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Trump Fires Statistician; Avi Mayer is Interviewed about Freeing the Israeli Hostages; Trump Calls Sweeney Ad Fantastic; Kendall Scudder is Interviewed about Texas Democrats Fleeing the State; Trump Lashes out at Charlamagne Tha God. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 04, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: To be South Carolina's governor. She released the announcement video moments ago. And she's currently serving her third term in Congress. Last week, Republican Congressman Ralph Norman announced he was also running in the governor's race.

And if you don't like the message, I guess you can fire the messenger. On Friday, that's precisely what President Trump did.

We're going to talk now with the group chat about this firing, which was a -- pretty much a scandal over the weekend. Hearing a lot of lawmakers talk about it.

I want to start with you, Stephen.

I just had a conversation with someone about jobs numbers.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Right.

CORNISH: And young people. And, like -- and I was able to do that because of data.

COLLINSON: Yes.

CORNISH: So, what is significant about this moment?

COLLINSON: The problem is, if you don't have trust in the jobs numbers, they underpin so much of the economy. (INAUDIBLE) monthly job number, which I think arguably people take too much attention to, especially in a political context. It's how banks and companies and organizations make big decisions about how they're going to maneuver in the -- in the economy.

So, once that trust is gone, you're on a very slippery slope. And what appears to have happened is that the president took exception to one set of numbers, particularly the big revisions down from previous months. That happens all the time because that's one of the ways you get a good long term picture of what the job market does. And the president didn't really mind when there were revisions upwards.

But you get into a very difficult situation. And if the country -- if -- if companies and investors can't trust those numbers, that chips away at the stability and the trust on which American prosperity is based.

CORNISH: Yes. And you pointed out, there's countries under which that is the scenario.

COLLINSON: Right, Argentina, Greece, they both basically lied about the growth, jobs and inflation numbers, and they ended up pitching into a financial crisis. That's not necessarily going to happen here right away.

CORNISH: Yes.

COLLINSON: But it is a slope you go down.

CORNISH: So, Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House Economic Council, is actually defending the firing on Sunday. Here's how he explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, they're more transparent and more reliable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does the administration have any evidence that it was rigged, as the president said? And will you be presenting that to the American public?

HASSETT: They're -- well, the evidence is that there have been a bunch of revisions that could appear to partisans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But hard evidence?

HASSETT: Well, I mean, the -- the revisions are hard evidence that --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: None of this shocks me, Audie, because when I was covering, earlier this year, a major copyright report that came out from the U.S. Copyright office lead, Shira Perlmutter, and it said that A.I. was essentially damaging I.P. creator companies. What happened the very next day? Trump fired Shira Perlmutter. It's a very similar situation. He did not like what that report had to say because Donald Trump is investing a lot in the A.I. economy. Perlmutter is gone. So, when I see something like this happen, to me, this is just the next example of Donald Trump firing somebody over data reporting that he doesn't like.

The question becomes, to your point, Stephen, how is this sustainable? Are you going to fire every single official when something comes out that you don't like? Eventually, you're not even going to be able to fill these positions as fast as you fire them.

CORNISH: And Larry Summers, who's been talking a lot actually about the economy, but he took some time out when he was asked a question about this over the weekend. And here's how he described this decision by the president to fire the person in charge of jobs numbers. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: There's no conceivable way that the head of the BLS could have manipulated this number. The numbers are in line with what we're seeing from all kinds of private sector sources. This is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: He's not usually the guy using that word.

KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: No. No. I mean --

CORNISH: So, it's sort of an interesting moment.

FREY: I mean this goes back to just a fundamental basic of democracy, which is that you can only operate in a democracy if everyone has some shared degree of facts and we're not just making things up as we go along to appease one person or the other.

The other thing that's remarkable about this individual, that was until a few moments ago, in charge of these numbers, is she was confirmed on a bipartisan basis, including by the man who is now in the vice president's office.

