Hundreds Of Officers And Agents Deployed To DC

24:40How Iran changed Trump's travel plans and his new chill approach to the war. The two things on everyone's minds. The ballroom and the reflecting pool. Have I got news for your ears? Check us out on Apple, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcasts. Even better, you can watch the podcast on Spotify.

25:02In our money lead, the S &P 500 and NASDAQ closed at record highs today. This as average inflation stayed even in July, although there were some products that did see tariff-related price increases. That's according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which could be under new leadership quite soon. E.J. Antony, President Trump's new pick to lead the bureau, has been criticizing the department's approach to data collection in the past, and he's now going to change course on a comment he made yesterday that the BLS should suspend monthly jobs reports. Let's bring in University of Michigan professor of economics and public policy, Justin Wolfers.

25:40Justin, the market's hitting a record, but inflation's still sitting steady. We're seeing some price increases from tariffs. Do you think there's a disconnect here? It's one of those funny moments where bad news is good news and good news is bad news. So it looks like there's enough space right now maybe for the Fed to cut rates. Normally, the Fed cuts rates when it's worried about the economy. And so the markets have convinced themselves that's what's coming next. Interesting. On Trump's pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, E.J. Antony told Fox Business yesterday, quote, how on earth are businesses supposed to plan Or how is the Fed supposed to conduct monetary policy when they don't know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy?

26:22It's a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately. Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly jobs reports, but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data. Caroline Levitt today said the White House still plans to release the monthly jobs reports. And now economist Stephen Moore says that Antony tells him that the monthly jobs reports are going to continue as well. What do you make of this quick reversal? look this is a fellow who's completely in over his head he is manifestly unqualified for the job but in fact probably wouldn't be able to get a job as a junior staffer at the bureau of labor statistics he has exactly one qualification which is he's a trump loyalist the problem with that is that's going to lead you to do all sorts of things to hide data that are inconvenient the one thing we need in a bls commissioner is a commitment to truth this guy's got no commitment to it and doing and talking about even contemplating the idea that we would stop publishing jobs numbers when the economy might be on the cusp of a recession.

27:22That's the sort of thing that strikes fear into my heart. In 2022, Antony criticized a methodology change as a way to mask inflation. Back in July, he echoed Trump's criticism that revisions were different under the Biden administration, that they were always done with a political lens to be more favorable to Democrats. And here is what Antony said to Steve Bannon yesterday. Have we put in our own person into BLS? Is a MAGA Republican that President Trump knows and trusts, are they running the Bureau of Labor Statistics yet, sir? No, unfortunately, Steve, we still haven't gotten there. And I think that's part of the reason why we continue to have all of these different data problems.

28:06It's interesting that he said that it's unfortunate that there isn't a MAGA person, and one of our own people in Bannon's description as head of BLS. The politics here are striking. Of course, this would be just one person speaking for an entire bureau of qualified economists. Do you think the data will be just as credible even if Antony takes charge? No. This is exactly how you undermine truth. It's how you undermine any understanding about the state of the economy. There are many, many serious Republicans who could be appointed to that role. But let me point something out to your viewers because I think it's critically important.

28:45This historically has never been a role that's gone to an ideologue. It is appointed by the president, but it's been a dork. It's been a nerd. It's been someone committed to numbers and numbers only. This is someone whose only qualifications are frequent misunderstandings and misrepresentations of data. Even if he were to change his stripes tomorrow, every time we see a number, we're going to wonder to ourselves, did he really change his stripes or is he telling an ideologically tinged truth? The hundreds of millions of dollars that you and I and other taxpayers pour into this institution are now going to produce data and output that's worth far less because it's always going to be tainted.

29:24Michigan economist Justin Wolfers, thanks so much. Appreciate it, sir. Your pleasure, Jack. Coming up next, the stepped up vetting of Smithsonian museums, the new reported process directed by President Trump to dictate what goes in exhibits, what gets left out. We'll talk about it all next.

29:44Our politics lead now. The Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. are about to undergo major scrutiny by the White House. The Wall Street Journal was first to report, quote, the White House plans to conduct a far-reaching review of Smithsonian museum exhibitions, materials, and operations ahead of America's 250th anniversary to ensure the museums align with President Trump's interpretation of American history, unquote. We should note this comes on the heels of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. They removed a placard about Trump's two impeachments from an exhibit about impeachment, although the museum has since reinstalled it with some tweaks and denied it had been pressured by any government official to make changes to the exhibits.

30:25And Meredith McGraw, who is the White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who broke the story, joins me now. Meredith, tell us more about your reporting. What's going on? So the White House just sent a letter today to Lonnie Bunch, who leads the Smithsonian, outlining everything that they want to get from the Smithsonian in terms of materials, details about their exhibits, things that go as far as their operations, information about how they curate exhibits, what grants go to artists. And it's all in preparation, they say, of America's 250th anniversary. But really, this is part of a broader theme.

31:02from President Trump and his administration to really reshape and put Trump's touch on some of our arts and cultural institutions and also try to paint American history in a more positive light. The letter talks a lot about American exceptionalism and they really want the Smithsonian to avoid anything that they deem is politically or racially divisive. Yeah, and this is far beyond just like having much more gold in the Oval Office, right? I mean, This is basically a campaign when it comes to facts, assertions, interpretations that he doesn't agree with or doesn't like. He's going after news media companies over coverage he doesn't like.

31:43Most recently, your employer, The Wall Street Journal, overreporting about Jeffrey Epstein. He wants to get rid of the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. According to the White House, he's now considering suing Powell for what we don't know at this moment. He's ordering a new census to exclude undocumented immigrants, even though in the Constitution it says that persons should be counted, not citizens. Reinstating Confederate statues, changes to the Bureau of Labor statistics, and on and on and on. And I guess my question for you is, is anyone pushing back on this that you see, other than the Wall Street Journal standing up?

