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Trump Denies Offering NYC's Mayor A Job For The Administration; NYC Mayor Adams Insists He Is Running For Re-election; Bureau Of Labor Statistics: Just 22K Jobs Added In August; Protesters Rally Against Trump Immigration Push In Chicago; 475 Arrested In Raid At Georgia Hyundai Plant, Mostly Koreans; Sources Say Trump Weighs Strikes Targeting Cartels In Venezuela. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 06, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York and happening right now, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is in Brooklyn at a town hall with Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist running for New York City mayor. Just two months now until Election Day, President Trump is weighing in, which has many Mamdani supporters saying it is time for the Democratic Party in its entirety to get behind Mamdani and his campaign, considering he brought out so many new young voters to the polls.

CNN's senior reporter, Isaac Dovere has more from that rally -- Isaac.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Jessica, it has been a weird, wild week in the New York City mayor's race and it is continuing with this town hall that Bernie Sanders is joining Zohran Mamdani for.

We are at Brooklyn College right in the heart of Brooklyn, Bernie Sander's home territory, but also a place that Zohran Mamdani did very well in the primaries hoping to continue that in the general election. Now, he is doing that, as Eric Adams says, he is staying in the race as Andrew Cuomo is saying that things continue to look good for him, but it is Bernie Sanders trying to help galvanize people into seeing Mamdani as the next person to pick up the mantle of his kind of politics, of democratic socialism, but also just a new energy for the Democratic Party.

They are going to do that by appearing together, not just in the Labor Day Parade, as they did earlier today, but up on stage, really connecting with each other and with what voters here want to be talking about -- Jessica.

DEAN: Isaac Dovere in Brooklyn, thank you so much.

Let's bring in CNN White House reporter, Alayna Treene.

Alayna, you've been doing some reporting on President Trump's role in all of this. What did you find?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, it is really fascinating that we are seeing the President kind of insert himself into this race, though of course it is New York, the President is a New York native, so there is some ties there, but what we are learning essentially is that the Trump administration and specifically people here in The White House are wanting to clear the field so that they can ensure that Mamdani does not win the mayoral race and does not become New York City's next mayor.

And some of that has been some discussions behind the scenes of potentially offering Eric Adams, the current mayor a job in the Trump administration. We reported, along with my colleagues, Kristen Holmes and Gloria Pazmino, that earlier this week, one of the President's top officials, Steve Witkoff, he is his Middle East envoy sat down with Eric Adams in Florida and talked about the possibility of potentially taking a role in the Trump administration.

Some of the discussions were around a potential ambassadorship, including one of the countries being named we were told was Saudi Arabia, and so a lot of questions there. I do want to be clear that in our conversations with the sources who are familiar with that meeting, they said that no formal offer was given to Adams.

And we also have heard from Adams, including yesterday, kind of saying that, you know, striking a defiant tone when talking to New Yorkers and saying, I plan to stay in this race. I am planning to still remain mayor for as long as he can. And so questions around what this could actually look like, but it is a meeting that happened, and they are discussions that are taking place.

Now, the President, for his part, was actually asked about this yesterday in the Oval Office, and he specifically brought up how he believes the former Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who is also running in this race, that he would have a much easier time beating Mamdani if it was just a one-on-one race, rather than having two people trying to take on the democratic socialist. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If you have more than one candidate running against him, it can't -- you know, it can't be won. If you have one candidate, if he is the right candidate, I would say that Cuomo might have a chance of winning if it was a one-on-one. If it is not one-on-one, it is going to be a hard race and we will get used to a communist and he is going to have to go through The White House and get approvals for everything, and we are going to make sure that New York is not hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, all of those -- everything he said there, Jessica, is strange because if you actually look at both Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo, both of them are Democrats. I should note Cuomo is running as an Independent since he was kind of pushed out of the primary by Mamdani. So it is an interesting thing for him to be weighing in, but again, in my conversations with people here at The White House, they argue that they do not want someone like Mamdani being the mayor of one of America's largest and greatest cities. And so, we will see where this goes. Again, for now, we hear from

Adams and his team that he is still planning on running. He is hoping he can be the mayor again for another term. But still, as his race grows more untenable, people close to Adams say he could change his mind and consider one of these opportunities here in the Trump administration.

