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Trump Fires Labor Stats Chief after Weak Jobs Report; Ghislaine Maxwell Moved to Minimum Security Prison Camp; Trump Flexes Nuclear Muscle amid Spat with Medvedev; U.S. Officials Visit Aid Site as Starvation Grips Gaza; Netanyahu Postpones Decision on Military Action; President Adding $200 Million Ballroom to the White House; Pope Makes Appearance at Vatican Youth Jubilee. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired August 02, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Firing the messenger: U.S. President Donald Trump goes after the person behind the U.S. jobs report, accusing her of manipulating the numbers.
Plus, the president says he'll reposition two nuclear submarines after what he called highly provocative comments from a top Russian official.
And a commercial for a pair of pants is now at the center of an online culture war the White House is wading into headfirst.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin with the fallout from president Donald Trump's scathing attack on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. He fired the head of the agency after it released an alarming new jobs report on Friday. It said only 73,000 jobs were added in July and revised numbers for May and June down sharply.
The president accused the former commissioner without evidence of manipulating the report for political purposes.
The president also called on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to step down after a member of the Fed's Board of Governors said she's retiring early. Trump claims she's quitting due to disagreements with Powell over interest rates.
Now some economists and lawmakers are slamming the president for firing the BLS commissioner. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more from Washington. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: As president Trump left the White House on Friday evening to spend a weekend at his Bedminster golf resort, he was defending his decision to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is the office that oversees the monthly jobs report.
This came in the wake of a very weak jobs report for July, showing only 73,000 new jobs were added, about half of what analysts suggested, coming on the waves of the dramatic changes in Trump's tariff program.
He also was clearly offended and angered by the May and June revisions in that jobs report, saying that fewer than 20,000 jobs were created each month, down from about a quarter of a million jobs as initially forecast.
Now those revisions are common. It happens every month in the job report. But the president seized on it and called it rigged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: You said the jobs report today were rigged?
TRUMP: Oh, yes, I think so. If you look at before the election, the same kind of thing happened. I think you'll see some very interesting information come out.
But we got rid of -- you have to have honest reports. And when you look at those numbers or when you look at just before the election and then after the election, they corrected it by 800,000 or 900,000 jobs -- yes, I would say so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: The president producing no evidence that the jobs numbers were actually rigged. The beginning of setting up a narrative that we have seen before, trying to create a rationale for doing a decision like this.
But some former officials from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are calling on Congress to investigate this firing. Even former Trump appointees are saying that this could set a bad precedent.
Jobs numbers are always seen as nonpolitical, apolitical. So this is something that certainly could create a ripple effect going forward. But one thing it does not change are the challenges in the economy, the manufacturing sector and actual job creation.
Numbers have been weaker than the president would like. So clearly he's trying to fire the messenger here. But that doesn't change the bottom line about the economy -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar explains how investors are reacting to the president's controversial move.
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RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST, GLOBAL BUSINESS COLUMNIST & ASSOCIATE EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: So the data was a little surprising but absolutely not unexpected.
A lot of us have been expecting that the economy would slow at some point soon. Just as a factual matter, if you discount the quick down and up blip of COVID, we're actually seven years overdue for recession by historical standards. So weakening jobs numbers at this point doesn't surprise me.
What does surprise me is that the president is politicizing yet another aspect of government functioning. First, it was the Fed, Jay Powell under pressure.
Now it's the person that's actually putting out the data, which, by the way, he wasn't complaining when good jobs numbers came out, from the same agency, with the same commissioner.
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The thing that's very worrisome about this, this is what emerging markets do. This is what countries like China or Turkey do. When data comes in that officials don't like?
The data has changed and that's why those countries are uninvestable, in some cases or frightening off investors. That is what is at risk here.
I've talked to several, several international investors, about the politicization of the basic functions, economic functions of government. This is what is going to drive them out of the U.S. and I'm not surprised to see the market reacting to all of this today. It's making people very worried.