32:17Well, when President Trump came to town, he really wanted to take a wrecking ball to a lot of these institutions. and his administration has pretty quickly done just that. But I think what's different this time around in this administration is the speed with which they're making a lot of these changes and also the lack of real pushback that we've seen in Washington, either from Congress or even the courts. Yeah, one of the other things that's interesting, I can certainly understand the idea of celebrating America, but the idea that we shouldn't, for instance, right now in Philadelphia, I'm from Philadelphia, so in Independence Hall, they're talking about whether or not they should move, any mention of the fact that George Washington had slaves.

32:56I mean, there is making a celebration of America, and then there is whitewashing American history. And I don't know where this is landing. Well, my colleague Jasmine Lee at the Journal, she spoke to some historians about this today. And that's some of the pushback that we've heard from them is that, you know, American history, there's the good, the bad, and the ugly. And part of a museum's responsibility is to present that full picture to the American people. And the Smithsonian did respond in a statement right before I came on air. They said that they're going to be working with the White House on this, and this is going to be a process that's going to be going on for many months.

33:36And they expect to wrap this up by 2026. But what sort of changes actually come about because of this and how far reaching this is, is yet to be seen. But it seems the White House is pretty ambitious in how they're hoping to change and reimagine parts of the Smithsonian. Are people at the Smithsonian worried about, we're not going to be able to talk about slavery, we're not going to be able to talk about internment camps, Japanese internment camps, we're not going to be able to talk about the slaughter of Native Americans, things that happened, and it's important that we know about them. I don't know about the view inside of the Smithsonian right now, but I do know, like I said, from the historians that we heard from that there are certainly concerns about how history could be reimagined and presented for years to come.

34:22There's also news today, a separate issue about the Trump administration going after George Washington University over past pro-Palestinian anti-Israel protests. The administration is accusing GW of violating federal civil rights laws regarding Jewish Americans, American Israeli, Israeli students at the faculty. What do you know about the administration's goal on this? Well, this is, again, part of this broader pattern that we've seen with the Trump administration targeting universities, especially over their response to anti-Semitism on campuses. My colleagues had some reporting about the Harvard University deal.

34:53It's a potentially$500 million settlement. And some of the parameters of that, the agreements that these universities have to make to settle with the administration, because, again, Trump has deemed either some of their curriculum to be anti or to be too woke or to be too political or because they were dissatisfied with how they responded to a lot of those pro-Palestinian protests on campus. The Wall Street Journal's Meredith McGraw, thank you so much. You guys are doing a great job at the Journal. Thanks so much for being here. Next, who to trust? How Israel says terrorists in Gaza pretended to be workers from the acclaimed World Central Kitchen humanitarian group, the one headed by celebrity chef Jose Andres.

35:35Stay with us.

35:40In our world lead, Israel's military says it struck an armed group posing as aid workers using cars marked with the World Central Kitchen logo on top. That's the U.S.-based nonprofit founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres. The strike, which happened last week, took out, quote, five armed terrorists, according to the IDF. Israel says the men were, quote, cynically exploiting the status and trust afforded to aid organizations. World Central Kitchen tells CNN it strongly condemns those who posed as aid workers. The IDF video you're watching does not show the moment of the strike. Also on our world-lead, a Chinese warship collided with one of its own Coast Guard vessels while chasing Philippine boats in the highly contested South China Sea.

36:22CNN's Ivan Watson takes a look now at how this latest fiasco highlights the dangerous tensions rising in the East.

36:35Two Chinese ships colliding at high speed. This crash took place on Monday in a tense part of the South China Sea. Video released by the Philippine Coast Guard shows a China Coast Guard ship with a water cannon and a gray Chinese PLA Navy ship, both appearing to pursue a Coast Guard ship from the Philippines. Chinese sailors hold a bumper at the front of the Coast Guard vessel when it suddenly smashes into the larger Navy ship. Seconds later, no sign of those sailors on the heavily damaged bow of the Chinese Coast Guard ship. Aggressiveness and incompetence, says one 25-year veteran of the U.S.

37:15Navy. There's a saying in the fleet, you know, play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. and the Pele Navy has been engaging in what certainly the U.S. Navy has characterized as pretty unprofessional operations for quite some time. The incident took place near Scarborough Shoal, which both the Philippines and China claim. These contested waters, the scene of frequent confrontations, which CNN witnessed firsthand last year. That little boat in front is a Philippines resupply boat, and it is currently being pursued by one, two, three, at least four Chinese ships. It's a David and Goliath-style contest.

37:56They blast the boat with water cannons.

38:02And it's not just ships from the Philippines and China that have come in close contact in the South China Sea in recent years. We're getting a close-up look at a Chinese fighter jet, And it's been shadowing this U.S. Navy plane now for about 15 minutes. CNN has also filmed U.S. and Chinese warships and planes operating in close proximity here. U.S. aircraft, U.S. aircraft, this is Chinese Navy warship. You are watching me. Keep safe, get them away from me. Over. After Monday's maritime collision, Chinese state TV issued this statement from the China Coast Guard. The China Coast Guard took necessary measures such as tracking, monitoring, blocking and controlling to drive away the Philippine vessels.

38:48On-site operations were professional, regulated and legitimate. No official mention of the crash or possible casualties. Exactly the kind of incident experts have long warned could happen when huge ships play a dangerous game of chicken. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong. And our thanks to Ivan Watson for that report. Just days ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, a power move by Russia. They're trying to snatch even more territory overnight in Ukraine's Donetsk region. How this may play out when Putin is face-to-face with President Trump. That's next.

