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Steve Witkoff to meet with President Putin. President Trump in Scotland to Discuss Trade Negotiations. Texas Democrats Flee State to Avoid Gerrymandering Vote. Today Marks 80th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Dropping. ICE to Launch Major Recruiting Effort. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 06, 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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MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT A:ccording to the Bureau, more than 70 people have reported purchasing counterfeit Labubus. And instead of receiving an authentic doll, buyers got a fake one or nothing at all. The BBB advises consumers to shop with reputable retailers and to be wary of deals that seem too good to be true. And thank you so much for joining us here on early start. I'm MJ Lee in Washington, D.C., and CNN this morning starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST, CNN THIS MORNING: The mess with Texas, Democrats wanted. Will the FBI we be the ones to bring them home? CNN This Morning starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: The governor of Texas is demanding they come back. So, a lot of people are demanding they come back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: This battle over voting lines might be spreading to other states. And Republicans in Congress put the spotlight on Bill and Hillary Clinton over the Epstein scandal.

Turns out it was preventable, ignored safety warnings, design flaws, and left out in the cold. The new findings in the Titan submersible implosion.

We've reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon. Pardoning Diddy, why his lawyers think he should go free.

It's back to school, which means it's time for everybody to get sick again. But this year, there's a greater threat than the common cold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY TRUMAN, 33RD U.S. PRESIDENT: An American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: 80 years since the unleashing of the atomic bomb. How safe are we now from the threat of nuclear war? It's 6 a.m. here on the east coast, want to give you a live look at Hiroshima, Japan. People there are marking the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. We're going to talk more about that later in the show. For now, good morning to everybody who's joining us now. It's Wednesday, August 6. I want to thank you for waking up with me.

I'm Audie Cornish and here's where I want to start. President Trump's foreign envoy, Steve Witkoff, is in Russia meeting with Vladimir Putin. The visit coming at the Kremlin's request and is just days before President Trump's Friday deadline for Russia to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine or face sanctions. CNN's Fred Plankton joins us now from Moscow. And Fred, can you start? What do we know about how this meeting is actually going?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the two, Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, seemed very friendly when they met one another. I'm actually outside the Kremlin walls right now, Audie. We're on Amnesia Square, which is right around Red Square. You can see behind me, those are the towers of the Kremlin, the walls of which behind Witkoff, of course, is meeting right now with Vladimir Putin.

That meeting, I would say, started about 45 minutes ago. And as I was saying, it seemed as though there was a pretty friendly greeting between the two men. One of the interesting things that we picked up on, on that video that we saw as that meeting sort of was set in place, was that it was not just Vladimir Putin who was in the room, but it was also his main senior Kremlin aide, Yuri Ushakov, as well.

And we also know that Steve Witkoff, when he landed here in Moscow and then was met by Kirill Dmitriev, who is the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, who's sort of been the main point person for Steve Witkoff in his visits here to Moscow. But at the same time, the three of them, Vladimir Putin, Yuri Ushakov, and Kirill Dmitriev, have certainly been the ones who have been representing the Russian side as these meetings have been going on.

Now, it's unclear what sort of atmosphere is in that meeting right now. It certainly seemed as though the greetings seemed friendly enough. But of course, there are some major issues right now between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and President Donald Trump. President Trump making very clear that his patience is quickly running out as far as a possible ceasefire in Ukraine is concerned. The U.S., of course, has threatened not just massive sanctions against Russia, but also those secondary tariffs that we've been talking about so much over the past couple of days against countries that buy oil and gas from Russia.

Of course, two of the main ones are India and China, and both of them already feeling the heat from the Trump administration. The Kremlin has been very angry about those statements, calling those unhelpful. So certainly they acknowledge that the meeting that's going on right now, extremely important to both sides, Audie.

