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Jobs Growth Blows Past Expectations, 172,000 Jobs Added in May; Bondi Blames Blanche for Handling of Epstein Files; Win for Trump as Senate GOP Overcomes Revolt, Passes $70 Billion Bill. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The breaking news, brand new jobs numbers just in, a big month with solid growth, but what does it say about wages?

The Senate passes ICE funding but does not pass a ban on what some call the president's $1.8 billion retribution fund. Some fissures inside the Republican Party.

Plus, a plane's landing gear suddenly collapses, slamming the jet nose first right into the ground.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, the jobs report blowing past expectations. The economy added a much stronger than expected 172,000 jobs last month, talking about the May jobs report. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 percent.

CNN's Matt Egan is back with us. Make sense of it. What happened?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, if you were just looking at this report, you would never know we're in the middle of a war and an energy price spike because this really blew away expectations, the U.S. economy adding, as you mentioned, 172,000 jobs in May. The forecast was for 105. There were whispers for half that. So, that is a significant beat, and there were positive revisions.

BOLDUAN: That's what I was going to ask. Tell me about the revisions. That's now become my new favorite thing.

EGAN: Yes. Well, we've become so accustomed to negative revisions, and now we've got the opposite, right? There was a modest increase from March to a very healthy 214,000, but April was revised sharply higher to 179,000. When you look at the trend here, you can see there were a few months last year where the U.S. economy outright lost jobs, perhaps because of tariffs and other issues. Not anymore. In fact, now we have three straight months of 100,000-plus jobs being added in the U.S. economy. We haven't seen that in two years. Unemployment rate, it stabilized. It stayed at 4.3 percent. It has come down from those slightly higher levels last year. If the job market were falling apart, that number would be going completely in the other direction.

BOLDUAN: So, Matt, what's going on then? Why do people say they're hurting so much? Bring these two things together.

EGAN: Yes. Well, what people are experiencing is the fact that their paychecks are just not keeping up, right? We have a situation where wages were up by 3.4 percent in May. That's a solid number. That's okay. But the problem is that prices are going up much faster. We don't have a May inflation number yet, but the forecast from the Cleveland Fed is 4.2 percent.

So, that means if you adjust your paycheck for inflation, your paycheck is actually getting smaller, and the things that are getting more expensive, gasoline, groceries, you can't avoid them, right? So, some people have had to dip into savings. They've had to put some of their spending on credit cards, neither of which is a good thing, neither of which is sustainable.

So, people are feeling --

BOLDUAN: They're getting jobs, but life is still harder.

EGAN: Yes. They're getting jobs. And sometimes those jobs are part- time jobs. Sometimes those jobs are lower-paying jobs.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: Healthcare has been one of the leaders in job creation. Some of those jobs are not as higher, as high-paying. But the good news in this report is that there's been broader job growth than in the past. It's not just healthcare. Government added 52,000 jobs. I was surprised by that. Federal was flat. State was down. This was actually all local government. In fact, it was all local government, excluding education. So, we've got to dig into a little bit more about what's going on there because that's a big number for local government.

Leisure and hospitality added 70,000 jobs. That's a lot of jobs for that sector. That was mostly bars and restaurants. And economists have said that the World Cup could actually boost hiring in leisure and hospitality.

But, look, information lost jobs, that could be related to artificial intelligence. Transportation hiring was only up a little bit. There was some job loss related to the Spirit Airlines bankruptcy. So, you put it together, very solid job growth, but paychecks are not keeping up with prices.

BOLDUAN: All right. Matt, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. John?

BERMAN: Thank you, Kate. New fallout this morning in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Pam Bondi, who was fired as attorney general, is now deflecting responsibility on the Epstein case to Todd Blanche, President Trump's pick to replace her.

Newly released transcripts show that Bondi told Congress that Blanche, who was her number two at the Justice Department, was personally in charge of the much criticized release of the Epstein files.

Let's get right to CNN's Marshall Cohen for the latest on this. She talked about him a lot, Marshall.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, John, she sure did, and if you had to sum up her testimony in three words, it would be, don't blame me, because that was the thrust of what she told lawmakers last week behind closed doors at the House Oversight Committee.

