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475 People Were Detained During An Immigration Raid In Georgia Hyundai Plant; Trump Rebrands Department Of Defense As Department Of War; U.S. Markets Close In Red After Brutal August Jobs Report; Thousands Pay Respects To Italian Designer Giorgio Armani; HHS Report To Make Potential Link Between Autism And Tylenol Use During Pregnancy. U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits Highest Number Since 2021; Speaker Johnson Vows Epstein Probe will "Uncover Things"; U.S. Senate Grills Health and Human Services Secretary Over Vaccine Policy. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 06, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:30]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: You earned your weekend and I'm glad to have you with me. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It's Saturday, September 6th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

We're hearing from Hyundai following that major immigration raid one of their plants. Close to 500 workers were taken into federal custody. The new details that we've learned overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: This name change is not just about renaming, it's about restoring. Words matter. It's restoring as you've guided us to, Mr. President, restoring the warrior ethos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: President Trump signed an executive order Friday rebranding the Pentagon as the Department of War. We'll tell you what that change means and does not mean.

Also, a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to link autism in children to a common over the counter pain reliever. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta digs into the facts.

Plus, could Elon Musk become the world's first trillionaire?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, TESLA CEO: I think obviously there should be compensation for if something incredible is done, that compensation should match.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Tesla's board could soon give Musk a massive new pay package despite falling sales.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: At the company and showers and thunderstorms across more than half a dozen states in the Southeast. But this is the same cold front that will bring severe thunderstorms to the Northeast later today. We'll take a look at the timeline.

BLACKWELL: Right off top this morning, the massive immigration raid at the Hyundai Metaplant in Southeast Georgia. The president of South Korea just responded to the raid. It detained 475 people, most of them Korean nationals. The South Korean president told Korean officials in the U.S. to take all out necessary measures to support Korean nationals.

He also added that he is willing to personally travel to Washington, D.C. in order to resolve the matter. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted its largest immigration raid Thursday at the Hyundai Metaplant. Hyundai says it does not believe that any of those detained were its direct employees.

President Trump reacted to the raid yesterday in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you concerned at all about, you know, your immigration agenda potentially clashing with these economic goals?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, we want to get along with other countries and we want to have a great stable workforce and we had, as I understand it, a lot of illegal aliens. Some not the best of people, but we had a lot of illegal aliens working there.

So you know, look, they're doing their job. That's what they have to do. These are people that came through with Biden. They came through illegally. They came into our country. So we have to do our job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Gustavo Valdes is live for us this morning in Savannah, Georgia. Gustavo, what did you learn overnight?

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning. What some of the workers we talked to tell us is that the first sign they saw as to something going wrong here at the plant was the sound of helicopters flying over the plant. And shortly after they saw a massive number of vehicles and agents pouring into the factory starting this enforcement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our Homeland Security we have a search warrant for the whole site. We need construction to cease immediately.

VALDES (voice-over): Nearly 500 people rounded up at this Georgia manufacturing plant Thursday in the largest single site operation in history of Homeland Security Investigations.

STEVEN SCHRANK, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE OF HOMELAND SEC. INVESTIGATION ATLANTA: 475 were illegally present in the United States or in violation of their presence in the United States working unlawfully.

VALDES (voice-over): The majority of those detainees were Korean nationals, according to Homeland Security. DHS officials say the multi-agency raid was a result of a months long investigation into labor practices at the sprawling 2,900 acre Hyundai meta plant.

SCHRANK: Side this was not a immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses. This has been a multi month criminal investigation.

[06:05:00]

VALDES: Hyundai says it is cooperating with law enforcement and it is committed to abiding by all labor and immigration regulations. Several people attempted to flee during the raid, according to the Department of Justice. Some ran into a nearby sewage pond and were fished out of the water and taken into custody.

DHS says there was no substantial use of force and no injuries as a result of the operation.

SCHRANK: Each individual was questioned on their status. Those that were found to be illegally present were then detained and turned over to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations custody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALDES: Now, the employees we talked to say that while they understand the need for law enforcement, for immigration authorities to conduct this kind of enforcement, they also say that perhaps they felt the agents were a little too heavy handed in the way they approached the workers, whether they were here working illegally or not.

