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Interview with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): Win for Trump as Senate GOP Overcomes Revolt, Passes $70 Billion ICE Bill; Ex-CIA Officer Due in Court After $40 Million in Gold Seized from Home; Melinda French Gates Donates $215 Million to Improve Women's Health. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

RALPH JOHNSON, SINGER AND PERCUSSIONIST, EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE: You just want to be in it for that moment, but you don't think that 50, 55 years later, you'll still be in it. The longevity is incredible, you know, and I'm very thankful.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, it helps your black belt. It helps that you're in great shape.

JOHNSON: Well, that's part of it. Yes. I try to stay in shape, you know.

BERMAN: Just leave us with this. When you look out in the crowd and you see the faces, what's it like to see -- It's got to be different generations? I mean, what's it like to see them?

JOHNSON: We find that the people that grew up with us, that perhaps were in college when we're coming through the ranks, are now bringing their grandchildren. And they'll tell us, they'll say, hey, I brought my little granddaughter and she wanted to see you guys. I told her all about you guys.

And they have a wonderful experience because it's a family show, man. Bring the whole family. I guarantee you'll have a great time.

BERMAN: And one of the things I tell you is they're all, no matter what generation, in the audience dancing the whole time, I'm sure.

JOHNSON: It's a good feeling.

BERMAN: Ralph Johnson, it's great to meet you. An honor. Thank you for everything you've done for so long. You guys have been honored so much. It is so well deserved.

JOHNSON: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

BERMAN: Right. A reminder, Rhythm and Fire is out now. And the new Earth, Wind and Fire documentary is on HBO June 7th.

And just a disclosure, HBO and CNN have the same parent company. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A revolt, but in the end, not so much. Senate Republicans taming the rebellion among the ranks to pass funding for ICE and Border Patrol through the end of President Trump's second term. So what does this mean for the anti-weaponization fund that they were so mad about and wanted its demise in writing?

And we are just moments away from the May jobs report. A fresh look and gut check on the state of the U.S. economy. We're going to bring that to you live.

And a miracle on Mount Everest. This is quite a story. A Sherpas family had already started his funeral, and then he was found alive.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning, fissures exposed in the $1.8 billion fund that could aid the president's allies. Not completely dead yet. In the wee hours of the morning, Senate Republicans did push through a $70 billion bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the end of the president's second term.

This is something the president badly wanted, and he got. But it wasn't easy. There were efforts, including by some Republicans, to include amendments that would ban the $1.8 billion fund. The president says he still supports it could go to people who feel they've been wrongly prosecuted. Some people call it a retribution fund. That was not included.

No legislative ban yet. The bill now heads to the House. And joining me now is the top Democrat in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Leader Jeffries, thank you so much for being with us this morning. You now have this $70 billion bill in front of you. It funds ICE fully for the next few years.

What recourse do you have?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: House Democrats are going to strongly oppose this effort to spend $70 billion in taxpayer funds on continuing to provide support for an ICE agency that the American people know is out of control. At the end of the day, right, taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for American people, particularly in an environment where the cost of living is far too high. Instead, what Republicans want to do is use $70 billion to continue to unleash mass and untrained ICE agents on American citizens, in some cases brutalizing or killing them, as was the case in Minnesota, or target violently law-abiding immigrant families.

It's unacceptable, and we're going to fight it to the very end.

BERMAN: As for the $1.8 billion compensation fund -- $1.8 billion compensation fund, some people call it a retribution fund. The president calls it anti-weaponization. There's been a lot of talk among even some Republicans about trying to legislate it out of even the possibility of existence.

In the end, they didn't. What's your view there of why they were not able to get that done, and what will you do about that now?

JEFFRIES: It was a close fight in the Senate, unfortunately, the effort to permanently ban the $1.8 billion corrupt slush fund that Donald Trump is trying to visit upon the American people in such an out-of-control fashion. It fell just short.

[08:05:00]

But in the House, we're going to work incredibly hard to permanently ban it legislatively, because this administration, this president, this acting attorney general can't be trusted to do the right thing on behalf of the American people.

The notion that anyone who violently beat police officers on January 6th should get a dime of taxpayer dollars is so abhorrent to the American people. We're going to fight it tooth and nail in the House of Representatives. We'll introduce amendments to permanently ban it.

It may be on life support, according to some. We've got to permanently pull the plug.

BERMAN: Leader Jeffries, I know this is the other chamber, but Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, there's a new story in the New York Times where there are allegations of physically threatening behavior by him against at least one former girlfriend. I want to play you his response to that story. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER, (D) MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about are simply not true. Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who is politically motivated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, Congressman Ro Khanna, who is part of your conference, is going to campaign with him tonight. He says that Platner, the alleged behavior, is wrong and toxic, but still going to campaign with him. What would be your advice to House Democrats about whether or not they should support Graham Platner?

