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Treasury Department Buyback Limits Bond Market Pain; Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) is Interviewed about the National Debt and his Campaign; Americans on Trump and Corruption; Firefighter Rescues Woman from Car During Flash Floods; Duke Law School Professor Stuart Benjamin is Interviewed about Meta's Landmark Trial; "Coming Up" Features Ariana Madix. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 20, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:33]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, there are a lot of important stories out there this morning, but there is one that might have the biggest impact on your life, but it's kind of one of the harder to understand. There was a surprise move by the Treasury Department to steady the bond market. There have been these flashing warning signs in the bond market not seen for decades. And this really does have a huge potential effect on your finances.

CNN's David Goldman is with me now to explain what's going on here.

I will tell you, the cover of "The Wall Street Journal" the last three days has been covered with stories about bond yields. And there's a reason.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, there's a big reason because even if you're not invested in bonds, it really makes a difference to you. And the reason why is that, well, the government pays for a lot of the things we want, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, among the largest. But now the government says, well, we want to go to war. Well, that's a really expensive endeavor. And so these interest rates, because the government needs to borrow money from investors to pay for the things that it wants to do, well, let's just say it was a four percent interest rate. Now, with all the demand, investors are saying, ah, that's going to be around five percent.

And so, the war itself is making your gas prices go up. We kind of all understand that. But now the higher interest rates, that's making your mortgage rates go up too because these are pegged to those interest rates.

Now, the lenders are saying, OK, so, five percent, well, you know, the government needs to pay that money back. Well, that's a hard thing to do when you have a $40 trillion debt, which we just found out about yesterday.

BERMAN: Right. It just came out yesterday.

GOLDMAN: Exactly. Now, to finance that debt with the interest rates where they are right now, it costs $1.2 trillion. That is 19 percent of the entire federal budget just paying for the bonds to borrow money to do the things it wants to do.

And so now there's two options. You can either raise taxes. No one wants to do that. In fact, we are cutting taxes in this country right now. Or you can say, well, we're going to get rid of these social services or some aspects of them. And that's why this all matters to you, because if you like the stuff the government is doing and you like your taxes to be low, and you don't want your gas prices and your mortgage rates to go higher, well, then you've got to care about the bond market.

BERMAN: Right. And the gas prices are going higher. And mortgage rates have been historically high. And these bond rates are very, very high, which is why Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, is doing things that really people haven't done before.

GOLDMAN: That's right.

BERMAN: Woo, it's all connected. And the national debt goes up by $7 billion every day.

GOLDMAN: Unbelievable.

BERMAN: All right, David Goldman, thank you very much.

Kate

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about that. Joining me right now is Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts. He is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, of course.

It's good to see you, Congressman.

The national debt now stands at $40 trillion. When you first entered Congress in 2001, the national debt was at $5.81 trillion. I make that comparison to highlight how Congress debates the national debt, a lot, but rarely does anything to tackle it. Why?

REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D-MA): Well, not only don't we tackle it, we actually exacerbate the problem, Kate. So, when, back in 2008, if you look at our national debt, we had a spike then, we bailed out the financial services industry. We bailed out the banks. That was a big spike. President Trump's first term, we added $1.7 trillion to the national debt because of his tax cut.

[08:35:06]

I voted against that as well. And then recently his one big, beautiful bill also spikes the -- adds at least another trillion dollars to the national debt. So, and it's not just Republicans. Democrats have done it too at times. But we haven't had -- BOLDUAN: Yes, I was going to say, but to be intellectually honest, we do need to add that Democrats -- Democratic presidents have -- and congresses have added to the national debt, just to -- as well.

LYNCH: Oh, yes. Absolutely. Especially during difficult times. During Covid, you know, we had -- you know, services were extended that also added to the national debt. No doubt about that. But we just don't seem to have the willpower to do those necessary cuts.

And then, you know, we make choices, like this war in Iran. You know, that's ramping up the national debt each and every day. Some would declare that it's unnecessary, that it was a war of choice. So, that decision, which did not involve Congress, is costing us a barrel of money as well.

