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Spain Wins Second World Cup Title Beating Argentina 1-0; U.S. Service Member Killed In Action In Northern Iraq; Tate Brothers Arrested In Miami, Facing Extradition To U.K.; 103 House Dems Vote To Block Military Aid To Israel; CNN Reports On Americans Trapped In Affordability Crisis; One-On-One With A Chicago Restaurant Owner. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 19, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:41]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

It has been an absolute thriller of a World Cup Final and what's really been a remarkable tournament. Spain and Argentina were scoreless through regulation until Spain broke through scoring in extra time to beat the reigning champs one-nil. And as you might imagine, fans across Spain unbelievably ecstatic. The celebration in Madrid and in many other cities and towns will likely have celebrations well into the morning.

CNN's Amanda Davies is live outside the New York, New Jersey stadium, and Pau Mosquera is in -- is with fans in Madrid.

So, Amanda, let's just start with the match. What did we see during this match?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Omar, we saw the biggest football match in the world playing out on the biggest stage after the biggest addition of football's greatest tournament, the World Cup. The stars were out in force here. Beyonce, Serena Williams, Tom Cruise, Shakira, Madonna, Ronaldo, here to see the top two ranked sides in the world go head to head for the World Cup. And it's the European champions who have dethroned Lionel Messi's Argentina.

They fought the fighters and won. Spain very much deserving this title, only their second ever World Cup success, 16 years after their first in 2010. They were the side who set out to win it. They tried to score, they had the possession, they played the free flowing or tried to play the free flowing, skillful football that we've seen from them as they've glided swan like through this tournament.

But Argentina did exactly what we expected them to do, fighting every step of the way to try and suffocate them and stop their attempts on goal. Ultimately, it was when Enzo Fernandez got sent off for Argentina in the final moments of the first 90 minutes that they really, really gave themselves a mountain to climb up against this Spanish side who have only lost once in now 38 matches dating back to 2024. It was Ferran Torres, just very quickly after the second -- into the

second period of extra time, who ultimately scored the winner to put Spain on the top step of that podium to break Argentinian hearts. So many of them here in the stadium. We had that moment.

Donald Trump may have had a big role in this tournament from afar up to this point. He was here for his first game of the tournament. With that moment, the worst kept secret, really, he was presenting the trophy alongside the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, celebrating with the Spanish players.

And you suspect those will be some of the images beamed around the world over the next 24 hours or so. But Spain will be heading back home as the new world champions.

JIMENEZ: An incredible run. What a dominant performance by the Spanish team over the course of this tournament. Certainly in this final match as well.

And Amanda, I know you were on top of it all. I want to get into Pau Mosquera, who is in Madrid where the celebrations have only just gotten started. But for those who have ever been to Madrid, celebrations usually go pretty late into the night and early morning hours anyway.

Pau, what are you seeing there now?

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can assure you, Omar, that it will be like this. People here around me are going to be celebrating until the very early hours of the morning. Have a look on how does the downtown Madrid look right now. Look, the celebration.

(CHEERS)

MOSQUERA: Incredible, incredible atmosphere. Right? Incredible atmosphere. Thousands in the streets.

[19:05:01]

Again, they will be here until, as we said, the very early hours of the morning, but not only Spanish nationals are taking the streets. For example, Rocio, Rocio (PH), you told me that you are from Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm Mexican.

MOSQUERA: You came to spend some holidays in Spain. Have you been rooting for Spain during all the World Cup?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I was praying, I was laughing, I was crying, I was everything, but I was really happy right now. I'm really, really happy. Everybody is excited right now.

MOSQUERA: This feels so chaotic, Omar, as you can see. I'm being drenched in beer. I mean, I'm part of the celebration without planning it. This is just crazy. Did you suffer much while watching the final, Rocio? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, of course, of course, yes. At the end I was

like praying. I was crying almost, but, yes, yes, of course I was laughing.

MOSQUERA: Well, but it was worth it. I can say that it was worth it. Thank you very much.

So this is the atmosphere right now, Omar, here in Madrid.

JIMENEZ: Unbelievable. Pau Mosquera, stay safe out there but enjoy it. Amanda Davies appreciate it as well. Thank you both.

