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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump And Musk Turn On Each Other In Bitter Public Feud; Russia Launches Missile And Drone Attack On Kyiv; Israel Says It Struck Hezbollah Targets In Lebanon; U.S. Jobs Report For May Releases At 8:30AM ET. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon. It is Friday, June 6th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: The breakup between the world's richest man and the president of the United States is, to many, shocking.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very disappointed with Elon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Musk agreed with the post that call for Donald Trump's impeachment.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tesla stock was done around 14 percent and investors are now very concerned.

DAN IVES, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: Get the popcorn out. It's not over.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine is assessing the impact from Russia's overnight assault.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It does seem that the Russian response is a bit muted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SOLOMON: We begin with a nasty breakup between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. It's raising questions about the future of the Republican budget bill as multiple allies caught in the middle try to quietly broker peace. Many spent Thursday glued to their phones as they watched the billionaires battle play out on X and Truth Social.

Safe to say, Musk is no longer jumping for joy over what had been a mutually beneficial alliance. And President Trump appears to be washing his hands of his aide and benefactor, who he now calls, quote, crazy. He also took issue with Musk's description of the spending bill as a, quote, mountain of disgusting pork.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He knew every aspect of this bill. He knew it better than almost anybody, and he never had a problem until right after he left. And if you saw the statements he made about me, which I'm sure you can get very easily, it's very fresh on tape. He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn't said bad about me personally, but I'm sure that will be next. But I'm -- I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Musk wasted no time slamming President Trump, insisting on X that without him, Trump would have lost the election and that Democrats would control the House.

Now, this meltdown marks a sharp departure from just a week ago, when the two allies spoke kindly and politely to one another ahead of Musk's departure from the administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Elon is really not leaving. He's going to be back and forth. I think I have a feeling.

ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: Well, I expect to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like advice.

TRUMP: I hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. Fast forward to Thursday. Musk called for the president's impeachment and predicted his, quote, super stupid tariffs would cause a recession.

More now from CNN's Kristen Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is breaking up. And then there is publicly taking a flamethrower to the other person's reputation, to their livelihood. And that is really what we saw and continue to see playing out between two of the world's most powerful men, Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. Of course, what we saw is changed so much since last Friday, when Elon Musk had his government send off, leaving the government. Donald Trump and Musk talking highly about each other has now devolved into personal attacks on each person's respective online platform.

All of this stemming from this bill, this congressional spending bill, Elon Musk earlier this week starting to attack the bill pretty aggressively. We first saw Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, respond to this in real time. She was giving a press briefing and she laughed it off, saying Donald Trump knows where Elon Musk stands. He's going to continue with this bill.

But since then, this continued to devolve. Elon Musk ramping up the pressure, saying how awful this bill was. White House officials telling us behind the scenes that they believe this is all about the electric vehicle mandate, the rolling back of electric vehicle credits. And that's why Elon Musk, Musk was mad. We were also told that Trump himself behind closed doors before he reacted, was speculating this was all about business for Musk, that this was all about him going back to Tesla, and these were things he needed to do.

But today, Donald Trump broke his silence, was asked a question about Musk, and really went into him saying he was disappointed in Musk that this was all about those electric vehicle credits, that they had a very good relationship. He didn't know if they were going to have one again. Musk then began responding himself in real time, on Twitter, on X, his own platform, hitting back at several things that Donald Trump said.

Now this continued to go on and on until the attacks got personal. At one point, Musk saying that Donald Trump's name was in the Epstein files. That itself trying to have a low blow here to Donald Trump. Now, it was quiet after that.

We saw Donald Trump's only engagement in this was a post about the bill saying he was fine with Elon turning on him, but he wished he wouldn't turn on the bill. Now we have a statement, the most recent one from Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, addressing these accusations from Elon Musk.

She says: This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who was unhappy with the One Big, Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.

Well, there is a reason that this is so focused.

[05:05:00]

It is because the directive from the top, the top, of course, being President Trump is to keep focused on the bill. Try not to get in the weeds here, because of course, this bill is Donald Trump's legacy. Donald Trump, his administration, they believe so much of what he needs to get done on his agenda. The things he's promised to do is wrapped up in this bill.

