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Quest Means Business
Carl Icahn Backs Trumps New Economic Plan; Trump Says Hillary Wants to Abolish the 2nd Amendment; U.S. Markets Closed Higher Tuesday; China Warns U.K. Over Nuclear Plant Delay; Pogba Returns to Manchester United in Record Deal; Erdogan Meet Putin to Reset Ties; Fox Employees: Staff Feared Ailes had Tapped Phones; Brazilian Homeowners Compete Against Hotels. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired August 09, 2016 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00] RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Closing bell ringing on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrials having had gains in the morning evaporated in the
end. That's it, you show us how it should be done. A strong gavel bringing trading to a close. It is Tuesday, the 9th of August. Tonight,
Carl Icahn says Donald Trump will be up there with the great presidents. The billionaire investor is on this program, coming up.
A Russian reset. Vladimir Putin says he'll restore ties with Turkey.
Also tonight -- better the red devil you know. Manchester United breaks a world record to resign Pogba. I'm Richard Quest, tonight from Washington
D.C., where of course I mean business.
Good evening. Donald Trump's new economic plan has received its highest profile backing so far. In his first tweet about the U.S. presidential
election in more than a year, the billionaire activist/investor Carl Icahn is hailing Mr. Trump's speech as great. He then went on to praise Trump's
temperament for persevering as protesters interrupted throughout Monday' event. And Carl Icahn asked his twitter followers, the following question,
"How many of our presidents, even our great presidents, would have handled the antics that went on in that auditorium as well as he did?"
Now Trump's relationship with Carl Icahn is one of mutual respect and admiration between the two billionaires. Carl Icahn has consistently
praised Mr. Trump's promises to renegotiate trade deals. Donald Trump sees Carl Icahn as an insider ready to help overhaul the economy. Even at one
point suggesting that he could serve as his treasury secretary. At a campaign rally in June, Donald Trump said he wanted Icahn to take a lead
role in renegotiating America's trade deals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm all for free trade. It's fine. But I want Carl Icahn negotiating for me. I want the
greatest business people negotiating my deals, not hacks, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Carl Icahn joins me now on the line. Mr. Icahn, thank you, sir, we're glad and grateful you have joined us this evening. Let's begin. You
described the speech as great. And obviously you put Donald Trump as potentially one of the great presidents if he's elected. What is it about
Mr. Trump that you find so appealing?
CARL ICAHN, ICAHN ENTERPRISES CHAIRMAN, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER (via telephone): Yes, well, I would just like to clarify. I said the way he
handled the problems, the disruptions, I thought he did it in a very cool way. But as far as I'm concerned, the economic system today is very
flawed. And I think we have a great problem in our economy. I've been saying that for, you know, a year or two. You can't have a government at
war with business. You can't have a government at war with business. And this is what we have today in our country.
I think Donald spoke to that in his speech at some great length. I think one of our major problems in this country is the fact that you have a
regulatory agency sort of running amok. Now, there are good people in them. There's got to be regulation. There's got to be a system. But I'm
going to be speaking about that in the future myself. You don't have capital spending. I mean, spending for machinery, spending for factories.
We don't have that today. And we are at an all-time low as far as productivity goes. We don't really manufacture products anymore.
QUEST: Right.
ICAHN: As far as I'm concerned, I think this economy can go -- basically could go over the precipice.
QUEST: Now, let me jump in there, if I may, sir. Donald Trump has also criticized business in his own right. He criticized Ford for sending jobs,
what he said was to Mexico. He talked about Apple building their phones overseas.
[16:05:00] He's blasted hedge funds and Wall Street in many ways, the establishment, if you like. And so how do you balance that, if you like,
with the criticism that you say of the Obama administration against business? Donald Trump has also been highly critical.
ICAHN: I don't think he's -- let's start with -- there's a difference in what you're talking about. In his trade policies, I haven't studied them
greatly. I'm no expert on trade. That I leave to Donald and his economic advisers. As far as the fact that we don't have jobs, he claims, he says,
and I think there's a lot of truth in it, because of very bad trade policies and trade agreements. But the area that I'm focusing on more,
which I think is really abominable, is the fact that we really are, as a country, as a business, as people that own businesses -- America is really
made of business, we're a capitalistic society.
I think that today business is afraid of government. They're afraid of what government is going to do. I don't think there's much argument about
that. I could show you examples of when the EPA actually puts businesses out of business. And that's true of the NLRB, that's true of the FDC to
some extent. Now, they're not bad people. But the mandate they have is basically in many ways to putting regulations that keep businesses from
spending capital. Hey look, if you're the CEO of a company today, and you know and I speak against a lot of CEOs, I've been very critical of many of
them, as you know.