We got a transcript of her interview last night.

[09:05:01]

It was more than 100 pages long. But, yes, she shifted the blame onto her potential successor, Todd Blanche, who was her number two at the time. He's the acting A.G. now, and he is, by all accounts, expected to be the president's pick for the full-time position.

Let me read for you a little bit about what she said. This is from the transcript that we got yesterday. Question, what was your role in carrying out the Epstein Files Transparency Act? Answer, Todd Blanche supervised that entire process, pretty clear. She went on to say, quote, he was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files. This is important because, look, if Blanche is nominated, he's going to have to go before the Senate for his confirmation hearing, and he will be heavily scrutinized.

The rollout of the Epstein files was criticized from the left, from the right, from a lot of the victims and survivors, things that were over-redacted, under-redacted. A lot of people thought it was a mess, and now Blanche might have to answer to it.

Also in this transcript, more than 100 pages, a lot in there, Pam Bondi said very clearly and insistently that the Justice Department released everything that it was required to release. You may recall there were about 3 million pages that were put out, about 3 million pages that were withheld. She said that everything withheld was either a duplicate or privileged and couldn't be released anyway.

She also said that she had nothing to do with that controversial transfer of Epstein's convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. She was moved to a more comfortable federal facility. Bondi said she had nothing to do with that. She learned about it in the press. And she said that she thought Ghislaine Maxwell was a monster. John?

BERMAN: Basically, Todd did it, the gist to a lot of her testimony, which now Todd Blanche will have to deal with when he is nominated to be attorney general full-time, no doubt, when he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Marshall Cohen, thank you so much for your reporting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Joining us now to talk about this is Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He's a member of House Oversight, this key committee, also House Intelligence. It's good to see you, Congressman.

Pam Bondi spoke out after the interview with the committee to push back on suggestions that she threw Todd Blanche under the bus, saying this, not true. I praised acting A.G. Blanche's management of this herculean task. I said his ethics are beyond reproach and that he is an incredible attorney general.

Did she or did she not blame him, in your view?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Oh, she absolutely blamed him. She left him holding the bag. She basically said that he handled the entire kind of disclosure or non-disclosure of the Epstein files, which is, you know, in contravention of the law. She said she read about the whole Ghislaine Maxwell situation online with regard to her transfer to a low security prison.

So, I think that it's fair to say that she blames Todd Blanche for everything, and that's in part why I believe Todd Blanche needs to answer these questions. I think he's not really fit to be the attorney general in light of this whole Epstein debacle, as well as the anti- weaponization fund, which we can talk about later, too.

BOLDUAN: Yes. We heard from -- I've heard from other Democrats that after with what Bondi said, and you're saying it here, you want to hear from Todd Blanche, that Todd Blanche should testify. Is that going to happen? Is there real movement to issue a subpoena? Does the fact that he's going to be nominated for the full-time job as attorney general complicate that? Like is it going to happen?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I believe it must happen. I think that he needs to answer for a variety of issues related to this situation at the least in a transcribed interview, if not under subpoena. Certainly in the Senate Judiciary, he needs to be asked very probing questions about this as well.

BOLDUAN: Anti-weaponization fund, we watched this voting marathon overnight. There was a Republican kind of revolt, especially Republicans who are in tough re-election battles. The Republicans like this about as much as Democrats seem to like this anti-weaponization fund. But the Senate did not move to put actual language in to kind of make sure it remained dead, though Todd Blanche said that it's not going to happen.

What would be enough? Like what do you actually think is going to happen here?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, it's interesting you said that Todd Blanche said it's not going to happen, and then the president said how he thinks it's a beautiful idea. And I think that is the reason why so many people are so skeptical that this slush fund is not going to happen.

And I think that's why yesterday they had so much trouble getting the reconciliation package, which is an outrageous package for other reasons through the Senate because there're so many senators that wanted to add language kind of banishing this fund from ever happening.