And a little nuance perhaps needed in this case is that many of these workers, we're being told, might have been arrived, might have been in the country, not necessarily illegally. They might have arrived under a visa program or as one of the attorneys for a couple of them said, under a visa waiver program that allows Koreans to come to the United States temporarily to work or visit.

Now, it's not clear what is the definition of the work they can do while in the United States under the visa program. The attorney wouldn't say. So at least there is that difference in what we are hearing from other workplaces that have been also raided recently in which they are more established residents.

The growing Asian community in East Georgia near Savannah, they tell us that most of the workers, they believe are single men that came for the purpose of working in this site. So we are perhaps not seeing as many family separations, but some local activists say that they are families, local families affected. And a protest is scheduled for later today. BLACKWELL: Gustavo Valdes for us there, thank you so much.

President Trump signed an executive order to rebrand the Defense Department as the Department of War Friday. The president called the name change more appropriate for today's global threats and said the U.S. must now focus on offense, not just defense. Now, this allows officials to use titles like Secretary of War. The Pentagon's website now redirects to war.gov. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more from the White House. Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Victor, President Trump signing an executive order officially changing the name from the Department of Defense to the Department of War. Now, to be clear, this still will have to go in front of Congress. They'd have to approve any kind official name change. But this is obviously the symbolic signing of this executive order.

Interestingly, President Trump was asked about whether or not he believed Congress would approve of this name change. He said that there were still questions as to whether or not he actually had to get their approval, which he does. But he also went off on a tangent at one point talking about how this change to the Department of War was a signal of strength that the United States had stopped winning wars.

At one point, all they wanted to do was tie when it came to wars, at one point using the word wokey in terms of the American military. He was specifically asked if there were questions about what this would cost, specifically, particularly given the fact that we know there have been a lot of budget cuts. There's a lot of talk about slashing those budgets. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We know how to rebrand without having to go crazy. We don't have to recarve a mountain or anything. We're going to be doing it not in the most expensive. We're going to start changing the stationary as it comes due and lots of things like that. We're not going to be doing any things like have been done in the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, despite the fact that he said it was going to be done very slowly, rolled out, mentioned stationary there almost immediately after President Trump signed his executive order outside of Pete Hegseth's office, the Secretary of Defense outside the Pentagon, they were spotted already changing those signs, changing them to Secretary of War, changing them to Department of War. So clearly they are taking this very seriously and they're already acting on it.

Now, one thing to note is that this is actually a return to the original namesake. The Department of War was established under President George Washington. It was later changed the Department of Defense under President Truman. That was in 1949 when there was an entire restructuring of the military. Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Kristen, thank you. The latest jobs report showed just 22,000 jobs were added last month, far fewer than expected.

[06:10:00]

Now, this is the first jobs report since President Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He claimed the disappointing July numbers were rigged. The 22,000 jobs added last month significantly lower than the 76,000 jobs economists expected.

The unemployment rate also rose slightly to 4.3 percent. That's according to BLS.

Lydia DePillis joins me now. She's the economics reporter for The New York Times. Lydia, thanks for being with us. Give us just the fuller picture behind that 22,000, industries that are up, industries that are down, and trends that we're seeing.

LYDIA DEPILLIS, ECONOMIC REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Sure. So 22,000 is a dramatic decline from the job growth were seeing over the last few years. And there's one thing you ought to know about that, which is the labor force is also growing more slowly. So you don't need as many jobs in order to keep that unemployment rate at a reasonably low level.

The main reason for the decline in the labor force growing is, of course, the dramatic deceleration in the number of immigrants coming to the country and the White House's efforts to expel those who are already here. And of course, our population is aging, et cetera, so we don't need as many jobs.

However, the average of 29,000 jobs over the last three months is not enough to soak up those who are coming in. And that's why economists are worried. We could see that unemployment rates start to grow in the months to come.

