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Judge Rules Trump Administration Unlawfully Blocked $2 Billion From Harvard; Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) On His Decision To Retire After 34 Years In Congress; Rubio: Trump Ordered Strike On Suspected Drug Boat To Send Message. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 04, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:33]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So this morning the Trump administration is saying it will immediately appeal a federal judge's ruling that it broke the law when it froze the billions and billions of dollars in research funds in its fight with Harvard University. The decision does mark a significant victory for Harvard.

In this decision -- in this ruling the judge rejected the administration's argument that it was targeting the university and these funds over antisemitism on campus. The judge also ruled the government cannot withhold any additional funds from Harvard going forward as a form of retaliation.

CNN's Betsy Klein joining us now with much more on this. What -- how -- talk about the significance of this ruling and the response now from the White House.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER AND WRITER: Very significant and very uncertain, Kate. A federal judge siding with Harvard University to restore more than $2 billion in federal research funding that had been frozen by the Trump administration earlier this year. And Harvard is the only university targeted by the Trump administration to take on the White House directly in court.

The Trump administration says that they are cracking down on antisemitism on campus, but Harvard had really become the epicenter of a much broader fight over federal funding, academic freedom, and campus oversight.

And we heard from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs who wrote in her decision, "There is not obvious link between antisemitism and this federal research funding."

She even points to a couple of these projects. Some of the notable ones were a model that helps emergency room physicians at the VA determine whether suicidal veterans should be hospitalized. Research on ALS. A government program on emerging biological threats critical to national security. She writes in her opinion, "There is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism." She goes on to say that the administration "used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted ideologically motivated assault on this country's premier universities."

But this marks a victory for Harvard for now, but the Trump administration is almost certain to continue to find ways to escalate its fight. They keep finding new and creative ways to extract pressure on the university.

And we heard from a White House spokesperson who says there are plans to immediately appeal. She says, "We will immediately move to appeal this egregious decision, and we are confident we will ultimately prevail in our efforts to hold Harvard accountable."

The White House also saying that Harvard is ineligible for future grants, Kate.

BOLDUAN: This is not over.

Betsy, thank you for the reporting -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New this morning New York City Mayor Eric Adams denying rumors that he will end his re-election campaign if President Trump offers him a job in the administration. Two sources tell CNN that idea is being floated as a way to clear the field of mayoral candidates. The goal, sources say, is to block the frontrunner, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, from winning that race in November.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino following all the twists and turns here. What are you hearing?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, John, this is just more evidence that we were not going to have a quiet campaign --

BERMAN: No.

PAZMINO: -- from now until November and that there was going to be a lot of attention on this mayoral race, and that is exactly what's playing out here.

Two sources telling me that aides to the president are floating this idea that if they can help clear the field for Andrew Cuomo by helping getting the other candidates out of the race, perhaps he would have better shot at winning against Mamdani in November.

[07:35:00]

The problem with that is that Eric Adams -- the incumbent -- the mayor, who is also running as an Independent -- is denying that he is interested or asking for a job in the Trump administration. In fact, he has said over and over that he is staying in the race and that he has no plans of leaving the campaign. In fact, he says he's looking forward to getting re-elected. Of course, the mayor, in a majority of the polls, has been really

lagging behind Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and even Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.

Now, this got the attention, of course, of Mamdani and his campaign. He says that this is evidence that Andrew Cuomo is Trump's chosen candidate and accused the president of trying to meddle in his local hometown election.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: The reason that so many New Yorkers are fed up with politics as they know it is because of news like this -- backroom deals, corrupt agreements, all of which serve to increase the sense of disaffection and despair as it pertains to how people feel about politics across this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, we've also heard how Trump has spoken about Zohran Mamdani. He thinks that he would be very bad for New York City. However, there is also the other side of this conversation where some Republicans think that he would be the perfect foil for Republicans coming up in the midterm elections. And already, they've tried to make him the face of the national Democratic Party.

BERMAN: Yeah. I've got to say it's -- you know, it's September already now --

PAZMINO: Um-hum.

BERMAN: -- so it's game on in this race.

PAZMINO: Oh, yeah.

BERMAN: All these twists and turns, it matters a lot.

Gloria Pazmino, thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now for his first television interview since he announced he is retiring from Congress after 34 years serving in the House is Democratic Congressman from New York Jerry Nadler. Congressman, thank you for being here.

You endorsed Mamdani back in June. What do you think of this reporting we now have, as Gloria was just saying, that sources close -- sources say that aides close to President Trump are trying to float a job offer to Eric Adams to get him out of the race?