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BRUNHUBER: And as she explained, president Trump's new tariffs are shaking up global markets. U.S. stocks suffered from selloffs on Friday following the trade announcement. The Dow closed 1.2 percent lower, while the S&P 500 fell 1.6 percent. And the Nasdaq composite dropped nearly 2.25 percent.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their worst days since May and April, respectively.
Meanwhile, stocks across Europe also closed lower on Friday, with Germany's DAX index dropping 2.6 percent and France's CAC 40 falling almost 3 percent. This comes after Trump announced his revised tariff plan, which hiked rates for most countries.
CNN's Anna Cooban has more on the potential impacts of president Trump's new tariff scheme.
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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: So Trump has done it again, announcing a huge round of tariffs on America's trading partners and spooking investors. Now there are a few things to watch out for next.
Firstly, how exactly will this affect U.S. consumers?
Tariffs are essentially import taxes. They tend to raise the price of goods for end consumers. And those tariffs are set to rise for the vast majority of America's imported goods over time.
Higher prices on shelves could push up overall inflation, which means that, for many Americans, their monthly paycheck wouldn't go quite as far as it once did.
Secondly, how will this affect America's relationship with its allies?
Take Canada; the White House increased its tariffs on some goods from 25 percent to 35 percent over claims that it has not done enough to prevent the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Canada says it's been working quite intensively to further reduce that flow.
But all this happens soon after Canada said it plans to recognize a Palestinian state next month, provoking Trump to say that that decision could derail trade talks. Now some Canadian exports to the U.S. that are covered by a preexisting free trade agreement will be exempt from the higher rate.
But by suddenly hiking tariffs on countries that it's negotiating with, America is testing some of its closest alliances.
And lastly, will Trump chicken out?
Because we've been here before with Trump announcing new tariffs and delaying or retracting them, so much so that investors have coined a new term, TACO, which stands for Trump Always Chickens Out.
Given that most of the new tariffs are due to come in on August 7th, there is still plenty of time for that to happen -- Anna Cooban, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: A U.S. federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's order that blocks the Trump administration from carrying out indiscriminate immigration sweeps and arrests in California.
The Trump administration had asked the court to overturn that order, arguing it hindered their enforcement of immigration law.
The judge in the earlier ruling said there was a, quote, "mountain of evidence" that the federal enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. Immigrant advocacy groups accused the Trump administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California. The judge says the government can't use factors like race, language,
presence at a location and occupation as the only criteria for reasonably suspicion to stop someone.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a lower security prison camp in Texas.
The move comes a week after she met privately with the deputy attorney general as the Epstein files fallout intensifies. Neither the Justice Department nor Maxwell's attorney have explained the transfer. CNN's Ed Lavandera visited the facility in Bryan, Texas, and has this report for us.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the first things you notice when you arrive here at the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, is that much of it is not surrounded by tall fencing with razor wire.
Most of it is surrounded by a simple black metal fence that you would see in many residential neighborhoods across the country. And that kind of gets to the point here, that this is a minimum security facility.
We are told that there are more than 600 female inmates at this facility. And it's also, we should point out, very unusual that Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred here. This is a facility, a prison camp, that usually houses inmates that are considered to be low risk, not a flight risk and also be nonviolent.
But there are a number of high-profile inmates at this particular location in Bryan, Texas. One of them, including Jen Shaw, who was a cast member of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" and also Elizabeth Holmes, who was executive in the blood testing company, Theranos, and part of a high-profile criminal trial just a few years ago.
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But this facility has areas for outdoor recreation. There's an area underneath some oak trees in the shade, where inmates can sit in benches and chairs. They're simply surrounded by one chain with signs that say "out of bounds" if you go beyond that area and it literally sits right at the entrance into the prison camp.
Federal prison officials have not explained the details and the specifics of how Maxwell was transferred from a facility, a more secure facility in Tallahassee, to this one here in Texas. They have not explained that.
