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Trump Not Even Thinking About Elon as Feud Drags On; Proposed Law Could Add Warning Label to Many Snacks Across U.S.; Economy Added 139,000 Jobs in May, Slightly More Than Expected. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, from allies to adversaries, two of the world's most powerful men now battling it out in a very pointed and public feud. It's President Trump versus Elon Musk, and we have late reporting on what could happen next.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Next barrage of drones and missiles, Russia launching one of the war's largest air attacks just days after Ukraine brazenly bombed targets inside Russia.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we start this hour with the breaking news and the war of words that's upending Washington right now. We have new reporting, President Trump telling CNN this morning he has no plans to talk to Elon Musk. Our own Dana Bash spoke with the president and will have details on her conversation in just a moment.

BROWN: As you likely know, the bitter feud spilled out into public view as they traded attacks from their own social media platforms. Musk slamming the president on X yesterday claiming, quote, without me, Trump wouldn't have won the election, adding, quote, such ingratitude. And the president, no surprise, firing back on Truth Social saying, Musk, quote, just went crazy.

BLITZER: And that's just a small, a very small part of the back and forth between the two men. It's a stark contrast to the near constant praise they've heaped out each other since President Trump returned to the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: No, I love the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love the president?

MUSK: Not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or wrong.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: He's an amazing person. He's also a caring person.

I love Tesla.

Americans owe him a great debt of gratitude.

MUSK: The Oval Office has had -- you know, finally has the majesty that it deserves. Thanks to the president. So, I look forward to continuing to be an adviser to the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We are following all of this from all angles this morning. CNN's Dana Bash is here with us now. Lauren Fox is up on Capitol Hill. And Hadas Gold and Vanessa Yurkevich are standing by live in New York.

Dana, first to you, you had a chance to speak with the president this morning. How did that go?

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well look, the headline in our conversation about Elon Musk is that the president says that he has no plans to speak with Musk. And he said that he thinks that Musk has got a problem.

So, the reason why that is the question right now is maybe, perhaps very obvious, but behind the scenes, the push is on from people in both camps to get these men to talk, to bury the hatchet, to move on because of the massive disruption, politically, on policy financially, economically for so many people, like investors in Tesla, for example.

What was really interesting about the conversation is I called him and the very first thing that he said, without any question, was about the economy, classic Donald Trump. He wanted to push out what he wants to push out.

So, here's what he said. Big numbers, boy, I tell you, we're doing really good. Did you see the latest? Did you see that gasoline is down to the lowest number? It's been in years. Big numbers, by the way. That was in reference to the job numbers that were about to come out, the monthly job numbers. And he said, we have income is unbelievable. It's up. The only thing that's up is income. Everything else, inflation is dead, the border is closed, pretty amazing.

Now, I just note inflation is in a pretty good place right now, relatively. It's obviously not dead.

And then I went back to the question about Elon Musk. Will you be able to focus on that and bury the hatchet with Elon? I'm not even thinking about Elon is how the president responded and then he said he's got a problem. The poor guy's got a problem. And then I said, no call with Elon right now? No, I won't be speaking to him for a while, I guess, but I wish him well.

Very, very calm with regard to Musk, he was not agitated. He didn't sound angry. He sounded kind of resolute and obviously wanting to move on and talk about other things.

[10:05:00]

As everybody around him knows, and I'm sure he knows, good luck with that while this is playing out. But he did seem to want to, even though he doesn't want to talk to Musk, lower the temperature between the two of them.

BLITZER: I thought it was impressive, and I'm sure you did as well, that he took your phone call. You called him on your cell, and he answered on the cell and took your call.

BASH: Well, I think that's one of the hallmarks of Donald Trump. He likes to be engaged. He likes to talk to people. He is very unusual that way. And, you know, for those of us who are reporters, that's a good thing, to have access to be able to reach him sometimes. It doesn't always work. I mean, he's the president. He is a little busy.

BROWN: Yes. And he doesn't always -- I know from my experience, he doesn't always want to talk. But clearly today, he wanted to get this message out. He talked to you, he talked to Jonathan Karl. He talked to Politico, Dasha Burns. And it's clear from what you laid out, Dana, that he wants to lower the temperature, he wants to focus to be on the economy and what he sees is the really positive metrics as it pertains to the economy. And, you know, you talk about how aides for both want to want to sort of bury the hatchet between the two men.