So, for that reason, he is currently telling his team to stay focused on the bill. But that could change at any time. We obviously are not seeing any letting up on either side, particularly Musk, who at one point earlier today agreed with a post that called for Donald Trump's impeachment.

So, as this plays out, this is one of the most public breaking ups of two high powered individuals that we've seen in quite some time.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: And the bitter dispute over the government spending bill is clearly making House Republicans uncomfortable as it moves through Congress.

Speaker Mike Johnson tried to take up diplomatic tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I don't know what motivated this disturbance to begin, but obviously it's not helpful. And my way is that policy disputes, not personal. And I have -- I've tried very hard to speak with you on over and over, you know, and talk with him about what I believe are misconceptions he has about this bill and what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Now, some Republican lawmakers were quick to pick sides. Others indicated that they hope the two can overcome their differences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): Right now, this tit for tat going back and forth isn't healthy. I tell you what, Elon, this is what ill do. Come down to Texas 22nd district, right? I'll pay your filing fee, and run against me.

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I trust the math from the guy that lands rockets backwards over the politicians.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I had to go with Trump politically. You know, the two biggest dogs in the pound. They're going to turn on each other eventually. And that's what's happened.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): It's easy to be the parent that says, you know, we're going to go to Disneyworld. It's hard to be the parent that says, yeah, but we can't afford it.

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): I think, I think maybe, maybe they should count to ten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: CNN contributor and podcast host Kara Swisher predicted last year that the Trump-Musk alliance would end well, and that the two would clash. She covered Elon Musk for years. She's interviewed him many times.

She spoke to CNN and described her initial reaction to the fallout, and explained why the feud could hurt both billionaires. We also asked if she thought that President Trump used Musk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Who doesn't get used by Donald Trump? He does that with a lot of people, he said. Theres a long list of people out the door, and Elon was just the latest in the biggest. You know, the issue is that this is someone who has some means and, and methods to do something about it, right? This is not Omarosa or someone else that gets tossed out or tossed out by Trump or whoever it happens to be.

He has some ability to do something about it, and I don't know what he's going to do. He talked about a second, a third party. He did a poll on Twitter today. This guy, you know, you think Trump can be petty, Elon Musk can be petty. And I think in a way that's really probably dangerous in many ways and could do all manner of things to hurt Trump.

And he has a lot of fans himself, by the way, even though his numbers are lower, he certainly has a huge platform, a huge influence, has a lot of money. And so -- and Trump, of course, can attack him all manner of ways through the Justice Department, through investigations, impugning him. I suspect he'll bring up some drug related things soon enough.

So well see if they'll -- if they'll continue, if they'll realize this is not just mutually assured destruction. It will hurt both of them really badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: And it could hurt many others as well after President Trump threatened to end Musk's government contracts, Musk said that he would start to decommission SpaceX's Dragon program. The Dragon spacecraft is the only U.S. method to get astronauts to and from the International Space Station, and ending the program could have devastating effects on NASA. Musk did later walk back that threat.

Okay. Overseas now, Russia and Ukraine are assessing the damage after exchanging a barrage of attacks overnight. The mayor of Kyiv says that at least four people were killed and 20 were wounded in Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones in the early hours of Friday. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of targeting residential areas in Kyiv and a number of targets across the country.

Meanwhile, Russian officials say that a Ukrainian drone attacked an industrial site in the country's south. The defense ministry saying that it intercepted more than 170 Ukrainian drones from Thursday evening to early Friday morning.

Let's go live to London now and CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

Nic, good morning. What more can you tell us about these strikes?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, one of the biggest round of airstrikes involving 352 missiles and drones, 407 drones, I think total 38 cruise missiles, six ballistic missiles coming into Ukraine.

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A very intense night in the capital reported there. There was an expectation going into last night that Russia was going to give its response to Ukraine's audacious attack on those air bases all across Russia just last weekend, and it's not clear if this was that and if the Ukrainian air defenses were able to blunt all these incoming, all these incoming missiles, Ukrainians say that they were able to take down 406 different air targets outside of 452.