CORNISH: One other thing I want to add to this, which is that I was thinking about something like jobs numbers. Real people feel them, right?

FREY: Yes.

COLLINSON: Yes.

CORNISH: We know what it's like when you try and tell the voters, you're not feeling something that's happening.

COLLINSON: Well, that happened in the Biden administration when they said inflation was transitory. It was something we don't really need to worry about. Everyone saw their grocery bills going up, and that did a lot to undermine support for the Democrats in the last election.

CORNISH: Yes.

COLLINSON: If you see people losing their jobs around you, you don't need these numbers to tell you. Most people from in Washington don't really care about what the jobs numbers are.

CORNISH: The numbers just confirm what you're already feeling, yes.

[06:35:01]

COLLINSON: Most people only see the jobs numbers a few days before an election and it's like, oh, it's really good for the president or really bad for the president. But people can see that in their own lives. So, you can cover up so much.

The problem is, what happens next month? We get a new BLS commissioner, which the -- the president says will happen in two or three days. If the numbers are bad, do they get fired? Or if the numbers are good, does anybody believe them?

CORNISH: Yes. And I'm not going to be able to play this, but his -- Trump's former chief of labor statistics actually brought this up, saying, look, people are going to suspect the new person is basically under political influence and damage the credibility of the numbers.

You guys stay with me.

I want to turn for a minute to some international news, because it seems that Israel's new strategy to free the remaining hostages in Gaza would involve a military expansion. One Israeli official tells CNN there's a growing belief that Hamas is not interested in negotiating a deal.

And tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday night, demanding the hostages be freed. They're outraged by the release of Hamas propaganda video showing emaciated Israeli captives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): You see them wasting away in a dungeon but the Hamas monster surrounding them have thick, fleshy arms. They have everything they need to eat. They are starving them the way the Nazis starved the Jews. And when I see this, I understand exactly what Hamas wants. It doesn't want to deal. It wants to break us through these horrifying videos, through the false propaganda it spreads around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Netanyahu is calling on the Red Cross to immediately come to the aid of the remaining hostages.

Joining me now from Jerusalem is Avi Mayer, founder of "The Jerusalem Journal."

Good morning and welcome, Avi.

AVI MAYER, FOUNDER, "JERUSALEM POST": Good morning, Audie. Good to be with you.

CORNISH: Now, we saw the images of those protests, and I'm also seeing tweets from kind of the hostage family forum warning Netanyahu not to expand the war to Hamas because they say that it puts the hostages lives in greater danger.

Can you talk about what their request is and what that pressure means for the Israeli government?

MAYER: Sure. Look, this is a war that initially had very broad support in Israel. Israelis understood, in the aftermath of October 7th that Hamas needed to be removed as a threat, seeing as they continue to threaten that they would carry out more and more. October 7th-like massacres until Israel was destroyed. That is no longer the case. There is now broad support in Israel for ending the war. Somewhere between two-thirds and three quarters of Israelis say that the time has come for an overall deal that would end the war and see those hostages return. And that's essentially what those hostage families are calling for. They're calling for all efforts to bring this war to a close, and to have their loved ones return home.

Now that, of course, would entail the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It would entail the release of a certain number of convicted Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. Those are two demands that are opposed by members of Netanyahu's government. But that is a position that many Israelis have reached at this time.

CORNISH: Can you talk about the timing of this video? I mean just a few days ago, obviously, people were looking at these images of starving people in Gaza. And then over the weekend, you have Hamas releasing video of starving hostages. What do you read in this moment?

MAYER: Well, you know, it's interesting to sort of look at Hamas' psychology. They've done this quite a few times, released these really horrific videos showing the terrible state in which these hostages are being kept. They beg for their lives. And it's very clearly meant as a message to the Israeli public that this is a moment to press your government to make certain concessions in order to bring about some kind of a deal. But we know, of course, that, at least according to President Trump, his envoy, Steve Witkoff and, of course, Israeli officials, as you mentioned, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest in Hamas' part to actually come to some kind of reasonable compromise. In fact, they seem to be hardening their stances every single day, which is a position, I think, that they can get to because of the tremendous international pressure that Israel has been subjected to over the past two weeks due to the images of hunger in Gaza.

