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Trump Planning Temporary Pass for Undocumented Farm Workers, Others; Deliberations Underway in Combs Criminal Trial; Combs Pleaded Not Guilty, Faces Up to Life in Prison on Most Serious Charges; Powell Says Fed Would've Cut Rates This Year if Not for Trump Tariffs. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 01, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL: -- who knew anything about the workforce. They didn't actually need farmers to tell them because they could have (ph) explained that.

(CROSSTALK)

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY UNDER TRUMP: If you look at the Biden administration, you'll see -- you'll see almost -- if you look at four years of the Biden administration, you'll see absolutely no one removed. Right? Which is why we're in the crisis that we are in today.

KEILAR: That's not true and you know that.

WOLF: Which is why the American people said -- excuse me?

KEILAR: That's not true. You're saying that -- you're saying no one was removed.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: I don't think you understand what you're talking about here at all.

KEILAR: You're saying no one was removed in four years.

WOLF: So, the American people decided to go a different approach. The American people decided that individuals needed to be removed.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Mr. Wolf, just to clear. You're saying no one was removed. Can -- just be clear. Explain what you're saying. No one was removed under the Biden administration from the United States who is undocumented.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: A historical low number.

KEILAR: Sure. Then please try again. WOLF: A historic low number of individuals removed from the interior of the country. The vast majority of removals from the Biden administration happened at the border. They were removing almost no one from the interior of the country. And the Trump administration and President Trump campaigned on this, and the American people put him in office to deal with the crisis of four years of the Biden administration. And that's what they're doing. That's why they're removing people.

They're removing the worst of the worst, criminal aliens, as you've indicated. But again, they're not going to exempt all individuals from the law, right? So if you say, we're only going to remove criminal aliens and that's it, we're going to stop, well then you invite a whole class of individuals to come into the country and not to offend and say, well, you're not going to be removed. It's a --

KEILAR: Well, what's the message you're sending if you work for a farm or you work for a furniture maker, you are fine?

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: It's a dumb way to run an immigration system and we saw that for four years under the Biden administration. Just an absolutely --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: What's the incentive that you're sending, Mr. Wolf?

WOLF: -- just wrong way to run the immigration system.

KEILAR: OK, but then what's the message that you're sending if you say, essentially, let's work out a work visa program for you, if you're here illegally, if you work for a farm or a furniture maker. The door is wide open for you?

WOLF: Well, again, I don't know the contours of what the White House is putting together. I would say -- I would need to see that to understand.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Trump system of signing them up, so they don't have to go -- well, let me tell you. Here, let me tell you what he is proposing. A system of signing them up, so they don't have to go. They can be here legally. They can pay taxes and everything. They're not getting citizenship, but they get other things. I mean, how is that not a work visa program?

WOLF: Again, you have work visas now, right? For the agricultural community. You have an H-2A visa that's unlimited. I think there's over 400,000 agricultural workers here today on that visa. Obviously, I think the industry, what we were hearing from that ag industry is they need more workers. They don't need less workers. They need more of those workers. So, I think the administration is trying to figure out, I think there's also some behind the scenes works of how do you improve that H-2A system, so that you can bring more vetted individuals into the country.

I think what the Trump Administration is trying to deal with now is for the illegal population that is here today, what do you do with them? And can you -- can you get them into the workforce legally? And we'll have to see what they actually propose.

KEILAR: All right. Chad Wolf, thank you so much for being with us.

WOLF: Yeah, a joy.

KEILAR: It's day two of deliberations on the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking and racketeering trial. Why the jury sent another note to the judge, we will have details on that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:42]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL: We're now in day two of deliberations in the Sean "Diddy" Combs federal trial. And today, the jury sent another note to the judge asking to see transcripts of testimony from two witnesses, Cassie Ventura and a male escort. And just before ending deliberations yesterday, jurors sent the note concerning the distribution of controlled substances.

