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Dr. Marty Makary is Interviewed about RFK Jr.'s Plan; Producer Price Index Released; Rick Newman is Interviewed about Wholesale Inflation; Mamdani Leads in NYC; Robin Wright and Laurie Davidson are Interviewed about "The Girlfriend." Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 10, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:44]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, we're getting a look now at the promised report coming from the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., and his prescription, if you will, for tackling chronic illness among America's children. The White House commissioned the report, and in it, just released yesterday, it spotlights several factors driving this problem, poor diet, environmental chemicals, lack of physical activity, chronic stress, and what it's called -- what it describes as over medicalization. The report calls for better nutrition and more exercise, a review of pesticides, and getting ultra processed foods out of kids' diets as some of the solutions. The report also calls for a new vaccine framework for children that will ensure, quote, "America has the best childhood vaccine schedule." Also are now calling for a review of injuries associated with vaccines.

Let's talk more about this with the commissioner, the FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary.

Commissioner, thank you for being here.

DR. MARTY MAKARY, FDA COMMISSIONER: Good morning, Kate. Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: In your view, what is the most important element of this report? What recommendation is going to bring about the greatest change?

MAKARY: Well, look, Kate, the current health care system is not working. The population is getting sicker, and we keep spending more money. We've got to change the agenda. We've got to start talking about things that we haven't talked about in the past, the root causes of why so many young kids are on medication, why so many are depressed and have pre-diabetes or diabetes. So, this report moves into areas we've never moved into before in healthcare at the federal, national level in terms of funding priorities and our priorities at the FDA. Talking about micronutrients, food is medicine, the microbiome, which is a central organ of health that we rarely talked about in medical school. It talks about microplastics and natural light exposure for young children. It talks about screen time. It talks about the importance of soil and the types of foods you get and the fiber content. We're rewriting the food pyramid at the FDA, along with USDA. We're going to end the 50 year war on natural saturated fat. We are talking about ultra processed foods and fiber, things we have not talked about in the past. And as a matter of fact, the food pyramid was broken and promoted misinformation that may have paralleled the rise in obesity and diabetes because of that misinformation.

BOLDUAN: The goal of helping America's children be healthier, happier, live better lives, take less medication, these are all goals that you can be sure that everyone agrees on. But what I -- but I have heard people who looked at this report in the lead up to it especially, that there is -- that it lacks teeth on some very important areas of how you get to your end goal. What do you say to those who say it's lacking teeth on how you're going to get rid of pesticides, how you're going to get rid of ultra processed foods? What do you say?

MAKARY: Well, first of all, Kate, you have to remember, we live in a very politically polarized time where if we literally approve the cure for cancer at the FDA, you'd have some people criticizing it.

We heard those criticisms when we took action to remove all nine petroleum-based food dyes from the U.D. food supply. We were told there's no teeth. This is just talk. And look where we are today here, the vast majority of U.S. food makers have complied and have given us an action plan that we're tracking on our FDA website.

The same with so many of the other things we're doing. We're getting so much done at the FDA. You're going to see cures and meaningful treatments at a pace you've never seen before because of a new pathway where we get decisions out in weeks. You're seeing a new dietary guidance. You're seeing SNAP waivers. For the first time ever, states can use their food stamp dollars or assistance dollars and say they're not going to go for sugary drinks and junk food. So, you're actually seeing a lot of progress. And this MAHA report sets the agenda in a very specific way, with 128 action items.

BOLDUAN: I want to ask you about SNAP because part of the report calls for boosting healthy food options through SNAP in a couple of ways. I have heard experts across the board agree on the need for that. But President Trump just signed a law that is bringing about deep cuts to that very program.

[08:35:04]

Do you see a contradiction in the solution and the problem here?

MAKARY: Look, we -- we spend $400 million plus a day on food programs in the United States at the federal level. And there's nonstop ongoing discussions about what portion of that should be shared by the states. Nobody wants to cut funding to food programs or assistant -- assistance programs. But we have to think about how to do things differently. You know, we spend more on health care than any other country in the world, but look at the outcomes that we have.

