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July Wholesale Inflation Jumped the Most in Three Years; Hunter Biden Refuses to Apologize After Melania Trump Threatened to Sue; Trump Takes Questions Ahead of Putin Summit. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 14, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:40]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Inflation is making its way through the economy according to the latest official report, even if it hasn't yet made its way to the prices that you're paying. Wholesale prices jump sharply in July by the most in three years, spiking up by almost a full percentage point in just one month. Now, Wall Street is betting there's a higher risk those inflationary pressures will make their way to consumers and might make a difference for interest rates too. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich dives into the numbers for us. Vanessa, businesses have been largely eating the Trump tariffs, but soon we can anticipate that is likely to change, right?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And these wholesale prices indicate that there could be price hikes coming to everyday consumers. Let's go through the numbers right now. So, as you mentioned, a really big jump in the monthly change, up almost 1 percent. That is the highest that we've seen in three years. And then, on an annual basis, a jump of 3.3 percent. These numbers coming in much higher than what analysts were expecting.

And this report is broken down into two different categories. You have goods and then you also have services here. The one that had the heavier weight on this report was actually services. After declining in June, we see an increase of more than 1 percent in the month of July, and that is largely because of this, something called final demand trade services. These are the profits that wholesalers take home. And essentially, those grew by a lot, by 2 percent after shrinking the month before. And that is an indication that wholesalers are no longer absorbing the cost of the higher prices and tariffs, that they are essentially looking to pass them down to consumers.

Also, you see machinery, equipment, up almost 4 percent, transportation and warehousing moving all of those goods that importers have been bringing in. And on the decline though, in the healthcare sector, which is always welcome news, hospital outpatient care down by about a half a percentage point, that is a turnaround from the month before. On the good side of things, this is what really rose for wholesalers in the month of July, home electronic equipment, iron and steel scraps. Here are these tariffs on steel prices making an impact here.

[13:35:00]

Remember, there's a 25 percent at a minimum tariff, 50 percent now up on steel prices, food up 1.4 percent, a dramatic share of this overall report. But then some good news, gas prices did fall in the month of July. That's what we saw for consumers, and that is ultimately what we saw for wholesalers. I also want to take you live to the Port of Los Angeles, who just had a record month in July. That is because they saw movement of more than one million containers in the month of July. That is a record that is up eight percent from the previous year. And it's because importers were racing to get product into the United States ahead of all of these tariff deadlines that were coming.

The thing is, the surge is likely behind us now, those importers rushing to get those products in, but ultimately things should probably start to normalize after the month of July, which we just saw, as really the bulk of the product the importers were bringing in is already here. They were trying to beat those higher tariffs as tariff rates went up earlier this month.

SANCHEZ: Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much for that reporting. Up next, Melania Trump threatening to sue Hunter Biden after he made comments linking her to Jeffrey Epstein. The $1 billion details right after this.

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SANCHEZ: As we speak, President Donald Trump is delivering remarks in the Oval Office and we are monitoring those remarks. He's soon to answer questions from reporters and we will bring that to you live in just moments. Meantime, Hunter Biden is unapologetic, despite a threat from First Lady Melania Trump. She's vowing to sue him for $1 billion if he doesn't retract and apologize for what her lawyer is calling false, defamatory, and extremely salacious comments as he alleged that sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to her husband, though he was citing an author.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": That's right. Hunter Biden attributed the claim to author Michael Wolff, who interviewed Epstein. The former president's son made the comments during a wide-ranging interview this month with Andrew Callaghan, the YouTube host had Biden back on his "Channel 5" show -- it's what it's called -- for a follow-up after this latest threat of lawsuit. Here's some of how that went down.

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ANDREW CALLAGHAN, HOST OF YOUTUBE SERIES "CHANNEL 5 WITH ANDREW CALLAGHAN": So now, we're here maybe to give you the platform to apologize to the First Lady for your statements that you made about her possible connection to Jeffrey Epstein.

HUNTER BIDEN, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S SON: That's not going to happen.

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(END VIDEO CLIP) FREEMAN: Joining us now is Mercedes Colwin, legal analyst and trial attorney and the co-host of "Eminem in The Morning" podcast. Mercedes, thank you so much for being here to discuss this pretty wild story. Let's start with Hunter's defiant rejection of an idea of an apology right there. Can he be compelled to apologize?

