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All Eyes On Federal Reserve Ahead Of Interest Rate Decision Today; Search And Rescue Ongoing After 6.8 Magnitude Quake Strikes Japan; Shark Attack Survivor Joins CNN News Central. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 29, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:30:35]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All eyes are on the Federal Reserve today waiting for a key decision on interest rates in a few hours. Federal officials have -- fed officials, excuse me, have kept rates steady for the past four meetings but could the new fed chair announce a hike today? If they do it would be the first increase since July of 2023.

CNN senior reporter Matt Egan is in Washington, D.C. ahead of this meeting. Matt, what are you hearing? What do you -- what do you think they're leaning towards because they usually give signals as to where they're -- they might go?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, Sara. There is some real suspense over what the fed is going to do today and that is unusual because yes, normally fed officials -- they drop enough hints where the fed decision is already baked into markets before it's announced. But not today. This is shaping up to be a bit of a cliffhanger.

So the most likely scenario being priced into the market is a halt. No chance -- no change in interest rates. However, there's about a one in three chance of an interest rate hike -- a hike that would be designed to fight inflation -- one in three chance, right? That is not nothing.

So this uncertainty -- it's being driven by a few different factors. First off, there's a new guy in charge of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh. He -- there's a lot of debate over just how aggressively he's going to fight inflation. He's certainly talked tough, but will he act tough? I guess we're going to find out.

Secondly, Warsh -- he's been somewhat cryptic about his plans. He doesn't think it's a good idea for fed officials to spoon feed Wall Street with what's known as forward guidance.

And the other thing here is oil prices, right? Oil is just a massive x-factor when it comes to inflation. But oil prices have been all over the place, right? They plunged last month during the ceasefire. Then when the ceasefire imploded, we had oil prices spike again. They fell on Monday. They're up -- as you can see on your screen, up another five percent today. So it's awfully hard to tell exactly what the impact is going to be on inflation because it keeps moving around. So you put it altogether and it sets the stage for a truly live fed meeting today. Now if the fed decides to hike interest rates it would be a major move. As you mentioned, the first interest rate hike in three years.

This would be a move that would actually make it more expensive for everyone to borrow, right -- small businesses. More expensive for consumers to pay down credit card debt, to get a car loan, to get a mortgage, a home equity line of credit.

But most fed watchers that I talk to -- they do expect a hold from the fed. This would be the fifth-straight pause from the Federal Reserve.

However, one thing that's really important to watch for today Sara is how fed officials vote. At the last meeting it was unanimous. But if the fed holds today, the thinking is there could be two, maybe even three officials who dissent favoring a hike. And if that happens that would signal growing pressure on Kevin Warsh to act soon.

Back to you.

SIDNER: We will have to wait and see. Obviously, the president is going to be watching this as well because he has always been trying to get the fed to cut the interest rate. We'll see what happens today, Matt Egan. Thank you so much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking this morning, missiles are flying in the Middle East just days after President Trump said the U.S. had halted strikes on Iran. Overnight kind of a rare team-up. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia conducted joint strikes on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. At least 20 people were killed. That's according to one of the groups. This is after U.S. Central Command said it intercepted Iranian missiles and stopped a surprise attack on U.S. forces.

With us now is Congressman Mike Quigley, a Democrat from Illinois. He's on the House Intelligence committee. Congressman, good to see you this morning.

What does this tell you -- the fact that President Trump has said that the U.S. was engaged in fruitful talks with Iran? That the -- President Trump has said if Iran attacks the United States would strike back, destroying bridges and infrastructure. What does it tell you that Iran felt emboldened to launch this surprise attack on U.S. forces?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL) (via Webex by Cisco): I think they see the president the way we do, unfortunately -- somewhat confused, lost, and somewhat desperate.

I mean, at this point in time what is victory? It seems when you look at the terms of the memorandum of understanding we got nothing. That I guess victory wouldn't be regime change. Victory wouldn't be the nuclear program ending. Victory right now would just be getting the strait open, which it was when the conflict started.

