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Trump Agrees To Fox News Debate After Backing Out Of ABC Debate; Harris Meeting With VP Vetting Team For Presentations On Finalists; Autopsy Report Rules Death Of Man Pinned To Ground Outside Milwaukee Hotel Is A Homicide; U.S. Sending Aircraft Carrier, Warships, And Fighter Squadron To Middle East Amid Escalation Fears; Defense Secretary Abruptly Revokes Plea Deal For Alleged 9/11 Plotters; Inflation Worries Spark Economic Anxiety Among Americans; U.S. Sues TikTok For Allegedly Violating Children's Privacy Law. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired August 03, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The changed the modern landscape using archival footage and contemporary interviews, the series maps the tumultuous events of the entire year. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Downtown Chicago at Balboa and Michigan avenues. There has been in progress for some time a peace demonstration. The police have come to put it down. The National Guard has been called to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police and demonstrators hustling all over this busy intersection on this, the night of a presidential nominations at this Democratic Convention.

GLORIA STEINEM, ACTIVIST: It was a police riot and I had never seen that before in my life. I had never seen groups of policemen with lead knuckled gloves and clubs going after civilians. There were pools of blood on Michigan Avenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The levels of violence. Back-to-back episodes of the CNN original series "1968" airs tomorrow night 9:00 a.m., 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.

Hello, thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in for Fredricka Whitfield. Just 94 days left before the election, and there were major developments on both the Democratic and Republican campaigns. Today, former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, he's going to hold a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, joined by his running mate, the Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.

It is the same venue where Vice President Kamala Harris held a huge rally in the battleground state earlier this week. Trump says he is prepared to debate Harris for the first time, but only on his terms. He agreed to an event on Fox News, backed out of one he already agreed to do on ABC, that with President Biden. The Harris campaign says she will show up at that ABC event, even if Trump doesn't.

CNN's Alayna Treene is in Atlanta ahead of today's rally. And Alayna, listen, we've seen a lot of back and forth about the debates. There's a lot of political gamesmanship going on here. What happens now? Because, I mean, Harris says she's going to show up at the ABC debate whether he's there or not. Trump wants, it seems, a friendlier background with Fox News, so can they come to an agreement?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I guess we're going to have to wait and see if they can, Jim. It's unclear. I mean, granted both Joe Biden and Donald Trump's campaigns, when Biden was still in the race, had to -- had agreed to that ABC News debate on September 10th. Trump's campaign has said this now repeatedly over the last several weeks, ever since Biden ended his campaign, that they do not feel entitled to that agreement given that Biden is no longer the presumptive Democratic nominee.

However, Harris, as you mentioned, said she is still planning to show up regardless of whether Trump shows up and that they keep emphasizing his line that he had said he would want to debate his opponent anytime, anywhere, any place. And now he's changing his tune and saying he wants this to be held with Fox news on September 4th in Pennsylvania.

I'm going to read you one of his Truth Social post. He posted about this in two separate posts, but I found the second one to be very telling. He wrote, quote, "I spent hundreds of millions of dollars, time and effort fighting Joe. And when I won the debate, they threw a new candidate into the ring. Not fair, but it is what it is. Nevertheless, different candidate or not, their bad policies are the same, and this will be strongly revealed at the September 4th debate."

And again, that is just one small part of his broader to post about this. But I find that very telling because this is what I've been hearing from Donald Trump's senior advisers as well that, look, they have spent their entire campaign and poured tens of millions of dollars into ads, data, modeling, all singular focused on going after Joe Biden.

Now they are entirely reimagining that playbook and still trying to figure out exactly how they are going to define Harris. Now as it comes to the debate, as you mentioned, Donald Trump says he now wants an audience, something that they had not agreed to when it was still with Joe Biden and also that he wants it to be on Fox news.

And so I think we're going to have to see the two campaigns have some sort of conversation in the coming weeks over whether we will actually see the two of them get on a debate stage and talk because right now they are on very different planes of where they think this is going to play out.

