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Trump Touts the Economy; Trump Claims China Worked Against Him; Trump Criticizes Networks; Iran and U.S. Widen Attacks; World Cup Economic Boom or Bust; America's Love Affair with Fixer-Uppers May Be Over. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:04]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump spoke little last night of the war in Iran during his primetime address. And while focusing on election security, he did, though, take time to try and tout the U.S. economy under his leadership, calling out sinking inflation and gains in the stock market as evidence of the -- that the United States is, in his words, the hottest country anywhere in the world.

Inflation did see the biggest monthly decline last month since the pandemic. But we do know that people across the country have, for quite some time, never felt worse about their economy and their ability to afford everyday items.

CNN's Harry Enten is running the numbers on this one for us this morning.

Hey, Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hi, Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, how -- let's start with our baseline.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: How are Americans feeling about that -- about affordability, about paying for groceries?

ENTEN: Yes, you know, President Trump says one thing, the American people feel something very, very different.

On the simple question, are groceries affordable? Take a look at this. Think groceries are affordable? No and yes. Back in February, the majority of Americans said yes. Then, of course, the Iran war began, right, in late February. Look at these numbers now. That no number has skyrocketed. Look at this. Sixty-six percent of Americans now say that groceries are, in fact, not affordable, unaffordable. Look at that yes number, plummeting down into the ground from 54 percent to 33 percent.

So, Donald Trump says something, but the American people feel that their reality is far different from what the president is touting.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And which segment of the American people are getting hit the hardest?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. Which segment of the American people are getting hit the hardest, Kate Bolduan. Great question. And you know, if we talk about this, when we're talking about the Donald Trump base, we're talking about working class voters, right? So, take a look here. OK, income under 50,000 on grocery affordability. And keep in mind that this -- Donald Trump won this group. Won this group back in 2024. Put up an historically strong performance for a Republican candidate. But look at these numbers now, just 16 percent of those with household incomes under 50,000 think that groceries are affordable. The lions share, 82 percent. You rarely ever see 82 percent of any group agreeing on anything. But what you see here is that those working- class folks, those who have incomes, household incomes, under 50,000, the lion's share, more than four in five say that groceries are unaffordable at this point.

BOLDUAN: Well, how much have -- has this flipped? How much has this changed in terms of how Donald -- they believe Donald Trump is doing on the economy?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, we're talking about a group that Donald Trump carried back in 2024, put up a historically strong performance this century with those making under $50,000. And look at these numbers. Look how these numbers have changed.

OK, income, again, household incomes under $50,000 on Trump and the economy. Back in October of 2024 versus Kamala Harris. He was more trusted on the economy by 16 points. Look how this -- it's a whole different world, a switcheroo. The net approval now, 39 points underwater, under the Hudson River. We're talking about a flip flop here of greater than 50 points. The working class have turned against Donald Trump. They, simply put, don't believe things are affordable, are taking their anger out on him. And you really have to wonder whether or not they'll take out their anger on Republicans come the fall midterm elections as well.

BOLDUAN: That's a -- I mean that's -- that is --

ENTEN: I mean this is unbelievable.

BOLDUAN: That's really troubling.

ENTEN: Very troubling.

BOLDUAN: Yes. For anybody.

All right, thanks, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you.

Fred. FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, China is

strongly denying President Trump's claims that it tried to meddle in U.S. elections by attempting to access more than 200 million voter files dating back to 2020. Here's what the president said in his primetime address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They fought like hell not to have a Donald Trump to win. And for good reason. As the documents we are releasing show, CIA reporting explicitly stated, and I quote, "in mid-2018 the Chinese Communist Party's policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the U.S. president in an effort to reduce the U.S. president's votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election."

[08:35:08]

The Chinese government wanted U.S. president to lose the next election. And the reason they wanted me to lose is because they knew I was wise to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's senior reporter Katie Bo Lillis is tracking this for us.

So, Katie Bo, I mean, you know, China says, you know, these claims are false. What do we know about them?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, look, Fred, what the president appears to be doing here is taking this very obscure behind the scenes debate over the strength of the intelligence and whether or not it showed efforts by China to try to influence the election in Joe Biden's favor and against Donald Trump in 2020, and turning it into evidence of some kind of coverup or some kind of conspiracy by rogue elements of the intelligence community.

