Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Jury Resumes in Combs Trial; House Takes up Trump's Bill; Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY) is Interviewed about Trump's Bill; Jury Resumes Deliberations in Combs Trial; Mike Whittington is Interviewed about Healthcare. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 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]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: That it will reserve the right to act and carry out strikes once again.

We can imagine that discussion about Iran's nuclear facilities, as well, of course, as the fate of the war in Gaza, the future of potential ceasefire negotiations will all be on the table as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the White House next week to sit down with President Trump.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, President Trump already putting out there on Truth Social that there is a 60-day ceasefire deal on the table that Israel, he says, has agreed to, but Hamas has not. We will see what the details of all of that are. And I know you'll be watching it.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for your reporting.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Columbia University agrees to pay $9 million to settle a proposed class action lawsuit brought by thousands of students. They claim the school submitted fake data to boost its U.S. news college ranking. Students claim the misrepresentations, like small class size, encourage them to apply, and, they say, allowed Columbia to overcharge them on tuition. The university denies wrongdoing, and agreeing, though, to settle.

There's good news for fans of the Waffle House and its all you can eat breakfast. The chain announced it is getting rid of its egg surcharge. This came about in February. You'll remember, the company applied an additional $0.50 per egg because of soaring egg prices from the bird flu outbreak. Since then, egg prices have begun to normalize, so the iconic breakfast chain is now rolling back the surcharge. Some fun facts, Waffle House says it serves 272 million eggs a year. It also serves 153 million hash browns and 124 million waffles.

Finally, another round of snakes on a plane. This time it's just one snake on one Australian plane. A flight delayed hours after a snake made its way into the cargo hold. And this guy chose the short straw and had to go in there to get it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK PELLEY, SNAKE CATCHER: So basically I got a call from Melbourne Airport or from Virgin basically saying that there was a snake on a plane. Can you get here as soon as possible because a plane cannot leave the runway until you come and deal with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What do you mean? Of course they can take off with snakes on a plane. Haven't you seen the -- never mind. It turned out to be a harmless two-foot -- two-foot long green tree snake. My favorite. But understandably, everyone should take snakes on a plane very seriously. And in Australia -- Most of the world's most venomous snakes live in Australia.

The next hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SIDNER: All right, breaking for you this morning, at any moment, deeply divided House Republicans take up President Trump's mega bill again. The president putting heavy pressure on them to pass his signature legislation despite a lot of in-party fighting over Senate changes to the bill.

And Sean Combs could hear his fate this morning in his federal sex trafficking racketeering trial. We are standing by for the jury to resume deliberations on the biggest charge, after already reaching a verdict on the other four counts.

And, major concern on how cuts to Medicaid could leave millions of Americans without health care, especially in rural parts of the United States.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: We are waiting for a verdict, friends. Any minute now, the jury in the criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs will head back into the courtroom. They've so far deliberated for twelve and a half hours, then sending a note to the judge yesterday to say they reached a verdict on the charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. But on racketeering, which carries the most severe consequences, they were essentially deadlocked. There -- they wrote to the judge, quote, we have jurors with unpersuadable opinions on both sides on that one.

CNN's Kara Scannell live outside the courthouse for us with much more.

Kara, walk us through how today could go.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, jury deliberations are about to get underway. As soon as all 12 of the jurors arrive at the courthouse, they will go into the jury room and pick up where they left off yesterday. And as you say, they informed the court late in the day that they had reached a verdict on four of the five counts, the sex trafficking charges related to Cassie Ventura and Combs' his former girlfriend who testified as Jane, and the transportation for prostitution involving both of those women. But they are hung up and, as you said, have unpersuadable views on both sides from the jury on the racketeering conspiracy charge.

Now, we don't know what the decision is on the sex trafficking or on the transportation for prostitution. If Combs is convicted of sex trafficking, he would face a minimum prison sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life.

[09:05:01]

So, the stakes on that charge is very high. And he knows now that the jury has made a decision.

The racketeering conspiracy is one of the more complicated charges. It would require the jury to find that Combs had reached an agreement with someone else, and that two crimes were committed in the past ten years. The government has alleged those crimes include sex trafficking, include bribery, include arson, kidnaping, witness tampering. But the key there is that there was an agreement. And that may be the sticking point that the jurors are trying to work through.

So, at the end of the day yesterday, the mood in the courtroom turned very tense. Combs had almost a shocked, confused look on his face when he was talking to his lawyers after they had received that note. In fact, one of his lawyers went up and got the actual note and brought it to Combs to look at. But now the judge -- both sides had asked the judge to ask the jury to continue deliberating. That is what they're back to do today. We'll see if they come to a conclusion, or if the judge will have to take further steps, either instruct them with an Allen charge or take a partial verdict.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, it's great to see you, Kara. Thank you so much.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We could see Kara again soon.

