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Weak U.S. Jobs Market?; Trump Comments on Epstein Birthday Letter; Israel Targets Hamas Leaders in Qatar. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 09, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are following breaking news out of the Middle East after Israel carried out an attack targeting Hamas senior leadership in Qatar. We're standing by to hear from the White House.

New video out of Doha showing a large explosion earlier today, where you can also see large plumes of smoke rising above the city, people running for their lives. Two U.S. officials tell CNN that the Trump administration was notified before the attack.

Qatar, a U.S. ally and a key mediator in Gaza cease-fire talks, was quick to condemn the strike, its foreign minister calling the operation a -- quote -- "blatant violation of international laws and norms."

Let's go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins. She is there at the White House ahead of the briefing, which is set to begin any moment now.

Kaitlan, what are you hearing from officials?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yes, Brianna, this will be our first chance to ask questions for the U.S. reaction to that strike in Doha, with Israel making blatantly clear today that it was directly targeting Hamas leadership that was stationed in Doha, either living there or there for these talks, as Qatar has played a central role in trying to mediate a cease-fire, get hostages released ever since October 7 happened about 22 months ago.

And that is something that obviously the White House is well aware of. President Trump himself was in Doha not that long ago meeting with the Qatari prime minister, who of course, as you look at the schedule, just yesterday was sitting down with senior Hamas officials trying to broker some kind of a cease-fire here.

Now it's an open question of what that role is going to look like, if Qatar is still going to fulfill that role going forward after this strike, which obviously we're seeing Qatari officials condemn widely, that Israel is going after Hamas members in its own country here. And so we're still waiting to see what the White House has to say

about this. Obviously there is a United States military base in Doha. Thousands of U.S. military forces are stationed there. So there are real questions for the White House about what they knew about this strike. I will say that sources are telling CNN that the United States was notified as this strike was happening and as Israel was carrying out this attack inside of Doha.

But it's not clear yet to the extent of the knowledge or the U.S. participation, because obviously you're seeing an Israeli statement saying that it was conducted by Israel alone and with their own decision-making here.

And so a lot of questions about what this means going forward. And you can't ignore what President Trump himself said recently when he was issuing what he called his last warning, Brianna, to Hamas.

KEILAR: There's a lot that the press secretary, Kaitlan, is going to be asked about. Notably, President Trump said earlier today he won't be commenting any further on the Jeffrey Epstein birthday book letter, which bears a signature that looks like his, but the press secretary insists is not.

No doubt she's going to take some questions on this, as well as other topics.

COLLINS: Yes, and it remains to be seen if that comment even stands, because obviously this is something that has been facing and dogging the White House for months now.

And now with the release of this trove of files yesterday from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee, including Jeffrey Epstein's last will and testament, that birthday book with the letter that the White House said was not the president's signature and the president has sued to the effect of it, "The Wall Street Journal," for initially reporting on that letter.

Now President Trump says he is not going to be commenting any further and has directed all comments to his staff. But, obviously, this is something that is also being driven by Republicans on Capitol Hill, with several of those Republicans trying to force the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein-related documents that it has in its capacity.

Whether or not that ultimately happens remains to be seen. But this has obviously been an issue for the White House that has not gone away despite their best efforts. And so we will obviously wait to see what is said about that at this briefing.

Also, the new jobs reports and the revision from the BLS that came out today is going to be a key topic for this White House, as that has been something that obviously has been a center of controversy after they fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer from the BLS, the commissioner there, because of the numbers that they did not like, arguing that that data was faulty.

Now, of course, we will see what they have to say about these new numbers that came out today, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Kaitlan Collins, we will be waiting for this briefing along with you. Thank you for that report -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Back to the strike in Doha.

While U.S. officials have said the Trump administration was notified before Israel launched this strike, a top Qatari official tells CNN that his country is confident that the attack was conducted -- quote -- "unilaterally by Israeli forces" and -- quote -- "without advanced consultation of the United States."

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The Qatari diplomat said that the Israeli attack on Hamas leadership was -- quote -- "clearly designed to undermine the peace negotiations in which the U.S. and Qatar are closely collaborating."

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Jerusalem.

Jeremy, first, take us through what Israeli officials have said about this.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just heard from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was actually speaking at a U.S. Embassy event here in Jerusalem. And he addressed the fact that, first of all, he said that he had promised in the early weeks of this war in Gaza following October 7 that Israel would reach all of those, he said, who perpetrated this horror, talking about the October 7 massacre.

And he said: "And, today, Israel and I have kept that promise."