So, in late 2020, early 2021, the intelligence community analysts took a look at all of the different pieces of information that they had collected, and they broadly came to a consensus judgment that China had considered an influence campaign to try to harm Donald Trump's candidacy, but ultimately didn't go through with it because they wanted stable relationship -- a stable relationship with the United States. They were essentially worried, in the intelligence community's view, about pissing off the U.S., and so they didn't want to kind of take this step.

But what we saw in the documents last night is that there was one intelligence -- senior intelligence analyst, the national intelligence officer for China, who took a different view of the intelligence. He believed that it showed that China had at least taken some low-level steps to try to undermine Donald Trump's candidacy. And I want to be clear, we're talking about a public influence campaign here. We are not talking about hacking and changing votes. And that official in these emails that we -- were released last night

can be seen sort of pushing to have his views included in whatever the final analytical product was going to be, that was going to go to senior policy makers.

The problem with portraying that as some kind of sort of coverup or conspiracy is that ultimately that intelligence officer's views have -- were made public and have been known since 2020. In January of 2020, the then director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, now Trump's CIA director, made public a memo that showed -- had some of the broad contours of that analytical view. And then subsequently, in March of 2021, when the intelligence community released its overall consensus judgment about what had happened during the 2020 election, it included that there was a dissension from the national intelligence officer for cyber showing that he believed that China had tried to harm Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: All right, Katie Bo Lillis, thank you so much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, before the speech last night, the White House took a rare step of formally asking the broadcast networks to take it live to air. Two networks did not. And President Trump made it a talking point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech.

They and others in the media are part of a plot. They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The president went on to say that NBC and ABC should have their broadcast licenses revoked.

CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter joining us now.

It would be like, just add it to the list of reasons he has said that over and over again, Brian. But what are you learning about this?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. Yes. NBC and ABC did the same thing as this network, CNN, last night. The newsrooms monitored the speech, evaluated what was actually newsworthy, looked at the documents Trump was declassifying, and then reported on what happened. NBC and ABC both went on the air with special reports to explain that the speech had happened and to summarize what Trump had said. But most importantly, to contextualize it and fact check it, just as CNN did.

Now, Trump was ominously claiming that the networks were part of a plot. But the only real plot here, the only intention is to remain reality based and truth based. Trump's election lies led to violence after the 2020 election. So, this is a subject that really does warrant extra care and attention by journalists. And frankly, some network executives felt that it would be dangerous to just air Trump's speech live, in full, unedited, without knowing what he was going to say ahead of time.

That's where we are in America. And we have been here before. Remember, during some of Trump's Covid-19 briefings in 2020, some of the medical misinformation was so unhinged that networks broke away from those briefings. So, there is a history for this.

But last night, Rupert Murdoch's Fox Networks did show Trump live. CBS took more of a truth sandwich approach, starting with the truth, then showing Trump's speech, part of the speech, not all of it, and then resuming with more truth, with more fact checking afterwards. And I think that makes a lot of sense. And that's what we see -- saw from CNN as well, where all night we were really trying to contextualize and explain why Trump was doing this, what he was claiming, what was real, what was not real.

[08:40:03]

But as you said, Kate, the claim from Trump that NBC and ABC should lose their network licenses, that's really the tell here, that he wanted the wall to wall attention and now he's angry about not getting it. This morning, though, on Truth Social, he's claiming he received a big audience for the speech. There are no TV ratings available yet. There won't be until many hours from now. But on YouTube I'm noticing, they're not really high ranking, very popular videos for this speech yet. It did not land necessarily with a big amount of attention.

And here's maybe the best tell of all. Fox News did not spend much time on this after the speech. They moved on right away. Fox News barely talking about the speech this morning. That tells me some of Trump's allies in MAGA media know this might not be a winning issue for him.

BOLDUAN: Well, and, I mean, we also have very expensive lawsuits that people have faced when airing misinformation as it's come to these election lies.

STELTER: That's right. That's right.

BOLDUAN: But I'm just going to -- I'm going to -- I think my takeaway today, Brian, is truth sandwich. I think that is exactly what we all need a little bit more of.

STELTER: Yes. Order that at the deli for lunch. Get a truth sandwich. That's right.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Brian. Thank you.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right.

