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Quest Means Business
Biden To Hold Meetings With House Democrats This Weekend; Kremlin Dismisses Report Moscow Planned To Kill Weapons CEO; Federal Jury Begins Deliberations In Menendez Trial; Polling Shows U.S. Presidential Race Still Tight; Meta To Remove Restrictions On Trump's Account; Rescued Hostage Describes Ordeal In Gaza; Son Of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's Richest Man, Ties The Knot; Swedish Town Sells Land For Price Of A Cup Of Coffee. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 12, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:08]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. The Dow has given back a lot of its gains. It was up more than 400 at one
point. Now, we are up 253.
And the gavel, oh Good Lord, I do like it when there's two or three of them all have a go at it trying to break it, but look at that, we are over
40,000, so we have closed over 40K. Those are the markets and the main events that we are talking about today: President Biden reportedly unable
to secure the endorsement of a top congressional Democrat, as more and more members of his party according are calling him to give up.
AT&T is dealing with a major breach after call and data text of nearly all of its customers have been exposed.
And the mayor of the Swedish town where they are selling land for pennies.
It is Friday. Live from New York, July the 12th. I am Richard Quest and I mean business.
Good evening.
We begin today with a number of House Democrats calling for Joe Biden to step down is getting ever larger, while the president is struggling to calm
that concerns.
Now the House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries has relayed their worries to the president himself on Thursday night. It was after the news
conference that Joe Biden held.
Now, the Minority Leader, notably did not offer President Biden his endorsement according to a person familiar with the meeting. We have been
speaking to congressional Democrats and they are offering a range of views.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): This is not about one press conference, one debate, one speech. This is about the presidency of the United States. It is about
an apocalyptically powerful individual.
REP. STACEY PLASKETT (D-VI): We believe that Americans, when they see the issues, they see what is at hand. They're going to vote for the Democratic
candidate and right now that is Joe Biden, and that is who we are going to be with.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): President Biden will keep doing what he has been doing the last two weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Sunlen Serfaty is with me.
The problem with all of those views is that actually we don't know what they're saying in private or because if George Clooney is right and others,
and I suspect from what you told me yesterday, they say one thing to you and then another thing privately, and nothing to the cameras.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Richard. It is a very real delineation of the conversation here.
You have what is said in public. It is growing increasingly more concerned about President Biden's viability, but then you also have a rather large
and more vocal, private conversation where lawmakers and aides on the hill and some within the campaign are revealing that they have concerns, too,
and that seems to be only gaining power by the day, as President Biden tries to quell the concerns and you noted this important moment with Hakeem
Jeffries yesterday where he went directly over to the White House, the first sit-down face-to-face meeting that we are aware of, of a top Democrat
telling President Biden of the concerns, the fears, and really the rationale of why they, many on Capitol Hill, believe that Joe Biden should
step aside.
QUEST: Okay, now, there is the other question of the money. "The New York Times" is reporting on trouble for the president that donors apparently of
a pro-Biden super PAC are freezing $90 million in pledged donations.
Now, you and I talked about this briefly yesterday. I understand the complexity of this. He can't just transfer the money. How far is that
driving the debate, do you think? Or maybe not at all.
SERFATY: I think it is driving the debate significantly.
As we know, you know, very well too that campaigns are fueled by money and this is going to be a tough race for whomever is at the top of the
Democratic ticket against a well-funded former president Donald Trump.
So the fact that you have $90 million from future forward Super PAC potentially being frozen if Joe Biden remains on the ticket, that's a huge
signal from people who are normally supporting the Democratic ticket that they want Joe Biden to go.
Of course this is a conversation that is part and parcel to his viability of winning is will the campaign dollars actually be there to support him?
QUEST: All right, now look, I am not sure whether you could actually see me, but I am sort of holding up my pen as a pendulum, as this thing is
moving from one side to the other. Where do you think we are in terms of staying in versus absolutely out?
[16:05:07]
I mean, he says he is staying in, but you can't, not with so many of your own people -- I don't know. Where do you think we are in this whole
process?
SERFATY: Yes, I have a pen, too, Richard. The pendulum has swung back and forth so many times this week here.
QUEST: Right.
SERFATY: You're absolutely right there.
I think the Biden team is fighting this so hard behind-the-scenes, this very small group of advisers around him. He has made a handful of calls to
congressional folks up here on Capitol Hill today. Those were calls that were not happening earlier in the week, so that shows that they know that
they are in dire straits right now.
