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Rubio, Witkoff Meet With Qatari Mediator Over Ways To End Iran War; Trump: U.S. May Resume Operation Guiding Ships Through Strait; Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrats' Redistricting Plan; Dr. Sanjay Gupta On The Risk Of The Hantavirus Outbreak; Person Hit And Killed By Frontier Jet On Denver Runway; Hall Of Fame Manager Bobby Cox Dies At Age 84; Top Candidates For Los Angeles Mayor Face Off In Fiery Debate; Solid Job Creation In April Rallies Markets To New Highs. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 09, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:39]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York and we do begin with new developments in the effort to end the war with Iran.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff meeting with a Qatari mediator, the Prime Minister in Miami working toward a deal.

In the meantime, The White House is waiting for a response from Iranian leaders over whether they will accept a framework for a plan to end that war.

We are also learning Iran's government is encouraging the people to cut back on electricity and gas, as a U.S. blockade has interrupted shipments to the nation.

Let's bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is at The White House this evening.

Julia, obviously, The White House waiting to hear back from Iran, as we are seeing high-level members of the administration talking with the Qataris today. What more are you learning?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are still waiting for this response to the proposal to end the conflict and they've been waiting longer than expected.

We heard President Donald Trump and other administration officials predict that they would hear back from Tehran yesterday.

In fact, on Friday evening, as Trump left The White House, he was pressed on what he expected the timing to look like, why that response hadn't come yet, and if he believed that Tehran was slow rolling this response. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think it's a letter supposedly tonight. So we'll see how it goes.

REPORTER: Do you think they're slow rolling it? Do you think they're intentionally slow rolling the process?

TRUMP: We'll find out soon enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, when or if that response does come, it is likely still going to just be the start toward a deal toward lasting peace.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio did allude to that when he said that once there is a response, the United States will then evaluate it and then see if they are in the serious process of these negotiations. He was pressed on if the United States had given Iran any red lines here and offered a stark warning.

He said: "The red line is clear. If they threaten Americans, they are going to get blown up."

Now, when it comes to the ceasefire, Trump has been adamant that that ceasefire is still in place, despite the fact that we did see Iran and the United States trade fire near the Strait of Hormuz just days ago.

Trump told reporters that if the ceasefire was taken away, that he would let them know. He then strengthened that language to say they would know because Iran would be aglow if he decided to take further action.

Now, when it comes to this proposal, he says that it is more than just a one-page offer that it addresses a lot of these key issues, including Iran's nuclear ambitions, what he has referred to as nuclear dust, the enriched uranium, but here is where we are now, the United States has given this proposal. They are waiting longer than they had hoped to get a response from Iran and we've been watching regularly for any sort of comment from Trump on this.

He has actually been at his golf course in Virginia. That's where the LIV Golf tournament is taking place. So, he has not commented specifically on this today. But, Jessica, as we know, some of his biggest developments related to this conflict and really anything sometimes just come in that easy social media post that then comes in a statement and could have a big impact.

DEAN: Certainly, all right, Julia Benbrook at The White House, thank you so much for that. Let's take a deeper look at all of this with veteran state department negotiator, Aaron David Miller. He also helped lead Middle East talks for both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Aaron, always a lovely thing to see you here. Although, it seems like when we talk about these issues, they just continue to be all knotted up, which is where we continue to be with this war in Iran and how it might resolve or end. First off, this news that Rubio and Witkoff have been meeting with the Qatari Prime Minister, with other officials from that government. What do you make of that?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Look, I think that -- and thanks for having me, Jess.

The Qataris have played a very important role in the Israeli-Hamas negotiations as you know. They've also helped broker and mediate the Iran deal as well, or at least in negotiations with Iran.

I mean, my only concern is that the mediators really need to be on the same page and these negotiations are hard enough as they as. There are no direct negotiations.

[18:05:10]

They are done either on cell phones or through intermediaries and again, we are really in for a, I think, a very prolonged negotiation when in fact, the Iranian response does come and you shouldn't pray for anything you really don't want, I think it is going to reflect core Iranian positions, some of which are going to be completely irreconcilable to what the Trump administration wants.