But you have to wonder if that's even possible at this point, given how you know things devolved yesterday and that the accusations Elon Musk was making against Donald Trump, the Epstein files and so forth, like is there a way to bury the hatchet at this point?

BASH: Well, right. And so he was making those accusations and then in return, we heard from the president threats of getting rid of Musk's government contracts and, you know, a bunch of things that could potentially hurt Musk's business.

You know, I think that the answer is what people around them want at the very least right now is detente. And perhaps that was what the president was trying to signal, is that, for right now, I mean, we know the president, that could change in a heartbeat. It could be changing as I'm speaking right now, but at that moment it was maybe a work towards that detente, even if we're not going to become, you know, close anymore, because, look, they both have a lot to lose.

On President Trump's side of this, first and foremost, just on policy, it is how this all started, which is his signature piece of legislation that includes every single thing that he wants to do on the economy, the tax cuts, making sure that those get extended, some of the spending cuts and so forth.

And then for Musk, what he has to lose is nothing short of potentially if he makes -- if the president makes good on those threats, government contracts that really do feed into his net worth. I also want to note that the Wall Street yesterday seemed to be siding with President Trump just if you look at the way that Tesla's stock went down precipitously. BLITZER: Billions and billions and billions of dollars. You said they want a detente. Others are suggesting maybe they should work for a ceasefire. Yes.

BASH: Well done. Well done.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. Dana Bash, excellent, excellent --

BROWN: Thank you. Excellent reporting. Great job, Dana. Welcome to The Situation Room.

BASH: It's always good to be here. And, of course, Dana will be back on Inside Politics with Dana Bash later today, every weekday at noon Eastern right after The Situation Room.

BROWN: All right. Let's go live now to CNN Hadas Gold in New York. Hadas, this feud has taken the MAGA world by storm. Walk us through how it all unfolded.

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It's been incredible to watch how the ripple effects have affected the MAGA world, where it really feels like they feel as though their parents are having a major fight in public, and they are very unhappy and uncomfortable with it.

You know, Trump is definitely the leader of this movement, but Musk may be the only one who can go toe to toe with him with endless resources. And keep in mind, for a lot of these MAGA influencers, Elon Musk controls one of the most important social media platforms. They need him, A lot of them have deals with X that helps pay them, pay their salary.

So, I saw sort of three main reactions happen. The first is an immediate defense of President Trump, and essentially Elon is now dead to this movement. Steve Bannon, who has never been the biggest fan of Elon Musk, was calling for an investigation to Elon's immigration status, was calling for the government to even take over SpaceX. And you saw other influencers, like the influencer known as Catturd (ph), but he has more than 3.7 million followers, and he threatened, he said, pay close attention to all the people who don't have President Trump's back right now.

Then you had other influencers who were like, please stop fighting, mommy and daddy. Please stop fighting. And those were people like Charlie Kirk who on his radio show he had Stephen Miller on quite like right away defending the big, beautiful bill. And then later Charlie Kirk said, I hope that they reconcile and do so privately. It would be good for the country.

And then you had the other side who said, Elon is right. This was a lot of the sort of Silicon Valley entrepreneurial like these a little bit more of the new MAGA folks, who were saying, Elon is right. You need to change this big, beautiful bill. He left the Democratic Party. He sacrificed so much. You need to listen to him.

But one thing that is interesting that we've noticed now is whether there will be some sort of, you know, kiss and make up between President Trump and Elon Musk. But we are now hearing from a senior White House official that President Trump is planning to get rid of that red Tesla that he bought during that sort of Tesla infomercial on the White House front lawn that's been sitting in the White House parking lot.

[10:10:09]

Apparently now, that is going to go away. Pam?

BROWN: Wow. Hadas Gold, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Pamela, meanwhile, backup on Capitol Hill, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, is weighing in this morning as well.

Let's go live right now to CNN Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox. She's got the latest for us. Lauren, so what is the speaker saying?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I just spoke to Speaker Mike Johnson as he walked through to head to the House votes. He said that he believes in redemption. He hopes that these two men can come together because the president's agenda could helm on whether or not this gets resolved. In some ways, a lot of Republicans in both the House and the Senate made clear over the course of the last 24 hours that they want nothing to do with being in the middle of this fight.