QUEST: Absolutely.
ICAHN: But in this case, I have to agree with them. Even a mediocre CEO today. He looks at it and says, hey look, on the one hand, I have money, I
can put in new machinery. And now I look when I put in new machinery and I've got an EPA that doesn't like me and is going to regulate the hell out
of me and I'm not going to make money out of that investment. I can borrow money at zero interest rates, thanks to the Fed. Or I could buy the stock
back. So all this money is being funneled so you think that the stimulation from the Fed would build capital in this country and give jobs
to many of our middle class workers that really don't have good jobs. I don't think we can argue that.
QUEST: If I can jump in there, just to -- on this point that you raise, are you worried, though, as you put forward this pro-business argument for
Donald Trump, that many in the Republican Party are actually running away from him at the moment, almost disowning him as he puts forward these
proposals.
ICAHN: No, I don't really agree with that. I think he's had a very bad week, I'm not going to debate that. In other words, they don't like some
things, some of the attacks he does. I think that's how he sort of won the primary. I personally would say that, hey, people who make mistakes, I
think he went overboard last week. And I think a lot of Republicans don't like that. And it maybe hurts their chance to get in the Senate. But I
think that can be rectified. But they're not saying -- they agree that we have -- look almost all Republicans agree, government has got way too big
in this country.
And not only too big, but it's actually frightened corporate America. I think it's very simplistic. If you're frightened, if a country is
frightened, they're not going to invest capital, which is what's going on. Capital spending is lower, has just gone down, which is unheard of when
you're not in a recession, and our productivity is at its slowest point, growth and productivity in the third quarter we just had.
QUEST: Let me ask you, finally, sir, and we are grateful for this, would you, are you, have you thought about in any shape or form, if president
Trump is elected, that you would play a role in the administration? I know early on there was talk of treasury secretary. What role would you like to
have?
ICAHN: Unequivocally I will not, except maybe in the kitchen cabinet somewhere, you know, like Jackson had. In other words, there is no way.
You know, I have ten businesses, 15 businesses that I run. I like doing what I do. I've been successful at it. But I do think if Trump doesn't
win, and you get more of the same that you've had for the last eight years, we have a major problem in our economy. We do already, because we don't
have jobs for the middle class, good jobs. And if you don't have productivity, you know, we're not Rome. If you look at Rome, they had
hegemony for 800 years, but it was vastly different.
[16:10:0] The plebeians didn't have to work, because they had a great army and the army would go conquer other countries and bring in goods for
nothing.
In this country we don't do that. So therefore, our hegemony will fall by its wayside if we don't produce goods. You can't keep just texting to each
other. You say well great, we're a service economy. Isn't that wonderful, and for a while that works. Everybody is walking around the street
texting. If you go on and on, you get to its conclusion you get more and more texting. That doesn't make an economy. And that is going to cost us
dearly in the future.
QUEST: Carl Icahn, thank you, sir, for joining us on the line, I appreciate it, thank you. Your forthright views, always good to hear from
you. We've obviously been digesting what Mr. Icahn said, particularly on the question that he says, quite unequivocally, that he has no ambitions to
be in the cabinet. The kitchen cabinet is what he describes himself as perhaps being interested in, as he runs those. But a clear unequivocal
support for Donald Trump on the business question of getting regulation off the back of businesses.
On the campaign trail itself, a Donald Trump joke about Hillary Clinton's views on gun control is attracting controversy. Sara Murray is in
Fayetteville in North Carolina, where there's going to be a rally later this evening. Sara Murray, what was said and what was meant and are people
taking it out of proportion?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, that is exactly what people are parsing right now. Donald Trump made a comment about second amendment
supporters and about Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court Justices. People are reading it very different ways. But it certainly raised eyebrows among
those in the room and those on twitter. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the second amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges,
nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, that will be a horrible
day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now, the Clinton campaign quickly seized on this. They took it as a sign that Donald Trump was looking to incite violence. Clinton's
campaign manager put out a statement saying what Trump is saying is dangerous. Now the Trump campaign also quickly moved to clarify this
comment and they're spinning it in a different way, saying that what Donald Trump meant is second amendment supporters are going to rally behind him
and vote for him in November. In their statement they said, it's called the power of unification, second amendment people have amazing spirit and
are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year they will be voting in record numbers and it won't be for Hillary
Clinton. It will be for Donald Trump. But Richard, this was the week when Donald Trump was trying to stick to the script. We have a number of
Republicans saying they won't back him or are cautious about backing him. And it's offhand comments like these that have caused political fire storms
for him in the past.