But for the moment, Ghislaine Maxwell is one of the most high-profile inmates here at this prison camp -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Bryan, Texas.
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BRUNHUBER: We want to show you some live pictures now. After a flight lasting almost 16 hours, the SpaceX Dragon is now docked with the International Space Station.
Astronauts from the SpaceX capsule are now on board the station -- you can see them there -- launched from the Kennedy Space Center Friday morning with four astronauts on board.
They're planning to spend six months on the space station. They will perform science experiments, involving moon landing simulations, eyesight testing in 0 g conditions and stem cell research. The four members of Crew 10 who've been on the station will return to Earth.
All right. Still ahead, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East visits a controversial aid site in Gaza. We'll have more on the visit as the Israeli prime minister weighs his military's next operations inside the enclave. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Russia is warning some of Ukraine's allies that they could become targets of its new intermediate range hypersonic missile.
President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that a Russian missile has entered production and will be deployed in Belarus. It's the kind of weapon once banned under a defunct Soviet-era treaty.
He also said Moscow could use it against the countries that gave Ukraine their longer range weapons for strikes on Russia. The missile is believed to have the range of up to 3,400 miles or 5,500 kilometers. Putin claims it flies 10 times the speed of sound and can carry multiple warheads.
While Moscow and Washington are engaging in some nuclear saber- rattling amid a verbal spat between their current and former presidents, former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev recently brought up Russia's nuclear strike capabilities as part of a back-and-forth with U.S. president Donald Trump.
They were arguing after Trump shortened his deadline for Russia to make peace with Ukraine. But as Natasha Bertrand reports, Trump answered by redeploying some of his own nuclear fleet.
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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: President Trump, on Friday, announced that he is ordering two nuclear submarines to be deployed closer, potentially, to Russia, following remarks by former president, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on social media alluding to
Russia's nuclear capabilities.
President Trump essentially said that the reason why he is deploying these nuclear submarines is because, "Medvedev has made foolish and inflammatory
statements," and he wants to have these nuclear submarines available in the region. Should those statements be, "More than just that."
President Trump said, "Words are very important and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances."
Now it's unclear at this point just what kind of nuclear submarines are going to be repositioned. The U.S. has nuclear powered submarines.
Essentially all of its submarines are nuclear powered but only about 14 of them are actually capable of carrying nuclear weapons. And it is the
longstanding policy of the United States to neither confirm nor deny when its submarines that are capable of carrying these nuclear warheads are
actually carrying them.
And so, at this point, it's not clear what kind of submarines are being repositioned and just what they're carrying.
However, it's worth noting that it is very extraordinary for the U.S. to reveal at all where its nuclear submarines actually are in the world, these
nuclear capable submarines, they routinely patrol near U.S. adversaries, including Russia and China, for example. But it is very, very uncommon and
very rare for the U.S. to say anything about. Their particular whereabouts, because, of course, they are meant to operate in extreme secrecy.
So what this is essentially doing is sending a signal to the Russians that the U.S. has these capabilities and that they're nearby. We should also
note that as of right now, the Kremlin has not responded to President Trump's announcement that he would be deploying these nuclear submarines.
Natasha Bertrand, CNN, in Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Earlier, CNN spoke about the submarine deployment with former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, retired General Wesley Clark. And he said president Trump's move plays right into Russia's hands. Here he is.
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GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: It probably feeds the Russian disinformation plan because it raises the temperature, scares people, that there might be a nuclear. And that's what Russia's been trying to do all along, is scare people about nuclear.
Now if you want an effective response, you push the weapons into Ukraine. And instead they've been slowed to a trickle. So you know, this is just rhetoric but it's rhetoric that he may think it makes him look strong and tough in front of some supporters but actually it works against us and in favor of Russia.
Well, I think Medvedev is a provocateur operating on Mr. Putin's instructions. And I think it's a -- it's a long series of these statements, designed to intimidate the West, to not help us to under -- to rationalize not supporting Ukraine.