CORNISH: That's Fred in Moscow. We're going to be following his reporting through the rest of the day after that meeting. Now, could the feds be the ones to break the Texas state standoff? It's not off the table for President Trump. Democratic lawmakers still on the lam, so to speak, avoiding a vote on a new map which would give Republicans five more seats in next year's midterms. Texas is rewriting the map at Trump's request. They've got to get it done before the session ends August 19. But with the lawmakers out of state, there's nothing Texas law enforcement can do to make them come home unless they get some help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUESTION: Should the FBI get involved?

TRUMP: Well, they may have to. They may have to. No, I know they want them back.

[06:05:00]

TRUMP: Not only the attorney general, the governor wants them back. If you look, I mean, the governor of Texas is demanding they come back. So, a lot of people are demanding they come back. You can't just sit it out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: Texas Governor Greg Abbott is now moving to have the top state House Democrat removed from office. As Abbott filed a motion with the State Supreme Court arguing that state Representative Gene Wu has abandoned his duty to Texas. Wu says it was his duty to stop this vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GENE WU, DEMOCRAT, TEXAS STATE HOUSE: What we're looking at is a governor who is conspiring with a disgraced president to use unconstitutional illegal racial gerrymandering to destroy our communities. I have a duty to respond to that. I have an obligation to do everything I can to stop that, using every legal means necessary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: So where do we go from here? Going to take it to the group chat. Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter, Audrey Fahlberg, politics reporter for the National Review, and Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist.

So first, this threat of the FBI, but also, you know, I noticed Wu just now. He was in front of a Texas flag, whereas at the start of the week these Democrats were flanked by Democratic governors. They were making a big show of being out of town. Can you talk about how they play this conversation as it goes longer?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Sure. Look, Congressman Wu is exactly right, and that is that he does not work for Abbott. He does not work for Trump. He works for his voters. And what he is hearing is that he needs to represent what his voters want. And what his voters want is for him and Democrats to fight this naked, disgusting political power grab.

That essentially, for me, in my opinion, speaks more to the fear and desperation that Trump and Republicans have about the coming shellacking in the midterm elections than it does anything else. And it has nothing to do with doing the business of Texas, with doing the business of the voters in Texas and has everything to do with a complete unconstitutional move, that is essentially putting norms and the law and what we have done to make sure that representation is as fair as possible.

CORNISH: That we should say we don't know if it's unconstitutional yet. The Supreme Court has weighed in on redistricting, and that helped get us to where we are right now. Audrey, it was interesting because the president also talked about states that he claims are unfairly gerrymandered. He mentioned Massachusetts, which, I don't know. I think is the origin of the term gerrymandering. But he didn't bring that up. But here's what he did say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I got 40% in Massachusetts, and yet they have 100% of the vote in terms of Congress. So there's no Republican, there's no anything. So, I should -- we should have 40%. You know why? They redistricted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: Whenever I have this discussion with political types, they say Democrats and Republicans both do this and, you know, obviously look at the numbers. Can you talk about how the President is presenting this to voters?

AUDREY FAHLBERG, POLITICS REPORTER, NATIONAL REVIEW: Sure. Well, absolutely. Thank you, Vedant for having me. There, you know, the White House is driving this because clearly they are worried about losing the midterms. They're convinced that if House Democrats flip the House that Trump is going to get impeached again. Right?

The big beautiful bill is not polling super well right now. So they're going on offense here. They're driving this into motion in Texas. They're looking at other states as well. We may see this continue in states like Florida, Indiana. Vice President Vance is meeting with state legislatures -- state legislators there and the Republican governor, so that may --

CORNISH: Also reporting in Missouri similarly.

FAHLBERG: Right, exactly.

CORNISH: Is this unusual for a White House just to be like, hey, y', all, everyone, like, now's the time?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This is unusual. I would say try to find an eighth grader who's finished their government and civics class and explain to them that this is what's going on. It would be impossible. We have a president who has said explicitly that this is not about some problem with the map, other than he wants more seats that would be Republican leaning and has told the governor of Texas to do this and the Republican legislators in Texas to do this. And they have just said, sure.

The time between when he asked for it and when they called the special session is a couple of weeks. Right? And then Democrats, who have no other option but to flee the state, they, if they sat there, they would be, they would have to be part of this passing. They don't want to be. So they ran away. And now we're talking about law enforcement coming after them and being removed from office.