That press conference last night did not do much to quell the concerns of many tough Democrats. The fact that you had Hakeem Jeffries go to the White
House last night and intentionally, intentionally not give Biden his go- ahead to keep running, and also not tell him that it is his decision to make. That speaks volumes up here on those on Capitol Hill that what his
true feelings are.
Of course, he has not come out with it, but for the moment this is a very precarious moment for President Biden and I think that will last throughout
the weekend.
QUEST: All right, Sunlen, have a good weekend as best one can in these circumstances. I am grateful.
The pictures that we are looking at on the screen are President Biden arriving in Michigan, a crucial state, of course, in the election as you
guys know. The president is due to give a campaign speech there very shortly, actually in about two hours from now, we obviously have that for
you when it happens, and let's see how things move on.
CNN's political analyst, Julian Zelizer is a historian and professor at Princeton University and is with me now.
All right, we know the politics in the sense of Democrats saying in and out, but how does this compare when put into a fully historical context of
presidents who have either been pushed out, shoved about, or moved about?
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there is not many examples. One of the most prominent is Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat in 1968, who was
not pushed out. There was a lot of opposition. There's primary challenges and he decides in March 1968, not two the run for re-election. Harry Truman
did the same in 1952.
Both of those were voluntary, but those are the two big examples we have of how this has unfolded and in neither case did it go well for the party
where the president resigned.
QUEST: Okay. And then we also got of course, Ronald Reagan, who in his second term, I mean, with hindsight, we can now see the effects of the
early onset of Alzheimer's or at least some form of mental cognitive deficiency, but at the time that was well and truly shoved under the
carpet.
ZELIZER: Absolutely. There is a long history of presidential illnesses. In that case, mental illnesses like logical illnesses that have been hidden
from the public. Reagan is not the only one.
This is an age where we learn a lot more. There is greater media scrutiny, and of course, this is before for re-election rather than a second term.
And so I think that is part of what explains the intense pressure that is building as Democrats look at the numbers and are worried about not only
losing power, but also of course, handing the White House to someone they see as a fundamental danger to the country.
QUEST: The thing I hear again and again and again is that there is no easy path if he doesn't want to go, but I do question if he doesn't want to go
and the polls start showing against him and all of that, but how significant is this money question? The ability -- I mean, not just the
fact that this Super PAC is withholding $90 million, but the money that's already there and his ability to transfer it to another candidate if that
were to become relevant.
ZELIZER: Yes, I mean, if this would happen, that's why Vice President Harris, it is one reason that her candidacy would be attractive. It is
easier to transfer the money, which was given to their ticket as opposed to simply President Biden. Any other candidate, it would be enormously
complex. It will involve many transfers and I am sure legal issues.
And the money is important, like it or not, that's one issue. But right now that matters. It is also a pressure point for the president. I do think it
matters if these reports are true, he is going to feel this. He needs to have advertisements. He needs, he knows to get out his message or that will
certainly result in a loss if he can't do that.
QUEST: I was reading David Frum's piece in "The Atlantic." You may have seen it. It is a sort of a sad commentary rather. "His pathos should not
become America's tragedy," says Mr. Frum putting on the two sides of the equation.
[16:10:09]
The sad part is that, there is not going to be a moment when suddenly Joe Biden performs like the old Joe Biden. It is the ravages of time we are
watching. This isn't going to get better.
ZELIZER: That's exactly right, and that is, I think a big concern for Democrats. This is not something that's reversible. It is not something
that in a few days it is a different Biden, not only in the Biden that was seen in the debate, but a Biden, many people have seen behind-the-scenes,
much of the public has registered their concern now for a long time.
So this is the Biden you have, and so the calculation is does this President Biden have a better chance of defeating President Trump -- former
President Trump and obtaining control of both chambers of Congress than another candidate? And I think that's what the debate is right now behind
the scenes and more people are leaning toward someone other than President Biden.
QUEST: All right, final quick last one. What do you think is the absolute last minute gasp -- we can't go any further deadline -- that has the -- you
know, it is over. This is it. What's the deadline?
ZELIZER: Democratic convention in August, I don't think there will be a challenge if he is still in, which is possible, so it is before that and
that's the timeline.
So there is a few weeks left and this debate will unfold to former President Trump's benefit because attention is not on him, it is on
President Biden.
QUEST: I am grateful to you, sir. Have a good weekend. Thank you.
