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Trump Stands by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. After Combative Hearing; Hundreds Detained in Massive ICE Raid at Hyundai Plant in Georgia; Trump Deadline Arrives for Peace Talks Between Russia, Ukraine. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 05, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, I like the fact he's different. President Trump standing by the HHS secretary after a wild and combative Senate hearing, Kennedy getting into shouting matches with Democrats and Republicans alike. So, what now?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Also new this morning, a major immigration rate at a Hyundai plant in Georgia. Hundreds of people apprehended and what may be one of the largest operations in ICE's 22-year history.

And take a look at this, a car basically flies over a highway in the middle of rush hour. We're going to tell you what caused it to go airborne, quite literally over six lanes of traffic.

I'm Omar Jimenez with Kate Bolduan. John and Sara are out today. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: So, this morning, people are still trying to get a handle on what went down in the Senate when the secretary of Health and Human Services went before lawmakers and basically told all of them that they were making things up, but he, in turn, assaulting them with misinformation throughout.

The fallout from Robert Kennedy Jr.'s wild time on Capitol Hill is still growing and so are questions now about what it means for the future of public health policy in America set the theatrics aside. President Trump is standing by Kennedy despite the bipartisan backlash that was on full display during that heated Senate hearing, Kennedy clashed with senators on both sides of the aisle over many things, the firing of the CDC director that he had essentially just hired, and the major changes to the nation's vaccine policy under his leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): You are a charlatan. That's what you are.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: You're just making stuff up. You're talking gibberish.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Secretary --

KENNEDY: I don't know what you're talking about.

Is this a question, Senator Cassidy, or is this a speech that you don't want me to answer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm asking you --

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): How can you be that ignorant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Cantwell?

KENNEDY: You're wrong.

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): You are a hazard to the health of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: But that is just the kind of defiant performance that often plays well with President Trump. At a White House dinner last night with tech CEOs, the president said that he had not had time to watch the testimony, but he did offer praise for Kennedy and saying he likes that he's different. He likes his different take.

And yet a rift over the secretary inside the Trump administration does appear to be showing. Three sources tell CNN that the chaotic moves by Kennedy at HHS have irritated some inside the White House.

CNN's Alayna Treene is there this morning for us. So, there's a lot still to digest from yesterday. What does it mean today for at the White House, for Kennedy's future, for Capitol Hill and for health policy?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Well, just to give it from the White House, look, I mean, it's clear that Kennedy's tumultuous tenure, a top HHS is beginning to wear on a lot of Republicans, as you mentioned, some even in the Trump administration itself. But so far, President Donald Trump is not one of them.

And you mentioned kind of him discussing this last night at that dinner where he had said. He didn't watch the hearing. Sorry, this is loud behind me. He didn't watch the hearing, but that he heard that he had done very well.

I want you to listen to exactly what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: He's got a different take and we want to listen to all of those takes. But I heard he did very well today. But it's not your standard -- it's not your standard talk, I would say that, and that has to do with medical and vaccines. But if you look at what's going on in the world with health and look at this country also with regard to health, I like the fact that he's different.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TREENE: I like the fact that he's different. And we did hear, Kate, similar praise. It wasn't just the president from, for other top Trump officials, for example, Vice President J.D. Vance, who went on social media and kind of summed up the hearing as different senators, Republicans included, trying to lecture and gotcha Bobby Kennedy.

Look, part of the reason the president is saying, I like that he's different and part of the reason we're continuing to see this support for him in my conversations with White House officials is Trump has largely left him to do his own thing at HHS.

[07:05:06]

And this stems back to actually what happened on campaign trail. I remind you, that a lot of people in Trump's team and in his inner orbit, specifically Donald Trump Jr., his son, they worked aggressively to try to get Kennedy to abandon his own race and endorse President Donald Trump because they believed that his argument about trying to make the nation healthier, all of his, you know, kind of skepticism when it came to mainstream things that, you know, the public health in the United States, the public health system has largely accepted some of his skepticism of that, was attracting a lot of the same supporters that the president wanted.

And that's because, and that's kind of why we've seen President Donald Trump kind of give him a lot of space and leeway to do what he wants at HHS. And that's very different, of course, from how we've seen the president operate with a lot of other top officials who he's very involved in particularly when it comes to policy decision-making.

But one thing that's also interesting as well is that, you know, I think it's incredibly remarkable to see this hands-off approach despite all of the chaos we've seen really at HHS over the last seven months. We've seen these firings specifically the one last week when he fired the CDC director less than a month after she was confirmed to her role. We've heard a lot of uproar from a lot of people in the public health system and other experts around the country saying that what he's doing could be potentially dangerous.