This is just not the way the government is supposed to work. And it is part of the reason why redistricting, when it happens, as messed up as it is, when Republicans do it, when Democrats do it and all the gerrymandering goes on, at least it only happens usually once every 10 years.

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CARDONA: Exactly,.

CORNISH: Yeah, that we had to go through this.

CARDONA: And it's for a reason. Because that's when the census happens and that's when you know how to reapportion, depending on the population. Right?

CARDONA: So, there is a method to that madness.

CORNISH: Not depending on what the White House got in the last vote.

CARDONA: Exactly.

CORNISH: All right, you guys stay with me. We've got a lot more to talk about later, including kind of this issue. But coming up on CNN This Morning, the House Oversight Committee wants answers about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The long list of subpoenas they're sending out includes former presidents and attorney generals. And the high risk rescue, three scientists medically evacuated from Antarctica. Why does NASA want to build a nuclear reactor on the moon? Going to have that in a minute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, AMERICAN ASTROPHYSICIST: Moon nukes is clickbait to the bank on that one.

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[06:15]

CORNISH: It's now 15 minutes past the hour. Here's five things you need to know to get your day going. Police say rough terrain and fewer witnesses are complicating the search for the man accused of killing four people at a Montana bar last week. Authorities say the 45 year old man has a military background which could also give him an edge.

Today, a federal judge in Florida will consider a request to pause construction on Alligator Alcatraz. Environmentalists argue it's threatening the wetlands because it's being built in the middle of the Florida Everglades. Stopping construction could stop the arrival of more migrants. NASA wants to fast track a plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon. The acting administrator, Sean Duffy, wants to get it done by 2030, putting the US ahead of any other country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We're in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy. There's a certain part of the moon that everyone knows is the best. We have ice there, we have sunlight there. We want to get there first and claim that for America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: The agency says the reactor would help power the goal to get humans back on the moon.

And a daring rescue in Antarctica. New Zealand's Air Force carried out a challenging midwinter medical evacuation at the US research base there. Extreme cold and landing on a runway of ice in perpetual darkness made the rescue operation very challenging. Three people were actually safely evacuated.

A former Miami Heat security officer taking the heat, charged with allegedly stealing millions of dollars worth of team memorabilia and selling it online. Among the items sold a LeBron James Finals jersey for $100,000. The 62 year old worked with the Heat for five years.

Still ahead on CNN This Morning, the future of MAGA, who President Trump thinks is most likely the heir apparent. And marking 80 years since the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Joining me next, the author of the new book The Devil Reached Toward the Sky. How the legacy of the atomic bomb continues to shape the US today.

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[06:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNKNOWN?: It is now 89 seconds to midnight. This is the closest the world has ever been to midnight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: 89 seconds to midnight. That's how close we are to global catastrophe. According to what you saw there, the Doomsday Clock, which was created in 1947 by the wife of a physicist who worked on the atomic atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project. The current clock time reflects a rise in global tensions. Just this week, the president confirmed there are two nuclear submarines near Russian waters. Japan, of course, is marking 80 years since the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

So, I want to talk about the legacy of this and the everyday people who helped me make the bomb. I'm joined now by journalist and historian Garrett Graff. He's the author of The Devil Reached Toward the Sky, an oral history of the making and unleashing of the nuclear bomb. Garrett, good morning. Thank you so much for being here.

GARRETT GRAFF, AUTHOR, THE DEVIL REACHED TOWARD THE SKY: Thanks for marking this today.

CORNISH: I am a great admirer of your writing. This is actual an oral history. So, you went into the archives, into the museum, and heard from the everyday people who were involved in what was a public private partnership with the government.

GRAFF: Exactly. This 80th anniversary, I think, feels so poignant in some ways because it marks the final passing of the greatest generation who fought and won World War II in the United States and the survivors in Japan. And so I wanted to do this book and pull these voices together at this moment, because we effectively have every first person memory we will ever have of World War II. And I thought it was important, amid this backdrop of global tension, to try to tell this story to a new generation who will only ever know this as history and not living memory.

