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May Jobs Numbers; Hastert Scandal: Family Names Alleged Sex Abuse Victim; Key ISIS Target Revealed; Jeb Bush to Announce Bid on June 15, Travels to Europe Next Week; FDA Panel Endorses Female Sex Disorder Drug. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 5, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right now, but it ticked up, Carol, for all the right reasons. It ticked up because 397,000 people in the month came into the labor market. They hadn't been looking for a job in the months before that and they decided that they were going to try their hand at it. So that's why the unemployment rate ticked up for the right reasons.

I liked what I saw in the sectors. Business and information services, these tend to pay higher jobs.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.

ROMANS: Hospitality, health care, this has been a strong spot for a very long time. Retail jobs as well. These two categories, there have been pay increases in these categories because companies are raising their minimum wages. Walmart, a lot of the restaurant businesses as well.

One of the things that is - what - that we're noticing here, the stock market's going to open here in just a second, we've been noticing that the futures were lower. The reason is because the market is saying this means the Fed will raise interest rates.

COSTELLO: Ah.

ROMANS: The takeaway here for consumers is this. If you want to go out there and start looking for a job, this is a good time to be looking for a job. Wages are increasing. We saw those in this number. That's very important. Interest rates are likely going to rise. That means you're going to pay more to borrow money for a mortgage, for a car loan, for all different kinds of loans on credit cards. So if you want to refinance or you're trying to buy a home, lock in your rate. That's my takeaway for you today.

COSTELLO: Good advice. Christine Romans, many thanks.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: A woman alleges her dead brother was sexually abused by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. In an interview with ABC News, Jolene Burdge says her brother, Steve, was molested by Hastert, his former wrestling coach, all through high school, but the family kept it a secret because they didn't think anyone would believe them. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOLENE BURDGE, SISTER OF STEVE REINBOLDT: I asked him, Stevie, when was your first same-sex experience? I mean he just looked at me and said, it was with Dennis Hastert. And I just - I - I, you know, I was stunned. I said, why didn't you ever tell anybody, Stevie? I mean he was your teacher. Why didn't you ever tell anybody? And he just looked at me and he said, who is ever going to believe me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: She says her family never demanded money for the abuse, but she does want her brother's former mentor to pay for the abuse that left her brother severely damaged for the rest of his life. This all comes just days before Hastert's first court appearance where he'll face charges of lying to the FBI about hush money he was paying. Hastert and the FBI have declined to comment to ABC, or CNN, on this report.

Lynn Sweet joins me now. She's the Washington, D.C. bureau chief at the "Chicago Sun-Times."

Thank you so much for being with me, Lynn.

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON, D.C., BUREAU CHIEF, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Good morning.

COSTELLO: What do you make of these allegations?

SWEET: Blockbuster, stunning, and it is interesting that the report, and ABC also said that Jolene - Steve Reinboldt's sister, Jolene, who you just saw, tried to make these charges public in 2006, and no one could confirm it. And I think her story just - people were skeptical of it. And in 2006, you may remember, Carol, she took action when former Congressman Mark Foley had his own controversy scandal, when Dennis Hastert was House speaker, over sending sexually explicit text messages to male House pages.

COSTELLO: It's just - it's just mindboggling. You know the sister went on also to say her brother went on these group trips to the Bahamas with Hastert and the other boys. Do you think that this is just the beginning of these kinds of allegations?

SWEET: Well, we know that there is the "Individual A," so far unidentified in the federal indictment that came down against Hastert a week ago. We know that we have news reports, including at "The Sun- Times," that have confirmed that the FBI had talked to a second individual. And that the woman you saw, the sister said that she also talked with the FBI in May.

COSTELLO: You know, Hastert -- I know Hastert is a ledged in Illinois. How is the state reacting?

SWEET: Well, I'll tell you, it has been a very, I think, appropriate response knowing what we know now. He had a Center for Politics and Public Policy named after him at Wheaton College, where he graduated from. He helped raise $10 million for it. And last week, Carol, the center took Denny Hastert's name off of it. We know that Senator Mark Kirk yesterday donated $10,000 that Hastert's political action fund gave to him when he first ran for the Senate in 2010. So there is, at the least, a distancing of himself from people with whom he was associated in Illinois.

COSTELLO: I know. I also understand in Springfield there was a plan to erect a statue in his honor. That, you know, they're going to pay $500,000 for that. That -

SWEET: Well, one - well, the state doesn't - is broke, so they didn't have money anyway, and Hastert asked that they not do it because there was no money, but that was - the request was made at the time when he must have known that he was getting into some very serious trouble. So, yes. So I would think a man who was beloved as the coach, who, and as you know in Illinois with their own history of corruption and controversial political figures, people cut a little slack to people, and this one because of the seriousness and the subject of these charges, the distancing of Hastert is pretty clearly going on and probably could continue.