And so when we play into it with the nuclear submarine maneuvers, were playing into that Russian information game.
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But if you really want to move toward a ceasefire and toward a resolution, the only way to do it is on the ground. And that is, you've got to stop the Russian advance cold. And you've got to convince Mr. Putin he's going to lose and he should stop right now because he's going to lose more if he continues.
Now if you're not willing to do that, if you're afraid of doing that, he's going to continue to issue provocative statements. He's going to continue to say, oh, let's talk about peace. And he's going to send people forward.
He's got 30,000 North Korean troops lined up behind Pokrovsk. He's got a new front he's opening around Sumy. And the big punch will come toward Mykolaiv and Odessa sometime in September.
Now that's the Russian game plan. That's what they've been working on. And all of the rest of the stuff is just, it's just nonsense. The sanctions are not going to stop that machine from coming forward. So we've got a few weeks to do more on the ground. That's it.
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BRUNHUBER: Residents are trying to pick up the pieces after Russia's deadliest attack on Ukraine's capital in a year. At least 31 people were killed in Kyiv on Thursday morning, with almost 160 others injured. Most of the casualties came from a residential building that partially
collapsed after taking a direct hit from a Russian missile. Nick Paton Walsh went to the scene.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The night terror was commonplace blasts. The buzz of drones across the capital skyline but the impact on the city's northwestern edges was not.
A Russian missile hit number 12 Juby (ph) Street at about 4:40 am Thursday. Dawn met with devastation and neighbors carrying their pets out. The force of the blast, huge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): God it is awful.
WALSH (voice-over): This drone shot shows just how. The entire side torn away, floors collapsing on the sleeping. Officials said six dead at first but the gruesome task of unpacking the rubble got underway.
The limp body of a boy carried out. Rescuers cutting through wires, breaking through walls to get this man out about 5 hours later. But if they dug deeper, the numbers of dead shot up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Our light just turned on.
WALSH (voice-over): Dozens injured but a total of 28 dead here and the panic came back to another air raid siren. Survivors here running to the shelter again. Some overwhelmed.
Others explaining they thought the air raid all clear was given the night before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We woke up because of the explosion. We're on the eight floor and the explosion wave hit us, everything was blown out.
WALSH (voice-over): Over 24 hours later, they could safely clear the rubble away.
WALSH: It's really hard to reconcile the sheer scale of the destruction here. I mean, the whole side of this building just torn off. You can see how so many died. Floor collapsing on floor to reconcile the scale of the damage of the tiny little fragments of personal lives that have just been blown out across the dust here.
People coming back in to the neighboring block, taken out while they can. Hard hats, mandatory. The whole lives here completely upturned in a matter of seconds.
WALSH (voice-over): Killed by the Kremlin here, Six-year old Matvii Marchenko, who loved karate with his elder brothers. I.T. Specialist Vitaliy Raboshchuk with his daughter, Vlada, 18 and Iryna Humeniuk with her two daughters, Anastasiia and Alina.
One miracle here, too, blown out of the ninth floor, was Veronika, aged 23, who landed with only a broken leg.
VERONIKA, MISSILE HIT SURVIVOR (through translation): I was just sleeping, I woke up on the rubble. Most likely I glided down. I don't know what happened. It was a levitation.
WALSH (voice-over): Both her parents died in the attack. No bright spots here, just the hope it might somehow stop -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
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BRUNHUBER: We'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: After a visit from top U.S. officials, Israel's prime minister has postponed making a decision on military operations in Gaza until next week. That's if Hamas doesn't agree to a deal.
A source tells CNN there have been disagreements within the Israeli government about what they should do next, as Hamas has reportedly withdrawn from ceasefire and hostage release negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he's working on a plan to get people fed as starvation grips Gaza. Israel and the U.S. back a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The U.S. ambassador to Israel praised the group for delivering more than 100 million meals since its launch in May, with a population of 2.1 million people.
