Judge Blocks Trump Bid to Fire Cook; President Trump Sues NY Times

0:00So there's a lot of noise about AI, but time's too tight for more promises. So let's talk about results. At IBM, we work with our employees to integrate technology right into the systems they need. Now, a global workforce of 300 ,000 can use AI to fill their HR questions, resolving 94 % of common questions. Not noise. Proof of how we can help companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business. IBM. When you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges.

0:43At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering, and claims experience. Learn more at thehartford.com slash risk mitigation. Policies provided by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, Hartford, Connecticut. Support for the show comes from public.com. If you're actively involved in your portfolio, you probably catch yourself repeating the same actions, buying the dip, manually sweeping idle cash, putting on a hedge.

1:21On public, you can now create AI agents that handle all these tasks on your behalf. Just describe what you want to do in plain English. Like, if the VIX hits 25, buy a put option on the S &P 500. Or, if my cash balance goes above$20 ,000, move the excess into my direct index. You approve of the workflow and your agent handles the rest. Monitoring the market, watching for your conditions, and executing your strategies exactly as defined. An investing platform driven by your intent, not just your clicks. You can also get full read and write access to your account via the public API. Go to public.com slash market and fund your account in five minutes or less.

2:03That's public.com slash market. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we begin with major developments at the Federal Reserve ahead of tomorrow's expected rate cut. First, President Trump's bid to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook has been blocked. Let's get the very latest with Bloomberg's John Tucker.

2:48An appeals court by a vote of two to one has blocked the White House from removing Cook from her post for now. The divided court in Washington affirmed that Cook can continue working while her lawsuit challenging Trump's move to dismiss her proceeds. The court held that the district judge was correct to find that President Trump likely violated Cook's due process rights by attempt to fire her via social media post. While the decision means Cook will likely attend the Fed meeting, President Trump could still ask the Supreme Court to step in. Cook sued Trump last month after the president moved to oust her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she denies.

3:24The lawsuit has emerged as a major flashpoint in the growing clash between the White House and the Fed, which has resisted Trump's demands to lower interest rates. I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. All right, John, thank you. Well, as Cook fights to stay in her position, President Trump's economic advisor, Stephen Myron, is on his way to joining the Federal Reserve Board. The Senate confirmed him to The Post in a vote last night. And we get more with Bloomberg Fed reporter Chris Condon. He could be re-nominated and confirmed to a new 14-year term that would begin on February 1 of 2026. That's option one.

4:03Option number two is President Trump decides he's just there for a temporary period and he chooses someone else. Option number three is that Trump does nothing. And in that case, Stephen Myron is fully entitled to stay on as a Fed governor so long as no one else is confirmed into that seat. So he could be there on quite an indefinite basis, let's say. Bloomberg's Chris Condon says Myron will fill a seat recently vacated by former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler. And Karen, these latest developments at the Fed come as stocks sit at record highs. Ahead of today's meeting, we get another key reading on the consumer retail sales for August.

4:47Their forecast to show a two-tenths percent increase. We get more from Bloomberg's Michael McKee. Americans' confidence in the overall economy has dropped recently. The question is, will that have any effect on their spending? We'll get the latest read on that today, and economists expect the retail sales report to show we kept spending but at a slower pace. August is back-to-school month, and that likely kept sales from dropping too much. The weakness last month is seen largely as a pullback in car buying. As expected, sales are even weaker. We'll help Fed officials make the case for a rate cut at their meeting on Wednesday.

5:24Michael McKee, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Michael, thank you. While the Securities and Exchange Commission is prioritizing a proposal to reduce the frequency of corporate earnings reports after President Trump called for an end to quarterly reports, the SEC mandated for companies to report quarterly in 1970, part of its decades -long push to increase transparency following the stock market crash in 1929. The president says companies should report on a six-month basis instead of quarterly, which he claims will save money and allow managers to focus on running their companies. And Karen, President Trump is targeting another major media company filing a$15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against the New York Times.

6:05We get the details from Bloomberg's Gina Cervetti. President Trump is accusing the paper of serving as a, quote, mouthpiece for the Democrats. The lawsuit criticizes The Times' endorsement of former presidential candidate Kamala Harris and cites the paper's news and opinion articles. The case adds to Trump's running battles with the press since returning to the presidency. In July, he sued Dow Jones, News Corp, and Rupert Murdoch for libel, seeking$10 billion in damages after The Wall Street Journal published a story alleging that Trump once sent a suggestive birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein.

6:37Trump reached a settlement with Paramount Global in July over a lawsuit tied to CBS News Network's 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Harris. In December, ABC agreed to give$15 million to Trump's future presidential foundation or museum to resolve a separate defamation claim. Gina Cervetti, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Gina, thank you. President Trump and the First Lady will arrive in the UK later today. And let's go to London and get the very latest with Bloomberg's James Wilcock. James, good morning. Good morning, Karen. The US president lands in London later for three days of carriage processions, royal salutes and a state banquet.

