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Water Crisis In Puerto Rico; U.S. Economy Unexpectedly Lost 23,000 Jobs Last Month; Sen. Cassidy Supports Blanche For Attorney General, Clearing Path To Approval; Arson Suspect Admits To Igniting Spokane Fire And Dozens Of Others; Hot, Dry, Windy Weather Elevates Wildfire Risk In Pacific Northwest; Officials Awaiting Results Of Toxicology Tests In Nolan Wells' Case. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 07, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They also will remember people who try to swat at them and potentially avoid them in the future.

TIRRELL: So they get whacked.

CLEMENT VINAUGER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, VIRGINIA TECH: Yeah.

TIRRELL: Swatted.

VINAUGER: Yeah, exactly.

TIRRELL: They don't like it.

VINAUGER: Yeah, and we have a publication showing that they actually can learn, you know, mechanical perturbations like that that mimic swats.

TIRRELL (voice-over): They're doing work here to try to get ahead of the bugs once again. They're doing this in some really incredibly fascinating ways.

VINAUGER: So we can sample people's body odor and using a technique that separates those, you know, hundreds of chemicals into individual ones, and then the machine is going to separate all the chemicals from the blend and send them to the mosquito one at a time. And if we recall from the antenna of the mosquito, you can tell which one is detected by the mosquito.

TIRRELL: What could we do with that information?

VINAUGER: So different things, you know, once you understand how they smell us, you can either use that information to create baits and lures to attract them toward traps or you can start thinking about engineering some repellents.

TIRRELL (voice-over): All of this, the researchers tell us, will help us better understand how to protect ourselves against a threat that's only growing in its geographic distribution as climates warm.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Itchy just watching that.

And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

Economists didn't see this one coming, the U.S. unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July. What's behind this summer slump? And what does it say about the U.S. economy. And the president says the Republican base isn't angry with him, they're angry with the GOP's leadership in Congress. But is that what polls say?

Plus, a water crisis in Puerto Rico, the parched island now rationing water for hundreds of thousands of Americans. The governor will join us this hour.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We're going to start with a Jobs Report that is calling into question what we know about the U.S. labor market and one that's likely adding to anxiety in the White House. The report shows that the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July as economists expected to find that it had created jobs. And when you actually dig into the report, there's more for all of us to worry about.

Henrietta Treyz is the Director of Economic Policy for Veda Partners, and I appreciate you taking the time. You know, right off the bat, Trump's Economic Adviser, Kevin Hassett says the weakness in the job numbers was, quote, "Really just two things, government workers and a sort of rebound from all the employment we got from the World Cup." Is that how you're reading it?

HENRIETTA TREYZ, DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC POLICY, VEDA PARTNERS: Unfortunately, not. The main driver of any growth that Hassett could be speaking to you is what we've seen throughout the whole year, which is really the health care services industry continues to thrive as more Americans get sicker, we need more health care workers, so that remains a bright spot in the jobs picture.

But what we're really seeing in the data this month is that the A.I. story that so many Americans had been apprehensive about is really starting to take hold. A big chunk of the losses of those 23,000 was in the financial services, sort of white-collar sector, that could be easily replaced by an A.I. situation. So payroll, MasterCard and Visa were some of the biggest losers in terms of firings in the last month as they reported on their earnings calls. So the negatives of this Jobs Report really can't be understated.

There's so much so that the Fed may even not hike interest rates next month, so it's quite substantial for the White House right now.

JIMENEZ: You know, one of the things that Hassett also looked at was attributing weakness in the job market participation to retirements and the administration's immigration policy. But we've had this graphic up in the studio here sort of laying out sort of the downward pace of jobs over the course of this year, which have come on top of downward revisions, some pretty brutal ones, over the past few months in particular. And I wonder, does the lead-up to these July numbers say anything to you? What should we read into with these numbers that we're getting now?

TREYZ: Yeah, this, the revisions are excellent to point out, this is the second largest revisions downward in, I want to say, since we got a big massive number, about 285,000 a couple of years back. So there is a real agita in the markets today because of not just the 23,000 that were lost in the data right now, but because of the backwards looking revisions.