CORNISH: And that included immigrants, and that included this conversation between the government and universities. Two relationships, right, that the US has benefited from?

GRAFF: Exactly. You know, we think today of all days immediately of the atomic bomb in reference to Japan and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But really, the roots of the Manhattan Project come out of the war in Europe and the enveloping cloak of fascism of Adolf Hitler, where you have these mostly Jewish refugee scientists coming to the United States bringing with them the secrets of the atom and trying to push the U.S. government to invest in creating a nuclear bomb before Adolf Hitler will.

CORNISH: Are we at the point where we are 89 seconds to midnight, meaning the clock is sometimes controversial because people say, like, does it raise concerns too high? But when you look around, what are the points of tension that you think are worth noting?

GRAFF: Yeah, I think at this moment, in a weird way, eight decades removed from the use of the atomic bomb, we are in some ways in greater nuclear danger today than we have been for much of the interceding 80 years.

You know, we've already seen this year conflict between India and Pakistan, the two largest nuclear arsenals to ever come into open conflict. We saw the US and Israeli raids on the Iranian nuclear program. The Ukrainian war in many ways dates back to Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for protection from the west, which we did not follow through on. And so I think you're going to see over --

CORNISH: Images of the President on the White House roof.

GRAFF: Talking about nuclear missiles.

[06:25:00]

You know, this is, it's a very weird moment, and I think over the next decade, we're going to see new countries joining the nuclear club that we've never contemplated before.

CORNISH: I want to turn to one more thing that people may not realize you are an expert in, which is about homeland security and ICE, because ICE is about to launch its big recruiting effort as it tries to add, what, 10,000 new ICE agents.

GRAFF: 10,000 new deportations, yes.

CORNISH: And tonally, this will feel weird, but honestly, that explains the story. Here is them using a screenshot from South Park as part of their recruitment. Who are you going for by playing with the memes and going in this direction?

GRAFF: So, I think that ICE, you know, is going to be on this massive hiring spree. They're going to try to make ICE in the next year or two larger than the FBI, ETF, DEA combined, which is something that no law enforcement agency can sort of hire and scale up quickly in a sort of smart and thoughtful way. One of the things that we're sort of already seeing these weird tensions emerge is who they're going after are current serving sheriff deputies across the country, which is causing a lot of backlash in the sheriff's community, which is by and large the strongest base of federal -- of support for Donald Trump in law enforcement.

CORNISH: And police departments around the country are already struggling with their own recruitment. But you know, that image, it's like people wearing masks. Like, it's that image in South Park, that critique. It's a critique of the way ICE is behaving now. And they're saying, good, we want the people who want to do this.

GRAFF: And not just that. I mean, they are recruiting for, you know, posters of Donald Trump saluting, join ICE. You know, they are showing, you know, guys in tactical gear on armored trucks, Bearcats, you know, trying to launch immigration raids. And I think you're just going to get this terrible mismatch in who is being attracted to this job. You know, I've sort of made the joke before. If you want to dress up like you're taking Fallujah to raid a Home Depot parking lot, you know, ICE is for you.

CORNISH: And history, as we know and learn from your book, hinges on the people, right, who kind of flood into the moment and change things.

GRAFF: Yeah. And I've got real deep concerns, which you and I have talked about in the past, about sort of who's going to come into ICE over this next couple of years. And the long tail of misconduct that we might see. Which we saw in the Border Patrol hiring surge in the late Bush years where you saw thousands of CBP officers and agents arrested for misconduct, crime and corruption.

CORNISH: All right, Garrett, it's always a pleasure to talk to you. You guys should check out Garrett's newsletter. It's called The Doomsday Scenario. And his book, oh, we got it there, which is called The Devil Reached Toward the Sky. After the break on CNN This Morning, a last ditch effort by the Kremlin. Can they convince the White House to hold off on new sanctions? And as the measles outbreak surges, childhood vaccination rates are dropping. How you can protect your child as they head back to school.

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