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Ex-CIA Officer Appears in Court; Jobs Report Exceeds Expectations; CBS News Facing Turmoil; Graham Platner Under Fire; Trump to Clean House in Intelligence Community?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 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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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Cleaning house? President Trump reportedly telling his new pick for director of national intelligence that he should begin firing a large number of people, even suggesting the office of the DNI could be eliminated altogether.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, $40 million in gold bars, $2 million in cash, dozens of luxury watches. The former CIA officer accused of stealing all of the above had a court appearance today.

And crawling back to camp, a Sherpa climbing guide surviving almost a week on Mount Everest with no food or bottled oxygen. How did he pull off the impossible?

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: We are learning some new details about President Trump's plan for the acting director of national intelligence that he has just chosen, Bill Pulte.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the president said he wants Pulte to start the process of firing a large number of employees as part of a shakeup of the U.S. intelligence community.

SANCHEZ: President Trump telling "The Journal" today -- quote -- "I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn't be there."

Let's get the latest from CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand.

Natasha, what more is the president saying about what he wants to see from Pulte as acting DNI?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so the president was very honest with "The Wall Street Journal," telling the reporter there that he wants to see a large number of firings at the director of national intelligence office. He believes that it is too big. And he wants Bill Pulte, who has very

little, if any -- actually none -- national security and intelligence experience to start that process during his time as acting director of that office.

He said -- quote -- "We have made the Department of Education much smaller and,, this should be much smaller and this should maybe even be terminated, and we will make that decision," so floating there the idea that this office, which was created after 9/11 to better synthesize intelligence sharing across the 18 agencies and units in the intelligence community, could be eliminated altogether, which would, of course, be a very significant step.

But it's something that President Trump has floated before. He does not necessarily believe that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is all that important. He has leaned much more heavily on his CIA director, John Ratcliffe, than he ever did on the former director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

So this is something obviously that has been on his mind for quite some time. And he now says that Bill Pulte, who he appointed as acting director just last week, says that, because he is acting, because he doesn't have to go through that process of being confirmed for at least 210 days, he said -- quote -- "You're less shackled. It sort of gives you more power for a somewhat limited period of time."

So he's basically saying here, look, because he is not Senate- confirmed, because he is on this acting basis, he can pretty much do what I want him to do, which is dramatically reduce the amount of employees here in this office and also, of course, take on some of the president's preferred initiatives within the intelligence community, particularly election security, something that he has been very fixated on.

KEILAR: So he can look at this obviously as an opportunity, but he could also look at this as an opportunity, or critics can, as an opportunity for the president to mess things up quickly here with that 210 days or whatever, because the president has been very suspicious of the intelligence community.

And yet this office of the DNI was put in place for a very key reason after 9/11. What else has the president said about this?

BERTRAND: Yes, so this is something that my colleagues reported last week.

They -- he likes Bill Pulte because he moves fast and he breaks things, and that is exactly what President Trump wants to see. The problem, of course, is that Bill Pulte has zero experience in national security and intelligence. He was the Federal Housing Finance Agency director.

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He has no security clearance, or at least he did not before he was put into this position, which he will officially hold at the end of June, when Tulsi Gabbard departs. And so that really underscores his lack of experience in dealing with any kind of intelligence or classified information, the fact that he didn't even have the clearance to handle that kind of intelligence prior to being thrust into this role.

And so there's a lot of concern within the intelligence community here that he is simply going to be a yes-man for President Trump. He is going to perhaps fire people who have ties to previous administrations, which, of course, there are many apolitical career employees in the intelligence community.

But it's something that President Trump said directly to "The Journal." He alluded to -- quote, unquote -- "holdovers" within the intelligence community that he wants to see perhaps fired. And so that is something that Bill Pulte could do in this new position.

KEILAR: All right, Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much for that.