So I think the logic here, Jess, is to buy time, see if you can untangle the impasse in the Straits, open the Straits in return for easing the blockade or eliminating the blockade. Then by 30 to 45 days to see whether or not you actually can bridge these gaps. It is going to be very hard to do.

DEAN: And so much of your expertise is in negotiating, in talking back and forth and trying to find common ground and negotiate an outcome. I am curious how you evaluate what the U.S. is dealing with in terms of Iranian leadership and kind of how that has been rearranged since those strikes and who they are dealing with now.

MILLER: I mean, it is really opaque. I worked as an Intel analyst for five years, and even with all the bells and whistles, the humint, the sigint, the overhead, all of it -- we really never had a good sense of the internal workings of a non-state actor or a government.

I mean, we can say with some clarity and authority, I think that there has been a transition from what someone called divine power, the influence of the clerical establishment to hard power, which is the dominance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. There is no question that during a war, a war of choice which has now become a war of necessity, the Iranians have maintained a pretty coherent and cohesive decision making structure.

I think there are doubts and there are divisions. CNN reported the emergence of what they describe as super hardliners, super revolutionaries. I think, though, Jess, on the core issues, the right to enrich, the effort to create a certain -- a measure of Iranian sovereignty over the Straits basically that the current leadership divided as it may be, I think are probably all on the same page.

It is the tactical issues when to go negotiate, how and how quickly to respond to the American 14-point plan.

DEAN: Yes, and how -- I mean, it is, I guess, it is anybody's guess, but how long does the U.S. wait for a response? How long does this go on?

MILLER: Well, the question is what is the alternative? I mean, economic blockade plus military strikes on both sides have created a situation where neither side is getting what they want. Look, I think the Iranians' capacity to absorb pain is probably greater than the Trump administration's, but I also think the President can't get out of this war of choice without getting something significant on the nuclear issue.

And of course, returning the Straits to this situation where they were open as an unfettered international waterway in February 28th, that just in my mind is going to be as difficult as the nuclear issue because the Iranians are not going to give up some measure of control and will want some satisfaction with respect to their sovereignty.

They've weaponized geography, and they've done it extremely ruthlessly.

DEAN: Yes. I mean, that was my next question, it was just at the end of the day, the Strait and the control of the Strait and the leverage, whomever -- you know, which side has the Strait seems to be so much at the center of all of this.

MILLER: It is true and the Iranians have operational advantage and the advantage of geography. And this, I think is the problem. It wouldn't surprise me if the Iranians come back with a response that the administration doesn't like, or if they delay further, that you might see a variation of what happened on May 3rd or 4th where the U.S. Navy declared this project, Project Freedom and the President intimated either yesterday or today that they might go back to Project Freedom.

The Saudis were upset and denied the Americans' temporary access overflights and basing rights because they really were worried that that could trigger an escalation. But I wonder if you're not going to see some effort on the part of the administration to go back to Project Freedom with some sort of variation, which might mean, even might mean the deployment of ground troops on one of those key islands which are proximate to the Straits, to either Qeshm or the Americans have struck Iranian positions over the last several days, or Larak island.

It would not surprise me. The administration is frustrated. They're looking for a way to break out of this. But right now, I suspect the situation is going to get worse before it gets worse.

[18:10:14]

DEAN: Oh, worse before it gets worse.

All right, Aaron David Miller, thank you. We appreciate it.

MILLER: Thank you, Jess. Thank you. DEAN: Republicans scoring some big wins in the redistricting race leading up to November's midterm. We are going to break that all down.

Plus, the operation to disembark passengers from the cruise ship stricken with the hantavirus could start very soon. We are following the latest there.

And also in Los Angeles, the fight to lead that city, the mayoral primary just a few weeks away. Two of its leading candidates will be joining us live. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:21]

DEAN: Republicans claiming victory in the redistricting tit-for-tat following a ruling from the Virginia Supreme Court overturning the Commonwealth's redistricting referendum.

Democrats had hoped to net four seats in the House with that new map, and now Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries tells CNN they are exploring all options to overturn this decision.