[09:35:15] COSTELLO: Lynn Sweet, thank you so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

SWEET: Thank you so much.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a social media post and an airstrike less than 24 hours later. Up next, how the U.S. military tracked down a key terrorist site after a militant outed one of the group's headquarters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:39:56] COSTELLO: A major blunder by ISIS after a militant accidentally reveals the location of a key target on social media. According to defensetech.org, Air Force General Hawk Carlyle (ph), the head of Air Combat Command, recently described how a group of airmen were trying to figure out the exact site of an ISIS building after a militant posted a photo online. Quote, "the airmen are combing through social media and they see some moron standing at this command and in some social media, open forum, bragging about command and control capabilities for Daesh, ISIL. And these guy go, ah, we got an in." Less than 24 hours later, the coalition carried out a strike and bombed that site.

Joining me now to discuss, CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

Welcome, general.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I'd like to talk more about this moronic move, because we get the sense that ISIS is perfect in all of its military outcomes, and it's not.

HERTLING: Well, it's not. And I'd like to comment on a couple of things on this. First of all, I think what General Carlyle, hawk Carlyle was doing was really giving kudos to a bunch of really strong Air Force analysts. And he's very proud of his airmen. He was talking to a very wide audience and he was basically saying, hey, we're going after these guys in whatever way we possibly can. That's the good news.

The bad news is, I'm not sure I would have used the same language. I think he was probably talking to the crowd and a reporter got a hold of that. You know, that's - that's more inside the military kind of talk, and it's never smart to disrespect your enemy. You know, we've still got a lot of fighting to do against these ISIS guys, and I wouldn't call any of them moronic. But it was a heck of a good piece of intelligence work by these airmen who were the analysts.

COSTELLO: So this ISIS fighter took essentially a selfie and identified his location, and then how were they combing through the social media? Who came up with that? How do they do that, do you know?

HERTLING: Well, I - Carol, if I - if I told you all the secrets of the intelligence community, I'd probably have to kill you. But they do some terrific things, not only on social media, but in terms of signals intelligence, human intelligence, what they call amazing (ph). All different types of information they're combing through. This is just one of many.

I think what General Carlyle was attempting to do was say, hey, we are going after these guys in whatever way we possibly can. And every once in a while you get really lucky. I don't think we should publicize - personally, I don't think we should publicize these things as much as we are, but they are - the airmen, the soldiers, the personnel in the military that do this intelligence networking really do a great job in terms of really finding out where the key targets are.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. OK. Well, let's talk about Ramadi now and the dam there and ISIS has closed off the dam, right? So, how serious is this situation? And what can be done to push the militants back?

HERTLING: Yes, you'll see across Iraq - well, actually across the entire Middle East, that water becomes a weapon and is very powerful. And your enemies will attempt to use that in any way they possibly can. Back in 2008, the last time I was in Iraq commanding in the north, we found al Qaeda were always attempting to control the flood gates of the various dams to push water toward those who supported him and to take it away from those who didn't. That's basically the same thing ISIS is doing with these - these dams and the locks that provide irrigation water, but also drinking water through the refinery plants.

But it's also a military tactic in some ways. You can basically cement your flanks, use water to flood certain areas if it's - if it's deep enough or open up the gates and allow the river, the Euphrates River, to go down, where you can use it as an area of maneuver. So there's all sorts of things you can do with water in the Middle East and a desert environment. But it - it really gives them the credentials to be able to control these things, and that's why it's important to get these dams back.

COSTELLO: All right, General Mark Hertling, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it as always.

HERTLING: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, even before he officially joins the White House race, Jeb Bush preps for a whirlwind trip to Europe. Will his visit really make a difference?

[09:44:09] We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

FMR. GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: When you have led? Leadership is not a speech on the Senate floor. It's not what you say. It is what you have done.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Jeb Bush will officially join the race June 15th, but already other GOP candidates are taking aim.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: And if we keep promoting the same leaders, we're going to be left behind by the future. There are those who claim I'm too young or haven't been in government long enough. And I may not been around as long as some of the people that are around, but I've been around long enough to know that the old way of doing things isn't working anymore.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Alright, so let's talk about this. I want to bring in Ross Douthat, Opt-Ed Columnist for "The New York Times" and Ana Nevarro, Republican Strategist as well as a friend of Marco Rubio and supporter of Jeb Bush. Welcome to both of you.

ROSS DOUTHAT, OPT-ED COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: Hey Carol.

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Hi Carol.

[09:49:49] COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. Now, you just heard Marco Rubio addressing the Prescott Bush Dinner last night. It's a fundraising dinner named after Jeb Bush's grandfather. He never mentions Bush by name, Jeb Bush I mean. But at least five times he refers to outdated leaders. So, Ross, let's address the elephant in the room here. DOUTHAT: Well I mean, I think the great advantage for Rubio is he

doesn't have to mention Jeb Bush, right? He doesn't have to mention anyone in fact. He is sort of personally and physically and in every other way the embodiment of youth within the GOP and that might be his weakness in certain ways. But, in terms of the campaign he wants to run, he can stand up and talk about the future, new ideas, why old ideas don't work for hours and hours without saying the words Jeb Bush and everyone will know exactly what he's talking about.