All right. We've also got a lot of news we are covering happening throughout the world, including the latest from the Middle East. The United States says the number of service members killed in action this weekend has gone up to three. U.S. Central Command says one American service member died yesterday in Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone, while two other U.S. troops were killed on Friday in Jordan from an Iranian attack.

This comes as strikes intensify between the United States and Iran, prompting fears that this war could evolve into a wider conflict.

I want to bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is traveling with the president this weekend. And, Julia, let's just start with what is the latest from the administration right now?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have not heard publicly from President Donald Trump about these latest developments. As we've been speaking about, he was just at the World Cup Final there in MetLife Stadium. He helped with the awards ceremony, and then he'll be heading back to Washington, D.C. soon. But it was just yesterday that U.S. Central Command announced that two American service members had been killed during an attack in Jordan.

Now, today, they are announcing that another American service member has been killed in action, this time in northern Iraq. I want to pull up this recent statement for you now that did go into a bit more detail, saying, "A U.S. service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18th during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury."

This brings the total number of U.S. service members killed during this now nearly five-month long conflict to 17, and then that attack in Jordan that killed two American service members, they also said that one service member was categorized as missing in action. They provided a bit more information there as well, saying that remains were found in that area. But the confirmation process is still going on there.

So they're looking for more information as they go through that. But when it comes to CENTCOM, they're withholding some information at this time as they work to make sure the next of kin is notified. But all of this is coming as there is just major escalation in the region. We have seen eight nights of strikes by the United States, as well as just waves of Iranian drones and missiles that have been fired at a widening number of targets in countries with U.S. bases.

So a lot of questions about what's next here. After the attack in Jordan, Trump did give a few brief phone interviews with various outlets. He told the "New York Post" that he would speak to the families of those that were killed. He also told NewsNation that this is a very sad thing. It's in service to our country, and added what he's been saying throughout this conflict, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

JIMENEZ: All right, Julia Benbrook, appreciate the reporting for us there in New Jersey.

We're joined now by CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. He's also director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council.

Alex, what is your assessment of where things stand tonight?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So unfortunately, from what I'm hearing from multiple U.S. officials, the number of U.S. wounded is actually far more significant than those killed, which was just mentioned.

[19:10:03]

So in Jordan, it could have been as many as 30. I'm also hearing that U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia and also in Iraq were also hit. And that also storage points for weapons in Iraq may have also been hit. So it seems like the attacks may have actually had damage that have been done on publicly yet by the administration and we're waiting for an update from them from that.

JIMENEZ: Yes, we're still trying to get some updates on some of those numbers of injured and, of course, of those killed as well. But we've just got what's been confirmed from CENTCOM to this point. But to all of that dynamic, how does the killing of U.S. service members change the calculation for the Trump administration?

PLITSAS: So I think we saw an intensification of attacks that was in part based upon the U.S. casualties that took place. And it speaks to the fact that the Iranians will need to be right once. And at that point, we have to be right 100 percent of the time with our missile defense systems. And that's unfortunate. But that is the reality of the situation that we find ourselves in. So the Trump administration determined that the Iranians were not coming to the table.

They were not being sincere in the negotiations, and they determined that they were going to return to military strikes against Iranian military targets. And so we saw a barrage of attacks against targets along the straits. So for those of you watching on screen, if you look to the right hand side, in the center, you see a body of water, and now you see strikes coming in there for missiles.

Those were striking along military targets right there, along that body of water and where we see that is the Persian Gulf or along the Strait of Hormuz there, which is right at the tip where that little point juts out north, just to the -- about two-thirds the right of way through your screen. And so a large concentration of strikes were focused there to take out military capabilities.

But the U.S. has now, in recent hours and days, expanded that to military targets, cutting off cities along there as well as inland to send a clear message to the Iranian government that we're no longer going to tolerate their lack of adherence to the memorandum of understanding, and that if they don't come back to the table, that military strikes will continue to intensify.