But the pattern that's emerging going into this coming weekend, the previous weekend, which also appeared to set records the weekend before appearing to set records, is that the number of the number of drones and these are not insubstantial drones. Often when we talk about drones, people might think of these small quadcopters that they see being used at the front lines, dropping munitions on troops, that sort of thing.

No, these are massive drones, bigger than me that have this sort of huge V-shaped wing fly through the air packed with explosives, plow into buildings, create a huge amount of damage when they impact what Russia has been able to do. And this was another example of it overnight is launch hundreds of these in one night when they used to struggle to launch 100 or so in a month.

So, Russia, if this wasn't their big response, this is part of a growing narrative that stretches Ukraine's air defenses. And, of course, that's why Ukrainian officials were in Washington, D.C. this week. One of the things they were asking the White House for was more air defenses because they are needed to take down all these missiles that are coming.

In terms of casualties. More than 40 people injured across the country.

I think the concern going into last night for people in Ukraine was that Russia would concentrate its attack on some key locations and buildings, and the concern going into last night was that there would be a very intense bombardment in the center of Kyiv, and it's not clear if that didn't happen or Ukraine's air defenses were positioned and structured in such a way to defeat that attack.

And it's certainly not clear that this is one and done by Russia. On its response. We saw over the past couple of weekends that they can mount huge number of air sorties like this in consecutive nights.

SOLOMON: Those questions remain about, again, as you point out, whether this was the retaliation or whether more is to come. Nic Robertson live for us there in London -- Nic, thank you.

Still ahead, Israel has struck Hezbollah sites in and around Beirut. What the IDF says it was targeting and how the Lebanese government is responding.

And for the first time since the start of the trade war, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have a conversation. What the U.S. president is saying about the chat and what comes next ahead on CNN.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Israel says it has struck terror targets in and around Beirut, Lebanon. The IDF says it gave multiple warnings before hitting what it called drone factories. The strikes mark the largest escalation in fighting since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a U.S. backed ceasefire in November. Lebanon's president and prime minister condemning the attacks.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the leader of Hamas says that he is not rejecting the latest ceasefire deal proposed by the U.S., but he wants stronger guarantees that Israel won't resume fighting once the temporary truce ends. And the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says that all of its aid distribution sites are closed until further notice. Several shooting incidents in the past week left dozens of Palestinians dead.

Let's get to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who is following all of these developments for us from London.

Salma, let's start with Lebanon. This is Israels biggest escalation there since November. Does this suggest that well see more heightened tensions?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think that's the fear on the ground right now, Rahel. So, this all began on Thursday when the Israeli military started issuing multiple evacuations, including on social media. It gave maps and told people to leave their homes immediately to be a certain distance from these sites. It caused panic on the ground. Of course, in Lebanon.

It's important to note that today is Eid Al-Adha, one of the most important religious holidays for Muslims of the year. So instead of celebrating, people were packing their bags and running for their lives.

Now those strikes were carried out in the early hours of this morning. Israel says that it was targeting what it calls Hezbollah drone factories. Now, Lebanon's government has, of course, condemned this attack and is reminding the world, of course, of a ceasefire agreement backed by the United States that was brokered in November, as you mentioned.

This would be the largest escalation on Lebanon since that ceasefire was brokered in November. And it sends that fear across the country that there could be more attacks coming.

So, for now, it's wait and see. Is this an isolated attack against what Israel calls, again, drone factories, or is this part of a wider operation?

SOLOMON: And Salma, in Gaza, what's the latest there after this announcement from the GHF?

ABDELAZIZ: Right. So, let's begin by explaining what the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is. It is this extremely controversial group backed by Israel, backed by the United States, that circumvents essentially humanitarian norms, circumvents essentially the regular relief workers on the ground, like the United Nations.

And it says it is providing aid to Palestinians. But Gazans say those sites are death traps. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed trying to receive aid at GHF sites across Gaza, across several days. An investigation done by CNN and released yesterday into one of these shooting incidences on Sunday that killed many Gazans, found that it pointed to the Israeli military opening fire on crowds of Palestinians as they were trying to get food.