BOLDUAN: All of this issues to discuss on it that people care about, that we can be -- that are issues in campaigns. And you are in the midst of a campaign right now. You're facing a primary challenge. And Patrick Roath has made, as part of his campaign, as we've seen, age a central issue in this campaign.

He was on with my colleague, John Berman, earlier this month, and I want to play for you what he said then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK ROATH (D), MASSACHUSETTS CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS: I'm running against a member of Congress who's been -- who's been an elected official since I was five years old. So, in this safe, blue seat around the city of Boston, there is a lot of us thinking, hey, can't we be doing better? Isn't it time for the next generation? Get someone new in there to do something a little different that's more tailored to what the times require? That's what I'm trying to offer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Why's he wrong?

LYNCH: Excuse me. I'm sorry. I didn't catch it.

BOLDUAN: Why is he wrong?

LYNCH: Why is he wrong? Well, first of all, he's from Connecticut. He's -- he comes out of -- his perspective is a lot different than mine. I'll give you that. Very, very clear differences. You know, he grew up in Connecticut. He's not from here. He comes out of -- his last ten years he's been advising private equity and big pharma. You look at -- you know, there's a saying from Don Quixote, show me -- show me your friends, show me your people, and I'll tell you what you are. His big supporters are private equity, big pharma. That's not necessarily what the young people in my district want, or the middle aged or older people in the district want.

So, I've got my own reputation. I've been serving in this seat for a while. I know my district extremely well. I have voted responsibly on their behalf. I've got a great constituent services, you know, team that watches out for my -- the families in my district. We've had some notable successes. I probably have as much affordable housing being constructed in my district right now, and housing is a big issue, Kate, in my district, than any other congressional district in the country. And I'm doing that in a -- in a Congress where I have a Republican controlled House, Republican controlled Senate, Republican controlled White House. And I'm still getting things done.

And someone who has never, ever, ever been in a position of trust, never been in government, to come in and try to represent 750, 000 people, it'll be impossible for him to do so at the level that I'm doing right now.

BOLDUAN: There's some age kind of similar themes, if you will, though. Every race is different. But there are similar themes also at issue in what is now a key Senate Democratic primary in Massachusetts. Ed Markey, long serving, facing a challenge from Congressman Seth Moulton. They have their final debate tonight. And there's kind of a similar dynamic going on in this race where Moulton has said that it's time to pass the baton to another younger generation. He's also the -- kind of the more moderate candidate between the two, though he wants to debate it. You are, you know, a moderate as well. Who's better for Massachusetts when it comes to that Senate seat.

LYNCH: When they both announced they were running for that seat, I told them both, I said, I'm not going to get involved in your race. Good luck to both of you and we'll be friends afterwards. Look, I think that right now in Congress we probably have the youngest Congress that we've had in a long, long time. I think 60 percent of the members have been there three terms or less. I think you need a mix of people. And I don't necessarily think that, you know, that people who are there for a certain part -- period of time should be jettisoned because they -- just because they have experience, right?

[08:40:00]

And I also think you need a mix. You need some people that know how to get things done, that have the relationships across the aisle. Sometimes it requires compromise. And, you know, I think that -- I don't think that the Democratic socialists have all the answers. I think you need to -- I think you need to sometimes come to a -- come at a problem on -- from a position of compromise to do what's best for the American people and not from ideology.

So, I think all those elements add up to, you know, get -- getting things done in Washington, D.C.

BOLDUAN: Getting things done. Let's end where we began, getting things done, and then maybe taking on the $40 trillion national debt is part -- is part of getting things done.

Congressman, thank you very much for coming in this morning.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New polling from Reuters in Ipsos find a majority of Americans believe President Trump and his family have profited inappropriately from their cryptocurrency business since his return to the White House. The president made more than $1 billion last year from crypto alone.

CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten joining us now. Look, what are Americans thinking? I -- always give the salute.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: What are Americans --

ENTEN: The audience deserves it.

SIDNER: They deserve it.

Thinking and feeling about the Trump administration, Donald Trump in particular, and corruption?

ENTEN: Yes, you know, President Trump came into Washington on the promise of cleaning up the swamp, cleaning up the swamp. Well, the American people say he is failing at doing so and increasingly so.

