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CNN This Morning
U.S. Strike Kills 11 on Alleged Drug Boat from Venezuela; House Committee Releases 33,000+ Pages of Epstein Files; Doctors Using Alternatives to Opioids to Treat Pain. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired September 03, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military blows up a boat in the Caribbean, claiming it belonged to a notorious drug cartel. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: A boat, a drug-carrying boat. A lot of drugs in that boat.
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CORNISH: The Trump administration elevating the war on drugs and escalating tensions with Venezuela.
More than 30,000 pages of Epstein documents released to the public, but calls for transparency are still growing louder.
A new world order? Kim Jong-un side-by-side with Xi and Putin, triggering a remarkable response from President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Congressman Jerry Nadler is a legend.
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CORNISH: Another top Democrat announcing his retirement. Is the party undergoing a much-needed youth movement?
And it doesn't have to hurt. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with the latest advances in pain management without opioids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARDI B, RAPPER: The next person to try to do a frivolous lawsuit against me, I'm going to countersue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Like her song says, be careful. Cardi B's warning after her courtroom victory.
Six a.m. here on the East Coast. Here is a live look at the city of Chicago. Good morning, everybody. It is Wednesday, September 3rd. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish.
So, here's where we start. That deadly U.S. military strike on an alleged drug cartel boat with ties to Venezuela. It's escalating already rising tensions in the region.
President Trump celebrated the attack by releasing this video, which shows the moment a boat was blown up in the Southern Caribbean. Eleven on board were killed.
Administration officials say the boat left Venezuela loaded with drugs on a well-known drug-trafficking route.
The Trump administration has set its sights on the Venezuelan president, accusing him of heading a drug cartel in his country, calling it a terrorist organization.
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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The president's been very clear that he's going to use the full power of America and the full might of the United States to take on and eradicate these drug cartels, no matter where they're operating from, and no matter how long they've been able to act with impunity. Those days are over.
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CORNISH: Joining me now to discuss, Mariana Atencio, a freelance journalist who actually fled Venezuela to the U.S. almost 17 years ago.
Welcome to -- to CNN THIS MORNING.
MARIANA ATENCIO, FREELANCE JOURNALIST: Audie, thank you for having me.
CORNISH: OK, so we've seen an actual military strike, and this was happening as Nicolas Maduro was kind of already on edge, trying to use this war rhetoric. Can you give me some context of how this escalated so quickly?
ATENCIO: So, Audie, we have seen a level of tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela that we haven't seen in years.
Essentially, Trump has mobilized around eight boats, a submarine, and almost 5,000 Marines to the Southern Caribbean to combat drugs that leave through Venezuela.
Venezuela, because of its geographic location, is the perfect transit country for these drugs to leave for Europe and the United States. So, it's not a producer; it's a transit country.
But things really escalated as the Trump administration, plain and simple, named Nicolas Maduro the leader of this drug cartel that uses the full power of the executive and the military to transport these drugs.
The DEA has been kicked out of the country since 2005. And as the rhetoric escalates, we're seeing these tensions build up in the Southern Caribbean as both nations respond.
CORNISH: Can you give us a sense of what international community thinks about this? Do people say the same about Maduro in terms of the -- the drug industry there, as you said, being a hub for transport?
ATENCIO: All Venezuelans, Audie, already have known for years that the Maduro regime is a narco cartel, that they lead, essentially, a cartel called the Cartel of the Suns. And that is because of the sun insignia emblazoned in military uniforms.
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Latin America and the Caribbean, however, is very divided along ideological lines. So, you will see countries like Colombia, like Mexico, not have such a harsh stance against the Maduro regime.
Also think about that this is a country that still produces some oil, so they tend to buy loyalties around the region.
And we saw that last year. Maduro is not a legitimate president. He's a de facto dictator. He stole elections last year. And the international community didn't pressure him and his regime enough to produce the evidence of his supposed win, because, again, many of these countries always vote along ideological lines, but -- ideological lines.
But we know this is sort of a rogue nation. Eight million people, including myself and many of my family members, Audie, have left because of the humanitarian crisis there.
So, you're seeing also a country that has become the numberr one source of asylum seekers to the United States.
So, for the Trump administration, this is not only a drug problem. This is also a migration problem. And these are, as you know, President Trump's top domestic priorities.
CORNISH: Mariana Atencio, thank you so much.
ATENCIO: Thank you, Audie.
CORNISH: Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, don't let this fool you. That's how one Democrat framed the Epstein document drop. Why the more than 30,000 pages aren't enough.
Plus, Cardi B cleared of assault charges. Did the defense underestimate her?
And the White House ready to declare a housing emergency. But this was the president last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Our housing industry is good, but it could be phenomenal.
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CORNISH: "Release the files." Today on Capitol Hill, the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein will once again make that plea.
Yesterday, a House Oversight Committee made public more than 33,000 documents. And as it turns out, it was kind of underwhelming.
The files included flight logs, court filings, surveillance footage from the jail where Epstein died. But even key Republicans admit it's nothing new.