MERCEDES COLWIN, LEGAL ANALYST AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: He can't be compelled to apologize, Danny, that's a great question. But he certainly could be cautioned against not doing so. It seems like an easy fix if you're being threatened with a lawsuit, albeit it's one that has a lot -- could have a lot of traction if there is a lot -- there are a lot of steps to get there. One, you've got to show malice in order because Melania Trump is a public figure. You have to show that there was reckless disregard for the truth. If Hunter Biden can say all I did was simply repeat what I read in an article and yes, that article was retracted by The Daily Beast. That's the article Michael Wolff wrote that was retracted.

But if he just continues to distance himself from Michael Wolff and not say, this isn't -- this is what my opinion based on something I read, then that's another layer of defense. But at the end of the day, Hunter Biden cannot be compelled to offer an apology. It's entirely up to him to do so.

SANCHEZ: Notably, Mercedes, I want to let you and our viewers know that President Trump confirmed on Thursday morning that he asked Melania and her lawyers to go forward with this. In other words, this has the president's blessing. He said, quote, I've done pretty well in these lawsuits lately and I said, go forward. Jeffrey Epstein has nothing to do with Melania and I introducing. But they do that, they make up stories. That's what he told, Brian Kilmeade on Fox News Radio.

I wonder though, Mercedes, as Hunter Biden says that he could potentially have, if they decide to move forward with the lawsuit, the president and first lady sit down for a deposition to clarify the nature of their relationship. Is that something that could actually result from the first lady moving forward with this lawsuit? Biden turning around and saying they need to be deposed?

COLWIN: Boris, that's exactly right. Once you bring a civil lawsuit, the next step is obviously go through the paperwork. But ultimately, you will sit down for a deposition if you choose to continue to want to prosecute your claim. So yes, they could be brought in for depositions. That questioning will obviously focus on the whether -- how the relationship started, how they started, where they met. We already know from written statements that made by Melania Trump in the public that she claims that she met President Trump at the Kit Kat Club, not through Jeffrey Epstein.

She's written about it and she's talked about it. So that seems to be in the public realm. But if this case does continue and their depositions to take place, it's vital for those depositions to take place. She's prosecuting this claim for defamation. So yes, Melania Trump could be subject to a deposition. If she chooses not to sit down for deposition, then Hunter Biden and the defense team can actually move to dismiss the case on failure to prosecute.

[13:40:00]

FREEMAN: Well, I think there's going to be a lot more potentially to the story, and I know you and we will be following all of it. Mercedes Colwin, thank you so much for helping us understand what may come next.

And what may come next on our program, more than a dozen medical clinics could be forced to close in Maine due to a provision in the Republican's Big Beautiful Bill. We'll explain right after this.

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[13:47:01]

SANCHEZ: Let's go straight to the White House and President Trump taking questions from reporters.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, it's -- it was very important to me because I knew how Social Security, I've been hearing about it for years long before I came to office, that it was -- it was really going to die very shortly. And I had to do -- I had to put somebody outstanding in. And we were talking -- I was talking to him on a business sense once, and I said, this guy's amazing. And he said, I'd love to help you with Social Security because it's sort of what he does. He takes troubled entities and turns them around, and he did some of the biggest messes in the world.

And Social Security in a certain way, I guess, you reported it all the time, in four years or five years, it's going to go bust, but not anymore, it's not. And he's got it turned around so well, the proclamation helps. All of the things we've done help. And he's finding such tremendous fraud where we have illegal aliens. We have people that don't even exist on Social Security now. They don't exist. And what it does, it makes it totally secure and powerful to the people that are on it and need it. And we're very proud of the job he's done, one of the best.

CARA CASTRONUOVA, CHIEF D.C. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, LINDELLTV: Mr. President, Cara Castronuova from LindellTV. How are you today, sir? Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren continue to pedal the lie and the claim that you're trying to cut Social security despite your repeated promises to protect it. Why do you think they keep pushing this misinformation and literally terrorizing the elderly in America that sadly keep watching the very misleading mainstream media?