SCIUTTO: And it seems the Trump team aware that the polls not looking as good for him as they did prior. Alayna Treene, thanks so much. Well, Vice President Kamala Harris also has another big decision to make this weekend picking her own running mate. She is expected to meet with her vetting team today for a series of in depth presentations on each of the finalists. Earlier today, CNN crews saw former Attorney General Eric Holder entering the Vice President's residents at the Naval Observatory. We have learned that Holder is handling the vetting process for the Harris campaign.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now with more on that. So the Harris campaign -- so she's going to hold a rally with her VP pick next Tuesday. This is a compressed schedule to vet and choose a vice presidential candidate, but listen, they got to make a call.

[12:05:00]

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very compressed schedule. Look, this is going to be a big day for the vice president. She is meeting with Holder, who is running lead with his team on the vetting of these running mates. And they're going to basically present her in depth presentations on each of the VP contenders. Those can last around 60 to 90 minutes, according to sources. It could run shorter. It could run longer.

Of course, the Vice President, over the course of her political career, has always drilled down on details. She is known in meetings to ask a lot of questions and to pour over data again and again. So that is a strategy that she will or at least is expected to take in this scenario.

And then these presentations will likely dwindle who it is that she brings in for those final interviews. Because while there have been informal conversations, the Harris team has been speaking with these contenders, she hasn't conducted those final interviews yet. Now, as far as who is on the list, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, you see a list of them there, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

So, there are a few here that she will be getting those presentations on so that she can make her decision. Of course, part of the consideration is who helps her the most to create and have a winning ticket. She crosses across the country and then also it is a moment in which it will give us a window into her policies, where -- how she's thinking about the next few months.

So it's a critical day. It's a critical weekend because she's going to have that rally on Tuesday and she's going to be joined with her running mate. And then after that, they're going to hit all the battleground states over the course of the week.

SCIUTTO: Listen, everybody has their guests and everybody's making bets now as to who it's going to be. Is there any actual favorite at this point, or?

ALVAREZ: She doesn't have personal and close relationships with any of these. She's come across them here and there over the course of her career. So, everyone that we have talked to has said, these presentations, these moments where she is talking to her advisers and her team are so key because she's also getting to know them herself.

And one of the questions she's been asking her advisers is who is going to be the best governing partner if she were to win a second term. Of course, she herself has had the position of vice president.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ALVAREZ: So all of this is going to come into --

SCIUTTO: Yes. Listen, you forget, it's not just about the campaign, it's about a potential administration part of the calculus.

Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.

All right, so let's speak more about this with senior contributor for Axios, Margaret Talev, a National Political Correspondent for Politico, Alex Isenstadt. All right, so I'm just going to ask you guys the same question. Margaret, I'll start with you. Is there a favorite at this point?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS: Thanks, Jim. I think, look, of all the folks that my colleagues and I have been talking to, I would say that Governor Shapiro and Senator Kelly are the names most consistently mentioned. And of course, all the tea-leaf reading could be wrong, but there are clear cases for both of them, and they're really different cases.

The reason that the talk seems to have focused so much around Governor Shapiro in recent days, I think is because of the consensus that Pennsylvania is a must win state for the Harris ticket. Governor Shapiro is popular enough in Pennsylvania that he might actually make the difference.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

TALEV: But there are -- there's an argument to commend both of these gentlemen and everyone else on the list, too.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, listen, particularly popular with Trump voters, or Trump curious voters in Pennsylvania. Alex, you know, all the data over time shows that, in reality, vice presidents don't really win states for presidential candidates. In general, it's more -- and pollsters like Frank Luntz and others have done some numbers, crunched some numbers on this, in general, it's more a reflection on the candidates judgment, you know.

And if you look at, for instance, Sarah Palin, right, that was a negative impact but is -- could it be different this time around? I mean, given how tight the races are, could it be different that this -- that a vice presidential candidate might turn a state?