All right, breaking now, the House convening to take up President Trump's huge tax and spending bill. The House already passed a version of this, but then the Senate made changes. Now the House has to vote on it again, if you can follow all that.

This is a major test of House Speaker Mike Johnson's power. A lot of people in his caucus don't like the changes the Senate made to the bill. That includes deeper cuts to Medicaid and nearly a $1 trillion increase in the debt over the House version. And with his razor-thin majority, Johnson can only afford to lose three votes.

House lawmakers have been rushing to Washington to be back in time this morning. Beyond the political storm, they face another problem, literal storms that delayed and canceled flights. The president is heaping on the pressure this morning. He's telling

Republicans to not let the Democrats, quote, "push you around." And he adds, quote, "we've got all the cards and were going to use them."

Let's get to CNN's Arlette Saenz on Capitol Hill this morning, standing by there, I think, to hear from House leadership soon.

What are you hearing, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the House is set to gavel back in at 9:00 as these lawmakers are facing that tight deadline two days away to pass President Trump's domestic agenda bill. Now, there are really big questions about not just the math relating to this bill, but also the timing. House leadership has been trying to corral as many members back here to Washington to try to have the support to get this across the finish line, but there's still big questions about whether they will have that GOP support to pass this measure.

Now, the House is about to come into session at 9:00 a.m. We could see a first key test vote in the 11:00 a.m. hour as the House is set to begin voting on the rule. Overnight, the House Rules Committee passed a rule on President Trump's agenda bill. There were two key Republican no votes on that bill, Chip Roy and Ralph Norman. And so, we will see how -- where they exactly will fall when it comes to the rule on the floor, and then the final passage as well.

Of course, House Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose three Republican votes on this measure. But we know that there are concerns across the GOP caucus. It is not just conservatives who have concerns that this does not do enough to cut spending. There are also moderates who have concerns about the Medicaid cuts, the steeper Medicaid cuts that were included in the Senate bill.

Now, we are also learning our colleagues, Annie Grayer are and Kevin Liptak, have confirmed that some GOP holdouts will be going to the White House today to meet with President Trump to discuss this bill. So, this is something that's a key priority for the president, trying to use some of his power to try to influence votes as he and House Speaker Mike Johnson are trying to corral the GOP support for this bill, which is a key priority for his domestic agenda in his second term.

BERMAN: Oh, that is interesting, some of the holdouts heading to the White House where they will be, you know, strong armed. And I don't say that pejoratively. The president will lean on them. We'll see what effect that has.

Arlette Saenz, on Capitol Hill this morning, keep us posted. Thanks, Arlette.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, joining me now is Democratic Congressman Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky. He serves on the House Budget Committee.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

Look, I just want to ask you, is there anything in this almost 1,000 page bill that you can support?

REP. MORGAN MCGARVEY (D-KY): Sure. You know, there are things like the no tax on tips, like the no tax on overtime. The no tax on tips passed the Senate unanimously. But the Republicans are putting it in a bill that is going to hurt people. I mean, my state of Kentucky, this bill is going to close 35 rural hospitals. It's going to kick 133,000 of my rural neighbors off of their health insurance. It is going to be absolutely devastating. They're not serious about helping every American. They are serious about helping the billionaire donors who fund their campaigns and not helping the hard-working Americans who work every day in communities across this country.

[09:10:02]

SIDNER: I want to talk to you about what House Democrats are doing right now. There's a caucus meeting late last night. And Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said all legislative tools are on the table to try and at least delay this bill. What are House Dems going to do over the next couple of days?

MCGARVEY: Well, first of all, the reason we're so ready to fight this bill is because it's going to hurt people. I told you, 35 rural hospitals in my state are going to close, and we know what's going to happen, people are going to get hurt. Children are going to have accidents. People are going to have heart attacks. When minutes matter, they are going to have to drive an extra 30, 45 minutes. That is the difference between life and death. We are working overtime to make sure that doesn't happen. So, yes, that's procedural tactics.

It also means talking to our Republican colleagues. Behind closed doors, they say they know this bill is bad. They know this bill is going to hurt people. In fact, Lisa Murkowski said the quiet part out loud. She said yesterday, this bill's not ready for prime time. You're saying it behind closed doors. Now say it out in public. Work with us to put together a bill that's going to help everybody in this country, not just help Jeff Bezos have another wedding.

SIDNER: You know, speaking of Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, she was the crucial 50th vote on this bill after securing a significant carve out for Alaska. But she's still saying the bill is problematic. Here's what she said when confronted with her colleagues accusation about those carveouts to NBC's Ryan Nobles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN NOBLES, NBC NEWS: Senator Paul said that this was -- that your vote was a bailout for Alaska at the expense of the rest of the country.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): Oh, my.