That works out to less than one meal a day for each resident. President Trump says he spoke with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff after Witkoff and the U.S. ambassador to Israel visited one of the groups aid sites in Gaza on Friday. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more from Tel Aviv.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, as starvation grips Gaza, President Trump dispatching his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to go
on the ground and see a distribution firsthand.
Witkoff was inside of Gaza for about five hours, assessing conditions on the ground, meeting with Gaza humanitarian foundation officials, as well as
receiving a briefing from the Israeli military. Witkoff said that he was aiming to give President Trump a clearer understanding of the humanitarian situation on the ground in order to inform U.S. plans to address those very conditions themselves.
But Witkoff was on the ground to witness a very specific model of aid distribution. And that is that of the controversial private American Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation, which is backed not only by the U.S. government but also by Israel itself.
And the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and pretty much every other NGO actually operating on the ground because they say it has increased risks for Palestinians.
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But the United States seems to be doubling down on this GHF model. We heard the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who joined Witkoff on the
ground saying that GHF has delivered a hundred million meals in two months. He was touting this GHF model. But one figure that he didn't mention was
the number 600 and that is the number -- more than 600 actually number of people who have been killed as they've been trying to make their way to
these GHF sites shot by Israeli forces according to eyewitnesses on the ground and a CNN analysis of Palestinian Health Ministry data.
And in fact, as Witkoff was on the ground today, yet another deadly incident took place near the very same GHF site that Witkoff was visiting.
Three people were killed, six injured by gunfire near that very same GHF site, according to Nasser Hospital. Eyewitnesses on the ground said that
the Israeli military opened fire on people who were headed to that site.
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AHMAD ABU ARMANAH, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): As soon as Witkoff arrived in the area, there was random gunfire. The shooting intensified
along with drones and quadcopters in the air and they started firing at people. Bodies are scattered all over the place. We can't survive like
this. Open the crossings. We want a truce. We want to live. For the sake of God, we want to live. People are literally battling each other. Witkoff and his visit are nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: A U.S. embassy spokesperson told me that they have not heard, quote, "any reports of clashes or injuries near the vicinity of the visit."
The Israeli military, however, confirmed that they fired what they described as warning shots at a, quote, "gathering of suspects" who they
said were advancing toward Israeli troops in Rafah, in that southern part of the Gaza Strip. But they said they were not aware of any casualties.
The question now is what will Witkoff take away from this visit today and how will it actually improve the situation on the ground?
Because for now,
even as we have seen Israeli restrictions that have been in place for months now that led to this starvation crisis, many of those restrictions
have been relaxed. We're seeing about 200 U.N. trucks per day getting distributed inside of Gaza but that's still well short of the 500 to 600
trucks a day that U.N. officials say are needed.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right. For more on this, I want to bring in Alon Pinkas, former Israeli consul general in New York and he joins us from Tel Aviv.
Good to see you again.
So with Witkoff's visit and the comments that we've been hearing from president Trump about the situation in Gaza, do you get the sense that there's a shift going on at all in the White House?
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL, NEW YORK: Yes, Kim, I mean, I get the sense that there's a shift. But the question is how rapid that shift is going to be.
I have no doubt -- even though I don't know for a fact -- I have no doubt that part of Steve Witkoff's visit here was to warn Netanyahu that he's making America look bad, that he is -- he's making America and Trump, by extension, look complicit in what's going on in Gaza.
And he asks him to curtail any widening of the war or military operations and funnel in significantly more humanitarian aid. That's one thing.
The second thing is that I think now it's a waiting game that will not last more than a week or so. If there is no deal -- and a deal does not seem likely in the next few days -- and there's no military operation, what then?
If footage of starvation, malnutrition and humanitarian catastrophe keeps coming out of Gaza, which I am tragically sure it will, then that shift that you were referring to may be quicker in the -- to materialize than we think. Then trump could actually, you know, lose his patience.
