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Texas Democrats Leave State; Search Intensifies in Montana; Gene Wu is Interviewed about Texas Democrats Leaving the State; Trump's New Global Tariffs; Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is Interviewed about New BLS Chief. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 04, 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]

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "A good young man who was an exceptional father," he says, "who would stop and help anyone and was always polite and well-behaved." "Adrianna," he's talking about the mother now, "was the perfect mama to my grandbaby," he said. The statement goes on to say, "I hope that everyone that is involved is brought to justice soon."

Over the weekend, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested two men accused of helping the suspect, Tanaka Brown and Giovante Thomas, each 29 years old, are charged with accessory after the fact to first degree murder. Brown is also accused of tampering with evidence. Officials warn residents not to engage with the suspect, whom they call extremely violent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY GOODMAN JR., DYER AND LAKE COUNTY, TENNESSEE DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We are dealing with an extremely violent individual. This was what we would think is an isolated incident. It's not anything to where we think the community is in danger because of a person who may be out here randomly targeting people because we don't think that's the case at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: On Sunday, the U.S. Marshal Service increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of Drummond to $17,500.

Now, back to you.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Rafael Romo, appreciate the reporting.

New hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Texas Governor Greg Abbott giving Democrats until three this afternoon to return to the state or lose their house seats. This after they fled over a Trump backed battle to control the next Congress.

President Trump says he will name a new labor statistics chief after he fired the old one when he didn't like the gloomy jobs report.

And a manhunt in Montana. Police are searching for a man suspected of shooting and killing four people.

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

JIMENEZ: Developing this morning, the Republican governor of Texas says the clock is ticking for Democratic lawmakers who have left the state. He says, get back by this afternoon or be removed from office.

Dozens of Democrats from the state legislature flew out on Sunday to block a Republican-led effort, backed by President Trump, to redraw the Texas congressional map. Now, state Republicans plan to vote today on the new map, which could potentially eliminate up to five Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. If they're successful, it could obviously have a major impact on the balance of power nationwide. But those Democrats who've traveled to blue states, like Illinois, New York and Massachusetts are now denying them the quorum needed to advance the plan.

And GOP Governor Greg Abbott says the Democrats have until 3:00 p.m. to return to the Capitol, or he's going to vacate their offices. Unclear whether he actually has the power to do that. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for Senate, is calling for them to be arrested and brought back.

I want to bring in CNN's Ed Lavandera, who joins us now from Austin, Texas.

So, where does this fight stand this morning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Omar.

Well, everything barreling down to this 3:00 deadline because that is when the Texas house is supposed to reconvene. So, as the Democrats will not be there, more than 50 of them have left the state, at that point is when it will -- a lack of quorum will have been declared. And -- and that is why you're seeing -- you're hearing the governor say that there's this 3:00 deadline. The -- the -- the lack of quorum won't officially happen until all of those members check into the Texas house.

The governor, as you mentioned, threatening these law -- Texas Democrats to be removed from office. Democrats say that he does not have the power to do that. Others, like the attorney general, saying the Democrats should be arrested. The speaker of the house, Omar, does have the ability to issue civil arrest warrants, but it's not clear whether or not those could be enforced while the Democrats are in Democrat-friendly states, like New York and Illinois as well.

But right now, you know, the escalation of the rhetoric continues to intensify as Democrats believe they are on the higher moral ground in all of this. They say they're fighting for democracy. This is what one of them said last night after landing in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS TURNER (D), TEXAS STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Donald Trump wants more power. That's what this is about. He wants to face no accountability and no consequences. And that's why he's demanding Texas rig our congressional districts.

There was a time when a Texas governor wouldn't be afraid to tell the president, any president, don't mess with Texas. And Greg Abbott is too subservient and too weak to do that to Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Omar, Republicans are also saying that Democrats are cowards for leaving the state.

[09:05:01]

And Democrats know that, at this point, you know, a lot of this is a battle over the public relations and getting the messaging out on all of this. Democrats simply do not have the votes to -- to stop this. Eventually they will have to come back. And we've seen that in -- in previous attempts to stop redistricting efforts here in Texas.

