Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump To Hold News Conference As GOP Pressures Harris To Speak To Press; Latest Weekly Employment Report Calms Fears About Job Market; Mortgage Rates Fall To Their Lowest In More Than A Year; U.S. Slow To Settle Over Camp LeJeune's Toxic Water. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 08, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:21]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Just minutes from now, former President Donald Trump says he'll be holding a news conference. And to be clear, we don't know exactly what that entails.

Will he take questions? Will he just give remarks? We don't know. But it comes as his campaign ramps up the pressure for Vice President Harris to answer more questions from reporters.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Here is Senator J.D. Vance in Wisconsin yesterday after his plane landed on the same tarmac as Air Force Two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE, (R), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I figured I'd come and I wanted to take a good look at the plane since, hopefully, it's going to be my plane in a few months.

But I also thought you guys might get lonely because the vice president doesn't answer questions from reporters and hasn't for 17 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That is true bracketing, kind of showing up and shadowing your opponent there.

Let's talk about this further with CNN media correspondent, Hadas Gold, and CNN political commentator, S.E. Cupp. She's also the host the new roundtable program, "Battleground."

All right, Hadas to you first.

Do we have any idea when Harris will be holding a news conference or a sit-down interview?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Guys, we don't even have official word on debates yet, so, no, we don't have any information yet on when the vice president will be holding a news conference or doing an interview, "Politico" has reported that there are rumblings potentially of a joint sit-down interview with her V.P. pick, with Governor Walz but, so far, nothing official.

I think her last interview was actually the night of the CNN debate, that disastrous debate for President Joe Biden, where she was -- went on air right away with our own Anderson Cooper and then also with MSNBC. And was actually praised as a pretty strong showing for her.

But we haven't seen her talk to the media yet. But I think, to be clear, a lot of these calls for her to talk, to do these press conferences are coming from us. They're coming from the media. They're coming from the political operatives.

Because I think the average voter, they're saying, I see her, I see her on my screen, I'm watching these rallies, she's in my TikTok feed.

And the Harris campaign clearly is just going to ride this wave for as long as possible.

Listen, eight million people watched her first rally with Governor Walz, eight million people. Those are pretty good ratings. And that's showing them they don't necessarily need to right away sit down to do one of these interviews.

They're raising lots of money. They're getting lots of attention. They're going to ride this wave as much as possible.

However, a drumbeat is growing. And it's a drumbeat not only from the Trump campaign, who is going to keep up this attack line, but it's also coming from reporters themselves.

The veteran White House -- former White House correspondent, Ron Fournier, he said that every day that she doesn't talk to the media is what he calls "political malpractice."

And we're going to see here this drum beat growing more and more until she does finally sit down for an interview. And for right now, also, it's an easy attack line for the Trump campaign to use.

[13:34:59]

DEAN: And, S.E., to Hadas' point there, look, the Harris campaign is on TV a ton right now. They're getting a ton of attention. She is in people's TikTok feeds, Twitter feeds. They are seeing her.

In the past, she's run into some trouble when she's had sit-down interviews. And do you think this is the right strategy? And do you think that the

average voter really cares one way or the other?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, they should. And there's a difference between visibility and accountability. And being visible is -- is great. She's not hiding. They're out there.

They're -- they're doing rallies. They're meeting with voters. They're shaking hands. They're delivering one-liners. That's great.

I think Kamala Harris is giving Tim Walz a moment as well to introduce himself to the country.

But they also need to be held accountable, accountable for their records, hers as vice president and Senator, his as a governor and a representative in the House.

And they need to be accountable for an agenda that they have yet to present. Voters do want to know -- and especially those swing state voters, guys.

Swing-state voters don't want to be told by a vice-presidential candidate to be afraid of childless cat ladies. They want to be told I have a solution to a problem that's really important to you.

And those swing-state voters, those undecideds are undecided for a reason because no one's giving them those solutions yet.

So Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will have to explain what their agenda is. They'll have to reconcile their records.