DEAN: All right, Alayna Treene for us at The White House with her latest reporting. Thank you so much.

Let's bring in WNYC host and longtime political moderator, Brian Lehrer.

Brian, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate it. Let's start with the Trump of it all. Why do you think President Trump is getting involved here?

BRIAN LEHRER, WNYC HOST AND LONGTIME POLITICAL MODERATOR: Count me as a skeptic that Trump really wants Mamdani to lose. You could argue it either way, but I think that Trump would rather have Mamdani as a foil next year for Republicans to make the face of the Democratic Party, as they will frame it in the midterm congressional elections.

[18:05:16]

Trump does listen to business leaders in New York, to business leaders in general. They really want Mamdani to lose for local purposes. So my guess would be that Trump is kind of torn and that might be why, as we just heard from Alayna, no offer has actually come yet. "The New York Times" reports the same thing.

Count me as a skeptic that Trump will ultimately land on the side of trying to get Mamdani to lose, rather than have him as a foil as mayor of New York.

DEAN: And this all play out where Zohran Mamdani went from zero to a hundred in terms of coming from behind, beating an established candidate like Andrew Cuomo and sitting Mayor Eric Adams to win that primary earlier this year. So now we have Cuomo and Adams both refusing to get out. They are both staying in, both trying to make this case that they're the one to beat Mamdani.

But look, I think conventional wisdom, Trump is right on the conventional wisdom, which is if anyone is going to beat Mamdani, it has to be a one-on-one race and it doesn't appear like that's going to happen.

LEHRER: That's right. I mean, you could spin the math one of two ways. One is that there are three Democrats in this race -- Cuomo, Adams and Mamdani. They could all split the vote and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate who is a conservative talk show host and founder of a private street patrol group, the Guardian Angels, many of your viewers may know him, Curtis Sliwa might win, or the three more conservative candidates, Adams, Cuomo and Sliwa might split the vote and Mamdani might win. Certainly, the polls indicate that that is the more likely scenario.

So it is certainly in the interest of those who really want to defeat Mamdani to consolidate behind Cuomo, who is running as the strong number two.

DEAN: And help people understand as someone who covers New York City, the dynamics at play between kind of the establishment of the Democratic Party in New York City and Mamdani and the push and pull there between those who support him. But then a lot of Democratic establishment figures in the city who are very uncomfortable with his politics or nervous about what having a democratic socialist as a mayor might be.

LEHRER: Right. If you're talking about the Democratic leader of the House, Hakeem Jeffries from Brooklyn, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, also from Brooklyn, I think their calculus is on the other side of the same thing I was describing for President Trump. They don't want themselves to be seen as supporting a "socialist" next year when they have to try to lead their party to victory in House and Senate elections.

But on the local level, Jessica, I think it is important for your viewers around the country, around the world to know, that you may think of New York as the ultimate blue city in America, but look at the history of mayoral elections, the last 30 years.

New Yorkers elected Rudy Giuliani for two terms, followed by Michael Bloomberg for three terms each time he ran against a strong, well- known local Democrat. Then we did have Bill de Blasio for two terms who was a progressive Democrat. But after him, 2021, Eric Adams, who was running as the conservative pro-public safety, meaning pro-police in his case, candidate in the Democratic primary in 2021, New Yorkers elected him.

So I think especially when public safety, is high on New Yorkers' minds, New Yorkers can go for a more conservative candidate, and so, this ain't over until it's over.

DEAN: It is such a -- it is such a fascinating point that you lay out there, and I think it does give so much context to all of this, and I think then you have Mamdani who really did capture a moment. I mean, to have a movement like that, the Democrats nationally have been yearning for, to try to find their groove again. But there is much debate about, is it just a New York City thing? How does that work more broadly?

Is it just about speaking to people about cost of living, and is that the issue that is on everyone's mind right now?