7:13But behind the pageantry is business and diplomacy. Alphabets say they're investing nearly$7 billion in Britain's AI economy. And Bloomberg has learned the US and the UK plan to announce a series of deals worth more than$10 million. There are tensions, though, over the recent firing of the UK's ambassador to the US, over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, comments from the MAGA right about free speech in the UK, and over the distance between the two allies on Ukraine. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes to use the visit to push for progress on Ukraine, with the G7 hoping to agree a sanctions package in coming weeks.

7:47We'll see how far the pomp and ceremony translates into tangible results. In London, James Walcock, Bloomberg Radio. All right, James, thanks. In the Middle East, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Doha to meet with Qatari officials. It comes after Rubio visited Israel and as the Israeli military ramps up attacks on Gaza City in a major new offensive. The Secretary of State says time is running out for Hamas to reach a deal. As you saw, the Israelis have begun to take operations there. So we think we have a very short window of time in which a deal could happen. We don't have months anymore and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks.

8:24So it's a key moment. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. wants Hamas to negotiate, lay down its weapons and free hostages, but, quote, it may require ultimately a concise military operation to eliminate them. Well, Nathan, we want to get the latest now on the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's killing. Prosecutors in Utah are expected to file capital murder charges today against the suspected shooter. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson is due for his first court appearance today. Meanwhile, in Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson led a vigil for Kirk on Capitol Hill last night. This has been a very difficult week in America.

9:01There's a wide range of emotions that have been felt by the American people and, frankly, by leaders in the nation's Capitol. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Capitol Hill. And while investigators are still piecing together a motive, the Trump administration is promising to investigate left-leaning groups that it says are stoking political violence. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that at the White House. First Amendment is one of our most important amendments, of course, in our Constitution. We will always protect the First Amendment. But you cannot, you cannot create violence, and that's what's happening.

9:37Attorney General Pam Bondi is not saying what group she's looking into, but President Trump said he'd support designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. He also said he'd consider racketeering investigations against groups that support leftist protests. And finally, Karen Bloomberg News is out with this year's rankings of the best business schools around the world. For the seventh year in a row, Stanford University comes out on top of the best full-time MBA program in the U.S. The school is well known for its close ties to Silicon Valley. This year, Stanford ranked number one for networking and entrepreneurship and second in compensation.

10:14Overall, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School came in second on the Bloomberg list, followed by the Haas School at Berkeley, Harvard Business School, and Northwestern's Kellogg School, rounding out the top five. You can find the full list of best business schools for 2025 and 26 on the Bloomberg Terminal and at Bloomberg.com.

10:35Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr. Michael, good morning. Good morning, Karen. Luigi Mangione will be back in New York State Court today with a judge set to rule on his motion to dismiss and potentially set a trial date. Mangione, who is 27, is charged with gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. New York Supreme Court Judge Gregory Caro is expected to decide on a host of pretrial issues, including Mangione's arguments for tossing the case and a terrorism charge.

11:13President Trump mulls over the potential of sending National Guard troops to Memphis. President Trump says he feels an obligation to not lose cities like Chicago and Memphis. So we're not going to allow this kind of savagery to destroy our society anymore. We're stopping at doing one by one time, but we want to go quickly. Meanwhile, local officials and some lawmakers say the National Guard presence is not needed. Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen, who represents Memphis, says it would be more beneficial to have federal agents who know policing methods to go into neighborhoods affected the most by crime.

11:51They just hang out around the train station and the federal building and maybe the IRS center. Those are not places where we have crime. So it's a show for him. It's the Trump show. And he likes to do TV shows. He likes to produce. And he likes to look tough. And it's all part of a bigger strategy to really be authoritarian. Congressman Cohen, the New York City Department of Health has confirmed two adult cases of measles on the Lower East Side. And in Soho, there have been at least 13 cases of measles in New York City this year. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now.

12:26I'm Michael Barr, and this is Bloomberg, Karen. Thanks, Michael. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in John Stashauer. Thanks, Karen. Week two of the NFL ended with a couple of games, starting with Tampa Bay rallying to win 20-19 at Houston. The Texans had taken the lead with two minutes left. The Bucs then went 80 yards and 11 plays, scored the winning touchdown with six seconds to go. The Chargers beat the Raiders in Las Vegas 20-9. Justin Herbert with a couple of first-half touchdown passes. The Phillies made it 10 wins in the last 12 games. They beat the Dodgers 6-5 in 10 innings.