JIMENEZ: You know, as we talk about what seems to be a path of escalation here moving forward, typically, at least to start this war, it was the United States and Israel jointly that were largely doing these operations against Iran, at least from a kinetic standpoint. Sure, intelligence has been shared throughout, but Israel has reportedly been sidelined during this latest escalation. How are you reading the dynamic between the two countries right now?

PLITSAS: So the dynamic has been interesting, to say the least. And the question is apropos, just given the fact that the administration and the Netanyahu administration have been out of sorts a bit lately, and that's been due to what the administration and the U.S. perceives as unnecessarily offensive actions that have led to potential escalations. And they've asked the Israelis to sit on the sidelines.

So the U.S. has been flexing additional refueling aircraft to be staged out of Israel for offensive strikes. But they've made it clear that the Israelis are not to participate here because they don't want additional strikes on Israel. They think the U.S. can handle these offensive strikes. There's also a concern, according to U.S. officials that I've spoken to, that if they were to do so, that Israel, if they were to strike back, may strike back harder than necessary, and that might provoke a larger response from the Iranians, which would then spark a larger cycle of violence in return.

So the U.S. is striking Iranian targets they feel are necessary to degrade their offensive capabilities necessary to strike targets in the Persian Gulf or to go after shipping, but at the same time also to get the Iranians to return to the table. So it's a fine balancing act between going after military capabilities, making sure that you can degrade their ability to attack, but also not getting a counterattack at the same time to bring them back to the table.

That's a very, very fine balancing act.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, as we sort of go through the countries in the region here, you know, Jordan has come into focus, obviously being the site where some of these service members were killed, as we understand. But I just wonder from a country perspective, what are you hearing from these Gulf nations, who are being caught again in the crosshairs? And how do you assess their significance to what the United States is trying to accomplish in the region?

PLITSAS: So I'm hearing the same that took place before these strikes occurred. The late supreme leader's funeral took place not that long ago. And if we're looking at the screen here again on the right, we see that strike coming in. But back to that map of the Persian Gulf. We see a number of GCC states present. There's the Gulf states who have borders along the Persian Gulf all the way around.

So we see Bahrain, we see Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Emirates, Oman, we see Iraq up there and Kuwait. And a lot of them sent delegations to Iran for the funeral, and they didn't want to take place in the war before it started. And they didn't. They told us we couldn't use bases. Shortly thereafter, the Iranians decided that they were going to attack these states in the hopes of putting pressure on the United States as part of a campaign, as well as choking off the Strait of Hormuz to get the U.S. to stop the war. And so once again, they all said, look, don't do this. We're not part of it.

[19:15:03]

We would like to broker an agreement here. And you see some of the states here, the Qataris, the Omanis, they've been trying to broker an agreement. And again, just days after sending delegations to a funeral for the late supreme leader, the Iranians are once again launching offensive attacks against these countries. And so having spoken to mediators before the war broke out, the main concern was about some of these proxy groups in the region, terrorist groups.

But now you can add rockets and you can also add drones to that list because they're now getting closer to Israel and the United States in terms of their concerns. So this is completely backfiring on the Iranians.

JIMENEZ: Alex Plitsas, appreciate the analysis during a very critical time. Thanks for being here.

PLITSAS: Thanks for having me.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right. Still to come, brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrested in Miami and facing extradition to the United Kingdom amid rape and sex trafficking charges. We'll bring you the details there. And no relief in sight as Americans struggle with high prices. We're going to talk to a Chicago restaurant owner straight ahead.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:39]

JIMENEZ: Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been arrested by U.S. Marshals in Miami, where a law enforcement source says they are expected in federal court next week. The social media influencers are facing extradition to the United Kingdom on rape and sex trafficking charges. The latest accusations against the men.

CNN's Rafael Romo has all the details.

Rafael, what do we know here?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Omar, well, the arrest of both Tate brothers stemmed from a case focusing on alleged sexual abuse of women in the east of England region that's just north of London between 2010 and 2017. U.S. Marshals arrested both brothers in Miami on Saturday on an extradition request from the United Kingdom.

Andrew Tate, seen here on the left, is a 39-year-old U.S. born professional fighter turned media personality known for his rants about male dominance, female submission and wealth. A controversial personality that has earned them billions of views online. He was initially arrested in Bucharest in December 2022, together with his younger brother Tristan Tate. And Romanian prosecutors have accused them of trafficking and exploiting women.