And like I said, I mean this is a story that speaks to what the American public has been so concerned about. Not only are they retiring from even looking for a job, they're just giving up, which is why the unemployment rate dropped. They just stopped looking for jobs. But they're also seeing that the jobs they do have are not providing them with enough Increase in their revenue to offset the cost of inflation.

So we actually got the lowest average hourly earnings since May of 2021. So this is a real confirmation for any American voters that feels like inflation is a problem, pricing, jobs, the economy aren't doing well for them.

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That's because there aren't as many jobs as they need. They're dropping out of the workforce altogether and the jobs they do have aren't keeping up with the price of inflation.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, that wage growth stalling in July. You know, there is a lot of negative in this, as you have pointed out. But you know, when you break this into individual sectors, the manufacturing sector added 5,000 jobs, for example.

More broadly, are there other sectors or other aspects of the economy that are finding ways to thrive, even if it is not affecting, in a large way, the macroeconomic picture?

TREYZ: Yeah, it's really fascinating. So that 5,000 manufacturing job increase that you point out comes, of course, on the heels of massive declines in the manufacturing sector --

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

TREYZ: -- since the president's second term, mostly driven by tariffs. So the other part that you just have to keep in mind for employers is that their underlying costs have been fluctuating, which makes it really difficult for them to try to have certainty and increase hiring and feel comfortable knowing what's going to come next.

So when you have persistently shocks, the way the Fed refers to it as a shock to the economy, in the form of the tariffs that the president has put on, has increased just as yesterday on polysilicon, on semiconductors and solar panels, it makes it really difficult for a business owner, no matter the size, to say, OK, we're comfortable hiring right now.

The other layer to that is, of course, gas prices, diesel prices. If you have to ship your good from one place to another, if you're Amazon or even a postal worker, you're seeing these increased costs associated with that. So the lack of certainty is really difficult for anything other than the health care services sector to say, hey, I feel confident putting money to work here and hiring new folks.

JIMENEZ: And we're still talking about small numbers here. I mean, 5,000, it's not exactly changing the entire world there. Henrietta Treyz, got to leave the conversation there. Really appreciate you taking the time. Brianna?

KEILAR: Todd Blanche just cleared a major hurdle to be confirmed as Attorney General. President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Justice is now poised for full approval from the Senate, but really by the slimmest of margins here. Republican Senator, Bill Cassidy announced that he'll support Blanche's nomination, giving Blanche this vote that he desperately needs to go from acting A.G. to A.G.

The president's former personal attorney will now oversee a Justice Department that's facing mounting criticism, especially over its handling of the Epstein files and concerns that the department is being weaponized to target Trump's perceived foes.

We're joined now by former State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, Dave Aronberg. So Dave, Cassidy said the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It's between Mr. Blanche and another acting A.G. who may not be as good as Blanche. What do you think?

DAVE ARONBERG, FORMER STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Brianna, this was all orchestrated. The reason why Lisa Murkowski was able to say she's opposing Blanche and Susan Collins was because they knew they would have the votes all along, that they knew that Cassidy would go along with that. I know this because I was in the state senate here in Florida for eight years and you have the Republican caucus and the Democratic caucus and they work things out in advance and no one wants to be embarrassed, especially this close to a midterm election. So whatever Senator Cassidy says, you have to look at it in the view

of politics that this nomination was always going to go through. It was just a question of how close and I'm not surprised because you know the old saying, Brianna, Democrats fall in love, but Republicans fall in line.

KEILAR: So, make him work for it, right? Give the impression that you really make him kind of contort in order to get this support that he needs. But Cassidy also brought up his concern with lawfare or DOJ bringing suits against political enemies, something that he's blamed both parties for. And I hear what you're saying, kind of take this with a grain of salt, what Cassidy is saying. But he did say that this is a confirm Blanche and I think we should, you know, take a look and investigate his reasons for this.

Here's how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY, (R-LA): I will note that I've learned that some of the cases that have been publicly reported to be under investigation by the Department of Justice have been dismissed or no longer being pursued. I am realistic that President Trump can be unrelenting on this, but this will be true no matter who the Attorney General is and this is the rationale for having a Senate-confirmed Attorney General with more leverage to push back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Have you seen any indications that Todd Blanche will be a backstop to Trump's lawfare?

