Target CEO Stepping Down As Sales Continue To Plunge

22:45We have ICE taking people from the streets where we can't track where they're being taken to. I believe in law and order. I support our law enforcement. And the law has to apply to everyone. We have to have sensible due process and we have to have a system in place that is not leading to fear and traumatization for our community. Do you have any sense what the end game is here? You know, the statutes that are being utilized or a statute that's being utilized has a 30-day time window on it. We don't necessarily have a great sense from the White House of how they plan on this going forward other than we're in it right now.

23:22What are you being told? Well, this element of our Home Rule Act has never been utilized by any president in our 52-year history in Washington, D.C. And our hope is that after the 30-day period is up of the declared emergency, that we have an off-ramp to get back to work, get back to the reasonable partnerships that we should have in the nation's capital to keep residents and visitors safe. The need to have the United States Senate appoint our judges that have 21 % vacancy on our local courts because of their inaction. The need for Congress to fix the$1 billion budget gap that they created from our locally raised dollars this spring that is disallowing us from paying our officers and our firefighters what they deserve.

24:10We need the United States attorney to prosecute cases because they have jurisdiction over adult prosecutions in Washington. So there are paths forward to continue our progress on making everyone safe in D.C., and we need to stick with what we know works. Brooke Pinto, D.C. Councilmember, I appreciate you coming in. Thanks so much for your time. Well, up next, we're going live to Texas, where a pending vote any hour now could set the tone for the fight for 2026. And who controls Congress? Stay with us.

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25:37and only at 7-11. Ballot through 825-26. Participating stores only while supplies last. Visit store for full terms. In our politics lead, former President Barack Obama is now endorsing the pending plan by California Democrats to redraw the state's congressional maps. At an event last night, Obama told a group of Democrats, quote, given that Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying gerrymander for partisan purposes, he went on to say he has tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this. In Texas today, Republicans are poised to pass a new map backed by President Trump, which could add five Republican House seats.

26:16Texas Democrats have fiercely protested that effort. CNN's Arlette Saenz is live for us in Austin, Texas. And Arlette, you've been following this debate as lawmakers move toward this vote. What have you been hearing so far? Well, Phil, Texas House lawmakers have been in the House chamber just down the hall from where we are for over six hours now debating this redistricting bill. There was a long amendment process where all of the Democratic amendments were struck down. And now what we are hearing from these lawmakers is Democrats, Democratic representatives who are in opposition giving these floor speeches.

26:53This is the next point before the House can begin voting on the redistricting bill. It's expected that there would be two votes before final passage in this chamber. But really, there have been some tense moments between Republicans and Democrats today, and so many have expressed frustration with these maps that have been backed by President Donald Trump that could potentially net the GOP as many as five U.S. House seats in next midterm elections. Here's a sample of what some Democratic lawmakers had to say today. For me, this body has changed. an atmosphere when I now look at my colleagues and say, wow, who are you really?

27:40This is not democracy. This is authoritarianism in real time. Republicans are going to try and convince you that this is the will of the people. But if the people agreed with them, why do they need to cheat to win?

28:00At this point, it's not a matter of if, but it's when these maps will pass. The House will need to pass it first and then it heads over to the Senate, which is set to come back into session tomorrow evening. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said that he could sign this within a matter of days. Arlette, I do want to ask, there's another big moment today there in Austin where parents who lost children from that devastating Fourth of July flash flooding at Camp Mystic were giving gripping testimony to Texas state senators. What did they say? Yeah, you know, Texas redistricting is not the only issue on this special session.

28:33They are also, these lawmakers, expected to consider flood relief as well as changes to camp safety. And that was the focus of that hearing before the state Senate committee a bit earlier today. There were several parents of children who were lost in those floods at Camp Mystic, many of them speaking for the first time about their children's passing. Take a listen to a bit of what they had to say. This wasn't an act of God. This was an act of pure complacency. We don't know when she died. We don't know how. We really don't know anything. Every plan for our future, every dream that included her, has been destroyed by unsafe facilities, inadequate preparation, failed planning, and poor execution.

29:31Now, flood relief has become a political flashpoint in the redistricting debate. Democrats criticized Republicans for not bringing up flood relief as the very first bills in the Texas House, while the GOP has criticized Democrats for leaving the state for 15 days and preventing work on that issue. But even as there's this debate about action, so many of these parents and the communities still recovering just want to see the lawmakers act on this to get funding needed for these communities and also ensure that devastation like this does not happen again. Arlette signs for us in Austin, Texas. Very consequential night and week ahead.

30:09Thanks so much for the reporting. While conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East dominate the headlines, CNN went back to Afghanistan. The message one woman says she risked her life to share with us about living under Taliban control. That's next.

30:29In our world lead, stuck and living in constant fear under the Taliban. This is the reality for Afghans who helped the U.S. military or worked for American organizations, but were left behind after the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal. Earlier this year, President Trump canceled the refugee program created to give them a pathway to move to the U.S. CNN's Isabel Young went to Afghanistan and spoke with some of those affected. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans worked with the U.S. government during their 20-year war here, as translators, drivers, civil society workers and doctors. Following America's chaotic withdrawal under the Biden administration in 2021, the U.S.

31:11set up a refugee program that would provide a path for Afghans to move to the U.S., a lightning rod for many Republicans. The United States of America never, ever made a promise, written or unwritten, to the people of Afghanistan that if after 20 years they were unable to secure their own country, that we would take them to ours. When Trump returned to power this year, he canceled refugee programs, dismantled the office dedicated to helping Afghans relocate and barred them from entering the US altogether. We've been speaking to a lot of those individuals across the country, but sadly because of security concerns, most of them we're having to speak to on the phone.