LEHRER: Definitely cost of living. I think the whole Democratic Party, after losing to Trump in the presidential election last year, largely, obviously not only, but I think largely on the question of inflation shifted to using this word affordability a lot in various races that have been launched since that certainly the main word that Mamdani wants associated with him and people in a way, are drawn to Mamdani for the same reason that they are drawn to Donald Trump. [18:10:15]

I know that sounds weird, but people are disappointed with establishment approaches to economics and the cost of living. And so, some people have been willing to take a gamble on Donald Trump, who didn't in the past. We saw that in last year's election. Some people are probably willing to take a shot on the democratic socialist, the Bernie Sanders' style positions. You know, Trump calls him a communist, I think you played that clip. He is more of a Bernie Sanders' social democrat or think Scandinavia, you know, in the context of American capitalism, but with much more government involvement in the economy to create a safety net and what they see as cost of living guarantees on things like child care.

DEAN: All right, we are looking live as Zohran Mamdani is on the stage with senator Bernie Sanders here in New York.

Brian Lehrer, thank you for talking us through that. We really appreciate it.

LEHRER: Thanks.

DEAN: And coming up, experts ringing some alarm bells when it comes to the economy. Why the latest Jobs Report is raising some red flags and what it could mean for your wallet.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:03]

DEAN: For the second straight month, the U.S. posted a weak Jobs Report challenging President Trump's claims the economy is booming. The report shows just 22,000 jobs were created in August, and that unemployment rose to its highest level in four years. The latest revision showed the economy lost jobs in June. Now that's the first time that's happened in nearly five years since the pandemic.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no hire, no fire, that's really the business mantra these days. Businesses are feeling paralyzed and they're waiting to see just where this economy is going. And now you're seeing that show up in the data.

In August, the jobs market stalled, just 22,000 jobs added, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, that's the highest level in four years.

Now, for months, there have been warning signs that the jobs market was weakening, and now these numbers are starting to show it. There were jobs added across five sectors, like in the health care industry, social services, leisure and hospitality, but there were declines in federal government, those DOGE cuts starting to show up even more, and in wholesale trade, construction and manufacturing, goods producing sectors.

Now The White House says this lackluster report will turn out to be better than it looks. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: It is a little bit of a disappointing job number, but I pretty much expect it is going to revise up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Speaking of revisions, President Donald Trump fired the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which puts out this report after several months of jobs numbers turned out to be worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are doing so well. I believe the numbers were phony, just like they were before the election and there were other times. So you know what I did? I fired her. And you know what? I did the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: This month's report paints a clearer picture of prior months. July's jobs numbers were revised up by 6,000, but in June, the economy actually lost 13,000 jobs, breaking a historic five-year period of jobs growth.

And if you are out there looking for a job, there are just fewer to choose from, and it is also taking longer to land one.

Back to you.

DEAN: Vanessa, thank you.

Joining us now, Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

Justin, good to see you. Thanks for being here.

We once compared the American job market to the old Energizer Bunny. It just kept going and going and going, and now we are seeing it slow. What does it mean?

JUSTIN WOLFERS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PUBLIC POLICY AND ECONOMICS PROFESSOR: Right. Do you want me to act it out for you, the very end of those batteries when the last bit of the battery runs out.

So the bunny hasn't stopped. I like to think of the U.S. economy as the little engine that could and it has kept on keeping on for a long time now. But there is no question at this point, with these numbers in hand, that the U.S. economy has slowed and it slowed dramatically. It slowed probably since around about. April, which also happens to be when President Trump stood up and told us that he was going to liberate the economy through higher tariffs that would raise the cost for business. It would be bad for the economy, and we are now seeing the evidence.

We are not yet stopped. If the Energizer bunny stops, we are going to call that a recession. By jingo, though batteries are moving slowly.

DEAN: And last month we know the President fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after that July report showed only 14,000 jobs gained. The White House Economic Adviser, Kevin Hassett, says he expects the August numbers to be, in his words, revised upward. They've really put a lot of attention on these numbers and who is analyzing them and how they're being analyzed.

Are you concerned about this being politicized?

WOLFERS: Profoundly concerned. The numbers we've seen so far are legitimate, and they are serious. I know that because I know people inside the BLS and they -- you know, the numbers so far are right.

Look, when you receive bad news about the economy, just like if you receive a bad diagnosis from your doctor, he says, you know, there are some cancers growing. You've got two choices.

[16:20:10 ]

One is fire the doctor and the other is to try to carve out the cancer. Fire the doctor, you could end up very, very sick. It is a dangerous game to play. It is a foolish game to play. Denying facts never makes any sense. It never made anyone any wiser.