NOBLES: That's what Senator Paul said. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, we've got the --

NOBLES: I didn't say it, ma'am. I'm just asking for your response.

MURKOWSKI: My response is, I have an obligation to the people of the state of Alaska.

Do I like this bill? No, because I try to take care of Alaska's interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So, I have a question for you. I mean, is Kentucky getting a carveout like Alaska? One of the reasons is because Alaska has some high error rates when it comes to SNAP assistance. So does Kentucky.

MCGARVEY: Yes, you know, we've asked this question. In fact, there's an amendment put forward by the House Democrats last night that said, if this carveout is good enough for Alaska, why shouldn't it be good enough for every state that is suffering right now.

In Kentucky, we have more than one in five children who are going hungry right now. Ten percent of our veterans use SNAP to get food on the table. They are the people being harmed by this. So, when Senator Murkowski says this bill isn't available for primetime, it's not ready yet, even after she gets a carveout, I think it just shows you how bad it is and how many people it's going to hurt.

SIDNER: I want to go to what Vice President J.D. Vance tweeted out after all of this. He said, "the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutia of the Medicaid policy is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions." Is that how your constituents see it, that this is all just minutia, except for those two issues?

MCGARVEY: No. And it's -- it's particularly shameful that Vice President Vance said that. You know, he claims to have roots in Kentucky, to be from Kentucky, to be from Breathitt County. Well, guess what? The Breathitt County Hospital there in Jackson is on the list of hospitals that will close. It will be his family that he talks about who's impacted by that. He claims to be a populist, but right now he just looks like more of an opportunist.

SIDNER: I'm curious your take on this. You know, there's been a lot of talk around this. Given the negative polling on this bill and the fact that you're hearing from Republicans who don't think this is a great bill but they are still pushing towards passing it, is there any part of you that wants this bill to pass so Dems can use it against Republicans in the 2026 midterm?

MCGARVEY: Absolutely not. Look, I don't want people to get hurt. I'm from Kentucky. I spent ten years in the Kentucky general assembly, was the senate minority leader there. Every day I worked with my Republicans. Sure, we didn't agree on everything, but we found common ground when it was appropriate to move Kentucky forward. We're willing to find common ground up here now. Things like the child tax credit, like the tax on tips, but don't put it in a bill where you are going to rip health care away from Americans, where you're going to close rural hospitals, where you're going to make people make life and death decisions, whether they get medicine, whether they don't, whether they're delayed treatment, whether they seek it. Work with us to actually put a bill forward that helps people. That's what we want to happen.

SIDNER: Congressman Morgan McGarvey, lots of work to do in the House. We'll try checking back in with you as this goes forward. Really appreciate your time this morning.

MCGARVEY: Thank you.

SIDNER: Sara.

Oh, huh.

BOLDUAN: I will take it.

SIDNER: Really? Really? I probably need some coffee. I'm just saying.

BOLDUAN: You are perfect. You don't need anything.

SIDNER: Not at all.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, we are standing by for action in the Sean Combs trial. We're watching the court as the jury heads back in to continue deliberations. Are they still split?

[09:15:03]

And rural hospitals say the Medicaid cuts that the Senate just approved and the -- and the House is now considering will devastate them and could force hundreds of rural hospitals to close down. The head of one Louisiana hospital now under threat is our guest.

And the parent company of CBS News agreeing to settle and pay $16 million to end President Trump's lawsuit over a "60 Minutes" report on Kamala Harris. Why?

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, happening now, verdict watch in the federal criminal trial of Sean Combs. I should say final verdict watch. The jury was scheduled to be back in court at 9:00 a.m. Late yesterday they told the judge they'd reached a partial verdict. They decided on four of the five counts, including sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. We don't know how they decided, just that they decided something.

[09:20:01]

They're deadlocked, they said, though, on the racketeering charge. So, the judge told them to go back to work, which presumably they are doing as we speak. So, we are literally waiting to hear from them. It could be any minute. Here now, Elie Honig, CNN's senior legal analyst, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Elie, I want to talk about this moment that we are in right now as we wait on this jury. And I want to go through a list here. If you're the prosecution, what are you thinking right now?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I think the prosecution would be feeling cautiously optimistic. I say cautiously because every prosecutor knows juries are inherently unpredictable. No prosecutor would ever celebrate a victory until they had a verdict.

But if you think about this logically, John, we know that the jury has returned verdicts, guilty or not guilty, unanimously, as to all those other sex trafficking counts, but they are stuck for the time being on racketeering. And so my thinking as a prosecutor would be, if the jury had found Sean Combs not guilty on counts two through five, they almost certainly already would have also found him not guilty on racketeering.