[09:10:00]

I think the same problem is going to happen in the House, Kate. I think that there are going to be a number of Republicans, of course, all Democrats are going to oppose it because it doesn't have this type of language among other things. And I think that one of the reasons is, you know, it turns out that upwards of 100 of the 1,600 insurrectionists and others who were convicted of crimes or charged with crimes on January 6th have now been arrested again or charged with crimes again. And so this is not a group of people who should ever get any clemency, let alone money from a fund because, A, it's morally wrong, and, B, it's just going to encourage another January 6th.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you this. You're not running at all, and you're definitely not running in Maine, unless you want to break some news here. But I do want to ask you about Maine and Graham Platner. He's running for Senate there as the Democrat. He is being followed, as you know, by a trail of controversies, the latest being reported by The New York Times, allegations from former girlfriends describing volatile and toxic relationships, allegations of heavy drinking and infidelity, one accusing Platner of physical intimidation. Do you think he is a good representative of the Democratic Party?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I have severe concerns at this point. I'd like to hear him address everything. You know, given what we know about what's been disclosed so far, I'm concerned that --

BOLDUAN: Well, he did last night. He spoke out last night, and he put out a statement, and he said, essentially, I have not lived a perfect life, but I have not done some of the things that are alleged, and I've never -- I've never been physically violent. Do you think still that he is a good representative of the Democratic Party?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I have strong concerns at this point. And I think that my biggest concern is that, you know, if -- you know, stepping back for a second, if we're going to hold ourselves to a standard with regard to you know, whether it's in the Epstein situation or any other situation in the House with regard to the treatment of women, it's got to be the same standard that everybody lives up to regardless of who they are. And I'm very concerned that --

BOLDUAN: But, Congressman, does serious questions from you --

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I'm very concerned here.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Does serious concerns and serious questions means you would like to see him not to suspend his campaign? KRISHNAMOORTHI: I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is I think he has to be more forthcoming and candid about exactly what has happened and transpired.

I saw the other day that he had questioned the veracity of a former elected official, a woman who came forward and said more about him. And I think like you just have to like, you know, be very candid at this point.

I believe that there's an unfortunate situation with regard to the treatment of women. We're seeing it all the time in the House. We're seeing it with the Epstein files. We're seeing it everywhere. If we're going to be the ones who are consistent on this, then we have to be consistent with regard to everybody, regardless of what party they belong to.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you for coming in. John?

BERMAN: All right. We're getting a new update just in on the search for an American student gone missing in Japan.

And we're standing by for sentencing in the case of the man convicted of killing his wife in a plot with a family au pair.

And at an elementary school, students start feeling weird. Ultimately, they get sent home. This is an elementary school. They tested positive for pot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

BOLDUAN: Very soon, the Virginia man convicted of killing his wife and a stranger in what has been become known as the au pair affair murders will learn his fate in court. Brendan Banfield is who we're talking about. He faces life in prison with no possibility of parole after a judge denied a very late request by his attorneys yesterday to overturn his convictions.

Banfield was found guilty of murdering his wife, Christine, and a stranger, as I mentioned, in a case that prosecutors said was fueled by his relationship with the family's au pair. Christine's longtime best friend spoke exclusively with CNN's Jean Casarez about this moment and about who Christine was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCILLE PRIOLLO, LIFELONG BEST FRIEND OF CHRISTINE BANFIELD: I would say she was probably one of the kindest people I have ever been in contact with. She always knew she -- you know, she was like I want that, to be a mom, you know, and have that. And she was a great mom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And Jean Cazares is here with me now. Tell me more about what she's what her friend said.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's so much I could tell you. I spoke with Christine for quite a while. She was an intensive pediatric care nurse, and she worked with rape victims. Very important, she said, always respect. Respect the patient, respect the victim. That was her motto. That's how she lived. She told me that she doesn't think she had any idea that her husband and the au pair were having an affair under their roof in the family home. Because she said she was private, Christine, but they'd had conversations, she and her best friend, about things like this before, and she thinks she knows she would open up to her, and she would not take it under her own roof, at all.

I also asked her about what it was like, because they knew each other when they were three months old is when they met. What was it like when you found out that your best friend had just been murdered?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRIOLO: It was shocking. You know, when you say you're friends with someone for 37 years, that's not long enough. It's -- it really isn't.

[09:20:02]

Not the type of person she was. I wanted longer, and we were cut short of that.