[07:35:05]

So at this point it's a pipedream to get to the point under President Obama where we had the JCPOA where the Iranians were in compliance and not moving forward with a nuclear program.

So I think the Iranians are emboldened. They're going to get restocked, in their minds. They have time and unfortunately there's no way out of this conflict unless the president is willing to accept what can only be described as a humiliating withdrawal.

BERMAN: So CNN has a new poll out this morning looking at the president's ratings on various issues. I can put it up on the screen here.

On Iran, his approval is just 28 percent, and you can see it right there. Underwater on a range of issues but Iran -- he's only at 28 percent approval. But in recent polling, in terms of which party the voters trust more on Iran, it's the Republicans. This was a -- this is actually over time, but now Republicans are favored by two points on Iran.

If it's going to badly, as you say, and if the president's approval is only 28 percent, why do voters still prefer Republicans than Democrats on Iran?

QUIGLEY: You know, I'm not sure how the question was worded but I think they clearly understand what the top lines that this conflict is costing them. Already, $70 billion in military costs. And that everything -- not just gasoline -- fertilizer, tomatoes, and certainly buying a house -- everything costs more. So if anything, this requires further discussions and educating the American people to understand this is exactly what they didn't want.

Trump campaigned on no more wars and no inflation. He was going to end inflation. In one fell swoop he went the opposite direction. We're stuck in a war that's going to be very difficult and expensive to get out, when U.S. service members have been killed, and that cost will be borne by the American people for years to come.

BERMAN: It's interesting if we can put those issues back up on the screen there. You seem to focus most on the economy, inflation, and gas prices. And I can read these to you if we -- yeah, right there. On the economy, the president is only at 30 percent. Inflation -- the president is 25 percent. Gas prices at 21 percent.

If it were up to you -- you know, if Congressman Mike Quigley could decide what Democrats run on, on November 3, which of those issues would Democrats most be talking about for the next 98 days?

QUIGLEY: Yeah, look, in past elections, the target is still the economy, stupid. It's still pocketbook issues.

I talked to my colleagues across the aisle, and I think in 435 congressional districts the issue is still affordability. What Democrats needed to learn from the Biden administration is you can't tell the American people how they feel. You can't tell them that the economy is great when it's not.

Trump is repeating the Biden mistake. Democrats need to learn from that and focus on those pocketbook issues. Ending the war would be a good start but working on issues like housing development at a dramatic rate -- those are the kinds of things I think that will reverberate with the American people and help them understand.

When I got out of college, the first-time homebuyer's age was 28. It's now 40. But for many Americans it's never. And the fact that the president's tariff wars, his trade wars, and this war -- it's only going to get worse.

BERMAN: Congressman, very quickly, you're on the intelligence committee. Politico has a story out this morning in their Playbook that the acting director of national intelligence Bill Pulte is pressing to delay Jay Clayton's swearing in or at least trying to stay in the job longer. That's according to a White House official. Pulte is telling Trump he needs more time to finish his work. And all the tweets and things he's been doing lately is sort of pressuring the president to keep him on.

Jay Clayton was approved by the Senate -- confirmed by the Senate yesterday.

What do you think about the fact that if Politico is right here that he's trying to stick around for a little bit longer -- Pulte.

QUIGLEY: Why he's there in the first place is just staggering. I think we are frankly a joke to the rest of the world, and it makes us less safe. Who trusted the former ODNI who was clearly an inexperienced sycophant, who was a Russian sympathizer? So someone who has absolutely no experience running the agency that was formed after 9/11 to make sure we coordinated our intelligence. That we shared information not just within our own community but the rest of the world.

So the sooner he's out, the better. The fact that he served any time at all was a dangerous embarrassment for our country.

[07:40:00]

BERMAN: Congressman Mike Quigley from Illinois. Thanks for coming on this morning -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's new video coming in from Japan showing the moment an explosion just destroyed this shopping mall that we've seen. It was totally devastated, which this triggered by -- this whole thing triggered by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit yesterday.

I'm going to show you a closer look of it. You can see the force of the blast just destroying a side of the building. Just kind of blowing it out as you see there. Officials believe a possible gas leak may have triggered this.