The brothers have repeatedly rejected the allegations made against them in that case, and they were allowed to leave Romania after authorities in the Eastern European country lifted travel restrictions on them, arriving in Florida in February 2025.

Authorities say the brothers, Omar, who have dual American and British citizenship, face dozens of new charges added onto previous charges brought by the Crown Prosecution Service after evidence was submitted by the Bedfordshire Police. According to the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service and Bedfordshire Police, Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist, faces 42 charges including rape, human trafficking, indecent images of a child, and assault. According to the same officials, his brother Tristan Tate faces 17 charges including sexual assault, rape and trafficking.

In a statement, Malcolm McAfee, head of the Special Crime Division at the Crown Prosecution Service in the U.K., said the following. "We have decided to prosecute Andrew and Tristan Tate for further offenses including rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offenses related to -- relating to indecent images of a child. These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven."

An attorney for the brothers said they are innocent and criticized the U.K.'s move to seek extradition. "There is a longstanding agreement between the U.K. and Romanian governments that the U.K. would not seek extradition while the Romanian proceedings are pending, attorney Joseph McBride said. He went on to say those proceedings, "are ongoing right now. That agreement exists because no nation gets to trample the judicial sovereignty of another for political convenience."

In addition to these new charges and the case pending in Romania, Omar, Andrew Tate is also facing a civil suit in the U.K., which is being brought by four women who accused the social media influencer of rape. A spokesperson for Tate previously told CNN that their client, quote, "categorically denies what he called unproven and untested allegations."

Now back to you.

JIMENEZ: All right. Rafael Romo, really appreciate the reporting.

Still ahead for us Democrats appear more divided than ever as the progressive wing of the party doubles down on blocking billions of dollars in aid to Israel. But we're going to talk about all this and how it could impact the midterms, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:28:45]

JIMENEZ: Some breaking news for you. Just in the last few minutes, U.S. Central Command says a new wave of airstrikes is underway against Iran. This is the ninth consecutive night, and it comes after CENTCOM reported a U.S. service member was killed in northern Iraq during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. This brings the total to 17 American service members killed in the nearly five-month war.

I want to bring in our panel, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican strategist and former White House spokesperson during the George W. Bush administration, Pete Seat.

So there is a whole military side of this. There's a lot going on in that front, but there's also on the domestic front a political side to this, where a recent poll shows nearly 70 percent disapprove of the way President Trump is handling the war. And look, both Republicans and Democrats, I think, largely agree Iran should not have a nuclear weapon.

But, Pete, how do Republicans go home to their districts and explain why this war is still going on in the way that it has with no apparent offramp it seems right now?

PETE SEAT, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, the answer to that question is why I think it was a swing and a miss in that primetime presidential speech Thursday evening. I would have flipped the script.

[19:30:45]

If I was the President, I would have spent six minutes on election integrity, which is fair game, that's an important issue to talk about, but I would have spent the other 20 minutes on this conflict with Iran and the economy and prices, because those are top of mind issues for Americans.

Election security, top of mind for Republicans, because we've seen so much election fraud across this country and local communities coast- to-coast, but he needs to explain to all of us clearly what we are doing in Iran, what we will do to, as you said, find this off ramp.

It should be a complete and total elimination of their nuclear program, but how we get there is not being clearly articulated.

JIMENEZ: And Maria, I mean, is in anti-Trump why did he get us into this war message enough for Democrats who are also similarly, similarly, going out to their districts either running for reelection or running for seats in these midterms?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it certainly is a big message in terms of the huge folly and phenomenal foreign policy mistake, probably one of the biggest in the history of our country that Donald Trump has made, especially when he promised to do exactly the opposite during the 2024 election, couple that with the betrayal -- the second betrayal of Donald Trump -- and not focusing on the economy and that is what we know is the number one issue for Americans.

And then when you marry the two, right, the economy is horrific, inflation is horrific, costs are going up, but one of the reasons that costs are going up, especially gas prices and energy prices, is because of this ridiculous, stupid war that Donald Trump started when he promised not to start endless wars.