But there are still about two weeks left in this 30-day special legislative session. And at that point, once that ends, the governor could simply call another special session and bring this up all over again.

So, you know, Democrats fully aware that blocking this redistricting bill is probably not going to happen, but they are using this quorum break to ratchet up pressure against the Trump administration and against Governor Abbott and Republicans here in Texas, as well.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: And, Ed, it seems like it came together so suddenly, and the amount of Democrats that -- that left the state and, again, have gone to places like Illinois, Massachusetts, New York. Was there any indication prior to, I guess, the -- the quorum or potential quorum coming to form that this was going to happen in the scale and with the speed that it did?

LAVANDERA: Well, there is a history for this. It's happened twice before in the last almost 25 years, happened in 2021, happened in 2003. So, there is a precedent for Democrats resorting to a quorum break to stop redistricting efforts.

We also have reporting that suggests that the governor of Illinois was brought into this back in June.

And Democrats have been talking about the possibility of this ever since the governor here called for the special session and putting the redistricting issue on the legislative agenda. So, this is something that Democrats have been talking about. Many of -- in the Democratic base here in Texas have been urging Texas Democrats to be open to this possibility as well. But look, you have to get more than 50 people to agree to all of this,

to get on the planes, to leave for an determined amount of time. And there is just, you know, some day-to-day hardship that comes with kind of making all of that happen. So, it wasn't exactly clear if they were able to get a -- if they were going to be able to get all of the numbers of the lawmakers that they would need to be able to break the quorum. So, that did take some time. But clearly, they've gotten to that point, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Ed Lavandera and Austin, counting down to that 3:00 p.m. deadline. Appreciate the reporting, as always.

Also this morning, the man accused of opening fire at a small-town bar in Montana and killing four people remains on the run. Authorities said the suspect, Michael Paul Brown, was a regular at that bar called The Owl. The Montana Department of Justice released this security image of him leaving the bar Friday morning, just after the shooting. You can see him there in that image wearing only dark colored shorts.

And this morning we're learning more about the four people who were killed at the bar. Police say they include a bartender and three customers.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has been following this.

The manhunt is focused on the nearby mountains, but authorities are warning that the suspect might come back to the scene. What more do we know about the search and about the precautions authorities are telling people to take right now?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, not only was he a regular, like you mentioned, but he also lived next door to this bar. And authorities are saying that he likely knew the people who were killed. That's according to the Montana attorney general.

They're still piecing together his moves on Friday. But take a listen to what they're saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN KNUDSEN, MONTANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The vehicle he ended up grabbing was loaded, full of equipment. It was not his vehicle. It was a stolen vehicle. But there was camping equipment in it. We believe there was some clothing in it. So we, at this point, we have every reason to believe the suspect is fully clothed, shoes on his feet, able to get around.

We are acting under the assumption that he is alive, well, armed and extremely dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Now, the search continues today, Omar, as authorities have locked down not just parts of this Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, but also area around Stumptown Road, which is just north of Barker Lake. This is all in western Montana. Of course, a very wooded part of Montana that presents its own sets of challenges. That search perimeter, authorities say, they're looking at every cabin, every hunting site that is known up there, and they're saying they're confident they have a tremendous number of assets, both local, state and federal agencies working to find Brown. Officials now offering a reward of $7,500 for any information that will lead to locating him.

Now, we are learning that he is a U.S. Army veteran. He was part of an armored vehicle crew from January 2001 to May 2005, and spent most of his last year in the Army deployed to Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005. And then he later joined the Montana National Guard in 2006, all the way up to 2009, and he left his military service as a sergeant.

[09:10:07]

Now, we spoke to Brown's niece, Claire Boyle. She said that her uncle wasn't the same after his service in the Army, and that he struggled with mental health. She said it got worse with the passing of his parents. And she also expressed remorse and heartbreak for the victims' families.