The Israeli prime minister also made very clear that this was an Israeli military action that only involved Israel. Listen.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: On this day, as in previous days, Israel acted wholly independently, wholly independently, and we take full responsibility for this action. And this action can open the door to an end of the war, end of the war in Gaza. Israel has accepted the principles, the proposal put forward by President Trump to end the war, beginning with the immediate release of all our hostages, which have been held in the dungeons of Gaza for 700 days.

If President Trump's proposal is accepted, the war can end immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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DIAMOND: And now, as you can hear, Prime Minister Netanyahu there, the irony of what he is saying is that, if Hamas accepts this proposal, then the war in Gaza can end.

But the question now is, who is there to accept Hamas' proposal, as Israel has now targeted and sought to assassinate Hamas' chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya?

I also want to draw your attention to the noise that you're hearing behind me. This is an air raid siren that's going off as a result of a missile launch coming from Yemen, we understand. Of course, we have seen these missiles being launched by the Houthis over the course of months now, and on an almost weekly basis at least. Those missiles are very often intercepted.

But it does show you once again that this war is not just happening in Gaza, but that this is still very much a regional conflict, with other Iranian proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen, still very much taking an active part and taking shots at Israel with these ballistic missiles, hence the air raid sirens overhead.

SANCHEZ: Yes, obviously an active situation. Jeremy, we will let you and your team get to safety. Thank you so much from Jerusalem.

Let's dig deeper on this with CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk. He's a former senior adviser to four presidents and most recently served as White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.

Brett, before I ask you a question, we should let our viewers know that the White House press briefing has been moved to 1:30 p.m., so about a half-hour or so from now. And they will be asked questions about this.

Primarily, I wonder what this does to negotiations. I mean, you earlier today said that they're effectively dead. Is that in the short term or overall?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I look at this, Boris, again, something can be not surprising yet shocking. That's how I see this.

Not surprising because Israel has made clear every leader of Hamas since October 7 is a dead man walking, OK? But to target them in Doha, where the United States and Israel has asked Hamas to play this role, is shocking. To target them when there appeared to be an effort to get negotiations back on track is shocking.

And I heard the comments from the prime minister. If I was just an analyst of this, say I was in the Oval Office trying to say what's likely to happen, we can hope, we can hope the removal of these leaders -- and these are bad guys. I want -- these guys are terrorists.

Whenever something like this happens, there's an element of justice. We had 40 Americans killed on October 7. So, there's a sense of that. But what's likely to happen? To get a negotiated deal on the hostages, you have to deal with these guys. Khalil al-Hayya, who was the leader targeted today, he's the one that

you deal with and then he tries to convince the leaders inside Gaza for a deal. That's how we got two hostage deals over the last couple years and freed over 150 hostages. We can hope this puts pressure on Hamas., they accept the deal Trump put down a few days ago.

I think four more likely, however, Hamas has few tools against Israel. They can't really respond. They're weakened, but they control the fate of the hostages. I'm very concerned -- and my understanding of how Hamas thinks and having done this work, they may very well go after some of the hostages, assassinate some of the hostages to demonstrate, we're still here. We're still in control of their fate.

And I'm deeply concerned about that. I hope that doesn't happen. But I can see Hamas calculating likely for how are they likely to respond. And I am worried about the fate of those hostages, honestly. The only way to get them out is through a deal. And I think this does make a deal less likely.

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KEILAR: Is that part of Netanyahu's calculus? Is it clear to you what his calculus was in this and what his objective is?

MCGURK: I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that.

I mean, an operation like this is usually planned for months, together with Mossad, Shin Bet, the entire security establishment. I think that the Israelis had the sense these negotiations were unlikely to succeed in any case, that Hamas was taking very strong positions.

And, Brianna, what has been reported that the Americans put down on the table a few days ago, as I read it, and having done this work, very unlikely to lead to a deal. It basically demanded Hamas give all the hostages on day one, including all the remains. We can hope they do that. Again, that would be great.

But, to Hamas, that's the only leverage they hold. Highly unlikely they're going to do that and then to negotiate the permanent end of the war. That's why we try to do these phased deals, which are imperfect, but at least was a possibility of getting to a deal. So I don't know what the endgame here is.

I -- this war has to come to a conclusion. It has to end. We want the hostages out. Yes, we want Hamas out of power in Gaza. But if you ask me right now, I would have to say this war is going to continue into next year. I think the Israelis will continue to conduct these operations in Gaza.

And there still remains no articulable day-after plan in Gaza. Who is going to be controlling the security situation? Israel says it can't be Hamas. Hamas says, it has to be us. That has remained the crux of the problem from day one. It is a very difficult situation.