ZELIZER: Thank you.
QUEST: QUEST MEANS BUSINESS on a Friday.
AT&T says hackers gained access to the phone records of nearly all its US cellphone customers. In a moment. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The Kremlin is denying CNN's report that Russia planned to kill a head of German arms manufacturer. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger was the
apparent target. You see him here.
His company produces shells and military vehicles for Ukraine. We based our reporting on five western officials who are familiar with the whole
episode.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said the story is fake and could not be taken seriously.
Oren Liebermann is at The Pentagon.
[16:15:02]
Interesting this, isn't it? I mean, I can see why I suppose there would be an assassination attempt against somebody manufacturing arms, but difficult
to know where their story now stands.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is very much beyond what the US and NATO see as other sort of lower-level hybrid warfare types of
attempts or grey zone warfare types of attempts, of sabotage that some European nations have charged Russian nationals of trying to carry out,
whether those are arson attacks or other similar attacks.
This, even if it is in that sort of line, clearly, goes well beyond that because according to these five US and western officials, the Russian plan
was to carry out an assassination of a top European arms manufacturer, Armin Papperger who is the CEO of Rheinmetall, as you point out, a major
producer of 155 artillery shells, which are a critical element of the war in Ukraine, as well as they're preparing to open up an armored vehicles
plant in Ukraine itself.
So as you point out, from one side, you can see the military logic behind Russia there even though as you point out, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry
Peskov denies it, but it also goes much farther than anything we have seen from Russia over the course of the past six months really even long before
that.
And Richard, that gets into a much deeper question, is this hybrid warfare that stays below the line of open warfare or does it cross the line into a
much more serious realm where you need to have discussions about, is this a Russian act of war? And these types of discussions, according to the
officials made up quite a lot of the NATO Summit.
QUEST: And one imagines that a man who is in arms manufacturer for Ukraine, one would imagine he does have fairly good security in his own right,
although bearing in mind the way the Kremlin has murdered some people in the past with various poisons and the like. I guess, no one is really safe.
LIEBERMANN: And I imagine you're right. Somebody like this, especially given the involvement in Ukraine has security and that security has been
beefed up as we've learned. The US notified the Germans, the Germans took some actions of their own.
The company, Rheinmetall wouldn't comment on it specifically on these accusations against Russia, but noted that measures are taken to safeguard
certainly their CEO and other personnel involved in what is a massive effort to arm Ukraine, not just this company, but many others.
And Richard, I will point out one more thing, according to the officials, this wasn't the only such plan that Russia was trying to put together. It
was simply the most mature of those plans.
QUEST: I'm grateful. Oren Liebermann, have a good weekend.
A federal jury has started its deliberations in the corruption trial of the US Senator Bob Menendez. The New Jersey Democrat and two co-defendants are
accused of participating in a years' long bribery scheme.
His defense attorney told jurors in the case that this case is shaky and rotten to its core. The prosecutors on the other hand allege that he and
his wife received gold bars, a Mercedes Benz motorcar, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for political favors. Now Nadine Menendez,
his wife, she is being tried separately.
Kara Scannell is outside the courthouse.
Right, so were off to the races now. The jury has the case. I believe, and it is just a matter of wait and wait.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are in a waiting game right now.
The jury got the case about two hours ago. They had been behind closed doors deliberating. We haven't heard any -- we haven't seen any notes, we
haven't heard any reach-outs from the jury, so they're doing their work. They have a lot to consider here, 18 criminal charges, 16 of them against
Senator Bob Menendez and this coming after four full days of closing arguments by the prosecution and the lawyers for the defense, all as they
try to get the jury to see the case, to see the evidence that they had heard over the past nine months their way.
Now, the prosecutors say that Menendez had received these bribes -- gold bars, half a million dollars in cash that the FBI found in his home, as
well as the Mercedes Benz convertible. And in exchange, they allege that the senator had taken steps to try to interfere in criminal investigations
affecting his two co-defendants, and then also taking steps to help the government of Egypt.
They say that he ghostwrote a letter for Egypt to use to lobby other US senators. Now Menendez's lawyer said that everything he did was normal.
They said meetings he had with Egyptian officials were routine, that he was acting on behalf of his constituents they said doing his job and doing it
well. They also said that the gold bars, they weren't bribes, they were gifts from one of the businessmen.
So a lot for the jury to consider ticking through these 16 charges against Menendez, including bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice, and acting
as a foreign agent.