Let's bring in CNN political commentator and former White House Communications director in President Trump's first term, Alyssa Farah Griffin.

Alyssa, always great to have you on. Thanks for being here with us.

This is something -- this mid-decade redistricting is something that the President has really pushed for. He has been personally involved in. Virginia is obviously a latest example of this, but it started in Texas and has gone to many states.

He is claiming victory in all of this. What do you think?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, the Trump team is winning. He is playing a deck of hands that many politicians before him probably wouldn't have.

I would look to the Indiana State Senate primaries we saw earlier this week where the President was largely victorious in taking out incumbent state senators. Now, just hearing that, a President targeting incumbent Republican State senators, that's like an NFL Hall of Famer taking on some peewee football players. It is just not something you usually see, especially within the same party.

And they poured tremendous money into it because President Trump and this White House care about doing everything that they can, using every lever that they have to try to fight to keep the House Majority.

So redistricting all of these maps from Texas to California, which obviously favor Democrats to Indiana and likely Florida next. These are things that are a top priority to The White House. And the reason why, which, you know, Jessica, is this President is concerned about oversight when the House -- if the House Majority ends up flipping to Democrats.

So he is really going to try to use every tool in his toolkit to try to shore up more potential seats for Republicans. And so far, he's been extremely successful.

DEAN: And so to that end, and I think most people understand this, typically, whoever is in power at the midterms does not hang on to the House. It flips back and forth quite regularly. So if history is any guide, Democrats would have a very good chance coming up in the fall to take back the House.

But I am curious what you think, what role all of this redistricting, you know, moving all the pieces around on the board might have when we when we get to November?

GRIFFIN: Yes. I was in The White House in the 2018 midterms and the President, the Republican Party, lost a lot of seats when he was in power. And there was this sense at that time that that was kind of the end of his ability to get his agenda done. He had this sort of two year-long glide path to get some things through -- the USMCA, tax cuts and Jobs Act. But then after that, he was subject to impeachment one, and then eventually impeachment two.

So I think, there is a real concern that once the House Majority likely flips, that that's what you're going to see -- oversight, potential impeachment proceedings. So they're looking -- they are being creative. You know, you've seen Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, who was advocating for the changes you then saw in Tennessee. I think you're going to see Republicans kind of across the map, look for ways in their states to endear themselves to the President and to put Republicans in a better position to keep the House Majority.

But listen, this should be -- the way this should happen is it should purely be fought out in the existing maps as they are and members of Congress should make their case to the American voters. But this is something very different where we are basically seeing tit-for-tat gerrymandering wars, essentially from Republicans and Democrats and it feels in many ways like a race to the bottom.

DEAN: Yes. Do you think it is fair to the American people?

GRIFFIN: Not at all. I oppose partisan gerrymandering, whatever side is doing it. I do think it becomes a race to the bottom. I think this is one of the most unpopular Congresses in modern history.

We've had the longest government shutdown. There is a partial government shutdown taking place, and I think most Americans have less than -- have a very unfavorable view of Congress.

But the more you gerrymander, the more likely you are to have hyper politically polarized seats, one where it is hard to get rid of somebody because, say, it is an R-plus 30 district, you really can't vote that person out or on the Democratic side, it is so secure in the Democratic Party that its harder to get rid of them. So there are major issues, I think when you get to this just across the board gerrymandering that we are seeing and I do think, listen, Democrats, of course, are going to fight back. They are of course going to do what they did in California and try to do elsewhere, but it really, truly becomes a race to the bottom, and I don't think either side has the moral high ground here.

DEAN: Yes, and so we talked about what history would suggest then in terms of just the wind kind of at the back, let's say, of Democrats historically in this situation and in the face of Republicans, you also have a President who is very unpopular right now in the run up to these midterms, especially when it comes to the economy, which is why so many people voted for him in 2024.

[18:20:21]

One of the key issues was about cost of living and affordability and his approval rating now just at 35 percent, his approval rating when it comes to the economy is lower than that. So what would you make in terms of that factoring in obviously, he is not on the ballot, which can cut both ways for Republicans. What do you think about that dynamic?