31:51On paper, the US says they are still processing cases for people who worked with the US military directly. But many, like this man, are stuck in Afghanistan, living in fear. We've disguised his voice. I know that the Taliban is searching for me. I'm hiding. If I come outside freely, if they phone me, I'm confident that they will present me. They will throw me. They will kill me. Donald Trump became U.S. president. He signed the executor order and all our cases stopped. We stood with U.S. forces side by side for a long term. But now it burned us. Why? Where is the justice? So we've been in touch with one woman who has agreed to meet with us.

32:43She says that it's very risky, that she risks running into the Taliban, she risks travelling by herself, and she's very scared. But she says it's worth it because she really needs to share her story. As a doctor, this woman worked for American charities. With recent US aid cuts, she lost her job. She now feels that her relationship with US organisations has put her and her family's life in danger. You're clearly terrified. You came here, you were shaking. During the way, I saw many Taliban and I'm very afraid from them. What is it like as a woman living in Afghanistan right now? The situation is very bad for the Afghan woman and we don't have any job going to the bazaar, not going to the shopping.

33:35We can't, everything. Just we are in the home and we are afraid from every second of the life we are spent. It's very dangerous. Her communication with the State Department has stopped. The last email she got was in January, just days before Trump returned to the White House. How did you feel when you saw the news that Trump was cancelling these programmes? All the night we are crying. It was very difficult to accept like this. You felt like this was your lifeline? Yes, yes. It broke our head. President Trump has said that he needs to protect the borders, that he needs this America First policy to ensure that it's not dangerous, that no one dangerous enters the US.

34:19No, I'm not agree with this. They broke his promise to Afghan women and Afghan girls. What does it feel like?

34:36What is your message to President Trump?

34:56I'm not feeling safe in here. The US State Department told us they're unable to comment on individual cases or internal operations of refugee processing. And that the president is, quote, committed to helping those who helped us. But that their first priority is always the safety and security of the American people. Well, we're seeing this America First agenda play out across the world in terms of US foreign policy. But obviously, many thousands of people are really impacted and desperate in living in hope that these policies could change. Phil. Isabel Young, remarkable reporting. Thanks so much.

35:36Well, to Russia's war in Ukraine, that's next. And the message today from the Kremlin that may suggest President Trump's attempt to negotiate a peace plan may not pay off anytime soon. I'll ask former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton about Russia's new warning. That's ahead.

35:54In our world lead, quote, a path to nowhere. Those words of warning today from Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, reacting to the idea of European nations leading a so-called coalition of the willing to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace deal, but not including the Russians in that planning. Lavrov added that Moscow has not heard, quoting again, any constructive ideas, end quote, from European leaders on how to end the conflict in Ukraine. With us now is former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton. Mr. Ambassador, really appreciate your time. When you see a comment like that from Sergei Lavrov, does that mean that any hopes of the recent summit leading to some type of peace agreement to end the war are essentially dead in the water?

36:40Well, I think they're disappearing quickly because so many things were said in such a quick period of time that people haven't really realized what the other side was saying. For example, in Alaska, President Trump made a pretty substantial point of saying that Vladimir Putin had conceded he'd be willing to talk about security guarantees for Ukraine. And I remember thinking at the time that that's unusual. Why does Putin want to talk about them? But now you can see he wants to be directly involved in what's going to happen if they can agree on other issues like the land swap that Trump talked about the week before the summit even began, but on which when the European leaders were here, they didn't even discuss.

37:23So I think it's not dead, but it's a little bit like the old saying, the situation as it stands now on the peace talks. You know, if I had some bread, I could have a ham sandwich if I had some ham. You keyed on the president's comments about security guarantees were the same thing. To me, that seemed like a very tangible potential step forward. What could that look like? What is a way to do that? You know, the president meeting with the European leaders in the Oval Office, how do you construct that in a way that could work here? Well, the first thing they have to decide is what the mission is.

37:59Is it something along the lines of a traditional UN peacekeeping mission where a disengagement observer force watches for violations of the ceasefire? And in which case the. Together the two largest and biggest economies in the world, we had the largest trade. Go ahead, sir. So is it a peacekeeping force in UN tradition where there are basically no capacity to engage in force other than in self-defense of the peacekeeping force itself? Or is it a peace enforcement mission where the rules of engagement would permit armed force against a ceasefire violator? And that has enormous implications, which of those two it is, on the U.S.

38:49presence, because we don't really know what President Trump means by supporting the British and French and other troops on the ground through the air. Does he mean combat aircraft engaging Russian forces on the ground and in the air? Or does he mean American transport aircraft? And if it's combat aircraft, what happens if Russian air defenses or their fighters begin killing American pilots? I just don't, I think this whole confusion reflects how fast they're going, how little attention they're paying to the hard issues, and why this thing is beginning to come unraveled. What's your sense of why there's been a lot of talk about a trilateral meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky with President Trump involved in it?

39:37U.S. officials have made clear they view that as kind of a critical next step here. We've not heard the same from Russian representatives, at least in terms of any type of acknowledgement of a trilateral meeting upcoming. Why do you think that is? Well, I don't think they think that there's anything in it for them, basically. And you have to wonder. You have all these quick meetings. You get the principals together. They talk right past each other. They use the same words, but they don't necessarily have the same meanings. This is a very complicated issue. It's not like selling an automobile or something like that.