QUEST: At the end of the day do we put today's comments down to just one of those things, a here today gone tomorrow campaign foible?
MURRAY: it's always very difficult to tell with Donald Trump, Richard, because as you know, he says a lot of things in the course of the day, on
television, at his campaign events, and on twitter. I do think that the one thing that is notable is how fast the Trump campaign responded in
trying to clarify what he meant, saying we were just talking about people voting for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. This is a big change from
the campaign we were dealing with a couple of months ago or even a couple of weeks ago that might have let a comment linger out there for weeks or
days without any kind of explanation.
QUEST: Sara Murray in Fayetteville, North Carolina. If you get the Fayetteville right in terms of pronunciations, you'll be all right.
The U.S. markets closed slightly higher on Tuesday. The NASDAQ is at a record high. Paul La Monica is at the New York Stock Exchange. All the
markets remain extremely ebullient, although, the NASDAQ particularly. So what's driving the NASDAQ more than others?
PAUL R. LA MONICA, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you have big tech stocks that continue to rally. Optimism about their earnings, companies like
Google and Amazon that both hit all-time highs today, Richard. Even though there is a lot of skepticism about the health of the consumer, Google and
Amazon are two companies that continue to do extremely well.
QUEST: The Dow starts -- I won't say it was rip roaring. It was up the best part of 50. The gains evaporated and we eked out a small gain. So
the concern there was what?
LA MONICA: I don't know if there was a real tangible news event that whipped the market around today. Because when you look at it, at the end
of the day, we were in a very tight range.
[16:15:00] This is the summer. Volume is a bit lower. But what's interesting is that there are some concerns about the health of the
American consumer. Retail stocks really took it on the chin today, Gap in particular, really bad results once again. And you have to wonder now, are
American consumers pulling back? Or are they just not spending at these traditional mall-based retailers because they're doing everything on
Amazon?
QUEST: Paul La Monica, thank you.
LA MONICA: Thank you.
QUEST: China has warned the United Kingdom the relations will suffer if the British government goes ahead and drops plans for $23 billion nuclear
power plant. The new British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has announced a review of the Hinkley Point C Station, which is a joint project between the
British, the French, and the Chinese. The Chinese are China has warned the United Kingdom their relations will suffer if the British government goes
ahead and drops plan for a $23 billion nuclear power plant. The new British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has announced a review of the Hinkley
Point C Station providing a third of the capital. China announced its stake in the British project late last year. Then David Cameron pledged a
golden era of relations between the two countries.
Now the Chinese ambassador has written to the "Financial Times" and said, "Right now the China/U.K. relationship is at a crucial historical juncture.
Mutual trust should be treasured even more." Patrick Chovanec, is the chief strategist at Silver Crest Asset Management, as well as a professor
at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Many wondered why the British Prime Minister would be picking a fight with the
Chinese particularly when the British will be going for a better trade agreement in a post-Brexit area. And now, the Chinese seem to be basically
saying, watch out, you need us more than we need you.
PATRICK CHOVANEC, CHIEF STRATEGIST, SILVER CREST ASSET MANAGEMENT: It's interesting that the Chinese are playing hardball in this way. They are
playing hardball with a lot of different people. Clearly they feel they have leverage. And yes, at this point, with the Brexit vote, the British
have raised the idea of a free trade agreement with China. They clearly do have leverage. But I also think that it makes sense for the British to
take a little bit more skeptical view of Chinese investment. Not to say that they should have a negative view. But I think it's entirely
reasonable for them to review the security issues that are involved with this kind of investment.
QUEST: It was a surprise, though, but bearing in mind, the Chinese had already sent the delegation to London for the signing ceremony. The fact
that Theresa May made the decision to have a review whilst reasonable, if she decides against Hinckley and the Chinese investment, then that's going
to be very difficult to repair the damage.
CHOVANEC: Well, there are a lot of things you can do to upset the Chinese. This is one deal among many. The Cameron cabinet lived in fear of
offending the Chinese. And I think that they were, on the other extreme, that Osbourne in many ways was like a fan boy sometimes towards China, and
they were so reluctant to engage in even completely justified criticism of China, because they wanted to court good Chinese opinion.
So I think that a little bit of a movement towards a review of these kinds of issues, look, I know from talking to people who are in a position to
know in Britain that they have discovered things like back doors and software of critical infrastructure. So it's reasonable to not reject
these kind of investments out of hand, because these kind of investments, it's a global economy, China is a partner in that global economy, but to
take the time to actually review it makes a lot of sense to me.