Those victims now identified, as you mentioned, Nancy Lauretta Kelley, the bartender at The Owl bar. She was 64 years old. Fifty-nine-year- old Daniel Edwin Baillie, 70-year-old David Allen Leach and 74-year- old Tony Wayne Palm. All four of them residents of Anaconda.

JIMENEZ: Julia Vargas Jones, appreciate the reporting.

John.

BERMAN: All right, we've been talking about the Texas legislators who fled the state, many going to Illinois to break quorum in Texas so they cannot hold a redistricting vote. That could very well swing five seats from the Democrats to the Republicans, help Republicans take control of the House in 2026.

With me now from Chicago is Texas Representative Gene Wu. He's the chair of the Texas State House Democratic Caucus.

Representative, thanks so much for being with us right now.

What's your plan as you sit here on Monday morning?

GENE WU (D), CHAIR, TEXAS STATE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS: Look, this is not a choice that -- that we take lightly to be here in Chicago. We -- we really didn't have a choice. We tried to negotiate with Republicans. We tried to talk to them. We tried to be -- we tried to reason with them. We tried to tell them that the public is very angry at what they're doing, and they simply wouldn't listen. This was the only way we could protect our constituents and protect the state.

What they're doing is not just politics. It's not just affecting lives. This is going to destroy lives.

BERMAN: Texas Governor Greg Abbott says he will try to take your seats away if you don't go back. Let me read you what he said. He said, "this truancy ends now. The derelict Democratic house members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the house reconvenes at 3:00 p.m. today. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion Number KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas house."

What do you say to that threat?

WU: Well, first of all, I would say, you know what, today is a great day to end the corruption of Greg Abbott. This has gone on far too long. The public has been enraged about this. How politicians continue to tell the public pretty words, but never actually do what they say they would do. This is Governor Abbott being upset about that because he's been caught doing exactly that.

And Governor Abbott, frankly, he doesn't know how to read attorney generals opinions because he used to be attorney general. And, frankly, Democrats say, come and take it.

BERMAN: Come and take it. You think -- do you think he could be successful taking your seats away?

WU: No. It's all bluster. Sound and fury signifying nothing.

BERMAN: One other avenue is that you could be fined by -- by Texas law, $500 a day, every day you're absent. How -- how will you pay that?

WU: Frankly, I don't care. And our members don't care, because what we're fighting for is not about us. It's not about our pain and our suffering. We are elected officials. We have volunteered for this. We have committed to sacrificing our lives to protect the people of the state of Texas. And that is exactly what I'm going to do. The $500, whatever they're going to find us --

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE).

WU: That is nothing compared to the pain that the American people have felt, and the people of the state of Texas have felt.

BERMAN: There are some who have suggested that federal law enforcement could get involved. You know, what concerns do you have that -- that there could be some kind of, you know, attempt to apprehend you by federal law enforcement?

WU: Yes, look, we have spent hours, days, weeks going over this with ourselves, with our lawyers, everybody. We know that the governor has no power to reach into other states. And, legally, by law, by federal law or state law, the president has no ability, no authority to legally come get us. The only concern that we have is that Donald Trump will continue his illegal actions and his flouting of the Constitution and the laws of this country. And that's where we need all people to stand up.

If you believe in this country, if you believe in the rule of law, come join us. Come help us.

[09:15:00] BERMAN: How long are you willing to do this? If -- even if you outlast this special session, couldn't Greg -- Governor Abbott just declare a new one?

WU: So, look, our membership made this decision together. And our decision was to, at the very least, end the corruption of this special session. And what we have asked the governor, what we've asked the speaker, and what we've asked everybody is, do what politicians have promised. Do what you have promised. Focus on the disaster in Kerrville. Take care of those broken communities. Help those families recover. Do that first before you do any of these political games that are just meant to help your buddies.

BERMAN: But how long was my question. How long will you stay out of state?

WU: Again, our -- our commitment to this is one day at a time. And we're going to deal with this special session and what happens in the next special session if the governor calls it. That is up to -- up to him.