Look at these numbers right here. OK, disapprove of Trump on corruption. You obviously want that number to be south of 50 percent. It was south of 50 percent at the beginning of Trump's second term. Look at that, 43 percent. But now, up like a rocket. We're talking nearly three in five Americans, 59 percent, disapprove of the job that Donald Trump is doing on corruption. Among independents it's the exact same trend line. It was south of 50 percent at the beginning of his second term, 48 percent. Now it's nearly two and three.

The American people are increasingly believing that Donald Trump is not the person to clean up the swamp. If anything, he is now a member of the swamp. And you can see it right here. His disapproval ratings on corruption, something he had promised coming into term number two, not where you want to be. The majority of Americans think, in fact, they disapprove.

SIDNER: So, what is it that has sort of turned them, made them see this very clearly, because that is a very clear number there that they think he is the swamp.

ENTEN: Yes, they think he is the swamp. They think he is part of that corrupt swamp. Why is it? Well, it has everything to do with his actions. Say Trump's business interests influence his decisions as president. A very not nice 69 percent of Americans overall say that Trump's business interests influence his decisions as president. Even 48 percent of Republicans, 48 percent of Republicans who have stuck with Donald Trump through thick and thin, who thought that his business acumen, his business experience would be something that would actually help him keep him out of the swamp, now say 48 percent say his business interests actually influence his decisions as president. When you get 69 percent overall and nearly half of your own Republican base saying that your business interests actually influence your decisions as president, no wonder your disapproval rating on corruption, up like a rocket, jumping up and down.

SIDNER: Up like a rocket. And the approval rating going down.

ENTEN: Down.

SIDNER: Sinking into the swamp.

How is this all impacting --

ENTEN: Oh, very good.

SIDNER: You're welcome.

ENTEN: I'm going to have to steal that.

SIDNER: How is this impacting the Republican Party at large?

ENTEN: Yes, as Sara was saying, you know, that disapproval rating on corruption going up like a rocket there for his overall approval rating, going down in the swamp, I had to add the dance moves, that is impacting his own party on corruption. The Republican Party can't run on corruption like they might have been able to in past cycles. Party trusted more on corruption. In August of 2025, just a year ago, the Republican Party was more trusted by eight points.

Now the tide is changing. See, we're doing stuff with water here. The tide is changing. Now the Democratic Party is more trusted on corruption by four points. If anything, we've obviously already seen -- we have seen scandals play out in these midterm elections, in these primary cycles. We saw it on Tuesday night with Cory Mills.

And it's sort of starting to remind me a little bit of what might have been going on back in 2006, where that rising tide of Americans thinking that the Republican Party was, in fact, not the party that they trusted more on corruption, led to GOP losing their House majority and their Senate majority as well. And that would be very welcome news for the Democrats.

SIDNER: It certainly would be.

Harry Enten, thank you for all the puns and things this morning, as usual.

ENTEN: And we'll put the wave over there.

SIDNER: Send it to John Berman.

BERMAN: An ocean of mixed metaphors.

This morning, a story of survival and heroism. When flash floods hit New York, one woman found herself trapped in a car.

CNN's Brynn Gingras on how one firefighter went "Beyond the Call" to save her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARMEN PINTO, FLOOD SURVIVOR: OK, so it's this -- it's right here where this white van is.

[08:45:03]

And this is where the water was.

The car was fully submerged. So, like, it was like the water was up to here. Within seconds, the waters just rose.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the afternoon of May 20th, Carmen Pinto, a high school principal, found herself in traffic during one of the most severe flash floods New York has faced.

PINTO: It just started coming through the doors. And then it just picked up my car. Then my car just kind of floated and then it shut off. That's when the panic really set in.

I heard all the people around me telling me to open the window. I, you know, I was screaming, like, I can't, because the car had completely shut down.

I had kind of given up. I thought, this is it. It was just my head above water. Next thing I know, here's my angel.

TRAVIS LANGAN, FDNY: I see that there's like this huge lake and there was six cars like trapped underwater.