If Menendez is convicted of the most serious charges, he could face as much as 20 years in prison.
QUEST: Of course, he has been over some of these fences before in some shape or form. It is not the first time that he has faced allegations.
[16:20:11]
SCANNELL: That's right. The senator was actually on trial several years ago for alleged bribery in New Jersey. He went to trial. He was -- the jury did
not find him guilty. There was a mixed verdict. The prosecution did not retry the case.
So, this is not the first time he has gone through this, not the first time he sat through a trial. He did not take the stand in this case to defend
himself. He is not required to, but this is not the first time he has gone through this.
What is different now is that he had to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, though he is still a member of that committee,
and he is not running for re-election as a Democrat, but he has not ruled out running in November as an Independent.
But if he is convicted, then it is possible the Senate -- it is not an automatic removal from the Senate, but it is possible that his colleagues
there could try to get him to leave -- Richard.
QUEST: Which of course will alter the numbers considerably, or at least has quite an important effect.
I am grateful to you. Thank you. Kara Scannell, have a good weekend.
AT&T says hackers gained access to the data of nearly all of its US cellphone customers back in 2022. It says the stolen data includes a record
of every number that has been called or texted and that 110 million accounts were affected.
The hackers has accessed the AT&T network between May and October in 2022. The company says it learned about this breach in April, while it was
investigating a separate data leak.
Sean Lyngaas is in Washington.
Difficult to know what -- they were able to get this information, but not names or -- names and not detail -- what exactly did the hackers get?
SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Hey, Richard.
They got the phone numbers of people that were communicating. Also in some cases, the location of those people because in the dataset was cellular
towers, so all of that kind of information that one could use to track a person's location, basically about who is communicating with who and when
they were communicating and sometimes the duration of those communications.
So it is kind of like a treasure trove for spies and criminals who might want to either track someone down or defraud them. It is a massive dataset.
I don't think we've seen something quite like this before.
QUEST: Right. But is there any evidence that there has been any consequences in a sense? Do we know if the data has been used? Has there
been any fraud? Has there been any identity -- I mean, this is now two or three years on. So one would imagine that there might have been, if there
was going to be repercussions, we might have heard of them.
LYNGAAS: Well, so just to clarify, the data was stolen in April, it is old data. They went back into the system, the hackers, and took data that was
dated to 2022, but the actual act of hacking in was committed in April.
So the repercussions are still possibly to be felt. However the perpetrators may already be feeling repercussions themselves. AT&T said
they believe one person is in custody who was involved in this. The FBI declined to comment to CNN when asked, but no, the reason that the Justice
Department asked AT&T to delay public disclosure of this information is because of those serious National Security and public safety concerns.
So we may not hear about the implications for a few weeks yet.
QUEST: Do we have any idea who was behind it? Was this was this crooks? Was this foreign government? Was this -- what do we know?
LYNGAAS: What we know, according to some of the experts who have investigated this private sector companies, is that a cybercriminal group,
so a financially motivated set of hackers.
So crooks is the short answer to your question. They are believed to be based, some of them in North America, some of them in Turkey according to
people I have spoken with.
So very much a sort of profit-driven group, which is obviously not uncommon. However, the concern with US officials is that perhaps these
characters will sell the data to a state actor who could use it for surveillance or perhaps that state actor will simply take it off the
internet themselves.
So it is that intersection between the two sets of groups.
QUEST: Now, Sean, give me an assessment if you will. I mean, from AT&T's point of view, it is pretty awful and pretty dreadful that this has
happened, but from the authorities' point of view, does it seem as if they have made more progress more quickly with this case than they normally do
in hackings when frankly, you have no idea who did it and you have no idea what happens next?
[16:25:05]
LYNGAAS: Well, that's a good point, Richard.
I mean, there has actually been an increase here in the US and the willingness of hacked companies to talk to the FBI.
I mean, one could argue they don't have much of a choice because there are new stricter rules on when you have to disclose a data breach to say the
SEC or the Department of Justice.
So there is that, but there is also kind of a shared understanding of the threat. AT&T was a victim of a crime and so they have to -- they are very
interested in getting to the bottom of it, the FBI is extremely interested and they've had more practice.
This is not the first time that we've seen a massive data breach with national security implications, so it was pretty quick in this case and
that was partly triggered by the fact that AT&T is legally required within a certain time period to tell regulators that they've had customer data
exposed.