You know, Tim Walz, in Minnesota, has a very progressive record, some social policies that are far outside where the majority of American voters are. He'll have to explain that. He'll have to explain what the Harris agenda will incorporate of that, if anything. Will they merge their policies?

Voters do want to know that. And you know, you can sort of take out of the mix the voters that are already with Kamala Harris and the voters that are already with Donald Trump. But everyone else, voters that they need to win, still want these answers.

KEILAR: And right now also, S.E., Tim Walz needs to answer some questions -- well, he would if he sat for an interview, that J.D. Vance's raising about his military record.

Things that he has said about, quote, " carrying a gun in war," about his rank, which has been misrepresented, what he retired with versus what he attained.

And then this more questionable thing about whether he pieced out on a deployment to Iraq.

But I just wonder, at what point, do you think, it comes in a campaign where they actually say, OK, we really need to, this benefits us, we need to sit down and be seen as if we are being asked tough questions that we can answer.

CUPP: Yes, it's not a great look, acting as if you don't need the media, you don't care about answering these questions, that you're above it, that you can ride on vibes.

And you know, they're riding on vibes. And I get that. This is a very truncated campaign. They've had to do everything very quickly.

And I believe that they will sit down with reporters, but they need to do it, those kinds of personal questions.

And I saw your great reporting on that particular issue with Tim Walz, Brianna, earlier. You know, they need to answer for that. And these don't have to be fatal questions, but they need to answer for that.

And they need to show that they're tough enough to do that. And that they're not too scared to do that. And the longer they take to sit down, the more scared they look.

KEILAR: S.E., Hadas, thank you so much to both of you.

This drumbeat will continue, to your point, Hadas. It certainly will.

Thank you to you both.

And next, optimism on Wall Street after what was a massive sell-off on Monday. What is driving stocks higher today?

[13:39:59]

DEAN: And Debby is not done yet. The deadly storm making its second landfall, spawning tornadoes and flooding. We're following the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Anyone with money invested in the stock market can probably leave the Pepto-Bismol in the medicine cabinets today. Just take a breath.

After a solid report on jobless claims, some of the worries about the job market and the economy from earlier this week seem to be fading.

Let's discuss more with CNN's Julia Chatterley.

And, Julia, after that drop on Monday, you told us there was fear, but not panic. What would you say the mood is today?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Better. But just to be clear, two good pieces of data shouldn't have this kind of bang for buck in the stock market. So please keep those Tums or the Pepto-Bismol close at hand.

But I do like being the bearer of good news and that's what I am today. So we'll talk about those jobless claims first.

We saw a 17,000-person drop in the number of people in the latest data asking for help from the government. Now, it's still a lot of people asking for help, let's be clear, but it's a lot better than expected.

Also, Texas. There was a big drop in the number of people there that were asking for help, too. Why do we care? Well, Hurricane Beryl hit Texas during the collection period for Friday's data.

So it perhaps hints that we could get some payback from that bad number from Friday if those weather effects kick out. Bottom line, this number is consistent with a slowing jobs market not a collapsing one. It's also consistent, I think, with a quarter of a percentage point cut in interest rates in September. And mortgage issuers are already listening.

DEAN: And there's some good news for home buyers today. What can you tell us about that?

[13:45:02]

CHATTERLEY: And this is exactly the point. So mortgage rates, as a result of that, dropped to the lowest level in more than a year. For a 30-year mortgage now, we've got rates at around just shy of 6.5 percent. That was a quarter of a percentage point higher just a week ago.

And it's already seeing people looking at the option of refinancing to a lower rate. In fact, 40 percent of those applications in the recent weeks to Freddie Mac are people looking to do exactly that to refinance lower. So this is good news, I think, and a welcome relief for potential homebuyers.

And final quick point, all markets, since the session opened on Friday, by the way, we are virtually back to where we started. So roller coaster, Jessica, is exactly the right word.

And to go back to that point that you we're making so well, the lesson here is don't panic on those down days. Just try and hold tight to something.

DEAN: Yes. Just hold on. And ride it out.

All right, Julia Chatterley, good advice. Thank you so much.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're keeping our eye on.

