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U.S. And China Trade Delegates Hold Second Day Of Talks In London; Trump Visits Fort Bragg As Part Of Army's 259th Anniversary Celebrations; Defense Presses "Jane" On Her Behavior On Sex-Filled "Hotel Nights". Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 10, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

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[15:31:17]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A bleak assessment today from the World Bank. It says the global economy is on track for its worst decade since the 1960s. The new analysis cites President Trump's trade war as a major factor weighing on economies worldwide. U.S. and Chinese negotiators are holding a second day of talks in London, both sides trying to preserve a fragile truce that was brokered last month. President Trump saying he's, quote, only getting good reports about the discussions.

With us now is Gene Sperling. He served as National Economic Council director under President Obama, and he was also a senior advisor to President Biden. Gene, thank you so much for joining us in studio.

GENE SPERLING, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR UNDER OBAMA: Thank you.

KEILAR: And how are Americans, first off, this -- this analysis by the World Bank, it's pretty dire here. So how are Americans going to be experiencing that on a very real level?

SPERLING: Well, I think when people say that the Trump tariff policy has been a self-inflicted wound, what they mean is that in January, if you and I were talking, or December of 2024, it would have been absolute consensus, whether it's the World Bank or the top financial forecasters, that the U.S. was heading for that soft landing, which was 2.1 percent, 2.2 percent growth, solid, but also inflation coming down.

All that happened is the erratic tariff policy of the President has created so much uncertainty that they also projected U.S. growth would be at 1.4 percent. And as you know, many people think that means a much worse second half, even possible risk of recession.

And what that report there showed was they not only cut the U.S. growth forecast nearly in half, but dramatically lowered for the entire community, I mean, for the entire global economy. But how average people are going to experience it? You know, two different ways. One, you're seeing that uncertainty in big manufacturers who are going to build things. You know, President Trump talked about a manufacturing renaissance, but we have tripled the rate of -- of construction for factories in the United States under Biden. Now it's at best flatline, and you see reports every day of people holding up and pausing. And the other thing you hear, and again, this is not partisan, it's just what you hear from Walmart to Procter & Gamble to Ford to, you know, kids' Xboxes, prices are going to get raised.

So people are going to experience it in higher prices, and there's going to be a bit of uncertainty that will hurt small businesses and ultimately hurt American jobs.

KEILAR: You're looking at these negotiations in London today between China and the U.S. Really at issue are China's control over rare earth minerals. They have just a monopoly on so many of them. A lot of which are key to military manufacturing in the U.S., among a lot of other things, and also semiconductor technology from the U.S. Kevin Hassett, who has the job you once had, said the administration may be opening to -- open to loosening restrictions on some microchips that China views as critical to its manufacturing sector while maintaining restrictions on very, very high-end NVIDIA chips for A.I. systems. What do you think about that concession?

SPERLING: I think that this negotiation, from what we've heard, is a bit discouraging. Kevin, who I've known a long time, and you're right, is in the job I held under President Clinton and President Obama, said, and to be specific, he said, we're hoping to -- to get rolled back the flow of rare minerals to where it was before April.

[15:35:04]

Well, that's a strange negotiation goal. You, you know, raised tariffs on China. You made threats. And now we're talking about making concessions that -- that could have national security implications on our export controls. And our big win is to just go back to where it was in April before the President launched his Liberation Day. Perhaps one of the reasons that they're still negotiating is they probably know nobody's going to look at that as a victory, so I'm sure they are struggling to try to get something that shows they're not just undoing the harm but getting some kind of victory.

That said, I've been in these negotiations. There's double translation. You go back and forth. It takes a long time to have these conversations.

KEILAR: It certainly does. It's not the most exciting in the room, and we always know that, too, although it's very important work. And when you were the director of the NEC -- NEC for President Obama, you knew about this issue, right? This is so longstanding.

SPERLING: Yes.

KEILAR: This issue of rare earth minerals. The U.S. had actually brought a WTO case against China over rare earths. What is the path forward? We see it happening with this Ukraine deal or at least some attempt. I mean, what is really the path forward to managing this? SPERLING: Yes, I mean, this -- this was a major issue in the Biden administration. It was something not only on the economic side but also, you know, Jake Sullivan, our national security advisor, his team were looking at this. You know, it's going to take a comprehensive plan, first to be less dependent on China and countries that are not necessarily our allies, and then to have greater development and ownership and more friendly countries.

