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CNN This Morning
Gov. Abbott Threatens Democratic Lawmakers with 'Removal' After They Flee Vote; A.I. Complicates Job Market for Recent College Grads. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired August 04, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JEREMY ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- to school for Superintendent Allen and back to the old drawing board for the Parody Principal.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I looked at the building. I was finally here, to settle on in for another school year.
ROTH (voice-over): I'm Jeremy Roth, reporting.
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M.J. LEE, CNN ANCHOR: And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm M.J. Lee in Washington, D.C., and CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Texas Democrats flee as they attempt to block a statewide Republican redistricting effort. Can they succeed? CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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GENE WU (D), TEXAS STATE HOUSE: This is the -- absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas.
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CORNISH: The brewing battle that could impact next year's midterm elections.
And the White House defends the firing of the jobs data czar. The concerns her removal now raises about data integrity.
And Montana police on the hunt for a man involved in a deadly bar shooting. The warning from officials as they step up their search.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): You see them wasting away in a dungeon, but the Hamas monsters surrounding them have thick, fleshy arms. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Outrage over a new hostage video as Israel faces mounting pressure to end the war.
And an ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs writes a letter to the judge in his criminal trial. What she's asking for before he's sentenced.
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JIM FARLEY, CEO, FORD: Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.
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CORNISH: How A.I. is taking a wrecking ball to the job market now.
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here is a live look at Chicago. Good morning, Chicago.
Good morning to you. It's Monday, August 4th. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish, and this is CNN THIS MORNING.
We're going to begin with a fight deep in the heart of Texas, which could decide who controls Congress after next year's midterms. It has nationwide consequences, and it's getting even more urgent as state Democratic lawmakers have now fled the state entirely.
They bolted to Illinois, Boston, New York on Sunday. It was a last- ditch effort to delay voting on a new congressional map ordered by President Trump in Texas, and it would give Republicans another five seats in next year's midterm elections.
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WU: We did not make the decision to come here today -- we did not make that decision lightly. But we come here today with absolute moral clarity that this is the -- absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
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CORNISH: The move denies the Texas legislature a quorum, blocking Republican efforts to pass the new gerrymandered map during a special session.
Now, Governor Greg Abbott is lashing out, accusing Democratic lawmakers of abandoning their offices. He's threatening their removal.
State attorney general Ken Paxton goes even further, suggesting the lawmakers should be arrested, adding, quote, "We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they're above the law." Joining me now on this Monday in the group chat, Stephen Collinson,
CNN politics senior reporter; Sara Fischer, CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios; and Kevin Frey, Washington correspondent for Spectrum News, New York One.
Kevin, I'm actually going to start with you, just because you cover Congress really closely.
KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS, NEW YORK ONE: Yes.
CORNISH: A state like New York made the midterms, right, like very important. So, what's significant about this moment with Texas?
FREY: Well, I mean -- and look, some of these lawmakers are actually in Texas or, excuse me, in New York right now, as well. The governor there is supposed to meet with them today as part of all of this.
When it comes to the balance of power in the House, it comes down to just a fraction of a margin. Essentially, the margins are already razor-thin.
And so, if you have five seats that could go, then, to the Republican column that might otherwise be in the Democratic column, that could be the entire ballgame.
We've seen this play out before in New York. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is very keen on becoming Speaker Hakeem Jeffries. And so, he is eager to do anything he can to make sure that he holds onto that.
CORNISH: The thing is, there's actually a history of a quorum break-in in Texas --
FREY: Yes.
CORNISH: -- basically, where in the past, even the state rangers were called in to use force to make lawmakers come back. You're nodding. You remember this back in 2021.
And there is one person, a political science professor from the Texas -- tells "The Texas Tribune" that there actually aren't that many options to force them to return.
But there are some things. Like, they could take a novel, aggressive measure, trimming the $20,000 monthly operating budgets given to House members to run their office; declaring the seats vacant and triggering special elections. That's never been used.
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: And of course, there's the $500 daily fines for every day that they're away.
But remember, when it comes to things like the $20,000 budget deficit or the $500 daily fines, this is what fundraising is for.
And it's not just going to attract the interest of people in Texas. Nationally, I think you're going to have a lot of people who are interested in this, who are worried about what redistricting is doing to politics, who are going to come in and help to fund these through PACs.
So, I don't think that's the real issue.
The seat vacancy thing, we've never seen that before. I don't know, actually, how that would work. The vote is supposed to happen today, so we'll get a little bit more information.
