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U.S. Condemns Attacks in West Bank; Black Business Owners of MAGA Merchandise Speak to CNN; Kevin Sears is Interviewed about Real Estate Rules Changes. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 16, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, "FIRST MOVE": And what's causing it? Because price rises generally have come down to pandemic supply chain recovery, war, of course, and what we've seen in Ukraine, higher wages, a lack of workers, for example. So, the practicalities of this, I think, are far harder than just suggesting this is a policy option. Doesn't mean it doesn't fly with voters, though, of course.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: But the big point I'll make very quickly here, the Federal Reserve is what controls inflation. Keeping that independent is essential, Sara. We've talked about it before. Trump's talked about having a say. Kamala said, look, she'll leave them independent. Right answer.

SIDNER: All right. When it comes to Social Security, what's been the messaging there?

CHATTERLEY: So, this is the Trump campaign now. And they've said, look, people who receive Social Security should not pay taxes on it. Around 67 million people in this country get those Social Security benefits. Around 40 percent pay taxes. So, we are talking about a lot of people.

Just take a look at how it works. I'll just give you a sense. If you earn below $25,000 as an individual, you don't pay taxes at all. But if you do earn above that, then up to 50 percent of those benefits are taxable. And, of course, it's a bit more for joint people.

Removing that, according to the tax policy center, could save people around $550. That sounds great. The problem is, how do you pay for it? If Donald Trump is not talking about perhaps raising taxes on high earners, then perhaps you have to start dipping into some of these Social Security funds. And we know they're already under pressure. The fear is that they're going to run out in -- around ten years' time unless something changes on that front. So -- so that would be a sort of flag to raise there. It's also going to significantly add to the deficit as well. I'm not sure how much we care about these things, but we should care about these things.

Yes, that's the problem with the funds, of course, that you can see on your screen there. SIDNER: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: And it would be a huge problem because that could mean benefit cuts in the future.

SIDNER: Yes, Social Security is usually the third rail when talking about it. Although, if you're cutting taxes, that's a different thing.

CHATTERLEY: So (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: Housing, a huge issue. People talk about this all the time. What's the plan?

CHATTERLEY: Yes, let's understand the problem very quickly. Supply and demand. We don't have enough houses, first and foremost. Mortgage rates are high, so people are afraid of buying a new house or moving house because they can't get a cheap enough mortgage. That will help as mortgage rates come down.

But if people can't even get on the housing ladder, it pushes rents up too. So, that's in a nutshell the crisis. Kamala Harris coming out with a whole host of plans. The most important point I think and to get to the heart of the issue is increasing the amount of houses out there. So, federal resources to build three million new housing units, check. We like the idea of that. Some support for first-time homebuyers is coming in too. Look, Trump has also talked about expanding land available in order to build more houses, which the important point is, there's some gray area over a big fund that she's talking about. But this is really taking a leap and expanding what Biden announced earlier, and adding to it. And it helps. It's not a fix all. We're lacking 300,000 construction workers. So, let's find the workers to build those houses too, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, we are expecting to hear Kamala Harris' full throated idea on how to deal with the economy for the first time today.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

SIDNER: So, a lot of people will be watching for that.

Julia Chatterley, thank you so much. Appreciate you.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking news overnight. The White House now condemning an attack by Israeli settlers on a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank. A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council saying this, "attacks by violent settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop."

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now live in the West Bank.

Nic, what are you seeing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, this is some of the damage you see right behind me. This burnt-out car in the village of Jit here. We're way high in a tiny mountaintop village in the occupied West Bank.

I talked to the man who owns that car. He said when the settlers arrived here, he and his brother were trying to hold them back. His face is smashed up where he got -- he got beaten up. He said he was unable to stop them setting his car alite. They moved the car away from the house with a tractor, tried to stop the house burning.

I looked at a house just up the street here. The settlers have thrown rocks through the windows there the man who owns the house told me. And then right behind the rocks they threw petrol bombs, Molotov cocktails, into the rooms. So, all his furniture, his refrigerator is burned, the light fittings are melting, dripping from the ceiling. And the orange juice is still on the table, he showed me, from where his children were sitting when the settlers attacked. They were having their orange juice in the evening.

So, everyone in this village absolutely horrified and afraid that this could happen again. One man was killed, a 23-year-old, Rashid Sieda (ph). We arrived here a few hours ago, just as his funeral cortege was carrying him up the central street in the village here.

[09:35:05]

It was a very emotional moment. He was wrapped in a Palestinian flag, carried on the shoulders of the young man of the village here. Older men were sort of standing at the roadside watching. And a huge amount of emotion. Anger at the settlers. Anger at the Israeli government. And absolute sorrow for the family and for the loss. And the father of Rachid was walking up the street behind his son's body. He was literally physically being helped up the street. He could barely walk.