There's also police body camera video from inside the mall giving another view of the devastation and destruction that was left behind in the aftermath. Three people who worked there are now confirmed dead. Rescuers are still searching for more signs of life in that mall and elsewhere.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has more.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The race is on to find survivors, especially in that shopping center that was partially collapsed in an explosion shortly after that massive 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japan on Tuesday.

This was an earthquake so massive that it brought down buildings and bridges, and it has also taken lives. At least 13 people are dead. We learned that dozens more are injured. We've also learned that tens of thousands of people are without electricity, including patients seeking care in a hospital. And some 300,000 people have been told to go to evacuation centers.

Now we are keeping a close eye on the situation here on your screen -- that partially collapsed shopping center. Remember, after this earthquake hit southern Japan on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after that a massive explosion ripped through that site. Officials there saying that gas was detected on the site but the investigation as for the cause of that blast -- that is still underway.

And this dashcam video -- it shows you the moment of the explosion and then you can see the smoke billowing across into the air and across the road there as well. We heard from a witness saying that the sound of that explosion was "deafening." And as that rescue effort is underway, we are not sure just how many people are trapped in the rubble.

Now meanwhile, we are keeping an eye on a separate situation at a paper factory where a huge industrial-sized chimney collapsed there. We could bring up the video so you could see what's happening there. This is called Nippon Paper Industries. It's in Yatsushiro city. The damage there is extensive and several people there are unaccounted for.

Now we have been hearing updates from the government in Japan, including the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, and she has not only provided updates but pledged that the government response will be that of full force to rescue people who are still trapped in the rubble.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. This morning, brand-new audio raises new questions about the mysterious death of a teenager who went missing on a boat trip with friends.

And Meta going to great lengths to get people on board with AI.

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[07:47:27]

BOLDUAN: So is the World Cup up for sale? FIFA is apparently looking for new investors, which is sparking these big, new questions -- and people are not happy about it, it seems.

CNN's Andy Scholes has much more on this. Andy, what's going on here?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah. So Kate, this is kind of like if the NFL decided to sell part ownership of the Super Bowl to Wall Street investors. So FIFA president Gianni Infantino -- he said that soccer's governing body is going to seek investors to raise $4.2 billion on a $20 billion valuation to find the FIFA Forward Enterprise. So that's going to be a newly-formed body that would control commercial and event operations for future editions of the men's and women's World Cup.

Now one of the potential investors in the new entity is Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is President Trump's son-in-law.

Now UEFA, which is Europe's soccer governing body, furious at this news. According to multiple reports they are holding an emergency meeting to discuss the plans, including a potential World Cup boycott. And in a statement, UEFA said, "This crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross. The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade, especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA's to sell."

All right. Elsewhere, in the WNBA last night, Caitlin Clark having another fantastic performance. The Fever star making nine of her 14 shots. Clark put up 32 points and seven assists as the Fever beat the Storm 105-95. The Fever, the first team in league history to score 100 more in four straight games.

Meanwhile in baseball, the Tigers were also scoring early and often. Detroit scored in every single inning, and they shut out the Orioles 14-0. The Tigers just the second team since 1900 to score a run in every inning and allow no runs in every inning.

Now their ace, two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, is going to be on the mound today against the Orioles. And with Monday's trade deadline looming this could be Skubal's last-ever home start for the Tigers.

All right. And finally, the Yankees in Chicago taking on the White Sox yesterday. Gerrit Cole gets Colson Montgomery to pop this one up right here. And while he was trying to make the catch, Austin Wells bumps into him a little bit and Cole is still able to make the one-handed, barehanded grab there. Then watch what he does after making the catch. He's going to call Wells for the old pass interference, Kate.

[07:50:05]

I think everyone should just hold a yellow flag in their back pocket or in their pocket with them and any time someone does something they don't like just throw the yellow flag at them and call a penalty.

BOLDUAN: This is like -- this is very important for me because there's nothing that I love more than mixing sports metaphors, and he just did it for me. I'm just absolutely loving this very much.