COSTELLO: This has to be hurting Jeb Bush, Ana.

NAVARRO: I think he's doing okay, Carol. I think Marco and Jeb are doing okay. They're going out there and doing their own thing. But, you know, just before the spot on Marco, you put a piece of Rick Perry's speech on. And he was talking about how leading is not just a speech on the Senate floor. Now, when he says that, nobody says this is Rick Perry taking a direct shot at Marco Rubio.

Anything that Marco says, any jab that Marco may take that could possibly be targeting Hillary Clinton, a leader of the past, the press will read as an attack on Jeb. Anything Jeb will say about people that don't have management experience or that the only thing they've done is speak in the Senate will be taken as a jab at Marco, even though there are four Senators running. So, here in Miami, you know, those of us that are friends of both of them, we just kind of gotten accustomed to the fact that that's what's it's going to be for the next few months.

DOUTHAT: Well, and in fairness, you know, one reason we aren't talking about Perry, and I think Perry clearly was taking a jab at Rubio and Rand Paul and various others, is that Rick Perry is at two or three or four percent in the polls right now whereas there is no front runner on the Republican side, but both Rubio and Jeb are in a position where you could imagine them winning the nomination. Whereas Perry needs something unexpected to happen to catapult into the top tier. If he gets there, then we can talk about all the jabs he's taking at Jeb.

COSTELLO: Okay I want to -

NAVARRO: My -- My point is that whatever Marco or Jeb say is always interpreted as it being a jab at Marco or Jeb and nobody else. That's just, you know, it's part of the drama that has been stoking it. It's okay. We're fine. You know, we're Miamians. We can do it the telenovelas thing just fine.

COSTELLO: Okay, so I want to get into this because I always find this interesting. So, Jeb Bush is set to travel to Europe next week. He's going to stop in Germany and Poland and Gastonia and supposedly that helps bolster his foreign policy credentials. But, seriously Ross, do voters say, wow, a ten-minute conversation with Angela Merkel means you've got it down?

DOUTHAT: Well, it's sort of a front runner move, right? It's sort of a way of separating himself in terms of gravitas and seriousness and connections and global experience from the rest of the field. And in that sense, it is designed -- we'll keep talking about these contrasts, but it's designed to set up contrasts with other candidates.

I don't think it works particularly well for Jeb right now because, as I just said, I don't think he really is the front runner at this point. I think that everything that's happened over the last few months suggests he has a lot of work to do convincing sort of moderate conservative voters that they should vote for another Bush basically. And I don't think going to Europe, going on overseas tours helps particularly with that. It may not hurt, but it's a move that sort of designed to cement an impression of leading the field, which isn't an impression that I have right now of where Jeb is.

[09:53:54] COSTELLO: Alright. I have to leave it there. Ross Douthat, Ana Navarro, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it. Be right back.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING: "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS" - QUEEN)

COSTELLO: You know, for years and years, men have been enduring those commercials and they have to be embarrassed. Well, ladies, now it's your turn because watch out a little blue pill. A pink version could soon give women a reason to have more sex. An FDA panel is recommending the approval of female Viagra. Senior Medical Correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is in Atlanta with more. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Carol, this so-called little pink pill -- Well, it's actually called Flibanserin and it works on mood chemicals and in the studies, it certainly put women in the mood to have sex. It increased sexual desire by 53 percent, but I want to say, that a placebo increased desire - this is a sugar pill -- by 37 percent. So does this pill work? It appears that it does, but experts I'm talking to say it's not going to be the blockbuster drug that Viagra was for men.

COSTELLO: What do you think the commercials will be like for this drug when it finally --

COHEN: It think they're going to be warm and fuzzy with sort of a fuzzy focus and lovey-dovey, because this works on brain unlike Viagra, which actually increases blood flow to the part of the body that needs blood flow for a man to have sex. This puts women in the mood. Women are much more complicated. This is much less straightforward than Viagra.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry (INAUDIBLE) I have such mixed feelings because this Viagra's commercial is for men. You know the men, that man's always driving a pick-up truck and it's this weird one where the couple's in two separate bathtubs. So, I can't wait Elizabeth. I just can't.

COHEN: Carol, I will tell you, I think there will be no pick-up trucks in the commercial for this drug. Okay? I'm just putting that out there.

COSTELLO: There'll be a women running in slow motion on the beach. COHEN: Exactly. That, yes. That kind of thing.

[09:59:58] COSTELLO: Thanks, Elizabeth. Thanks for playing. I appreciate it.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.