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Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL): Trump Deadline Arrives for Peace Talks Between Russia, Ukraine, New Jobs Report and Whether it's Credible; Trump Stands by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. After Combative Hearing; Dr. Sanjay Gupta Answers Your Questions About Pain. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 05, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The license plate of Dan Markel's vehicle. The hitman had to have the license plate number to go and follow him in Tallahassee and kill him.

But there are victims in this case, and one of those victims is the mother of Dan Markel. Both of his parents spoke last night. They live in Toronto, so they gave their victim impact statements last night and his mother talked about as the other grandmother now convicted is watching, but what these murders have done to her?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUTH MARKEL, MOTHER OF DANIEL MARKEL: Danny's murder was orchestrated by his former mother-in-law, Donna Adelson, and other co-conspirators, and is a crime of cruelty. It is a murder of grief, a murder of selfishly prioritizing one's own desires over what is just or right. And at its core, this was a murder of convenience. so that one grandmother could live closer to her grandchildren. She killed their father and ripped the children from the other grandparents' lives.

CASAREZ: Now the sentencing will be actually on October 14th. But other victims in this case, those two little boys, They were three and four years old when their father, a Harvard educated law professor at Florida State University, was murdered as he was pulling his car into his garage. They're now 13 and 14 years old. They live in an undisclosed state. They're leading their lives. Did they watch? What are they being told? Their mother is Wendy's daughter. And the question is, what's going to happen now? Are other family members going to be implicated in all of this? But those two little boys?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and it's a reminder, you know, that there's a family at the core of this that is devastated in ways that we will never likely understand. Jean Casarez appreciate the reporting, as always -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Take a look at this. A wild crash in Long Island sent a -- look at that -- sent a 70-year-old driver and his car flying through the air, literally. The car cleared six lanes of traffic, all in the middle of rush hour. Police don't know why the driver crashed but said that he suddenly sped up on a grassy embankment and then went airborne. The car eventually crashed into a tree. The driver survived, walking away with only minor injuries, which is remarkable.

It was a dramatic rescue above a baseball field in Arizona. Take a look at this. High above it, an employee who was changing light bulbs on top of the Athletics spring training stadium with his -- he was changing the lights when his harness failed. He was stranded there for nearly two hours, more than 120 feet up as firefighters were trying to work to reach him. They even had to climb a pole when the ladder truck didn't go high enough. Crews finally got to him and -- Jesus -- and repelled him safely to the ground. I mean, that is a job -- I am glad he has that job and not me.

A 102-year-old man is now the oldest person to summit Mount Fuji. He said he almost gave up halfway through the climb, but he was able to push through with the help of his family. He was climbing with his daughter, who's 70 years old, and friends from his hiking club. Maybe the coolest part of all of this is that the man actually just beat out his own world record for conquering Japan's most famous mountain. He previously did the climb when he was 96, and he says he's now hanging up his hiking boots for good. I mean, what a slacker. I mean, that is remarkable.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JIMENEZ: It is deadline day once again for Vladimir Putin, the latest one President Trump set for Russia to engage in peace talks with Ukraine. We'll tell you what Putin said overnight about Ukraine's leader coming to Moscow.

And we're standing by for the August jobs report set to drop in, really, minutes from now. It's the first one since President Trump fired the top official in charge of compiling those statistics, you'll remember, when they came out last month.

And a luxury yacht sinks minutes after launching. What we've learned about why it started taking on water and what happened to the crew.

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

BOLDUAN: You may have heard this one before. It is deadline day for Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table or face consequences. President Trump, again, having no luck bringing together Russia and Ukraine to really engage directly and discuss, in real terms, real peace. Even admitting, the president, just yesterday that things haven't gone the way that he thought and wanted them to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The one that I thought would be an easier one because of my relationship with President Putin.

And we'll get it done.

[08:05:00]

But that's turned out to be the most difficult of the group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The president's optimism seems to be stemming from his seemingly warm relationship with Vladimir Putin, one that was on display for the world to see during the high-profile summit in Alaska just weeks ago. The moment, that moment, that meeting is in stark contrast to what the president posted on social media just this morning after the big -- all the big meetings and summit in China. Here's what he wrote -- President Trump.

Looks like we've lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!