BOLDUAN: Right, but how do you get healthy food options to people through SNAP when healthier options are often more expensive options if you're also kicking people off of SNAP and cutting millions and millions of dollars from the program that it says its -- SNAP is mentioned multiple times in the report and the strategy and solutions of needing -- is an important priority to help make America's children healthier?

MAKARY: Well, first of all, there are no cuts to the program. It's a matter of sharing with the states.

But take milk, for example. Because of broken guidance from the federal government, from our health agencies, schools have had regulations that they cannot sell too much whole milk. They have to remove the fat because we thought fat caused heart disease. It was medical dogma. It was not based on science. It was groupthink, like you saw during Covid with cloth masks and ignoring natural immunity. Groupthink. And so we're saying, let's use some scientific standards.

So, we're going to remove some of those regulations so that schools can serve local foods, fresh foods, organic foods. You know, it doesn't make sense that we have oranges brought in from Brazil for orange juice to the United States. We changed regulation at the FDA to enable Florida and Louisiana and Texas and California oranges to be used by changing the regulator. It was a regulatory failure. So, we got to do things in a smarter way.

BOLDUAN: On vaccines, the World Health Organization, and pretty much every country in the world, considers pregnancy to be a high risk condition for severe Covid. You and the secretary have just changed recommendations now, saying that the -- that pregnant women are not recommended to get a Covid vaccine. I've heard from multiple doctors, Commissioner, saying that be -- that they are hearing from pregnant women that they are unable to get the vaccine now because of this change in recommendation.

What should a pregnant woman do if she wants to get a covid vaccine, if this is the case?

MAKARY: Well, first of all, Kate, we've been very clear that anybody who wants a vaccine can get a vaccine. But our job at the FDA is to approve --

BOLDUAN: They can't. It's not. They're not. You've heard that -- you heard that from members of Congress. You heard that from -- you've absolutely heard that from members of Congress when they even spoke to Robert Kennedy Jr. about that. There -- that is not -- you -- you may want them to be able to get it if they want to, but because of the way the guidance has been rolled out, and the way the recommendation has been pulled back, they are not able to, either because pharmacists are afraid of liability, or insurance is not covering it. It is not -- if everybody wants it, they're not able to get it.

MAKARY: Well, Kate, first of all, there is absolutely no regulatory barrier preventing somebody from getting it whatsoever. Now you can't get it at every Starbucks, but there is no rule that somebody cannot get it. What we have is a regulatory framework at the FDA that says we have to approve pharmaceutical claims based on the data that they presented to us. And so that's the standard.

Now, some say we should just close our eyes and blindfold -- blindly stamp, rubber stamp Covid vaccines in perpetuity every year without any updated clinical trial data. We've said we want a clinical trial. And the data in pregnancy, just talking about pregnancy for a second, is very mixed. Show me a randomized controlled trial in pregnant women. That is the gold standard of science, Kate. And if you look at the one randomized controlled trial that was done with the Covid vaccine, it was for -- mysteriously closed mid-trial. Those results were not made public.

BOLDUAN: But you did change that recommendation, Commissioner, without the guidance of ACIP.

MAKARY: And nobody really has good data. For example, has a pregnant women -- has any pregnant woman died of Covid last year? Has any healthy pregnant woman died of Covid last year? Now, if a woman has a comorbid risk factor for -- for Covid bad outcome, then they would meet the indicated criteria for the Covid vaccine. That would be part of the indicated label.

But a healthy pregnant woman -- has any healthy pregnant woman died of Covid last year? We are getting the data that was never made available before, including adverse event data. That is, young people who have died from the Covid vaccine. And we're going to make that available to the medical community in full transparency because this is the question that Americans are asking. Remember, 85 percent of health care workers said no to the Covid booster last fall. What does that tell you? People want to see more data, and they don't want any more dogma.