A new tornado watch is in effect for parts so North Carolina and Virginia as Tropical Storm Debby is lashing the southeast. Nearly seven million people are on alert.

The storm has already spawned at least 11 and tornadoes. This is some of the damage in Wilson County, North Carolina, which is just east of Raleigh.

Debby has dumped more than a foot of rain over parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina this week, killing at least six people. The storm will move into Pennsylvania, New York and New England over the weekend.

In Alaska, major flooding also happening there. Not from rain though. It's coming from a glacier. This is Juno where more than 100 homes have been damaged or impacted by what's called a glacial lake outburst. City leaders say this happens when a lake of melting snow and ice

drains too fast, kind of like when you pull the stopper in a bathtub and the water rushes out.

These flooding events have occurred regularly since 2011, stemming from climate change.

And the family of one of the Titan submersible victims is now seeking more than $50 million. They have filed a lawsuit accusing the operator, OceanGate, of gross negligence, claiming the crew was aware they were going to die as the vessel began to fail.

According to the complaint, the Titan dropped weights about 90 minutes into its dive, indicating that the team had aborted or attempted to abort the dive.

The lawsuit also cites claims that the victims likely experienced terror and mental anguish prior to the vessel imploding.

The five victims died while attempting to reach the Titanic wreck site last year. No comment from OceanGate on the suit so far.

And ahead, more than 385,000 claims have been filed over toxic water at Camp LeJeune. The government has offered to settle only 114 of them. Why is it taking so long to get these veterans the help they need? We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:38]

KEILAR: On "HOME FRONT" today, a story that we have followed closely here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

The government promised help to veterans and families hurt by toxic water at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. Nearly 400,000 claims have been filed. But here's how many have been settled, 114. That is it.

And the deadline to file new claims is Saturday. Now, frustrated vets are suing to get the help they deserve.

We have CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell, here to explain all about this.

Meg, give us the background on this water contamination case.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, I mean, this is called some of the worst water contamination in history.

So as you pointed out, Camp LeJeune is a Marine Corps base camp in North Carolina. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, it was discovered that as many as a million people who lived and worked at that camp were exposed to toxic contaminants in the water supply.

These include contaminants like TCE, PCE and vinyl chloride that came from different contamination sources. The CDC, over time, through various studies, has shown that this

exposure has been linked to increased risks of different cancer, like, kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, different leukemias and other cancers, as well as adverse birth outcomes and other adverse health effects, including those that affect infants and children.

So the Biden administration has essentially made -- there was a law passed two years ago that enabled people who were affected by this to file claims to the U.S. Navy for financial assistance, settlement claims, essentially.

And as you pointed out, the deadline to file those is Saturday. But our reporter, Brenda Goodman, found out from the U.S. Navy, there have been about 385,000 claims filed.

And as we approach this deadline, the government has offered settlements only for 114. Now some of those have been accepted and some of those have been rejected -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes, and at this point, you're talking about settlements going to widows, right, and widowers because many of the victims who passed away here. What do victims and their families do now?

TIRRELL: Yes. Brenda, our reporter, talked with a widow of somebody who worked on the camp at Camp LeJeune. Terry Core (ph) was a baker there in the 1970s. He died last year from complications of Parkinson's at the age of 65. They filed a claim two years ago. They still haven't heard back.

[13:55:09]

So if the government doesn't act on a claim within six months of filing, people can file a lawsuit. But attorneys warn that could take years to resolve.

And, Brenda, our reporter, heard from Denise, Terry's widow, and she had a lot of health expenses related to taking care of him. They now have a grandchild.

And she says he would want nothing more than to be able to provide for his family. So she is still waiting -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes, it's heartbreaking what these families have been through. We've heard from so many of them.

Meg Tirrell, thank you for that update. We appreciate it.

And we are right now waiting to hear from former President Donald Trump. He is holding what he's calling a general news conference at the top of the hour.

We don't know if he is going to take questions, though. We're waiting to see if that is the case. So we'll be heading to Florida, live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)