There -- they have all the cards. They control the levers of power. We can only react to it. And what we want to happen is, we want the people of the state of Texas to stand up for once and say, no more to this. No more to their games. No more to their lies. End this corruption today.

BERMAN: Texas State Rep. Gene Wu, the chair of the Democratic Caucus in Texas, who is now in Chicago, perhaps indefinitely.

We appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.

President Trump promising to name a new data chief at the Labor Department within days after firing the old one because of a disappointing jobs report.

An ex-girlfriend of Sean Combs pens a letter to the judge in his criminal trial. What she is asking for ahead of his sentencing date.

And a man at an Oasis concert dies after falling to his death during the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:08]

JIMENEZ: This morning, President Trump says we are going to know who the new commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is within days after he abruptly fired the old one because it appears he didn't like the July jobs report, which fell far below expectations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll be announcing a new statistician sometime over the next three, four days. We had no confidence. I mean the numbers were ridiculous what she announced. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, this comes as the White House continues to push sweeping global tariffs and trade deals that really have become a focal point of Trump's second term in office. Right now, conversations are ongoing between the United States and China to strike a deal by August 12th, but that's a deadline that could very well be delayed, according to the top U.S. trade negotiator.

I want to bring in CNN's Alayna Treene, who is with me now from the White House.

All right, we -- we have seen back and forth some -- on tariff deals, trade deals, really since the beginning of this administration, at least going back to April. Where are we now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Omar, I mean, I think there's a lot of questions, and I'd argue justifiably so, about what's actually going to happen with tariffs because we have seen that deadline pushed back multiple times now. And people really wondering, and particularly not just people. I mean a lot of these different countries, the United States trading partners, wondering if there is anything they can do to, of course, buy themselves more time or to see if they can lower those tariff rates. Because even among the countries that have struck trade agreements and frameworks or deals with the United States, many of them still face very steep tariffs. You look at the European Union, Japan, South Korea, all of which did strike deals with the Trump administration. They are still facing a 15 percent tariff.

Now, I think China is, of course, a huge question, and what's going to happen with them, because we saw, you know, earlier this summer, the U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, were in Switzerland negotiating with them. They bought a 90-day pause during that deal to continue hashing things out.

Well, now the new deadline is August 12th. Very unclear where things stand with China. And as you mentioned, Omar, we have heard from top Trump administration officials that they might -- that may also get pushed back. But that is, of course, a key one, given just how much trade the United States does with China.

One thing, though, that is clear is that many of these countries are still planning, particularly those who are not -- haven't made any deals with the Trump administration, are still planning to continue to negotiate with them despite these new tariffs that are coming into effect. We've heard that from Canada, Mexico, the list goes on.

But, Omar, really quickly, I do want to jump to some breaking news we have because the president just posted moments ago on Truth Social about the firing of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He said that, "last weeks jobs report was rigged." He said, "just like the numbers prior to the presidential election were rigged." And that's why he's saying that there were, quote, "in both cases, there was massive record setting revisions in favor of the radical left Democrats."

Let me just pause there quickly. Look, revisions on these numbers has always been the case. That has been the way that the jobs data has worked. You put out these numbers and then later you see them revised. In times those have been better for the president and the Trump administration. But clearly Friday we saw some of the revisions down from earlier months, in May and June. That's what really angered the president here. We know that he is saying and he's recommitting in this that he's going to be announcing a replacement in the coming days.

But this has really drawn a lot of scrutiny, just given, you know, that BLS is supposed to be impartial, apolitical. And really this is throwing into question the trust in some of, you know, the key underpinning -- underpinning data of the economy. So, lots of question here as the president sticking to this idea that that he believes the books and the numbers were cooked in some of these jobs reports. All to say, stay tuned for who he might select to fill this role next, Omar.

[09:25:05]

JIMENEZ: A lot of macroeconomic implications tied up as well.

Alayna Treene, appreciate the reporting.

John.

BERMAN: With us now is Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon.