The main industry adding jobs at this point, essentially the only one is health care. Everything else was flat to down. And so that's why you really see this concern about economic growth on an ongoing basis.

BLACKWELL: Yes. There's also the concern of the impact of the President's tariff policy. We've heard from Jerome Powell, his concern about that. Is there any way to know how much the tariff strategy impacts the job market? These numbers that we saw on Friday.

DEPILLIS: Sure. So there are some telltale signs of tariffs showing up in the jobs data. For example, transportation and warehousing has been flat, retail has been flat, and manufacturing, interestingly, has actually been sinking for the last four months.

It's down about 78,000 jobs over the past year. Why is that you would think tariffs would help U.S. Manufacturing? Well, U.S. manufacturing usually operates with a lot of imported inputs, from raw materials like steel and copper to whole auto parts that go into completed cars.

So, businesses are trying to figure this out still. Now, is it possible that could lead to a turnaround as businesses figure this out and invest in U.S. factories? Maybe, but that's going to be a long time down the road if it does happen.

BLACKWELL: Speaking of Jerome Powell, Fed chair, we're what, 10 days out from the next meeting of the Federal Reserve. Is it expected now that there will be this rate cut that the president's been calling for, now that we're seeing these softening jobs numbers?

DEPILLIS: Yes, that is the overwhelming expectation of markets that we'll see a 25-basis point cut. And the question is how fast the Fed goes forward in cutting from there. But the challenge is at the same time they are still facing increased inflation, that dreaded stagflation area environment that is really difficult to get out of.

So they can't just go forward and cut without worrying about the labor market or in order to shore up that unemployment rate without worrying about inflation recelerating. So they're really in a little bit of a bind here and we'll see what happens in the months to come.

BLACKWELL: And so what about the R word, recession? Is a full blown all out recession expected?

DEPILLIS: No, most economists are not expecting a recession which is basically negative growth and a few other factors that they would consider. And that's because there are other things still bolstering the U.S. economy. The Republican tax bill, while expanding our deficits is expected to infuse some fiscal stimulus into both corporate balance sheets and for U.S. consumers.

You know, this economy has been amazingly durable. So I don't think anyone's counting it out yet. But there's a lot of signs of cracks and especially if you are outside of the job market at this point, if you're trying to get back in, if you lost a position and are looking for work, it's especially painful for you, even though most people who want jobs have them.

So that's what's expected or hoped to keep consumer spending going even as wage increases start to fade and employment or inflation stays sticky.

BLACKWELL: Lydia DePillis, always good to have you help us understand this. Thanks so much for being with me.

All right. Right now at least 60 million people face a threat of severe storms, damaging winds, large hail, main concerns, but isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinjar joins us now.

You know the, you know this on prompter. They've got like a little yellow bar that kind of gives me a heads up of what's coming. It just said weather soggy, but this could be worse than just annoying. It'd be pretty dangerous.

[06:15:06]

CHINCHAR: Yes, yes, this is a very potent cold front and you can tell that because the temperatures are going to drop quite a bit behind it. But also before it moves through, you're going to have those strong and yes, even severe thunderstorms because of how potent this cold front is.

So let's take a look. It's very obvious where this cold front is and it's actually impacting a lot of people here. You can see all the way from the northeast back down into Texas and New Mexico. So all of these areas are likely going to get some impact from this particular cold front.

Now right now most of the impact is across the southeast. That's where the bulk of these showers and thunderstorms are located. But the problem is later on this afternoon it's expected to ramp back up.

You get the heating of the day with the sun and this is going to lead to the potential for some strong to, yes, even severe thunderstorms across the northeast and portions of the mid Atlantic. Basically any of these areas that you see highlighted here in green or even in the yellow.

Yes, the greatest threats are going to be damaging winds and some hail. But we can't rule out the potential for an isolated tornado. It's really going to ramp up this afternoon. But look at a lot of these cities here. Right here along the coast. You're talking Boston, New York, all of them. They're really peak is going to be dinner time tonight through the evening hours.

Now again, here's a look at a different look at the front. And again you can tell just from the stark difference in the temperatures where that front is located, all of that cold air that's going to pull in behind that front once it finally exits through many of these areas.