What I worry about is not only did the administration fail to heed the reality that its policies are hurting the economy, it is by rejecting reality, it is going to fail to live up to the moment and try to put out whatever fires are out there, and if it continues its war against the BLS, that's a continued war against reality rather than against a bad economy, and I'd much rather them fight against a bad economy instead.

DEAN: And, you know, look, I was talking to somebody else in the last jobs report who pointed out that not just America, the world relies on our economic data as well. It is very important that these numbers are correct, that they can, to your point, signal a challenge that could be coming ahead. Do you need to put your foot on the gas? Put your foot on the brake -- that sort of thing.

And then if they start to either -- if people lose faith in them or if they are manipulated, that that could have serious consequences.

WOLFERS: Yes. Look, let me just say something completely obvious. Once you lose sight of objective reality, you lose your ability to shape it. If the administration, confronted with bad data, rejects it, then they're not going to help the economy, and that's going to hurt you and me.

This is a kitchen table issue. It is not a philosophy seminar. What is worse, you and I through our taxes, are paying millions of

dollars to collect these data. At the moment, they are being reported honestly to us, but if the BLS were to come under even more attack, that would lead them, perhaps to start telling us lies. If that's the case, we are paying money and we are getting nonsense in return.

And what is even worse is we are currently in an economy with tremendous uncertainty. We may be on the cusp of a recession right now, and if someone starts fiddling with our most important sources of information at a moment like that, we may fall over the cliff into a recession. And maybe that's what the administration hopes none of us will know if we can't see the numbers.

But we will know because it will be our lived realities. You can just walk outside right now, and people are very much aware that the economy is slowing, that jobs are harder to come by and employers aren't hiring.

DEAN: And look, there has also been the politicizing of the Federal Reserve, once thought to be untouchable in terms of politics, that you left it to its own devices, it was not political at all. Of course, the president has really waged a campaign against its chief, Jerome Powell, who he nominated and put in there in his first term.

But it appears like all of that, he had been pushing for these rate cuts. But it does appear like based on the data that we may be headed toward rate cuts at this point.

WOLFERS: So I want to draw a distinction between what the President has demanded and what the Fed is likely to do.

The President has demanded an unprecedented cut in interest rates, all the way down to one percent, which is the sort of thing you would do if the economy were in a deep recession, and he has done that while claiming the economy is gangbusters. So I am not quite sure what he believes.

What the Fed is likely to do at the next meeting is cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point, at most half a percentage point. It is very -- I think it is the right thing to do, which is one way of characterizing Fed policy right now is they've got their foot lightly on the brake. Maybe it is not time to put the foot on the accelerator, because tariffs are about to cause inflation.

But at a minimum, let's just take our foot off the brake, and I think that's likely what the Fed is going to do.

DEAN: And then there is the tariffs of it all and that continues to be a big question mark, I think for a lot of people, chief among them small business owners here in America, about how exactly do you plan for this? What do you do for it and also just everyday Americans trying to figure out what is going to cost more and when might it cost more? Is it going to cost more?

How do you see that factoring into all of this? WOLFERS: Look, I think there is a really good and serious debate to be

had about tariffs. I happen to think that they are a bad idea. There may be a time and a place in which they are a good idea, when used selectively and with surgical precision. But what we've got here is something I think, that we could all agree on, which is incompetence and incoherence and irrationality is always and everywhere a bad idea.

On April 2nd, the President finally announced his tariff stance, ten years after coming down the golden escalator. By April 9th, he called all the tariffs off. Then we took a 90-day holiday where we were promised 90 deals in 90 days and got none of them. Then he gave himself a 24-day extension because he hadn't had enough time to figure things out. Then he only recently, at the beginning of August, has actually implemented those tariffs.

They've only been with us now a handful of weeks, but already we are being told that by October 18th, if the Supreme Court doesn't chime in, that the federal appeals court has already ruled them illegal, which will mean that, you know, we've moved from intense uncertainty to finally The White House decides, but they may have decided on something unconstitutional.

[18:25:20]

So we are moving into part two, intense uncertainty, impossible to plan, impossible to do business and I think it is got us all very much frozen in place.

DEAN: All right, more to come on all of this. But Justin Wolfers, thanks for being with us tonight. We appreciate it.

WOLFERS: All right, I wish I was happier.