QUEST: I'm grateful, Sean. Have a good weekend. Thank you, sir.
LYNGAAS: Thank you.
QUEST: As you and I continue on this Friday, President Biden says he will only drop out if he is told he can't win. Now, the interesting aspects of
that is the polling suggests he is very much still in the race.
Harry Enten will take us down that road in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. Together, we will have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I am going to tell you about this son of India's richest
man who has gotten married. It is an extraordinary wedding with some of the world's most famous celebrities there.
[16:30:09]
And the mayor of that Swedish town, where you can buy land for the price of a cup of coffee. We will only get to that after the headlines, because this
is CNN and on this network, the news always comes first. Kenya's police chief has resigned after criticism of officers conduct during the anti-
government protests in June. On June 25th, a CNN team witnessed security forces shooting unarmed protesters outside Kenya's parliament. The police
chief's resignation follows the President Ruto firing most of his cabinet.
British police say they have arrested a man in connection with the discovery of human remains on the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The remains
were discovered in two suitcases overnight on Wednesday. Neither the suspect nor the deceased have been publicly identified.
SpaceX has grounded its Falcon 9 rocket after a mission to deliver Starlink satellites into orbit failed. The rocket abruptly stopped working properly
during its second stage on Thursday night. The cause of the failure is not yet known. It marks the first time a SpaceX Falcon 9 has failed nearly a
decade.
President Biden has consistently said he would only withdraw from his reelection campaign if it became clear he could not win. If the polls were
against him. Now so far the data says anything but. An NPR-PBS poll has him in a statistical tie with the former president Donald Trump, and the
current president actually leads by two points head-to-head. Even as other polls show that most Americans want him to step aside.
Harry Enten is with me.
So let's square that circle if we would be as kind, Harry. On the one hand, you've got them saying he's in a dead heat. But on the other hand saying,
most of them would like him to drop out. How do you square that?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: Now, I think you square it two ways. Number one, that Marist poll, that NPR-PBS-Marist poll is Biden's
best national poll, OK. If you take a look at the average of polls, it would still show him down to Trump by about three points, but still a close
race, which of course you wouldn't expect given all those Americans who want him to drop out.
So the question is, how do you square that circle? What the heck is going on there? Well, I'll tell you what's going on. His opponent is Donald
Trump. And Donald Trump has never had a favorable rating north of 50 percent in this country. If his opponent was probably anybody else, Joe
Biden would be trailing big league at this point. But because his opponent is so disliked, it's keeping Joe Biden in the game.
The question ultimately, though, is it keeping him enough in the game for him to win, especially given that those key swing states that we spoke
about a few weeks ago, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
QUEST: Right.
ENTEN: He at this particular point looks like he's trailing and he needs to win all of those if he wants to win reelection.
QUEST: Because that's the point. It doesn't matter how many votes you get. It matters where they are. And so if you take out that, if you extrapolate
in those swing he's in Michigan today for example, which is a significant state, what happens there.
ENTEN: Yes, that's exactly right. It's an important state. A state he carried last time around, but it was a state that Donald Trump won in 2016.
And we know that pre-debate, pre-debate, he was struggling there. He was doing considerably worse than he did four years ago. And that's the same
thing that we've seen throughout all of the swing states.
We see a little bit less than those Great Lake battleground states. I mentioned Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, but we really see it in
states like Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia. Three states that Joe Biden carried last time around and before the debate he was trailing by five
points or more in all of them, leaving a very narrow pathway to reelection.
I'm not saying Joe Biden can't, when he absolutely could win, but the fact is his pathway is considerably more difficult than the one facing the
former incumbent, Donald Trump.
QUEST: Right. Now dig deeper, sir, if you would be as kind. Get your spade out, those people who -- those Democrats who will support him, will they
still support Joe Biden? In other words, if he stays on the ticket and they are worried and they don't like the look of him, what happens to them?
ENTEN: Those folks are going to come gravelling back to Joe Biden like I come gravelling back to my girlfriend after we have a fight. That is what's
going to happen because the fact is they hate Donald Trump. They don't want him to win reelection. And so what they're going to do is if Joe Biden is
the one horse they can ride, they will. Remember eight years ago "The Access Hollywood" tape. Remember that? There were all those Republicans
telling Donald Trump to get out of the race. And that was in October.