QUEST: Patrick Chovanec, thank you for joining us.
CHOVANEC: Good to be with you.
QUEST: When we continue, a sporting record that's got nothing to do with the Olympics. Pogba is returning to Manchester United. The deals are
ready drawing criticism because of the huge amounts of money involved. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, we're in Washington, DC.
[16:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Now he left Manchester United for just under $2 million four years ago. Now he's returning for a record-breaking contract, more than 50 times
that sum. Paul Pogba, there he is. After weeks of back and forth, the 23- year-old French super star will leave Aventis and be a Red Devil once again. Pogba will wear number 6 for United. Make a note of these numbers
please, because they're quite breathtaking. $116 million is his contract. It breaks the world record that was set by Gareth Bale in 2013, $116
million. Now bear in mind, he went for $2 million a couple of years ago.
The deal is being criticized for its high price. It amounts to $4 million for every league goal he's ever scored. And as some English club owners
feared, it would happen in the post-Brexit world. United's pain a 12 percent premium, because the deal was done in euros and the value of
sterling has plummeted.
From London is the football agent Sky Andrew. Sky Andrew, $2 million four years ago or whatever it is, $116 million in 2016. Can anything justify
these sorts of sums of money?
SKY ANDREW, FOOTBALL AGENT: A player is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. We're in an era where premier clubs have the most money
they've ever had, 5.14 billion in rights money. So the timing was good for Pogba. Many wanted him.
He was sold too cheaply or they paid too much. Has Pogba improved that much since they let him go?
It isn't a matter of how much Pogba has improved. It's about supply and demand. There are so many players in the world that are not as good as
him. There is a massive demand for players like Pogba. And there's very little supply. So when a player like him is available, clubs all around
the world are going to battle for his signature. What Manchester united have proved is even though they're not in the champions league, they've got
one of the most sought-after players in the world. What it shows is that Marino, Pogba, Man United wanted to put themselves back on the map. They
wanted to show people that they mean business. And newsflash, Man United are back.
QUEST: He was either sold too cheaply or they paid too much. Has Pogba improve that much since they let him go?
ANDREW: Well, it isn't a matter of how much Pogba has improved, it's about supply and demand. You know, there are so many players in the world that
are not as good as him. You know there is a massive supply for players like Pogba. Sorry, there is a massive demand for players like Pogba, and
there's very little supply. So when a player like him is available, clubs all around the world are going to battle for his signature. And what
Manchester United have proved is that even though they are not in the champions league, they have got one of the most sought after players in the
world. So what it shows is that Mourinho, Slattern, Pogba, Man United are back.
QUEST: OK, now give us an idea. So the agent gets what, 10 percent of the transfer fee as the agent's commission?
ANDREW: Well, normally an agent would get a percentage of the player's salary, 5 or 10 percent. In this case, from the numbers being thrown
about, it seems that what's happened is that the agent has obviously represented his club in Italy and done a deal and said, look, I can get you
X from Manchester United. That's the only way an agent can get the reported sums. But the agent's done their job. Whether the public like it
or not, he's going to be rewarded handsomely in a business that's making billions of pounds.
QUEST: Sky, you are absolutely right to chastise me in this way. We are a business program.
ANDREW: I'm not chastising you.
QUEST: No, no, you're right, we are a business program. And we can hardly live and breathe by the law of supply and demand and then when it comes to
football, suddenly say that seems a great deal of money. As you rightly say, Sky, if that's all the market will bear.
ANDREW: I mean, that's the amazing thing about football. Is that when people look into this game, they think that certain rules shouldn't apply.
[16:25:04] When you've got a player like that, and everybody wanted him, including reportedly, Real Madrid. For Manchester United to actually go in
there and get this player, they know they have to pay a king's ransom. Under normal circumstances maybe they wouldn't have had to pay that much.
But Manchester United want to make a mark. They're one of the biggest clubs in the world. By getting this player, what they're showing everybody
is I mean business, and they've got the signature.
QUEST: And we thank you for coming on and talking about the business.
ANDREW: No problem.
QUEST: Thank you, sir. From the pitch at Old Trafford, and into the pool in Rio. Michael Phelps will swim to regain glory on Tuesday night in the
200-meter butterfly final. It's his signature race. Phelps has made it clear, he's not going just for gold. He fell short at the London games in
'12, and the 2014 drunk driving incident saw his sponsorship opportunities sort of shrivel up. Now winning tonight represents the pinnacle of a
comeback story and obviously, Phelps into retirement primed for many lucrative deals. Don Riddell is in Rio. In terms, Don, of the
rehabilitation if such there need to be for Phelps, the real truth is, carrying the American flag, the stars and stripes, that was the final seal
of approval. Perhaps more so in many ways than the 20th or 21st gold that he'll pick up in the next couple of days.