DEAN: I know, it is a little heavy. The economy right now, there is a lot to it. But I am sure we will see you again and we will continue talking about it so people can hopefully make some sense of it. Thank you so much.

WOLFERS: Look forward to it.

DEAN: And straight ahead, the Trump administration is escalating its push to crack down on illegal immigration. Now, this massive raid in Georgia is angering one of the United States' closest allies in Asia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:23]

DEAN: And you're looking now and live at an immigrant and refugee rights rally happening in Chicago. Protesters gathering to demonstrate as President Trump suggests troops could be on their way. Today's Mexican Independence Day parade also going on as planned, despite fears of a pending immigration crackdown.

In D.C., protesters there also taking to the streets, demonstrating to, quote, "Free D.C. and end the Trump occupation." This marks the fourth week of protests against the National Guard presence in D.C.

And as President Trump puts more pressure on migrant communities, we are learning more about the months-long investigation that led to the administration's largest workplace immigration raid yet. That happened Friday. Law enforcement officers from ICE, Homeland Security and other state and federal agencies sweeping up 475 workers at a Hyundai assembly line in Georgia. Let's go now to CNN National Correspondent Rafael Romo, who's joining us now from Atlanta.

Rafael, I was talking to one expert yesterday who said something like this would have taken a lot of planning. What are you learning?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's a very good point, Jessica. A lot of planning, especially when you consider all of the agencies that participated in this raid. And some of the details we have learned after the massive raid conducted Thursday include that the officers spoke with each worker one by one to determine which were in the U.S. legally and allowing some to leave while taking undocumented immigrants into custody.

By the time they were done at 8 P.M. on Thursday, Jessica, agents had arrested 475 people, most of them Korean nationals, as you said, making it the largest sweep yet in the current Trump administration's immigration crackdown at American job sites. CNN obtained a video that shows a Homeland Security investigations agent telling workers to cease operations immediately. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need construction to cease immediately. We need all work to end on the site right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And shortly after the agents arrived at the plant and workers realized what was happening after word spread across the property, chaos ensued with many workers attempting to flee and some even running into, imagine this, a sewage pond and others hiding in air ducts. A Homeland Security investigation special agents described how agents screened each person suspected of being in the country illegally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN SCHRANK, SPECIAL AGENT, HOMELAND SECURITY: ... some that illegally crossed the border into the United States, some that came in through visa waiver and were prohibited from working, some that had visas and overstayed their visas. And each individual was questioned on their status. Their documents were checked. Their backgrounds were checked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: In a statement sent to CNN last night, Hyundai said the following regarding the immigration raid in Georgia: "We are reviewing our processes to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves. This includes a thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors."

The company also said that Hyundai has zero tolerance for those who don't follow the law. In an interview with CNN, former Deputy Homeland Security Secretary under President Trump, Ken Cuccinelli said conducting this type of raid is a major undertaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN CUCCINELLI, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR RENEWING AMERICA: There's a lot of work that goes into an operation of this scale and of this depth, including investigation by multiple agencies, obviously takes a lot of investigative manpower, and that's all going on in parallel with a whole bunch of other investigations across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The plant that was targeted was built after Hyundai announced an agreement with the state of Georgia in 2022 to build what the company called at the time the first dedicated fully electrified vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the United States. And Jessica, when completed, it was expected to employ 8,500 people. Now back to you.

DEAN: All right, Rafael Romo, thank you very much for that.

For weeks, President Trump has been threatening a federal immigration crackdown in Chicago, and tonight fears of what that could mean are hanging over its annual festivities to celebrate Mexican independence. Earlier, I spoke with Democratic Representative Mike Quigley about the impact this is all having on the city. Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Congressman, thank you so much for being here with us. You also live there in the Chicago area, in Illinois - in the state of Illinois, and the events we're seeing in Chicago today are really interesting because this event typically draws in very large crowds, and you were among those today.

[18:35:08]

A lot of people were quite fearful not coming out. How would you say the President's immigration threats are impacting people there in that area?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Yes, you're right. I just finished walking the Mexican Independence Day parade with my friend Chuy Garcia in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, and you would have to describe it as a neighborhood on edge, but at the same time, you know, reduced crowds, but very much a resilient crowd community that wants to take a stand here. This was much more than a parade. It was a sense of unity at a difficult time.