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REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): It's like only 1 percent of what they possess, and -- and 97 percent of it has already been released.
I'm afraid this is going to be like Pam Bondi's binders; is people are going to dig into it and say, there's nothing new here. They haven't given us anything. They've given us the sleeves off their vest.
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CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Rachael Bade, "Politico" Capitol bureau chief; Charlie Dent, former Republican Congressman; and Antjuan Seawright, Democratic strategist.
Rachael, I want to start with you. We saw Thomas Massie there doing a lot of math, but basically, in the end, saying -- what was it? They've given us the sleeves off their vest.
RACHAEL BADE, CAPITOL BUREAU CHIEF, "POLITICO": Yes.
CORNISH: Not impressed, apparently.
BADE: Yes. Definitely not impressed, I would say. And, I mean, there's good reason for that. We've seen a lot of these documents before.
And yet, I think there's a sort of pressure campaign from the White House and GOP leaders to sort of look at the House Oversight Committee and what they put out last night and say, Look, we're moving forward with the process. You should not sign onto this discharge petition.
For viewers who haven't been following, this is basically an end run around leadership. You have people like Thomas Massie who are trying to seize the floor in the U.S. House of Representatives and force votes that are going to release everything.
CORNISH: I see.
BADE: And they need just --
CORNISH: OK. So, now you can just, like, dump all this paper on them and say, Look at this.
BADE: Look, we did something.
CORNISH: There is something.
BADE: Yes.
CORNISH: You don't need to sign onto some sort of vote that will cause everyone trouble going down the road.
You -- you've been a person who's maybe had to avoid or embrace a message vote. What do you think of how Massie is playing this?
CHARLIE DENT, FORMER REPUBLICAN PENNSYLVANIA CONGRESSMAN: I think he's playing it pretty smart. I was involved with a very successful discharge petition, one of the first ones that was done in many years.
CORNISH: So, it can be done.
DENT: It can be done. It's been done more -- in recent years, even more so. But they're very unusual.
But he needs to pick up a few more signatures from Republicans. He's got a few now. I think he's got Nancy Mace and Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. But I think he needs two or three more. That's the challenge.
But let's face it, nobody is going to -- the people who really want, who are really upset about Epstein, they want -- they want -- they don't believe it's a suicide. And if these documents don't show that this was a murder, they'll be unhappy.
That's -- that's what a big part of this is about. If there's not -- if there's not a list, no matter how many documents they're going to throw out there, they're still going to be upset.
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think they are purposely moving at school zone speed with how they're releasing these files, because they do not want the -- some of the information being released.
You saw one of the members of Congress on the Republican side kind of changed his tune yesterday after coming out of the meeting.
The scariest thing ever was the picture of Nancy Mace, or the video of her coming out of the room, meeting with the victims.
At the end of the day. I don't think anything they can do at this point is going to satisfy the right-wing base. But I do think Republicans are going to ramp it up to try to distract folks away from the pressure of this Epstein files.
CORNISH: But can I stop there? Everyone's ramping up. Like, instead of this story, which has been going off and on since, like, 2006. This is only taking on more and new life the more people talk about it.
Here's Jasmine Crockett of Texas, basically saying, look, we were even left in the dark about when things were going to come out.
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REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D), TEXAS: They didn't give us a heads up and say, Hey, we're dropping this. We found out online, like everyone else, even though, obviously, we had just been with the chairman, as well as the speaker sat in on our roundtable that we had with the survivors. So --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But why is that, you think?
CROCKETT: Because this is a game for them, and it's sad that we are still playing games after hearing these horrifying stories from these women.
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SEAWRIGHT: Look, I think now that they're back in Washington, the pressure ramps up again. Over the -- the recess, the August recess period, it ramped down.
CORNISH: But Democrats are also leaning into that pressure, is what I'm thinking now. Like --
SEAWRIGHT: Well, I think it's bipartisan. It's very rare.
CORNISH: It's a bipartisan pressure campaign.
SEAWRIGHT: It's very rare in this moment to see bipartisanship.
BADE: The most telling thing for me, I actually think, is how much pressure has been actually released on this story.
I mean, if we think about where we were in July when lawmakers left Washington, this was all anybody was talking about. Now, I do feel like the story. Yes, it's still in the news, but it's -- it's below the fold. It's story four or five.
CORNISH: It's below the fold. However --
BADE: Yes, I agree.
CORNISH: Today there is a news conference.
BADE: Right.
CORNISH: Survivors are set to speak. And I have noticed, over the last couple of weeks --
BADE: The survivors.
CORNISH: -- the survivors have been coming out more and more to say, Wait a second, what's going on?
And they're raising other questions.
BADE: Those are the voices that are going to carry.
CORNISH: Yes.
BADE: I mean, people --
CORNISH: Above the fold?
BADE: When -- yes.
CORNISH: Not that there's a fold anymore.
BADE: Above -- of course. I mean, when survivors speak --
CORNISH: Sorry. We're talking about newspapers, young people.
BADE: Yes.