And so it's interesting to see that the president is wholeheartedly accepting this and dismissing a lot of the concerns about him.

BOLDUAN: It is very interesting. And the way the treatment with which he -- the treatment that Trump offers to Kennedy versus other cabinet secretaries, as you point out, is very different and notable. It's good to see you. Thanks so much, Alayna. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Okay. Breaking overnight, we're following a massive ice raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia. Officials, say roughly 450 undocumented migrants were apprehended. Now, Thursday's raid was carried out by multiple state and federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, the FBI and the Georgia State Patrol.

I want to bring in CNN's Isabel Rosales, who's been monitoring this. So, Isabel, what is the latest this morning? ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Omar, good morning. With more than 450 people apprehended, this marks what appears to be one of the largest ICE raids at a single site in the 22-year history of this agency.

Now, here's what we know. This happened at the Hyundai Meta Plant site. This is in Ellabell, Georgia. This is just 25 miles or so west of Savannah. And according to the Associated Press, this raid stopped construction of this factory that's being built to produce batteries for electric vehicles. This same site, this same project, this was touted by Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp, who called it the largest economic development site in the state's history.

Now, we have video that we're showing in pieces here of masks and armed agents there at the site, giving out orders while officers rated the facility. We can also see workers here in hard hats and vests. They were lined up as this was ongoing. On site was ICE, Georgia State Patrol, FBI, DEA, ATF.

They were executing, Omar, a search warrant that DHS says is part of an ongoing criminal investigation into this, quote, allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes. They're saying that this sends a clear and unequivocal message to that they're taking this very serious.

And here is the special agent in charge, what he had to say about this raid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN SCHRANK, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATION ATLANTA: We are making many arrests of undocumented individuals. We have encountered many lawful employees working here, United States citizens and lawful permanent residents, and they are, of course, being released.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Meanwhile, Hyundai says it is cooperating with law enforcement saying this, we are committed to abiding by all labor and immigration regulations. And meanwhile, Omar, on this same day, hundreds of miles away in Upstate New York, another large raid at a work site, dozens of workers at a family-owned plant that makes nutrition bars were also apprehended during an ice raid.

CNN affiliate WSTM reports that about 60 workers were detained. New York's governor condemned this raid, saying it doesn't make their streets safer. And the owner of that nutrition plant told The New York Times that the workers had legal documentation to work in the U.S., calling this ICE raid, quote, overkill. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Isabel, thank you for bringing us those details, the scale of those raids notable at the very least. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, a lot going on there, we have much more to learn on that. Also, today is another deadline day for Vladimir Putin when President Trump had said he wanted Putin yet again to come to the table for peace talks or else.

[07:10:04]

But what is the or else now as Putin and Trump seem to be showing agreement, both seeming to blame and saying blame falls on Europe for the stalled talks?

And who wants to be a trillionaire? Tesla proposes a new pay package for Elon Musk that could pay him an unprecedented amount of money if Tesla reaches certain milestones.

Plus, a CNN exclusive, records show that some doors were not closing properly at Robb Elementary School just one month before a gunman walked in killing students and teachers tragically.

And a mother-in-law, now convicted of murder, what the victim's parents had to say to that woman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defendant is guilty of first-degree murder. Mrs. Adelson, control yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BOLDUAN: This morning, it is deadline day once again for Russian President Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table. Today marks the end of yet another self-imposed window that President Trump had laid out for Russian and Ukraine to engage in direct peace talks or face unspecified consequences.

Just last hour on social media, President Trump posted this, we will show you, looks like we've lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China. May they have a long and prosperous future together.

President Trump said Thursday that he plans to speak with Putin in the near future, though acknowledging things have not gone as planned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The one that I thought would be an easier one because of my relationship with President Putin, and we'll get it done, but that's turned out to be the most difficult of the group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Ben Wedeman is tracking this one for us. And, Ben, Putin has also just invited Zelenskyy I guess we can say yet again to come to meet him. But in Moscow, something Zelenskyy says is never going to happen for, I mean, obvious reasons. What do you make of this and of this deadline today?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, I was actually in Kyiv three weeks ago today. We were watching as Presidents Trump and Putin met in Alaska, and President Trump seemed confident within a week that there would be a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. And I can tell you on the ground in Ukraine, there was deep skepticism that any sort of meeting like that was going about to take place.