40:12You can't just have a handshake on something that's gone through three and a half years of combat in several very quick meetings. It's just I think, in fact, if Ukraine really thought it was in jeopardy of losing the substantial territories that Russia is demanding, they wouldn't want a trilateral meeting either. Yeah, that's a really important point. Ambassador John Bolton, as always, sir, thanks for your time. Thank you. Well, we're tracking Hurricane Aaron earlier this hour. The update from the National Hurricane Center. We're live as the force of this system is impacting conditions along the U.S.

40:45East Coast. That's next.

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41:38That's a deal almost as hot as I am. Almost? Sweet? No. Spicy? See for yourself. $4.99 and only at 7-Eleven. Ballot through 825-26. Participating stores only while supplies last. Visit store for full terms. This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper. We're following the breaking news tonight. Hurricane Aaron already walloping parts of the East Coast, stirring dangerous waves high tide in North Carolina just moments away. Now, Aaron is not expected to make landfall, but officials warn its impacts could be severe. Here's North Carolina Governor Josh Stein today.

42:17We are anticipating coastal flooding from massive waves, tropical storm force winds, and tidal and storm surge for much of the state shoreline, life-threatening rip currents for most of the week. No one should be in the ocean. Now, over the past two days, crews have rescued dozens of people from those rip currents on popular East Coast beaches. We have CNN's Diane Gallagher in North Carolina's Outer Banks. CNN's Omar Jimenez in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And CNN's Derek Van Dam is in CNN's hurricane headquarters. And we start, Derek, with you. What's the latest forecast telling you? Okay, so we have the outer rain bands of this massive hurricane now starting to scrape the outer banks of North Carolina.

42:59110 mile per hour winds. This is the latest radar and you can start to see these bands, the outer edge, the outer periphery of Hurricane Aaron and its wind field. This is when the tropical storm force winds could start to impact the outer banks and the very coastal areas of North Carolina. Right now, gusts at Hatteras right around 26 miles per hour, so not quite to that tropical storm strength, but we know it's coming, right? So it's agitating the western Atlantic, sending these huge waves breaking 15 to 20 feet. That's nearly two stories high. Now think about the high tide, which is occurring right about now.

43:35And then we're going to go through that low tide cycle at about midnight. And then tomorrow morning, when we get that closest approach with Hurricane Aaron, the winds will come out of the northeast right along the Outer Banks. And that high tide cycle at 626 in the morning could coincide with that passing of the hurricane. And that brings the potential for major storm surge implications, at least for the outer banks and some of those east and southeast facing shorelines. This is the current storm surge right now. This is above normally dry land. They're calling for two to four feet at its peak, especially the outer banks.

44:08And there is that rip current risk all along that 2000 miles of real estate here along the eastern seaboard. That is something we're going to monitor. Stay out of the water. Phil? Diane, to that point, we've heard up to 20-foot waves could hit the Outer Banks. Are people there heeding local officials' warnings? So we're not seeing those 20-foot waves at this point, but you can see that the surf is a little bit rough behind us right now. Honestly, it's just started to kick up probably within the last 45 minutes or so. This is Jeanette's Pier here in Nags Head. It actually was taken out by a hurricane about 22 years ago.

44:44So they rebuilt again. And you see there's plenty of people who are watching, walking along this pier, looking at the waves. I'll be honest, for the most part, we've seen people staying out of the water today. And that is reflected in far fewer rescues being reported because of those dangerous rip currents along the coastline. So we've seen a couple lifeguards have come, told them to get out of the water because of that danger. It's a double red flag day. It was yesterday. It's going to be tomorrow. and potentially a couple days throughout the week. The biggest concern for many here in this area right now is, of course, North Carolina Highway 12.

45:22That is the road that connects the Outer Banks, again, nearly 200 miles of these barrier islands. And this is how they basically get to each other. So if NC-12 has overwash or if it's broken up in some way, you can't get out. And that was the reason for those mandatory evacuations of Ocracoke and of Hatteras Island. And that's the reason why they told tourists, look, if you're not comfortable being stuck for a couple days, you need to go ahead and leave the Outer Banks right now because it takes time to get that fixed. We witnessed multiple North Carolina DOT crews today taking sand, fortifying those sand dunes because these are very narrow areas, It's three and a half miles at the widest point, about 150 yards at the most narrow.

46:10We're already starting to see a little bit of overwash on NC-12 further south from here. Now, again, those are areas that tend to have it anyway at high tide, but we're seeing the initial impacts right now. Yeah. Listen to local officials. Omar, over to you. Like the scale of this up and down kind of the Atlantic coast of the United States is what's so striking here. We've been hearing about these dangerous riptides. What are conditions like in Atlantic City? Yeah, so right now here in Atlantic City, the good thing is we haven't seen too many people at the beach, at least right now. Earlier, there were a lot more people, but right now we're just a few minutes away from high tide here.

46:47You can sort of see how far the water has come up. The waves have been pretty strong over the course of the day. But what's interesting, as you talk about sort of the scale and size of this hurricane, is, you know, people here that we've been speaking to on the beach, they hear a hurricane and they think it's going to be incredibly gusty. It's going to be incredibly rainy. And obviously, we're not anticipating that direct hit. But it's these hazardous coastal conditions that officials are so worried about. But not too worried, clearly. We've been watching this amusement park. Things are still going on like normal there.