And we're talking a significant drop in temperatures. Take a look at Boston going from mid-80s today to mid-60s tomorrow. That's a 20- degree drop in the high temperature. New York, D.C. lots of these other areas looking at a similar 15 to 20 degree drop.

BLACKWELL: OK, I know some people are waiting for it.

CHINCHAR: Yes, yes indeed.

BLACKWELL: All right. Thanks, Allison. Today, people are paying their respects as iconic Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani lies in state. The Armani group says his funeral chamber will be open in Milan to the public this weekend. His funeral will be held privately in lines with his wishes.

Meanwhile, tributes are pouring in from the fashion world. Celebrities, global leaders honoring Armani's influence and legacy. He died Thursday. He was 91 years old.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed several new youth camp safety bills into law, including the Heavens 27 Camp Safety Act, named for the 27 children who died in July's flood tragedy at Camp Mystic. The laws strengthen emergency response and raise safety standards for camps across the state.

The new laws require camps to create emergency plans and run regular evacuation drills. They also mandate outdoor warning sirens in flood prone areas. And they establish a safety team to oversee camps and enforce stricter camper to counselor ratios.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller says the Trump administration is just getting started in its crackdown on crime in Washington, DC. Speaking to reporters outside the White House yesterday, Miller pointed to early drops in violent crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: During the first few weeks. Of course, we've seen these radical reductions in violent crime. We're just getting started. DEA, ATF, FBI have only just begun to identify, disrupt and dismantle the criminal organizations that have been wreaking havoc on this city for so long. And we're going to take them apart member by member, group by group, piece by piece.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Just this week, the D.C. Attorney General sued the Trump administration over the deployment of the National Guard. Mayor Muriel Bowser says her focus is on ending the federal emergency, which is set to expire September 10th.

New York Mayor Eric Adams is denying reports that he plans to drop out of the mayor's race for a role in the Trump administration. Sources tell CNN that Adams has not received a formal offer but has met with Trump's advisers about possible positions.

Adams insists that he's focused on his reelection campaign and he accuses former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of trying to push him out of the race. Adam says he's the only one who can beat Democratic nominee Sohan Mamdani.

All right, there's much more coming on CNN This Morning. A new Health and Human Services report will likely link autism to a popular pain reliever.

Plus, CNN exclusive reporting revelations in the Uvalde school massacre, why faulty doors may have left the gunman walk right in. And $1 trillion Tesla unveils a new plan that could make Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.

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[06:24:14]

BLACKWELL: President Trump is appearing to distance himself from Florida's new vaccination proposal. You see, after the state announced plans to end vaccine mandates, including for school children, the president said that everyone should get certain shots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think we have to be very careful. Look, you have some vaccines that are so amazing. The polio vaccine I happen to think is amazing. A lot of people think that COVID is amazing. You know, there are many people that believe strongly in that. But you have some vaccines that are so incredible.

And I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don't have to be vaccinated. It's a very, you know, it's a very tough position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:25:00]

BLACKWELL: The President's remarks there are his strongest defense yet of standard school or childhood immunizations. Florida's proposal would make it the first state to end a long standing practice of requiring certain vaccines for school students.

The Wall Street Journal says that an upcoming report from the Health and Human Services Department is expected to link autism in children to the use of Tylenol during pregnancy. This is contrary to medical guidelines that say the pain reliever is safe to use. And the HHS report will also suggest that a form of the vitamin folic acid would reduce symptoms of autism in some people. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has previously promoted debunked theories about autism. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the science behind this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, this entire conversation and possibility of acetaminophen or Tylenol being associated with autism is not a new conversation. People have been looking into this for over 10 years. We've been reporting on this for quite some time.

Back 10 years ago, the evidence was really mixed in terms of determining whether there was an association between Tylenol use and a child being subsequently diagnosed with autism. These are really hard studies to do, First of all. Imagine that a child is diagnosed with autism, they go back to back and ask the mom, did you take Tylenol when you were pregnant? How much Tylenol did you take? When did you take it?