SCHOLES: It's almost football season.

BOLDUAN: I mean, don't -- I am counting down the days -- J.B.

BERMAN: And as someone who is often guilty of necessary roughness, Kate Bolduan can appreciate all of that.

BOLDUAN: Sara is like confirmed, confirmed, confirmed.

BERMAN: All right. This morning the FAA is investigating an extremely close call between two Delta jets in Atlanta. One was trying to land when the pilot aborted the approach as another jet was taking off right from a parallel runway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATC: 1568, you are clear to land.

DELTA PILOT: Is somebody on the runway?

ATC: He's exiting now.

DELTA PILOT: Delta 1568, going around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So an air traffic controller instructed both pilots separately to turn right and climb to 4,000 feet. Anticollision alarms went off in both cockpits warning the pilots to take evasive action.

So outside Dallas a man was pulled to safety after having to tread water in a lake for nearly four hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang on. We got you. We got you. Hang on. Give me your hands. I got you. I got you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, yeah, right. We got you now.

RESCUED SWIMMER: Would it be easier to go to the stern?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably. You've got handle back there. I'll walk you back there. Yeah.

RESCUED SWIMMER: I think I've been in this water for almost -- nearly four hours at least.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. You're --

RESCUED SWIMMER: I'm a little tired. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yeah, that last little bit getting up is always the hardest part. They did eventually pull him up on to the boat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RESCUED SWIMMER: Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would need a life jacket like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, they save lives. That's for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So he ended up in the lake after his boat slammed into a stump. And once he went in it was pretty choppy waters -- like three to four-foot waves all over the lake. Officials say that the man's Apple watch is actually what called for help -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

New this morning, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he doesn't understand why the discourse over artificial intelligence is so "filled with doom." He's got a different take, which he lays out in a new op-ed I The Wall Street Journal. Zuckerberg writes that the abundance of the future can be shared by everyone. And he makes the case for widespread access to AI and dismisses some of the doomsday scenarios, such as AI will eliminate most jobs and maybe even humanity's relevance.

His op-ed comes just days after Meta released this feel-good ad about artificial intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

META AD: Some people will have you believe AI will make us less connected. That it's going to leave us behind. We couldn't disagree more. Call us optimists. Call us dreamers. Just as we've always done, we're betting on people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy is here with now. I mean, look, you can be an optimist, but you can't be ignorant about this because so many people in his own industry are warning about the possible dangers of AI.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: That's exactly right. And, you know, there have been these big concerns around what this technology could mean. Meta itself recently dealt with this with the latest release of its Meta AI glasses, which saw significant blowback from people calling them a surveillance device. So Meta clearly trying to shift this narrative both with that ad that you just saw and now with this Mark Zuckerberg op-ed.

I want to read you another portion of what he wrote here. He says, "Humanity has witnessed many transformative advances. Each time there is fear that people will be left behind. But each time humanity has some out with more people sharing greater prosperity, health and freedom. We believe this will be true with AI as well, and the abundance of the future can be shared by everyone." He does seem to be hitting at some of the other leaders in this industry that have raised these big concerns.

He also makes this argument for widespread open access to AI models at a time when OpenAI and Anthropic are having conversations about limiting access to the most advanced models to hedge against these risks.

Zuckerberg writes, "If only a handful of institutions have superintelligence they will inevitably exercise a controlling influence over economics, science and politics. Even with the best intentions, that concentration would limit people's ability to choose their own future."

And Sara, I think there are a couple of interesting things about the context in which he is writing this. On the one hand he's advocating for open access to AI models. On the other hand Meta, this year, just released their first closed source AI model, which limits how people can use it, reversing an earlier commitment to open source AI access.

They are also making this play that they are betting on people. Meta, earlier this year, laid off 8,000 workers so that it could spend more money on AI data centers. So I think there are some tensions here in terms of what they're saying and what the company is doing here.

[07:55:10]

But certainly important for Meta to have the conversation around AI change. The company is reporting earnings tonight. Its stock is down around eight percent since the start of this year as investors have been asking tough questions about the amount of money that they're spending on this technology and when we're going to start to see a return. So Meta certainly wanting there to be a more positive conversation around AI at this moment.