ALEX ISENSTADT, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: It's possible. It depends sort of on what happens over the next three months. What tends to happen is that the vice presidential nominee will get a lot of attention in the weeks leading up to the pick and then in the immediate -- SCIUTTO: Right.

ISENSTADT: -- days leading after the pick and then voters just tend to focus on the top of the ticket after that. So it's a little hard to tell in this case. But if you have two really big, interesting pics, you have J.D. Vance, who's getting a lot of attention. And then if you have someone like Josh Shapiro, who could get a lot of attention, maybe that bleeds over into the weeks to come, but it's a little hard to say right now.

SCIUTTO: Margaret, so now we got another debate, debate going on right now with Trump agreeing to debate that he didn't agree to before, Harris sticking with the plan. Let me just ask you a basic political question. Is that anyone's advantage, right? I mean, is it Trump's advantage to try to change?

I mean, obviously he sees advantage there. He sounds like he would prefer Fox News to ABC. Sounds like he would like an audience, kind of a rally like atmosphere. But does it serve him politically to be gaming this or trying to?

[12:10:02]

TALEV: You're asking really the most interesting question, which is, is he really trying to change the venue or is he just trying to not have to tangle with that debate? Because the last debate was such a success for him, you know, I guess, if -- well, you could argue it wasn't a success for him if he really wanted to run against President Biden. But --

SCIUTTO: Right.

TALEV: I think what we're seeing here is it allows -- this allows both of them to make the arguments that you see them making right now. I was thinking about this when we saw President Trump at the National Association of Black Journalists the other day in the sort of accidental way.

We got to see a mini preview of the former president's relationship with ABC and the former president's relationship with Fox because, of course, you had Rachel Scott from ABC asking those very tough questions and also Harris Faulkner from Fox on the same stage. And such a different interplay between the former president and those two journalists.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

TALEV: But I think what Vice President Harris's campaign is saying right now, I suspect would hold. They've agreed to a debate.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

TALEV: There's a date set for it and they're not going to agree to switch it up. They might agree to add something afterwards, but they're not going to agree to abandon this in favor of, you know, Donald Trump orchestrating his own preference. SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, it did strike me as he was attacking ABC at that NABJ appearance. That he was telegraphing perhaps his argument for pulling out of that debate. Let me ask you a question, and this is arguably, I would say, Alex, the more substantive one. Because in that NABJ appearance and it, you know, bears repeating because it's somewhat amazing, he questioned Kamala Harris's race.

He's going to be, if they agree to debate, next to her. And might do the very same thing in front of her, to her face. I can only imagine her reaction to that. But clearly, he sees advantage. And his team sees advantage not just -- not in apologizing or moving away from this attack but doubling, tripling down on this attack. That's remarkable. And that moment would be truly remarkable.

ISENSTADT: What you see is, is Trump trying to put together this broader argument that somehow Kamala Harris doesn't know who she is. That sort of seems to be the path that Trump is trying to prosecute here. Trump has had a tough time since she got into the race, trying to pin her down, trying to find something that would work.

They've tried different things, immigration, some other issues, but they still haven't quite found how they want to run against her and it's still sort of unclear. The only thing that's really gotten a lot of attention is what Trump said at the -- at this --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ISENSTADT: -- NABJ conference. So who knows what happens going on from here.

SCIUTTO: I mean, the thing is, Margaret, it's just BS. She had a Jamaican father and an Indian-American, you know, immigrant mother. That's her race. And, by the way, I mean, it has been noted many times, she went to Howard University. She was a member of a well-known black sorority.

It's not an argument he could win because it's counterfactual. Another word for that is, it's false. So, why? And is anybody going to tell him to stop it?

TALEV: Well, I will say that what it has done is turned the focus of the news cycles conversation back to race and away from other issues and away from coverage that's critical of the former president's administration and what it was like, you know, when he was in office. And so it is put the narrative sort of closer to back on his terms.

There are voters that that may help him with and there are voters that that will turn him off with and most of the voters who will be really turned off by that tactic or voters who were already not voting for him. So this again becomes a question about turnout --

SCIUTTO: Maybe.