[16:35:02]
That was in October. Donald Trump said no, I'm not going to get out of the race and guess where those Republican voters went? They didn't go to
Hillary Clinton, they voted even if they held their nose while doing it. They voted for Donald Trump and put them in the White House the first time
around.
QUEST: Harry, have a good weekend, sir, and we will talk more. Thank you. I'm grateful for you.
ENTEN: Gut Shabbos.
QUEST: Gut Shabbos to you, too.
And so to Axios which is reporting that Meta is planning to roll back restrictions on Donald Trump's account. The former president be subject to
strict rules and other users since his account was reinstated. Meta suspended him after the January 6th riot. He's been on a short leash since
the account was restored last year. The former president is facing account suspensions and advertising restrictions. They're going to be removed to
ensure parity.
Sara Fischer broke the story. Sara is with me now.
So what can he do? What will Trump be able to do that he can't now?
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: He can do anything he wants as long as he doesn't violate Facebook's rules, and that's different, Richard, because
after January 6th, when they banned his account and then they subsequently brought it back in 2023 he had some special restrictions on his account
that Joe Biden didn't have and that other users didn't have. Essentially Meta said, look, we're putting you on a strike system. If you do something
that breaks our rules, you might be subject to stricter penalties, either we won't let you, you know, buy ads on the platform or you might have an
account suspension that other people might not space if those violations occurred. And so now Donald Trump is on the same rules as everybody else
like all other politicians.
QUEST: Is there any evidence he wants to be back there for same, for example, with Twitter? I mean, he's got his Truth Social. Is there any
evidence that he actually cares?
FISCHER: Well, you want to make sure that your accounts are viable and active on these platforms so that you can buy ads. Facebook is still really
important platform to buy ads for campaigns, but you're right, he's not really using Facebook as much. He's definitely not using Twitter or X as
much anymore. And that's because when he created Truth Social, his social media account, there are some stipulations that require him to post there
first.
He also wants to boost that social network. Of course, you'll know it's now publicly traded, so he's a lot financially to gain from, you know, leaning
into Truth Social. But this is a big win for Donald Trump. It's him being able to go into the election saying, look, nobody is restricting me at this
point any more than Joe Biden. The only platform where Donald Trump is still banned is Snapchat.
QUEST: I'm grateful. Thank you. Have a good weekend.
FISCHER: Thanks. You too.
QUEST: As you and I continue on this Friday, exclusive interview with the hostage held by Hamas for eight months. He describes the psychological
torture he endured living in constant fear he said.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:40:17]
QUEST: A hostage rescued from Gaza is speaking out about the psychological abuse he endured in captivity. Andres Kozlov was working as a security
guard at the Nova Music Festival when Hamas attacked on October 7th. The 27-year-old spoke exclusively to CNN about living in constant fear for his
life and the emotional scars from his ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREY KOZLOV, RESCUED HOSTAGE: Every day I feel much better than the last one. I appreciate all that I have right now. And I don't forget napping,
but some day even I feel good, in some moment suddenly I can start to cry. And if I hear some song that I remember, if I see some photos from my
previous life before Gaza that I remember. Of course, when I was in Gaza it's like main reasons of my tears once you got.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Once you got into Gaza, what happened?
KOZLOV: When we went through the wall, through the gate, we saw big field. This field was full of people, civilian people, probably. I don't know.
They were really happy. They had so much energy and they were really like, wow. I was -- I hold the handle of the car. Somebody just started to --
GOLODRYGA: Were you scared?
KOZLOV: It was additional shock. I was not scared. I didn't realize like what's going on. And they took us. They tied up. Tents like these. Put us
on the floor and I started to explain them like --
GOLODRYGA: I'm Russian.
KOZLOV: I'm Russian, right. I don't speak Hebrew, I speak only Russian and English, to explain them. What can we do? Some guy was from the left side
of me and he has like gun. I tried to like touch him and ask him like, you, us, kill us?
GOLODRYGA: You asked him if they were planning to kill you?
KOZLOV: Yes, I asked him. It's the only one thought that I had like what are they going to do with us. In a couple of hours that they brought Almog,
like the same day. And in some moment one guy, he was like, I was really scared about him. I was really afraid. And he took fabric from eyes and
showed me with signs like I, tomorrow, you. I will film you and I will kill you. It was in the first day of our being gather.
GOLODRYGA: Your mom said that you were tied up like that for two months?