How it's affecting people? I think we need, Exhibit A, our domestic violence court. Women are afraid to show up to get orders of protection. As a result, they're less safe. Schools are starting to talk about teaching remotely again because the parents and the kids are afraid to show up. This isn't a positive impact on anyone. It really puts the city at a disadvantage.

DEAN: The governor there in Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, says he's going to fight Trump in court if the National Guard is deployed there. He also says, though, at this moment, he's not been notified of any actions by the White House. I'm curious, what do you know as of today, 4:06 here on the East Coast? What is the latest on the status of all of this?

QUIGLEY: Look, if the President was serious about actually making communities safer, he would communicate. So, I haven't heard anything. Our governor is doing the best he can. He hasn't. There's no effort at communication. As a result, we're seeing what we're seeing. The bottom line is, we spent more money in Los Angeles putting the National Guard there than it cost to hire 2,000 Chicago police officers. And instead, he cut $820 million in anti-violence programs. We're going in the opposite direction. If he was serious about fighting crime, he would work with us.

DEAN: The President also reposted on Truth Social earlier today. It was this meme that we talked about just a few minutes ago. And when you look at it, it says, "Chicago about to find out why it's called the DEPARTMENT OF WAR," all caps. How do you read that?

QUIGLEY: Yes, look, this is a scary time. For those who haven't paid attention, it's time to watch what this president is doing. It's instructive in history to remember that often tyrants are elected democratically at first, right? Putin, Viktor Orban, just to name two. And then, they use the very aspects of democracy to bring it down. Here we're seeing the court system, the National Guard, the Justice Department, and so much more.

So, this is a president edging more and more toward authoritarianism, being a tyrant. You're talking about sending the troops against the public. The former general of the Illinois National Guard, General Hayes, said this could create a permanent stain on the image of the military in our country, and it's very dangerous. He's absolutely right, as is our governor, and this is a time to stand up against this.

DEAN: Are you comparing the President to Putin?

QUIGLEY: I'm saying the President is more fond of Putin than he is of democratically elected other presidents. He's never criticized him. He's acting in a manner that Putin would, which isn't often to flaunt the law, but to use it in a way to be destructive of democratic practices. In that way, he's acting like Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And that was Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley. President Trump is reportedly making plans for more strikes against drug cartels inside Venezuela as he moves more military assets near the South American country. But the tensions are making life complicated for Venezuelans who make their living on the sea. More on this when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:52]

DEAN: Multiple sources tell CNN President Trump is weighing options for military strikes against Venezuelan drug cartels potentially hitting targets inside the South American country. This coming with questions over the legal basis for that U.S. strike in international waters on an alleged drug boat leaving Venezuela earlier this week. CNN Contributor Stefano Pozzebon has the latest now on the growing tensions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the escalation between Washington and Caracas in the Southern Caribbean is showing no sign of slowing down this weekend. On Friday, CNN reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on options to conduct military strikes against the drug traffickers directly on Venezuelan territory. And while we don't know the outcome of those conversations, it's a sign that the U.S. president is willing to take this escalation one step further, perhaps with unintended consequences to come in the near future.

Meanwhile, Trump's Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, has taken a more constructive approach on this confrontation. On Friday, he advised the U.S. president to check his intelligence and say that Venezuela is not involved in drug trafficking.

[18:45:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through interpreter): The government of the United States should abandon its plan of violent regime change in Venezuela and in all of Latin America and the Caribbean, and respect sovereignty, the right to peace, to independence.

What they are saying about Venezuela is not true. It's not true. It is a dead end they are getting themselves into. Venezuela has always been willing to talk. But just as we are willing to talk, we demand respect for our country, for our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: Our data from both the United Nations and the Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed that the vast majority of drugs coming into the United States are not being trafficked through Venezuela. They actually come from nearby Colombia and through the Pacific. However, there are multiple allegations that the government of Nicolas Maduro has been involved with cocaine trafficking for some time. And the fact that we're seeing these escalations in the Caribbean,

where we see at least seven warships and one nuclear-powered submarine being stationed, allegedly to stem off the flows of drug trafficking, but actually putting a lot of geopolitical pressure on the Maduro government itself, it's a sign that the United States are trying to take this matter into their own hands, and they're sending a message to Maduro that one way or another, he has to go.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas, Venezuela.