TALEV: -- which is --

SCIUTTO: I don't know. We don't know that. I mean, I don't see that line attack helps him with independence, right? I mean, does it?

TALEV: No, I mean, absolutely not. But I guess that's not my point. My point is, he may energize his base. He may further turn off the people who already --

SCIUTTO: Right.

TALEV: -- were turned off by him. You can't imagine he's picking up swing voters. It is a distraction that changes the narrative. It is intended to put the Vice President and her campaign on their heels, on the defensive instead of the offensive, to stop the narrative and momentum that she's enjoyed.

The question is, who will it turn out more? Will it juice -- the Trump based turnout, or will it inspire millions of younger Americans or Americans of color who weren't that excited about voting for to turn out? It's a heck of a gamble that he's taking, but I don't think it's really about his personal confusion about whether a person can be multiracial.

It's intended to change the dynamics and the trajectory --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

TALEV: -- which has been working against him in recent days.

[12:15:05]

SCIUTTO: Listen, and he's done it before, birtherism, I mean, which lasted for years. It's -- I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at this point.

Alex Isenstadt, Margaret Talev, thanks so much for both of you.

We are getting new details about a Wisconsin man's death after being pinned to the ground by security officers outside a Milwaukee hotel. The autopsy report has just been released publicly, and that's next.

Plus, the Secretary of Defense abruptly revokes a plea deal with the alleged mastermind of September 11th attacks and his co-conspirators. And later, the Justice Department is going after TikTok again, this time for allegedly violating children's privacy laws.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:23]

SCIUTTO: The autopsy report is in for D'Vontaye Mitchell, the 43-year- old man who was pinned to the ground in June by security officers outside a Hyatt Regency hotel in Milwaukee. The report says he died from asphyxiation and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine. It rules the death a homicide.

CNN's Camila Bernal joins me now. Camila, I understand the family's attorney, Ben Crump, says the guards involved should now face charges? CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim, yes, the family of D'Vontaye Mitchell and their attorneys just really waiting for this autopsy report now that it shows that the manner of death as homistate -- homicide, excuse me. They are hoping for and they are demanding for these criminal charges in this case. But the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office still telling CNN that they have no comment.

Now, Mitchell died on June 30th after he was pinned to the ground by the security officers outside a Hyatt Regency hotel in Milwaukee. And the incident was partially caught on video. The investigation report for from the medical examiner's office said that Mitchell was restrained by four people after being combative and went unresponsive as the hotel staff waited for police officers to arrive, but it also said they found drug paraphernalia.

Yesterday, one of the family attorneys also released several videos, and I do want to warn you that some of them may be graphic to watch. And according to the ME report, he entered the hotel and he appeared to be frantic and panting. It says in the report that at some point, he went into the women's restroom and attempted to lock himself inside with others while they were still using the restroom, so they started screaming.

And two hotel security guards went into the bathroom and physically dragged him out of the hotel. And when he was outside, four people held him face down on the concrete. Now, the attorney yesterday pointed out that in the videos, at no point do you see Mitchell punching anyone or kicking anyone, and he said he was just trying to get up.

The video also shows Mitchell's pants falling down at some point as a man punches him in the face multiple times while he's being dragged on the floor and then outside by the sidewalk by a Hyatt guest and three employees. Now, another one of the videos showed an employee kicking him in the face while he was on the ground. The family attorney describing it as a beat down.

The company did say that several of these employees were fired after the incident. But, again, the family is calling for those criminal charges, and this, of course, brings back a lot of memories when it comes to George Floyd, and there are questions about the use of forced particularly against people of color.

So, yes, this is a family asking for explanations and asking for accountability in the form of charges and all of this as we wait to hear from the district attorney, Jim.

SCIUTTO: It is, of course, in the D.A.'s hands now. Any comments so far or any expectation as to whether the D.A. will seek charges here?