KOZLOV: The first three days was ropes. Until middle of December we were in chains.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: This is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:46:33]
QUEST: There was the selection of A-list actors and singers, there were the CEOs and the very best of industry and a lot of political elite, and
they're in Mumbai for the wedding of Anant Ambani, the son of Asia's richest man.
CNN's Will Ripley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the youngest son of Asia's richest man marries the daughter of a pharma tycoon,
an event seen as India's wedding of the year, in the Bollywood capital of Mumbai, of course, there's a red carpet. And this one is packed with some
of the world's biggest stars.
Anant Ambani marrying his longtime girlfriend Radhika Merchant.
ADITYA MOTWANE, WEDDING PLANNER: The big fat Indian wedding. It's just because of the scale of the people that are attending our celebrations.
RIPLEY: The Ambani wedding, a three-day spectacle of extreme opulence and Indian tradition, says this Mumbai wedding planner.
Indian weddings are grand scale. The Ambani wedding would be like interstellar scale.
MOTWANE: It is the biggest wedding celebration ever happened on this planet. That is 100 percent.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The lavish celebration of love and luxury began back in March. This weekend's wedding finale kicks off at the Ambani-owned more
than 40,000-capacity GEO World Convention Center, before moving to the family's private skyscraper, Antilia.
MOTWANE: It's one of the most beautiful, iconic landmarks, you know, of our country. It's where the family resides. It is a beautiful home for them.
It's a home that they've always hosted, you know, people from all across the world, whether it's been presidents, prime ministers, celebrities.
RIPLEY: The guest list, a who's who of A-listers, rich, powerful, and of course, famous. The global glitterati descending on Mumbai. Celebrating the
union of two 29-year-olds who happen to be mind-blowingly wealthy and not afraid to show it. The couple reportedly paid millions hiring Justin Bieber
and Rihanna for their pre-wedding parties. People around town have mixed feelings.
DEVANSHI ZAVERI, PRESCHOOL TEACHER: Yes, you have wealth, but yes, we get it. You have wealth.
JENICA KOTHARI, BANKER: I think it's fabulous. It's helping the economy. It's helping everyone. So I think if they have the money, they should spend
it.
RIPLEY: The massive price tag, a drop in the bucket for the Ambani's, with a fortune of well over $100 billion from the family business, Reliance
Industries, the energy, retail, and media giant. This weekend's highly conspicuous consumption in stark contrast with widespread poverty across
India. Critics call the Ambanis a glaring example of the growing wealth gap in the world's most populous country.
The family trying to fend off critics by throwing charity events, like this month's mass wedding for 50 underprivileged couples near Mumbai.
Will Ripley, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Finally now to Sweden, where one town is offering up plots of land quite literally for the price of a cup of coffee. It is called Gotene, it
lies some 300 kilometers southwest of Stockholm and it's offering 30 lots at $0.09 per square meter. And $0.09 is one krona. The rural town is hoping
some newcomers will liven up its slowing economy and dwindling population. The Gotene area is home to around 13,000 people and the mayor says
thousands have now been calling to express interest in the offer, arguably so much so that they are suspending the sales.
Johan Mansson is the mayor of Gotene.
[16:50:02]
And I'm doing my best on the pronunciations here because obviously I've been to Sweden a few times but I think I'm still mangling a few of them. So
I ask your forgiveness.
Mr. Mayor, this all started as a bit of a publicity exercise, but it's become far more successful than you could have hoped.
JOHAN MANSSON, MAYOR OF GOTENE, SWEDEN: Hello, Richard. Thank you for having me. That's right. This was kind of a wild idea to give the local
housing market somewhat of an injection and a boost because we've seen a period of interest rates and a bit of a minor recession. So we felt we
needed to do something unique to get the market back on track. And yes, you can say we succeeded in shedding light on these parts.
QUEST: Right. Now, how many are still left to sell? And I assume you're not selling them at one krona each.
MANSSON: That's right. This global attention that we're now talking about has resulted in thousands of inquiries and expression of interest. It's
been quite hectic weeks here at the (INAUDIBLE) municipality. So all of this has led us having to pause the sale of these plots and it's important
to emphasize that it is paused not in any way canceled or stopped, and it will resume again August 7th.
The situation quickly became unmanageable. We are not dimensioned to handle this kind of demand. Not by far. So right now we're working on
practicalities and hopefully we'll be ready on August 7th.
QUEST: Now this is the best time of the year to be in Sweden, isn't it? I mean, you're getting the long -- you have long nights and beautifully warm
day. Tell me what's the best bit of Gotene.