And so when you have that kind of contrast and Democrats talking about the issues of affordability, of bringing down prices, of helping families make ends meet of affordable housing, bringing back health care, which Republicans have ripped away from millions of Americans, I think that's going to be a winning message for Democrats when Republicans have absolutely no answer on why Trump has gotten us into this war of choice that has now and is continuing to cost American lives.

JIMENEZ: Well, Maria, there is one interesting aspect of this within the Democratic Party because, you know, just this past week, we saw more than a hundred House Democrats. They voted to block billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, which I mean, is the perfect sort of highlight of what i think is a growing divide in the party over Israel's handling of the war in Gaza, but also Middle East strategy as a whole.

Is this an issue that is actually swaying voters right now?

CARDONA: I think it will sway some, Omar, but it is certainly not going to be the number one issue for the vast majority of voters going into the midterm elections. We've seen in poll after poll after poll the number one issues for Americans is the economy, is affordability, is the fact that they cannot make ends meet, is the fact that energy prices, gas prices are going up, mortgages are going up, inflation is going up.

And the reason that they can point to it is because of the really phenomenally stupid decisions that Donald Trump has made and that Republicans have been unable to stand up to him on and distance themselves from. That's why they are in such a quandary going into the midterm elections.

You know, the issue of Israel will be one that will be decided in some of these districts with some voters where, you know, single issue voters, but again, it is not going to be the number one issue going into these midterm elections the economy will be.

JIMENEZ: And Pete, I think I saw you shake your head when Maria talked about Republicans not standing up to Trump on Israel. Your thoughts? SEAT: Well, let's talk about that vote in the House of Representatives. Democrats keep saying that Donald Trump is a threat to our allies, to long standing alliances, to multilateral institutions. And yet here you had more than 100 Democrats, members of Congress, voting en masse to stop military aid to our strongest and closest ally in the most dangerous part of the world. That is a rapid radicalization of the Democratic Party.

And so now you have because the base is radicalized on this issue, you have incumbent Democrats trying to save their hides by throwing Israel under the bus, throwing our ally under the bus when they are constantly under assault from a terrorist group that wants to wipe them off the face of the map. That is something that Democrats have to deal with internally and it is something that could very, very well hurt us moving forward in the Middle East and elsewhere.

CARDONA: Lets be very --

JIMENEZ: :Go for it. Maria, we've got under a minute. Go for it! Go for it.

[19:35:10]

CARDONA: Let's be very clear, Pete. There is a big difference in being anti-Netanyahu, who is a war criminal and who has focused on a killing spree in Gaza and the vast majority of the American people are against that and being anti-Israel. Democrats are not the latter. Many of them are starting to become the former and for good reason.

The images in our T.V. and screens that we have seen this past couple of years, where Netanyahu has focused on exterminating Palestinians has been horrific.

At the same time, Democrats absolutely support the right of Israel to exist, the right of Israel to defend itself. But as long as Netanyahu is in control in Israel, and hopefully that won't last that long --

SEAT: The Democrats don't want America to help, so I don't think those are can both be true, Maria.

CARDONA: When Netanyahu is gone from Israel and many Jewish people feel that way here in the United States as well, then we can get on with a foreign policy that actually supports Israel and that supports innocent Palestinians, a two state solution, something that is common sense that the vast majority of the country and the vast majority of the world supports.

JIMENEZ: It always feels like just when the discussion is getting good, we've got to go. But Pete Seat, Maria Cardona.

CARDONA: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: I know, it is just the format. You know, we will work on it. We will work on it. Good to see you both.

CARDONA: Let's do that. JIMENEZ: Appreciate you taking the time.

CARDONA: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, for decades, a huge part of the American Dream was getting to own your own home, but now millions of Americans say they feel priced out of that dream. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:29]

JIMENEZ: President Trump says the Golden Age of America is here while touting that prices are falling in the United States. But a new Washington Post/IPSOS poll out on Thursday showed only 33 percent of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the economy.