We all know that his attention span, his patience and his erratic behavior on this is notorious. And so we'll have to wait and see for a few days.
BRUNHUBER: OK, so if that actually happens, then I'm wondering; building on the question that our reporter was asking, what the -- what the takeaway for Witkoff will be if there is, you know, what you're talking about there and maybe a bit of a break with Netanyahu, if Donald Trump feels that he's being made to look bad.
Concretely, how will that change things either on the ground in Gaza in terms of possibly getting more aid in or affecting the stalled peace talks?
PINKAS: Well, I'll submit to you, Kim, in a hypothetical: Trump loses patience in three days.
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Three days from now, he picks up the phone and tells Netanyahu the following. Listen, I've been patient with you. You have made pledges to end this war as far back as January. In fact, even before I was inaugurated, I pushed you to sign that ceasefire deal in January.
We both know that you violated it in March. Since March, and now we're in August, since March, you've been telling me that you're going to end the war. You asked me for your assistance in Iran and bombing, sending B-2 bombers to bomb three nuclear sites. I've done that.
Yet you haven't delivered. So here's the thing. You have 72 hours to end this war and immediately allow for humanitarian aid en masse to go into Gaza or there will be repercussions.
He should not specify the repercussions. He should not even make this public, necessarily, this phone call or at least the contents.
If that happens, if this hypothetical -- and Trump has it in his powers to do so -- if he picks up the phone and tells Netanyahu, basically you have three days to end this war or else the war will end, believe it or not, the war will end.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting hypothetical. We haven't seen any such, you know, firm deadline from Trump so far. Interesting to see whether that develops in the next couple of days. In the meantime, there is all of the global outrage that we've been
seeing over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Now more countries planning to recognize a Palestinian state. It seems as if Israel is becoming more and more isolated.
What are the practical consequences of this?
And does Netanyahu's government care at all or are they just kind of resigned to it?
PINKAS: Oh, they're resigned to it. In fact, they relish it. Kim. They think it's us against the world. The world doesn't get it. The world is wrong. We know what we're doing.
Netanyahu has these delusions of grandeur that he's the savior of Western civilization. But there is a critical mass that is being formed. I mean, when 147 countries out of 193 member states in the U.N. recognize Palestine in the last two years, we all said, you know, well, it's symbolic, it's declarative, it's impractical.
It doesn't change reality on the ground. When three of Israel's major allies, Canada, Britain and France, Britain and France being also members of the permanent members of the Security Council, when they come out with a pledge or an intention, a stated intention to recognize a Palestinian state, the practicality no longer matters.
This is diplomatic pressure. The only missing -- the only missing component in this is, as is what we've just discussed, the U.S. There's no question in my -- look, four out of the five permanent members -- China, Russia, Britain and France -- basically recognize the Palestinian state.
Does that mean that Palestinian state will be established tomorrow?
Of course not. But it creates a critical mass of pressure. You called it isolation. The Israeli media is melodramatically calling it a diplomatic tsunami. Israel is ostracized. Israel is regarded as a rogue state. We're on the brink of being a pariah state, you know, North Korea is top.
OK, that's a lot of drama but it's not far from the truth in the sense that there is this body of international pressure that is being formed against the government. So there's so much the government could stand idly and dismiss it offhandedly, saying, oh, well, they don't get it. They do get it.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll have to leave it there. I always appreciate getting your expertise on this. Alon Pinkas, thank you so much. Thank you.
PINKAS: Thank you, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Well, Donald Trump has big plans for the White House. Ahead, a look at the massive $200 million ballroom he's having built. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down. This follows a successful Republican Party effort to defund public broadcasting stations and National Public Radio, PBS and NPR, throughout the country.
Donald Trump signed into law a bill that defunded the corporation, hampering its ability to continue its work. The president has alleged public broadcasters are biased against conservatives.
But CPB officials called public media one of the most trusted institutions in American life. The decision could impact some local stations, especially in rural areas, which may face closing due to lack of funds.