It's very hard to remember. That's part of the reason these studies are hard to do. There's also the issue of the fact that Tylenol is really commonly used.

Some studies suggest 45 to 60 percent of women used Tylenol when they were pregnant. That makes it very ubiquitous. And there is this thing called the paradox of ubiquity, meaning when you have something that's that commonly used, it's then hard to go back and pinpoint that's the singular cause of something. So these studies are hard to do.

Having said that, there was a study in 2019 coming out of Johns Hopkins where they decided to look at umbilical cord blood. They figured, hey, that's a better way of actually figuring out how much acetaminophen was actually being used, how much acetaminophen exposure was there, and they actually did find that the higher acetaminophen exposure was associated with a higher rate of autism. And I think that got a lot of people's attention.

In August of this year, August of 2025, there was a meta analysis of 46 different studies. And in 27 of those studies, they did find that there was an association between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and subsequent diagnosis of autism.

But again, to be really clear, these are associations. And when you have something that's that commonly used, it's going to be associated with lots of different things. Somebody was taking Tylenol. Well, maybe they had a fever. Could the fever be the culprit? You sort of get the idea. So it's very hard to sort of go back and then pinpoint that Tylenol itself might be actually leading to this. So that's sort of where we are with this discussion.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, again, they have known about these potential associations for some time. They released a statement on this. They said acetaminophen has long been established as a safe pain reliever for pregnant women during pregnancy. There is no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues.

Neurodevelopmental disorders in particular are multifactorial and very difficult to associate with a singular cause. Best guidance is that if you have a fever as a pregnant woman, it is better to treat that fever than not treat that fever. And using Tylenol for the shortest, the smallest dose for the shortest time seems to be the best advice.

Keep in mind, again, I know I've said this twice, but association versus cause and effect, one of the researchers of the study said, look, that's like saying in the summertime people eat more ice cream and in the summertime there is more violent crime. Both those things happen.

They are associated. But obviously there's no cause and effect relationship here. We'll see what this new report out of HHS shows, I'm sure, in the days and weeks to come. And if there's more information in there, we'll certainly bring it to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Sanjay, thank you. Tylenol is owned by a subsidiary of the drug maker Kenvue. The company released a statement. I'm going to read it for you now. Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our products.

We have continuously evaluated the science and continue to believe there is no casual link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism.

Coming up, we'll dig into the week's political headlines, including RFK Jr's squaring off with both Democratic and Republican senators during a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill this week.

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[06:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL: Some in the Trump administration seem to admit that August's job numbers were not very good, but they insist the economy is strong and revised numbers will be better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: All the indicators are saying that things are really strong. And what we've also seen is that Goldman Sachs put out a study yesterday that said that the August number tends to be really messed up because of seasonal adjustment things, and they tend to be revised way up.

And so, I think if they were revised up, which has happened on average over the last 15 years by about 60,000, then everything else would make sense.

[06:35:00]

But right now, we're puzzled about the BLS numbers and looking forward for new leadership there, to make it so that the numbers are more reliable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Twenty two thousand jobs were added in August. Unemployment crept up to 4.3 percent. These numbers came in just weeks after the President fired the former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He said the disappointing numbers under her tenure were rigged. Joining me now, senior Congress reporter for "Politico", Meredith Lee Hill.

Meredith, welcome to the show. So, since you covered Congress, let's start there with their perspective. They are the next up with elections next year. How worried are they, if at all, about the numbers that we're seeing softening across the jobs market?

MEREDITH LEE HILL, SENIOR CONGRESS REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, I think we're seeing some general panic sink in among Hill Republicans as they look at this pretty brutal jobs report. One thing the White House did send up some messaging notes yesterday, talking about really looking at yearly job gains and not necessarily focusing on this August anemic report, focusing on more of these kind of long-term trends.

And that's something that House Republicans in particular really picked up on and will push a lot. But it is certainly worrying for Republicans behind the scenes. They obviously have lots of big decisions coming up. Government funding, if they're going to do a second reconciliation package, lots of things to weigh going forward. And if this -- they continue to see these softening trends, that will be worrying for them.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the Epstein case. There were survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on Capitol Hill this week. They were trying to convince the President that this is not a hoax, despite the President repeatedly using that term. And he did it again on Truth Social. He said the DOJ did its job. They gave everything requested.