BOLDUAN: They do want your -- they do want your leadership, absolutely, Commissioner. The FDA approves vaccine. The FDA is the -- is -- is the gold standard in -- in terms of approving vaccines. Just as a baseline, since this is the topic, Secretary Kennedy, before he was secretary, had said that there's no vaccine that is safe and effective.

[08:40:11]

Do you agree with that?

MAKARY: Well, look, it -- every single medical product, I can just tell you as a physician, what we have to do is evaluate the safety to risk benefit ratio. That is, every single product in all of medicine has some side effect profile. And for some it's rare. And so, that's the general framework. And that's what I think he was referring to.

You know, we are taking -- we took yesterday a massive step. And this is sort of the big story is that, that we took the biggest step to rein in pharmaceutical ads in the history of the FDA yesterday. And -- and we believe that people are not getting an adequate description of the side effects, of the risks of the potential harms in many of these ads. They're always singing and dancing. They dominate the news airwaves. It's a barrage. People are just seeing people singing and dancing. America spends $10 billion a year on pharmaceutical ads. We're asking

the pharmaceutical companies to take that $10 billion and use that money to lower drug prices for everyday Americans. It's a massive priority for President Trump. It's 20 percent to 25 percent of the budget of pharmaceutical companies goes to marketing. We want to see lower drug prices, and we want to see the decisions on what products an individual gets, be it a vaccine or anything else, live with a doctor and a patient or a doctor and the parent of a patient. We think the government is not your doctor. These are discussions that doctors make with good data.

BOLDUAN: Asking the pharmaceutical companies to dial it back and use their money elsewhere is -- it may -- is -- let's see if they agree to it is now the next step. We'll be looking forward to hearing much more about this, Commissioner. Thank you for your time.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's interesting, the answer to the question about what Robert Kennedy said about vaccines, no vaccines being safe and effective. His answer was, we're trying to get rid of pharmaceutical ads.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Didn't really address the question there.

All right, breaking just moments ago, the latest Producer Price Index shows wholesale inflation cooled slightly last month.

Let's get the very latest from CNN's Matt Egan.

OK, we just had producer prices come in. That's the breaking news. Tell us what the numbers say.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes. John, look, this is an inflation report that is coming in cool. And that is a big relief after a red hot reading the month before.

So, producer prices unexpectedly falling by 0.1 percent between July and August. Now, remember, this is wholesale inflation before it gets to all of us at the checkout aisle.

The annual inflation rate for producer prices cooling to 2.6 percent. That is better than expected. And again, that is a notable improvement from the month before.

Now, here's the thing though. Why did this happen? One of the reasons why we're now seeing this big decline in prices, this unexpected decline in prices after the spike in July, is because there was a drop in what's known as trade services. This essentially measures the margins that businesses have.

And so what it shows is that some companies are absorbing the cost of higher prices, some of which are being driven by tariffs. The problem, though, economists say, is when you see that happen, that often is a signal that they're going to pass along at least some of those costs to all of us as consumers. So, that's something to keep an eye on.

But when you look at the annual rate for producer prices, it does remain elevated, dipping a little bit, right here, OK, but still above that 2 percent that would be considered healthy. Obviously, way better than three years ago when you had about 11 percent for wholesale inflation. That was a nightmare. But also, it's really not back to target and it has ticked a little bit higher.

John, all of this coming ahead of tomorrow's more important Consumer Price Index. And that is going to be something that's going to be watched very closely by investors and economists and, of course, the Federal Reserve.

You take a quick look. U.S. stock futures not a major reaction here. I would note that any gain today would be a record high for the Dow, the S&P or the Nasdaq.

BERMAN: All right, a little bit cooler on the producer side on inflation.

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: We'll wait to see what the consumer side says tomorrow.

Matt Egan, thank you very much for that.

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: With us now, Rick Newman, author of "The Rick Report" newsletter, former columnist for Yahoo! Finance.

We always like speaking with you, Rick.