39:30When you're 7-Eleven's hottest fire chicken sandwich, people think you're intense. Well, yeah, I'm... Oh, yeah, intense. Want to see if you can handle the heat? Then try me. With pickles or spicy mayo and jalapenos. Oh, and it's all just$4.99. That's a deal almost as hot as I am. Almost? Sweets? No. Spicy? See for yourself. $4.99 and only at 7-Eleven. Follow through 825-46. Participating stores only while supplies last. Visit store for full terms. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And this hour, we now know that President Trump will meet with Vladimir Putin not only in Alaska, but in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday.

40:11Whether at a military base or the international airport or somewhere else, we don't know. But what about that invite for Ukraine's President Zelensky? Has it been completely ruled out? We're going to go to the White House and to Kiev in moments. Plus, investigators are revealing new details about the shooting at the CDC in Atlanta last Friday, including that the gunman fired nearly 500 rounds and left behind writings about his distrust of the COVID vaccine. And now CDC employees are voicing their concerns about the dangerous spread of vaccine misinformation and the vilification of public health workers.

40:44Also, a new report finds the majority of children and adults in the United States get more than half of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods. I'm going to be joined by the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, who once led the fight against tobacco companies and now is trying to improve the food that you and your family eats. And it's no longer a cruel summer for Swifties after Taylor Swift delighted her fans with a surprise appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelsey's podcast to announce her new album. We're going to dig into any possible hints that the Grammy winner has dropped ahead of the release.

41:21And the lead tonight. Right now, Ukrainian troops are attempting to stave off Russian forces as they pierce through front lines in eastern Ukraine. trying to grab more land before any peace deal and land swap is proposed. Just days before President Trump and Russian leader Putin meet in Anchorage, Alaska, this afternoon Ukrainian President Zelensky reiterated his refusal to cede any land from the eastern Donbass region of his country, saying it would give Putin a, quote, springboard for any future offensives. And now the White House is characterizing the big Trump-Putin meeting as not a summit, but a listening session, rather than what Trump likely truly hopes for, a legacy-defining peace deal.

41:59CNN's Caitlin Collins is at the White House for us. Caitlin? Yeah, Jake, obviously this is going to be one of the most closely watched meetings that President Trump has of his second term, his first face-to-face since retaking office with Vladimir Putin. And we're learning a little bit more about what exactly that meeting is going to look like, Jake, and also what the structure of that meeting is going to be that's happening in Anchorage this Friday, this sit-down between Trump and Putin. And obviously they have met many times before, Jake, whether it was on the sidelines or summits or that major face-to-face that they had in Helsinki during Trump's first term in office.

42:33But one key question was whether or not Donald Trump would be alone in the room with Vladimir Putin. And I asked the White House about that earlier, and this is what the press secretary said. On the Putin meeting on Friday, does the president plan to meet with Putin one-on-one? Yes, that's part of the plan. And as for the other mechanics and logistics, I will let our team speak to that when they're ironed out. Jake, obviously that's notable. Trump has met with Putin one-on-one before, just with translators inside the room. He once also had a conversation with him on the sidelines of a summit at a dinner that they had when he was in office the last time around.

43:09And those conversations between the two of them and what exactly they discuss is going to be critical here. And so one thing to watch for this time, Jake, that will be different from Trump's first term in office is the aides who are around him. He had a lot of Russia hawks that were in his first term that were deeply skeptical of Vladimir Putin. And so there is a real question, Jake, of what it looks like this time around, because he is surrounded by more voices who echo his own foreign policy views, who have some similar stances to him when it comes to aid to Ukraine. That's the exception of a few people like Marco Rubio, who certainly was a Russia hawk when he was a senator up on Capitol Hill.

43:44But it'll be a critical summit to watch. And obviously what the White House said today, Jake, is they're not expecting it to have major deliverables coming out of it in terms of what that's going to look like. That Trump is going into this as a listening session to hear what the Russian leader has to say. Kaitlin, Trump yesterday mentioned twice that he was going to Russia on Friday, not to Alaska, but to Russia. Did the White House explain that at all? They were asked about that, Jake. And if that was just a slip of the tongue that the president had, they didn't acknowledge that he obviously meant Alaska when he was saying Russia, but instead pointed to the fact that if he plans to visit Russia, that could be something that is in the future of his relationship with Vladimir Putin going forward.

44:27Obviously, it remains to be seen what happens when it comes to the war in Ukraine and the president's frustration over the fact that it hasn't ended yet. Obviously, the president going to Russia would be a huge diplomatic victory for Vladimir Putin. Caitlin Collins at the White House. Thanks so much. Don't miss Caitlin on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins. That's tonight and every weeknight at 9 o 'clock Eastern, only on CNN. A former top Ukrainian military official says Ukrainian President Zelensky needs to know the situation on the front lines is a, quote, complete mess. CNN's Nick Payton Walsh speaks to people near those front lines in eastern Ukraine who hope that their homes and towns will remain Ukrainian.

45:10Forget a moment about Alaska and imagine being here, where Russia is advancing, where its drones could not reach when we were there a week ago, despite the endless talk of a peace deal. It's exactly here that land might be swapped. There will be some land swapping going on. His special envoy's visit to the Kremlin leading to reports Ukraine might just give away Donetsk and sparking panic among real people here yesterday at a Donetsk railway station and, frankly, all over Ukraine. Speaking to European officials over the past days, one of the challenges seems to have been for them, trying to clarify exactly what it was that US envoy Steve Witkoff was offered by the Kremlin.

45:54What are the bones and details of that potential deal? And that just adds to how unconventional this whole process feels. A meeting of this grandeur would take months normally to prepare with the agenda and details ironed out by teams of diplomats for months. Instead, at this point, so much is still unknown. This is really a feel-out meeting, a little bit. President Trump has lowered expectations for their first meeting in six years, while Russia keeps flaunting claims it's captured towns like this. He is not ready for the ceasefire and war. President Zelensky clear, as the evidence supports so far, Putin does not seek peace.