And, certainly, the idea as President Putin had suggested this morning that he would be happy to host Zelenskyy in Moscow and that Russia would guarantee his security, that certainly is not going to go down well in Ukraine either. Nobody in their right mind, Ukrainian or otherwise, in a country at war with Russia, would accept an invitation to go there with Russian guarantees about their security. But this really underscores just how little progress has been made since that summit in Anchorage.

Now, yesterday there was a meeting in Paris of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, European and other countries that are lined and backing Ukraine. They brought President Trump in on a call with the leaders who were there, but President Trump, instead of really doubling down on his threat to impose sanctions or consequences on Russia, he blamed Europe for buying Russian oil, which actually is true, and for Europe -- for not putting pressure on China to put pressure on Russia to end the war.

So, it seems that after all the hullabaloo, all the pomp and circumstances we saw in Alaska, that, really, the situation is only getting worse with Russians continue to bombard Ukraine every night, every day, there are more dead civilians in Ukraine. But we are no closer today than we were three weeks ago to an end to this war that President Trump said he would end in 24 hours. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And especially the perfect way you lay out what is quite confusing is, it does seem that there is a searching for someone to blame now because things are not progressing at all.

Ben, great reporting, thank you so much.

Coming up for us, the spit that rocked opening nights of the NFL, even really before things even got underway.

And are you ready to feel inadequate or maybe inspired today? Wait until you hear the world record a 102-year-old man just broke.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

JIMENEZ: Pro football is back, people. In case you hadn't heard, the NFL opener kicked off in dramatic fashion as the Philadelphia Eagles pulled out a win over the Dallas Cowboys. But that win is getting overlooked a little this morning by what happened before the offense took their first snap, kind of a weird start to the game.

With me now is CNN Sports Anchor Coy Wire. What happened here?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: That's what a lot of people want to know. And why did it happen? The city of brotherly love was buzzing. This is one of the wildest NFL season openers I can remember. We had scrapping, we had lightning, we had spitting. It was a beautiful night here in Philly, the Super Bowl banner being unveiled for the defending champions. Philadelphia's own Boyz 2 Men singing the national anthem, fireworks going off, and then different kind of fireworks.

After the opening kickoff, Eagles Star Defender Jalen Carter spit on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Carter gets ejected from a different angle. You can see that Prescott actually spit first. When the two were far apart, Carter walked over and just spit right on Prescott's chest. The Eagles actually lost two players before the first snap of their season. Another player got injured on the opening kickoff.

Things calmed down and the Cowboys offense, they came out hot scoring, the first touchdown of the new NFL season. They scored all 20 points on their first four drives. Eagles started hot too, scoring touchdowns on their first three drives. Star Quarterback Jalen Hurtz led the team in rushing, scoring two rushing touchdowns.

[07:25:02]

It was 21-20 Philly at halftime, but the fourth quarter rolls around, a huge storm rolls in. We had a weather delay. Cowboys Star Defender Trevon Diggs got so hungry at one point, he walked over to one of the clubs to get food. After more than an hour, the game continued and this was the moment, Omar, about two minutes ago, Cowboys' (INAUDIBLE) Receiver CeeDee Lamb was a standout star for Dallas, seven catches, 110 yards, but he just missed what would have been an incredible catch on fourth down to keep hopes alive for Dallas. Eagles hang on to pull off a 24-20 win on a wild and wacky opening night.

Here's Jalen Hurts after the win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: It means everything to come out and start strong. It's a new team, it's a new journey, and we got tested tonight. They played a hell of a game. We know how they are when Dak is back and they got their crew all together, and so a lot of respect for that team on the other side. We just got to clean up some things and we play better football, but, you know, always good to say that and find a way to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. Tonight, Omar, we have a carnival of gridiron greatness. The Chargers facing off against the fighting Swifties, AKA Kansas City Chiefs in South Hollow, Brazil. Those Chiefs looking to get back on track after that Super Bowl loss to the Eagles last year, get their dynasty back on track. Get your (INAUDIBLE) ready. Set your fantasy football lineup, Omar. I know you probably had Michael Penix in yours because you're a big Falcons fan.

JIMENEZ: Of course, man.

WIRE: We wait until Sunday for that one.

JIMENEZ: And P.J., man, shout out to the Kansas City fighting Swifties. You said it, not me.

Coy Wire, I appreciate it. Good to see you.

We're standing by for the highly anticipated August jobs report. President Trump is casting doubt already on today's announcement, saying we may not know the real numbers for years, even though we don't know the real numbers yet.

And how many people does it take to change a light bulb? We'll tell you how a worker got stuck up in this stadium light rig and how long it took to get him down, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]