SIDNER: Yeah, and, of course, there are so many things like medical advances that people are looking forward to with AI and the capabilities. But there is the other side of that, and this seems extremely optimistic for someone who is in the business of knowing how this technology works and how fast it is going.

Clare Duffy, it's so good to have you here to walk us through all that. I do appreciate it.

DUFFY: Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: It has begun. I'm, of course, talking about "SHARK WEEK" on the Discovery Channel, owned by our parent company. There are 20 -- 20 action-packed premieres, including "BULL SHARK DINNER BELL."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) Clip from Discovery "SHARK WEEK."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. With us now is the man you just saw -- the man, not the shark -- former Australian Navy diver and "SHARK WEEK" host and shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder, who did lose his arm and leg in a bull shark attack, which does beg the question that a show called "BULL SHARK DINNER BELL" -- I mean, are we the dinner bells?

PAUL DE GELDER, SHARK WEEK HOST: Occasionally, we can be the dinner bell and that's the whole point of the show.

We got all of the ingredients together to create the perfect recipe to ring that bull shark dinner bell. And a lot of the time those recipes are created by us, whether we're fishing, spearfishing, entering the ocean after heavy rainfall when it's murky, or human interaction in the water -- splashing around and jumping off boats. So we brought all of those things together and obviously used me as a little bit of bait.

SIDNER: I find it fascinating that you do get back into the water after all that happened to you. You lost an arm; you lost a leg. And I want to read you a quote that you gave. You said, "I hated sharks before this shark attack. I didn't want anything to do with them. I spent so much time in the water with the Navy as a diver I just though just kill them all."

How did you change? Everyone would think that the shark attack would make you even more anti-shark and the opposite happened.

DE GELDER: It did. It really did. After the shark attack I didn't want to be that bad guy that villainized the animal that nearly killed me. I wanted to try and understand it. I believe that knowledge dispels fear and we shouldn't let the things that we're afraid of stop us from doing the things that we love. And I loved being in the ocean with the Navy.

And I was always afraid of sharks so I had to figure out a way to stop that so I could still enjoy the ocean even though that might give me flashbacks. That might give me PTSD. I didn't know what was going to happen after the shark attack. So I chose not to blame the shark. I chose to see it as just something that's happened, you know.

We've all been through hard things in our lives. They don't define us. They don't make us victims. They don't make us weaker; they make us stronger because we've survived them.

And so I chose that train of thought instead of the slippery slope of depression and doing that made me stronger. It made me more resilient, and it opened up a whole new world of opportunity for me as well.

BERMAN: So is it 20 premieres on "SHARK WEEK" which seems like a lot. It seems like a very aggressive "SHARK WEEK" here. And one of them is a show about basically, like, chasing the Moby Dick of sharks. Like, Rosie, some giant great white.

DE GELDER: Um-hum.

BERMAN: Talk to me about that. And are these sharks getting bigger?

DE GELDER: Mate, the wilds of Nova Scotia.

BOLDUAN: I mean --

DE GELDER: The middle of nowhere.

SIDNER: Kate.

DE GELDER: Super murky water, freezing cold.

BOLDUAN: Freezing water. Yeah. It's like oh.

DE GELDER: The biggest great white sharks. I saw everything from the smallest great white shark I've ever seen to the biggest. And our cage wouldn't go to the bottom, so we had to design our own cage out of black PVC piping and I might have made the windows a little bit too big.

SIDNER: Whoa.

DE GELDER: It was still a good time.

SIDNER: What happened? The window was a little too big? What happened. Did the shark get in there a little bit?

DE GELDER: It didn't but it very well could have. We got to the bottom and you could see only three feet away.

BOLDUAN: Oh my god.

DE GELDER: And a great white shark swam straight past the wide-open cages. But that wasn't the purpose of the show. The purpose was to find Big Rosie, this 20-foot great white shark. She'd only been seen once, so we went on the hunt. Find her, tag her, track her movements so we know their realm better.