47:20It's more about the water itself. So they've told people to stay out of the water, which I can say since we've been out here this afternoon, even though people have been at the beach, they have been out of the water. This is also expected to be the beginning of Hurricane Aaron's effects in this part of New Jersey. We're expecting the peak to happen around tomorrow. That's when we could see waves up to 12 feet. That's when we could see some more of those wind gusts around 35 to 50 miles per hour. That is also when we could start seeing likely the major effects of coastal flooding, this area under a coastal flood warning as well.

47:55So the deception here from the people that we've been speaking to is, you look out, it's actually pretty nice out here. It's pretty beautiful. Windy, breezy. The waves, again, pretty thick and heavy as they've come in. But the reason they've told people to stay out of this water is the effects of rip currents. They make rescues up and down this coast for rip currents all the time on a regular basis. So in a situation like this, where you're looking at increased strength from the outskirts of Hurricane Aaron, especially so they want people to stay away, even if it looks as beautiful as this. Yeah, a critical, important message, even if there is some deception there.

48:32Derek, I want to swing back over to you because there's actually a couple more storms trailing Hurricane Aaron here. What are you seeing? Yeah, that's right, Phil. So we've got Aaron here. The parade of storms continues behind it, right? So we're watching this area of kind of a flare-up of showers and thunderstorms east of the Windward Islands. You can see the official forecast kind of trajectory of this cluster of thunderstorms, potentially moving over the extreme northeastern sections of the Leeward Islands as we head into the early parts of the weekend. This has got a 60 % chance of development.

49:04We'll keep a close eye on it before it recurs back out to sea, the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And then we've got yet another wave that's just moved off the west coast of Africa. This has got a 40 % chance of development over the next seven days. It will likely get its act together here in the next couple of days, and then it's going to enter into kind of an unfavorable atmosphere. So we're going to monitor this closely. We'll see if it continues to make its trek westward towards the Caribbean. Phil. Derek, Diane, Omar, critical eyes and ears for us in the hours ahead. We'll certainly be looking to you for updates throughout the course of the evening.

49:38Well, joining us now is Chris Cahoon Noble, manager of Hyde County, which includes Ocracoke Island. You just heard Diane talking about that under mandatory evacuation. We can see the trees swaying behind you, Chris. The North Carolina ferry system has evacuated, I believe, over 2 ,200 people, 1 ,100 cars from Ocracoke Island. The last ferry just left a few minutes ago. Do you know if everyone on the island is evacuated? We still have some folks here on the island where we believe most of our visitors have left. We still have some diehard locals that are still around. What's your message? Sure.

50:19I think that we've been really busy the last few days making preparations. We're pretty accustomed to having to make these preparations. We expect our peak storm conditions and our peak storm impacts to begin tomorrow. Now, because this is an open ocean event, our biggest concern is, of course, Highway 12. Just as Diane said, that is our biggest concern right now. Now, Ocracoke is a true barrier island off the coast of North Carolina. And I say it's a true barrier island by the fact there's no bridge. It's only accessible by North Carolina ferry system or private boat or plane. Our main thoroughfare to Hatteras Island is the route that we utilize for emergency medical services.

51:10It's the route we use for our vendors. Also, it carries our largest volume of people in and out of Ocracoke Island. Now, in order to access that ferry field on the north end of our island, you have to travel down Highway 12 that is parallel to the ocean. and it's in very close proximity to the ocean. And that, of course, with the sheer amount of wave energy that we're expecting, we're very concerned about the fragility of that section of Highway 12. Now, we've experienced road allergies in the past with smaller storms for weeks, and we actually lost access for several months following Hurricane Dorian in September of 2019.

51:58And we do expect Erin to have similar impacts. Our next high tide is upon us now. And up until now, we've had really moderate ocean overwash of the highway with standing water already on each side of that highway and sand on the highway. It is still passable, but we do not expect that to last through this tide cycle. We're out monitoring conditions with the DOT, the Park Service, and the Sheriff's Office. And as you said, we've evacuated a little over 2 ,200 people over the last few days. And as that last ferry just left and Highway 12 being closed now, we're on the island until conditions improve.

52:49We are all certainly thinking about you guys. As we know, you have a lot of experience in these types of moments and in the hours ahead. They're certainly prepared for it. Chris Cahunobel, really appreciate your time. Thanks so much. Thank you. Well, much more on our breaking news ahead as we follow the track of Hurricane Aaron and the warnings up the coast of the eastern United States about life-threatening rip currents and storm surge. Plus, Elon Musk is now pushing back after reports claimed he was abandoning his plans to form a third party to stand the good graces of Vice President J.D. Vance.

53:20It's our panel. Weighs in. That's next.

53:26In our politics lead, President Trump pressuring yet another top official, the Federal Reserve, to resign. Lisa Cook, a Biden-appointed Fed governor, is facing allegations of mortgage fraud by Federal Housing Agency Director Bill Pulte. A letter from Pulte to the Justice Department, first reported by Bloomberg, alleges that Cook, quote, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute. I'll bring in my panel. Pulte is a Trump ally. Eva McKenna, Jeff Seleney, appreciate you guys coming in. He has done this to multiple Democratic officials related to mortgages.

54:02This is his latest iteration of things. And he said this on CNBC. I want you to take a listen. I think she needs to resign quickly. You know, I say these things about Powell needing to resign and everything on the political side. This is very different. OK, there's a lot of questions here. And that's why I'm saying for the sake of the country, she should just resign. And I do think this is a very different situation than, you know, the chair. I really do believe that. Now, Cook, in her response, says the mortgage application in question was from before she joined the Fed. Her statement that we just got reads in part, I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet.