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Well, if that's true it simply will show that the president is meddling in hometown and it will show that -- I mean, he's trying to clear the field for Andrew Cuomo and if he does then you campaign against Cuomo as the -- as Trump's candidate. BOLDUAN: Do you -- he -- and also some of the thought is that Zohran

Mamdani would be the perfect foil for Republicans to make gains in the -- in the primary -- sorry, in the midterms.

Do you see it that way?

NADLER: No, I don't. I think the issue in the midterms overwhelmingly is going to be the one big, ugly bill. People are going to feel it. They're already starting to feel it in their pocketbooks and they're going to feel it, you know, in their pocketbooks a lot more. And as the tariffs take hold inflation is going to take off. So I think the economic issues are going to overwhelm everything else.

BOLDUAN: In announcing you are retiring, Congressman, you said this, in part. You said, "I know in my heart it is the right -- it is the right one, meaning decision, and that it is the right time to pass the torch to a new generation."

You're not shying away from age being part of the reason. Why now versus two years ago or two years from now for you?

NADLER: Well, for a couple of reasons.

Number one, at the end of next year I will have been in public elective office for 50 years -- 34 years here in and 16 in the New York State Assembly -- and it's a nice round number. And second of all, I think I saw with President Biden that we really ought to start passing the torch to a new generation.

BOLDUAN: Which I find very candid and fascinating that seeing President Biden and seeing President Biden during the campaign -- that was part of what factored into your decision because this Congress is the third-oldest since 1789, according to some analysis. There's 60 -- more than 60 representatives in the House that are in their 70s, 13 in their 80s. Thirty-three of 100 senators -- I believe that's the number -- are 70 years old or above.

Should they all pass this on to a new generation as well?

NADLER: No, they shouldn't all, but some should. I mean, you don't wipe a whole generation out, but I think people should start thinking about it.

BOLDUAN: How old is too old to run for office, Congressman?

NADLER: That depends on each person. I mean, some people in their -- in their -- I mean, Nancy Pelosi is in her 80s and is doing a wonderful job, so you can't answer that question. It's really up to each person. People age at different rates.

[07:40:00]

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely -- you know, look to anyone in your life and you know that. We all know that, of course.

But you do think there is a point when no matter your experience -- because it's an -- there's always this argument of experience versus -- right -- versus age. No matter your experience, because of your age you could be too old to be in Congress.

NADLER: Well, I don't think there's any absolute age. I think you have to judge your effectiveness for yourself and also your constituents judge that.

BOLDUAN: Hmm.

There are lots of names being floated to run for your seat. There's no doubt a lot of people are going to be jumping in. You have a former staffer who might run.

You also now have Jack Schlossberg, JFK's grandson, who is 32 years old. His name is being discussed. He's even -- we're showing an Instagram post from yesterday. He's even toying with the idea himself.

What do you think about a Kennedy holding your seat?

NADLER: Well, there's nothing particularly good or bad about a Kennedy holding my seat. But the Kennedy, unlike Schlossberg, should be something with a record of public service, a record of public accomplishment, and he doesn't have one. And so, I don't think he's going to be a candidate in the end, and he certainly is not going to be a major candidate.

There will be major candidates. Micah Lasher, who is an assemblyman who was the -- who was an aide to me many years ago and who was chief of policy for the governor and worked for the Bloomberg administration -- he has declared -- he has filed. I'm sure there will be other candidates. Micah will be a major candidate and I'm sure there will be others.

BOLDUAN: Would you say Lasher is your top choice now?

NADLER: I'm not going to get into that now. I'll make an endorsement in due course.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

Congressman, and there's also much time to talk about your long career in the Congress and what that has meant for New Yorkers.

Thank you so much for coming in this morning -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, data out just moments ago shows job cuts increased last month. Officials at the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said August job cuts haven't been this high since the pandemic.

CNN's Matt Egan is here. I haven't had a chance to look at these numbers, Matt. What do they say?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well John, this is another flashing yellow light when it comes to the job market because not only has hiring really dried up but announced layoffs remain very high. So during the month of August almost 86,000 announced layoffs by U.S.-

based employers -- that is up 39 percent from July and also higher than last August. In fact, this is the most for any August since 2020. Of course, that was during a once-in-a-century health crisis.

So where are the layoffs? Well, Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that a number of different sectors have laid off more people than they did at this point last year, including finance. But look at pharmaceuticals. More than double the announced layoffs from this point last year. Retail, nonprofits, and government announced layoffs way up, although I would note that some of those government layoffs, of course, have been challenged in court.

As far as why companies are laying off workers, Challenger, Gray & Christmas found a number of reasons during the month of August, including restructuring, market/economic conditions, and closing. Those top three, of course, speak to industry-specific pressure and/or pressure on the overall economy. And then number four on that list is DOGE. The government efficiency panel that was previously led by Elon Musk slashing government spending.