GRIFFIN: Yes, the midterms are ultimately going to come down to the feeling among American voters that the economy is sluggish, that the cost of living has not dramatically gone down despite many, many people trusting the President to address it more than his opponent in the 2024 elections.

And I think that The White House is very much looking at this war in Iran, and they are trying to find an off ramp that's going to get us to a place where you could see gas prices starting to go down by when we are entering summer in earnest. That's something when people are paying $5.00 to $6.00 in some states at the pump, especially heading into summer travel, that affects everyone's pocketbook. It affects airline travel as well, so I think that's a very real immediate concern that they have.

But I think there is also this understanding of there aren't a lot more legislative tricks up the sleeves that Republicans have to really address the cost of living issue. So I think the President is going to be traveling. He is going to talk about, you know, things he can tout -- no taxes on tips, for example.

But overall, the feeling among Americans is the economy has not drastically improved and I think that's likely what is dragging Republicans down heading into the midterms.

DEAN: All right, Alyssa Farah Griffin, great to see you. Thanks for being here.

GRIFFIN: Great to see you.

DEAN Yes, in just a few hours, the cruise ship that saw a deadly hantavirus outbreak will arrive off the coast of Spain. We are going to explain what happens after that. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:26:30]

DEAN: The Canary Islands in Spain now preparing for the arrival of the cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak. At the moment, officials say none of the 87 passengers on board are experiencing symptoms. That ship is expected to anchor at a distance from the island dock, where staffers from the CDC are set to meet the 17 American passengers currently on board.

Health officials are racing to contain the hantavirus outbreak after six confirmed cases and two probable cases of the strain that can transfer from person to person. So far, three people have died.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now with the latest -- Melissa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is expected now that the cruise ship will arrive here just off the southern tip of Tenerife in the very early hours of Sunday morning.

The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros, will be here in person to oversee this operation with the Spanish Interior Minister, the Spanish Health Minister, and what we have been hearing from Spanish Health authorities is that there will be no risk of any contact with anyone here on the island of Tenerife.

In fact, what they say is that the passengers getting off this cruise ship and taken onwards to their flights and on to the quarantines that are being put in place by their own countries, the only people they are going to be in contact with here on the island of Tenerife are either medical personnel or personnel from the Spanish military, all of them wearing these special masks, you all will remember from COVID times in order to protect them.

Now, there are also been this very unusual and very personal message that's been sent from the head of the World Health Organization to the inhabitants directly of Tenerife, thanking them for this gesture of solidarity and really explaining that it isn't simply the Tenerife had the medical facilities and the personnel needed to oversee and to allow to facilitate this very complex operation here on Sunday, but also that they had the humanity to do so.

This had been for the people on board, he reminded everyone, such an ordeal, not simply because they were stuck on the boat with such great uncertainty for so long, some of them are grieving, he points out. Some of them have, or most of them have feared for their lives, and so it is a gesture of solidarity, of humanity, explaining in that message that the greatest immunity from outbreaks like these is solidarity and humanity.

So he himself now overseeing that operation and it looks as though this Sunday, after all of these weeks of uncertainty, should see the end to this particular stage of this ordeal for the passengers of the ship, then begins this complicated logistical operation, and for each of them back in their home countries, a long period of quarantine and another step in what will be a difficult operation to keep them and the populations around them safe.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Tenerife.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Melissa, thank you for that.

Now, scientists say they're not too worried about the outbreak at this moment. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now to explain why that is -- Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there are three primary reasons why people are not that concerned right now from a scientific perspective. One is something known as the reproductive number, which basically is saying, if somebody has it, how many people are they likely to spread it to? And that number is 1.19.

To give you context, during COVID, at the height, you know, the number was somewhere between two and four. So, you know, significantly higher, doubled, higher.

Small window of spread. With COVID, people could spread the virus even if they weren't sick.

[18:30:10]

With this, it seems to be a very narrow window through which they can spread it when they are sick, and that usually lasts, in terms of the spreading timeframe, a couple of days.

And finally, if you look at the genome of this virus, going back to 1996, really is not that different than today, 30 years later. COVID was mutating all the time. You remember all those variants? In 30 years, this hasn't mutated that much. That could change, again, as more people get it. But so far, I think these are the three reasons people are not that worried.

