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U.S. Labor Market Stalls, Just 22,000 Jobs Added in August; Gov. Pritzker Says National Guard Could Arrive in Chicago Today; New York Times Reports Unarmed North Koreans Killed in Unsuccessful Navy SEAL Mission. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 05, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A flashing warning sign for the economy. A new report showing the U.S. job market is stalling out and the country lost even more jobs -- lost even -- even lost jobs one month. The White House is singling out one person for this problem.

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": After weeks of threats, National Guard troops could arrive in Chicago today and be ready to act as soon as tomorrow as President Trump expands his crime crackdown. Plus, a Navy SEAL mission to plant a listening device inside North Korea reportedly leaves civilians dead. The New York Times shedding light on the botched attempt, which it says took place in 2019. Why are we hearing about it now? We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

DEAN: Disappointing, but not the whole picture. That's how the White House today is describing a new U.S. Jobs report that's giving off anything but Friday feels. Only 22,000 jobs were added in August. Unemployment also ticking up. And for the first time in nearly five years, the U.S. had a month where it lost more jobs than it gained. Revised numbers show June in the red by 13,000 jobs. And you may recall, previous data showed a 14,000 job gain. President Trump last month suggested without evidence that 14,000 number was rigged just before he fired the Head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene, who is outside the White House. Alayna, obviously, the White House has their thoughts on all of this. What are they saying?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, I mean, clearly Jessica, these numbers are not what the president or the Trump administration were hoping for. And some of even acknowledge, they were a bit disappointing. But we've also seen them really try to shift the blame, many of them, the president included, blaming Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for failing to cut interest rates, arguing that is why these numbers were more disappointing than expected. We also heard the Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez, saying essentially she blamed Powell saying that he should be embarrassed by the report, said that he has not done his job.

So there's a common theme there on this. And one thing that I found really interesting though is that, this report could actually have the unintended effect of giving the president exactly what he wants. We know that Powell in the past has said that unemployment numbers, if they're in this range, obviously higher than they have been in the past, that could lead him to lower interest rates. And so, we could ultimately see the Fed cut rates giving the President what he wants. But of course, this report being not really what the White House and the Trump administration was hoping for.

I also though want to weigh in on what you brought up about how this is the first report that we've seen since the president had fired the Commissioner of the Bureau for Labor Statistics. I mean, I know that the president and his administration, particularly his economic advisers, they closely watch these numbers every month when they come in. But they were watching them even more closely today because of that firing. And we actually heard from the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, before this report came out, kind of setting the groundwork for what could be potentially a disappointing report. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, (R) UNITED STATES COMMERCE SECRETARY: If the leader is bent in against Donald Trump, then they're going to have such errors and those things are bent. The holdovers from the Biden administration were just -- they're just bent against the president's success. They're rooting against America and against Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Jessica, he also said in that interview that you couldn't expect much to change after just having that firing having happened two weeks ago. One thing I want to be clear on, we know that the president said that he was pushing out, Erika McEntarfer, she was the Head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he believed that she was cooking the books, essentially manipulating the data. There is no evidence to prove that that actually happened.

And actually, a lot of former BLS commissioners, economists, experts, they've all said that she wouldn't actually have had the opportunity to go into the data and try to mess with it before these reports even came out. So keep that in mind as you're hearing all of this. But, I do think that the White House is looking at this. They -- we did hear from other people like Kevin Hassett. He's the White House Director of the National Economic Council. He said he actually hopes and believes that we could see these numbers be revised higher at a later time.

[14:05:00]

All to say not a great report for the White House, but also one that they are trying to shift the blame on to other people. Jessica?

DEAN: Alayna Treene with the very latest from the White House. Thank you for that. Erica? HILL: So let's dig into those numbers a little bit. Take a closer look at what the jobs report tells us. CNN Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten is with us now. So Harry, first of all, give me the big takeaways, my friend.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Well, I think one of the big takeaways, at least according to the Trump administration, is the buck stops way, the way over there. Whenever there's bad news, it's not their fault, it's somebody else's fault. But when you take a look at what we're seeing here, I mean, here's the big takeaway. It's not just the 22,000 jobs are air in August. It's just been a very weak four months. 79,000 jobs end July. We mentioned the downward number that we saw in June, losing 13,000 jobs, and then 19,000 jobs aired in May.