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DEAN: Former President Joe Biden has selected Delaware as the site to build his presidential library. According to the Joe and Jill Biden Foundation, Delaware was chosen over Pennsylvania, the state where the former president was born. The exact location has not been decided yet, but Biden's team says it envisions constructing what it calls an immersive museum to recap his legacy. They have yet to put a price tag on the library, but fundraising is expected to begin soon.

Last night in Miami, a moment that went from being just another night at the ballpark to anything but, the Philadelphia Phillies playing the Marlins when Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader hit a home run. Fans, you'll see, scrambled to get the ball, and with the sparse crowd out there, it bounced to a dad who took it over to his daughter. I'm sorry, to his young son.

But then a woman comes over, this woman, and demanded the ball for herself. After listening to her, the dad, reaching his son's glove, pulled it out and gave it to her. That's her. Okay. Well, the hometown Marlins saw what happened, sent someone up to deliver a gift bag to the young Phillies fan, and the Phillies then saw it too and invited the boy and his family down after the game where Harrison Bader signed a bat and gave it to him. That's really nice.

I think children should get all of these things because they deserve it and they're there as pure fans. So nice that the Phillies and the Marlins noticed that as well.

A PlayStation and blue jeans, they aren't the first things that usually come to mind when we think of Catholic saints, but that is changing as the church welcomes its first millennial saint. How his mother is viewing this transformational addition.

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DEAN: Catholics, young and old, are flocking to Rome for a special ceremony this weekend. Pope Leo is said to canonize a 15-year-old boy who's credited with two miracles. CNN's Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb has that story.

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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: God's influencer. An Italian teenager who was a computer whiz kid and loved video games. Carlo Acutis will become the first millennial saint.

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LAMB (on camera): Now when people think of saints, they often imagine men with beards and robes and something from the past. But Carlo Acutis, as you can see, is someone who was laid out with jeans and trainers. So, he's a very relatable saint. And at a time when the Catholic Church is seeking to connect with a younger generation, this figure of Carlo Acutis has a lot of resonance today.

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LAMB (voice over): He died aged 15 of leukemia in 2006 and has developed a global following.

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OLIVIA SANTARELLI, PILGRIM: He's just like us. Like, he is just like a regular teenage guy and he had the same interests. He liked sports. He liked the internet, of course. And so, yes, he just - he really just represents young people.

GARY FRIESEN, PILGRIM: I feel like I have a closer connection to him because I was born on the year that he died and I have the same hobbies as him. And on Instagram, I try to spread the gospel as best as I can.

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LAMB (voice over): Carlo's path to sainthood has been swift. But his mother Antonia said he wasn't raised in a religious household. His faith partly nurtured by his Polish nanny.

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ANTONIA SALZANO, MOTHER, CARLO ACUTIS: I was converted by my son. He was my savior.

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LAMB (voice over): He grew up in a wealthy family, but used his privileged position to help others, donating pocket money to the homeless while setting up a website to document reports of miracles. Candidates for sainthood usually need two miracles attributed to their intercession. Carlo's included a reported healing of a Brazilian boy with a birth defect and a young woman from Costa Rica injured in a bicycle accident in Florence.

Interest in Acutis is global. His tomb here in Assisi received almost a million visitors last year. And an official shrine has been set up in Pennsylvania. Carlo's mother describes him as a normal child who enjoyed playing on his play station and made videos of his family pets. He also stood up for pupils being bullied at school.

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Antonia believes his message can resonate with young people today.

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ACUTIS: It's a message of hope, but because Carlo said, yes, you have to use for the good. This is the way - that motivate Pope Francis called Carlo Influencer of God.

POPE FRANCIS, VATICAN: (Foreign language) Carlo Acutis.

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LAMB (voice over): Acutis' canonization comes as the church is still reeling from the damage done by the scandals of clerical sexual abuse of children, but also when research shows a rise in interest in Catholicism among Gen Z. Many of whom are expected in Rome to witness this video gaming teenager being declared a saint.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.

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DEAN: And still ahead, we have some breaking news into CNN. Our new reporting on President Trump's plans for a possible sit down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a matter of weeks. We'll have it for you on the other side.

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