DEAN: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, always great to have you. Thank you so much for that.

Frontier Airlines says it is deeply saddened after Denver airport officials say a person who jumped the fence and then walked onto the runway was struck and killed by a Frontier plane trying to take off. That incident, sparking a brief engine fire, and within moments, smoke poured into the cabin, forcing pilots to abort that takeoff, and also, as you see there, evacuate the plane.

Here's how one Frontier passenger described that panic and confusion on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSE CERVANTES, FRONTIER PASSENGER: We were already taking off, and we were going pretty fast, and I felt like the plane started to tilt up, went out of nowhere. It just -- we felt like a thud and heard like an explosion. And I was right on the wing, so I looked to my right, and I just see the right wing just on fire, and, like, it's exploding, and it sounds, like, horrible, you know? And right away, they shut the aircraft off.

Well, when that happened, the aircraft lands back down, and they kind of swivel side to side, and then they stop, shut it off right away, and then the cabin starts to fill up with smoke, and that's when they started evacuating everybody, and they started sending us down the slide. I thought I was going to burn to death, you know? When I just saw the fire and the smoke, I just thought I was going to burn to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Leigh Waldman is joining us now.

Leigh, you're also learning more about this person who was killed, who again jumped the fence. What can you tell us?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, this is a terrifying situation for the 231 people who are on board. As far as the person who was hit and killed by this plane, the Denver Police Department just moments ago telling us that the specific timing on when this person was hit is still under investigation, as well as demographics as to who this victim is.

The Denver International Airport says at this point they don't believe that this person was an employee of the airport, but I do want to go ahead and show that video one more time of that evacuation slide that was set up to try and get people quickly off of this plane.

As that passenger describes it there, the cabin was filling up with smoke. We know that this person jumped a fence, and within two minutes was struck by this airplane.

Now, this flight was taking off from Denver, heading over to Los Angeles. Obviously, the whole takeoff had to be scrapped here. We blurred the video of the engine. We know that the engine caught on fire. The fire department had to respond very quickly here, but take a listen to moments just after this incident happened, this air traffic control audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, Frontier 4345. We're stopping on the runway. There -- we just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frontier 4345, I see that. Southwest Frontier 4345, I'm going to be rolling the trucks now. Can you -- do you know the souls on board and fuel remaining?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, 4345, we have 231 souls on board. We have 21,320 pounds of fuel on board. There was an individual walking across the runway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, we are rolling the trucks now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got smoke in the aircraft. We're going to evacuate on the runway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: That runway is back open now. We know 12 people were hurt in this incident. Five of them were taken to area hospitals. The NTSB and FAA are investigating this together. The Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, posted about this incident online, saying, "Late last night, a trespasser breached airport security at Denver International Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway. The trespasser on the runway was then struck by Frontier Airlines flight 4345 during takeoff at high speed. The pilot stopped takeoff procedures immediately. No one should EVER trespass on an airport."

A very stern warning there. This investigation is still underway, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Leigh Waldman, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Baseball has lost one of its winningest managers, legendary Atlanta Braves manager, Bobby Cox, has died. His cause of death has not been released. He managed 29 seasons in the Major Leagues, 25 of those with the Braves. He led the team to a remarkable 14 consecutive division titles in five World Series, including the 1995 World Series Championship.

[18:35:06]

He was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame in 2014. In a statement, the team called Cox, quote, "the best manager to ever wear a Braves uniform." And his death comes just a few days after the passing of the man who hired him, former Atlanta Braves owner and the founder of CNN, Ted Turner. Bobby Cox was 84 years old.

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[18:40:09]

DEAN: More than a dozen candidates are challenging incumbent mayor Karen Bass to lead the city of Los Angeles. Now, if no candidate outright wins more than 50 percent of the vote in that June 2nd primary, that will then go to a runoff in November. And this week, the top three candidates met on the debate stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NITHYA RAMAN, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILMEMBER: You're going to watch today as Mayor Bass and Spencer Pratt attack me because they want to run against each other in the general election. Each of them thinks that running against each other is what's going to help them win. SPENCER PRATT, REALITY TELEVISION STAR: Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together. I blame this person for burning my house and my parents' house and my town and all my neighbors down. I am not working with Mayor Bass.