JEFFRIES: Well, let me say more generally, violence against women in any way, shape or form is completely and totally unacceptable. And that should be clear to everyone. And everyone needs to draw that bright line in the sand. In terms of the allegations that have been waged with respect to this particular candidate for the Senate, I haven't followed it closely.

I will continue to defer to Leader Schumer and Senator Gillibrand in terms of the best path forward in Maine. I haven't had a conversation with Ro Khanna about this. Listen, John, we're focused on trying to take back control of the House of Representatives so we can actually serve as a check and balance on an out of control administration and focus on the things that matter to the American people, like driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken health care system and cleaning up corruption here in Washington, D.C.

BERMAN: He denies the behavior. We played that sound. But you also just said that any violence of women is unacceptable. Does that mean if it is in any way proven to be true, it should be disqualifying?

JEFFRIES: Well, let's cross that bridge when we get to it.

BERMAN: Congressman, I want to play some sound -- Kate Bolduan, my co- anchor, esteemed co-anchor, had an interview with Congressman Seth Moulton from Massachusetts yesterday. He's running for Senate in Massachusetts, but he also has some comments about the Democratic establishment in general.

I want you to listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): I think there comes a time to pass the torch to the next generation. And what better time than when the Democratic establishment is just not getting it done? I mean, if you honestly are a Democrat today who says, you know, Democrats are knocking it out of the park.

You know, we're winning all across the board. We shouldn't change a thing. Then vote for the establishment. Vote for Chuck Schumer. Vote for the status quo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What do you say to the suggestion that the Democratic establishment, you are the House leader of Democrats, the Democratic establishment is not getting it done?

JEFFRIES: Well, we're continuing to work hard here in the House of Representatives to do what's necessary to both push back against the extremism that Donald Trump is unleashing against the American people and to chart a path forward that actually is designed to make life better for working class Americans, middle class Americans and hardworking American taxpayers. Just this week, House Democrats were successful in passing a war powers resolution to end Donald Trump's reckless and costly war of choice that hasn't made the American people safer. Iran is a stronger position now than what they were prior to the start of this war.

And, of course, this war is increasing gas prices and putting economic pressure on the American people. We're continuing to do what we need to do aggressively to push back against Donald Trump. We've been winning races for the last 16 months, but we have a task ahead of us that we have to accomplish.

And ultimately, I think we'll be judged by whether we take back control of the House in November. That's what we intend to do.

BERMAN: Other big items. Game two of the NBA Finals tonight in San Antonio. Game three will be next week in New York City.

President Trump says he plans to attend. What do you think the reception will be?

JEFFRIES: I'm not sure it's going to be a good reception for him. But why does Donald Trump always have to ruin a good thing? Like, literally, the Knicks haven't been in the NBA Finals for 27 years.

The city is trying to celebrate this. We've embraced this team. And this guy has to inject himself.

I mean, come on, seriously, give us a break. Why doesn't this guy just focus on trying to improve the quality of life of the American people? Because the Trump economy has been a disaster.

[08:10:00]

BERMAN: Are you going when they're in New York?

JEFFRIES: No, next week, we're in session. We'll be here in Washington, D.C.

But I hope to gather with a group of friends and colleagues and, you know, watch the Knicks be successful in both game three and game four in the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.

BERMAN: Leader Jeffries, we just got an alert. And if someone could tell me where it's from, that Janet Mills, the governor of Maine, has been encouraged to re-enter the Senate race. She suspended her campaign. She never withdrew. Could someone tell me encouraged by whom? Hang on.

A source close to her, according to sources, she is being encouraged, I imagine, by maybe Democrats, I'm not sure, to re-enter the race or unsuspend her campaign. What do you think of that just days before the actual primary?

JEFFRIES: Well, listen, we're just three seats short of taking back control of the House of Representatives. We need to do that because House Republicans have been functioning like a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda. And they haven't done a damn thing to make life better for the American people.

I'm going to stay in that lane and focus on doing what we have to do, which is reclaiming the gavels in the Congress.

BERMAN: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, I appreciate you rolling with the breaking news. I appreciate the Knick discussion. Sorry you won't be at the games next week.

Tickets are tough to afford anyway -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Good stuff, JB. Thank you so much. Today, a former CIA agent is heading to court accused of stealing tens

of millions of dollars in gold bars. What's going to happen?

Plus, there are new details coming in after a Hollywood actor was stabbed to death at his home in Los Angeles. The suspect is who called 911.

And a powerful new pledge from Melinda French-Gates, which she is saying about the $215 million that she is now donating and where it's going.

[08:15:00]

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BOLDUAN: So a former CIA officer is now accused of stealing millions of dollars in gold bars. And he's about to appear in federal court.

His name is David Rush. He was arrested after the FBI said that they found over 300 bars worth more than $40 million inside his home in Virginia. Authorities now allege that Rush stole the gold bars and foreign currency from the CIA.

CNN's Holmes Lybrand is following this. Seems like a bad thing to try to pull off, but he's facing some very serious accusations now. What are you learning, Holmes?

HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: That's right. This is really kind of a fascinating case. Today, his defense attorneys are going to try to argue why he should be let out of prison pending a trial in the case.

Now, that is an uphill climb because, as you mentioned, there are a bevy of accusations in this affidavit against Rush, including that he lied in several applications to join the CIA, both about obtaining a master's degree and a bachelor's degree that the FBI says he never obtained, as well as being a Navy pilot. He was in the Navy, but he was a systems technician, not a pilot.

Now, he's also accused of being compensated for military leave after being honorably discharged. That's $77,000 worth of money that the FBI says he was not allowed to receive. That's where the gold bars now come in. From November to March of this year, Rush had requested these gold bars, as well as an untold amount of foreign currency for his job.

Now, he was given that money, as well as the gold bars, by the CIA, but then the CIA says they couldn't track where those gold bars were. That's when this case gets referred to the FBI. Now, in May, the FBI searches his home and finds, as you mentioned, that $40 million worth of gold bars, as well as $2 million in U.S. currency and 35 luxury watches.

Now, members of both of the CIA, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Todd Blanche, have briefed the lawmakers on the Hill about this case. We're hoping to learn a lot more as this detention hearing unfolds, but part of it is going to be behind closed doors because of the secretive nature of the CIA and of this case.

BOLDUAN: Yes, fascinating. It's exactly how you started. It is absolutely fascinating what is unfolding. We're already learning about this. Holmes, thank you very much.

So, is Pam Bondi throwing the now acting AG under the bus when it comes to the mess around the Epstein files and the release of them? Transcript is out of Bondi's closed-door interview with lawmakers. We've got more about what she is now saying.

And we're also minutes away from the release of a new jobs report this morning. I'm going to bring you those numbers as soon as they come in. Good look at the state of the U.S. economy and the labor market. We'll be back.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New this morning, philanthropist Melinda French-Gates giving away an eye-popping amount of money to address women's health. That is what she told CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his podcast. And Sanjay joins us now.

Sanjay, how much money are we talking about here and any specifics on what she wants to put it toward?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, it's $215 million this time around, but she's given a total of $600 million now over the last couple of years. It was really interesting talking to her, John, because you think about Gates, you think about global health primarily, a lot of attention now at home, specifically on women's health.

Interestingly, in the past, it was really focused on reproductive health. But what she said to me was that there's been such a paucity of money specifically towards perimenopause and menopause, that timeframe of a woman's life. That's where she really wants to focus a lot of the money, a lot of her attention Now. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Why are women's health issues minimized compared to men's health issues?

MELINDA FRENCH GATES, PHILANTHROPIST: Well, we have funded men's health issues for a very long time, but we have underfunded and under- researched conditions that affect women. And so, for so long, the medical community assumed the male body as the default body. And then we would take medications and say, OK, we'll take it down by a certain amount of a dosage for a woman.

That's just not true. A woman's body is very different than a man's. And so, we just have not funded this area. And if we're going to accelerate progress, we really do need to fund women's health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:00]

GUPTA (on camera): And that's what she really wants to focus on now, John. I will play you something she shared with me that I did not know, which is that women spend about 25 percent more of their lives -- 25 percent more compared to men, of their lives sick or having some sort of debilitating illness. That translates to years of life where women are just sicker than men. And a lot of that is happening around perimenopause, menopause, and it hasn't gotten a lot of attention.

So, hundreds of millions of dollars are now going to go towards that, John.

BERMAN: Good for her. She also talked some about her granddaughter, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes, she's a grandmother now. She's got an 18-month-old and a three-year-old granddaughter, a source of great pride for her. She wanted to talk about that quite a bit.

But, you know, I asked her, you know, sort of a simple question. How optimistic was she for their lives, for what the next several decades of their lives was going to look like? And here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRENCH GATES: It is very hard to think that my two granddaughters have fewer rights than I have in this country. Because the Dobbs decision, they have fewer rights than I had growing up. That is the oddest thing in the world.

We had a policy on the books for almost 50 years for women, and we rolled it back. That is very bizarre to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: I think we spent a lot of time during the podcast talking about that particular thing. You can get the sense, John, she's pretty fired up about this. You know, hundreds of millions of dollars.

I asked her if she was going to be funding political candidates, things like that, to try and address some of these things that she feels so passionate about. And she said, yes, you know if that's what it takes. You know, they typically have been funding policy work.

But you may see a shift in tone through her organization, which is called Pivotal, in terms of what they want to do in the future.

BERMAN: I feel like I did hear a shift in tone, even in the way she was talking to you, from what I remember her sounding like in the past. It sounds really interesting. I can't wait to hear more. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

And you can catch Sunday's full interview of Melinda Gates on the "CHASING LIFE" podcast, now streaming on the CNN app. All right, a new warning this morning from one of the top AI companies

in the world. What is that warning?

And in just a few minutes, the brand new job support. Three minutes exactly coming in. What will it say about the state of the economy?

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