54:38I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts. Jeff, Pulte says this is different. This is not like the pressure campaign against Jay Powell or the Fed in general, is it? Well, look, I mean, that's one of the sort of downsides, I guess, for sounding the alarm about firing someone all the time. Because when you sound the alarm again, they start to sound the same. So he says it's different. But look, I mean, the animosity at the Federal Reserve is clear. Look, we don't know the facts here in particular. We will find out if there actually is something there.

55:16I mean, Ms. Cook just said if there are questions, she will respond, not in a tweet. But the bigger point here is that we're in this mode where investigations are being just called at a drop of a hat. I'm beginning to lose track of all the investigations that the DOJ is supposed to be doing. I have no idea how they're going to get to the bottom of all of these investigations, really across the board of government. And as for the Federal Reserve, I mean, she was appointed. The president obviously has made his displeasure quite well known about the Federal Reserve. This is just an easy punching bag, I think.

55:54And my guess is that this won't have a lot of staying power unless there actually is something there with her mortgage. And then we'll find out. Yeah. You think that's probably the right answer here? I think that occupancy cases are rare. And so for a group that constantly complains about the Justice Department being weaponized, they are going to have a hard time if they're trying to be intellectually consistent beating this drum here. We'll see what the facts ultimately are. But listen, if he is successful in his quest to push her out, it gives him an opportunity to elevate someone who is more in line with his ultimate policy goal of lowering interest rates.

56:34That is what this is all about and arguably why she is being bullied. You know, they say that this is not about politics, but from everything that we have seen today, it is about politics. Yeah, just to make that point, this is about politics. And it's the exact same thing as what's happening to Jay Powell. And they can say whatever they want about what they're trying to do with the investigation. Like, this is about getting a 4-3 majority in the Fed governors and anybody who tells you differently is lying to you. I want to move on to Elon Musk. There was a report in the Wall Street Journal that he was no longer going to pursue, or at least was backing off a plan to pursue his third party.

57:06He subsequently responded to the Wall Street Journal in a post about a report saying nothing the Wall Street Journal says should ever be thought of as true. But what the report highlights is there haven't been a lot of steps towards this third party. He's got a ton of money. What's happening here, Zalini? Take us behind the scenes. Look, I mean, Elon Musk has been burned by his involvement in politics. I mean, it worked for him in the sense of helping Donald Trump get elected. But it's been bad for business. It has been bad for his stock prices. So I think that that is something that he has in mind.

57:37We know how difficult third parties are. I mean, he announced he was going to do a third party when he was very frustrated with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And he thought that the conservatives also were not holding to their principles of being a fiscally conservative. So he thought a new party, a third party, there would be a market for it. There is a market for it in some respects, but it's very hard to do. So if he would actually put his money into it, it would be fascinating. But I think that he has been burned by being in politics and he knows it's not good for the business side. So he would have to sort of divorce himself and just allow himself to have even a lower stock price on Tesla if he wanted to get back involved in politics.

58:22I think he wants back in, you know, even with all of the money in the world. It seems like what animates him is proximity to power. That's why he's keeping this line of communication open with the vice president. But listen, no one is watching this more closely than Democrats. They don't shout it from the rafters, but quietly they wish that they would have done more to placate Elon Musk so they could have benefited from$300 million last year for the presidential nominee and Democrats across the country. And they are eager to see how this plays out, because no doubt if Elon Musk were to start that America Party, it would eat from the MAGA base.

59:00If Joe Biden just would have invited him to that one meeting in 2021. Eva, I want to ask you, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was booed off the stage this week at an event in her own district. Take a listen to this. Our Congresswoman from New York 21, Elise Stefanik.

59:19So that's happening amid the redistricting discussion happening around her state in New York and California. This is an interesting dynamic. What does it mean, if anything? It sure is, Phil. Literally booed off the state. She had to take a minute and step aside so that the ceremony could continue. I used to be a reporter in this market, Plattsburgh, Burlington, Vermont. So I went back and looked at the local reporting on this because it's interesting to see how it was received. And on top of all of that drama, she is beefing with the Clinton County Republican chair. They're on the stage together, not talking to each other.

59:52And behind the scenes, they are accusing her of being a bully. So all of that is going on. But what I think is interesting is that Stefanik ultimately can repackage this, right? She can argue liberals go after me just like they go after President Trump. And what we have seen is sort of the full evolution of Elise Stefanik from Bush Republican to MAGA loyalist. And this is, I think, an outgrowth of that. That's spicy local market politics. I kind of love it. She's nothing if not very adept at handling these moments. Jeff Zeleny, Eva McKenna, appreciate you guys. Thank you. You bet. Well, parts of the East Coast under a state of emergency right now as Hurricane Aaron brings destructive waves and storm surge.

1:00:32We're going to get an update from CNN's Hurricane Headquarters next. Plus, today, another judge rejected efforts to release documents in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. So what actually comes next here? Will the files ever be released? Stay with us.

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1:01:35That's a deal almost as hot as I am. Almost? Sweet? No. Spicy? See for yourself. $4.99 and only at 7-Eleven. Ballot through 825-26. Participating stores only while supplies last. Visit store for full terms. We are back with the breaking news and our national lead, Hurricane Aaron creating dangerous rip currents off the East Coast. CNN's Derek Van Dam is in CNN's Hurricane headquarters. Derek, what can folks expect from this storm as we get closer to nightfall? All right, Phil. So I believe in the next coming hours that the outer rain bands of Hurricane Aaron will start to scrape the outer banks.