MANSSON: Well, Gotene as described by you guys in a CNN article early this month the finest rural Sweden has to offer. Life in Gotene is not big city
life. It's a quiet life. It's a peaceful life. Our Mount Kinnekulle has UNESCO designations and truly stands out in Sweden, which in general has
very beautiful nature. So it's good a safe area to live in if you asked me.
QUEST: Yes, but what is there to do? I mean, what's the local industry? What is it that gets people moving?
MANSSON: Yes, we are located in a very strong industrial region, where the industrial sector just right now is growing rapidly. The problem is that we
don't grow a number of inhabitants. As an example, we have an establishment of a bad resell plan just a few miles from here by Volvo, one for the
largest producers of heavy-duty trucks. So we have very, very low unemployment rates and so there is jobs to find here definitely.
QUEST: The only thing I always remember, I mean, I've been to Sweden obviously many times, it's very expensive, isn't it? I mean, particularly
alcohol. I mean, obviously alcohol is legendarily expensive there in Sweden, but it is a beautiful place to live and the quality of life in
Sweden is very high, isn't it?
MANSSON: That's right. I totally agree. And as I said, this thing went viral. We are now in a situation we've never thought we'd be in but
obviously the interest for Sweden, our region and Gotene municipality is huge, and we're very grateful.
QUEST: I'm grateful, sir. Have a lovely weekend. Enjoy the beautiful long days of the summer. Thank you, sir.
Now we turn our attention to a record day on Wall Street and for the Dow and the S&P. It was trading at an all-time high. Look at that, we're up
over 400 points and then it slid back as the day moved on, but we still held just by less than one point. 40,000, a few point shy of a new record
close.
Amgen is up for the sixth straight session. Its shares hit a record highs. Investors bet on the new obesity drug that Amgen has put out. And if you
look at the components, let's see what's interesting here. We don't often see Intel at the top but with Intel, IBM, and Apple, Cisco, this has
obviously a tech led market today.
Home Depot because of the rotation that's continuing. And at the other end, you've got Walmart, Boeing, and JPMorgan that are down. Again, not exactly
terribly significant. JPMorgan's warning on earnings. The CEO Jamie Dimond is warning on tail risks, and Boeing is off as well. Netflix apparently is
reportedly panning a new problem, a documentary on Boeing's problems.
You and I should take a "Profitable Moment" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:57:27]
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment," I always think on a Friday it's really good to just try and pull a strand of the week together. We've got
our way there. It's in the middle of the summer, at least if we're in the northern hemisphere and it's a good opportunity just to pause and think
about what's happened. Obviously all the attention is on what's been going on with President Biden and the various news conference, the gaffes on
President Putin and Vice President Trump.
And yes, I'll confess, like anybody else I watched them all heart-in-mouth wondering just what -- when was the next foot going to go into the mouth.
But so be it, because this is not going to just go away overnight or indeed over the weekend. There is, as we heard tonight on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS,
there is still some way to play out on whether or not Joe Biden stays in the race or doesn't.
And a lot of that decision will come down to the money. Donors may have frozen $90 million to super PACs, but does the money that's already there,
the best part of $100 million, and the view with that is Biden can't just simply transfer it to anybody else. It has to go to Kamala Harris because
she's on the ticket and therefore the other named candidate. If Biden does drop out, then the issue of where that money goes and the mechanisms for
how that does transfer will become extremely important.
These may be the sort of things that are weighing on the president's mind. He's in Michigan at the moment. He's getting ready to give a campaign
speech. They may be the sort of things he's thinking about, but I suspect not. This is more about him determined to stay in.
And as I say, pull strands of the week together and finally think about the Ambani wedding in Mumbai. It reminds me some years ago. There I was some
years ago. I was in Mumbai and I was walking down downstairs and I suddenly saw a vast party taking place. Now that's the president. I'm talking about
something else now.
I suddenly saw a vast party taking place. The party which was a birthday party for a 5-year-old. Yes. It was a 5-year-old's birthday party. It was
costing hundreds of thousands. And as everybody said, you gauge your wealth by the sort of party you gave for your children whether they be 5, 15 or
25. And that's why it's somewhat conflicting to see the Ambani pictures, on the one hand, they're excess to the point of ridiculous. But then who am I
to say that's not the way you do it?
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this Friday night. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.
END