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, I think that's a good point. There are I guess many different images to Michael Phelps. It depends where you are
in the world as to what image you look at. Of course corporate sponsors will look perhaps for the bad stuff, where is sports fans will look for the
positives. There is no doubt Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time. I agree with you. I think carrying the flag was a huge
statement. Being captain of the swim team. He's a father as well. Clearly he seems to have gotten things back on track since that blip a
couple of years ago.
But it is interesting, and you were talking with Sky Andrews there about the amounts of money that can be available to you in the world of sport. I
think it is important to Michael Phelps that he wins gold medals in individual events to remind everybody here that that's what he's all about.
Because he was the star of the Beijing games, no question, eight gold medals. You say Bolt is the star of those games as well with three. But
when they both came to London, Bolt remained the star with three golds, Phelps kind of didn't really want to be there. He wasn't as good. But
this is his chance to really kick it up a notch again, Richard.
QUEST: The interviews I've seen with Phelps since he's been in Rio, suggest he's a thoroughly nice person.
RIDDELL: Well, and I tell you, we're also seeing another side to Michael Phelps, because we've got this other story bubbling up here, which I know
you are very well aware of, how athletes feel about doping, cheats. Whether they're Russian or not. Michael Phelps came out of his press
conference the other day and acknowledged the situation. He said, I don't think I've ever swum in a clean Olympics. He's also stood by Lilly King
who took a big stand against Yulia Efimova. Phelps again coming out and saying, you know what, athletes should speak out. They should do more.
And so I think that is also a sign that he is kind of assumed this kind of more senior status within his sport and is more responsible and is prepared
to speak out. Because a lot of athletes, younger in their career, aren't as confident about that. I would say Lilly King is one of the exceptions.
So taking more of a leadership role there from Phelps.
QUEST: I saw you on "WORLD SPORT" the other night, getting to grips with this cupping syndrome that they're all having a go about it. You've
obviously -- I tried it once for a bit of back pain once, I can honestly say it didn't seem to do absolutely anything. My back still twinged as
much as ever. Are you a fan of it yet?
RIDDELL: I don't know. I don't think I really got the proper cup. I think I had one of those portable ones that kind of popped off as soon as
it was on. I mean, if I was injured, Richard, I would try anything. I've not got the best back in the world myself. If that was to deteriorate
further, I might look into it. I do know people myself who absolutely swear by it. The state of their backs afterwards, it looks like someone's
taken a garden rake to it.
QUEST: I know the problem I tell you. I've tried acupuncture, cupping. Thanks a lot, Don. We'll talk about old man's ailments, mine, not yours,
in the future.
As we continue our program from Washington, Turkey is looking east to Russia. The ties with the West are strained. Some say it's all because
the Turkish economy has been backed into a corner. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in Washington, DC. Good evening.
[16:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. More QUEST MEANS BUSINESS comes along in a moment. When Hillary Clinton tells Congress to get back to work in order
to fight the Zika virus. And a CNN reporter tells us about the time Fox news sent a woman to spy on him during their dates. For that this is CNN.
On this network, the news always comes first.
The leaders of Russia and Turkey say their strained relationship is easing. Vladimir Putin and President Tayyip Erdogan announced new economic
initiatives and increased defense cooperation at a meeting in Russia. It's the first time they've been together since Turkey shot down a Russian
warplane late last year and follows the failed coup in Turkey last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It's understandable that this meeting has a very significant importance for the
fate of the Russian and Turkish relationship. We had a constructive talk about issues on our list for our relationship as well as other issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: In Afghanistan, 14 people have been wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a busy market. Tuesday's attack happened in the Balkh
province in the north of the country. An official says the attacker is the only known fatality. No one else has claimed responsibility.
Israel has charged a second humanitarian worker accused of helping Hamas. It says a U.N. engineer working in a Gaza refugee camp was carrying out
building work for the Islamic group and its members. It all follows days after Gaza director of the World Vision charity was charged with diverting
millions of dollars to the military wing of Hamas.
German security forces say they've arrested a high ranking member of ISIS, according to officials in the Rhineland. The arrest happened late on
Friday in the area of Mainz, the region's capital city. Officials have not given any further details on the arrested militant.