1:02:10So deteriorating conditions can be anticipated, especially for those coastal areas. We're talking about the outer banks right now. Aaron is just about 275 miles due south of Cape Hatteras as we speak. And you can see the gusts there, about 26 miles per hour, but it needs to be sustained above 39 miles per hour for this to be tropical storm conditions. So when will that happen? Let's time it out for you. Here is our forecast wind gusts, and you can see Cape Hatteras there right around 4 a.m. this morning. That's when we anticipate gusts to be above that threshold. And then as we take you through the early morning hours and into the middle parts of your Thursday, look at that.

1:02:46The coastal areas of Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula, Atlantic City may be reaching that tropical storm status in terms of these outer rain bands. That is why we have these tropical storm warnings in place from Moorhead City all the way to Atlantic City. Bill? Critical updates as always. Derek Van Dam, thanks so much. Well, now to our law and justice lead and another blow to the DOJ's efforts to unseal grand jury testimony related to the investigation of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Today, a federal judge in New York declined to unseal that testimony, calling the DOJ's request, quote, a diversion from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the government's possession.

1:03:24I'm joined now by CNN's Evan Perez. Evan, you have new reporting, really good new reporting, on how Attorney General Pam Bondi is reasserting control over the Justice Department following the intense backlash she faced because of this issue. What do you find? Because of this very issue. Look, Pam Bondi is back. She is so back. You've seen her in the last few days on Fox News. which really was her perch, right? Since she took office in February, she's been a regular voice on various Fox shows, sort of, again, cheerleading the president, attacking his opponents. And so what you're seeing in this past few days is her kind of consolidating some of the power, right?

1:04:01She's got Dan Bongino, who was a critic internally about her handling of the Epstein documents and who confronted her, essentially, and kind of put it up to the president to decide whether it was her or him. And the answer is, obviously, she is the one that gets to stay. It appears from her decision this week to announce that Andrew Bailey, the Missouri attorney general, is going to become a co-deputy director of the FBI is an indication that Bongino is on his way out. And what this means is, you know, she's won the power struggle. Not that really she was in any danger. It's clear President Trump really trusts her and wants her in that job.

1:04:41But a lot of pitfalls remain for Bondi. And that reminder is just today from this judge who told everyone, again, that the government has a lot of documents in its possession that it has the power to release. It doesn't need this very limited number of files that are sealed because they were grand jury information. The judge points out that the government has a lot of information that they can release related to the Jeffrey Epstein case, and they still have not done so. So we'll see on Friday when the James Comer and the House Republicans start getting some of these files that they subpoenaed, whether that sheds any new light and whether this Epstein matter can really finally be behind Pam Bondi.

1:05:28So you're saying getting a co-deputy director, the spin that this wasn't them layering over Dan Bongino, maybe don't buy that? Don't buy it. Evan Perez, appreciate you, my friend. Joining me now is Julie Kay Brown. She's an investigative reporter with the Miami Herald covering the Epstein story for years. She's also the author of Perversion of Justice, the Jeffrey Epstein story. Julie, really appreciate your time. Evan just mentioned the House Oversight Committee, the plans on receiving some of the Epstein files they subpoenaed from the Justice Department starting tomorrow. Yesterday, they said they'll make some of those documents public.

1:05:59Today, you posted about your expectations and included the image of a black hole, which I don't want to draw too many conclusions here, but it's fair to say doesn't seem like you're optimistic. Why not? Well, I mean, let's just look at the history. Pam Bondi had promised early on in her tenure that she was going to release all these Epstein files, that she had the list on her desk. And then she proceeded to release this binder to a small segment of social media influencers. And we know that that fell very flat because it was all dated information that had been made public years before. Now, it's possible they've learned their lesson and perhaps that they'll be smarter about this release.

1:06:44But it still remains to be seen whether they're going to really release something that's really tangible and that's substantial. given the fact also that they've tried to get around it in some ways. And this is basically what the judge has said today. And the judge last week said the same thing, that they've been trying to get around the promise that they had made to release these documents, all the government documents, all the Epstein files, and to get around it all of a sudden. Now they're trying to use the courts and trying to use this method of unsealing grand jury files, which are very limited in what they reveal.

1:07:27The judge pointed out we learned something new today. The judge pointed out, for example, that only one FBI agent testified before the grand jury. So there's only 70 pages in that grand jury testimony that they've asked to be unsealed. So this is the reason I sort of feel skeptical. I think a lot of the public and especially the victims feel skeptical about what they're going to release, even to the committee. Look, it's merited at this point. There's no question about that. And I think it's also what was what struck me about a statement that we got from the spokesperson of the oversight committee who said, in addition to redacting information to protect victims abused by Epstein, quote, the committee will also consult with the DOJ to ensure any documents released do not negatively impact ongoing cases and investigations.

1:08:13Are you aware of any ongoing criminal cases? Because you remember DOJ's July memo said their investigation hadn't found any evidence that could, quote, predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties. I mean, it's hard to know. I mean, that's been the big mystery with this whole scandal, really, the whole Epstein scandal, because we know that there are other people that were involved that he didn't do this alone. One would hope that the Justice Department is continuing to investigate who else was involved. I haven't heard any indication of that. My sources haven't told me that they've opened any kind of investigation related to that.