46:38As before, there is no sign that Russians have received signals to prepare for the post-war situation. In other words, they are moving their forces and forces in order to start new and future operations. On the eastern front line, near this town, Dobropilya, reports Tuesday emerged of a notable Russian advance. The extent or permanence unclear, but enough to spark denials and reinforcements from Kiev. Wednesday, Zelenskyy will join German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz and other key European leaders, and, this time, President Trump, to pre-game Alaska. here, clarifying if the White House hasn't heard it yet, that Europe wants a ceasefire first and Ukraine at the table.

47:26But what awaits in Alaska? Likely only Putin and Trump. And from that, a roll of the dice between two men whose relationship is impenetrable, but could decide the fate of tens of millions of lives in Ukraine and beyond. Now, Jake, just a reminder that days ago we were looking at the potential for secondary sanctions against Russia's main energy customers, India and China, and then talk of that seemed to evaporate. And now focus turned to this summit in Alaska on Friday. It was meant to really be make or break about a peace deal, but has now had expectations lowered so extensively that the White House referred to it as a listening exercise, that President Trump says he's going to feel Russian President Vladimir Putin out a bit as to what's possible.

48:11A lot changing fast as to what people think may be viable in this key summit. Ukrainians deeply anxious. They're not only not there, the potential for peace is much less. Jake. All right, Nick Payton, Walsh and Kyiv, Ukraine for us. Thank you so much. Joining us now to discuss Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska. Thanks for joining us, Congressman. So you told Canadian Channel CBC that President Trump has been, quote, unpredictable and hit and miss on Russia. What topics or concessions would you advise president Trump to stay away from on Friday? He should not be offering land for peace, Ukrainian land, and he should have President Zelensky at the table.

48:51You know, it's too reminiscent of 1938 when the prime minister of Great Britain and the leader of France met with Hitler and, you know, gave away sedating land of Czechoslovakia and it came back so they had peace at our time. We don't want that. Any negotiation has to have Zelensky at the table. And we have to force Putin to agree to that. He doesn't want to have Zelensky at the table. He doesn't want people to see Ukraine as an equal to Russia, or Zelensky as an equal leader to Putin. So that vision or that image is something he does not want. But we can't be given concessions to Russia in rewarding an invasion, bombing cities, committing all these war crimes that Putin has done.

49:35And so I hope we see a Trump that we've seen in the last month, not the President Trump that we've seen the first seven or eight months of his presidency, where I thought he was way too weak on Putin. And so we want to see a stronger Trump standing up for freedom and standing on the right side of this war. President Zelensky reiterated today that he is not willing to cede any land in eastern Ukraine because it would give Putin a springboard to invade other parts of his country. Do you agree with Zelensky or do you think ultimately he will need to cede some land in order for there to be any sort of peace deal?

50:11Well, he clearly shouldn't cede any land that hasn't been taken by Russia. And that's been floated out there that the whole Donbass or the whole, you know, those two or three provinces that would totally be ceded over, not just the areas that Russia controls. I think that would be a terrible mistake. In the end, I have to defer to the Ukrainians on what land, if any, that they cede. But I do think this, if any land is ceded to Russia, we must provide security guarantees to Ukraine, whether it's NATO or bilateral security guarantees. Because I believe it's 95 percent certain that if we just do a truce, next year Putin will break it again and start the invasion all over again.

50:54And so whatever agreement is done, if Ukraine has to exceed anything, security guarantees are very important to prevent Putin from doing this invasion again. Former presidential envoy Brett McGurk says that President Trump should take a cue from President Reagan. When Reagan met with Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland in 1986, he writes Reagan, quote, arrived with firm principles on which he would not budge. Reagan's refusal to budge, even at risk of increasing Cold War tensions and the failed summit one month before midterm elections, ultimately set the conditions for peace. Do you think Trump will be able to be that stern with Putin too?

51:32Or do you think maybe his desire to strike a deal, to be seen as this great dealmaker, might overtake the actual quality of the deal? He needs to be strong like Reagan, like we saw at Reykjavik, where Reagan walked away when he saw that Gorbachev was making demands that went against his principles. So we need Trump to have that same mindset. And that is a weakness with Americans in general. I mean, I study history. We want to get a deal. We want to get a deal fast. Because of that, our opponents know that, and we make unnecessary concessions and put ourselves at a bad spot. And a case in point, before President Trump's even met with Putin, he's talking about Ukraine having to do land swaps before he's even talked to Putin.

52:20And I think so doing any kind of concessions before you even meet with Putin, that's a bad thing. And that's not just a President Trump thing. We see that on our side quite a bit. We're too eager to get a deal. And that puts us at a disadvantage. I wanted to get your response to something the Vice President Vance said over the weekend. Take a listen. I think the president and I certainly think that America, we're done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing. We want to stop the killing. But Americans, I think, are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars to this particular conflict.

52:57What did you make of that? I think he's wrong. First of all, I take offense when he says we're tired of sending money to the Ukrainian war business, something like that. This is not the Ukrainian war business. This is the Russian invading Ukraine, an innocent, sovereign country. That's the war run. This isn't Ukraine's war. This is Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And he seems to not have the moral clarity to see that. And it bothers me. And by the way, two out of three Americans support Ukraine. These guys are taking a political stand that most Americans disagree with. I wish our leadership of the White House stood tall on principle.

53:37We're the land of the free. We're the defenders of freedom. America is that bright light on the hill, and we should act that way. Trying to treat Ukraine and Russia as equals when one country is actually invading the other, that's a failure. So I'd like to see moral clarity out of our vice president on this. And I think he's standing with one third of Americans, not the two thirds in this. And if he spoke up more clearly, it would be more than two out of three. Maybe we'd see three out of four standing here. So we need President Vance's or Vice President Vance's leadership here, not moral weakness.