Just your first reaction to this number on the producer side, this inflation number.

RICK NEWMAN, AUTHOR, "THE RICK REPORT" NEWSLETTER: It's going to clear the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates when they meet next week. So, investors think there's about a 92 percent chance of a quarter point rate cut and maybe the rest of that, the 8 percent, is maybe there will be a half point rate cut.

Now, we have to remember, those are short term rates that mainly affect banks. Not long term rates that affect mortgages and consumer loans.

But that is what investors have been hoping to see. That -- that's good for the stock market.

[08:45:01]

It also does reflect that the Fed does have concerns about the job market. That would be the rate -- the reason for it to cut rates in the first place. And if they're less worried about inflation, which they can be, at least according to this one data set we got today, that -- that clears the way for them to cut interest rates. BERMAN: Let's talk more about the jobs market because hot off the

presses, in my hand, I have the most recent edition of "The Rick Report" here. And you write extensively about concerns about the job market. "Job growth under Trump is the weakest since the Great Recession," you say.

NEWMAN: Yes. And this is based on some data I get from Moody's Analytics. But if you look at the change in total employment since Trump has been in office, it's barely positive. And if you just go back and compare this with other presidents, it's the weakest showing since Barack Obama took office in 2009. Of course, that was in the middle of the Great Recession, and we were losing a lot of jobs at that point.

Just to put some numbers on it. Last year, job growth averaged about 168,000 new jobs per month. For the last four months, we're all the way down to just 27,000 new jobs per month.

And a lot of that has to do with the tariffs, which have messed up profits at a lot of companies and just -- they're just on hold. They don't want to hire because they don't know what's happening. And also Trump's deportation policy is actually leading to a decline in the labor force. And you can say, well, those are unauthorized migrants. They shouldn't be in the labor force anyway. But regardless, it does affect the job market. And that affects hiring. So, the Fed is looking at this and, you know, it is one of the Fed's two main jobs, to keep employment up. And so that is what they're -- I think that is really what they're going to start to be focused on more than inflation at this point. So, again, that's why we might get some monetary stimulus coming in September.

BERMAN: Because of concern over the direction of jobs.

Rick Newman, thanks so much for being with us. Great to see you.

NEWMAN: Thanks, John. See you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, riders evacuated at a Pennsylvania amusement park. You can see one walking down -- not what you want to be doing, walking down a roller coaster rather than riding a roller coaster. Why they were told to get off.

And also coming up, actress, producer, director Robin Wright Penn joins CNN NEWS CENTRAL to tell us all about her new role on "The Girlfriend."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN WRIGHT, PLAYS "LAURA" IN "THE GIRLFRIEND": We were coming up with ideas in the moment, in scenes, you know. I remember saying, you know, I said, are you OK if I kiss you on the lips? Because that's messed up.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: It's 8:50 in the morning. We all need some "Good Stuff." Here it is for you. A lucky pup who survived a shooting, lost her leg, though, just got adopted by the perfect owner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACK MONTICELLO, CLEO'S OWNER: She's extremely emotionally intelligent. After we loaded her in the -- the car leaving Nash (ph), not long after she came up and came between the driver's seat and was sniffing, you know, what's left of my arm. And she just put her head right here on the shoulder and kept it there for a while.

[08:50:03]

So, I do think she understands we -- we share something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Zack Monticello lost his arm in a crash last year. Almost exactly a year later, he saw a video of Cleo at the shelter and knew that he was -- just had to adopt her. His family says that she is the sweetest dog that they have ever met.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a brand new poll in "The New York Times" on the mayor's race in New York City shows Zohran Mamdani way, way ahead of his closest rival, Andrew Cuomo, in a four-way race. The goal, of course, is to win. That probably makes Mamdani happy. But what about all these other claims that some Mamdani supporters have been making about how he is reshaping the electorate?

Let's get right to CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten now with that.