I went back through the record books. The last time there were four months, at least four months in a row where you had less than 100,000 jobs gain in each of those months, you got to go all the way back to 2010 back when I was in college, back during the great recession. You know that's a long time ago. So it's not just this month, it's the last four months. It's an ugly duckling, Erica.

HILL: It certainly is. And how does this compare to President Trump's first term, Harry?

ENTEN: Yeah. OK. So, they were blaming the Biden administration, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You couldn't expect to change. But let's compare Trump versus Trump, OK? Median monthly jobs added during Trump so far during the second term, you got 91,000 jobs dating back since January. In his first term, look at this, it was more than double that number. More than 200,000s in the median month added. So Trump is doing, get this, get this, he's adding less than 100,000 jobs this month. He was adding two -- during this term. During the first term, over 200,000 jobs. So less than half the level that we're talking about. So versus himself, he's doing horribly.

HILL: So when we look at these particular numbers that we just got today, when we break it out by sectors, Harry, what really stands out to you?

ENTEN: Manufacturing, I mean, that's what the idea of these tariffs were. We're going to bring jobs back, manufacturing sector jobs back. But what have we got? Well, minus 12,000 in August, then we go to July. What have we got? We got minus 2,000. June minus 17,000. May minus 11,000. Look, the bottom line is this, we're not adding manufacturing jobs. We're losing them and we've been losing them since May, four consecutive months. Again, another four consecutive months in which we have bad news. In this case, when it comes to manufacturing jobs gain, we actually haven't gained any, we've lost them in each of the last four months.

HILL: It's important to note this is now firmly President Trump's economy. We have heard the president in the past blame his predecessor, President Biden. We just heard, of course, Howard Lutnick saying that it's Biden holdovers. Lot of fingers being pointed at the Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell. When it comes to the American people, how do they feel? Are they in the interest of pointing fingers in this point? And if so, at whom?

ENTEN: Yeah. Who are they pointing fingers at? Of course, they're -- we're Americans. We love pointing fingers at people. But who are they pointing the fingers to? Well, take a look here. Look at this, net job approval on -- net approval on jobs and employment, look at where Donald Trump's number is right now, minus 13 points. That is way down from where he was in January this year when he was at plus nine points. What is that? It's a over 20-point drop. And even more negatively, probably the worst news for the White House is look at where Joe Biden was. He was in the negative, but he was at minus eight points. Now, Donald Trump is even doing worse than Joe Biden was doing. I'm not sure I would ever see the day when it comes to job and employment, but that's how the American people feel at this point, Erica Hill.

HILL: Harry, appreciate it. Thank you. Jessica?

ENTEN: Thank you.

DEAN: All right. Joining us now to talk more about this, William Beach. He's the former Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term. He's also the Executive Director for the Fiscal Lab on Capitol Hill. William, thank you for being here with us. I just said when you were coming in, you're the perfect person to talk to about all this today.

WILLIAM BEACH, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMMISSIONER: First off, it's a pleasure to be here.

DEAN: Thank you. We're happy to have you. I want to go back to what Alayna was talking about with Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary. He gave that line, he said, essentially that he believed that people are tilted against the President. That these are politicized numbers. Is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is that a politicized place?

BEACH: No. No, it's not. Not at all. I served two years under President Trump. He nominated me, Senate confirmed me, and then two years under President Biden. So I got to see the whole spectrum of politics that we've recently had. And I saw no evidence either when President Trump was in place or when President Biden was in place, that the staff was doing anything else except their highly professional job. They're really a very patriotic staff.

So, I was watching this report very closely and I have been speaking out on behalf of BLS this past month. I'm certain if there was any kind of shenanigans going on at BLS, somebody would've called me or text me on their private phone. I got nothing like that. And I scrutinized this morning's report very closely. I'm very familiar with the processes behind this report and I saw no evidence whatsoever that the numbers were unexpected in one direction or another.

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So, I kind of give this report a seal of approval. I don't see any problems here. But of course, I'm still -- I'm on the outside. We have to look inside. Ultimately, that will happen. I haven't seen any problems.

DEAN: Yeah. And OK, so knowing that, so let's put that to the side.