BERNAL: It's possible. You know, they're likely not going to announce anything over the weekend, but it is possible to get some sort of announcement come next week. We did reach out to them and they said they were not commenting on this. But this is something that these attorneys and the family continue to push for. So we are waiting for that official announcement from the district attorney. SCIUTTO: Camila Bernal, thanks so much for covering.

BERNAL: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, tensions rising once again, even higher in the Middle East. Americans in Lebanon, they're being told if they want to leave the country, they should do so now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:28:14]

SCIUTTO: The U.S. is preparing to send additional military assets to the Middle East, including a carrier strike group and a fighter squadron. The U.S. bracing for a potential escalation, yet one more, of hostilities as Iran is vowing retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.

Iran says that Israel was behind the attack. Israel has not commented publicly. A further escalation of tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as prompting a new warning in Lebanon. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut is telling Americans who want to get out of the country to now book any ticket available. Several airlines are already canceling flights in and out of Lebanon.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has been following these developments. Jomana, has there been any more threat or comment from Iranian leaders indicating what their next move might be?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are vowing to respond. This is the rhetoric that has been coming from Tehran, Jim, for the past few days since the assassination of Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, on Iranian soil. And what we have heard since today coming from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, releasing a statement with what they say is a result of their investigation into the assassination of Haniyeh.

They say that he was killed by a projectile, a short range projectile that was fired from outside that guest house where he was staying in Tehran, and that he was carrying a warhead of about 7 kilograms. That's about 15 pounds. And they accuse not only Israel of being behind the assassination, they also accused the United States that saying that this was, quote, "planned and executed" by the Zionist regime referring to Israel, of course, with the support of the American criminal government.

And, of course, Jim, this is coming after reporting that we have seen in the past couple of days, first by the New York Times and then CNN, with a source familiar with the matter telling our colleague, Jeremy Diamond, that what happened and how Haniyeh was assassinated was with an explosive device that had been covertly hidden in that guesthouse, where he was known to stay while visiting Tehran, and that it had been there for two months.

The assassination itself happening in Tehran on Iranian soil, of course, a major embarrassment for the Iranian regime highlighting intelligence, failures, security breaches, and of course, many in the region as well would say that they see this as a provocation as well pushing the Iranians to respond where we are at a situation now where it's not a matter of if but when will the Iranians respond to this. And today in that statement, the IRGC with a threat saying that Israel will receive a decisive response to this crime, which is a severe punishment, they say, at an appropriate time, place and manner, something of course that has put the entire region on edge now.

SCIUTTO: Jomana, can I ask a question about Iran's explanation for this assassination? Because they are saying it was a predict -- projectile fired from outside the guest house? The reporting from CNN, "The New York Times" prior was that this was a device planted inside that guest house some two months ago. Do we -- do we know why there is that discrepancy there? And is it -- is it perhaps that -- that Iran would find that story of planting a device too embarrassing for their security services?

KARADSHEH: I mean, absolutely, Jim, they would have all the interest here and saying that this was not a breach that would have required to have someone on the ground planting that explosive device not having any sort of infiltration of its intelligence services or with security services on the ground. So yes, they have all the, you know, it's in their interest to be saying this, but of course, at the same time, you also have those leaks as well, where some would say that they are intended to embarrass the Iranians even further, and -- and really kind of raise questions about how infiltrated Iran security services, its intelligence are not just internationally but also domestically.

SCIUTTO: Yes, there's always an information ops element to -- to these -- these kinds of things. Jomana Karadsheh, thanks so much.

Well, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has now revoked a plea deal for the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and two of his alleged accomplices. That agreement which involve the three men pleading guilty to all charges, including murdering nearly 3,000 people would have taken the death penalty off the table. CNN's Oren Liebermann has the latest on that decision from the Pentagon.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: In a surprise move quietly announced on Friday evening, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a memo that he was revoking the plea deals that had been reached in the case of the alleged mastermind of 9/11 and two of his alleged co-conspirators. The memo was incredibly short and abrupt, only three lines long. Take a look. You can see the entirety of it on your screen right now.