So, what about that? And we heard Bernie Sanders, and we hear others say, this guy is different. He's, you know, attracting a whole new range of voters.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: False. False, false, false. The primary win may have been historic, but the reason he leads in the general election is not historic at all. He is not remaking the electorate.

What are we talking about here? OK, choice for New York City mayor. Those who are supporting Mamdani. You know, overall he's getting 46 percent. How about those who didn't vote in 2024? Get this. It's actually a little bit less. It's a little bit lower. He's at 44 percent. His lead goes from 21 points over his nearest competitor, Andrew Cuomo, to just 17 points. So, he's actually doing slightly worse amongst those who did not vote in 2024. Those irregular voters. So, the idea that Mamdani is remaking the general electorate and bringing in new voters to support him, not supported by the data. The fact check says, uh-uh. BERMAN: OK, another claim has been that Mamdani has a message that might be attractive to Trump voters. They talk about things sort of in similar ways.

ENTEN: Yes, exactly right. Mamdani liked to say, hey, during the primary season, I was able to win in Trump neighborhoods. But what about in the general election? Well, get this, 2024 Trump voters choice for New York City mayor. Look where Mamdani is on the list. He is fourth. He is fourth. And at just four percent. Way behind Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, at 50 percent. Andrew Cuomo, 23 percent. The incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, at 21 percent. Mamdani, simply put, is not winning over Republican voters. He is dead last. He's at just four percent amongst them.

BERMAN: So, where does this lead come from then?

ENTEN: OK, so if he's not bringing in new voters and he's not winning over Republican voters, how is Mamdani winning this? Well, I don't know if you know this, John Berman, but New York City is a very Democratic city. One that Kamala Harris did quite well in.

So, let's take a look here. OK, 2024 Harris voters in the New York City mayoral race. Their percentage they make up of all 2025 likely voters, it's 62 percent. The clear, vast majority.

And get this, the percentage of Mamdani voters who voted for Kamala Harris back in 2024, 86 percent. Eighty-six percent of his total support comes from Harris voters. And he leads Andrew Cuomo amongst those Harris voters by 64 percent to 25 percent.

So, no, it is not that Mamdani is winning a historic general election win. He's, simply put, a Democrat in a Democratic city. And that is why he is winning. He is not re-changing the electorate. He is not bringing in Republicans over to his side. He, simply put, is winning over Democrats, which in New York City is enough. If he were to take his message nationally, he might find the electorate nationally to be far more difficult to convince of his message.

BERMAN: Might be a nontraditional candidate, but right now it's a very traditional lead for a Democrat.

ENTEN: You got it exactly right.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, great to see you. Thank you very much.

ENTEN: Great to see you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, CNN has obtained surveillance video of an armed robbery at a jewelry store in California. It injured the 88- year-old owner. But watch how it started.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, after that SUV rams into the store bashing in the windows, multiple other cars pull up and a dozen or so masked, I'm going to call them masked, men get out and run inside and ransack the place. They begin smashing displays, grabbing jewelry. I mean, just look at how this is playing out. One of them is the -- one of them is seen shoving the elderly owner to the ground. His family says he suffered a stroke in this, and also injuries from the broken glass. He has since been released from the hospital. But as of now, all of those suspects remain unidentified and on the run.

Also now this video. A congressional hearing released footage of an unexpected -- unexplained, rather, object flying through the air over the Middle East. The object was spotted last year when it was tracked by the U.S. military and hit by a U.S. missile, though the strike seemed -- appeared to do no damage to this flying object. What exactly that seemingly indestructible thing is remains unknown.

And imagine this, that you get stopped at -- you get stuck atop a roller coaster, and then you have to walk -- walk off of it.

[08:55:05]

That is what happened to people at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Had to evacuate from the ride because of, as it was described, an unrelated off-ride guest issue. I do not understand that one. The ride was stopped. People were safely escorted off. And it remained -- reopened shortly thereafter.