1:08:55So it's anybody's guess what that means. Last week, you posted this on X, quote, the Miami Herald and I have a massive amount of Epstein documents. I've been trying to get them to a place where everyone can have access to them, minus victim info. Based on the documents that you've obtained during your reporting, what kind of documents do you think the DOJ is going to share with Congress here? Well, I can't tell you what they're going to share because I really don't know. I mean, they could hold back all kinds of stuff where they can present a lot of different things. But there are several pieces of information that would be revealing that they could release.

1:09:33For one thing, at the time that Epstein was first arrested back in 2005, 2006. fix and the Justice Department took over the case, they did draw up a very large indictment against him. They were prepared to prosecute him for sex crimes. And that was set aside in favor of this sweetheart deal. It would be good to see, and I think the victims especially would like to see what they knew and, you know, how much information did they have on the extent of his crimes? Because my reporting has revealed that they minimized his crimes. They knew that there were dozens and dozens of victims, but they minimized that in order to let him get this sweetheart deal.

1:10:21Julie Kay Brown, always appreciate you. Thanks so much. Thank you. Well, some breaking news. Texas House Republicans have just taken a procedural vote to advance their plan to redraw the state's congressional maps. A final vote could come as soon as tonight. We'll be watching. We're back in a moment.

1:10:43In the money lead, McDonald's is slashing the prices of its combo meals. With the CEO responding to concerns, the menu is now, quote, too expensive. Pizza Hut, it's hoping its new$5 pizza will bring budget-conscious customers back after seven consecutive quarters of sales declines. Which brings us to our Business Leaders series, where we hear from small business owners from coast to coast about Trump's tariffs. Surf, Wind & Fire is a 20-year-old outdoor lifestyle company in North Carolina with four retail locations and a manufacturing facility. Owner Danny Batten joins me now. Danny, really appreciate your time.

1:11:17Just to kind of start for people, what's the biggest challenge your business has faced from tariffs? Well, on the manufacturing side, it's working with our suppliers that are overseas. we primarily work with suppliers in Taiwan and Vietnam, and we've had some fluctuations in what the tariffs would be, especially in Vietnam. So there was one point it went up to, you know, a nominal 48, and I think now it's down to about 20 percent. So kind of navigating the uncertainty around that tariff number. I feel like we'll probably settle out at 20 for now, and that allows us to sort of introduce new pricing to make sure we address that issue.

1:12:02On the retail side of it, our vendors are kind of all over the place. Some are raising their MSRP, their manufacturer suggested retail price. Others are just adding on a surcharge to an invoice and then leaving it up to the retailer to decide how to deal with it. And then I've noticed some of our vendors are not really raising their prices, but they're reducing their staff, especially in the support staff, like our sales and marketing, the people we work with that mainly work on commission, the ones we would probably work with at a trade show, they're being let go. Fluctuations when it comes to Vietnam and Taiwan could not be the bigger understatement based on covering their service course in the last several months.

1:12:49Like if you think about it, Taiwan is still kind of in the midst of potentially reaching a deal with the administration. We've been reporting on that. We don't necessarily know where it's going to land. I can't imagine what that's like for you. How do you handle the costs here? Like do you absorb them? Are you raising prices? How do you navigate that? So far we have absorbed the cost. We also front loaded our inventory a little bit. So we've not ordered a lot since the tariffs have gone into place. but we have ordered some. And then one way where one of our strategies, and I'm going to use a little prop, I'm going to use the Ohio State flag knowing that you're from Ohio.

1:13:28And so what we're doing now is typically we would make patches like this in Taiwan with threading that was a little more earth-friendly, and it would be recycled threading. And it gives us this really sort of matted vintage look. But now what I'm doing is I'm selectively using the more expensive thread and then I'm also incorporating some cheaper thread, like some cheaper polyester threads into the product mix. So hopefully the product still looks as good, but it's bringing the price down a little bit. It's sort of the manufacturing equivalent of putting less potato chips in the potato chip bag.

1:14:02You don't need to curry favor with me, but the Ohio flag, well played, very well played. You mentioned your ability to kind of front load or front run in terms of inventory. How long does that sustain? Like how long until you're going to have to pass down prices or you're going to have to make staff cuts? How do you forecast things going forward? Man, so recently I just got back from a trade show and it looks like I think we are going to hold prices all the way to the end of the year. And a lot of our vendors are doing that. Some are. I'm already getting a lot of notices of prices increases starting in the fall season, which really starts now.

1:14:40But most of the vendors that I work with, you're really going to start seeing price increases around the first of the year. So January 1, 2026, it was just notice after notice after notice that I'm getting from vendors that, hey, this is when our prices are going to increase. So I think most everybody along the supply chain, it's been so unstable. They're just kind of holding the prices and absorbing some of that cost right now. But I think by the end of the fourth quarter, it'll change. Well, people should know they can shop, surf, wind, and fire in New Bern, North Carolina, or as I'm going to do after the show to get that Ohio flag online as well.

1:15:21Danny Batten, really appreciate your time. Thanks so much. Thank you so much, Phil. Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is speeding up his timeline for his new offensive in Gaza. But some of the reservists he's calling up to serve, they say they aren't going to show up. That's next.

1:15:43In our world lead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ordering a shorter timeline for Israel's offensive in Gaza City, according to his office. Reports in the Israeli press say Israel's defense minister approved the military's plan, and senior IDF officials say around 120 ,000 reservists will be mobilized for the offensive. But as CNN's Oren Lieberman reports, some of the reservists have misgivings. The drums of war are pounding Gaza City. A new Israeli military operation has been targeting the largest city in the Northern Strip, one that will require a surge of reserve soldiers to go back to fight again.

