hear audio from what would come to be known as freak-offs. We have those details as well right after this break.

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FREEMAN: Police are urging people in parts of Washington state to lock all their doors, even their sheds, and to keep their blinds open amid the search for a man accused of killing his three young daughters.

Now, Travis Decker is wanted on murder and kidnapping charges. Officials say the Army veteran is a survivalist who's fully capable of surviving for days, if not weeks, alone in the wilderness.

DEAN: His daughters, just 9, 8, and 5, were reported missing by their mother last Friday when Decker did not return them home to his ex- wife. And authorities say the girls' bodies were found near his abandoned truck on Monday.

CNN's Natasha Chen has the latest now.

And, Natasha, we are hearing from the attorney for Decker's ex-wife. What is that attorney saying?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, this is just incredibly heartbreaking, because what the attorney is telling us is that the mother had no prior indication that there were any red flags that her ex-husband would have ever harmed these children. In fact, it was the first time he had ever stopped communicating with

her on one of these visitations. It was unlike him to turn off his phone. The real key thing here is, the attorney says the system failed these children. The mother, Whitney Decker, gave an interview to one of our affiliates over the weekend before the girls were found.

And it struck me that she said, Travis Decker really loves his girls, but had been struggling with mental health, especially coming out of the military. He had joined in 2013, served a tour in Afghanistan. Here's what the attorney said about his service and what happened afterward.

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ARIANNA COZART, ATTORNEY FOR MOTHER OF SLAIN GIRLS: And the way that our country repaid him was to essentially throw him out like trash. And that's unacceptable.

The system failed Whitney's babies. And that's one of the words she gave us is, the system failed us all so much. And if it weren't for the system that failed her, those babies would be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: Now, he's technically still a part of the Washington National Guard, but the National Guard told me that he's missed all his drills in the past year. And so he's actually in a disciplinary process to be discharged.

And it really seems like exacerbation of his issues have occurred in the past year, because, last fall, the court agreed with the mom that he should have restricted visitations.

Now, another problem that the mom and attorney are bringing up is the lack of an Amber Alert here, because, when they first called police about the girls not returning home, authorities felt that there was no imminent threat to their safety, no imminent threat of danger.