GINGRAS (voice over): A New York City firefighter with Ladder 123 in Crown Heights, Travis Langan, was driving home after a long day at work.

LANGAN: As I started walking through the water, it was about chest deep. My heart started racing. I saw how high the water was. I could only -- there was maybe like two inches left of her car that was exposed, you know? Her face was up against her sunroof and the water was up to her chin. So, that's why I started looking for something to try to break the window. But there was nothing. So, I just hopped on her roof.

PINTO: He just started pounding away.

LANGAN: And I just started, just started punching. I guess I just saw black and I just, I didn't want this lady to die.

PINTO: When you think about punching something, but punching glass that you know is supposed to be, like, shatterproof.

GINGRAS (voice over): His hand, now bleeding, he kept pounding.

LANGAN: It took about seven punches to get a hole.

GINGRAS (voice over): From that hole, he tore the rest of the glass away.

PINTO: And I remember him saying, you're going to be OK. It was the first time that I felt like, OK, I may actually survive this. GINGRAS (voice over): Langan says he reacted on instinct and training.

The father of three is a former Marine. From his time in the First Battalion Sixth Marines and 12 years as a firefighter, he knew what to do.

PINTO: I just go back to thinking of like, he could have just gone home.

LANGAN: They always instill that in our head, you know, always take care of your brothers. Don't ever leave nobody behind. I would hope it's more common than not. Not everybody's a first responder. But, you know, you don't have to be a first responder to be a good person.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: All right, still to come for us, we are sitting down for a one on one conversation with "Love Island" host Ariana Madix, as she reflects on her very first Emmy nomination.

And a baby bear expelled from campus from crashing move in day. This happened at a Colorado college. Oh, let the bear stay.

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[08:52:16]

SIDNER: This morning, a landmark trial involving Meta resumes in California. It focuses on one of the biggest questions surrounding social media in years, is big tech responsible for the impact its platforms can have, particularly on children? The trial stems from a lawsuit filed by 29 states against Facebook and Instagram's parent company, alleging Meta deliberately designed its platforms to keep young users hooked, while failing to adequately protect them from harmful content. Meta is denying this. The outcome of this trial, though, could have major implications for social media companies moving forward.

Joining me now is Stuart Benjamin, a distinguished professor of law at Duke Law School. He is also the co-director of its Center for Innovation Policy.

Thank you for being here.

Let me -- let me start with this.

Meta is trying to prove that the social media company knowingly made products to addict children. That's what the states are trying to prove against Meta. How hard will that be to prove?

STUART BENJAMIN, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF LAW, DUKE LAW SCHOOL: So, it's a great question. There's two elements of it. One is actually just the question is, is it actually addicting in the first place at all, or is it a situation in which the people, for instance, who are more anxious or more likely to go on Meta in the first place, as opposed to the content on Meta is making them anxious? But there's a second element that I want to highlight here about the arguments that the states can't make, or it will run into a First Amendment and Section 230 buzz saw.

So, I just mentioned the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has held that prioritization of content is speech First Amendment purposes. And the statute, Section 230, says you can't be liable for the content that third parties put on your network. So, the states are not going to be able to make what would be the most obvious argument that everybody would think would make -- and you'd make in any other country, which is, this is addicting content. And so, the very content that you have, are showing to these kids, is leading them to want to go on more and more.

The judge has already ruled that those arguments are not on the table because of the First Amendment and Section 230. So, the argument instead has to be, it's the nature of auto scroll. I'm sorry, an infinite scroll or autoplay. Those things by themselves are addicting.

SIDNER: Look, when you talk about this, a big part of this case is what Meta knew internally about the risk to children, so far, who appears to be the star witness so far of Meta is Arturo Bejar, a safety engineer who once worked there. He said Meta was aware of the harm to children, and even when it did do something, it was created to fail, like telling families and people to turn on certain settings.

[08:55:09]

He said, quote, "most people will not turn the setting on. It's like you have to turn on the airbag every time you get into the car."

How powerful is this kind of testimony? This is from a former engineer who worked there for years, and a whistleblower who also is coming forward in this case.