BEACH: Right.

DEAN: You feel confident that these are the real numbers. They're properly assessed and analyzed. What stood out to you as we listened to Harry then kind of breaking it down, what stood out to you looking at this?

BEACH: So this is a scary report. It's scary because we've had over a year of decline in the monthly gains in employment. Sometimes they're a little bit up, but the trend line is clearly down. So we knew that the labor force was slowing. President Trump's successful effort to control immigration has shrunk the rate of growth in the labor force, which was growing before because of all the immigrants coming in. So that was kind of a blow to the labor force, but still jobs would -- should be created.

These last several months have indicated to me that we're in a definite slowdown in the jobs market. Is that because of the tariff policies? Is that because of high interest rates? We have to pull that apart? I think both are to blame. I think there may be other things as well. World trade is slowing because other economies are slowing as well. Interest rates in a lot of foreign markets are rising in the private markets, where people just bid on interest rates even though central banks are trying to get them down. That is signaling something as well. So, it's too early to tell whether we're going towards a recession. We can definitely now say today that we're in a slowdown, there's no question about that.

DEAN: We're in a slowdown. And I know you mentioned that we're still trying to sort through. In your mind, is it related to tariffs? Is it related to the world economy? What about A.I.? Is that a factor at this point yet?

BEACH: Probably not.

DEAN: Yeah.

BEACH: I think the potential of A.I. is just super, right?

DEAN: Right.

BEACH: It has great productivity gain potential. It has potential in creating things that we don't even know about. And by the way, I'm not worried about the employment side of A.I. I think A.I. will create jobs just like all technologies have created jobs. So, that's not an issue for me. I think an issue for me is regulatory burden. I think the president and his announcement yesterday of his regulatory agenda signaled a correct move in that trying to reduce that burden that should have high growth effects. That's in the future. So, that's a good move.

I'm still skeptical. I have to say that I'm actually quite skeptical that tariffs will cause growth. And so, I'm willing to say that jury's out on that. President Trump has put the cards on the table. He's bet his administration that this is going to work. I think give him a chance to see whether it actually does.

DEAN: Yeah. And in the meantime, how long do you think we have in this slowdown to stop it from becoming a full-blown recession?

BEACH: Well, that depends a lot of what the Federal Reserve signals now. So, I think they are going to cut rates. I think that's pretty clear because Jerome Powell said in Jackson Hole, the job market is weak. Well, today's report reinforces him totally on that point. So when the board gets together in mid-September, I suspect we'll have a 25 or even a 50 basis point drop.

Now, will that have the desired effect? That's what we have to see. Or are the forces in the economy so strong that that will not have an immediate effect? Remember, here's another thing, a lot of folks forget. When you cut an -- when the central bank cuts an interest rate, it could take weeks before that has an effect.

DEAN: Right. Right.

BEACH: -- in job markets and the capital markets, good markets. So that's, it doesn't allay my concerns. I agree. I think one of the big concerns we all ought to have is what's happening in, what we call, the goods market, manufacturing, construction, mining. Those are all negatives this month. They're all down. Now government's down because the president wants to cut the federal government. But state employment, state government employment was also down almost by as much as the federal government.

So we have to kind of really be observant. Don't jump and say we're in a recession. I think slow down's the right term right now. And a lot has to do with the policy moves this administration and the Federal Reserve make next.

DEAN: What the next moves will be. All right. William Beach, someone who worked under President Trump and President Biden, good to have you here. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Still to come, Illinois officials believe National Guard troops could begin arriving in Chicago as soon as today. I'll tell you what the city and its officials are preparing for. And later, after years-long legal fight, CNN has finally obtained records from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that reveal repeated complaints about malfunctioning doors, including the one a shooter would ultimately walk right through. We've got that and more, coming up on "CNN News Central."

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HILL: After weeks of warnings, today could be the day National Guard troops fully assemble in Chicago with the ability to be on the streets tomorrow, as soon as tomorrow. That is according to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. He says no one from the Trump administration has actually told the state what the plan is. This as the president vows to expand his so-called crime crackdown to the city he has also described as a hellhole.

Joining me now from Chicago is Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton. It's nice to have you here, Lieutenant Governor. Has the National Guard arrived at this point?