A new hour of --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what do we do now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do have to meet the parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son always had girlfriends, but I have never heard him speak about anyone like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Darling, she is going to love you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Such a beautiful home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom, this is Cherry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: A juicy new psychological thriller starring Robin Wright. That alone reason for celebration. She plays a mother whose picture-perfect world begins to crack when her son brings home a girlfriend who may not be what she seems. This is a preview of "The Girlfriend."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know I'm going to have to tell Daniel everything about all of it. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, we're keeping secrets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that a threat? I want you to stay away from my son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awe, my two favorite ladies. Did you forget something, mom, or did you just miss Cherry?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now, the show's star executive producer and director Robin Wright, along with Laurie Davidson, who plays her son Daniel in the series.

I mean that clip only scratches the surface of how incredibly dysfunctional this all is. So, talk to me about what was so attractive to you about the project.

ROBIN WRIGHT, PLAYS "LAURA" IN "THE GIRLFRIEND": The dysfunction, a. No, it was mostly the dual perspectives. And that was also in the novel. And I love it because it's exactly what we humans go through. Did the person actually say it in that tone? Is that the look that they actually gave me? We all do that. We all have our subjective opinions about how the incident occurred. And that's basically the format of this show. And you get to choose, as a viewer, which side you believe.

BERMAN: You make the call. I -- when I watch it, I have -- I have 18- year-old boys. I know you have kids also. And they're beginning to bring people home to the house. And all I'm thinking is like, you know -- you know, who am I? Who do I want to be here? What's the right way to handle this? Am I handling it like a, you know, you did in the show there? How much did that factor in to how you approach the role?

WRIGHT: I actually called my son and I said, you -- when you watch the show, please tell me that I don't treat you the way I treated Daniel. So, it's -- of course, you know, it's for dramatic purposes. We had to up the ante. And there's so much competition out there. Think about it. With content in TV. It's racy.

BERMAN: You're telling me.

WRIGHT: It's racy. So, we were coming up with ideas in the moment, in scenes, you know. I remember saying, you know, I said, are you OK if I kiss you on the lips? Because that's messed up.

BERMAN: Has anyone ever said no to you when you asked them that?

WRIGHT: You didn't say no.

LAURIE DAVIDSON, PLAYS "DANIEL" IN "THE GIRLFRIEND": No. Exactly.

BERMAN: What was it like for you approaching this role? You know, you were very much caught in the middle. And that shot that we showed in the intro here, I mean you were literally caught in the middle of these two women. DAVIDSON: I mean being caught in the middle of Olivia Cooke and Robin

Wright is -- it's no bad thing.

I think it's -- it's a nightmare situation any -- it's already nervy introducing a partner to -- to your parents. That situation is already, like, gives you the heebie jeebies. And then when it goes so wrong and people lie and -- and it's -- it just -- there's so much tension already in that situation. And yet what happens just makes it a whole lot worse. And I think for Daniel, he just -- he just wants these -- these two perfect women in his life to get on and have an easy time. Like all men, they just want the easy road. And he doesn't get it.

BERMAN: Robin, you said the show can f with your head. Like -- like how so?

WRIGHT: I mean it's a -- it's a twisted psychological game because there are actions that take place. Both women do horrible things. But when you step back, you go, actually that's plausible. I could see that. I could see me doing that. I could see him doing that.

BERMAN: It's better that -- it's better that way when you have --

WRIGHT: It's realistic.

BERMAN: Yes.

WRIGHT: Yes.

BERMAN: If you have the villain and the hero or the hero and the villain who both are plausible.

WRIGHT: Yes.

DAVIDSON: And can justify their actions, you know.

WRIGHT: And they're both justified. Both sides.

BERMAN: So, normally when you -- when you speak with actors, directors, you know, we ask them, what's it like to be an actor/director? Let me ask you, what's it like to act in a show across from the director and executive producer at the same time?

[08:59:59]

DAVIDSON: So, two things that come to mind. One is that it poses a unique opportunity where Robin can direct me in a scene that she's in. Normally when you're directing, you have to wait