There's a lot going on today on this. As far as today's deadline, it remains to be seen if any discussions will actually take place. Putin today says that he would host Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, for peace talks in Moscow and says that he will guarantee security. for the Ukrainian president. Ukraine dismissing the offer out of hand, which makes sense given the repeated attempts on Zelenskyy's life, allegedly at the hands of the Russians.

With me now to discuss this and much more as Republican congressman from Florida, Randy Fine, he sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Thanks for being here. This is an interesting moment and an important day. I'm curious what you think -- Vladimir Putin. sees the deadline and blows past it once again. What you think, what you'd like the president to do now after Putin blows through another headline -- deadline? Is it time to move and on the sanctions bill that is so much support in the Senate and the House.

REP. RANDY FINE (R-FL), HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Well Kate, thanks for having me this morning. Look it's a difficult situation. You're dealing with of people who don't share our values and who are willing to sacrifice their own people in an endless war, something we would never do in this country. And I'm grateful that President Trump is trying to solve a war that didn't start under him. And even Vladimir Putin has admitted wouldn't have started had he been president. I think it's a difficult situation. I know the president's working very hard on it, and I'm optimistic that we will get somewhere. It may just take a little bit longer than any of us want.

BOLDUAN: I mean, do you believe any deadline is going to do anything at this point? Because I think it's been -- there's been seven deadlines that the president has set and Putin has blown through.

FINE: Well, I think that there have to be consequences at some point, --

BOLDUAN: Right, and that's the key.

FINE: -- and the president has to balance those.

BOLDUAN: What do you think the consequences should be now? FINE: Well, I'm going to trust the president's judgment. He's closer to the situation. He's in those conversations and he has those details. But what I know is he's committed to ending the bloodshed. Look, Russia's just willing to send their people in over and over and over again to get killed because this is part of Vladimir Putin's much larger strategy to recreate the Soviet Union.

And then you've got issues in Ukraine where, look, they've got financial incentives for the war to never end. So it's a very difficult situation and that the president's trying to make the best of. The fact that they're It's willing to talk about talking is a better situation than we were in six months ago. but they're not.

BOLDUAN: But they're not -- but they're not -- they're not talking. They're not -- they're not talking at all. I mean, the the key here is, is that -- and it seems that we're -- I don't know if we call this the end, but we're ending where it began, which is that, as many smart analysts and members of Congress have said, is that Putin only responds to strength. And the strength means consequences.

And Putin's not going to end the war unless he is forced to, which would be economic consequences, which would be why there are 80-plus co-sponsors, bipartisan, for the Blumenthal-Graham sanctions bill that's working in the Senate that President Trump has not said that he's committed or will support. Do you want him to throw his support behind that in order to bring about the talks?

FINE: He's got information that I don't have, and he's a big believer in using carrots and sticks. If the president says he needs that stick, then I'll be behind him 100 percent. But I think he is still hopeful. The president is a man of great optimism, and you can hear that. He's hopeful that he can bring these things together, and I think he's going to try to play that optimism out. But there will come a time, I assume, when he says, I'm done being optimistic, and I'm going to bring out the big stick, and when he does that, I'll be there to support him.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's one thing is like for a lot of people that was seven deadlines ago. The French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that Putin -- the way he put it is that Putin would be duping Donald Trump if he failed to go along with Trump's deadlines. Part of what he said during during a press conference with the German Chancellor was if he -- if Putin blew through another deadline is it means President Putin has once again played President Trump. Has Putin played President Trump?

FINE: No, and look, Emmanuel Macron, someone who's done more to create violence in the Middle East these days than just about anybody, is in no position to talk about bringing wars to an end. He's just angry that we're not going to let him do his little fake two-state solution summit in the United States.

[08:10:00]

Look, I think President Trump is doing the right thing. I support him. He's having those discussions. He's trying to create a difficult situation, and I'm optimistic he'll get it done.

BOLDUAN: We are going to have a big jobs report coming out, the August jobs report, and a little over -- who knows what time it is anymore. It's a million o'clock on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. It will be coming out shortly, and we will bring it to everyone. When it does, are you going to believe the numbers?

FINE: I'm going to, I'm going to look at the numbers. Look, the people who put these numbers together are human and they're fallible and they make mistakes. And if you go back and you look how these numbers always --

BOLDUAN: But congressman, it wasn't that they make mistakes.

FINE: -- and they always get changed later.