And so, I think that's the position they're trying to push right now, to sort of push Israel to sort of compromise on those things that it feels, at least up until this point, it hasn't been able to compromise on and see if they're able to get a more favorable deal at some point in the future.

CORNISH: Over the weekend, I was looking at your social media post and you said, "I know many people are concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. I am too. But are you equally concerned about this?" And you were showing one of the images that Hamas has put out of a 24-year-old Israeli hostage who's been held captive for 666 days.

Can you talk about the reaction to that post? What were you trying to say?

MAYER: Look, that image had, to be perfectly frank, the intended effect, as far as Hamas is concerned.

[06:40:02] It horrified Israelis. It called for some of the hostage families to say, you know what, this is the time to just concede defeat. We need to do whatever we can to bring these people home. They are in imminent danger. That is exactly what Hamas wanted. But the truth is that it aligns with where many Israelis are at at this point, that we have sort of exhausted whatever military objectives there had been at the outset of this war. that Hamas has been decimated as a fighting force. There's not much more to achieve. And this is a point in which we basically need to call it quits and pull out.

And so, I think it sort of feeds a sentiment that is already somewhat existent within Israeli society, but it does so in such a cruel and horrific way, knowing, by the way, that while this does in fact impact many Israelis, it doesn't have nearly the same impact around the world.

I can tell you that that image appeared on the front pages of every Israeli newspaper yesterday, and on one international newspaper, "The New York Post." I didn't see it anywhere else. As opposed to the horrific images we saw the week before of emaciated children in Gaza. I think that sends a very powerful message as well, that Hamas knows exactly what buttons to push and what impact it will have and what impact, quite frankly, it won't have. And I think that's quite sobering as well.

CORNISH: Avi Mayer, founder of "The Jerusalem Journal," thank you for speaking with us.

MAYER: Thank you.

CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Texas Democrats flee the state. They're trying to block a vote on redistricting. The chairman of the Texas Democratic Party joins me next.

And President Trump weighing in on Sydney Sweeney's good jeans ad.

And we want to know what's in your group chat. Send it to us now on X. We're going to talk about ours after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:03]

CORNISH: It's 45 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

An ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs is urging the judge to release him from jail. Virginia Huynh was supposed to testify against Diddy in the criminal case, but mysteriously dropped out days before the trial began. Now, in a letter to the judge, she says Combs is a committed family man who has not been violent in many years.

And a whale has died off the coast of New Jersey after colliding with a boat and nearly capsizing it. It was all caught on video. You can see it here. The small boat rocking before someone actually fell overboard. Then a 20-foot whale was caught splashing away. Now, that whale was later found dead in a -- in shallow waters nearby. And a long, dormant volcano in far eastern Russia is now active after

the region was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake last week. Ash spewed over three miles high into the sky. That volcano in the Kamchatka has not erupted in more than 600 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY SWEENEY: My jeans are blue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: President Trump calling Sydney Sweeney's controversial American Eagle jeans ad fantastic, but only after finding out her party affiliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's a registered Republican?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Oh, now I love her ad.

Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican. I think her ad is fantastic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Critics believe the ad is racially insensitive, claiming its less about the pants and more about genetics.

And, Sara, you're here. I have to ask, is this like an all press is good press situation? Because now I just played the ad and I'm like, I'm playing into it.

FISCHER: OK, so not all press is always good press. I always refer back to the Will Smith Oscars slap. I mean that kind of killed his career, even though he got so much media attention. It really comes down to how do you play it and navigate it.

And Sydney Sweeney has been dropping a lot of hints about where she stands on things like politics, on moral stories, things like that. I think what this has done is it sparked conversation ahead of a bunch of new product launches for her, a new movie that's coming out.

