Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

172,000 Jobs Added in May, Unemployment Holds Steady at 4.3 Percent; Senate Passes Immigration Bill Amid Revolt on Anti- Weaponization Fund; NTSB Says, Plane Struck Pole in New Jersey was 19 Feet Above Highway. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, shattering expectations. A new report showing the U.S. labor market may finally be stabilizing.

Plus, 19 feet, that's all that separated a plane and the New Jersey Turnpike when it hit a pole that then slammed into a truck on the highway. A shocking new report is now revealing very disturbing details.

And a former CIA official and gold bars. Right now, this man is in court. What we're learning about why he allegedly stole tens of millions of dollars in gold bars and foreign currency from the spy agency.

And later, one-on-one with the president of SAG-AFTRA, Sean Astin, will join me live here in The Situation Room to discuss the growing use of A.I. in movies and on T.V. shows.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. You're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news, the U.S. economy adding 172,000 jobs in May, shattering expectations. The unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3 percent. The latest jobs report providing some reassurance that the U.S. labor market may be stabilizing.

Let's go live right now to CNN Senior Reporter Matt Egan. Matt, you're looking at all the numbers. What do they tell you?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Wolf, this was a big beat, and it suggests that the US economy is really weathering the storm from the war with Iran. The labor market looks resilient and does appear to have turned the corner after a weak 2025.

So, U.S. economy adding 172,000 jobs last month. That easily surpassed the forecast, which was for 105,000. Also, March and April were both revised higher. That is encouraging, and that means that the U.S. economy has now added 100,000 jobs or more in three straight months. We haven't seen that in more than two years. And this is a big change from last year when the U.S. economy outright lost jobs. As you can see on that bar chart, there were a number of months where the economy lost jobs. Now, it's going back in the right direction.

I talked to Economist Stephanie Roth a few moments ago, and she said she thinks it's underappreciated how much the president's tariffs last year held back hiring, and she believes that the job market is now re- accelerating.

So, where are the jobs? Well, that was also encouraging because for months it felt like healthcare was really putting the entire economy on its back. That's no longer the case. There's been more widespread job growth. Yes, healthcare added 35,000 jobs, but there was also a big increase of 70,000 jobs in leisure and hospitality. That was bars and restaurants, and it could be a sign that the World Cup is impacting the job market in a positive way.

Also, government added 52,000 jobs. That was all local government, excluding education. That's a big number. We have to see if that gets revised lower. But construction also adding jobs as there was warmer weather.

Transportation, though, only added 600 jobs. We know the transportation sector was hit by the Spirit Airlines shutdown. That killed a lot of jobs. And then there was job loss in finance and in information, and that's notable because those are two sectors that have been really hit by artificial intelligence.

The one other point, we have to make here is wages. Real wages, adjusted for inflation, they are falling. 3.4 percent gain, that's not a bad number, but the problem is that inflation is much higher. It's forecasted to be 4.2 percent this month. That means that if you adjust for inflation, people's paychecks, they're actually falling.

So, look, bottom line here, Wolf, good news that job growth is up. Bad news that wage growth is down. And until that changes, people are not going to feel good about this economy, no matter how many jobs are added.

BLITZER: Matt Egan looking at all the numbers for us in New York. Thank you very, very much.

And there's also breaking news here in Washington up on Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans overcoming a series of challenges to advance President Trump's immigration crackdown. Lawmakers early this morning pushed through tens of billions of dollars in funding for both ICE and Border Patrol, rejecting efforts to rein in a number of items on the president's personal agenda, including his anti-weaponization fund, as it's called.

[10:05:08]

Here with us now is CNN Congressional correspondent Lauren Fox. So, Lauren, some Republicans have been livid over this fund to compensate people President Trump claims have been victimized by the federal government. So, what's happening here?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Senate actually passed this bill with no guardrails on that potential fund. And, of course, the acting attorney general earlier this week made clear that the fund was dead. The president left that door just slightly cracked in a way that made a lot of Republicans uncomfortable.

But, ultimately, after an 18-hour voting marathon, Republicans, all but one of them, voted to advance this legislation with no guardrails on that weaponization fund, Wolf. And Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, she was the only one who voted against this proposal.