Today, the GHF is saying their aid sites will be closed. That means, again, for that enclave, which is right now described by the United Nations as the hungriest place on earth, as a place that is on the brink of famine, that today it will be ever harder for families in Gaza to feed themselves, to feed their children.

Rights groups are accusing Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war. They have been pleading for unimpeded access to the enclave to feed the 2 million people there. But so far, ceasefire negotiations have not drawn any results. Hamas says it is still committed to the ceasefire negotiations. So is the United States and Israel. But again, those mediation efforts need to happen quickly for the 2 million suffering inside Gaza.

SOLOMON: Salma Abdelaziz reporting there for us in London. Salma, thank you.

Still ahead for us, graduation day. It's the time to celebrate reaching the next phase of life. But today's college grads are facing a brutally tough job market. A look at how bad things are and where they could go from here, ahead on CNN.

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[05:26:14]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

After weeks of silence and tension, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping had their long-awaited phone call Thursday. Trump described the 90-minute conversation as, quote, very good, saying that it focused almost entirely on trade without touching on geopolitical issues. Xi urged the U.S. and China to seek what he called win-win results in the spirit of equality.

In April, the U.S. trade deficit shrank by its highest monthly rate in decades. The trade deficit stood at 100 or 61 -- excuse me, $61.1 billion, down 55.5 percent from March, when it reached a record $138 billion. Now the change came as American businesses dialed back imports to more normal levels after months of stocking up on imported goods to try to get ahead of the president's tariff hikes. Okay, let's take a quick look at the markets now at about five, let's

call it 30 in the morning. Look at U.S. futures, Dow, Nasdaq and S&P looking set to open higher between, let's call it 3/10 of a percent to half a percent, rounding up for the Nasdaq there.

And in a few hours, we'll learn more about the health of the U.S. economy. When the jobs report for May is released. Now, forecasters are predicting that the economy will have added 130,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.2 percent for the third straight month.

Now, the economy has added jobs for 52 months in a row. That's an impressive streak of uninterrupted job growth. But one group may be finding it hard to feel optimistic, because economists say that this is actually the worst job market for new college graduates since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now, the unemployment rate for those who have just finished college education is higher than the national average. LinkedIn estimates that hiring for entry level positions is down 23 percent when compared to March 2020, when COVID lockdowns began in many U.S. states.

So here to help us understand this phenomenon better is Matthew Martin. He's the senior U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Great to have you this morning, sir.

We talk a lot, especially in the financial community, the financial journalism community, about the strength of resilience of the labor market these last few years. But clearly, there's a disconnect with recent graduates. What's your research telling you about why?

MATTHEW MARTIN, SENIOR U.S. ECONOMIST, OXFORD ECONOMICS: Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for having me here today. Pleasure to be on the show.

So, our research, which is looking back to using data around 1980 takes a look at unemployment rates for recent college graduates versus the national unemployment rate. And for the most part, recent college grads usually tend to have a lower unemployment rate, specifically because of their higher educational attainment.

Now, what we've seen over the last couple of years is this isn't quite the case. And actually the recent grad unemployment rate, which is for those aged 22 to 27 who have a bachelors degree or higher, is actually above the national unemployment rate, which is really a break from historical trend. And what our research has shown is that, you know, this is mainly in the tech sector. And so, a lot of that just kind of goes back to after their post-pandemic surge hiring in 2021, they're starting to normalize those rates.

But there is some preliminary research that is pointing toward the fact that A.I. is starting to impact some of these roles, mainly because some of these jobs, that entry level jobs that people are looking for are, you know, predisposed to A.I. being able to displace them or at least take over some of the tasks and roles that they might have been doing in those companies.

SOLOMON: So that sort of feeds into the suspicion that I think a lot of people have had that A.I., that technology would sort of come for, for some jobs. I'm curious what you make of those who push back and say those fears are overblown, and that perhaps I actually creates jobs, too.

MARTIN: Yeah, I think that's, you know, when we're thinking about A.I. over the longer term, I think the, you know, research has shown that it's likely to create more jobs than it's going to displace in the long term. I don't think that's a lot of, you know, encouraging.