It's time to end the Democrat-Epstein hoax and give the Republicans credit for doing the great even legendary job that they're doing. You wrote about this, this week, about this bipartisan effort to force a vote to compel the release of more documents. Are there nerves within the President's party about his calling this a hoax? We know that there are some strong Trump supporters who say, Mr. President, you have to believe these women.

HILL: Right, there's definitely Republicans on Capitol Hill who are -- who have been worried really since late July before they left for August recess, about the President's handling of the Epstein case. Both the Justice Department, but also just the way that the President has been talking about this, as you mentioned, calling it a hoax, and really trying to shut this down at this point.

There are Republicans on Capitol Hill, some of his strongest supporters, Marjorie Taylor Greene -- just this week, I was talking to her. She was one of the people who was present at the press conference with these victims of Jeffrey Epstein. And she essentially said, this shouldn't have been such a fight as it has become, but it's become one.

And effectively, she has signed on to this discharge petition to try to force a vote on Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna's bipartisan bill to compel the release of these documents. And so far, she and two other female Republican House members say that they've signed on, and that they're not going to remove their names despite intense pressure behind the scenes from the White House for them to remove their names from there.

BLACKWELL: Arguably, the biggest event, biggest headline out of the Congress this week was this Senate hearing with HHS Secretary, RFK Jr. Let's listen to a bit of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me ask you, when were you lying, sir? When you told this committee that you were not anti-vax or when you told Americans that there is no safe and effective vaccine?

ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY JR., SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES, UNITED STATES: Both things are true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, so, more denial, more back-and-forth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you agree with me that the President -- that the President deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed?

KENNEDY JR.: Yes, absolutely, senator, it was phenomenal --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, let me ask you, let me ask you, but you just told Senator Bennett that the COVID vaccine killed more people than COVID --

KENNEDY JR.: Wait -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a statement --

KENNEDY JR.: I did not say that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say effectively, we're denying people vaccine. I --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Cantwell --

KENNEDY JR.: You're wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Some of the exchanges with Republicans were as contentious as those with Democrat Senator Cassidy, Senator Tillis as well. Was that just heat, or is there some expectation that there will be eroding support for the secretary within the party?

HILL: I think what we did see, as we saw there is really some of the strongest pushback yet we've seen from Republicans on Capitol Hill to Donald Trump's pick to lead HHS, Robert Kennedy Jr.

[06:40:00]

I think one thing that was interesting is the pushback that we saw from Bill Cassidy in particular, who obviously is a vulnerable incumbent trying to run again in his seat, and will essentially -- will probably need the President's endorsement. He's really walking a fine line trying to force this oversight of HHS, follow up on the ousting of the CDC director.

But also, as you saw there, really praising the President's efforts to, you know, rally a COVID vaccine in his first term. So, there's been a lot of, I think, trying to walk that tightrope, both in the Senate, less so in the House. But it will be interesting to see how much more pushback we see from Republican senators in particular --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

HILL: John Barrasso, number two Republican in the Senate, also pushed back.

BLACKWELL: All right, Meredith Lee Hill, thanks so much for being with me. A door that would not close and a tragedy that was not stopped. CNN exclusive reporting reveals warning signs years before the Uvalde School massacre.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:00]

BLACKWELL: Exclusive CNN reporting has revealed a faulty door at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. A gunman walked through that door and killed 19 children and two teachers back in 2022. Now, records obtained by CNN show the entry doors had repeated problems closing before the massacre. CNN correspondent Leigh Waldman walks us through this exclusive reporting. Leigh.

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Victor. A month before the shooting at Robb Elementary, maintenance records that CNN has exclusively obtained show that there was an issue with the west door on that building, not closing properly. A work order was marked as complete the very next day.