But there was a lot of drama, because the very first amendment that Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat, put forward essentially would have sent this entire bill back to committee, created some kind of guardrail, or at least made sure that this fund could never actually take place.

And at one point, it looked like it may be on track to get enough Republican votes to stop this process altogether. Ultimately, Republican leadership was able to convince Senator Bill Cassidy, who just lost a very bitter primary in the state of Louisiana, to get on board with the rest of the Republican Party so some of his colleagues who are facing re-election, people like Senator Dan Sullivan, would be able to vote with the Democrats.

At least that might help them in some political ads later this year. But, Wolf, 18 hours of voting, and yet there were no guardrails ultimately that were included in this bill.

BLITZER: 18 hours of vote-a-rama, as it was called, a long, long time, a lot of amendments.

In the House of Representatives, what, more than a dozen Republican lawmakers actually broke ranks to approve a new bill delivering billions of dollars in additional aid to Ukraine and to impose steep sanctions on Russia. Tell us about that.

FOX: Yes. I mean, this was the second major rebuke that we have seen of the president when it comes to his war powers in the course of the last week. Just the day before, there were three Republicans -- excuse me, four Republicans who voted with Democrats in order to stop the president's actions in Iran.

Now, there is a lot of debate happening right now on whether they can actually do anything. The White House is saying that this is just a messaging bill. But, obviously, it does send a really strong message to the president, not just when it comes to their beliefs on Ukraine and the conflict there, but also in Iran.

I think what you're seeing is that a lot of Republicans want to take this focus back to affordability. They do not want the president involved in all of these conflicts overseas, and they're trying to make it very clear where they stand on that to create some separation going into the midterms. BLITZER: Good point, Lauren Fox. Thank you very, very much.

There's more news we're following this morning in the case of that ex- CIA officer charged with allegedly stealing tens of millions of dollars in gold bars and foreign currency from the very agency he worked for. David Rush is appearing in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, for a detention hearing this morning.

The FBI says Rush became a senior executive government employee with top secret security clearances by repeatedly lying on applications about his military service and his education. He was arrested in Virginia last month on one charge of theft of public money and has not yet entered a plea. Rush remains behind bars, at least for now.

We're going to bring you all the latest developments as they unfold at the hearing. That's coming up. Stand by for that.

Also still ahead, we're learning just how close this United jet came to a major highway in New Jersey just before clipping a light pole and sending debris into a truck.

And a powerful pledge, Melinda French Gates making a major donation to the tune of $215 million to the cause. It's going to -- we'll tell you what, what that cause is just ahead.

You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:10:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, just 19 feet, 19 feet separated a plane and the very busy New Jersey Turnpike. That disturbing revelation comes from a new report by the National Transportation Safety Board. Last month, a United Airlines flight struck a light pole only moments before landing at New Jersey's Newark Airport.

The video we're showing you now is the view from inside a truck on that highway. And here's some footage from that same incident that a dash cam captured.

The driver of this truck had non-life-threatening injuries, thank God.

Joining us now here in the situation room is CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean. Pete, what else did we learn from this new report?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of new information in this new preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The biggest new takeaway, investigators say the pilots of this flight were too low on the descent path into Newark Liberty International Airport for nearly a mile before touchdown.

Exactly how low is laid out in a new plot based on information from the Boeing 767's flight data recorder. It shows United Flight 169 was only 19 feet above the ground when it flew over the center of the New Jersey Turnpike, which is just before the start of the runway. The track of the airplane's final approach is there in cyan.

An early NTSB analysis says usually at that point, a plane should be about 100 feet above the ground. Now, you've seen the dramatic video of the crash from the viewpoint of the delivery truck on the turnpike, but the NTSB says the plane itself did not collide with the truck.

[10:15:06]

Rather, a pole, a light pole that was about 15 feet above the ground, then that light pole fell and struck the truck.

Here are the new images of the damage to the plane. The NTSB classifies this damage as significant because it broke through three layers of the plane's skin, also hit part of the landing gear. That would explain the loud thump detailed by multiple crew members in this new report.

The investigation says the flight's captain was controlling the plane during the landing. The first officer was performing the role of what's known as pilot monitoring. And in the report, the first officer told the NTSB that the captain, they said, was too slow on the approach, followed by the first officer telling the captain, you are still slow and a little too low.