54:11Retired Air Force General and Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska. Thank you, sir. Always good to have you on. Thank you. Look for CNN special coverage of the Trump-Putin summit on Friday. I'm going to lead coverage live from Alaska. Anderson Cooper will hold up the fort here in Washington, D.C. The new details investigators are revealing today about the gunman who fired hundreds of shots at the CDC building on Friday in Atlanta and the writings he left behind. Stay with us.

54:42Our National League now new details about last Friday's horrific shooting targeting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Authorities say today the gunman fired, or authorities said today that the gunman fired nearly 500 rounds and about 200 of them hit the CDC campus, leaving behind dozens of bullet holes. No CDC employees were hurt, but DeKalb County police officer David Rose was killed. Authorities also said they found written documents expressing the gunman's discontent with COVID vaccines. CNN's Ryan Young is outside a memorial for Officer Rose in Tucker, Georgia.

55:18Ryan, tell us more about what officials revealed about the gunman. Yeah, Jake, they found those writings inside his house, And of course, they also told us that he broke into his father's gun cabinet and took all those guns. I want to also remind people that he wore earmuffs while he was shooting all that gunfire. 500 rounds, that's a large amount of bullets to be firing toward a building. Six buildings hit at the CDC. But you talk about the officer who was lost. Jake, we've been watching all day long as people have been showing up to put these flowers here. Two CDC employees just showed up in the last half hour or so.

55:52They were crying. They felt so torn about this because obviously this was a life lost. And of course, the father of the shooting suspect also tells police that they believed he was suicidal. They called police to give them a heads up, apparently. That's something that's a part of this investigation. But now so many questions leading into how this all happened and maybe could have been stopped. Let's not forget the gunman had five different weapons. Take a listen to the GBI talking earlier today.

56:20The shooter had no known criminal history. Evidence in this investigation indicates that the shooter had recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which even led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks prior to the incident. Let's remember these guns were taken from a safe. According to the father of the shooter, the shooter broke in, took those guns, and then went on that rampage, according to the father of the shooter, Jake. The shooter was 30 years old, we should note. All these updates are coming at the same day that the CDC held an all agency meeting. What was said at this all agency meeting?

56:59Well, this is the tough part for people who obviously work at the CDC. And I just talked to some of the workers there today. They were saying that, one, the call was glitchy. Two, they didn't get to answer or ask all the questions they wanted to ask. And as they showed up to hear, they felt like the reflections from the leadership did not say what the GBI was saying. They believe it's connected to the vaccine. That's what the GBI is saying. And then, of course, today in that meeting, they felt like it was just sort of being pushed aside. And and RFK Jr. apparently said that they're not sure why they're shooting where the shooting investigation is leading to.

57:32So a lot of questions. But let's talk about safety. That is something that was top of mind from people. They wanted to know what the next steps would be at the CDC building. That's something that was not answered today. I even asked that question of the FBI. They said they could not tell us what would happen next. All those windows broken in several different buildings. A lot of questions how to move forward in a community that's already shaken and hurting for a family that's lost the love of their life. Jake. All right, Ryan Young, thank you so much. Let's bring in the former FDA commissioner, Dr.

58:01David Kessler, the author of Diet, Drugs and Dopamine, the New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight. And I want to ask you about the mission, the reason why you're here, about to talk about ultra processed foods. But as long as I have you, I do want to ask you about this because you're not part of the CDC, but you did help lead the fight against COVID through Operation Warp Speed under the under the Biden administration. Take a listen to RFK Jr., the new HHS secretary, criticizing the government's pandemic response in a taped interview just two days after the CDC was was targeted and shot at in this horrific incident.

58:36Take a listen. One of the things that we saw during COVID is that the government was overreaching in its efforts to persuade the public to get vaccinated. And they were saying things that were not always true. Speaking of saying things that weren't always true, RFK Jr. has falsely described the COVID shot as the deadliest vaccine ever made. Not true at all. It saved millions of lives. He's also contradicted law enforcement in those remarks, saying there's not enough information about the gunman's motive in the CDC shooting when there is, according to the police. What's your reaction to his response?

59:19CDC was the target. Let's talk a little, and I've studied this, this murder-suicide mindset. Reality is, you know, it's a form of depression. I hate myself. but I also can be, I'm very angry at who made me feel this way. People who have this mindset, they hang on to the words of others, the hateful words of others. Those words can become salient. They can resonate in these people's heads. Now, I don't know this specific case. But I can tell you that words have consequences. and CDC was made the target here. So the Washington Post reported on the anger that some CDC employees are feeling towards RFK Jr.

1:00:14Some of them protested against his visit at the CDC yesterday. One woman, Lauren Owens, a CDC scientist who joined the protest, told the Washington Post, I've never worked on anything nefarious. We're public servants. And she was holding a sign that read RFK Jr.'s lies about vac safety and CDC scientists endanger us all. Are you concerned about the rhetoric out there about the CDC, about the COVID vaccine from RFK Jr. and others? My former colleagues at CDC, I work with them side by side through Operation Warp Speed. They're dedicated public servants. 676 million vaccines, millions of lives saved.

1:00:57You know, my former colleagues at CDC are feeling very vulnerable, scared and unsupported right now. I mean, think about this, Jake. Right. First administration. What was Trump's greatest success? I think my personal opinion, although I'm not supposed to give my opinions, I think that Operation Warp Speed is one of the most fantastic achievements of any president. And that's Donald Trump. I agree with you. I mean, you know, I worked for coming in on the second act. Getting the shots into arms. Into arms. And we did this. But enormous respect, right, for my colleagues who were there. We worked.