All right, this breaking news overnight, the U.S. and Iran launching new strikes as tensions escalate over the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. hit multiple bridges in Iran while Tehran responded with what appeared to be the largest retaliatory strikes since the truce collapsed. Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan all coming under Iranian fire. And Iran also claims it targeted the U.S. military in Bahrain, Oman and Syria.

Joining me right now, CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh and CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier.

Good to see both of you ladies.

Sabrina, you first. I mean, the president, you know, is quite hung up on past elections. His defense secretary focusing on testosterone as priorities. All of this as U.S. Central Command says it has completed six consecutive nights of strikes in Iran. So, what is being accomplished?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, that's right, Fred. I mean we're in the middle of a war. A resumed war. It's the sixth day of kinetic strikes between the U.S. and Iran. And the president is talking about, you know, false allegations made during the 2020 election and election fraud. And we have the secretary of defense talking about testosterone therapy.

And so, what we're looking at right now is misplaced priorities. And usually, when you're in the middle of a war, the Pentagon is briefing almost every single day to give updates to the American public. This is very expensive, very costly and it's putting our men and women, their lives, at risk. And so, the people deserve to know and have accountability and transparency from the Pentagon, and yet we're not seeing that.

And so, what does this all mean right now? I just don't see how that we can get both sides back to the table. It seems like both sides right now are really hardened on continuing these strikes, continuing to trade fire back and forth. And again, we have that naval blockade in place right now in the Strait of Hormuz. And that also doesn't seem to be something that's going to end anytime soon.

WHITFIELD: Kim, last night, the president, he didn't delve into the Iran strategy. Are these strikes crippling Iranian military?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the Iranian military does seem to be able to continue making harassing attacks on gulf allies and U.S. bases that are certainly being noticed in the gulf. Every time the U.S. widens its strikes, Iran is able to widen its strikes. So, if Iranian infrastructure gets hurt -- hit, then they make the gulf allies suffer the same.

We also have reports that Iran is considering pulling the Houthis in Yemen into this fight and asking them to close the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait that goes to the Red Sea. That would mean not only do you have the oil supplies that are coming out of the Strait of Hormuz frustrated and reduced, but all of the oil and cargo that goes through the Red Sea and the ports there also stymied. And that would drive oil prices up and make it even harder for Donald Trump as he gets to the midterms.

WHITFIELD: And then, Sabrina, you know, the U.S., you know, struck an Iranian bridge. Is this getting close to any international violation?

SINGH: Well, some of the bridges that, you know, the U.S. is targeting, these are dual use. These are for civilian and military purposes. Now, when I was at the Pentagon, we had a center of excellence and lawyers embedded with the combatant commands to talk through some of these targets, to make sure that they are legally something that the military should target. There are going to be facilities that the U.S. military will likely hit that also serve civilian purposes but that can be justified in war.

[08:45:07]

I'm not justifying this one, but these types of targets are something that the military does use. So, you could see an expansion of some of these targets. And it's likely something that the president discussed in the Situation Room with his team. When the U.S. military comes to the table, they present the different options to the president, something from light to medium to a larger expansion of targets. And we've seen Donald Trump signal, as recently as this week, that he's willing to expand the target list, not just to civilian infrastructure, but he's also talked about power plants.

So, I think it's something that we could see. Whether it's the right decision to make for the U.S. military, that's really a decision that has to be discussed with the president.

WHITFIELD: And then, Kim, quickly, just a follow up to your point about, you know, gulf nations, neighbors. Iran, you know, struck Kuwait in retaliation, but at what point will gulf allies either engage further or distance themselves from the U.S.?

DOZIER: Well, they can't distance themselves from the U.S. because they know that Trump's retaliation and rhetoric would be a tough pill to swallow. What they have been doing is, behind the scenes trying to get the sides back to the negotiating table in some manner or form, because from their perspective, these military strikes, expanding against bridges, et cetera, it's not opening the Strait of Hormuz. It's not stopping Iran's ability to close that Strait, or at least make shipping companies fear traveling through it.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there. Ladies, thank you so much, Kim Dozier, Sabrina Singh.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: This year marks the 20th anniversary of CNN Heroes. And in honor of that, we have an update on last year's Hero of the Year, Quilen Blackwell. He employs at risk youth in Chicago to help grow flowers on vacant lots, make arrangements and sell them through his nonprofit, Southside Blooms. Now, new opportunities are blooming for him, and he is teaming up with a fellow CNN Hero.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quilen Blackwell.