SANCHEZ: What about the dynamic between the U.S. and Qatar and the disparity? When Qatar says that this likely wasn't done with consultation from the United States, I mean, it's hard to believe, when the White House is saying that they had advanced warning that this was coming.

MCGURK: I think it's in Qatar's interest to say this probably was not -- they want to preserve the relationship the United States, very valuable, very important relationship. And that goes both ways. It's important for us.

I just want -- I worked with the Qataris very closely on this, Sheik Mohammed, their prime minister. He worked tirelessly to try to get these deals. And the Qataris come under a lot of fire, a lot of heat. I understand it. But multiple administrations ask Qatar to play this role, as did Israel.

And they are now in an extremely difficult position. I suspect what Qatar is going to do is say, we're out of this business. Good luck with mediation. Over to the Egyptians, maybe the Turks. I think it's -- having done two negotiations and two deals on Gaza, you need the Qataris in a mediation role.

And now I just -- I can't see them playing that role. Again, brings me back to, we can hope this leads to a deal. I think it's more likely it leads to a continuation of the war and the lives of the hostage at risk. I hope I'm wrong about that.

KEILAR: Huge potential ramifications here.

Brett McGurk, always great to have you take us through this. We appreciate it.

Still to come: what the president is now saying about a birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein that bears a signature that resembles the president's.

SANCHEZ: Plus, this new report showing U.S. job growth much weaker than previously thought. We're talking about a difference of nearly a million jobs -- ahead, what this revision means for the U.S. economy.

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SANCHEZ: A short time ago, President Trump gave his first public reaction to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein birthday letter at the center of his $10 billion defamation suit, the president telling NBC that the note, which allegedly bears his signature there, right at the center of the bottom, is part of a -- quote -- "dead issue" and says he won't comment on it.

President Trump and the White House have denied that the president wrote this letter. And, earlier today, the Republican leading the Oversight Committee suggested that he would not be looking into this further.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): None of the victims nor their attorneys were saying anything about, oh, look up this birthday card to see if it's legit or not. The president says it's not. I will take the president's word. Again, we're going to try to provide transparency to the American people. So we're going to put everything out that we get.

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SANCHEZ: CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams is with us now.

Elliot, great to share an afternoon with you, as always.

So "The Wall Street Journal" first wrote about the existence of this letter. They have also posted an article analyzing the document, just comparing the font, the signature, that drawing, and some of the word choices and other notes to things the president sent in the past, and especially in that window of time.

Now that we have all seen this book, what does it mean for Trump's case against "The Journal"?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, let's be simple, Boris. If in fact President Trump wrote the note, it's not defamation. If he didn't write the note, it's defamation.

And let me explain. Defamation occurs when a statement or an article or whatever else is published that contains falsehoods that the speaker or writer knew to be false or should have known was false, and they still put them out there anyway and hurt someone's reputation as a result.

Now, if in fact "The Wall Street Journal" either lied or fabricated information, then, sure, that's defamation. But if in fact the president did write the note that "The Wall Street Journal" says that he wrote, and common sense seems to dictate that he did, but again, I will leave it up to the courts to decide that, then, of course, it's not defamation and the case is sort of meritless.

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SANCHEZ: When you say that you will leave it to a court to adjudicate the truthfulness of whether Trump wrote this or not, how does that happen legally?

WILLIAMS: No, well, it's funny. You mentioned "The Wall Street Journal's analysis of it. And it was very rudimentary. It was reporters doing it, but that's the kind of analysis that would happen in court if one party was coming and saying that he did not write a letter and the other party is saying that, well, actually this person did.

You would have handwriting analysis. You would have diction and speech analysis. If you noticed, "The Wall Street Journal" walk-through word choice that President Trump uses over the years that also appeared in this letter. You would have people could testify as to their knowledge of how this

letter was or wasn't turned over, if someone who received it at Jeffrey Epstein's estate could testify as to how they got it from President Trump or not. So all of these things would have to be factual findings in court.

But, again, you saw the basics of it in that "Wall Street Journal" article.

SANCHEZ: How does the fact that the Epstein estate itself turned this over factor into the whole case?

WILLIAMS: I don't think it does for the purposes of defamation. Again, really what matters is, did the speaker know that the thing they were publishing was false?

Now, the Epstein estate's cooperation is always a good thing. People should comply with courts when they get requests and so on. But really this is about Donald Trump versus "The Wall Street Journal," not that third party of the Epstein estate.

SANCHEZ: Would you say that the burden of proof when it comes to either proving that this letter is real or that it's false falls on Trump or on the party that published it?

WILLIAMS: Oh, in defamation analysis, ultimately, the free speech tends to lean in favor of the speaker. And so the person bringing the lawsuit has to establish the falsehood here.