CASAREZ: You know what sometimes people forget is that you are a victim, too. You are an extension of the family. If you were able to give a victim impact statement, because I know you wanted to and the family wanted you to be able to, what would be in that victim impact statement?

PRIOLO: Just knowing that, like I said, we were cut short. There was so many more memories that needed to be made, and he took that from us. You know, I just recently got engaged, and that is one of the biggest things that hurts my heart knowing that she won't be there. She won't get to stand with me, because we have been through everything together.

CASAREZ: If there was one thing that you could say to Brendan Banfield at this point, what would you want to say to him?

PRIOLO: Why? Why? I mean, that's really just it. Why couldn't you just leave? If you weren't happy, just go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: And we will be having victim impact statements today. The judge will then determine the sentence, which can only be life in prison without the possibility of parole. This was a double murder.

I think the question that many of us would have is was it worth it, Brendan Banfield?

BOLDUAN: That is a very good question, Jean. It's good to see you. Thank you so much for your continued coverage, and for bringing in this conversation to hear more about the victim here.

Jean's going to have that full coverage of today's sentencing beginning at 10:30 A.M. on CNN All Access. John?

BERMAN: All right. In Japan, search teams have now paused for the night, it is nighttime there, looking for a missing Auburn University student in the woods where he was last seen. 20-year-old James Weston Higginbotham disappeared while on vacation with his parents and brother.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery's been covering this, speaking with the family, and actually joined the search in Kyoto. Hanako, tell us what you saw.

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, of course. The Higginbothams are extremely emotionally distressed about this current situation. They told us earlier on Friday that they are looking to hire a private search party to look for their 20-year-old son, and they're also calling on any volunteers in the Kyoto area to help them find the college student in the nearby wooded areas near where he was last spotted.

And the reason for that is because he is a known hiker. He loves Mother Nature. And they think that maybe after having a small argument with his parents, he might have blown off some steam in those woods. So, they are hoping that they might find him in those forests.

Now, we did accompany authorities during a search mission earlier on Friday. We saw them use sniffer dogs to try to find any scents try to find any evidence of Weston on those trails. And, you know, those forests were pretty dense. They had some pretty difficult terrain. So, you can imagine just how difficult this search party is for Weston Higginbotham.

Now, the police did confirm to us that as of now, the forest search of this operation has concluded for now until they might find any further evidence. And that news, I mean, was received with a lot of mixed emotions and reactions from the Higginbothams. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY HIGGINBOTHAM, SON JAMES WESTON HIGGINBOTHAM MISSING IN JAPAN: It was a really tough time hearing them say that, you know, they've concluded that search because, you know, those woods are dense and there are so many acres that did not get touched. And if anyone knows Weston, he can trek some miles. So, it's just so mixed emotions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MONTGOMERY: But the police have told us that they won't stop looking for Weston until they find him, and that is giving the family a little bit of hope right now in these very desperate times. John?

BERMAN: Yes, it's got to be so difficult. Hannah Montgomery in Kyoto tonight, thank you for tonight there, this morning here. Thank you very much. President Trump is headed to Wisconsin today to meet with farmers, but are there signs there's something of a rural revolt? Easy for me to say. Is he losing support with some of the key farm states that he's enjoyed in the past?

And then popes, they're just like us. Pope Leo gets a refund from an old PayPal account.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

BOLDUAN: So, the breaking news this morning, Senate Republicans handing President Trump a big win after tamping down an internal rebellion that appeared to be growing during an all-night session on Capitol Hill. They passed early this morning a $70 billion bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the end of the president's second term.

The big holdup became the president's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. Some Republicans, especially those who were facing tough re- elections, threatened to tank the immigration bill over it, fearing it could be used to give taxpayer money to violent January 6th rioters.

The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, had said to Congress that the fund was not moving forward, but after what the president had said following that, the final bill, there was a big question -- there is a big question around it, and the final bill includes no formal guarantee that if the fund is dead, that it will remain dead.

The top Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, was just on our show and spoke to John about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Lauren Fox is live for us this morning to talk more about this. So, what now, Lauren?

[09:30:01]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the next step for this bill is going to be it has to go through the House of Representatives. The House is going to take it up next week, we expect.