KEILAR: This morning, the judge responded to the question by referring jurors to their instructions, which read in part the word 'distribution' means actual constructive or attempted transfer, and that distribution does not require a sale. Let's get to CNN Entertainment Correspondent, Elizabeth Wagmeister, who is there outside the federal courthouse. Elizabeth, tell us more about the jury's transcript request here.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, quick point just based on that question that they had about drug distribution, why that is significant, Brianna, is because drug distribution is one of those predicate crimes under the racketeering conspiracy. If you look at the verdict form that the jury has in front of them, well, drug distribution is the final predicate crime under racketeering conspiracy. So that could mean that this jury has already gotten through the first charge.

Now, we don't know for sure, but that is significant there. Now, when it comes to the testimony that they have requested, they have asked to see testimony from Daniel Philip, who was one of the men who said that he was paid to have sex with Cassie Ventura during one of those so- called freak offs. While Daniel Philip also testified that he witnessed Sean Combs being physically violent with Cassie Ventura and after he witnessed that physical violence, he said that he could no longer perform sexually.

So, that is some of the testimony that they have asked to have back. And they have also asked for many pages of testimony from Cassie Ventura, specifically pertaining to an incident at the Cannes Film Festival where Cassie had testified that her and Combs had an incident, they had a fight, and that on the flight home from France, that he was threatening to release those graphic sexually explicit tapes from those freak offs. So, that would tie in to the threats that Cassie said that she perceived.

And they have also asked for testimony from Cassie pertaining to that 2016 hotel incident in Los Angeles.

[13:40:00]

That, of course, is that horrific footage that our team first broke at CNN. Now, final point I want to make, Combs has been in the courtroom today. And this morning, his mother was there and he went up to his mother and he told her, just relax, everything will be all right. So, brief moments there where he is engaging with his family and his defense team.

KEILAR: All right, Elizabeth, we will keep watching. It is going to continue here. Thank you. The Fed Chair hitting back at President Trump's criticism for not cutting interest rates. We'll have details on that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Fed Chair Jerome Powell and President Trump don't see eye to eye on interest rate cuts. And today, their battle took a new turn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He'd be a good candidate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, there you go.

TRUMP: You might do. She'd be a good candidate too. Anybody would be better than Jay Powell. No, he's costing us a fortune because he keeps the rate way up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:45:00]

SANCHEZ: Just a few hours earlier, Powell blamed the lack of cuts on the president's trade policies. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is here with the details. Vanessa, walk us through Powell's comments.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jerome Powell was at a central banking event earlier today, and he was asked whether or not President Trump's harsh criticism of him was affecting his ability and the Federal Reserve's ability to conduct monetary policy. And he said, "I'm very focused on just doing my job." But obviously, this has been months of pressure by President Trump on Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, really culminating in yesterday with what we saw was a handwritten letter by President Trump to Jerome Powell on a sheet of paper that showed all of the world's central banking rates. And you can see that he highlighted there that there's 34 countries that have lower interest rates than the United States. And he says in that note there on your screen that essentially, Jerome Powell, by not lowering rates, is costing the United States billions of dollars and then goes on to point out in the upper right-hand corner there that he should lower rates closer to a quarter of a percentage points to one-and-three-quarters percentage points. I'll point out that the current rate right now is 4.25 percent, upwards of 4.5 percent in terms of where the U.S.' policy is right now.

Jerome Powell, though asked at this event, a central banking forum, why he has not -- and the Federal Reserve has not lowered interest rates and does it have anything to do with the trade war? Here's his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chair, would the Fed have cut more by now if it weren't for the tariffs?

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: So, I do think that -- I think that's right, we're -- in effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and where, essentially, all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs. So, we didn't overreact -- in fact, we didn't react at all. We're simply taking some time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now, the Federal Reserve has been in wait-and-see mode for all of this year. They have not cut rates at four consecutive Federal Reserve meetings. And that is because, essentially, Jerome Powell says that tariffs have not really ingrained in the U.S. economy yet and that the Federal Reserve is in wait-and-see mode. He did not say whether or not there would be a cut coming in July, this month, the upcoming meeting. But there are certain members of the voting body of the Federal Reserve that do believe that there should be cuts in July.