New today, sources say, Maine Governor Janet Mills is being encouraged to reenter the Democratic Senate primary race against the presumptive nominee, Graham Platner, as new allegations are dogging him now.

"The New York Times" spoke with six women who Platner previously dated, three of whom described volatile and toxic relationships, including allegations of heavy drinking, infidelity, demeaning behavior, and, in one account, physical intimidation.

One woman also saying that Platner knew that that tattoo he had gotten while serving in the military was linked to Nazism years before he claimed that he became aware of its symbolism. Platner is responding.

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

Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who is politically motivated.

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KEILAR: Platner also tells CNN that: "Throughout this campaign, I have been open about what was a very dark period of my life, where I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too often self-medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend. I take responsibility for all of that and wish I'd been better.

"Any characterization beyond that is false and I believe politically motivated. I'm not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I have done since and the movement that we are building in Maine."

We're joined now by Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

I wonder, Larry -- and you're someone who has written a lot about campaign scandals and sort of knows the formula of this kind of thing -- how much trouble is Platner's campaign in?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Oh, a lot of trouble.

Look, this is a nightmare scenario for Democrats and really for Platner because the primary is next Tuesday. Now, in one sense, it protects him, because it's going to be very difficult to revive Governor Janet Mills' campaign less than a week ahead of the actual election. And she hasn't been advertising or organizing or anything like that.

At the same time, when you accumulate all of these allegations together, maybe some are false or exaggerated, but it's hard to believe that some aren't true. When there's this much smoke, there's a lot of fire.

And as Democrats and Republicans always say when one of their candidates gets into trouble, they get nervous because they wonder when another shoe or two will drop. And often it happens. I believe Platner has denied repeatedly that there would be any more shoes falling.

Well, these all count as shoes.

KEILAR: Yes, there's a closet of shoes it's becoming here.

So he is set to return to the campaign trail tonight. He's got a rally with California Congressman Ro Khanna. And Khanna notably appeared to stand by his support for Platner. He put out a statement Thursday night saying -- quote -- 'the behavior described in 'The New York Times' story was wrong and toxic. Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption."

I think, though, Larry, that if you had Democrats talking about a Republican, they might not be so charitable, right, in how they are forgiving and redeeming this behavior here. What are you watching for in response from elected Democrats more broadly who, when Republicans have done things that are wrong, behaved poorly, they have come down like a ton of bricks?

SABATO: Yes.

And you're right, by the way, redemption has also become partisan, along with everything else connected to politics. Of course, they're going to defend him at this point. They believe they probably don't have an alternative. And I have had several mention to me something, I didn't think they would remember.

Those of us who are old enough do remember it. And it was Bill Clinton in 1992. He had allegation after allegation after allegation, mainly with women, but also the draft and other things. But it was too far along in the process. And the major candidates had already dropped out.

[13:10:08] Well, what happened? Bill Clinton got a united party. They gathered around him despite the scandals. He got the nomination easily and, of course, won the general election handily and served two terms as president.

So you never know how these things are going to turn out. But right now, this is a very unpleasant moment for the Democrats, who can't, I don't believe, put the Senate together, put 51 votes in the Senate together without Maine.

KEILAR: Yes, we can talk about this, right? We can look and analyze this race and the effect this is having, but it really comes down to Maine voters. I mean, they're the ones who are going to say if this is acceptable, if they believe him, if they forgive him.

And I wonder how you think they might navigate those decisions.

SABATO: Well, everybody's going to make their individual decision, but we live in the Trump era, Brianna.

It's a big difference. If you had a president or administration that was as clean as a hound's tooth, as Eisenhower used to put it, then I think the reaction would be very different and probably Platner would be on his way out.

But Donald Trump has a list of sins so long, we wouldn't have time in your entire two-hour program to cover it. So that creates the circumstances that enables a Democrat with scandal to survive and, five years ago, 10 years ago, would not have been able to survive.