Republican senator Susan Collins says she will not support Donald Trump to be the next U.S. president. The senator from the state of Maine says Trump
would make the world more dangerous and that his views threaten the Republican Party's future. Collins told CNN she had agonized over whether
or not to support the Republican ticket.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN COLLINS, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: I have always supported my party's nominee. That's what made this decision so difficult. But in the end, I
just cannot support Donald Trump. I do not believe that he is the president that we need at this time in our country's history. And I
believe that in many ways he is antithetical to the values of the Republican Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:35:00] QUEST: Turkey and Russia have pushed the reset button. The leaders of both nations, as you heard in the news, have pledged stronger
and more resilient economic ties. It all follows nine months after Turkey shot down a Russian jet. And that led to relations being put on ice. For
Turkey, it was throe born out of necessity. The Russian sanctions, obviously, combined with the recent terror attacks, brought a huge blow to
the Turkish economy.
After all, look at the numbers. Russia is Turkey's second biggest tourism market. And the travel ban caused tourism from Russia to drop by 90
percent. It was reversed after Turkey apologized for bringing down the plane. Russia has imposed a ban on Turkish agricultural products. Russian
employers are prohibited from hiring Turkish citizens. Russia's involved in building Turkey's first nuclear plant and planning the natural gas
pipeline in Turkey. All of this put together, and you end up why the Turkish lira is under pressure.
The coup attempt that hit investor confidence hard, it was already down after Russia imposed sanctions. Put it all together. The relations
between Turkey and Russia and this warming up, it all happens at the same time that Turkey's relationships with the West are decidedly cool. CNN's
Matthew Chance is in St. Petersburg, where he sent this dispatch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is the Turkish president turning to Russia and away from the west? This highly
symbolic meeting in St. Petersburg has raised concerns. As were the warm words of this key NATO ally to his Kremlin counterpart. He called Putin
his dear friend.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT, TURKEY (through translator): The relations between Russia and Turkey have entered into a really positive
phase. We are both familiar with the process of setting up great goals. I am sure that steps we both take will widen our corporation.
CHANCE: This was the moment that cooperation dramatically narrowed, when Turkish interceptors shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish Syrian
border last November. As it plunged in a fireball, relations between Russia and Ankara also crashed in flames. Russia's infuriated president
could barely contain his anger. He called it a stab in the back. But now, after expressions of regret from Erdogan, Putin's mode appears to have
changes. Talk now, is a fully restoring Russian and Turkish ties.
PUTIN: Despite a very complicated internal political situation in Turkey, your visit today means that we all want a renewal of our dialogue and
restoration of our relations in the interest of Russian and Turkish peoples.
CHANCE: After eight months of trade sanctions and bitterness, it's a diplomatic back flip almost worthy of the Olympics themselves.
CHANCE (on camera): This meeting here in St. Petersburg is meant to cement the rekindling of a Russia/Turkey relationship so badly damaged over
Syria. Economic necessity on both sides is almost certainly the driving force. But it's the timing of the visit, the first by President Erdogan,
after a failed military coup last month that's given the meeting extra significance.
CHANCE (voice-over): Amid a Turkish crackdown on opponents, more than 18,000 have been detained. Relations between Turkey and the West are
strained. And the Kremlin senses an opportunity. Putin was quick to remind his Turkish counterpart of his early backing.
PUTIN: I know that I was one of the first who called on the phone and expressed my support in overcoming the internal political crisis after the
coup d'etat. I would like to say again it is our principled position that we will always categorically be against any unconstitutional deeds.
CHANCE: Amid Turkish anger at western criticism, Putin's hand of friendship may count for a lot. Matthew Chance, CNN, St. Petersburg.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
As we continue tonight, the Florida governor has announced four new Zika cases in his state. Hillary Clinton visiting Florida, says that Congress
should return to deal with the crisis. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:41:31] QUEST: The murky matters at Fox News and 21st Century Fox just keep coming. Now several Fox News personalities and producers have told
CNN they long feared that Roger Ailes had tapped their phones to monitor conversations. There's no concrete evidence of this. It's all a rather
rum business. Brian Stelter is with me from New York. Brian, your firsthand reporting of talking to Fox sources, reporters or producers, tell
us the story.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN MONEY SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Fox sources are hard to come by normally. When Roger Ailes was running Fox, people were wary of
talking to the press, and one of the reasons why was because of these widespread rumors and belief that the place was bugged, that phones were
tapped. That Fox and Ailes would know if you leaked. Now that Ailes has resigned, we're starting to hear more about what it was like inside Fox
when he was running the network for 20 years. This is a man who really had a fiefdom. It was all to himself. The Murdochs were barely involved.
Ailes, for better or worse, ran it almost all by himself. And so we're hearing about the tactics and the strategies behind it, which were
sometimes downright paranoid, Richard.