CORNISH: Product launches. Yes, the new movie. I mean, I think she had a product selling bath -- her -- bathwater at one point.

FISCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: Like, she's on it. She's on it.

FISCHER: She's -- CORNISH: If you pay for her in a movie, she's going to promote your film.

FISCHER: Yes. So, the question becomes, is it worth it to be this scandalous and potentially polarize your audience for the sake of getting attention? This is such a crowded internet landscape right now. To break through in movie marketing and product marketing is really difficult.

CORNISH: It is.

FISCHER: So, she's taking a risk by putting herself out there like this, doing this sort of scandalous ad.

I think, if I have to take my honest opinion here, I think it's working for her. We're talking about Sydney Sweeney on national television right now. I am sure more people are going to be following her on social media, want to see if she's putting out more statements.

CORNISH: Yes.

FISCHER: People care about what the president has to say to weigh in. Will it polarize her audience? We'll see at the box office.

CORNISH: And American Eagle very happy, obviously.

FISCHER: Of course. Yes, defending her.

CORNISH: All right, I want to turn to some political news, because for the second time in four years, in Texas, Democratic lawmakers are fleeing the state. So, they left on Sunday to New York, Boston, Illinois, to basically break quorum over a new Republican drawn congressional map, which gives the GOP another five seats in Congress, at the expense of Democrats.

Now, this is an unusual move, partly because it's one year ahead of the midterms. And that could help Republicans keep control of Congress nationally.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the lawmakers to appear back for a special session by 3:00 p.m. today or face consequences, including potentially being removed from office.

The state attorney general, Ken Paxton, doubled down on the threats, vowing to arrest lawmakers and even hunt down those who fled.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says that won't happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): They're here in Illinois. We're going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that -- because we know they're doing the right thing. We know that they're following the law.

[06:50:01] It's Ken Paxton who doesn't follow the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about this is Kendall Scudder, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. He's in Chicago.

Chairman Scudder, thank you for being here.

KENDALL SCUDDER, CHAIRMAN, TEXAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Thanks so much for having me, Audie. I appreciate it.

CORNISH: So, before we get into it, we just heard the governor there, Governor Pritzker, and did you guys start talks with him ahead of time? Has this plan been in the works for a while?

SCUDDER: When I first heard that this was potentially underway, I took a trip up to Tulsa while he was visiting for an Oklahoma Democratic Party event. We had a great conversation about opportunities if this did unfold. The reality is, no Democrat is sitting around itching and waiting for a call (ph) break. But this is what has to be done to make sure we're preserving democracy.

For the last ten years, Democrats have been campaigning, saying that they were the top options to defend democracy. So, when Republicans are trying to dodge accountability and steal seats in the United States Congress, Democrats have to do everything that they can to make sure that we don't allow that to happen and that voters have an opportunity to hold them accountable for their actions.

CORNISH: This is not the first time Texas Democrats have used this technique, right, breaking quorum to block a new law. Last time it was a Texas voting law that Republicans had in 2021. But here's the thing, I -- and tell me if I'm wrong. I remember last time Democrats held out about six weeks and then a bunch -- like some of them broke ranks and returned back to the state. Is that going to happen again? What are you doing to prevent it?

SCUDDER: It's a really tough thing to do to break quorum. For those who aren't familiar, quorum basically is the number of people who have to be present in order for you to conduct business. So, in Texas, you have 150 people in the legislature, 100 people have to be there for you to conduct business. So, as long as 51 people are gone, it brings business to a halt.

But in order to be gone, you have to not be in the state. You have to be away from your family, away from your job -- a lot of these folks have mortgages to pay -- and now Republicans have imposed $500 a day fines on these individuals. They're making huge, personal sacrifice to accomplish this.