1:01:38Saved millions of lives. Absolutely. I mean, I actually think Trump needs to reverse this HHS cancellation of the mRNA vaccine. I mean, you know, we don't know. The question is, is there something about the data on these vaccines? Put it out. They didn't put it out. But the head of the NIH said something this week. He said, no, the reason we cancel these is because people don't have trust in them. But who's undermining the trust? It was his greatest legacy. Well, that's like the scene in that horror movie, He Knows You're Alone. The call is coming from inside the house. Let's talk about the crackdown on ultra-processed foods.

1:02:20which are things such as fast food, chips, hot dogs, candy, frozen foods. You filed a petition last week testing RFK Jr.'s commitment to fighting processed foods. Tell us about that and why you think he should be doing more. So the actual ingredients, you ever pick up the package, you read the ingredients. It's like a list of chemicals. Invert sugars, maltose, maltodextrin, corn syrups, corn solids. I mean, those were the things that I question. Understand how the law works. The law requires all food additives to be reasonable certainty of no harm. That's the burden. There was this exception in the law.

1:03:04It said anything that was generally recognized as safe could come on the market. And if you go back and you look in the 60s and 70s, the industry got these substances, all these emulsifiers and the humectants, the corn syrups and the corn solids, as generally recognized as safe. But you look at the science back in the 70s, they said no link with obesity, no link with diabetes. But now we know there is a link. So how can it be, it can no longer be generally recognized as safe. And that's the point that I raised. The law requires that. So very quickly, a new report published last week shows more than half the calories that kids and adults in the U.S.

1:03:48eat. And we should note the United States is a rather obese country, are from ultra-processed foods. For a lot of low-income families, this is what they can afford, right? That's the argument. So what should... That's the argument that the food industry gives you. They are providing food. But what they're really providing, right, is nutritionally inadequate food. So what do you want to say? Is it really cheaper? I mean, look at the chronic disease. 25 % of us are going to end up with heart failure. A third of us are going to be diabetic. 25 % are going to have a stroke, right? We can't afford that, and it's starting in our kids.

1:04:24All right, Dr. David Kessel, we'll have you back to talk about this again and again and again. Thanks so much. Just into CNN, Texas Democrats are now weighing whether to return to the state and end the redistricting standoff. Why now? Our panel will weigh in next.

1:04:59That's a deal almost as hot as I am. Almost? Sweets? No. Spicy? See for yourself. $4.99 and only at 7-Eleven. Ballad through 825-46. Participating stores only while supplies last. Visit store for full terms. This just in Texas, Statehouse Democrats are currently holding a members-only meeting and discussing their next steps as they weigh how long to continue this standoff in which they deny Republicans a quorum so they deny them the opportunity to create a new congressional map. The discussions come as Republicans signal they intend to end the current special session on Friday and call a new one immediately after to continue pushing this new map that would net Republicans an additional five House seats.

1:05:40Let's discuss. Karen, Texas Democrats do not have the votes to block the redistricting measure. Do you think they were able to get their message across? Is it time for them to fold? What do you think? Well, I think the country is more aware of what they're trying to do in Texas. And I know we've talked about it's political gerrymandering. It's really it's racial gerrymandering. if you look at the numbers. And so I think they've tried to raise that message. I think more people are aware of it. We've obviously seen the president talk about now it might be, you know, five other city or states where they're going to try to do this.

1:06:11But I think they always knew that they were not likely they're not likely to ultimately win. But this fight is worth it in order to get the awareness up that I mean, because what we're talking about here, you know, Texas is a state where black, Latino, and Asian Americans make up 60 % of the population, but they only control 10 of the 38 congressional seats. White Texans make up 40%, but they control 28 of the 38 seats. That's not fair. So I think they're getting their message across. Governor Abbott said to me yesterday that one of the things that these redistricting plans will do is create more Latino districts.

1:06:50And listen to what else he had to say. Those runaway Democrats are required to act on that agenda. They're failing to do their duty. I'm going to call special session after special session after special session. They could remain in hiding for literally years, tying the hands of the state of Texas from performing essential government needs. That cannot be allowed. Do you think Democrats are hurting themselves? Potentially so, because they're being seen as not doing their jobs. I've been involved in redistricting since very early in my career. My second internship at the RNC, I spent most of my time working on a racially gerrymandered congressional district.

1:07:27It was the Mel Watt district that stretched from Charlotte to Durham. And I've certainly seen this up close working in California politics. And I think one of the challenges that we see here is not just what's happening in Texas. This happens everywhere in the country. It's different in Texas because it's a big grab and because everything in Texas is bigger. And they're doing it mid-year, so there's a time in decade. Mid-decade. So there's a scheduling argument on that. Fine. But how many times, Jake, did you have on this show or State of the Union a Democrat who would say, we need more Adam Kinzinger's?

1:07:57And what did Illinois Democrats do? Obviously, Texas Democrats went to Illinois. They redistricted Adam Kinzinger and Rodney Davis out of his district. Look at Massachusetts. We've elected Republican senators and Republican governors in Massachusetts. We haven't a Republican member of Congress since 1996. I haven't had a Republican president who said, hey, find me 11 ,000 more votes. Hey, find me five more seats. Right. That's part of why this is happening. So racial gerrymandering at the because the president says, hey, I need five more seats. Oh, and if you could just diminish the political power of blacks and Latinos, that'd be great.

1:08:31So I love Karen. I would right here quote Michael Corleone. We're both probably the same hypocrisy. All right. So, Lauren, I want to turn to the president who had a takeover of the D.C. Police Department. He's long been focused on the crime and cleanliness of D.C. and other major urban centers. The White House said of the 800-some agents deployed, federal agents deployed in D.C. yesterday, they made 23 arrests ranging from homicide to fair evasion, hopping a turnstile at the Metro. How much do you think is Trump posturing? How much of this is actually trying to clean up Washington? I think he's actually trying to clean up Washington.