BOLDUAN: It wasn't -- yes, it wasn't that they make mistakes. The reason that the president kicked out the the Commissioner of Bureau of Labor Statistics was he said that they were they were faking it. They were cooking the books, which there's no evidence of that. So do you think --

FINE: When the when the numbers -- when the numbers are always wrong in one direction, you you have reason to be suspect.

BOLDUAN: There's no evidence of that.

FINE: And so I understand that. What I can tell you --

BOLDUAN: Is when more businesses respond and give the information and submit and respond to the ask from the Labor Department, then they can adjust what they have. It's like I get more information, we can adjust the numbers. That's been happening from the beginning of time. Yes, there has been more variable. That's for a lot of reasons, which they say fewer businesses are actually responding to these surveys, but that doesn't mean they're cooking the books.

FINE: Well, I think that when there's problems with methodology, sometimes it's intentional, sometimes it's not. But when the numbers are always wrong --

BOLDUAN: Do you think it was intentional?

FINE: -- on in one direction, there's a reason to have -- I think the methodologies were problematic, and we see this in all kinds of things, where numbers always tend to benefit the left, and when the facts come out, they don't anymore. And so I think the president did the right thing there, and we'll see what these numbers are like today.

What I will tell you is I did 81 visits in my district over the August recess, met with manufacturers of all types, and they're very optimistic about the Trump economy. It was extraordinary. I met with boat builders and fishermen and all kinds of different companies, and they're very optimistic about where we are right now. BOLDUAN: It was declared that this is the Trump economy officially, though it took a moment. He still said it was the Biden economy for a bit, so we'll see what the Trump economy is starting to look like now. Congressman Randy Fine, thank you -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: OK, breaking overnight just two days after this deadly U.S. strike on a suspected drug boat, the Trump administration says was linked to a Venezuelan gang. 2 Venezuelan military aircraft were spotted flying near a U.S. Navy ship. Now the Pentagon says this happened in international waters. It's still unclear what type of military aircraft Venezuela was flying and which U.S. Navy ship was involved.

The Defense Department calling it a quote, highly provocative move designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations.

On Tuesday, 11 people were killed when the U.S. military conducted a strike on what the Trump administration says was a drug vessel working for the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

We are minutes away also, as well, from the August jobs report, and President Trump is already trying to downplay what it might reveal. Again, we don't know what the numbers reveal at this point. Saying it could be months before we get the quote, real numbers.

And a rescue caught on camera. A hiker pulled to safety after falling off a cliff. How they're doing this morning.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: This morning, President Trump is standing by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after his combative Senate testimony raised new questions about the future of America's public health systems. The Health and Human Services Secretary faced, we'll call it blistering, bipartisan questions over the turmoil in the CDC and significant changes to vaccine policy. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a charlatan. That's what you are.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: You're just making stuff up. You're talking gibberish.

Speaker 3

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Secretary, let -- I.

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 ask his question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can you be that ignorant? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Cadwell.

KENNEDY: You're wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are a hazard to the health of the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Now, for all that back-and-forth, the president says he didn't watch Kennedy's testimony but praised his performance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's got a different take, and we want to listen to all of those takes. But I heard he did very well today. I like the fact that he's different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House. Can you so -- can you just tell us more about where the fallout is this morning and where his performance is landing with the White House?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, well, look, I think if you look at the tenure of RFK Jr. at HHS, I mean, he has seen mass firings, upended decades of public health practices, and he's also taken steps toward a reassessment, Omar, of vaccines that have left many people, including Republicans, worried about Americans no longer wanting to widely accept immunizations. And that has led, and we saw this yesterday, I mean, it was a very combative back and forth during that hearing with Kennedy in the hot seat, and many Republicans as well grilling him. And kind of -- it was kind of clear that they're showing, you know, more criticism and concern about what Kennedy is doing at that department.

But it was clear as well from that clip you paid and what we heard from the president last night at that dinner with tech CEOs that President Donald Trump is not among those who are concerned. And this comes as we are hearing from sources here at the White House and throughout the Trump administration that some people inside are also getting, you know, growing a bit weary of RFK Jr. as well.

[08:20:00]

But the reason, and I think the key line from the president and what he was saying was that I like that he's different. This stems back to why the president not only wanted Kennedy to endorse him, drop out of his own candidacy back on the campaign trail and endorse him for 2024 but to become part of his administration. Is the president saw that many of the conservatives that he was going after liked Kennedy for what he was doing when it went -- in the health space and what he was saying on the campaign trail, but what he wanted to do in the health space, this idea of making America healthy again.