Senator Merkley, you just heard it, jobs numbers came out Friday, revised downward sharply. Really gloomy report. The president didn't like the numbers. He fired the chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and now says the numbers were rigged.

Your reaction?

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): Well, it's the beginning of the Trump slump. We've been waiting to see how the chaos in tariffs and -- and health care policy is -- is going to reverberate through the economy. I think we're starting to see it now. I think we're also going to see some significant Trump-flation from those tariffs. He's not going to like that -- that either. Is he going to fire every key economist in the government? I mean, we want to be able to count on the -- the truth of the numbers as we make decisions throughout our economy. And if it's a political appointee rigging the numbers in the future, how can we rely on them?

BERMAN: You will have a say, ultimately. It is a Senate confirmed position. I mean, he may appoint an acting chair, but -- but how will you approach confirmation for whomever President Trump nominates to be head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics?

MERKLEY: Well, John, if it's somebody who's highly professional, certainly that merits bipartisan support. Someone who's been independent. But if, in fact, it's biased in a political way, as so many nominees have been, then I think you'll see Democrats say no. But it won't matter because it's a simple majority. And Republicans are -- are acting more like they took an oath to the president than they took an oath to the Constitution.

BERMAN: So, what kind of person do you -- do you -- are you concerned that the president might put in there?

MERKLEY: Well, certainly anyone who has a background of -- deeply engaged in -- in politics, they've run campaigns, they've been a driver of massive donations. Just -- I mean there are so many economists who work in -- in different key think tanks and budget labs around the country. There's plenty of people who are just dedicated to the -- the evaluation of the modeling, who would be -- would be appropriate.

BERMAN: What do you think is happening in the economy right now? What do these numbers tell you? And where do you think we might be in the coming months? Because we're at this point here -- the president's -- some of the president's tariffs about to go into effect. What happens next?

MERKLEY: Well, realize that when you have chaos in -- in tariffs, and by chaos I mean completely changing decisions from sometimes one day to the next, people don't make investment decisions. So, this does not accomplish the goal of building more factories in the United States of America. Those tariffs, in the short term, may mean existing factories get additional customers. That can be a good thing. But it also means that prices go up and, in some cases, you -- it bites us in the butt.

And I'll give you an example of that, is when the president made a deal with Japan, he's made a deal in which Japanese cars come in at a very low tariff, but cars made in Canada with American parts and American motors would be actually more expensive. And he's got that 35 percent tariff with Canada.

So, it's -- I think we're seeing that -- that people are pausing about making more investments. We're seeing that the supplies that they -- they bought in advance of the tariffs are -- are running out. And we're starting to see the prices appear in the marketplace. People are not -- across America are not going to be happy.

BERMAN: So, just a few moments ago, Senator, I spoke to Gene Wu, who is a Texas state representative, the chair of the Democratic Caucus there, one of the -- the Texas Democrats who have left Texas right now to break quorum so they can't vote on redistricting there. He responded to me when I asked him about a threat from Governor Greg Abbott that he's going to try to take all of their seats away.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENE WU (D), CHAIR, TEXAS STATE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS: This is Governor Abbott being upset about that because he's been caught doing exactly that. And to Governor Abbott, frankly, he doesn't know how to read attorney generals opinions because he used to be attorney general. And, frankly, Democrats say, come and take it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What, if anything, do you plan to do to -- to help these efforts from Texas Democrats? Do you think they deserve help?

MERKLEY: John, you know, back in 2001, the -- the House Democrats in Oregon walked out. I was one of those who walked out then. So, I bring a little bit of bias to this. It was over a similar redistricting gerrymandering effort. So, my heart is totally with the Democrats in -- in Texas. And it was with them before. We hosted them in Washington, D.C., during a previous walkout. I don't think they're planning to come to D.C. right now.

[09:29:56]

But anything we can do to support them emotionally, brainstorm with them, we'll -- we'll be there because this -- this is really an -- an assault on the fundamental integrity of our government to gerrymander