And so, it will be difficult to maintain it. But I think as long as the -- the population of the country is on their side, rooting them on, letting them know how much they appreciate the sacrifices that they're making, and that they're going to texasdemocrats.org to make contributions to help fund this, then I think that there are a lot -- a really good chance that they can maintain being gone and postpone the Republicans stealing five seats in Congress away from the American public so that they aren't having to held -- be held accountable for things like promising to not cut Medicare and Medicaid, but doing it anyways, publicly talking about trying to privatize social security.

CORNISH: Yes. But let me just jump in here for a second, because when we look at the maps and we look at the states that are, you know, kind of prone to gerrymandering, Illinois is one of them, right? It's ranked among the worst by people who study these things. And so, you have lots of statehouses around the country that are going to be looking at what's happening in Texas and saying, hey, maybe we can do that. Given how few are controlled by Democrats, what's your concern here?

SCUDDER: Well, Democrats would be the first ones to line up to try to get federally recognized nonpartisan redistricting committees. But Republicans will never be on board trying to get that accomplished. We see lots of Democratic states where they've done that, and -- and Republican states where they haven't. And all it's done is cripple Democrats from their ability to be competitive.

I hope that blue states across the country see this as a signal flare and start carving up their own seats because Democrats have to stop trying to be the only adults in the room. When Republicans are not willing to play fair, and Republicans are not willing to make sure that everyone gets -- has a seat at the table and is able to be heard, then we need to stand up and fight back with gusto. And I hope that blue states around the country are taking notice, and that they're going to step forward and start carving up their states as well.

CORNISH: You have until 3:00 p.m., according to the state attorney general, to get back to the state. You're facing these fines every day after. Are you worried that if at a certain point you're in some sort of violation of the law, right, because of these fines, that your seats could be declared vacant, that special elections could be called?

SCUDDER: There is no violation of the law right now. And it's a huge violation of the separation of powers for the governor to think that he can remove members of the legislature because he doesn't agree with the way that they're conducting business in their position. That's asinine.

The reality is that these legislators are doing what it takes to make sure that the voters have an opportunity to hold Donald Trump accountable in the 2026 midterms, because when they push bills to make sure that the richest people in this country pay less in taxes than the poorest, and that they're shutting down rural hospitals across this country, driving up your energy rates, then Democrats have to step up to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make your life more affordable. And that means having the opportunity to hold Republicans accountable in the 2026 midterm election.

[06:55:02]

CORNISH: That's Kendall Scudder, he's chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.

Thanks so much for speaking with us.

SCUDDER: Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: Before we go, I want to talk about the latest high-profile podcaster to take Donald Trump to task over how he's handling the Epstein scandal. "Breakfast Club" host Charlamagne Tha God made some comments to Lara Trump, the Fox News host and the president's daughter-in-law. He says people aren't seeing the potential for the Trump coalition to crack over this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, CO-HOST, "THE BREAKFAST CLUB": I think that this -- this -- this Epstein thing is going to be a way for traditional conservatives to take their party back. I really do. I think that -- I think that -- I think that they know this is the issue that has gotten the base riled up. The base -- the MAGA base isn't letting this issue go. And for the first time, they know they can, you know, probably take their party back and not piss off the MAGA base. I think -- I think -- I think they're going to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, it's a prediction that sent the president to Truth Social to lash out against the radio show host, calling Charlamagne a, quote, "low IQ individual who has no idea what words are coming out of his mouth."

All of this as Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security federal prison in Texas following a meeting with Trump's former personal attorney, who's now at DOJ.

Group chat is back.

I always take a note whether its Rogan or a Portnoy or whoever, because these people were such, not kingmakers, but certainly had influence during the election, and their fan base is like independent voters, male voters. What -- you -- what do you see in this?

COLLINSON: Yes, I mean, I thought that was very interesting for a number of reasons. First of all, that it was on Lara Trump's show, who -- who seems to have more tolerance for this kind of dissent, if you like, from the Trump position than the president himself. It's amazing how Trump is basically got a view on everything, whether it's jean adds or this thing. He's like -- he's like everywhere.

CORNISH: He contains multitudes. Yes.