The far more likely scenario here is that the jury has convicted Sean Combs on at least some out of counts two through five. And then there are some jurors who say, yes, we believe he's guilty on one or more of counts two through five. But the prosecution hasn't quite shown the racketeering evidence, which is a high burden that they need for count one.

So, I'd be feeling OK right now. Still nervous. You're always nervous anytime a jury's out. But I'd be feeling cautiously optimistic.

BERMAN: Now, how about the defense? Because we saw -- heard from Kara Scannell, there were looks of concern among Combs and his lawyers late yesterday as this note was being read. And we also know that the defense lawyers basically said, you know what, judge, tell the jury to take their time.

HONIG: Yes, concerned, but not hopeless, I think. Same reason I said before, juries surprise all the time.

But here's the other thing. There's a way for Sean Combs to get convicted on multiple counts but still come out of this with a palatable result. If we look at the four counts, where we know they have verdicts, two of those are forcible sex trafficking counts. If he gets convicted of those, that's a 15 year minimum. That's a disaster for Sean Combs.

However, the other two counts are basically just interstate prostitution. If he somehow gets convicted only on those, but not the forcible trafficking charge, then he's looking at a max of ten years and a likely sentence of much, much less than that.

So, if the way this plays out is the only thing Sean Combs gets convicted of is the non-forcible interstate prostitution, that is a win of sorts for the defense.

BERMAN: And that's what they might be grasping on right now, or at least hoping.

All right, Elie, the hardest question, if you're the jury, what are you thinking right now?

HONIG: Well, I want to get it done with and I want to go home. They have to go back to the drawing board. They have to renegotiate over count one, the racketeering enterprise.

The big question is, what are we going to hear next from the jury? It's going to be one of two things, John. Either they're going to send a note out, it could be at any moment today. And they might either say, well, judge, we've talked it through further and we've actually resolved our deadlock. And now we have a verdict on count one as well. In which case they will come out and deliver their full verdict on counts one through five.

The other possibility is if the jury goes back there for whatever amount of time, finds they're still hopelessly deadlocked. Then they will send a note out to the judge saying just that, we tried again, judge. We don't know what to do. In that case the judge will either send them back to try one more time, or the judge has the option of saying, OK, put aside count one, that's going to be a hung count, and we'll take your verdict on the other counts, two through five.

So, I think the jurors, they always just want to minimize the pain and the drama in the jury room. They want to get their verdict out there, and they want to get it done and go home.

BERMAN: So, that's what's literally happening right now as we have our eyes in this courtroom and on this courthouse.

Elie Honig, don't go far. We appreciate you being with us. Thank you.

HONIG: I won't.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, this morning, the man accused of murdering four Idaho college students in their beds expected to formally plead guilty. New responses now from some of the victims' families.

And the fallout from Trump's megabill could affect many more sick and injured people, not just those on Medicaid. Rural hospitals may be at risk. The CEO of one of those hospitals joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:19]

BOLDUAN: One of the biggest battle lines when it comes to the president's tax cut and spending bill are the cuts to Medicaid and the very real impact those cuts will have on millions of Americans, especially in rural communities. Nearly 12 million Americans are expected to lose health insurance with this bill. That includes almost 2 million in rural areas. And one report estimates nearly 400 rural hospitals would be at risk of closing if the proposed cuts go into effect.

I want to play for you what one Democratic congressman just told Sara, just said what this will mean for his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MORGAN MCGARVEY (D-KY): Thirty-five rural hospitals in my state are going to close. And we know what's going to happen. People are going to get hurt. Children are going to have accidents. People are going to have heart attacks. When minutes matter, they are going to have to drive an extra 30, 45 minutes. That is the difference between life and death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And he is -- he represents Kentucky.

Louisiana is another state that could face the worst of it. Louisiana ranks second in Medicaid enrollment in the country at nearly 32 percent. A reflection of the state's higher poverty rate. And there are 33 rural hospitals there flagged as financially vulnerable.

One of those hospitals is Hood Memorial Hospital in Amite, Louisiana. And joining us right now is the CEO of Hood Memorial, Mike Whittington.

Thank you, Mike. I really appreciate it.

Tell me first -- talk to me first about your hospital. You also told me in the break that you're a nurse practitioner. So, you know all facets of it. Who do you serve? What services do you offer? What does Hood Memorial mean to the community?

[09:29:58]

MIKE WHITTINGTON, CEO, HOOD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: So, Hood Memorial is a 25-bed critical access hospital. We're located in northern rural Tangipahoa Parish. And we were founded in 1971 as a -- as a normal.