SANCHEZ: How would Trump go about doing that?

WILLIAMS: You know, it's this is the most bizarre he said/she said -- he said/it said, kind of, if you're speaking about a newspaper.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And I think he would simply have to come forward and give some indication that he did not write this. It's just -- I don't know how this would happen.

Again, we all sort of know what his signature looks like. But, again, he says it's not his. And as a litigant, it's his right to deny that a piece of paper that has that has a signature on it is not his. That's -- he has every right to do that. Even though, again, I have seen the signature. You have and many people have and can make their own conclusions as to what it says.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's shaping up to be a very interesting case.

Elliot Williams, appreciate the analysis. Thanks for joining us.

WILLIAMS: Thanks, Boris -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We are following major economic news, new numbers suggesting the U.S. labor market is not as strong as it has appeared to be. According to a preliminary report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,

the U.S. added nearly one million fewer jobs than originally reported for the year through March. This is a gigantic adjustment that we're talking about here. And if it holds through February, when the final tally is reported, this would mark the largest annual revision ever.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is here to break down the numbers for us.

Vanessa, what does this tell us about the state of the economy?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly shows that in the months of April 2024 through March of 2025, the U.S. economy in terms of the jobs market was a lot weaker than we had originally expected and which we originally seen as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But today's report is an annual report. It comes out every single year. And there's been some sort of revisions that the BLS has done for the better part of 90 years now. What is a little atypical about this report is that the revision is so large. It is the largest on record, 911,000 jobs to the downside, fewer jobs added over the course of that 12-month period.

If you average that out, that's about 76,000 fewer job jobs added each month. And that time period that we're talking about, that is mostly under the Biden administration, just a couple months, three months under the Trump administration.

Now, sectors that really saw the steepest number of jobs lost in terms of what we thought was going to be there, but actually didn't end up being there, was trade, transportation and utilities, 226,000 fewer jobs there, leisure and hospitality, 176,000 fewer jobs than initially reported, and for professional and business services, 158,000 fewer jobs than initially reported.

But, as I said, this is typical. These revisions certainly do happen. But to the downside, one of the reasons -- or a couple reasons, rather, that this does happen is because the Bureau of Labor Statistics is really trying to work with survey data that they get from businesses.

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So, some newer companies may have suggested that they were hiring more people than they actually did. And that survey data, the response rate has really dropped in recent years. So they're trying to merge survey data with now in this report, Brianna, much clearer and much more pointed tax filing data that businesses provide.

And they're trying to merge those two and trying to paint a clearer picture. But also in those tax filings from companies, they will not be reporting undocumented workers. And so we know that they are a large portion of the labor force, but they will not be counted in this report. That is also why you can potentially see that this number is revised a lot lower than was anticipated. KEILAR: And this revision, Vanessa, covers most of President Biden's

final year in office, as you noted. It also comes after President Trump, in quite a spectacular fashion, fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

He accused her without evidence of rigging the numbers in favor of Democrats. Is there any reason to doubt this new data?

YURKEVICH: There isn't, and that is because -- as a viewer at home, you may be saying, wait a minute, these numbers keep changing up and down, but that's actually to get the numbers to more of an accurate representation of the jobs market.

As new data comes in, more surveys come in, more data points come in, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is able to get to a more accurate picture of the jobs market. And, Brianna, in February of 2026, we will actually get the final annual number for what the labor market looked like this year.

Also worth pointing out that the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Brianna, doesn't have any oversight over the collection of this data. They're not involved in the data. And when these big jobs reports comes out on a Friday, the commissioner doesn't even see that data until the Wednesday before.

And William Beach, he's a former BLS commissioner under President Trump. He's told CNN that when he was commissioner, he was locked out of the process in the building of which this data collection was happening. So the commissioner is so far removed from this process that they have little involvement.

However, we have heard from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that certainly the BLS could do for an upgrade. They could do a modernization of the data collection to maybe make it more timely, maybe make it a little more accurate in terms of the initial reporting.

But the Trump administration says that they are going to look into that, but we know that President Trump was pretty unhappy with that July jobs report that did show revisions. Also, Brianna, worth pointing out that that is very typical. With this report in particular. it's the size of the revisions that is raising some eyebrows.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

More than that, I think -- I'm just reading an alert. J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that these numbers in these -- these numbers could mean the economy is entering a recession. So that is just in. I know that you will be looking at that. Quite a headline there, Vanessa.

Thank you so much for the report and taking us through all of those numbers.

South Korea now getting a plane ready to bring home more than 300 citizens detained in the U.S. We'll have the latest on the tense talks.

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