Second off, if I wanted to run against anybody, it would be the councilmember who is terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Los Angeles City Councilmember, Nithya Raman is joining us now.

Councilwoman, thank you so much for being here with us. We were just watching a clip from your recent debate there with your -- the people you are running against. I know you endorsed Mayor Bass before then entering the race yourself, just hours before the filing deadline. So,, what was behind that decision to first endorse her and then change your mind?

RAMAN: You know, L.A. is really struggling right now. I love this city very deeply, but right now it is a very, very tough place to live. It is unaffordable, people are leaving, our homelessness crisis is continuing to rage on the streets and we're making incremental progress at extraordinary cost. And it's become a harder and less pleasant place to live. It's not just the tragic fires, the ice raids, but we have real governmental dysfunction here. Our basic services are depleted. We have tens of thousands of streetlights that are out, repair times that have now swelled to a year to fix a single streetlight. Street quality is worsening.

And I feel like on the big things and on the small things, people are feeling a real profound disinterest from our current mayoral administration to take on these problems with urgency and with honesty. And I felt very strongly in this mayoral race that people shouldn't have to choose between a MAGA Republican and the broken status quo that they did deserve more choices that could actually lead us to real solutions and real urgency.

DEAN: And you have been the target of attack ads representing the -- the Los Angeles Police. They've accused you of being anti-police, wanting to cut officers. You have said now that the city needs to maintain the size of the force. At one point though, in a 2020 campaign, you did call to defund the police. So, tell us about that position change.

RAMAN: Well, I think we need to be able to respond to calls for help. Public safety is incredibly important and our police force has shrunk significantly. And I think we absolutely need to be able to ensure that when someone calls for help in the city, that the city is able to respond in a timely fashion and that they're able to offer the help that we need.

However, I have voted against contracts, specifically one contract in the past that Mayor Bass pushed that gave the police more money than the city had and led us directly to a billion-dollar budget deficit last year that directly connects to all of the service gaps that we have in the city. We're able to fulfill our basic services less. We've cut our city staff to the bone. And the reason was because the police union is a very powerful force in local city politics. They contribute millions to political campaigns and you're seeing that play out right now.

I want to have an honest conversation about public safety. I want to make sure we're paying our city workforce well. I want to make sure we're maintaining our police force and expanding other kinds of responses to calls for help from people. But we can't do any of that if we are making political decisions about the city's budget instead of real decisions that will deliver real services for people.

DEAN: So, you no longer believe in defunding the police?

RAMAN: No.

DEAN: And what caused you to change your mind?

RAMAN: You know, I think we need to be able to ensure that the city can respond to calls for service and we have to make sure that we are able to respond to calls for help around public safety issues. And in order to do that at this moment with our response system, we need to be able to maintain the size of our police force.

DEAN: And you mentioned the police union. There are other unions, of course, that are very powerful. They're in Los Angeles. They are supporting Mayor Bass. Do you think you can win without their support?

RAMAN: I think that right now here in Los Angeles, there is profound dissatisfaction with the status quo. And there is real, real alienation from our city government.

[18:45:03]

And I think people are looking for an alternative that will address the issues that Angelenos are facing, our enormous cost of living crisis driven by the cost of housing that is actually driving families out of the city. More families have left L.A. in recent years than they have in the past because the city is increasingly an unaffordable place. Meanwhile, we haven't had a deputy mayor of housing for the last two years. We need to be taking on these issues with clarity, with urgency, and Angelenos are simply not seeing that urgency in city hall right now. My focus is on addressing these core issues. And I think voters will respond to that.

DEAN: And -- and one of the key issues in your campaign and something you've been talking about, housing and homelessness. In that debate, your record as a councilmember was criticized by your opponents when it came to those issues. It's something Mayor Bass has declared an emergency on her first day in office. You all were working together as a government. What would you do differently?