But I'm watching -- you were mentioning New York. Also, Illinois Governor Pritzker coming in and hosting a bunch of these Democrats. You're starting to see --
CORNISH: Yes. Let me let you hear what he had to say.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: He was speaking just Sunday night, welcoming lawmakers to his state.
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GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): All bets are off when the cult leader and, you know, would-be dictator of the United States tells Texas to, midstream, change the game when they know that they're going to lose in 2026. All bets are off. Everything's got to be on the table.
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FISCHER: It's a national issue. This is not just a Texas thing. You're going to see a lot of Democratic governors, Democratic lawmakers, and activists come out in support of these Democrats, because it's not just what it means for the state. It's what it means for the entire House, to your point.
CORNISH: Well, hold on one second, because Stephen was writing that, basically, you're -- like, gerrymandering is not just a thing Republicans do. But what do you see as different here?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I think that's the key thing. Why is this different? Because gerrymandering, drawing seats up for political advantage, has been going on for generations.
What seems to have happened here is that the president called on his friends in Texas to open up this issue halfway through the normal ten- year cycle, specifically, openly, to try and get more seats, to try and keep this very narrow House majority. So that's come to another level.
Now, the question is, how do Democrats respond? You know, leaving the state, that's a temporary solution. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, has talked about, well, if you can do it in Texas, we can do it in California.
Some of the laws are a little bit more difficult in some of these Democratic states. So, it may not be possible.
But at the end of the day, what you're having is politicians choosing their voters rather than voters choosing their politicians. The long- term effect of that is that, when a leader gets elected and says, We're going to change things, and they can't change things because the system is so polarized and deadlocked, voters get disillusioned.
They say the system is broken. We need a strongman, a populist. The only kind of guy that can fix this: Donald Trump.
FREY: And this is -- I mean, this is also fed into, to some extent, the fact that the executive branch has become really the nexus of power here in Washington. And nothing else really can get done, because Congress is so polarized.
CORNISH: All right. You guys stay with us. We're actually going to hear from one of those Democrats who left the state later in the show. I'll be talking with the Democratic Party chair who's in Chicago.
We've got more to talk about this hour. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump says the Bureau of Labor Statistics is cooking the books. So, he fired the chair. And now the White House is trying to justify that.
And a manhunt intensifying in Montana. Four people killed in cold blood. Now, officials worry the suspect could return to the area.
And is the president's handling of the Epstein saga fueling a coup in the Republican Party?
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CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, RADIO HOST: This Epstein thing is going to be a way for traditional conservatives to take their party back.
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CORNISH: It's 12 minutes past the hour, and here is your morning roundup.
Right now, police in Montana are searching for a man considered armed and extremely dangerous. They say he shot and killed four people in a bar on Friday morning. Officials searching by air and ground are warning residents to stay vigilant.
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AUSTIN KNUDSEN, MONTANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: There's concerns he might come back into town. This is -- this -- by all indications, this is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever. So, there absolutely is concern for the public. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And one bartender told CNN the suspect lived near the bar and visited frequently.
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FRANK BONNER, ACTOR: How about lunch?
LONI ANDERSON, ACTRESS: No lunch either.
BONNER: Dinner?
ANDERSON: Busy.
BONNER: OK. How about later at my place?
ANDERSON: You're married, Herb.
BONNER: Oh, yes.
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CORNISH: Actress Loni Anderson of the 1980s hit TV show "WKRP in Cincinnati" has died.
According to her publicist, she passed away in a Los Angeles hospital after a prolonged illness. Loni Anderson was 79.
And the MLB knocked it out of the park with the Speedway Classic setting a new single-game attendance record for the regular season.
More than 91,000 people attended the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway. That shattered the previous record from 71 years ago between the Yankees and the Reds.
And ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, diplomatic efforts stalled, and now Israelis -- Israel's prime minister is considering an alternative: using military force to free the hostages.
And college grads being left out in the cold. Is A.I. wrecking the job market?
And going live now to St. Louis, where Boeing workers who build fighter jets there are going to be going on strike.
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They rejected a four-year labor agreement with the company; 3,200 workers went on strike at midnight.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have been able to utilize A.I. to become fewer, to do the same amount, or even more work, right? And I think that that is becoming a reality.
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CORNISH: It's brutal out there for young workers. And we want you to know, we see you.
Companies have decided they'd rather have A.I.-powered tools do the job than pay entry-level employees. And it's basically creating a jobs crisis for young workers.