But -- but this is -- this is a priority that goes beyond the political parties, and we're going to have to find a solution. I -- I think that in terms of China, one of the mistakes has been that we've kind of, you know, the randomness of the tariff threats has kind of weakened our kind of coalition in isolating China. I think we'd be doing better on negotiations in rare earths if we had Japan and South Korea and Canada and our usual allies all together solidly making this argument.

The fact that we're getting distracted by fighting with Canada when things like rare earth with China should be our top priority. Let's hope the administration after this first six months will have a sharper focus and do less erratic things for our allies and do more isolating China and being able to pressure them on things like rare earth that are, you know, as you've seen, are just essential to what Trump says is his priority, manufacturing, automaking.

KEILAR: Yes, we'll have to see if he will pivot towards a coalition of markets. So far, not looking good. But Gene Sperling, thank you so much for being with us. We do appreciate it.

SPERLING: Thanks for having me.

[15:38:15]

KEILAR: And still to come, we're going to take you to Fort Bragg in North Carolina as we wait to hear President Trump talking to troops about this weekend's military parade. Will he also talk about what's happening in Los Angeles where he has called up the National Guard and active-duty Marines? We'll have more after a quick break.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As we watch live images from Fort Bragg, President Donald Trump is minutes away from delivering remarks there. The President has been watching a military demonstration over the last hour, just a few days ahead of the military parade set for this weekend in Washington that pays tribute to the Army's 250th birthday. CNN's Alayna Treene is traveling with the president at Fort Bragg. What is the mood like there, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Right now, currently, there are hundreds of different service members, some of their families, that includes people in the military in the Army, Gold Star members, warriors, excuse, and different members of their families, like I said. All of them here now kind of tuned in, watching the demonstration that the president is witnessing. We've seen nearly 600 paratroopers come out of a plane here. They've had different special ops forces, you know, kind of try to show examples of them breaking into different homes like they would on the ground. So very interesting what they're seeing now. Moments from now, Boris, we're actually going to get the President delivering remarks. I've caught up with some White House officials today to ask them, what exactly is going to be the theme? And really, it is him trying to demonstrate strength.

That's really the President's goal here. We've kind of seen that with everything he's been doing this week, particularly with the military parade that he's going to be holding this weekend and coinciding with his 79th birthday. And something that I find really interesting is from some of the conversations I had on the ground here with members, because I asked them first about the military parade.

A lot of them said that they appreciate the President is coming out to do that. But I would note as well that it's very different from his first term, Donald Trump's first term, where he had different military advisers around him, one of them, of course, General Jim Mattis, who had said he would rather swallow acid than have the President at the time hold such a parade.

[15:44:55]

Now, of course, we're seeing the President kind of free of some of those guardrails, moving ahead with that. And it's similar to what we're seeing, what had do -- what he's doing in Los Angeles with sending the National Guard and Marines to try and quell some of the protesters there. When I spoke with some members of the military here on the ground at Fort Bragg, they told me, well, they had mixed reviews, I should say. Some people said, you know, we believe that's our duty. We have a job to do.

And others said, you know, it's a really tough decision. And -- and it's hard when you see, you know, some of the most lethal forces being sent to deal with that, particularly them noting that of the Marines going in addition to the National Guard. All to say the President is going to come up here momentarily.

He'll probably speak about what he is doing this week, but really trying to narrow down on how this is 20 -- 250 years of the Army and their capabilities and trying to show that he believes they are stronger than ever.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, live for us at Fort Bragg. Thank you so much, Alayna.

Still to come, jurors were just dismissed for the day in the criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs, not before hearing a tense exchange between Combs' attorney and his former girlfriend. We'll explain next.

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SANCHEZ: The cross-examination of Sean "Diddy" Combs' former girlfriend just wrapped for the day, and Jane, a pseudonym, had to answer questions about her behavior on hotel nights. That's what she and Combs called these drug-fueled sexual encounters that she testified Combs forced her to have with male sex workers as Combs watched. The rap mogul is on trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

KEILAR: Today, his attorneys pressed Jane on the reason that she engaged in a hotel night in 2021 after showing the jury explicit texts that she wrote describing sex acts with Combs and another man. Jane told jurors she said yes to the threesome because, quote, that was the only option I was given, and I wanted to see my lover. We're going to talk about all of this with CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson, who is a criminal defense attorney. Joey, what is the defense trying to demonstrate in their cross so far?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Brianna and Boris, this is significant because, remember, this witness really gets you to the issue of sex trafficking, this coercive environment that is argued by prosecutors that was set up by Mr. Combs in order to have her engage. And so the first thing that they have to lay the foundation of is, of course, the relationship they were in to demonstrate that they were in a relationship where they enjoyed each other's company, went on trips and loved each other.