COLLINSON: And I think that, to some extent, is a key to his appeal because he's -- he's in touch with people.

What -- what Charlamagne said about the 2028 (ph) election was interesting as well. He said that Trump, like President Obama, was a political juggernaut and someone trying to be like him would not necessarily be successful in the coming Republican Party.

CORNISH: Yes, having that facility with the culture. Yes.

COLLINSON: I think that may be more to the point than his point about, you know, the old Republicans coming back.

CORNISH: Here's also what he said about who he would like to see as a potential contender for Democrats in 2028.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, CO-HOST, "THE BREAKFAST CLUB": I would love to see Jon Stewart run in 2028. If we're talking about like a change agent coming from the outside, that's really going to shake things up, and somebody that I feel like can speak to, you know, all people. Plus, we actually -- he's a celebrity who actually knows what they're talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: People are looking at celebrities. Stephen A. Smith, obviously, you know, the sports personality is thinking about this. For a time Democrats would be like, if only Oprah would run. If only this person would run. So, what are you hear in this?

FISCHER: We do this every single cycle. We talk about all the celebrities that are going to run and then eventually that's not the case. I think you're going to see established Democrats who are governors and senators who come out and try to win this.

CORNISH: But why not?

FISCHER: Because, one, they have pretty great --

FREY: Maybe the one that was hosting some Democrats.

FISCHER: They have pretty great lives, Audie. I mean Jon Stewart, right now, he's hosting "The Daily Show." He gets to live his life as a private citizen. To step into the political arena, I don't think a lot of people actually want to do that with their lives. They can make powerful impact without having to run for office. He's never been somebody that's once suggested that he wanted to get his, you know, hands dirty in politics. I can't see why he would do it right now.

CORNISH: Oh, I do hear someone like Charlamagne, though, saying, like, look, you need somebody who's in touch with the culture. To your point, Trump is in touch with the culture. So, again, why not? Door's open.

FREY: I mean, I -- I --

CORNISH: Those eyes. Oh.

FREY: I agree. I -- I agree with Sara.

CORNISH: Yes.

FREY: I mean, look, the -- at the end of the day, you're going to have a host of Democrats that are lining up already. The Pete Buttigiegs of the world. The J.B. Pritzkers. I mean, the list goes on from there. That's what the primary field is going to be.

Also, Jon Stewart works on Mondays and only Mondays now. Why -- why would you throw all that away?

CORNISH: OK, you guys, I want to talk about what's in your group chat. If it wasn't this, what was it?

COLLINSON: I've been thinking about A.I. to your -- to the point with your guest earlier.

CORNISH: Yes.

COLLINSON: Kids are graduating from college, and that's a big concern about how is the job market going to get affected. And there's also the question of how this plays into politics in the long term. We saw how the loss of blue collar jobs in industrial states fed into years of discontent and led to the populism of Trumpism and Bernie Sanders. If you have a new generation of kids who can't get jobs, that's going to have a political impact as well.

CORNISH: All right. You guys?

FISCHER: We've been talking so much about Paramount, the parent company to CBS, capitulating to Donald Trump, settling with him, canceling Steve Colbert's show. They did that to get their merger deal approved. That deal is supposed to close this week. So, I'm watching for what's next after the deal closes.

CORNISH: Nice.

Kevin, last word to you.

FREY: So one of the things I'm keeping an eye on is, because of the one big, beautiful bill they've cut back on a lot of these solar tax credits.

[07:00:03]

And a lot of these solar companies are now seeing a sudden rush of people trying to get kind of the last minute advantage of this.

But there's also now a fear of what happens come January when the tax credits go away. I was talking to one business owner in New York who's already fearing about the possibility of having to start laying people off. An industry that seemingly was burgeoning and now could falter as a result.

CORNISH: I'd make fun of you, but on the -- on the house listservs where people talk about their house all the time, the solar panel thing is a real conversation.

Thanks to the group chat. Thanks for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish. And "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.