QUEST: Right. But you obviously covered 21st century and Fox News not only for CNN but obviously in your previous existence at "The New York
Times." is this something that you had noticed over many years, that there was an element of those people who work at Fox didn't want to be on the
record, didn't want to be seen talking to you, or whatever?
STELTER: I would say we had suspicions. We had reasons to think things worked differently at Fox News. We knew, for example, that Fox's PR
department kept dossiers about reporters. They would rather things I had said five or ten years ago and use those comments against me. That kind of
behavior we knew about. What we didn't know was that Ailes was employing private investigators to tail, to follow journalists.
Let me give you another example. We always knew that Ailes was a paranoid guy. That he was politically incorrect. That he would say foul mouthed
things. What we didn't know was dozens of women inside Fox said they had been sexually harassed by him. So in other words, we sort of had a sense
vaguely of his behavior, but now were finding out a lot more. And that's why according to "Vanity Fair," Ailes and Fox are now in settlement talks
with Gretchen Carlson. The anchor who originally sued him for sexual harassment. Seems to me that 21st century Fox wants this to go away and a
settlement could be one way to do that.
QUEST: As I read your reporting earlier, merely disposing of Roger Ailes with some of the allegations, does not deal with the underlying questions
of whether his number two knew about it, or the man, perhaps some say, was going to take over from Fox when Rupert Murdoch finally does relinquish the
day-to-day control.
STELTER: That's absolutely right. The internal favorite, Bill Schein, he's the head of programming, which means he oversees shows like "Bill
O'Reilly," "Megyn Kelly," and "Sean Hannity." He has been implicated in some of these new reports this week about alleged harassment. Schein has
denied knowledge of the harassment, but his name keeps coming up. So there's widespread speculation about whether other heads are going to roll
or there's going to be a broader housecleaning or not. This is the kind of pressure the Murdochs are now under as people in the TV industry, the
tightknit TV industry, ask whether other people are going to be affected. Right now the answer is no. But will see.
[16:45:04] QUEST: Now, look, Brain. You know, at the end of the day, this industry leaks like a sieve. You know this. You have firsthand knowledge
of dating people.
STELTER: This is a little embarrassing. Yes.
QUEST: Go on. You're amongst friends.
STELTER: Well, just you and me, Richard. Ten years ago I had a blog, called, "
TVNewser." It was kind of a must-read in the TV news business. People like Roger Ailes had to read the "TVNewser." So what happened to me when I
was reading this blog, I had a crush on a low level staffer at Fox News. Low level staffer, didn't think that this was anything more. So we would
go out on what I thought were dates. Turned out these were not dates, Richard. These were intelligence gathering situations. She would report
back to Ailes and to the head of PR what I would say, what I was thinking about Fox and CNN and MSNBC. Essentially she was spying on me.
I bring that up only because it's example of the hardball tactics, the highly unusual behaviors that Fox was known for. I didn't know this
entailed having private investigators following other journalists. What we're finding out now is, essentially we saw the iceberg and now for the
first time, we're finding out what was underneath the surface of the water. And what was going on underneath the water was much more disturbing than
what we knew about years ago.
QUEST: I could arguably say you should be more careful in the company with which you consort, Mr. Stelter.
STELTER: I've learned the hard way, haven't I?
QUEST: Indeed. We'll talk more about it when I'm back in New York tomorrow.
STELTER: All right, thanks.
QUEST: Your first class reporting. And don't forget, remind us, Brian, where do we sign up for your newsletter, Brian?
STELTER: CNNmoney.com/media. I'll send it out in a few years.
QUEST: CNNmoney.com/media for reliable sources from Brian Stelter.
A short time ago four new cases of the Zika virus have been reported in Florida, on top of 322 previously reported cases. During a visit to the
area and to the state, Hillary Clinton has called on the Congress to return to Washington from summer break and pass legislation to fight the Zika
virus. Hillary Clinton toured a health center in Miami on Tuesday, which is the epicenter of the virus in the U.S. and she said Zika is too urgent a
crisis to wait for Congress to come back from vacation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really am hoping that they will pay attention. In fact, I would very much urge the
leadership of Congress to call people back for a special session and get a bill passed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Joe Johns is with me in Washington. No chance of a special election, not in an election year, I'm guessing, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Not at all. She's touring South Florida. Which, yes, it's on the front lines of the Zika battle.
Even the campaign says the true epicenter of the problem in the United States is Puerto Rico. Texas now reporting the first Zika-related death.
But the odds of congress coming back to deal with this problem based on Hillary Clinton's urging are at near zero. It is, Richard, a way for her
to show that she's taking on the Republicans in Congress and acting like a leader.