Now I would just note that Challenger is tracking announced layoffs, right? The Labor Department tracks actual filings for unemployment. And those initial filings for unemployment -- they do remain relatively low and that could be because of a timing issue, right? Some of these announced layoffs may not have actually kicked in. Some people who were laid off -- they're probably collecting severance, so they don't need unemployment, and others have probably gotten jobs elsewhere.

But one other thing we should point out when it comes to the job market is some new numbers that came out yesterday. The number of job openings in July falling to a 10-month low of 7.18 million. That is very significant because look, that is actually below the number of people who are unemployed.

It's the first time there has been fewer open jobs than there are people looking for work in more than four years. And John, that is, of course, another sign of a slumping job market.

BERMAN: We're going to get new jobs numbers tomorrow.

EGAN: Yes, new job numbers tomorrow and those will be very big, including potential revisions to prior months.

BERMAN: Yeah. Of course, the last time we had new jobs numbers for the BLS, it caused all kinds of issues.

EGAN: Yeah. They were so bad that the president fired the BLS chief.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, thank you --

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: -- very much.

[07:45:00]

All right. A devastating wildfire tore through thousands of acres of an historic gold mining town. Why a forecast for more lightning is sparking fears of still new fires.

And a grandmother charged with orchestrating the hit man murder of her ex-son-in-law decides not to take the stand in her own defense. There was some speculation she would. We're just moments away now from closing arguments.

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[07:50:03]

BERMAN: All right. Happening today, President Trump expecting to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russia and Vladimir Putin have once again flouted any notion of deadlines for agreeing on a meeting with Zelenskyy.

President Trump was asked if he has a message now for Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he'll make a decision one way or the other. Whatever his decision is we'll either be happy about it or unhappy, and if we're unhappy about it, you'll see things happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: His comments come as Putin appeared in China this week shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the world's most powerful authoritarian leaders.

With us now Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group. Ian, great to see you, as always.

Vladimir Putin -- you watched him in China. All the pictures with Xi Jinping and others.

How much pressure did he look like he was under from President Trump? Did he feel like he was withering under the pressure to meet with Zelenskyy?

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP & GZERO MEDIA (via Webex by Cisco): Clearly not. This is -- you know, by the first deadline it might worry you a little bit. By the fifth deadline without consequences Putin is clearly feeling like the United States is not prepared to do very much to him or his country directly at all.

What is meaningful is that the Europeans, of course, are taking a leadership role. There is another "Coalition of the Willing" meeting going on today.

Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, leading negotiations with the Kremlin for the United States -- you know, however they're going -- has -- is participating directly.

And, you know, the big change has been a willingness of the United States to provide some backstop for direct security guarantees for the Ukrainians that the Europeans are now taking the lead on. That wasn't plausible six months ago. And that's what's aggravating Russia right now. It's not that he's concerned about the United States. The Europeans have a lot more skin in the game and they're a lot more worried, and they're acting like it.

BERMAN: We'll see if that leads to, again, any reaction directly from Vladimir Putin going forward, and if the president tries to apply any new pressure himself.

I want to shift here to something that you've focused on a lot over the last 24 hours, which is a major -- what appears to be a major policy change from the United States in terms of fighting the drug trade with this targeting of a boat from Venezuela that the administration says was being operated by what they call terrorists.

I want to play for you what Secretary of State Marco Rubio -- and national security adviser and everything else -- every other job he holds -- what he said about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Let me say this. The United States has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allows us to interdict and stop drug boats. And we did that, and it doesn't work. Interdiction doesn't work because these drug cartels -- what they do is they know they're going to lose, you know, two percent of their cargo. They bake it into their economics. What will stop them is when you blow them up. When you get rid of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Why is this such a big policy shift?

BREMMER: Um, because it's not just blowing up a boat. First of all, the Trump administration considers Maduro to be a legitimate target. They don't see him as head of state; they see him as a terrorist and the leader of the cartel. They have a $50 million bounty on his head.

And the military that they have sent off of Venezuela's coast, including a nuclear submarine, some 2,000 Marines, significant numbers of battle vessels -- this is not to take out a small boat and kill 11 drug dealers or drug transiters. This is clearly a message directly at the Maduro regime.

And I think at a minimum you are looking at escalation that feels like a blockade. At a maximum you're probably -- I think it's more likely than not that you're going to see some direct strikes on targets in Venezuela. Now, are those targets at the regime itself or at gangs and cartels? And how is the Venezuelan military going to respond if they start feeling like Tomahawk missiles have -- are targeting them? That's a very interesting question. The markets -- I mean, Venezuelan bonds have blown out over the last 24 hours -- levels we haven't seen in decades -- because certainly, they're seeing that there's a lot of risk around this existing regime.