QUILEN BLACKWELL, 2025 CNN HERO OF THE YEAR: I was stunned. Absolutely stunned. It's just given us like that massive stamp of credibility.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Being named CNN Hero of the Year brought new opportunities to Quilen Blackwell and his nonprofit flower shop Southside Blooms.

HILLARY COHEN, CNN HERO: It's so good to see you.

COOPER: It also led to a collaboration with a fellow CNN Hero, Hillary Cohen. Her nonprofit, Everyday Action, rescues leftover food from film sets and delivers it to those in need.

BLACKWELL: Hillary and I hit it off like instantly. To have that moment to meet people who really are passionate about compassion is absolutely phenomenal.

COOPER: In April, Quilen and his wife, Hannah, brought a team to Los Angeles to help with Hillary's annual fundraising gala.

COHEN: It's so cool that he came with his entire team, and it's like my friend's here.

COOPER: He turned her workspace into a temporary flower shop, a step that also helped with Quilen's big plans for the future.

BLACKWELL: We are kind of looking at this as like a dry run of what it would look like to have an L.A. Southside Blooms location.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never imagined I would be able to go to L.A., Los Angeles. That's crazy. I feel like I'm dreaming.

COHEN: We can have that kind of curl around.

BLACKWELL: Galas are your lifeblood, you know, for any non-profit. It means the world that Hillary and her team are putting so much faith in us. And hopefully she's not disappointed. So.

COOPER: The flowers and the gala were both a huge success. At the end of the night, Hillary invited Quilen on stage to announce a new initiative they developed together.

BLACKWELL: We had a conversation that turned into our collaborations, which is Flowers for Good.

COOPER: The program gives non-profits 20 percent of purchases made by their supporters. Quilen hopes that Hillary's group is just the first of many to benefit.

BLACKWELL: It's a way to really help share the bounty of flowers. Shop Southside Blooms, sign up for Flowers for Good, and help support your favorite charity in the process.

COHEN: I think that two non-profits coming together to help each other on this really big level, that's so beautiful. COOPER: For Quilen, it's another example of the power of flowers.

BLACKWELL: It just really makes me feel good to see Southside Blooms blossom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I love, I love it. Love the flowers. Love Quilen. Love it all.

Still ahead for us, for years Americans were opting for fixer upper homes. Loving fixer upper homes. And now that number is dropping. Why more and more buyers are skipping out on them all together now.

And meet the group of nuns who are going viral for their new podcast and why the internet just cannot get enough of them.

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[08:53:33]

WHITFIELD: All right, after weeks of upsets, victories, and unforgettable moments on the pitch, the World Cup is coming to a close this weekend. Fans from around the world flocked to stadiums to cheer on their favorite teams. But did they bring the economic boost for the U.S. that many people had hoped for?

CNN senior business reporter David Goldman back with us now.

Let's talk about the data. What is it telling us about whether this was a boon or -- I mean it certainly wasn't a bust, but was it a boon for all the cities hosting these games?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, when you think about these things in financial terms --

WHITFIELD: The matches?

GOLDMAN: Yes. Right. Exactly. We need to use the proper terms here. The number to beat is around $14 billion because that's what FIFA said this event cost. And $11 billion was borne by the United States. So, the big question is, well, how much economic benefit did we get?

Now, if you ask FIFA, they said that this will create $80 billion of economic benefit, $30 billion for the United States. That's a lot of money. And --

WHITFIELD: Yes. And to whom?

GOLDMAN: And to whom is the big question.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

GOLDMAN: So, we can now start to see some of the data that's pouring in to see if this is actually holding up.

And, not so much.

WHITFIELD: Oh. Oh, my.

GOLDMAN: Yes. So, tourism was up less than one percent. It was just actually 0.2 percent in June. That doesn't really suggest that there's a lot of people coming for this event. Hotel prices were down three percent. You wouldn't see that if there were a lot of people coming here.

The -- it's really, really interesting.

[08:55:02]

You were saying --

WHITFIELD: Where were they? Where were they staying?

GOLDMAN: Where were they?

WHITFIELD: I mean, I know in Atlanta, which was a host city, I know a lot of people were preparing for the whole Airbnb, you know, renting out their homes. That didn't work out. I talked to a driver who was expecting to make a lot of money because that's what was being touted or promised. And he said, as a result of World Cup playing in Atlanta, he didn't make any more money than usual.