In it, Austin wrote that it was his authority alone to enter into a plea agreement like this, and that he had revoked the plea agreements announced only two days earlier, as well as relieving of authority, the person in charge of reaching those agreements. The agreements themselves had been in the works for at least two and a half years. So it can't have been a surprise to the Pentagon and the White House that these discussions were ongoing.

We reported on it as well as other media outlets that there was an effort to reach the plea deal. And the deal itself was viewed as a bit of a victory in the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or more commonly known as KSM, and two of his alleged co-conspirators. And that's because the cases against them were so long and complex delayed over more than a decade, and there were significant legal questions about whether evidence could be admitted that had been obtained from KSM under torture that made these incredibly difficult and complicated cases.

In the plea deals, KSM and his two alleged co-conspirators agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges as well as all of the other charges they faced in exchange for a life sentence, the death penalty had been taken off the table, and that is why it receives significant bipartisan backlash, as well as ferocious backlash from the families of the victims here. Now the question is, where does this go from here?

Austin wrote in that memo, the authority is his alone. So it's now up to the military prosecutors who had been looking at this case for so long, who had seen it delayed so long, where this goes from here in what promised to have been a very lengthy and complicated case.

Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon.

[12:34:54]

SCIUTTO: Onto the economy now, a weak jobs report, Friday, causing some ripple effects through Wall Street. Why the new unemployment numbers are triggering for some fears of a recession.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: U.S. markets were down Friday after a disappointing jobs report, fueling worries over the overall economy. Yesterday's numbers fell short of estimates with 114,000 jobs added last month. CNN's Brian Todd has more on the fears now many American consumers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[12:40:03]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dave Flannery runs an apple orchard in Wisconsin and like many Americans has anxiety about how the economy is trending.

DAVE FLANNERY, RUNS APPLE ORCHARD IN WISCONSIN: Things are -- are really uncertain not knowing what's going to happen with interest rates and what's going to happen with the whole economy.

TODD (voice-over): And the uncertainty has only grown. The U.S. government out with its jobs report saying the economy added about 114,000 jobs last month, less than expected. And the unemployment rate is now the highest it's been since October of 2021.

DAVID WILCOX, PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: It's another element of evidence on top of a long string of evidence that we've had that the labor market is softening. Consumers have been telling us for quite a while now that the job market isn't as hospitable for job seekers as it was a year ago, two years ago.

TODD (voice-over): The job news sent the stock market tumbling on Friday, but the market had already taken some serious hits in the few days prior to this report. Why?

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMY AND POLITICS COMMENTATOR: The alarm that you see in the stock market and -- and potentially among consumers is about worries that things could potentially get worse.

TODD (voice-over): Inflation has fueled American psychological fears about the economy. A Gallup poll taken last month found seven in 10 Americans believe it's getting worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got adult children now who are starting out, and how -- how can they be able to survive of what it cost in today's world?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Inflation is really hitting a lot of people in a hard, hard way.

WILCOX: American households are -- are still understandably unhappy about the economic situation. A key reason for that is because that cart of groceries that used to cost them $100 now cost them $130.

TODD (voice-over): And new questions are being raised about whether the Federal Reserve has waited too long to lower interest rates.

RAMPELL: This puts even more pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut rates in September. Markets widely expect that the Fed will cut rates by at least a quarter point at its next meeting.

TODD (voice-over): But analysts also say we shouldn't overreact that the U.S. economy is still very strong.

WILCOX: The fundamentals of the economy actually are quite solid today. Inflation has been high, but it's come way down and it's now close to the Feds 2 percent objective. This is a good labor market for people who want to work and are willing to seek those opportunities even if that may mean for example, moving locations.

TODD (voice-over): In the meantime, analysts offer some practical advice for us as we ride out this uncertain period.

RAMPELL: It's always good to have a nest egg. It's always good to make sure your job prospects are strong. I wouldn't do anything hasty, you know, don't -- don't sell all your stocks.