Now, we've heard from Israeli government ministers here. The defense minister condemning this. The interior minister condemning this attack, saying that it doesn't stand for the values of Israel. But everyone I speak to here believes that the settlers are acting in cahoots with the Israeli government. They just don't buy what they're hearing from the Israeli government. Such a sensitive time with those talks in -- over Gaza going on in Doha, in this, a de-stabilizing right on -- right at this very sensitive time.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's exactly right. That context around this is also so important.

Nic, thank you very much for your reporting.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead a Donald Trump tries to shore up support with black voters ahead of the 2024 elections, CNN speaks to black voters at a pro-Trump store about why they are all in on the MAGA movement.

And the way real estate agents get paid is about to change forever. Details on the new rules and how it could impact costs for home buyers. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:15]

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump and his campaign have been making a strong push to try and win over black voters this election. They're seeing some success. What are those voters saying?

CNN's Elle Reeve went to Virginia to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JO ANNE PRICE, RUNS A MAGA-THEMED STORE: Every woman ought to have one of these. It's one of those things that when people see one, then they want one. Same thing with the confederate hat. You know why? Because people don't think you have the nerve to do it.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jo Anne Price runs a Trump store in Christiansburg, Virginia.

REEVE: When Joe Biden announced he wouldn't run for president again, was there any part of you who felt a pull to vote for Harris?

PRICE: No, absolutely not.

REEVE: Why not?

PRICE: I would not vote for either one of them. I would not vote Democrat ticket. No way.

This is a white privilege card. And this is just a play -- it just says, this card trumps everything and it gives the bearer happiness and success because of the color of their skin.

REEVE: And who buys that?

PRICE: White people.

REEVE: OK.

PRICE: It's funny.

SEBRIAM VANNOY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: And then when you give it to a state trooper, they let you go. And don't write you a ticket.

REEVE: You think so?

VANNOY: Yes, I've experienced it.

PRICE: Yes.

REEVE: Wait, really?

VANNOY: Yes. And he said, OK. He laughed at it and he gave it back to me and did not write me a ticket. REEVE (voice over): This actually happened at least once elsewhere. In 2022, a woman claimed Alaska police let her go without a ticket when she flashed a white privilege card instead of a driver's license.

PRICE: It's humorous to us, you know, it really is. It's humerus to the average American I here.

REEVE: You know --

VANNOY: Chances are two to one he was a Republican too.

REEVE (voice over): Trump has been working to appeal to black voters and polls showed some success when Biden was still in the race, but have since gone down.

REEVE: The Trump campaign this year has made a big effort to reach out to black voters. What do you think of their efforts?

PRICE: I think their efforts are succeeding tremendously. All the things that have happened to President Trump, the attacks on him, have done nothing more than strengthen black people's connection to him because now he's someone who is the target of a struggle and they have always been -- felt that they've been a target.

I did prison ministries for five years, so, you know, if you're a convicted felon and then somebody else is a convicted felon, there's a camaraderie there.

REEVE (voice over): Donald Trump attacked Kamala Harris, questioning her racial identity. She's black.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black. And now she wants to be known as black.

REEVE (voice over): He's acknowledged his commentary has provoked mixed reactions.

Price is just one person, and not a swing voter. But we were curious what she made of his comments given that she's a black woman and fervent Trump supporter and former local Republican Party chair.

REEVE: How do you make sense of how Trump talks about Vice President Kamala Harris, that he sort of suggested he doesn't understand her biracial background. That first she was Indian and then she was black. What do you make of that?

PRICE: I don't understand it either. She's Indian and she's Jamaican.

REEVE: Yes.

PRICE: Is she black?

REEVE: I mean, do you not think she's black?

PRICE: Is he? Was she born here?

REEVE: Yes.

PRICE: Yes. Were her parents citizens? No.

REEVE: OK. But we have birthright citizenship in America.

PRICE: Uh-huh.

REEVE: Do you --

PRICE: We call -- we call that anchor.

REEVE: People can immigrate here and not be citizens but have green cards and work permits.

PRICE: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yes, that's true. However, she can claim to be black because of her Jamaican father.

[09:45:04]

You know, that's her right.

We're a melting pot, you know, because I basically have a combination in my family as well.

REEVE: How do you reconcile that? Like, you have a history of blended families in your family.

PRICE: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

REEVE: How do you reconcile that with Trump seeming to not understand how Kamala Harris could have a blended family herself?

PRICE: Herself? She could have a blended family. What I'm saying is, is his comments about that, I think he's making a point. And, you know, I'm not -- I'm not so disturbed by that.

REEVE: But what is the point he's making?

PRICE: The point he's making simply is, is that she is not a black, black person.

REEVE (voice over): There were some mixed views on the idea of a woman president.

REEVE: What do you think about Kamala Harris?