GOLDMAN: Yes, you hear --

WHITFIELD: So, where's the money going?

GOLDMAN: Where is the money going? You hear these anecdotes all the time. And so, we know for sure who benefited. We know that FIFA benefited, right? They made more than $1 billion on the TV rights. They made $9 billion on the ticket sales for sure. But, you know, you and I benefited too, right? We enjoyed the event. There's a social benefit to all of this.

WHITFIELD: I watched it all on TV. I didn't get tickets.

GOLDMAN: We all watched it. I mean John Berman lost his mind.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Right.

GOLDMAN: This is --

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).

GOLDMAN: He lost his mind and he's not here. And that's the thing.

WHITFIELD: He's bringing it all together now on this Friday.

GOLDMAN: That's the thing.

So, I mean, I think that, you know, it's really the friends that we made along the way. I think we can certainly say that. But as an economic benefit, not so much. WHITFIELD: Yes. I mean, no complaints. It's been fun. We've all

enjoyed it.

GOLDMAN: We sure have.

WHITFIELD: Yes, thank you, World cup.

All right, David Goldman, appreciate it. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: It's always about the friends we've made along the way, David.

WHITFIELD: That's all right.

BOLDUAN: Yes it is. Glass half full kind of Friday, friends.

Then there's this. Disgraced former congressman, and convicted felon, George Santos has a new gig. Santos will appear on the season -- on season five of the Fox reality TV series "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test," which premieres in September. He says he was, the way he put it is, quote, "absolutely not in shape" for the show, which puts celebrities through tough, military-themed challenges. Santos was convicted of wire fraud and identity theft in 2024. He served three months behind bars before President Trump commuted his seven year sentence.

Then there's this. Glass half full. Here we come again. Sister Miriam spends her days praying and spreading the Gospel from a convent in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has also managed to get millions of views of her podcast. The interwebs simply cannot get enough of the nun's unrelenting positivity, sincerity, and as it's described in some articles, ASMR-like quality of her voice. And also they have this moniker, "sister yes," that has now become a viral catchphrase.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SISTER MIRIAM HOLZMAN, HOST, DOMINICAN SISTERS OPEN MIC: Sister, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I keep getting the videos of the nuns doing the podcast and, oh, sister, they are so good at podcasts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Interesting fact. Sister Miriam says that she never planned to become a nun. She was actually a pharmacist and intended to get married and have children, but then found her calling with the church.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SISTER MIRIAM HOLZMAN, HOST, DOMINICAN SISTERS OPEN MIC: When I go to the airport, when I go to a school to teach, people are constantly approaching me to talk because I have this habit on. And so, my spirit, when I go out, in my heart is, I'm going to be available to the people today, whoever wants to talk. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I love it. Sister Miriam's podcast has over 250,000 followers. Her videos have over seven million likes on TikTok. And I am here for every single one of them.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: I love it. Sister, yes. All right.

Well, is it yes or no on, you know, fixing up your home? For years fixer upper homes was kind of part of the American dream. Buy a house that needs a little work, roll up your sleeves and build equity along the way. Well, these days, more home buyers are deciding the project just isn't worth it. With renovation costs climbing and mortgage rates already stretching budgets, fixer uppers are losing some of their appeal.

Joining us now from L.A. is CNN business reporter Samantha Delouya.

All right, what are you learning, Samantha? I mean, I thought this was the thing, you know, and you're going to get a good deal and create a home of your dreams.

SAMANTHA DELOUYA, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: That's right, Fredricka, fixer uppers really had their heyday in the mid-2010s. Recall back then, TV airwaves were filled with home makeover shows. But Americans are falling out of love with fixer upper homes. And what's the reason for that? Well, there's a few reasons. Tariffs on building materials have caused price increases. Inflation since 2022 that stayed elevated also making even DIY projects more expensive. And there's a labor shortage in the construction field. And so, you know, hiring a contractor is more expensive than ever as well.

All of this makes fixer upper homes just less of a profitable calculation, especially for first time home buyers already stretched thin with, you know, high mortgage rates, record high home prices.

And, you know, the cost of construction materials is up 4.6 percent just this year alone.

[09:00:02]

So that really illustrates how expensive it's gotten.

And, you know, Zillow has the data. So, last year, fixer upper homes sold.