BENJAMIN: Oh, I think it's -- I think it's quite powerful. And, by the way, they have a -- they also have Edine Hill from -- a Meta employee referring to this as a public relations stunt when they said, oh, we're trying to take care of these things. It -- absolutely, it has an impact. And, you know, let's be clear, almost certainly, Meta could have taken lots of steps in order to make their products less addictive. Just get rid of the infinite scroll. You can get rid of autoplay. So, this kind of testimony clearly has an impact.

SIDNER: If the states win their case, what kind of an impact could this have, not just on Meta, but across the social media ecosphere -- ecosystem?

BENJAMIN: So, huge. I mean huge in two senses. One, the monetary penalty -- penalties that are involved here. So, you may know, Meta says that the total penalties that they might be subject to are $1.4 trillion. That's Meta's market cap right now. So, that would be the entire value of the company. But the second thing, more generally, beyond the money, although obviously related to it, is these companies saying, gee, are we now being regarded like smoking -- cigarette manufacturers were back in the day. Are we now going to be treated as companies that simply can't be trusted? That's devastating to your business model and to your -- and to your bottom line if you're those companies. SIDNER: Professor Stuart Benjamin, thank you so much for walking us

through that. We appreciate it. And we'll be watching the case.

John.

BERMAN: In Utah, law enforcement and paramedics were working at the scene of a crash when a vehicle slammed into a patrol car. Just moments later, a third car flipped nearby. There had been heavy rain, which you can see, which no doubt made the roads slippery, and also covered the screen and made it hard to see the crash. There were several injuries in all those accidents.

In China, at the World Robot Conference, a company unveiled an A.I. police robot. That's it. That's it. No doubt.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE). They're not breaking the law.

BERMAN: The culmination of years of work right there. That A.I. police robot is designed to direct traffic. I am sure it is doing the job of like 18 traffic lights right behind it, which seem to be doing the job just fine. Wow. It's coming for you, that A.I. traffic-directing robot.

BOLDUAN: See anyone break the law then (ph). No.

BERMAN: I saw no lawbreakers there.

BOLDUAN: That's what I'm saying. Paying attention.

BERMAN: All right. Way to go, guys.

All right, an unusual new arrival at move in day at Colorado State University. Thousands of students showed up and that bear right there. Maybe that two year old just wanted to learn.

BOLDUAN: Maybe.

BERMAN: He or she looks so curious. Colorado Parks and Wildlife tranquilized the bear before relocating it. I suppose you could say it's now a transfer student.

BOLDUAN: I'm just going to say, I wanted John Berman pop up video like of all of these stories, because your commentary is just delightful today.

BERMAN: Well, traffic robot. I mean, there's such great innovation out there. And then there is that A.I. traffic robot.

BOLDUAN: No one was breaking the law. Mission accomplished.

BERMAN: It's a good point. That's a good point.

BOLDUAN: OK.

BERMAN: Point taken.

BOLDUAN: Set goals, meet goals, done. Moving on.

Let's move on to "Love Island" goals. The wildly popular dating show always seems to have people talking. Well, today, CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is sitting down with "Love Islands" host, Ariana Madix, for a new episode of CNN's "Coming Up" series.

Here's a preview.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: OK, this is a fun one. Bravo fans know Ariana Madix from the reality show "Vanderpump Rules," but now she is the host of the reality dating series "Love Island." And if you're not a fan of "Love Island," well, it is one of the most popular shows that is on right now, with over 19 billion, yes, billion minutes streamed from its most recent season this summer. While "Love Island" also got Ariana Madix to get her first Emmy nomination as host.

I sat down with her and spoke to her about the many famous fans who watch the show. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER: How did you get "Love Island"?

ARIANA MADIX, EMMY-NOMINATED "LOVE ISLAND" HOST: Them knowing that I was a fan, I think they were like, oh, let's see what happens.

WAGMEISTER: Who are some of the biggest celebrity fans of "Love Island"?

MADIX: I'm gone in Fiji so much that I don't -- I rarely get to see anybody in person, but I recently heard that Michelle Obama had seen the show.

[09:00:05]

WAGMEISTER: Wow.

MADIX: And that blew my mind. She's forever a first lady