But here's what Johnson said about his conversations with Donald Trump on this fallout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: -- he wants you to do in terms of does he want to repair this relationship?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Look, I'm not going to speak for either of them. I was with the president in the Oval Office yesterday afternoon as some of this unfolded. And I can just say he was disappointed. I mean, he said that himself and I was as well. But, look, I believe in redemption. I hope we can resolve it and get everybody together again. That's really important for all of us.

FOX: Is this a big problem for getting the bill back through the Senate, back through the House?

JOHNSON: This is not a problem for getting the bill done. The House and Senate Republicans here know that we have a job to do and we're going to do our job. And we've produced a very, very good product (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And he says that this is not going to be a problem for passing the bill. But, obviously, the fact that fact that Elon Musk has made clear that he doesn't think this bill has done enough in terms of cutting spending, that gives fuel to the fire for conservatives in the Senate and in the House who have been harboring those concerns all along. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Lauren Fox reporting for us from the Hill, good work, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: So, for more on how much this spat could end up costing the world's richest man, let's go live now to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich in New York.

Vanessa, I see Tesla stock is up a little bit from yesterday. How is all of this impacting Musk's bottom line?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a bit of recovery this morning. However, yesterday, shares of Tesla dropped 14 percent, a market value loss for the company of $150 billion. That is the largest single day drop for the company ever on record.

JPMorgan also reducing the target price for the stock. That essentially means that JPMorgan is expecting the share price to do worse and the company overall to be worth less.

In terms of Elon Musk's personal wealth, well he saw a drop of about $34 billion yesterday. That sounds like a lot of money for most people, but for the richest man in the world worth $334 billion, it probably doesn't sting that much.

Also worth noting that Elon Musk has a significant amount of businesses that are tied to public policy and to the federal government. He has SpaceX contracts with the federal government. He's received $15.2 billion worth of contracts from NASA, $5.8 billion from the Defense Department. And yesterday, President Trump said that he was thinking about pulling those contracts.

Now, combined together, that is actually not a ton of contract wealth for SpaceX. However, the problem is there's not another company that is suitable to replace those contracts.

But at the heart of this, Pamela, could be about these E.V. credits, electric vehicle credits, about $7,500 worth per American that is looking to buy an electric vehicle. That is not in this bill that the president is trying to push through the Senate right now. And, essentially, what that means is that companies now, electric vehicle companies, are not able to raise their prices of vehicles. So, Elon Musk stands to lose from this, about $1.2 billion in EV tax credit and then $2 billion in other related credit sales, regulatory credit sales, for the company.

So, a lot going on in terms of the business world of Elon Musk just being impacted from this back and forth, Pamela, with the two men.

BROWN: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, that's a lot of money to most of us. Thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, warning labels on things, like candy and chips, could soon be a reality in Texas. Up next, we'll speak to one of the state representatives behind the measure and the push for more transparency with the foods we eat.

BROWN: And then later, we're going to speak to a prosecutor in West Virginia and the warning he has for people who have miscarriages in his state.

You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Well, lawmakers in Texas could soon force your favorite munchies to look different. A bipartisan bill moving through the legislature could require the makers of snacks, like Mountain Dew, Doritos, and M&Ms to carry a warning label saying, quote, warning, this product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union or the United Kingdom.

The label would target 44 ingredients that are approved for use in the U.S., and they include bleached flour, food dyes, and preservatives.

I want to bring in a co-sponsor of the bill. Lacey Hull is a Republican serving in the Texas State House of Representatives. Thank you so much for being here with us.

So why do you believe these warning labels are necessary?

STATE REP. LACEY HULL (R-TX): Thank you so much for having me. This is about transparency. This is pro-consumer.

[10:20:00]

Americans and Texans deserve to know what is in their food.

BROWN: And just how were you able to decide on these ingredients in particular? Why these?

HULL: Yes. So, when we were going through the process of the bill, Senator Kolkhorst I were looking at what are these ingredients that are banned in other countries, that are not permitted in other countries, and this was a solid list of those ingredients. And I think this gets Texas and Americans moving in the right direction.