1:09:06I think a little bit of it is posturing, right? But I think that there's such frustration that it has been going on for so long. And Mayor Bowser and the city has been unable to do it. It's historic understaffing of police agents, I mean, police officers. I think it's really interesting that the D.C. Police Union is so supportive of this, so adamant that this is what they needed as far as support. So there needed to be a big shakeup. And if this is the big shakeup, if it's 48 hours or 30 days, depending on how long the emergency is declared and how long they're able to justify this, if it jolts the conversation and makes Mayor Bowser do more, I think, to protect the city, then that's a good thing.

1:09:42And Karen, let me just say, Brian Todd did a piece for us earlier in the show. And one of the things he did was interview an African-American woman, I believe in Southeast community activists. And she was like, great, we need we need less crime in this city. Well, here's the thing. As we know, crime rates are down, also down in all the cities led by black mayors that the president happened to mention the other day. this is not how you reduce crime. What you do is you wouldn't take a billion dollars out of the D.C. budget if you really cared about safety and security in the city. You would go to the mayor and say, look, this violence interruption program seemed to be working.

1:10:16What more do you need to make that more effective? You don't take away money for the security of the city. You don't take away, you don't kill Job Corps. You don't kill mules for poor kids. You don't increase health care costs. So this is what I do think, though, what's interesting is The Atlantic, of all places, had a great article that was reporting that there's this idea of the few that keep perpetrating the same crimes. And D.C. is one of these places where they're not actively prosecuting. So it's the same people going out for a crazy. Well, especially if they're under 18. Especially if they're under 18.

1:10:44Especially if they're under 18. Or there's cash. Or there's a cash-free bill. Yeah. That same piece also said that the way Trump is going about this is not actually how you would do it if you were trying to go after those individuals. Except if you get these people and you get them off the streets on a permanent basis, it would reduce crime by 60 percent. cut the budget you can't get this. So, just quick, the kids that mugged me five blocks from here two years ago did the same thing half an hour earlier, a mile away, and the cops said, good luck, we're never going to catch them. One way, if we catch them, two years ago.

1:11:11Two years ago. Okay, we can go three. Great, let's go to Union Station three blocks from here, and I can talk about the girl brawl that I saw two weeks ago. I can talk about the public masturbation that I saw. That was fun. I can talk about all kinds of public urination and all kinds of things that we see. So, it's Is putting the budget for D.C. the way to make that better? No, I think the first thing we can do once we catch this, I think the best thing that this president can do, aside from declaring emergencies, which he does on everything, is if we want to fix this problem, yes, increase policing, but also appoint judges.

1:11:39So when we do catch those kids who mugged me and somebody else on Capitol Hill, that they have a trial and they go to jail. We have a real judicial shortage here. That's one of the things that Trump can do and can do it now. Let me just say, on behalf of everybody, I'm sorry you were mugged. They didn't get me. Sure. Thanks, everyone, for being here. I appreciate our small business series takes us to Washington State next, where the owner of three toy and gift shops says she's struggling under the weight of the tariffs, despite mainly working with U.S. manufacturers. So is she being forced to raise prices on customers?

1:12:08That's next.

1:12:12We're back with our business leaders series, where we talk to small business owners from coast to coast to see what they think about Trump's tariffs. In Tacoma, Washington, the Paper Lux and the Curious Bear are retail shops that sell stationery, gifts, and toys. Owner Jennifer Luna joins us now. Jennifer, how, if at all, have tariffs impacted your stores, your business? Well, thanks for having me and especially for continuing to shine a light on small businesses. I feel in the tariff conversation, we've often been forgotten and not brought to the table. So thank you. So tariffs are definitely impacting us.

1:12:51We haven't 100 % felt that immediately. But what I can tell you are two things. First and foremost is price increases. We're at the point in the tariff game where all the inventory that was stateside prior to the tariffs has been sold through. And everything that we're buying for our stores is now goods that American businesses have paid a tariff on. Anywhere from 10 % to over 150%. So they're increasing their costs to us pretty much across the board. We're seeing anywhere from 10 % to 30 % increases. And as much as I would love to absorb that cost as a small business, razor thin margins, there's no room for that.

1:13:32So I think customers and consumers are going to have a big shock when it comes to fourth quarter to holiday buying. And my biggest fear is that there will be a tipping point where even our most loyal customers who love to shop small and local, it's going to be too much for them. and they'll go to the big box stores. So, and then the second part is... Go ahead, I'm sorry. I was going to say the other big thing besides the price increasing that is affecting small businesses like mine is the instability. Back in March, we were putting in offers on different places to open another toy store that's been in the works for a long time.

1:14:06But then the tariffs hit and immediately my gut said, no way, no way, we're not doing this right now because how can you open a store when you don't know if it's going to cost you $100 ,000 in products or$200 ,000. That's the difference between viable and not viable. So inflation held steady in July. We did see some products, see some price increases due to tariffs, but not enough to impact average inflation. Have you had to raise your prices yet? Yes. It's very slowly trickling out. You'll see it in different industries. For example, we have two stationary and gift stores. A lot of that is greeting cards made in the U.S.

1:14:45and Canada, so we haven't really seen the increases quite as much there. But in our toy store, for example, where 80 % of toys are made in China, yes, we've immediately felt those impacts. All of our pricing are going up, and we've had to front load a lot of inventory to avoid availability issues and significant increases. So the short answer is yes, and it'll be more so come holiday time. How have you seen customer behavior change since the tariffs were enacted? Yeah, it's funny because sales are kind of strong right now if you look at just data points. But what we've noticed is that parents, grandparents, they are trying to buy those big ticket items, especially right now, and stocking up because they know prices are going to go up.