CNN's Phil Mattingly has a look at how Americans are grappling with the affordability crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOLENE SIMECEK, RENTER: It's not affordable to live on your own as a single person anymore.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR (voice over): For generations, Cleveland was the promise kept, one of the last places a family of almost any income could own a home that was theirs.

SIMECEK: I wanted digging in yard for my kid and just the normal American dream -- just a house a picket fence, a yard, and it just seems that that's more and more not it's out of touch, not reality.

MATTINGLY (voice over): For Jolene Simecek, that deal has come undone. A working mom and a nursing student, she's always had a job, but she can't keep up with the skyrocketing rents in her Cleveland suburb.

SIMECEK: It went from $785.00 to nearly $1,600.00 a month.

MATTINGLY: Your rent effectively doubled?

SIMECEK: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Over what seven years? Six years, seven years?

SIMECEK: Yes.

MATTINGLY: And your income presumably did not follow the same path over that period of time.

SIMECEK: No. It did not go up at that rate at all.

MATTINGLY: Her next best option, a room in her sister's basement.

SIMECEK: They are lucky enough to rent it to me for $450.00 a month.

MATTINGLY: $450.00? Okay.

SIMECEK: Yep.

MATTINGLY: The alternative was roughly 1,600-ish?

SIMECEK: $1,600.00 or, yes, I sleep in my little hatchback so --

MATTINGLY (voice over): Nearly one in four Clevelanders now hand over more than half of what they earn just to stay housed.

SIMECEK: I've already paid a quarter million dollars in rent to my life, I should already have the home with the equity paid off, but I didn't make the right decisions, if you rent, that's what you get.

MATTINGLY (voice over): So how did it get this bad?

Frank Ford has spent decades tracing the forces that shaped these streets. It starts with redlining, lenders starving black neighborhoods of home loans.

FRANK FORD, SR. POLICY ADVISER, CLEVELAND FAIR HOUSING CENTER: There's a shift that took place in the late 90s where some mortgage lenders flipped that and realized, well, wait a minute. Instead of denying people loans because we perceive them as high risk, what if we make loans and use that perception as the reason to raise interest rates?

MATTINGLY (voice over): Those predatory loans inflated a bubble that burst in 2007.

FORD: The banks found themselves sitting on 600 homes in Cleveland, 800 homes in Cleveland. They started to offload those properties for pennies on the dollar to investors.

MATTINGLY (voice over): Thousands of homes swept up by phantom investors charging market rent while letting them rot. The paradox of a broken market. Homes are cheap because families can't buy them, but the rents stay high.

The spread is a magnet for out of state LLCs. Buy all cash, collect rent, ignore the repairs. Nowhere is it clearer than Shaker Square.

ANDERSON WALDON, SHAKER SQUARE RESIDENT: Okay. This is my one-bedroom. These are the water blisters that dried out I told you about. These here are the holes where all the water came through.

MATTINGLY (voice over): Anderson Waldon came here in 2020 to retire somewhere safe and walkable. Instead, three of every four neighbors left, and the buildings crumbled around the few who did stay.

[19:45:10]

WALDON: I have my drills. I've tried to fix everything myself because I can't wait till it gets done, because it never gets done.

MATTINGLY (voice over): Drive 20 miles west and it's a different universe where families priced out of the city now compete fiercely for every home.

STEPHEN MILLER, HOMEOWNER: Before this, lived in the city and wanted to buy in the city and in the specific neighborhood that we're in. The cost of housing has exploded in those places.

MATTINGLY (voice over): Stephen Miller and his wife are working professionals who embody what for decades represented the first rung of the housing ladder. But home prices in Cleveland have surged nearly 60 percent in six years, among the fastest in the country.

MILLER: We were looking for probably about a year for what eventually kind of became our unicorn, I guess, which never fruition. And then, over time, we just kind of gave up and started kind of expanding that search.

MATTINGLY (voice over): Battling all cash investors waving inspections, they eventually closed miles from where they wanted to be.

MILLER: We live in a lovely suburb now that's right on the lake. It's great, but that was never in the plans to say the least. It's frankly astounding. There's some phantom outside buyer that comes in the last second, 50 grand over the asking price. It's just it's absolutely brutal out there.