ARONBERG: No, Todd Blanche is very loyal to President Trump and the reason why he is in this position is because Adam Schiff still remains free. Trust me, if Jerome Powell or Adam Schiff woke up today in an orange jumpsuit in a jail cell, Pam Bondi would still be Attorney General.

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So this is a continuation of the lawfare. Now, I will say this, Senator Cassidy is right that Todd Blanche is about as normal of an Attorney General that you'll get from Trump because if he is not confirmed he'll stay there as Acting Attorney General until his time runs out and then he will be replaced by another loyalist.

It's not like Sally Yates is walking through that door. And so he's right that even if you oppose him, you're still going to get someone in the mold of the ideal Roy Cohn-type Attorney General that Donald Trump wants.

KEILAR: Senator Murkowski, who you mentioned, voting against Blanche, she cites the anti-weaponization fund as a factor in her decision here. She said that it could be brought back if Blanche is confirmed. She's not putting credence in that idea that it's actually dead. Do you think that it could be resurrected?

ARONBERG: It definitely can be resurrected, Brianna. That's because this was a result of a settlement agreement between President Trump's personal lawyers and the DOJ. And in the settlement agreement, they said that it could only be modified -- we're talking about the $1.776 billion slush fund and the tax issue -- it can only be modified by the mutual written consent of the parties.

Well, you have the written consent of one party, the DOJ. You don't have Trump's consent. So as long as Trump holds out, this thing can be resurrected. And what's to say that Todd Blanche is not going to change his mind after he gets confirmed? So this thing is not dead and buried.

KEILAR: All right, a zombie it may yet be. Dave Aronberg, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

Still to come, voter turnout could decide the midterms as President Trump blames Republican leadership on the Hill for voter frustration. Can the GOP get those voters to polls without his name on the ballot?

Plus, a new search for clues in the mysterious death of Nolan Wells. Three of Wells' friends, who were with him before he disappeared, are returning to the island where the teen's body was found. And then just ahead, a stunning admission by the alleged arsonist in the Washington State wildfires as firefighters are struggling to control that disaster. We have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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JIMENEZ: Prosecutors say the man charged with arson in one of three wildfires burning in Spokane, Washington now admits to igniting it. Prosecutors say 37-year-old Aaron Farinacci told investigators he planned to commit the crime for weeks and researched what day would be best. He's also confessed to starting more than two dozen other fires over the past year. It's stunning development and it comes as high winds and hotter than normal temperatures return to the Pacific Northwest today, giving yet another challenge for fire crews working to try and contain these fires.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking all this. So Allison, what should we expect in this critical region?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, so really fires are going to be the biggest concern in the short term. It's why you have the fire weather watch risk up to about an elevated level now. This is just for the remainder of the day today, but this is going to continue through the weekend. You also have your red flag warnings in effect.

The key thing here is that it's not just that the winds are going to increase, but you have incredibly low humidity. So that dry ground is the dry fuel that a lot of these fires need to continue to progress throughout much of the area. We've also had very warm temperatures. Now as we head into the weekend, we're going to finally start to see them coming back down.

However, this still will impact the fire crews that are out there trying to fight these fires. The average in Spokane this time of year Is about 87 degrees. We are 10 degrees above that today, but notice by the time we get to Sunday, we're only just a few degrees cooler and every little bit helps. And it's not just Spokane, really much of the West is dealing with these temperatures that are anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees above average.

But the winds, this is what we talked about, this is really what is going to make those conditions very difficult for the firefighters today as well as tomorrow, as those wind gusts tick up to around 20 to 25 miles per hour.

I know that may not seem like that's all that much but when you already have an ongoing fire, even something as simple as 20 miles per hour is enough to pick up some of those embers and continue to spread them elsewhere in addition to perhaps even starting additional fires. So one thing that we are going to keep a close eye on is those winds and the wind direction that they are going over the next 24 to 48 hours.