TRUMP: I love your question. I should have called you almost first, but I love his questions, as always. But, it's such a good question. It's so vicious what they do. Elizabeth Warren said she was an Indian. We call her Pocahontas. She's a liar. She lied her whole career. Based on the fact that she was an Indian, she was able to get into certain colleges, get certain jobs, get into certain universities to work there. She's a liar and a mean person. She's a nut job. I watched her the other night. She's all hopped up endorsing a communist in New York City, and she was all excited and jumping up and down. She's got to take a drug test. She really does. She's got to take a drug test. There's no way somebody can act that way and be normal. What she's done to our financial institutions, she destroys people. You know that you had a lot of great banks in the Midwest and banks that loaned to farmers and others, and they went out of business. She put them out of business. Stone cold mean, banks that were open 150 years, family banks that supplied the farmers and manufacturers and others. And she put them out of business. She's a mean horrible human being.

Bernie Sanders is Bernie Sanders. I don't mind him so much. He's just a liberal guy, very liberal guy. He's wacky guy. He's still sharp. I got to tell you, he is 86 or 87 or something. He's still sharp. You compare that to Joe Biden, it's sort of what happens.

[13:50:00]

So I don't mind Bernie Sanders. With him, you know what you're getting. You're getting a guy. He's a nasty guy, but he's somebody that -- I don't know if I call it a fastball, but he's -- he's able to throw the ball pretty well. He's OK. I watched him the other day. He was totally on the opposite side of things. I will say this, the biggest issue right now and an issue that's really taking hold is crime, stopping crime in the cities. And the Democrats are fighting the stopping of crime.

So, I think that's like men playing in women's sports is OK or transgender for everybody OK. But this is a bigger issue. This is the biggest of all issues. Crime is rampant in D.C.; it's rampant in our generally blue-run cities. And they've got to do something about it. And they're never going to win another election. And instead of calling me a dictator, they like to say Trump's a dictator, Trump's a dictator. Well, I had calls from many, many friends including Democrats. I have a lot of Democrat friends, but they're normal people.

And they were thanking me so much for what I'm doing in D.C. They feel so safe already. And you know at the border, we had, Frank, we had zero people come in. And this is done by a liberal group. They are the people that do it. I have nothing to do with it. Zero people in three months. We had zero, zero and zero for three months. And last year, we had millions of people pouring in from all countries, from jails, from drug addicts, gang members, drug dealers by the thousands and thousands. 11,888 murders, half of whom committed more than one murder. They flowed into our country.

And for the last three months, we had none. And I didn't get -- remember when Joe Biden used to always go, I need legislation. I need -- I had no legislation. I just said we're closing the borders and the whole world understood because they respect your country again. They really respect this country again. They didn't respect it when he said it, it didn't mean anything. But now, they know it meant a lot. And Mexico does what we tell them to do. And Canada does what we tell them to do because we have the two borders. We have the northern border, southern border, and they were both horrible.

But now it's -- some people say it's a miracle. Well, what Frank has done with Social Security also is something very special. But what we're doing with crime, which will be your next question, I guess, that's because everyone's fast -- that they're afraid. Half of the people here, maybe all of the people here, most of you live in D.C. You are petrified to go out and you're liberal. And if you're liberal, you're going to have to change your Democrats. You're going to have to change your ways.

So we will have crime under control very shortly in D.C. But, they are record numbers, and sadly, what I guess the mayor did, but whoever it was, they asked the numbers to be fudged so that it would show less crime than the fact. The fact is it's worse than it's ever been. And we will have it -- just like we did at the border, where the borders are totally in great shape right now, the best-ever record setting shape. We'll have the crime situation solved in D.C. very soon. And we're also going to beautify the city. We have a beautiful city, but you can't have graffiti and you can't have roads with potholes, and you can't have the medians, the dividers in the roads falling down on the -- on the street.

We're going to be beautifying the city, making it really beautiful. Well, we're going to be getting the criminals the hell out of here. We don't want the criminals in Washington, D.C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, one on your Putin meeting and then one on D.C. crime. Are you prepared to offer Vladimir Putin access to rare minerals to incentivize him to end the war?

TRUMP: We are going to see what happens with our meeting. We have a big meeting and it's going to be, I think very important for Russia. And it's going to be very important for us and important for us only that we're going to save a lot of lives. Look, we have -- we're not paying any money, as you know, to Ukraine. We're supplying equipment. We're being paid 100 percent plus for that equipment by NATO. And I got NATO up from 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP. They now have billions of dollars.

NATO's a very rich group of countries and we make the best military equipment anywhere in the world by far. And they're buying our equipment, and they're paying a hundred percent for the equipment, a hundred percent. In fact, they owe us about $2 billion now. They're going to send the check. Another one was sent recently for $1 billion. So we don't -- we're not spending any money anymore. Biden gave them $350 billion, got nothing for them. And if you look, and by the way, we also signed a rare earth deal where we get years of rare earth to get our money back, the money we spent.