Now, United Airlines issued a safety alert to pilots after this incident. That specific runway at Newark is the airport's shortest. And United emphasized that it's important for pilots to not be low when descending into that runway.

A final NTSB report's not due out for about a year now, and investigators, Wolf, could make larger safety recommendations then. We'll see what comes out of this final report.

BLITZER: They always want to learn from these blunders to make sure it doesn't happen again.

MUNTEAN: It's not about blame, it's about making travel safer.

BLITZER: Yes, that's what they're trying to do. And the New Jersey Turnpike is I-95.

MUNTEAN: Co-located there. It's about 12 lanes of highway there.

BLITZER: Right.

BLITZER: And it's quite infamous for planes flying low over it. There's plenty of dash cam video of other airplanes coming in close contact with vehicles on the highway, but never actually striking one. This is a first.

BLITZER: It's a sad situation.

All right, thanks very much, Pete Muntean, for an update on that. And coming up, a Top Gun and X-Files star James Handy is found stabbed to death in a Los Angeles home. The chilling call made to 911 that led police to his body.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:00]

BLITZER: New this morning we're learning President Trump's pick to oversee the nation's spy agencies lacked a basic qualification before his selection. Sources now telling CNN that yesterday work began on getting a security clearance for a top Trump ally Bill Pulte days after he was tapped as the new interim director of National Intelligence.

Pulte, who's helped fuel investigations into the president's enemies as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is sparking a revolt, including among some GOP lawmakers, who say he has no intel experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I think he's the worst form of sycophant and adviser to the president.

SEN. TODD YOUNG (R-IN): I'm waiting on the administration to explain to us the provisions.

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Well, I think it's a funny pick, to say the least.

It's interim for now, I guess. We'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live to CNN's Alayna Treene if she's over at the White House for us. Alayna, President Trump is making clear Pulte won't be the permanent director of National Intelligence, but what else are you learning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's saying that he'll only be in the job temporarily. That is what the president, Wolf, told reporters yesterday. But I think this new, great reporting from our colleagues you know, this idea that he hasn't even had a security clearance, that is something that is long been considered a basic prerequisite for an intelligence job of this magnitude.

I think that will only add to the concerns of many lawmakers, many of which you just played in that clip, who argue that he has no intelligence background. It's hard to imagine how he's going to be now leading, at least temporarily, an agency that is supposed to oversee the intelligence community. I'd remind you that the role of the director of National Intelligence, they oversee the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the list goes on. And so some concerns I think about that.

Now, I will say, we know in the past that President Trump has granted security clearances to people that he wants in top positions. Likely -- he's likely to do that with Pulte, we're told, and could, you know, bypass some of the vetting process early on in order to get him into that role quicker.

Now, one thing I also, I think, is important to keep in mind here as well is how the president actually views this role, because, as I mentioned, the role of the Director of National Intelligence has long been considered one of the most important positions in government. It was created after 9/11. But the president has kind of come to see this role as less significant. He really does look to the CIA director to do a lot of his intelligence gathering. And for Pulte, someone who is clearly a big loyalist of the president, close to him, he's expected to go in there to potentially find things that the president, you know, believes has been kind of dormant.

So, we'll have to see what this looks like, but I think this will add to the concerns we're hearing from Capitol Hill.

BLITZER: Alayna Treene over at the White House for us, this story continuing, thank you very, very much.

And just ahead, caught on camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, can you hear me? Can you crawl to me? Your car's on fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How a deputy's quick thinking saved a woman trapped in her burning car.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, a Hollywood actor is dead, and his girlfriend's son is being charged with murder. Police were called out to the home of James Handy after police say they received a 911 call where the caller said, and I'm quoting, I am the son of man. I just killed the man of sin, end quote. Police arrested Michael Gledhill after telling officers he was the person they were looking for.

First responders found Handy with stab wounds and unconscious. He later died at the hospital. Handy is best known for roles in Jumanji and Top Gun: Maverick.

Maine Democratic Senate Candidate Graham Plattner, meanwhile, is responding to new allegations of unsettling behavior toward women he previously dated, according to The New York Times. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about are simply not true.

[10:30:05]