One of those members is the Vice Chair, Michelle Bowman, who said that she could see a cut in the next meeting as well as voting member, Christopher Waller, who says that they're in a good place right now to cut. 19 percent of investors though, Boris, believe that a cut could come in July. That is not a very high percentage. Of course, after July, there's three more meetings where there could be potential cuts. Jerome Powell saying that probably by the end of the year, they might be actually looking at a cut, but maybe not in this July meeting, which is what President Trump we know is very much hoping for, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Very much so. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you. Still to come, morale is plunging at Veterans Affairs Hospitals and workers are fearing that this is only going to get worse. We have new CNN reporting on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:46]

KEILAR: CNN has new reporting about how hiring freezes and staffing shortages are plaguing Veterans Affairs Hospitals across the country. CNN spoke with more than a dozen employees about the situation, which they say is causing morale to drop and that they fear the situation will only get worse. CNN's Brian Todd is with us on this story. Really excellent reporting here, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

KEILAR: What more did these employees tell you?

TODD: Brianna, as you mentioned, we spoke to more than a dozen doctors, nurses, and other VA employees at hospitals across the country. Most of them spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. They were even reluctant to disclose the facility or even the state where they work. They say that right now, morale is dropping at their hospitals. Doctors are voluntarily leaving because of the strain on the workforce and the supply chain because of attrition and hiring freezes. And some of those, we have to say, those freezes were imposed during the Biden administration.

There is now not enough support staff, supplies have gone unordered, appointments have gone unscheduled. Doctors and nurses have now had to do some of those things in some cases. And this is before the layoffs at the VA have even happened. The VA says its goal is to implement a reduction in force that could affect as much as 15 percent of the VA's workforce or about 70,000 people. And the doctors and nurses we spoke to are worried that when the layoffs occur on mass and more support staff leave, it will get even worse.

We spoke to Irma Westmoreland, a nurse at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, who's also a top Nurses Union representative. We spoke to her at a rally for veterans and union members in early June, but we've kept in touch with her since then. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IRMA WESTMORELAND, NURSE, CHARLIE NORWOOD VA MEDICAL CENTER: As they lay off support staff like our dieticians, our dietary staff, our housekeeping staff, and the staff that support us, then we're going to be having to take on those jobs. And so when we have to take on those jobs, that means our patients are going to have to wait longer for the treatment and care that they deserve and they need. And that's our concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And here are some of the other comments we've gotten. These are from doctors at VA hospitals across the country. One at a VA hospital in the central U.S. says, "This is like a death by a thousand cuts. They're trying to make life difficult. They're trying to make people quit." Now, on some of the duties that they're pressed into doing, one top VA doctor told us, "I change the paper on exam tables, all the doctors do."

[13:55:00] And another doctor at another VA hospital said, "I'm going to fail because I can't do budgeting, hiring actions, scheduling actions in addition to treating patients." Brianna?

KEILAR: Yeah, they're dealing with so much stuff that normally they would not be dealing with. So, what is the VA saying about all of this?

TODD: Well, the VA is pushing back strenuously on all of this. Now, regarding the accounts of morale dropping at VA hospitals, Peter Kasperowicz, the VA spokesman, well, he called that fearmongering stoked by the media. And regarding the other accounts we have received, he said this. "The fact is that during the Biden administration, VA failed to address nearly all of its most serious problems, such as benefits backlogs and rising healthcare wait times. Under President Trump and Secretary Doug Collins, VA is fixing these and other serious problems. VA is undergoing a holistic review centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to veterans."

Also now, regarding the accounts of doctors having to change exam table paper and scheduling and doing other duties, Peter Kasperowicz said this, "There is no scenario in which VA will require doctors to perform anything other than their normal patient care duties." But Brianna, we are getting concern from people all across the country at these hospitals. And again, the layoffs have not even started yet.

KEILAR: All right, Brian Todd, thank you so much for that reporting, so important for our veterans. The feud that has once fizzled is back on fire. Why President Trump is threatening to set the "DOGE monster" on Elon Musk. Stay with us.

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