But what I'm really doing this for is to save thousands of soldiers a week. You have Russian soldiers, you have Ukrainian soldiers, and then you'll have missiles dropped into various cities and towns in Ukraine.

[13:55:00]

And they're losing seven -- last week, they lost 7,251 people, mostly soldiers, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. I'm doing it for that reason. We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself. And maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along, maybe not. It's -- I don't know that it is going to be very important. We're going to see what happens.

And I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelenskyy will make peace. We'll see if they can get along. And if they can, it'll be great. I've solved six wars in the last six months, a little more than six months now, and I'm very proud of it. I thought the easiest one would be this one. It's actually the most difficult. We had one war raging, as you know, for 37 years. One in the Congo with Rwanda, was raging for 31 years. We solved six of them, made peace, not just solved them. We made peace.

If you look at Pakistan and India, that was -- planes were being knocked out of the air. Six or seven planes came down. They were ready to go maybe nuclear, we solved that. I thought this would be maybe an easier one. It never made sense, this war, would've never happened when I was president. If I were president, this war would've never happened. But millions of people have been killed. And I'm there for one reason, to see if I can solve. This was Biden's war. This isn't my war. I want to see if I can stop the killing. Yeah?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rare earths, are you -- do you plan to offer him access to that at all?

TRUMP: We are -- we have great rare earth. We made that as payment for all of the money that we've spent so foolishly in Ukraine. We spent $350 billion. Now, Europe spent $1 billion. That's a lot of money. They spent $1000 billion. That's a lot of money. But we shouldn't be spending a lot more money than them and they understand that. And I think that's maybe why we're not spending money anymore. We're not spending any money. They're paying us for everything. So it's pretty -- it's -- people are shocked when they hear it. They don't even understand. They don't even write about it.

But we're not spending money, but we are spending a lot of time trying to get the wars off. If we can get the wars off, we'll be very happy. As far as rare earth, that's very unimportant relative to, I'm trying to save lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And on D.C. crime -- D.C. crime, sir -- on D.C. crime.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On D.C. crime, do you have a message for the Democrat lawmakers like Nancy Pelosi or media who are saying, after living here for many years, that there is no crime and you're trying to start a new, new cycle?

TRUMP: It's another reason why the Democrats lost the election in a landslide. They lie. It's just lie. Look, the crime is very bad. I think they'd be much better off saying, we want to help President Trump with the crime because it's an epidemic. It's a tragic situation. It's the worst it's ever been. And we want to help President Trump with the crime, as opposed to he's a dictator. He's a dictator. People are so happy to see our military going into D.C. and getting these thugs out. As you know, we arrested a lot of people yesterday. We arrested a lot of people today.

We're getting people that have arrest records that you wouldn't believe, 28 arrests, 15 arrests, brutal, brutal people. And we're going to have to do something about this cashless bail because people shoot somebody, they kill somebody, and they're out on the street in less than an hour. Now, that's when -- that's when this all started in New York, in Chicago, Los Angeles. You take a look. If we didn't go to Los Angeles to help this incompetent governor and a mayor that doesn't know what the hell she's doing, if we didn't go to Los Angeles, you wouldn't have -- a big part of it burned down. The other part of it would've burned down too. You would've not had -- I don't think you would've been able to have the Olympics.

We have the Olympics. I have a lot at stake with that because I'm the one that got the Olympics. I got it in my first term and I didn't -- I was saddened because I got it for what would be my third term. OK? Which turned out to be second term. And the Olympics, it's a great honor. But I felt badly because I said I won't be president when the Olympics came. Well, through circumstance, I am president. I want to make sure the Olympics is great. The World Cup is great. And the 250, may be the most important of all is the 250 year celebration is great.

So what's happening is, we will work very hard. You would not have had -- I don't believe that -- if I didn't send in the troops, I don't think you would've had Los Angeles in condition to have the Olympics. I think you would've had to tell him, I'm sorry, you're going to have to go someplace else. And if you look at the police commissioner or the sheriff, he said we really needed them. Thank God, they were here. We really needed them. That was the first two or three days. After we solved their problems, then he said, well, I think we could have maybe done it. Now, he was told what to say.

He said, you go back to your files and see what he said. He said, thank goodness they came --