TODD: The analysts we spoke to say as far as other practical advice for the average American during this period. Try to curb your spending a little for the next couple of months. Reevaluate big expenditures like trips or appliances, and especially try to avoid spending with your credit card until interest rates come down again.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) [12:43:00]

SCIUTTO: The Justice Department says that TikTok is failing to stop kids from joining the app and is unlawfully collecting their personal data. We're going to speak about this brand new lawsuit and the risks coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: There was new scrutiny on TikTok, the Justice Department has filed a new lawsuit yesterday accusing the popular social media app and its parent company ByteDance of unlawfully collecting personal data from its underage users. It is the latest legal battle for the platform, which could soon be banned in this country. I want to speak now to Jamil Jaffer, for more legal perspective on this. He's former senior counsel to the House Intelligence Committee and former counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security. So Jamil, a lot of folks asked me why all this focus on TikTok and -- and the fact is it's a number of things, right? Because I mean, a lot of apps collects personal data. But under Chinese law, they have to share this with the Chinese government.

JAMIL JAFFER, FORMER COUNSEL TO THE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: That's exactly right, 170 million American users on this platform, the Chinese government collects a ton of data or ByteDance, TikTok does, they also can push information to those users. And we see the Chinese government doing it for both directions, taking the data off the platform and push it on messages to American user.

SCIUTTO: That's the thing. It's a -- it's a miss and disinformation channels for tens of millions of American users in the midst of a presidential campaign, quite a constant -- consequential one.

JAFFER: Right. And you know, all these young people that use TikTok, they -- it's their primary news platform. For people under the age of 30, it's the place they get news. And that's a real challenge.

SCIUTTO: So bans are on the table. Could that actually work? I mean, these -- these are 170 million Americans, I mean, people could they VPN their way around. I mean, people find a way to get technology when they want technology.

JAFFER: Might do but you know, the main mechanism, the way that people get kicked out is they download on the app stores. And the app stores don't have it, that'll make it a lot harder to get to. And look at what the Justice Department and what Congress has done here. They haven't banned TikTok. They've said, if you want to keep using it in the U.S., including all this data on hundreds of million Americans, you got to divest.

SCIUTTO: Right.

JAFFER: We do this all the time and a million other contents. You can't buy a television broadcasting station or radio broadcast station, if you're a foreign government. SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, it's basically, think of it that way, if you had a television show today, that reached 170 million people, right, and that was owned and run by the -- the Chinese government. Folks might say, well, let's think about that.

JAFFER: Exactly right.

[12:50:00]

SCIUTTO: So does that -- does that work then as a way that this -- this transfer of ownership and where does that stand?

JAFFER: Well, so, right now it's being -- it's -- there's a lawsuit going on in the D.C. Circuit, right? TikTok has sued and said we don't want the law to go into effect, variety parties, the U.S. government supposing that.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

JAFFER: We've -- I filed a brief yesterday with a group of 18 other national security officials, including two former U.S. attorney generals of the former National Cyber directorate arguing that our national security risks in play here that the court should take into account and allow the statue to go forward and make TikTok put to the choice, right, either divest or be shutdown.

SCIUTTO: Right. So I -- I was told years ago by contacts of mine and in the intelligence world not to use TikTok and not to have your family use it. And that's one sort of rule, you know, social media rule. I've one on at home. For folks watching right now, as we wait for the legal process to play out, would you recommend to them that they stop using TikTok?

JAFFER: I would have. And let me tell you why. It's not just the dance videos on TikTok, right? It's all the people you share that with all the information that you put out on that platform. It's the fact that TikTok, even if you shut off its voice collection will continue to collect that data on your -- on your phone while it's off. And then when you combine all that data with the other day, the Chinese government stolen, Anthem Hack, Marriott hack, OPM hack --

SCIUTTO: Yes, yes.

JAFFER: I guess, all these people have TS/SCI security clearances, right, all that data together power by an AI machine, the Chinese government knows a lot about you and me and they can use it to target us, our friends and our family.