VANNOY: Kamala Harris, may I say this, and hopefully that you ladies won't get offended, but because of what happened in the Garden of Eden, there will never be an elected woman, whether she's black or white, that will occupy the White House that God would ever stand behind.

MERRIE TURNER, PASTOR WHO BACKS TRUMP: I'm not sure America's quite ready for female leadership. It would be wonderful to have a female president if and when one arises that has conservative values that are going to lead the nation in prosperity.

REEVE: Did Joe Biden dropping out change your view of the election at all?

JOE SHANNON, OBAMA-TO-TRUMP VOTER: Oh, it surely did. I think she's going to be worse than Joe. I just don't think she has the experience. I think she was only chosen because she was a woman.

PRICE: He has been mocked, scrutinized, slandered, dragged into court. This man is still standing. And he's standing strong because he knows that he was chosen. He's our David.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REEVE: So, Ms. Price and her customers, they were joking a lot about those items in the store. But that last image of Trump walking on water next to Jesus Christ, they're very serious about it. They see him as guided by God, even if he's an imperfect vessel for that mission. And I think that helps explain why they're able to brush off his inflammatory comments.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Elle, it is always very eye-opening when -- with your -- with your reporting that you take us deep into many different facets of what's going on in the country right now.

Thank you so much, as always. It's great to see you.

Real estate agents are about to face the biggest shake-up in a century. What this means for you the next time you're looking to buy, sell, or move.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:52:31]

SIDNER: OK. Starting tomorrow, major new rules on buying and selling a home go into effect nationwide. It is going to be a seismic shift potentially for homeowners, would-be buyers, and real estate agents. The new rules change how real estate agents get paid, and it's the result of a $418 million settlement between homeowners and the National Association of Realtors.

Joining us now, Kevin Sears, the president of the National Association of Realtors.

Thank you so much for coming in this morning to kind of talk through this and explain what happened here.

First of all, what exactly are these changes?

KEVIN SEARS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS: Well, good morning, Sara. Thank you for the opportunity.

Now, there are two big practice changes that will be occurring by tomorrow's deadline of August 17th. The first has to do more with home sellers in their real estate professional. And the second has to do on the buyer's side.

So, first, on the seller's side, not much is going to change when it comes to listing the home. The real estate professional, their agent, broker, their realtor will still meet with them, talk about the listing, what needs to be done to get the house ready for sale. But part of the conversation that will change will be about the commission. Commissions, as long as I've been in business since 1994, and for at least 25 years before that, have always been negotiable. And now we're going to have just a little bit of a different conversation because as a listing agent, I will talk about the fee that I'm looking to get paid and then we will explain to the seller that they have the opportunity to offer cooperating compensation or a commission to the buyer's representative. The seller does not have to do that. But what they need to understand is that they do not offer a commission to the buyer's representative, then there might be some buyers who cannot afford to pay their own feet and they might not view the home. So, we just need to have a robust conversation with the consumer and let them make the decision because ultimately it's the consumer who drives the transaction. We are just there to guide them through what is typically a challenging and difficult process.

SIDNER: I mean the thing --

SEARS: On the buy side --

SIDNER: Oh, go ahead.

SEARS: What buyers can expect -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

SIDNER: No, go ahead. On the buyer's side. That's what I was going to ask you about.

SEARS: OK. Yes, on the buyer's side, what the buyers can expect is that before they tour a home, that there'll be having a conversation with their real estate professional with whom they're going to hire. And they will be given a written agreement that will spell out what services will be provided and the value that the real estate professional will bring to the transaction, their expertise.

[09:55:00]

But also what's key is that it will talk about how that real estate professional will be paid. And the buyer will need to understand that if the seller is not offering cooperating compensation or commission for their representative, that then they may need to come out of pocket for that -- for the fee, for the professional services rendered.

And, ultimately, what we can do is when -- if there's a consumer that wants to -- a buying consumer wants to see a home that's not offering cooperating compensation, they -- we will still show them the property, but then they will have to decide if they want to try and negotiate that fee as part of the purchase contract. So, just at the end of the day what I'll tell you is, anytime that we have the opportunity as real estate professionals to have these types of conversations, robust conversations about the value and expertise that we will bring to the transaction, and the fact that we are looking to get paid, I think everybody's going to be better off.

SIDNER: All right, Kevin Sears, make sure you have those conversations. Thank you so much. Appreciate you.

BOLDUAN: That is definitely the takeaway.

SIDNER: Talk through it a lot.

BOLDUAN: Have the conversation. Yes, exactly. Before you jump in.

SIDNER: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: Happy Friday, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us.

SIDNER: Ah.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

SIDNER: So glad.

BOLDUAN: Your lips to God's ears.

SIDNER: So right (ph).

BOLDUAN: This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "CNN NEWSROOM" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)