'You seem to be celebrating it': CNN host calls out labor sec as Republicans cheer firings

CNN “News Central” anchor John Berman cornered U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer on the White House seemingly celebrating federal layoffs amid a sluggish U.S. jobs report.

President Donald Trump painted Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director (and Project 2025 architect) Russell Vought as the “grim reaper” Thursday, as the president prepares to move forward with layoffs amid the government shutdown. Trump posted a video to Truth Social depicting Russell as the grim reaper who “wields the pen, the funds and the brain.”

The video, soundtracked by what looks to be an AI-generated cover of Blue Öyster Cult’s 1976 hit “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” portrays Vought as the reaper. Visuals also include an AI-generated Trump playing a cowbell, accompanied by Vice President JD Vance on the drums.

Berman pointed out that private sector jobs from other sources were “not great,” nor were employment reports “going back to the spring.”

“[The month of] May was 19,000 jobs [added]. June: 13,000 jobs, July: 76,000 jobs. August was 22,000 jobs. Pretty slow growth there,” Berman said. “Why are jobs lagging?”

Chavez-DeRemer, a Trump appointee, blamed the last administration: “Well, [that’s] certainly what we inherited from the Biden administration,” she said, arguing that the U.S. economy now has momentum.

“You said that there's momentum, but construction job openings fell in August by the second most in history,” Berman said. “The hiring rate’s the lowest since 2013, outside of COVID. Private sector payrolls plunged in September … and that's all over the last few months, six months into the Trump administration. Why is it heading in the wrong direction?”

“Well, again, all indicators [are] we have the strongest economy in the world.”

“Do we have the strongest jobs economy in the world?” Berman pressed. “Do we have the strongest jobs economy compared to last year, when there were hundreds of thousands of jobs added each month?”

“Absolutely,” Chavez-DeRemer said before suggesting the Biden administration had been fudging the numbers. “Because we saw those revisions under the Biden administration. … We need modern, accurate information.”

Chavez-DeRemer then insisted Democrats end the shutdown “because it only hurts the American people.”

“Republicans didn’t shut down the government,” Chavez-DeRemer said.

“But they’re bragging about it,” Berman said. “They're releasing the video of Russ Vought as the grim reaper, talking about how he's going to go slashing jobs and slashing programs. So, they do seem to be celebrating it, right?”

“Absolutely not,” Chavez-DeRemer said, before accusing Democrats of shutting down the government because “they want to offer illegal immigrants more health care.”

“As point of fact, illegal immigrants are not eligible for the Obamacare subsidies that Democrats and some Republicans are calling for,” Berman said, correcting her.

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