SCIUTTO: Supercharged by AI and I was a victim of all of those hacks that you talked about here. Remember that listening device in your pocket, folks. Keep it in mind. Jamil Jaffer, thanks so much.

Back home, the city of El Paso Texas remembers the 23 people gunned down inside a Walmart that was five years ago today. I was there, a sad event.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:56:26]

SCIUTTO: Today marks five years since the El Paso shooting at a Walmart there. The city is commemorating the 23 people who were killed, 22 others injured in an attack that was racially motivated. CNN's Gonzalo Alvarado, he's joining us now from El Paso with more. And Gonzalo I remember that day, I was down there, just the -- the scale of the tragedy and -- and what a mark it was on the community. So I wonder how they're doing these five years later.

GONZALO ALVARADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I sympathize with your opinion. I was here too five years ago, Jim. And once again, the El Paso community comes together to celebrate the lives of these 23 victims and they're going to do it throughout the whole day in two different events, vigils, processions and remember ceremonies, like the one behind me which just wrapped up, the city mayor of El Paso, Oscar Lerser was present and also representatives from the General Consulate of Mexico in El Paso, which at least remember that among those 23 victims, nine of them were Mexican nationals who live in Ciudad Juarez, which is another border city with El Paso.

And not -- this ceremony, it was just also to unveil memorial. We had the opportunity to speak to the local artist, Albert "Tino" Ortega. He says that he feels very grateful and honored to give something back to his community. And he also shared with us how he's coping with this tragedy five years later. Let's look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT "TINO" ORTEGA, LOCAL ARTIST: the whole concept of this was also to have a place where people come in and reflect and just be at peace with their own thoughts. And so when they reached out to me, you know, I was just really excited and really honored to be a part of this.

ALVARADO: The memorial is based upon what?

ORTEGA: So the memorial is based upon a -- a just the idea of a crown, representing power and nobility. And so when August 3rd happened, you know, I saw that as a form of removing people's power. And so, with that concept in mind, I -- I decided to make it in the shape of a crown, just to restore power in some kind of way. So all 23 victims are on all each of the pillars. On the center pillar, we have the poem also done by Grace Munoz. And, you know, it's supposed to be a recurring theme that numerology and the pieces.

So you have the 23 victims names on all the pillars. So here you can see one of the plaques and, you know, there's 23 of them. There's several behind us that actually are the couples and they're -- they're joint together. And then here you -- you can also see like the 23 trees, each plaque pretty much represents the -- because representation for each tree. So each victim has their own tree planted for them.

ALVARADO: Where were you on August 3rd -- 9th, 2019, the day of the mass shooting? ORTEGA: I remember I was watching T.V. as it was unfolding and -- and just seeing it happen live on the news was just surreal.

ALVARADO: How have you been coping with this tragedy? It's been five years. Has it been easy?

ORTEGA: It hasn't been easy doing this. But in the wake of the tragedy, I did see myself wanting to give back and do more, not just for my community but other communities as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALVARADO: Jim, also many landmarks here in El Paso are going to be illuminated in orange, since orange has become the national color for gun violence awareness. And also the Democratic Party here in Texas have released a statement supporting the victims and also refusing any type of gun violence. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Gonzalo, the -- the shooter came there, drove from 50 miles away specifically to target Latino victims here. And I -- and I wonder how the community feels five years later, do -- do they still feel the danger of being targeted?

[13:00:01]

ALVARADO: The community has shared with me, Jim, that these type of events, this type of ceremonies, this type of visuals help them kind of cope with the pain that they're still there. They read -- they say that this type of events, it's going to be a scar that will remain forever in their hearts and in their mind. They say that, you know, the lives of these 23 individuals who were there at the wrong time at the right moment, you know, they will never be forgotten. So I guess it'll be a healing process slowly, but surely. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, Gonzalo, please share our thoughts with the community there. I remember the warm welcome they gave all of us, journalists covering that and -- and they're certainly in our thoughts today.

ALVARADO: We'll do.