BERMAN: Yeah. You know, it's interesting. If people in the United States -- voters may say hey look, fighting drugs -- that's popular. That said, the way that the Trump administration is doing this there are questions about the legality. There are questions about, again, the possible implications in South America and around the world.

[07:55:00]

To what extent do you think the administration has considered all of that?

BREMMER: Marco Rubio made a trip down to Mexico in advance of this and has gotten a complete go-ahead and promises of cooperation from the Mexican government, which were seen as essential by the United States.

Now, President Sheinbaum has not wanted to talk about detailed specifics to the public in Mexico, specifically because there will be concerns about sovereignty. There'll be nationalist backlash. But there has been support there.

Colombia, on the other hand, you've got a very unpopular leader, far to the left, who has been largely sympathetic to the Maduro regime. And I think there you'd have a big crisis in their relationship with the United States. It could break off diplomatic relations.

But I do want to make clear here no one's talking about boots on the ground and a policy of regime change that the Americans would be involved in affecting.

And as much as Trump says he wants to end wars -- and he's put a lot of effort into that successfully, in some cases, at the margins and unsuccessfully, of course, in the case of Russia-Ukraine and Israel- Gaza -- but Trump has no problem using the military with targeted strikes at enemies. And we've seen that with Iran. We saw it in his first term with Iran. And I think his view would be Venezuela is much more akin to that than it would be suddenly the United States is going to be in a multiyear morass the way it was in Iraq or Afghanistan.

BERMAN: Again, watch this space. It could be the beginning of something much, much larger.

BREMMER: Yeah.

BERMAN: Ian Bremmer, great to see you. Thanks so much for coming in -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Three days of mourning begin today in Portugal after a deadly train derailment in Lisbon. At least 17 people were killed and nearly two dozen others injured. A tourist streetcar derailed during the evening rush hour before it crashed into a building.

Among those injured, a 3-year-old boy. He was rescued from the damage, but his father was killed. His mother is said to be in critical condition right now.

Local authorities say it's still too soon to declare what happened here and what caused it.

So the popular fast-fashion company Shein says that it has launched an internal investigation after this and over this. A listing on its site for a shirt featuring a model with a striking resemblance to Luigi Mangione. Mangione is charged, as you remember, with murder in the shooting death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO last year. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Shein said a third-party vendor provided the image and it has now been wiped from the website. It is unclear if AI was used to manipulate the image but clearly, they've got a mess on their hands.

A widest - wild, rather, escape in an unlikely place. Two kangaroos hopping out of a wildlife rescue center in Waco, Texas. The kangaroos escaped after a worker accidentally left the gates open. Police officers and firefighters were called to help track down those wild animals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADYSON THERKELSEN, WACE POLICE DEPARTMENT: No one -- no one thought it was real. We were talking about it all the way there and then once I get there, I see fire hanging out there and I'm like what's going on? And I look over and there were two kangaroos just out in the wild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The founder of the facility wasted no time capitalizing on the moment asking people to donate so that they can better train their employees on how to close their gates -- John.

BERMAN: That's a lot of training. Extensive, expensive training to close the gates.

All right. Closing arguments start in about an hour in the trial of a woman accused of hiring hitmen to kill her son-in-law. Dan Markel was shot and killed more than 10 years ago, mired in a custody battle with his ex-wife Wendi Adelson.

After a tense exchange with the judge yesterday, Donna Adelson decided not to testify on her own behalf.

CNN's Jean Casarez is with us now. And we were talking about maybe even the likelihood she was going to testify. Tell me about that exchange.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The defense had said she was going to. Well, you know, a defendant has a lot of time to think about this. It's yes, I'm going to testify -- no, I'm not going to testify. Donna Adelson, she didn't know what to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JUDGE STEPHEN EVERETT, LEON COUNTY CIRCUIT JUDGE: Whether you will remain silent or whether you will testify. Have you made a decision concerning this matter?

DONNA ADELSON, ON TRIAL FOR HIRING HITMEN TO MURDER HER EX-SON-IN-LAW: I haven't, so I'm not prepared to make the decision. This decision affects the rest of my life.

EVERETT: Mrs. Adelson, you are in the same position as every other criminal defendant who faces trial. Ultimately, you must decide whether you will testify or whether you will not. I cannot make you testify. Your attorneys cannot make you testify. But ultimately, you must choose whether you will testify or not.

What is your decision concerning these two rights?

ADELSON: At this time I don't want to testify.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: So that was it. She didn't testify.