RAMAN: Well, I have had actually a track record of real success in my district. We've reduced tents and encampments by 54 percent in just a three-year period in my district. And we've had a very effective and -- and quick response. Whenever encampments pop up, my staff and our outreach teams are out there.

What we don't have right now here in Los Angeles is a real system. We spend an extraordinary amount of money on this issue and we don't have staff. The city has not assigned staff. This mayor has not assigned staff to actually oversee the whole system and hold it accountable. Angelenos have now taxed themselves multiple times over the past few years to respond to this crisis with -- with housing, with services, with real response on the streets. And they're not being met with a system that's really delivering on that with accountability and getting as many people indoors as possible. The mayor's signature program spends over a hundred thousand a year per person in some cases to get people indoors and off the streets. That is not a sustainable system.

We can address homelessness. We can bring so many more people indoors. We can end the crisis of unsheltered homelessness, but we can only do that if we build an actual system in city hall. This mayor has shown no urgency to do that. I feel that urgency and I want to build it for our city.

DEAN: All right, Councilmember Nithya Raman, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

RAMAN: Thank you so much.

DEAN: And I also want to note, we did extend an invitation to appear on the show to Republican Spencer Pratt. And next hour, we will be speaking with incumbent Los Angeles mayor Democrat Karen Bass on her reelection campaign and more. Again, that's next hour. Stay with us.

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[18:52:30]

DEAN: Solid news for jobs this week. Last month the economy created 115,000 new jobs. That's according to the labor department. It is fewer jobs than the month before but still a good showing and the best two-month growth in about two years. That consistent strength in jobs helps stocks finish another strong week with the Dow Industrial closing above 49,600 and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 setting new records as well.

Economist Kayla Bruun is joining us now. She's with Morning Consult. Kayla, great to have you here with us. Thanks so much for being here.

Listen, this job market has been the strongest fundamental underpinning for stocks to keep rallying. Nevertheless, does that persistent optimism surprise you even with the gas prices at $4.53 a gallon?

KAYLA BRUUN, ECONOMIST, MORNING CONSULT: Thank you for having me tonight. I don't know that it necessarily surprises me because the headline number does seem strong. That being said, digging into the numbers a little bit more, there are still some weak spots showing through. I still see the labor market as a bit vulnerable. I would characterize it a bit more as a stabilization rather than a great expansion just because if you look at what those jobs are, they really are driven by lower wage industries whereas some of the higher paying jobs, higher paying -- higher paying industries have really barely contributed jobs and in some cases even been a drag on job growth really since 2023.

The really most worrying thing actually in the jobs report though for me was actually the employment to population ratio. If you look in the household survey where you -- they actually ask are you employed, do you have a job or not, are you participating in the labor force, while the unemployment rate held steady, that was driven by labor force participation dropping to the point where actually the share of the population that is employed, the employment to population ratio is the lowest it's been since the pandemic. Not to take away from the good news, but there are some less promising details if you really dig into the report.

DEAN: Yes. And -- and another one is that Americans' paychecks are not keeping up with inflation. This is something that's been happening gradually, but I'm curious if -- if you think there's a tipping point where it really starts to matter and if we might be nearing it.

BRUUN: There probably is a tipping point. One thing that might be delaying that is factors like tax refunds many people received recently, there still is some leftover savings.

[18:55:00]

We actually, the consumer, if we look at, for example, our consumer health index that we track at Morning Consult, which -- which is a high frequency metric tracking demand, that still has a lot of resilience strength leftover from 2025 when it reached some pretty strong, robust levels, indicating pretty strong demand.

That being said, it has been cooling as sentiment falls and a lot of that, really most of it has been driven by what's happening with gas prices. It's just such a visible symbol of what's happening with the economy and consumers in such a car-dependent country, they feel it right away hitting budgets.

DEAN: Yes.

BRUUN: So, that's been driving down sentiment and weighing down demand.

DEAN: All right, Kayla Bruun, great to have you. Thanks so much.

BRUUN: Thank you.

DEAN: Members of the CDC poised to meet several American cruise ship passengers as they arrive off the coast of a Spanish island. What happens after that? We're going to break it down for you. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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