CORNISH: Yes. But I see what you're saying.
BADE: Yes.
CORNISH: Like, this could push it in another direction, depending on other news.
BADE: It's just not -- It's not just politicians and influencers coming out and saying, Oh, we want this information. It's people who survived.
And if they're going to come forward and tell their stories. And it sounds like people who have not spoken publicly had private meetings with the speaker and with Republicans on the House Oversight Committee and Democrats, I believe, as well. And they're willing to talk. And I think that that will push it ahead in terms of the story.
CORNISH: OK. We are going to keep talking about this for a while. So, we're going to stop right there.
After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, some courts want to roll back the president's tariffs. What could it cost you?
Plus, innovative and unexpected. How doctors are trying to adapt to change since the height of the opioid epidemic.
And going live to Hawaii's big island, where Kilauea, the Kilauea volcano, is erupting, shooting lava some 300 feet into the sky.
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CORNISH: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is taking on pain without the use of painkillers like opioids. It's the subject of his new book, "It Doesn't Have to Hurt," and his new documentary airing on CNN Sunday.
Now, during the worst years, doctors routinely used opioids for just about any kind of pain toothaches, dislocated hips. And then, tens of thousands of Americans died as the result of addiction and overdose.
Recently, Dr. Gupta spent time in the emergency room of Brooklyn's largest hospital to see what they're doing differently now.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Is opioids still sort of the therapy of choice?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Opioids is one of our therapies. But we take a lot of pride here in offering a wide variety of pain modalities.
GUPTA (voice-over): It's called opioid optimization, and it's pioneering work designed by this man.
DR. SERGEY MATOV, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Did you fall at all?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Sergey Matov, an emergency medicine physician and research director at Maimonides.
MATOV: We decided to use non-opioid analgesia as a primary analgesic of choice, obviously, after patients' agreement, and resort to opioids only as a rescue.
GUPTA (voice-over): That's right. Opioids as the last resort for pain instead of the first.
It's standard operating procedure here now, and they have found most of their patients are quite satisfied.
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CORNISH: Joining me now, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: Good morning.
CORNISH: Congratulations on the book.
GUPTA: Thank you.
CORNISH: First of all, this is a fascinating topic. And, you know, I think a lot of people -- I know, I was surprised hearing that there's an emergency room in which opioids would be, as he said, the rescue, the last resort.
Can you talk about those modalities for the rest of us? What are they using to treat pain, if not opioids?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, a lot of things that people may have heard of sort of tangentially because -- but because opioids have sucked up all the oxygen in the room for 25 years, they haven't come to the forefront.
So, for example, Audie, there was a 76-year-old gentleman who broke his hip while we were there in the emergency room, would have -- would have absolutely gotten opioids in the past. Instead, got a nerve block, which was a long-lasting nerve block. Took his pain score, he told us, to a zero. He had no pain.
And then was able to get by with other medications, non-opioid medications, after that.
Ketamine is another big one. Again, this is a medication that's been around for a long time, approved as an anesthetic, but is now getting more and more utilized in emergency rooms for pain.
We saw women get virtual reality goggles put on. Sometimes they will double up medications. So instead of ibuprofen or Tylenol, they give both at the same time.
So, it's all these different modalities, a lot of existing modalities, some new, sometimes combination, Audie.
CORNISH: How on board were doctors? And I mean, to me, I guess my secret question is insurance companies, because you're suggesting a lot of different things here.
GUPTA: Yes. So, I think the doctors, at least in Maimonides, were very much on board.
I mean, I think what has happened with opioids over the last 25 years has -- you know, it's gotten everyone's attention. And I think people were over utilizing them. As you probably know, at one point the United States was using 80 percent of the world's opioids. We're 4 percent of the world's population, to give context.
So, I think they were very much on board. And again, for a lot of these in terms of the insurance, a lot of these are existing modalities. And they are, aside from ketamine, many of them are approved for pain.
So, they just are getting utilized more as a -- as a earlier resort, at least, instead of a last resort.
CORNISH: And finally, patients. I have to ask, some of us are going to be going to the doctor, and they may turn to us and say, would you consider trying something else? And it sounds like your book is saying, don't freak out.
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GUPTA: Eighty percent of the patients that were in the emergency room who went through these -- these opioid optimized shifts, meaning where opioids were the last resort, not first. Eighty percent were satisfied, which was actually higher than typical when patients are coming in for pain. So, I think, you know, there is a desire from patients and physicians
alike to at least reduce. We know opioids can be life savers for some people. Really, really important. But we've used them too much.
And I think these other -- these other therapies, they're now -- have been tested, and they've been shown to work. And patients seem very happy with that.
CORNISH: OK. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you. And I'd love for you all to watch "DR. SANJAY GUPTA REPORTS: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO HURT." That's going to be airing this Sunday, September 7, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, right here on CNN.
And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, welcome to the big boys' table. North Korea's leaders get a front-row seat to China's gun show.
Plus, Google avoids the worst-case scenario after a landmark antitrust ruling.
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