The Smithsonian has removed references to Donald Trump's two impeachments from an exhibit on the presidency. The group removed a board with information about the impeachments last month.
The Smithsonian tells CNN the decision was made after reviewing the museum's legacy content. One of president Trump's executive orders calls on the Smithsonian to downplay parts of American history and to, quote, "remove improper ideology" from such properties.
When asked about the removal, the White House said the Smithsonian has, quote, "highlighted divisive DEI exhibits which are out of touch with mainstream America."
President Trump is adding a $200 million ballroom to the White House. CNN correspondent Brian Todd has more on that and how other presidents have changed the White House.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump has long been fixated on leaving his own personal imprint on the White House grounds. His latest project will cost about $200 million, he says.
TRUMP: They wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years.
TODD: Construction begins next month on a grand ballroom at the White House, which will resemble the ornate Donald J. Trump ballroom at Mar- a-Lago. There will be gold and crystal chandeliers, according to the renderings, gilded Corinthian columns, a coffered ceiling with gold inlays, gold floor lamps and a checkered marble floor.
Three walls of arched windows will look out over the White House South Lawn. LINDSAY CHERVINSKY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY: Certainly, a departure from the historic elements of the rest of the state floor of the White House.
TODD: The president and his team characterized this as a necessary addition to the White House, which has often hosted major events in a temporary tent that Trump calls a disaster, especially when it rains.
TRUMP: People are slopping down to the tent. It's not a pretty sight. The women with their lovely evening gowns, all of their hair all done and they're a mess by the time they get in.
TODD: This is certainly not the first ambitious addition or renovation to the White House. In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt undertook an extensive remodeling which relocated the president's offices to the West Wing. In the late 1940s, Harry Truman basically had to gut the entire infrastructure of the White House.
TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: What Truman did was he oversaw the restoration of a White House that was falling apart. It was so weak that one of the legs of Margaret Truman's piano broke through the floor in the residence of the White House.
[04:45:05]
TODD: First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy brought in historic furniture and fine art.
CHERVINSKY: Jackie Kennedy wanted the White House to be of museum quality when people came to visit. She wanted them to see the finest American art furniture but also to capture the history of the White House.
TODD: President Trump says the $200 million project will be funded by him and other private donors.
Trump's already replacing the White House Rose Garden with a patio but still keeping the roses. He also added a flagpole and a massive flag and he's added his taste for gold to the Oval Office.
Here's a comparison from just after last year's election to, more recently.
CHERVINSKY: Most usually change out the carpet and the draperies and some art but he definitely changed out more than is, I think, standard for presidents and it reveals his preferences.
TODD: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the ballroom project is expected to be completed long before the end of president Trump's term. Trump himself offered to build a new White House ballroom when Barack Obama was president and Trump says it would have been about half the cost of the current project.
But Trump says he never heard back from Obama's team on the idea -- Brian Todd, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: So what do you get when you mix fashion and politics?
Weeks of online controversy. That's what happened when clothing retailer American Eagle released new advertising starring a popular actress. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister reports.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of Gen Z's biggest celebrities starring in an American Eagle campaign. Now at the center of a culture war's firestorm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeans are passed down from parents to offspring. Often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): With critics saying the ad promotes the discredited theory of eugenics.
SAYANTANI DASGUPTA, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: A woman of color would not have been hired for this advertisement. That is a purposeful act. Why?
Because eugenics is deeply tied to the notion that some races are better than others. But yet Sydney Sweeney's ad is really speaking to this political moment.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The ad has remained in the headlines for a full week. Now spawning seamlessly endless parodies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeans are passed down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Personality and even eye color.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Countless puns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hitler did briefly model for Mein Komfort Fit Jeans.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): And even support from the Trump administration.
JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The internet blowing up yet again at the intersection of pop culture and politics with heated responses from both sides to the ad and the controversy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My jeans are blue.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): American Eagle announced the campaign more than a week ago. Saying Sweeney's girl next door charm and her ability to not take herself too seriously makes the ad both bold and playful. And pushing it seems all the right and the left's buttons.
The company responded on Friday, defending the campaign. Saying, "It is and always was about the jeans. And that great jeans look good on everyone."
Sweeney so far has not weighed in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just so we're clear. This is not me telling you to buy American Eagle jeans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The ad dangling bait that ultimately netted American Eagle a very big catch.
MOLLY MCPHERSON, CRISIS AND REPUTATION STRATEGIST: This is the modern formula for outrage marketing. You spark debate. You drive engagement. You ride the wave. And then when the dust settles, American Eagle gets the clicks, the coverage and also the cash.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see what I did there, right?
WAGMEISTER: Now the discourse around this ad has become so heated that some online critics have gone as far to say that this is Nazi propaganda. It has become a right-wing talking point and politicians have taken notice.
Donald Trump Jr. even sharing a spoof of his father, president Trump, wearing the jeans. Now American Eagle, says that this has nothing to do with anything except for the jeans.
In their statement, sharing a message of inclusivity, saying, quote, "We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way."
As for Sydney Sweeney, her team has not responded yet to CNN's request for comment. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Young Catholics who gathered in Rome for a jubilee event got a big surprise when Pope Leo showed up. We'll have that story and more when we come back. Please stay with us.
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[04:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Pope Leo made a surprise appearance at a Vatican event that's drawn young people from around the world. CNN's Christopher Lamb has more from Rome.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPE LEO XIV, PONTIFF, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: You are the light of the world.
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A surprise appearance by Pope Leo in front of thousands of young Catholics. The future of the church is gathered in Rome in what's being dubbed a Catholic Woodstock.
The mega youth gathering, part of the church's jubilee year celebrations, bringing together an estimated hundreds of thousands from every corner of the globe.
Many of them camping out in warehouses like this one, all part of the festival atmosphere. Not tourists but pilgrims.
Among those on the streets of Rome, youngsters from Leo's hometown of Chicago, like him, fans of the White Sox and the city's pizza.
VICTORIA AGUIRRE, U.S. PILGRIM: It is such like once in a lifetime experience to just be here, gathered with so many teens of the same faith from around the world.
LAMB: And if you could ask Pope Leo one thing, what would it be?
AGUIRRE: Deep dish or thin crust pizza?
LAMB: This week, Leo was handed a slice from Aurelio's Pizza, his favorite.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazing.
POPE LEO XIV: Amazing.
LAMB: It's less than 100 days since Leo's election and he's still settling into his new role. But this week is a big test.
[04:55:00]
The long-term trend shows an uptick in young people disaffiliating from mainline religions in the West. But for the Catholic Church, some research points to a growing interest among Gen Zers in Catholicism.
To that end, Pope Leo meeting Catholic social media influencers this week who were trying to reach a younger generation and who have turned out in force.
There are also events like this one where young people are invited to go to confession. There are hundreds of tents laid out for them to go and receive the sacrament of reconciliation. Same time, though, there's huge enthusiasm for Pope Leo.
JEAN MATTHIEU BILLES NOL, U.S. PILGRIM: I feel like I already know the guy, you know and just -- just seeing him walk down with the papal cars and him seeing the American flag and just waving at us, it's super exciting. And I feel like he truly loves us.
LAMB: And at a time of uncertainty, political and otherwise, young people finding in their faith and Pope Leo a reason to hope -- Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Tottenham Hotspur forward and captain Son Heung-min says he'll leave the North London club before this month's start of the Premier League season. The 33-year-old South Korean star made the announcement in Seoul ahead of a preseason friendly against Newcastle United.
Son said the club's helping him with the decision, which he calls the most difficult of his career. He added that, after 10 years with Spurs, he needed a change. It's reported he could be moving to Major League Soccer here in the U.S.
All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