SIMECEK: The Midwest was like the secret where you can live comfortably, and it's not that way anymore.

MATTINGLY (voice over): Back in Parma, Jolene made clear she's not asking for a handout. She's only wondering, how did it get this hard for the people who did everything they were told to do?

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Cleveland, Ohio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: All right, Phil Mattingly, appreciate it.

Coming up next, I am going to talk to a restaurant owner from Chicago about the challenges he is facing, coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:30]

JIMENEZ: We want to talk to real people about what the economy is really like. Beyond the official economic reports, real people, real money.

Joining me now is Jose "Louis" Lopez who runs Los Candiles Restaurant, a Mexican restaurant in Chicago, and Louis, look, when we talk about restaurants, people are spending their hard-earned money, discretionary money, money they've got left over to sometimes go out and treat themselves. What are you seeing in terms of people spending there at the restaurant? JOSE LOPEZ, OWNER, LOS CANDILES RESTAURANT: To be quite honest, limited. Right now, its tough times because to go dine out, I believe is a luxury right now. You know, you have to. Its living in a luxury life to go out and dine out because everything is so, you know, let's use the word, "inflated" and I hate that word "inflation," but at the same time, when I go to a grocery store and I look at sales, I've got to look out instead of buying a box of avocados for $60.00, I am trying to see where I could purchase a box of avocados or half of the box at our local supermarkets.

But, at the same time, Omar, I mean, it is very, very limited right now, our dine-in traffic, our dine-in experience, and I feel for the businesses that just started a business about five to ten years ago, say, nonetheless, we've been in business for 31 years.

If we are going through hard times right now, I just couldn't imagine the other business that just started their business a couple of years ago.

JIMENEZ: I was just going to say that I know one of the real struggles with any restaurant is trying not to raise prices as much as you can.

Just tell me about how much it has cost to get the ingredients for your restaurant and what that struggle has been like in terms of potentially raising prices.

LOPEZ: The world knows this. Our U.S. nation knows this. Tomatoes, limes, oranges, avocados -- triple the amount. You know, triple the price. And being a dine-in restaurant and a carryout delivery restaurant, we've noticed that -- you know, we've noticed our traffic and our business has come down a lot.

So that being said, we have to look out and now, we are depending on grocery stores. We are looking at sales. We are looking to see where we could buy a pound of tomatoes for $0.99 a pound, instead of paying $2.99 a pound. And when I come out of a grocery store, I see another restaurant owner coming in. I am going in the grocery store, I see another restaurant owner coming out, and we know each other. You know, we are -- we know who we are and it has just really has been a struggle.

But at the same time, we've just got to fight this out. But I mean, what can we do? What can we do? But just stay positive. And I know that there is a lot of opportunities for everybody. But when you're in a city with a community that backs you up, you know, there are softball leagues out there, there are businesses that have to collab with, with Hops and Scotch in the north and the South Loop, you know, the West Lawn Softball Crew with the world, and over here at Generic Park with OTT, we have to come together.

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But at the same time, not everybody has that opportunity. So all I could say from an experience of being in business for 31 years, we've got to find a way. We've got to find a way, and we just hope this ends fast. We just want everything to be fair. But what is fair? What is fair, Omar

Explain to me what is fair.

JIMENEZ: Yes, Louis, I really appreciate you taking the time. I know, you've got a busy schedule, especially with the World Cup going on. Louie Lopez of Los Candiles in Chicago. Good to see you.

LOPEZ: We are blessed. Thank you so much. And I hope everybody, you know, stay safe out there. Let's just try to make things happen and support your local and support your small businesses because it really is tough out there right now and let's just try to make things happen and try to make things -- we've got to make ends meet, you know, Omar, I appreciate you so much. Los Candiles here in Little Village. We are here to offer you a good meal. We are never going to promise you but greatness.

JIMENEZ: Louie Lopez.

LOPEZ: But we will promise you something good!

JIMENEZ: Good to see you.

Meanwhile, the parties across Madrid and Barcelona are going into the wee hours of the morning as Spain wins its second World Cup. We are live. We will take you there. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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