Here's that fire risk for tomorrow. Again notice, it's many of the exact same places that were on the map for today. The one thing we talked about was again the direction of the wind is going to change and what that's going to do is, it is going to take a lot of the smoke that's been in the area and also shift its directions. So good news for places like Seattle and Portland which are actually expected to get a little bit of a break from all of that smoke compared to where they have recently.

But other areas, especially Eastern Washington where Spokane is located, but also Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, a lot of these other places are actually going to see an increase in the smoke because that wind is going to be changing directions. The one thing this area really needs right now is rain. Unfortunately, when you look at the next seven days, there is no rain anywhere in the areas we need it the most.

In fact, it's really going to be centered more over the Midwest rather than the Pacific Northwest.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, looking for relief in any way they can find it. Allison Chinchar, really appreciate it.

Still to come for us, a search for answers in the death of Nolan Wells. More than a month after his body was found, three friends who traveled with him are returning to the Mississippi island at the center of the case. We'll tell you what they hope to uncover.

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And then later, a water crisis in Puerto Rico. Inside the plan to cut off tens of thousands of families from water for days at a time. We're going to talk with the governor about what's being done. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:25:00]

KEILAR: CNN has learned that three friends of Mississippi teen, Nolan Wells, are returning to Horn Island. That is the area where Wells' body was found after he went missing over July 4th weekend. A state autopsy is still pending over Wells' cause of death after the one commissioned by his family came back with no solid answers.

CNN Senior National Correspondent, Ryan Young is following this new development. Ryan, what can you tell us about this?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna, still so many questions involved in this case and I can tell you, the speculation online is just so rampant it's not even funny at this point. We have never named those three friends and we will do that at this point.

Their names are Warren Hudson, Jack Pitalo, and Morgan Seymour. Apparently, according to their attorney, they will be returning to Horn Island. I do want to stress this, we would love to speak to any of those three men as they go back to this island.

Right now, we're not sure when they're going to return to Horn Island. We're told it's going to happen sometime during today and we're going to put up this statement from the attorneys that basically shows why they're going back to the island. They're going to do their own investigation.

They say we are proud to stand with and fight for these three completely innocent young men, and we'll be focused solely on the truth. That's been a big part of this conversation. You see how the statement goes on there.

But the big part of this conversation, even with investigators, is about getting to the truth and of course, if you listen to Nolan Wells' family, they've been saying that over and over as well. We believe that all three men have been interviewed by the Sheriff's Department. Of course, the Sheriff indicated that to "Sun Herald," which is a local newspaper there.

We've called to talk to the Sheriff to see if those interviews have happened to confirm that for ourselves. But right now, we have not heard back from the Sheriff. But this has really been the focus about what happened in the hours or the minutes after they say they left that island. And there's been so much speculation at this point.

These attorneys say now they're going back to the island to do some sort of dynamic search. But you have to ask yourself, after more than a month, what could they possibly find there? But again, maybe they're able to show investigators or even their attorneys where they last were at that point.

And we don't even know if they went there with investigators at some point beyond this. But Brianna, we know this case has had so many twists and turns so far, just a lack of answers.

KEILAR: Yeah. What's the latest on the autopsy report, Ryan?

YOUNG: Yeah, I'm glad you asked about that. We have been digging and searching and calling state investigators about this as well. We believe the holdup right now is the toxicology. We know there was that forensic path where, more than likely, the autopsy has been done, but they're waiting for those toxicology reports to come back.

And even in the independent autopsy, we're wondering whether or not that toxicology report is going to come back at some point soon. But we know there were parts of his body that were saved that didn't happen in that private autopsy. So did state investigators find something that they're looking at? Is there something there that's given them some sort of clues and is leading this investigation into a different direction? That is not something that we can answer.

We know the last time someone has talked was the DA's office that basically said, look, this is going to a grand jury. And when it goes to a grand jury, at that point, that's when they'll present all the evidence. And right now, we don't have any crack in terms of when that may happen or when they will talk with the family about what the findings are so far.

KEILAR: All right, Ryan, thank you so much for the latest on this. Still to come, tension inside the GOP. President Trump acknowledges that Republican voters are frustrated, but he says their anger is actually focused on Congress, not on him. Will this turn into a turnout problem for the midterms?

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