1:15:31So while sales have been good, that doesn't necessarily translate to them continuing to be good come fourth quarter when they've already bought a lot of their their products. We only have about 30 seconds left. If you could tell President Trump anything about tariffs, what would you want to tell him? You know, if you truly want to make America great, you cannot forget about Main Street. Plain and simple. We're struggling and we need help. And if you live in Tacoma, Washington, you can stop by the Paper Lux or the Curious Bear shops. Are they online, Jennifer? Can people pop online and buy stuff if they want?

1:16:09Absolutely. Paperlux.com and CuriousBearToys.com. All right, Jennifer Luna, thanks so much. Appreciate it. The wildest dreams of many Swifties are coming true. What we're learning about the new album Taylor Swift surprisingly announced last night.

1:16:27In our pop culture lead, welcome to a new era for Taylor Swift. This is my brand new album, The Life of a Showgirl.

1:16:40Taylor Swift rolling out a new album in style on New Heights, her boyfriend Travis Kelsey's podcast with his brother, former Super Bowl winning Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelsey. Fans hope that Taylor Swift will reveal the album's release date on the full episode, which drops tomorrow. Swifties, all of you Swifties out there, I know that you're ready for it right now, but you need to calm down. CNN's chief data mastermind, Harry Enten, is here to fill the Taylor Swift blank space in our hearts. Harry, what are you watching for tomorrow? First off, I am not calming down at all, okay, Jake Tapper.

1:17:16I am not calming down. My excitement level is through the roof, and I will tell you what am I watching for tomorrow. Well, you know, you mentioned the podcast, and I think what's so important to note is, is this going to be the most listened to podcast episode ever? Because take a look here, New Heights podcast ranking, you go back a few weeks ago, they weren't even in the top 150. Now, without even the podcast episode out, guess where they rank? They rank numero uno on the Apple charts. My goodness gracious, there are a lot of folks who are interested in this podcast coming out and just wondering, when the heck is this actual album going to drop?

1:17:51Those, the question remains. So her era's tour concert shattered records. I mean, Swiftie Army is unbeatable. Are there any records left for Taylor Swift to break? I think there's one very big record left to break. What are we talking about here? Let's take a look at the Billboard Top Artist of the Year. It has never happened three times in a row that the same artist won three years in a row. But Taylor Swift's got a shot because she was the number one artist in 2023, the number one artist in 2024. If this album gets released this year, as we expect it to be, and it goes to the top of the charts and she has the number one song, she could, in fact, be the number one artist three years in a row.

1:18:32Billboard's been keeping track of this since the early 1980s. It has never happened. But I believe in the Swifties and I believe in Taylor Swift and I believe that Taylor Swift can break this record like she's broken so many records before, Jake. So my teenage daughter woke me and my wife up last night to tell us that this was happening. you'd think from the way Swifties are reacting that it had been years since she had last released an album yeah I will just tell you I wish that I could do as much work in a year that Taylor Swift can do because the bottom line is she is relentless Jake she is relentless Taylor Swift albums released you know you go back over basically the first decade of her career 2006 to 2015 she released 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 but look at this since 2016 over the last decade She has doubled.

1:19:20She has doubled her output. She has released 11, including the latest album, which we, of course, believe will be released this year. And, of course, this does include re-recordings. But she's doing so much, Jake. She is doing so much, doubling the output. The only question I have left, because I am a big believer in love, Jake Tapper. I'm a big believer in love. Will she actually get engaged to the famous Chiefs tight end, Mr. Kelsey? At this particular point, the betting markets say there's only a 26 % chance that it happens this year. But as I said leading into this slide, I'm a big believer in love.

1:19:55I'm a big believer in the Kelsey-Swift relationship. And I just believe that they are going to do it. They are going to get engaged. And they're going to make all of us so fantastically excited, just like we all are, for the release date of that album, which, of course, will come in about 24 hours, I believe, Jake. Well, Harry, I, too, admire Ms. Swift. I, too, applaud, love. I will note that her magic dust did not work at the Super Bowl in New Orleans earlier this year when she was rooting for the wrong team. But that's okay. That's okay. Because she has succeeded in so many other ways. Harry Anton, thank you so much.

1:20:29Appreciate it. Thank you, my friend. A tropical storm in the Atlantic is poised to become the first major storm as hurricane season kicks in. We're going to take a look at the timing next.

1:20:44Our last leads start in our money lead as photography company Eastman Kodak is warning it may not survive much longer. The company's been in business for 133 years but is currently struggling to find financing to pay its upcoming debt obligations. Kodak says the decision is not a result of the new tariff since many of its parts are made in the United States. And our world lead tropical storm Aaron is tracking west over the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters expect the storm to become the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. It's too early to know what threat Aaron poses for the Caribbean, Bermuda, or even the U.S.

1:21:19But forecasters say it could become a hurricane as soon as tomorrow night, with potential to grow into at least a Category 3 major hurricane this weekend. In our Out of This World lead, the Perseid meteor shower, also known as the best meteor shower of the year, starts peaking tomorrow. Sorry, starts peaking tonight into tomorrow. Viewing visibility is not currently in the favor of the U.S. East Coast, but if you're in the central and western United States, you might be able to see up to 100 shooting stars per hour. Aaron Burnett out front starts right now. I'll see you tomorrow.

1:22:01The right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. At Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50 ,000 five-star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we have you covered. Real design professionals. Free samples. Zero pressure. Right now, get up to 45 % off with minimum purchase. Plus, get a free professional measure at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions apply. Go inside the sports moments that brought us together and made history.

1:22:35From the underdogs to the rivalries and the miracles. It sends chills down your spine. It's what sport was all about. The new CNN original series, Decades in Sports. Now streaming on the CNN app.