LT. GOV. JULIANA STRATTON, (D) ILLINOIS: Well, what we know so far is that we believe that ICE agents, perhaps Border Patrol, has already started to assemble, or at least will be today. And we expect more so the ICE enforcement efforts to begin perhaps as soon as tomorrow and over -- and continue to intensify over the next several days and weeks.

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At this point, we have no communication that the plan to federalize the National Guard and send them to Chicago will continue. We've certainly heard the president continue to sort of waiver back and forth about whether he's going to do that. And we believe that he's waffling because he has heard Governor Pritzker, he's heard me, and leaders all across our state make it very clear that there's no emergency in Chicago and we do not want them here.

HILL: You noted ICE operations could potentially begin as soon as tomorrow. Have you noticed an increase at all in immigration enforcement in the Chicago area today?

STRATTON: Well, we have heard some enforcement efforts over the last couple of days and we expect that this will continue to intensify. And we know that this is all part of the sort of playbook that we've seen before where we have the aggressive ICE enforcement. Again, not -- he says it's for public safety. It's not related to public safety. He wants to instill fear in some of our most vulnerable communities. And we are seeing people being very afraid at these threats.

And what we will -- I think we're going to just see more and more efforts over the next days and weeks to come. And we are asking people to prioritize their safety, to know their rights and make sure that they can monitor and even record when they see these incidents taking place.

HILL: And I know that, to that point, the Chicago Teachers Union holding a presser this morning along with Mayor Johnson, handing out these "Defend Your Rights" flyers in various neighborhoods around the city. Officials in your state, including the governor and the attorney general, have both said very clearly they would welcome some help from the federal government, but not in the form of forced troop deployments. What specifically in terms of help would you like to see?

STRATTON: Well, first of all, someone has to have the right intentions to want to help. And what President Trump is doing is really creating chaos, manufactured chaos I call it, and a real effort to try to distract from his failures. I mean, we saw the Jobs report today. He does not want American families to pay attention to how much of a failure he is. When it comes to help, I mean, how about the $800 million in violence prevention funding that he is holding back that could go to states like Illinois.

If he wants to help, how about not slashing healthcare and food assistance for so many of our most vulnerable families who want to just take care of their children and provide for their families. That doesn't help anyone. We're certainly seeing a trade war where he has attacked and enforced tariffs on some of our closest allies and that's caused the price of food to go up. That's not helping families.

I've done this work for my entire career and I can tell you that not one expert I've ever spoken to has said that what we need to address the root causes of crime is to have a militarized presence in our communities. That is not going to help. It's only going to sow chaos.

HILL: As we continue to watch it to see what ultimately does happen, I think it's important to note that Governor Pritzker told community leaders earlier this week, he would do his best to "hold the line." What does that signify? What does holding the line mean?

STRATTON: Well, I think first of all, I made it very clear that we're not going to roll out the red carpet for a want-to-be dictator. That's number one. I mean think about this. We are talking about federalizing a National Guard and having troops, armed troops on the ground on American soil. And this is unconscionable. And I think the other thing it means is that if he tries to federalize troops, we will absolutely go to court and we will fight this, show that it's illegal and unconstitutional. And we will do everything that we can that's legal and in our power to protect the people that we represent. We are not going to just allow this to happen without pushback and we will stand by our people.

HILL: Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, we appreciate your time this afternoon. Thank you.

Still ahead this hour, the stunning details about a botched SEAL Team Six mission. Its goal was to plant a listening device inside North Korea. That operation carried out in 2019 has never been revealed, we're learning not even to some members of Congress until now. So why now? That's next.

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HILL: A new report from the New York Times reveals how an unsuccessful Navy SEAL mission led to the deaths of unarmed civilians in North Korea. So this happened back in 2019 during President Trump's first term. According to the Times reporting, the plan itself involved sneaking U.S. subs into North Korean waters and then planting a device to spy on the country's leader, Kim Jong-Un.

After the SEALs though encountered a North Korean boat, they opened fire, killed those on board. Evidence later suggested the boat was actually carrying North Korean civilians who were diving for shellfish. That Times piece goes on to say that, "officials familiar with the mission said the SEALs pulled the bodies into the water to hide them from the North Korean authorities."