KEILAR: Yes. It is, by the way, Larry, a three-hour program, but I think you would make the exact same point there.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: And you're welcome on any of the three hours.

SABATO: I'm sorry. I apologize.

KEILAR: No, that's fine. We're here for a very long time, many fun hours here in the afternoon.

Larry Sabato, thank you very much.

SABATO: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still to come: a much-better-than-expected jobs report providing some reassurance that the U.S. labor market may be stabilizing. Ahead, what this all means for you.

Plus, a Hollywood actor stabbed to death in his Los Angeles home, and police say the suspect is the person who called 911. We have new details.

SANCHEZ: And, later, an incredible story of survival, a Sherpa found alive after spending almost a week on Mount Everest without food or bottled oxygen.

We have that story and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: This is just in a CNN: The three remaining "60 Minutes" correspondents told colleagues today that they will stay with the long-running news magazine, despite recent turmoil at CBS.

Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim issued a joint memo saying they were heartbroken over recent firings, but had decided to return.

KEILAR: CNN's Brian Stelter is with us now.

Brian, what else did they say here about why they're staying?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, if these correspondents had left, "60 Minutes" would have been an even more precarious position.

So it was critical that they have agreed to stay on board for season 59. But they say they are staying to try to preserve the show's reputation and they're going to be watching very closely to ensure that CBS upholds its commitments about editorial independence.

Here's a quote from the memo that was just shared internally.

It says: "We fear that our returning might be might be construed as an endorsement of the existing power structure. But that is simply categorically not the case. We're staying because we don't want to see '60 Minutes' die."

They went on to say the following: "If we can continue doing the work that made this show what it is, committing acts of independent fearless journalism and storytelling, then we're here for it. If not, we leave."

So "60 Minutes" remains in a very tenuous and very tumultuous situation. But at least these three correspondents saying they will stay with the program provides some sense of stability for news editor producer Nick Bilton.

I'm told the behind the scenes Bilton fought very hard this week to try to keep this trio at the show. He knows what a devastating blow this has been ever since he was hired last week on the same day that the veteran correspondents and producers were fired.

Then Scott Pelley's dismissal earlier this week made an even bad situation much worse for CBS News. So this has been a crisis. But now "60 Minutes" can try to move forward knowing at least it has three correspondents. It's going to have to hire more now and it's going to have to get a lot of programming getting going out of that season 59 premiere in September. The bottom line here is about trust, CBS News trying to restore trust.

It needs these correspondents to help the network do so.

KEILAR: It's significant, though, Brian. It's not a vote of confidence in new management, this statement. It's more of a wait and see and we will stay committed if the program remains committed to our values kind of statement.

STELTER: You are absolutely right.

And these three correspondents are saying that, if they notice any funny business, if they notice meddling, if they believe there's political maneuvering going on, if they believe Paramount is meddling, then they're going to speak up. That's what today's statement indicates.

KEILAR: All right, Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

Let's turn now to the latest jobs report, which shattered expectations, the economy adding a much stronger-than-expected 172,000 jobs last month.

SANCHEZ: The employment rate holding steady at 4.3 percent.

Let's go to CNN's Matt Egan.

What are some of the other big takeaways from this report, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, this was a big beat.

And it does suggest that, after a week 2025, the job market is getting back on track. So the 172,000 jobs added during the month of May, as you mentioned, that really blew away forecast. And what was also encouraging was that March and April, they were both revised significantly higher.

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So now we have a situation where, for the first time in two years, the economy is adding more than 100,000 jobs for three consecutive months. And, look, this is a big shift from last year, when there were a number of months where the U.S. economy outright lost jobs.

This is April of 2025. This is roughly when the president rolled out his global tariffs. And you can see how much pressure there was on the job market after that. But now things do appear to be going back in the right direction, which is encouraging.

So where are the jobs? Well, health care continues to be a major source of demand for workers, adding another 35,000 jobs. But this was not just health care. This was wider-spread growth in jobs than we have seen in recent history, government adding 52,000 jobs. Most of that was local government, excluding education.