1:16:22Avshalom Zohar Sal is a reservist who documented his time in Gaza in these photographs. He says he spent more than 300 days in Gaza on four different deployments. The last one ended one month ago. I'm a little in shock that we're still in this thing, he says. I'm a little in shock that we're still talking about this war that was supposed to end a long time ago. And I think if you were to ask everyone in my unit, it's hard for everyone. The doubts, he says, began creeping in one year ago, and they've only grown. This month, Israel's security cabinet approved the occupation of Gaza City, a major escalation that could take five months or more.

1:17:00war. Zohar Sal says he's not going back. I think this decision is a death sentence for the hostages, he says. The government talked and said all the time that we're talking about two missions for this war, to return the hostages and to defeat Hamas. Now it's telling us there's only one goal, which I believe is not achievable, to destroy Hamas. And even this won't destroy Hamas. Amid some of the largest protests Israel has seen since the beginning of the war, families of the hostages are calling the planned operation a deception, an unforgivable moral and security neglect. A recent study of reserve soldiers suggested approximately 40 percent were slightly or significantly less motivated to serve.

1:17:42The military's top general warned the security cabinet of the burden on manpower, an exhausted army in a war that won't end. Israel's military relies on reservists to keep fighting, and the military said Wednesday that the takeover of Gaza City will require up to 60 ,000 more troops. Dan Halutz is the former Israeli military chief of staff. I believe that some of them will stay home. When something is coming to an end, you feel it, and it comes to an end. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the intense fighting would be over by now. Once we begin the Rafah operation, the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion.

1:18:22Not months, weeks away from completion. That was February 2024. 18 months later, Netanyahu says a new operation is the fastest way to end what has long since become Israel's longest war. The military says the new operation to take over and occupy Gaza City will require 120 ,000 reserve troops in total, 20 ,000 of whom they say will have their time in the reserves extended as part of this operation. And that's in addition to the active duty troops required for this new fight. And there you see the burden on the military after two years of war. Oren Lieberman, CNN in Jerusalem. Our thanks to CNN's Oren Lieberman for that report.

1:19:04Well, we are tracking Hurricane Aaron as the storm sends nearly 30-foot waves crashing onto parts of the U.S. East Coast for updates throughout the night. Of course, keep it here on CNN and CNN.com. We're back with more ahead.

1:19:24In our money, lead a furry monster with sharp teeth, but no one is actually scared. We're talking, of course, about the boo-boos. They have taken the world of social media by storm. The ugly, cute plush comes in a keychain, comes in a blind box. You don't know necessarily which dollar you're going to get until you open it up. And the Chinese company behind the plush just reported a net profit of nearly 400 % in the first half of this year. I want to bring in Valerie Trapp. She's an assistant editor at The Atlantic. You, as a parent, reading this piece was really helpful for me to understand this current obsession.

1:19:57You wrote about how the phenomenon of Blububu isn't necessarily new. We've seen this before. You have Hello Kitty keychains back in the 90s. What is it about libubus that has caught on this time around? Yeah, thanks so much for having me. And so the point of what feels new about the libubu is, you know, we've been talking about like that scarcity factor that you mentioned, as well as the blind box factor. But something that I found really interesting when talking to scholars in my reporting was the idea of kidulthood, which is the idea that the boundary between childhood and adulthood has been getting a bit blurrier and blurrier.

1:20:30And this is something that the scholars trace back all the way to the Enlightenment. And that kind of showcases how today in our culture, people are starting to kind of push back against some of the more serious kind of descriptions of adulthood and inject a little bit more play into adult life. So I'm so glad you raised that because this idea of there doesn't seem to be an age boundary here, right? My three-year-old has one, don't necessarily know how or why. But Madonna recently posted that she had a Lububu cake for her 67th birthday. That's a pretty wide range in terms of an audience, in terms of consumers willing to buy.

1:21:08Explain more about why adults are leaning in here. Totally. So what's really interesting, too, about the Lububu is that there has always been this little bit of a shame element a lot in U.S. culture about having a cute object or a plushie when you're an adult. But because of this kind of like adulthood aspect, people have been kind of embracing a lot more of this. And especially we've seen this kind of for the past few years, since the pandemic especially, there have been a lot of booming sales for different stuffed animals. But the Labubu feels really unique in that it's like one step further in this trend, in the sense that a lot of people, as you mentioned, from all age ranges, are attaching them especially onto backpacks or purses or taking them to the office, taking them to work.

1:21:51Whereas before you might have left a stuffed animal at home as an adult, now it's a much more public display of cuteness. Yeah, and celebrities obviously all in on those public displays as well. It certainly doesn't hurt the sales, I imagine. Is there another item out there right now that has a similar cultural appeal to Lububu? I would say that the Lububu does feel pretty unique in how widespread the craze has become. But I do think it kind of speaks to different cultural attitudes and aesthetics that are becoming a bit more popular. And the piece as well, I mentioned the brat aesthetic as something that kind of has this like ironic, more like embrace of the ugly, cute and messy as opposed to the prepped and polished.

1:22:37So I think that the Le Bubu kind of fits within that broader aesthetic trend, though it does feel like in terms of an object, pretty unique. Yeah, I don't think there's any question about whatever they're doing. It is very clearly working. You captured it so well in your piece in The Atlantic. You should definitely go and read that online. Valerie Trapp, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. And my apologies to our team. I forgot to bring in my child's, LaBubu. But we now know a lot more about it. You can follow the show on X at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can, of course, listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

1:23:07Aaron Burnett, Out Front, starts now.

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