The fact is that congress is on a long summer break. They will be back in September. And they have not been able to pass a bill and send it to the
president for a signature. Disagreement over how much money is going to spent and where the money will come from. The White House has asked for
almost 2 billion. The Senate has come up with a different number and the House has come up with a different number than that, Richard.
QUEST: Oh, good lord. But the fact that she's in Florida, I'm imagining we would expect to see Hillary Clinton spend a great deal more time there.
JOHNS: Absolutely. And just underscoring how important Florida is, that is the place where she unveiled her running mate. And she was there
yesterday. She's going to spend so much time because it's a key battleground state. The latest Quinnipiac poll here shows that she's
essentially tied with Donald Trump. Though she's doing much better in some of the other battleground states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, tied in
Florida with Donald Trump. And that is a state both of them could use in November.
QUEST: Joe Johns in DC, thank you, sir.
Our newsletter tonight is just about to be published at CNNmoney.com/quest, where you can subscribe. You'll hear what I've got to say, and what you
heard Carl Icahn say on this program tonight. CNNmoney.com/quest. It's the newsletter that arrives when the markets are closed to prepare you for
when they're about to do business.
Athletes are aiming for gold in Rio. Airbnb is competing against hotels. And some hotel owners and homeowners are already winners. Highlights from
"MAKE, CREATE, INNOVATE" our first
[16:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: it is impressive even if not a podium finish at the Olympics. Airbnb is now worth $30 billion making it the world's fourth most valuable
private company. It has an IPO yet. The home sharing group raised $850 million from investors. That's how you would work out what it would be in
a full float. In Rio it's an official Olympic sponsor. And of course, as it does around the world, competes against traditional hotels. Brazilian
homeowners are cashing in like rarely seen before. Shasta Darlington has our report from Rio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the place to be in Rio de Janeiro if you want to spend at least $500 a night. If you don't, head
away from the beaches to Lara's house, one of Airbnb's 40,000 listings in the city. Fresh fruit for breakfast, dorm room beds for $30 a night, and
for Lada, a full-time job.
"I used to sell newspapers," she says. I had a car accident, and while I was recovering I started searching the web and got a message that said,
want to be my host?"
Her house now fully booked during the summer games. Many of the guests' Olympic volunteers. "During the games, prices go way up," she says. "So
when a place like this opens its doors, it's great." Especially in the middle of a prolonged recession. Airbnb says its hosts will make about $25
million during the Olympics.
LEO TRISTAO, AIRBNB BRAZIL MANAGER: Listings are spread out across the city. That means we're also spreading out the impact in neighborhoods that
are not tourist destinations.
DARLINGTON: The hill top neighborhood of Santa Teresa may not be close to the Olympic Park, but for those who want to splash out there are some
pretty good options like this vintage chic villa.
Anna Kahn has rented her six-bedroom home for the Olympics to a group from Finland for a total of $15,000. Income that she says helps support her as
an artist and single mom while having fun.
ANNA KAHN, AIRBNB HOST: I'll make some money, nice money. But you know, and then you're going to share and then you're going to party with them,
get to know them, get to know lots of people. That's the beauty.
DARLINGTON: And not a bad backdrop for those post-game parties. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Time to look at the markets in the U.S. you'll get a chance to see exactly what sort of choppy sessions we're having at the moment. The Dow
rose very slightly. But at the same time the Nasdaq closed at an all-time high. Disney shares are down after hours. The third quarter earnings
modestly beat expectations. But Disney, like Time Warner, parent company of this network, is one of the few media companies in the market, therefore
a great reflection of what is being thought at the moment of media.
[16:55:04] We'll have a Profitable Moment after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's Profitable Moment. On this show you heard Carl Icahn, the international investor, the billionaire, say that Donald Trump's
economic plan was great. And that the way he was prepared to stand up for business was in direct contradiction to the Obama administration, which has
made an entire career, if you like, of bashing business. However, overnight Donald Trump's economic plan was roundly criticized by the
traditional press over here. Any conservative reading of what people thought believe that although there was the right philosophy of less
government, the economic numbers simply didn't add up.
Whilst it would not lead to such big deficits as the original plan, there was certainly much left to be desired. However, Donald Trump's economic
panel, which only has one Ph.D. amongst it, marches on. It is a pro- business, pro-finance, pro-economy measure that some people say simply doesn't make economic sense. But that of course ignores the fact of who
it's appealing to, middle America. And in the middle America of the blue collar worker, Donald Trump's plan is seen as just the right ticket.
That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in Washington. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'll see
you back in New York tomorrow.
END