That's a lot of jobs to be added in one sector. So we're going to have to wait and see if that gets revised in coming months, but leisure and hospitality also adding 70,000 jobs. That was bars and restaurants. And that could be an early sign that the World Cup is adding demand for workers, construction adding jobs as well, thanks to warmer weather.

However, information and finance, both of those sectors lost jobs in may. And that's notable because we know that information and finance, they have been the early and fast adopters of artificial intelligence. So this could be a sign that there's less demand for workers because of A.I.

Now, we do have to talk about wages and inflation, because, look, wages are still going up, 3.4 percent year over year in may. That's not a terrible number. The problem is that prices are going up much faster. The Cleveland Fed is forecasting a 4.2 percent inflation rate for the month of may.

So that means, if you adjust your paycheck for inflation, your paycheck is actually getting smaller. So, bottom line, yes, it is good news that the economy continues to add jobs, but people can't experience that. If they're feeling the fact that their paychecks are getting smaller, then they're not going to feel good about this economy, no matter how many jobs are added.

SANCHEZ: Matt Egan, thank you so much for the update on that report.

Still ahead: a former CIA officer accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars in gold bars appearing before a judge. We have the latest from the courtroom.

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SANCHEZ: The ex-CIA officer who allegedly stole $40 million worth of gold bars will stay behind bars until his trial.

David Rush had a detention hearing this morning in Virginia. Remember, he was arrested some two weeks ago on a charge of theft of public money.

KEILAR: It's not clear how Rush was able to work for the CIA for 17 years, despite lying multiple times about his work history, according to the FBI. Court documents show he even fabricated a stint as a Navy pilot.

CNN's Evan Perez is staying on top of this for us.

All right, what happened in court today?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is still such an extraordinary story.

In court today, the defense was arguing for him to be released pending trial. The judge basically turned that all back and said the government has more than met its burden to show that he is obviously a flight risk. He had access and, according to the government, had the intent to be able to flee if he wanted to.

And we can recap some of the things that the FBI found when they arrested David Rush. They found 303 gold bars. They found $2 million in currency, including some foreign currency, 35 luxury watches. And what the FBI alleges is that, when they essentially started looking into him, very quickly, they found that he did not go to Clemson University.

He didn't have the military background that he said he had as part of his CIA background. And so the question remains, how was he able to get this job at the CIA and work there for 17 years? And so, right now, he is charged only with theft of government or public money, which is about $77,000 in military leave pay that he got from the military that he was not entitled to, according to the government.

The question is whether additional charges will be coming, because, again, those 303 gold bars, the $2 million in currency, that is -- it's a wonder why the government has not put those charges in this case yet.

SANCHEZ: This is embarrassing for the CIA. Seventeen years? what steps are they taking to fix this or mitigate it from happening again/

PEREZ: Right.

Well, one of the things they have done is, they're doing an internal investigation. And our Zach Cohen was told by sources that they have reassigned some higher-level personnel, some staff at the CIA, officers who oversaw him and were responsible for maybe approving or not catching that he was taking home these gold bars to -- and then had all -- possession of all this money.

And also some lower-level people were -- have been put on leave. The question, though, for the CIA remains, right, not only does the -- the lack of controls over these gold bars on the money, but also how did he even get in at the CIA, when he had lied about his background?

Because, allegedly, the CIA has some of the best vetting. They do their own vetting. They don't rely on the FBI to do it. They do their own vetting. The question is, how did that happen and why wasn't this caught for 17 years?

KEILAR: Because he applied multiple times with different sets of facts each time, right?

PEREZ: Right. Right. Right.

And when the investigators went in, they just Googled it and found very quickly that he did not go to Clemson, did not have the background that he said.

KEILAR: Really amazing.

Evan, thank you so much for the latest there.

PEREZ: Thanks.