And because of that, we've actually seen the president kind of keep RFK Jr. at arm's length, really let him do his own thing at Health and Human Services. And that's very different from the way that the president has operated, with a lot of the other top officials at other agencies throughout his administration. And so, you know, while you have a lot of people, again, many Republicans growing weary of what RFK Jr. is doing, it's clear that the president is standing beside him. It's interesting to see how long that will last or if that will ever change -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Alayna Treene, appreciate the reporting.

All right, coming up, Americans are feeling more worried about the economy these days. We'll tell you what we're learning about eroding confidence as we await these jobs numbers coming out.

Plus, millions of Americans live with chronic pain every single day. Ahead, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us to answer your questions about pain. All that. and more coming up.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: An estimated 50 million adults in the United States experience chronic pain. That is according to the CDC. It can take over every aspect of your life if you have ever experienced this level of pain. This morning, we are searching for answers right alongside with you and asking your questions.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us as promised to answer these questions. And also Sanjay has a new book all about this very issue. It is called It Doesn't Have to Hurt. And it doesn't from what -- I mean, doesn't have to hurt as much, that's for sure, from what you're what you've brought to us. Let's jump in.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK.

BOLDUAN: OK, Karen -- Karen Duke wrote in and asked what effect does diet have on pain? Which foods drinks should be limited or eliminated, which food drinks are helpful?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I spent a lot of time talking about how we nourish ourselves in this book. You know, the way that we eat, that is the only signal we're giving from the outside world to our inside world on a daily basis that we choose. The air we breathe we don't necessarily have that choice, but the food and the drink really makes a difference.

And I think the big thing is inflammation. We know that if you have a higher level of baseline inflammation, that's likely to cause more problems with pain later on. So something that's an innocuous injury that may hurt a lot more as a result of that inflammation. So, you know, the plant-based diets really seem to make a big difference. But I think even more importantly, Kate, keeping a food journal and really then correlating that with your own aches and pains, and not just huge pains, but did it hurt a little bit more when I missed a step on the stairs, and then correlating that with things that you've eaten. Everyone's going to be a little bit different.

BOLDUAN: Right.

GUPTA: And inflammation is not always bad. You need inflammation. But getting the right level of inflammation is important, focusing on an anti-inflammatory diet, but then keeping that food journal.

BOLDUAN: I ever since my back injury, I literally was like inflammation is evil like I have been that was -- I changed my diet when I when I hurt my back.

GUPTA: Right?

BOLDUAN: Yes, I for me it was gluten and I eliminated gluten for me.

GUPTA: I changed my diet because my wife did. I wasn't having aches and pains, but I noticed my aches and pains started to improve as well, which I hadn't anticipated but made a huge difference.

BOLDUAN: Interesting. You do not need to change your diet. Here's another one. Arun -- Arun Jindal in San Francisco is asking this one. I really wish there was a way to measure the pain like body temperature.

I, yes, endorse. How far away are we from that?

GUPTA: Well, you know, this is such a provocative question in the pain community because in some ways it's the holy grail. Like, hey, can we actually create a biomarker for pain? And look, if somebody goes to the ER, they're going to measure things like your heart rate, like your blood pressure, even your oxygenation, and then use that sort of as an indirect measures of pain. Sometimes you get people who are totally stoic, I have no pain, and yet their heart rate is spiking. And sometimes it's the opposite. So you do have certain biomarkers.

But there's these researchers in San Francisco, Kate, that have been doing this incredible work. It's wild, but they're putting these monitors, these probes inside the brain. and then just basically listening to the brain. It's almost like putting a telescope at the sky and just seeing what you see. And they're trying to correlate what happens in the brain with pain. And what they have found is that they can measure pain, they can predict pain, and they can even interrupt pain. So before that pain gets to conscious awareness, they can make changes in the brain so the person doesn't have pain, which is really pretty remarkable. You're seeing it there. That's a guy named Ed Mowery who had refractory pain for 20 years. This really made a huge difference in his life.

I think the challenge, Kate, and you can speak to this, but ultimately, the patient has to be the North Star.

BOLDUAN: That's the thing about pain.

GUPTA: That's the thing about pain. No matter what your blood pressure or what those probes in the brain show, if the patient says they have pain, they have pain.