So, while the overall national unemployment rate is hovering around 4 percent, the unemployment rate for new college graduates peaked at 6 percent in the first quarter of this year. And CEOs in recent months, they're being way more open about how they expect their workforces to shrink.
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FARLEY: Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.
DARIO AMODEL, CEO, ANTHROPIC: Entry-level white-collar work, I worry that those things are going to be first augmented, but before long, replaced by A.I. systems.
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CORNISH: So, what happens when the first rung of the career ladder disappears as an entire generation tries to get their foot in the door?
Joining us now to discuss is Lindsay Ellis. She's a management reporter at "The Wall Street Journal."
Thank you for being here.
LINDSAY ELLIS, MANAGEMENT REPORTER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: So, what's it like for people to actually try and get jobs right now? We've heard of people applying for dozens of jobs at once. What are they facing?
ELLIS: Dozens. Hundreds. I mean, the job market has changed, not only in the last, you know, five years, but in the last two. I have talked to people who are using A.I. tools to send their resumes around to try and, from a sheer volume perspective, get it to as many companies that are hiring. Like --
CORNISH: So, when someone says, like on TikTok, I've applied to 100 jobs, they really could have, because they've used A.I.?
ELLIS: Oh, absolutely. I've talked to people who have applied to -- to several hundred, even in the last few months.
And on the flip side, companies are using applicant tracking systems that are really tech-enabled to filter through these resumes, stack them, rank them, screen some out. It's really a bot versus bot world war in the -- in the hiring space right now.
CORNISH: I was looking through the jobs numbers, and since 2019, the hiring of recent graduates at tech firms has fallen by nearly 50 percent. Can -- it's not just tech though, right?
ELLIS: That's right. I mean, we were looking at new graduate hiring in business roles, in tech --
CORNISH: Finance. Yes, I see.
ELLIS: And you know, in many cases, it's these sort of back-end type positions. And it might not be a company saying, We're going to close hiring in this space or totally eliminate our entry-level hiring.
But if they need to backfill a role or if someone leaves, you know, they might say, well, can we lean on A.I. for now while we navigate this uncertain moment in the economy, instead of expanding our headcount? Or, you know, replacing somebody who left?
CORNISH: So, here's the thing. You were talking about the fact that some of these jobs that are being replaced, yes, they were repetitive. Yes, there are things maybe A.I. can do. But aren't they also some of the better paying jobs for that age group? Right?
ELLIS: They are. And if you take a step back, I mean, over the last few years, since the pandemic, the Burning Glass Institute looked into underemployment. So, the rate of college graduates who are landing jobs that don't require college degree.
And we've seen, basically, that fewer and fewer new grads are getting jobs that make use of the credential that they just spent so much money on.
You know, A.I. is not exclusively the issue here, but it's building on a very fragile job market for -- for young professionals.
CORNISH: One last thing. I was thinking about the Gen Z men who were leaning Republican in the last election --
ELLIS: Yes.
CORNISH: -- who looked to Trump to improve their standing in the economy. What's going on for them?
ELLIS: You know, I don't have, you know --
CORNISH: Yes.
ELLIS: -- polling specific to them on jobs or -- or sort of -- but when I talk to young professionals in general, they -- they really -- they express just a real frustration. You know, feeling like we've checked every box. You told us to go to
college. We went to college. You told us to pursue these industries. We're pursuing these industries. And many people I interviewed say they feel the rug is being pulled out from underneath.
CORNISH: OK. Lindsay Ellis. You can read her writing at "The Wall Street Journal." Thank you so much for being with us.
ELLIS: Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump fires the top labor official in charge of the jobs numbers after that July report wasn't what he wanted to see.
So, is this just another power grab by the president?
And why one of Diddy's accusers is now asking a judge to release him from jail.
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WU: We will not be complicit in the destruction of our own communities.
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CORNISH: After they flee Texas, Republicans promised to hunt down the Democrats who have left those -- have left the state.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It is 28 minutes past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.
More than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers left the state Sunday in an attempt to prevent Republicans from holding a vote on a new congressional district map.
The gerrymandered map would give Republicans up to five more seats in the 2026 midterms. Texas Republicans have threatened to arrest Democrats for leaving.
And dry and hot conditions providing no relief for firefighters. The Dragon Bravo Fire along the North rim of the Grand Canyon is now more than 120,000 acres. It's the largest fire burning in the country.
An extreme heat warning is expected to last through tomorrow, with temperatures up to 110 degrees.
This just in. Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace is launching her campaign to be South Carolina's governor. She released the announcement video moments ago, and she's currently serving her third term in Congress. [06:30:00]