BROWN: So, this bill passed the Texas House and Senate with bipartisan support of many Texas lawmakers. It now awaits the signature of your governor, Greg Abbott. He has not publicly committed to signing it into law. Do you believe he will?

HULL: My hope is that he will. I mean, he has over a thousand bills that are before him right now that he has to look at. And so I know he is very thoughtful about everything that he signs, but I am very hopeful that he will. This is the right step for Texas and I -- with this with this bill, I know that Texas will help to lead the nation.

BROWN: If it does become law in Texas, in fact, companies could adopt the labeling nationwide just out of, you know, uniformity and convenience. CNN reached out to Health and Human Services secretary and received this response, quote, Secretary Kennedy encourages states to promote healthy practices and enhance consumer transparency and food labeling. Americans deserve to know what's in their food so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families.

You actually spoke to Secretary Kennedy about this. What did he say to you about your bill?

HULL: He was very encouraging and knowing that the nation was watching. And he was very supportive of this bill and hopes that other states take the same steps.

BROWN: Well, of course, not everyone is happy with it. There's an official with the Consumer Brands Association, which represents several major U.S. food manufacturers that disputes the need for the warning label. This is what John Hewitt told Fortune, quote, the ingredients used in the U.S. food supply are safe and have been rigorously studied following an objective science and risk-based evaluation process. The labeling requirements of SB 25 mandate inaccurate warning language create legal risks for brands and drive consumer confusion and higher costs.

How do you respond to that?

HULL: I think that's ridiculous. And we heard it all along. This was one of the most heavily lobbied bills in our legislative session. I joked and called it the Lobby Employment Act of 2025. They are just spreading the lies because they don't want transparency. They don't want to tell consumers what is in their food.

And my response to a lot of these big food companies when I met with them is just make our food like you make everyone else's. Make our food like you make Canada's, like you make it for the E.U. and like you make it for the U.K., and then you wouldn't even have to put the label on your food.

BROWN: It's so interesting too with this movement. I've been covering it on the show that, you know, Republicans historically have been against the regulations and the labels on food and so forth, but, clearly, there is a shift and that is apparent with this bill that you co-sponsored.

Texas State Representative Lacey Hull, thank you so much for joining us.

HULL: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: And coming up we'll get White House reaction after the jobs market was slightly better than expected for the month of May.

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[10:25:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, the jobs market shows continuing resilience. The economy added 139,000 jobs in May. That's down from April, but slightly better than expected. The unemployment rate holds steady at 4.2 percent. That's good.

Joining us now is Stephen Miran the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Stephen, thanks so much for joining us.

This report, as you know, slightly beat expectations, but there were some big revisions down for the March and April jobs report, a combined 95,000 lower, combined 95,000 lower number than previously reported. Is this a potential warning sign for the economy?

STEPHEN MIRAN, CHAIRMAN, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Good morning. Thanks for having me. Look, you know, I don't think that's true. I don't think that's the case at all. This was a good report. This report was 140,000 jobs added last month, well over expectations of about 125,000. And more importantly, it's the third time the president has beat on jobs date in a row. So, we've heard repeated scaremongering, repeated doom-mongering, and every month, things come out pretty well.

BLITZER: These numbers are better than a lot of the economists had predicted. As you know, businesses have been warned about the uncertainty caused by the president's trade war. Many of the largest public U.S. companies have actually suspended their forecast for future earnings as a result of that. What do you say to employers desperate for clarity about the business environment ahead?

MIRAN: I would say be a little bit more patient. In about a month or so, hopefully, the one big beautiful bill will be passed and all of the uncertainty about whether America's going to experience the biggest tax hike in history, $4 trillion tax hike, that would plunge it into recession, if we don't pass this bill, will be gone. And instead, the bill will create an economic boom in America by creating huge incentives for investment, huge incentives for additional labor supply, and it's going to be a great outcome if we get that bill passed. And also about a month from now will be the deadline for the trade deals. And I expect, I hope, that we'll have a bunch of trade deals come in over the next month.

And so what I'd say is that uncertainty -- you know, there has been uncertainty, but it will start resolving.

BLITZER: We shall see. I want to turn, Stephen, while I have you, to President Trump's escalating public feud with Elon Musk.

[10:30:02]

Musk is, as you know, slamming the president's major policy bill, what Trump calls the big, beautiful bill, saying it will.