12:59Kyle Schwarber hit his 53rd home run. The Phillies have clinched the NL East. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. Support for the show comes from public.com. If you're actively involved in your portfolio, you probably catch yourself repeating the same actions. Buying the dip, manually sweeping idle cash, putting on a hedge. On public, you can now create AI agents that handle all these tasks on your behalf. Just describe what you want to do in plain English. Like, if the VIX hits 25, buy a put option on the S &P 500. Or, if my cash balance goes above$20 ,000, move the excess into my direct index.

13:40You approve of the workflow and your agent handles the rest. Monitoring the market, watching for your conditions, and executing your strategies exactly as defined. An investing platform driven by your intent, not just your clicks. You can also get full read and write access to your account via the public API. Go to public.com slash market and fund your account in five minutes or less. That's public.com slash market. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures.

14:21The thing about AI for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across HR, IT, and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions slash repetitive tasks and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off. deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business, IBM. Let's talk about healthcare for a second. It doesn't always work the way people expect it to. If you've ever waited on a prescription refill or had a hard time getting the care you needed, you know the feeling.

15:01The system should just work better for everyone. That's exactly what the people at Optum are trying to do every day. They're a healthcare company linking patient care and pharmacy services and using data and technology to drive the whole system so care is connected, not complicated, for patients and providers. Things like making it easier to get care that looks at the whole person, from primary care doctors to mental health support and even in-home care, and then using technology to make sure they all work together. Technology designed to help doctors spend less time on busy work and more time with their patients.

15:34And those prescriptions? Optum is working to bring costs down, save patients money, and make it easier to get refills. Little by little, Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Head to business.optum.com to see how.

15:53Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio, nationwide on Sirius XM, and around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business App. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. The Federal Reserve opens up its two-day September meeting with one of President Donald Trump's top advisors heading in to vote. Stephen Myron has been confirmed to the Fed after a party-line Senate vote and a warning from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. He has no independence, no sympathy for American families and businesses suffering from his policies, and a fundamental misunderstanding of how the American economy works.

16:29And that was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking on the Senate floor last night. This morning we are joined by Bloomberg's Valerie Teitel. And Valerie, it is just staggering to think of how rapidly Stephen Myron has been confirmed to fill this vacant seat and what it could mean for the rate decision coming tomorrow. Good morning. Hey, good morning, Nathan. Yes, it definitely felt like it set at least some sort of speed record for this confirmation. It took just over a month from his nomination for him to be confirmed in the Senate as he was last night. But this means that there is going to be a full house of Fed governors at the decision that begins later today with a decision released tomorrow.

17:10It's one important thing to watch because we still don't know how he is going to vote and whether he's going to end up being a dissenter when it comes to maybe wanting to keep policy more loose than it already is. Remember, he is a key backer of the president's economic agenda, has been very vocal previously about his idea that tariffs don't cause inflation and he is more worried about other parts of the market instead. He has also used the word tariff derangement syndrome to express those on Wall Street who have been calling for inflation to increase on the back of tariffs, something he does not agree with.

17:46So he could be a standout when it comes to how they vote tomorrow in the decision. Maybe he'll be one voting for a 50 basis point rate cut. But it'd also be very interesting to see if he is an outlier on that dot plot. The Fed will release their summary of economic projections. And with that, that famous dot plot that shows where every member of the FOMC sees interest rates over the next few years. So if we do see a big outlying dot, it's perhaps Stephen Myron. You mentioned it's going to be a full Fed board. That, in some ways, is a setback for President Trump, of course, because he's been trying as hard as he might to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook.

18:24Yeah, Lisa Cook. It was decided by an appeals court in a 2-1 ruling that she can't be fired yet. The court ruled that she can stay on as governor while the case is underway. Now, it was interesting the reasons why the judges said that she could stay on. It was that Trump had violated due process by attempting to fire her on social media and didn't give Cook a proper notice. The judges didn't necessarily weigh in on the debate of whether Trump has cause to dismiss her. And this is important, Nathan, because this is the first time a president has sought to dismiss a Fed governor. And by law, they are permitted to do so if they have cause.

19:05But it's very vague in the law what exactly entails cause, whether mortgage fraud itself, if this is deemed to hold true in Lelisa Cook's case, whether that is cause enough to dismiss her. But this is hotly watched for that reason. And the other reason is because we want to know if Trump gets a majority of picks on the Fed governors by February. February is important because that's when the Fed governors assess and reconfirm the regional Fed presidents and their roles. There is some speculation that if Trump has a majority of Fed governor picks that he could try to interfere with the reconfirmation of Fed regional president.

19:47This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed by 6 a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen. You can also listen live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington, Bloomberg 92.9 in Boston, and nationwide on Sirius XM Channel 121. Plus, listen coast-to-coast on the Bloomberg Business app now with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces. And don't forget to subscribe to Bloomberg News Now. It's the latest news whenever you want it, in five minutes or less.

20:28Search Bloomberg News Now on your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.

20:51When you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges. At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering, and claims experience. Learn more at thehartford.com slash risk mitigation.

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