But we know a month later, a gunman entered through that exact same door to carry out this devastating attack that killed 19 children and their two teachers. Video also shows law enforcement entering through that same door with little to no issues. But issues with doors not closing are not isolated. We obtained records that show there were issues with the external and internal doors dating back to the 2020/2021 school year.

These are documents we got from our sources. This is despite a court order and an appellate order, and the school district's school board ordering that these records be released. Now, on top of those maintenance records not being released, phone records from the former UCIS police chief Pete Arredondo are also being withheld.

We know he used his phone that day. He ditched the police radio outside of the school and was receiving calls directly on his cell phone. Now, last month, we shared that documents discussing school security and a settlement offer to Arredondo were notably left out in documents released by UCIS and its law firm, Walsh Gallegos.

Now, we can confirm and reveal that in a 48-page correspondent between the district, Arredondo and his former lawyer, there was talks of a million-dollar payout while he was placed on administrative leave for that botched police response. Now, that settlement was not paid, but we have no details as to why a settlement offer was even raised to begin with.

Arredondo was fired and is now facing criminal charges in relation to his response. In New York, Leigh Waldman, CNN.

BLACKWELL: Is betting big money on Elon Musk. This new compensation plan that could make him one day the world's first trillionaire.

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[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: The world's richest person may soon get a huge pay hike. Tesla's board has proposed a $ 1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk. It would be the largest corporate pay package in history. CNN's Hadas Gold has more on what Musk's pay package would include.

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ELON MUSK, FOUNDER & CEO, TESLA & SPACEX: I think obviously, there should be compensation for -- if there's -- something incredible is done, that compensation should match. That something incredible was done. HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It seems the Tesla

board took that to heart, laying out an ambitious list of targets Elon Musk would need to hit to get the biggest pay package in corporate history, made up of 423.7 million Tesla shares worth around $900 billion if Tesla hits those targets.

Those include increasing Tesla's overall valuation eight-fold to $8.5 trillion, deliver 20 million Teslas, 1 million autonomous Robotaxis, 1 million autonomous Optimus robots, and stay at Tesla for at least seven-and-a-half years. Under the plan, Musk would also end up owning just over a quarter of Tesla voting shares. Musk has previously made it clear that he views his pay package as a reflection of his leadership at Tesla.

MUSK: It's not a money thing. It's a reasonable control thing over the future of the company, especially if we're building millions, potentially billions of humanoid robots. I can't be sitting there and wondering, get tossed out by -- for political reasons, by activists.

GOLD: Tesla has suffered slumping sales and a volatile stock price from increased competition and consumer backlash to Elon Musk's work with President Donald Trump's administration.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't be penalized for being a patriot, and he's a great patriot. And he's also done an incredible job with Tesla.

GOLD: And their eventual falling out. Notably, Tesla's plan does not place any restrictions on outside activities, including politics. Musk had previously announced plans to start a new political party. Tesla noted in its filing that during negotiations, Musk threatened to leave the company and pursue other interests that may afford him greater influence.

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ROBYN DENHOLM, CHAIR, TESLA BOARD OF DIRECTORS: The plan is super ambitious, and that is what motivates Elon. So, in coming up with a plan that will incent, motivate, have his time, focus and attention on Tesla, we needed to come up with a plan that was super ambitious.

GOLD: Tesla shareholders will get a chance to have their say and vote on a plan on November 6th.

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GOLD: These are some really ambitious goals for Tesla, especially when you think about that in 2024, they delivered less than 2 million vehicles, and they're facing growing competition from other electric vehicle makers and also from other autonomous vehicle and autonomous robot makers as well.

Robotaxi is not yet, you know, completely public. It's still in a sort of a testing phase, as is the optimist autonomous robot. Meanwhile, competitors like Waymo, they've been out there for quite some time. But Tesla's board chair did note in her earlier interview with "CNBC" that back when they proposed the previous pay package for Elon Musk in 2018, a lot of people also said that those goals were very highly ambitious, and they managed to meet them all. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right, Hadas Gold, thank you very much. There's much more ahead on the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND including President Trump sharing unfortunate news about hostages in Gaza. We're live with an update at the top of the hour.

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