Right now, you take it a step further and they have to, defense attorneys, that is, lay a foundation that these were voluntary, that these whole whatever you want to call them, hotel nights, freak offs, what have you, where there was another participant who was engaging with them, that this was not part, right, the defense of any type of coerciveness. This was the nature of their relationship and what she did and they did voluntarily, even going to the point of her really engaging and calling and setting up the other performers, entertainers to join them.

And so if defense makes headway with establishing that this was the basis or part of the basis of their relationship, you go a long way at defeating the sex trafficking charges, which is very significant because it serves as a major basis of the indictment.

SANCHEZ: And we heard a lot from Jane today about how she didn't like to seek homes with other women. The defense getting at themes of jealousy here, how does that play into what you're describing?

JACKSON: So that's important, Boris and Brianna, because remember, she's not suing. When you have the other witnesses who have lawsuits, for example, Cassie, right, a star witness for the prosecutors coming in, getting $20 million from Combs, getting $10 million from the hotel, you'll hear in closing argument, hey, there's 20 million reasons why she came in here, there's 10 million reasons, there's all this motivation of money and money. This one doesn't have that.

In fact, not only is she not suing, Combs is still paying her rent, right, and they were still in fact dating and they were together. And what would be her motivation to lie? In fact, she met with the defense team. And so what you have to establish if you're going to defeat her credibility is you have to show there's some underlying reason. Something's percolating within her to make misrepresentations or to exaggerate, right? Because this witness was very explicit in messages and otherwise saying, I don't want to be your side chick in my own relationship, right? I don't want to be part of this. She explicitly says that. And so why would she come in here lying? Well, the prosecutors say the defense will say because she's jealous and he made her feel bad and she felt mistreated.

And as a result of that, the defense will play up the notion of jealousy as a motivation since they don't have a lawsuit to otherwise go after.

KEILAR: Jane testified that she felt like she only met 10 percent of her earning potential during her relationship with Combs because she couldn't devote time to Instagram influencing. We -- we heard testimony from Cassie Ventura as well, that she felt that her professional endeavors and potential was severely limited because of all of the time that she was devoting to these extensive sexual encounters with Combs. Why does that matter, Joey?

JACKSON: So what happens is, is that this is about abuse. It's about coercion. It's about really taking you away from who you are, what you are. So you could do what I tell you to. So you could be under my manipulation. You could be under my control, right? So let all matters be laid aside so that you can really carry out my sexual fantasies.

On the other hand, however, I think the defense is establishing that this may have been a quid pro quo. You gained a lot from this. Combs, in fact, invested in your dress business. Combs got you a home. Combs is paying $10,000 a month for your rent. Combs always gave you money and supported you. And so at the end of the day, if you're going to look to the issue of coercion, as prosecutors will say that was manipulation, as prosecutors will say it was, they're going to look at the fact that it was transactional quid pro quo.

[15:55:08]

And that, by the way, defense will say is voluntary. It was your choice. And so that'll come into the mix in closing argument as well.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for that. Joey Jackson, thank you so much.

And still to come, a family assumed the sculpture on their piano was little more than a cheap knockoff. They were wrong by close to a million dollars. We'll have that story next.

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KEILAR: Yes, some people decorate their homes with those Live, Laugh, Love signs, perhaps some photos on top of the piano. Or if you're one family, just, you know, a million dollar sculpture. To be fair, they thought it was a fake Rodin, which is not how the French say that, but that's how I say that. This is the sculpture that we're talking about. It was created in 1893. It's just an 11 inch figure there. It's of a female sitting on a rock holding a foot with her knee hugged to her chest. And the family just had no idea how much it was worth as it displayed it among their photos.

[15:59:57]

SANCHEZ: Yes, discovered in 2024 after disappearing for almost 120 years, the family told an auctioneer that it was just a copy, a knockoff. The auctioneer, though, tells CNN the sculpture was so striking they decided to investigate it. Upon realizing it wasn't a fake and that it was in fact real. And date backs -- dates back to a period when Rodin made a number of smaller sculptures. They put it at auction. The winning bid, a young banker from the west coast, according to the auction house. Quite a bit to get for that tiny Rodin, Rodin.

KEILAR: Rodin.

SANCHEZ: Roro.

KEILAR: Roro, yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: The Arena with Kasie Hunt starts now.

SANCHEZ: Thanks for joining us.