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Quest Means Business

U.S. Unexpectedly Loses 23,000 Jobs In July; White House Renews Bid To Fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook; Thai P.M.: Teen Shooter Kills Five Teachers Before Shooting Himself; Seroka: Cargo Flows Through Port Of Los Angeles Remain Strong; Blanche Gains Path To Confirmation As Attorney General; Meta Ordered To Tighter Controls On Children's Accounts. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 07, 2026 - 16:00:00   ET

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

[16:00:32]

NICK WATT, CNN HOST: The closing bell is ringing on Wall Street. Markets are wrapping up the week near record highs. Those are the markets and these

are the main events: The summer slump for the U.S. labor market. A dismal July Jobs Report takes economists by surprise.

After a Supreme Court setback, President Trump is renewing his attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Meta is now facing almost a billion dollars

in penalties after a New Mexico court ruling and its legal troubles are far from over.

Live from Los Angeles. It is Friday, August the 7th. I am Nick Watt, in for Richard Quest, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Good evening.

We begin tonight in the U.S. where a surprise drop in hiring is raising concerns about the labor market. The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July.

That is far short of the 95,000 job gains that economists had expected. Job gains from June and May have also been revised sharply lower.

Now, the unemployment rate actually fell to 4.1 percent, but that's because of people leaving the labor force. All in all, the picture is a jobs market

not as robust as we thought.

But Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council says it is not a long-term problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: The weakness in this number were really just two things, government workers and a sort

of rebound from all the employment we got from the World Cup because the World Cup was ending.

It is if you throw out the World Cup and the government workers, we actually had a number that was about plus 100,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: David Goldman is in New York.

David, you heard Hassett's take on it. What's your take?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, well, he is not wrong, okay? So if you take the government jobs that we lost,53,000, you add the

30,000 private sector jobs. Well, you get to minus 23,000. So his math is correct.

But here is the issue is that this is a revision problem. Almost certainly. Remember, the government is supposed to seasonally adjust these jobs

numbers so that they kind of smooth out a little bit. There is no way that all of these, which are mostly teaching jobs, should have shown up in the

report.

So, you know, there is a little bit of fuzzy math that's going on.

I also want to point to the World Cup. Well, I am not seeing maybe the same job gains that Kevin Hassett had seen. Remember in July we were still

playing the World Cup and we lost 19,000 retail jobs in the United States, and we lost 40,000 leisure and hospitality jobs in addition to the 43,000

that we lost the month before.

So where was this boom that we had? And then this bust that we are supposedly having right now? I am not sure that we ever got there.

Now, one of the things that I think is really telling is just the trend that we are seeing. So, you know, it is hard to deny that this line is

pointing down. We were creating more jobs in 2022, and now we are in this kind of state where we have a kind of ebb and flow, where we are losing

some jobs some months and we are gaining some jobs some months, but it is not the same kind of level of creation that we were having before.

The other big concern is the amount of pay raises that we are getting. We got an average of a 3.2 percent paycheck gain over the past 12 months. The

problem with that is that inflation is 3.5 percent. So inflation has eaten America's pay raise over the course of the last 12 months. That was not the

case for a long time, actually, for about three years, we had pay raises outpacing inflation. Now, we are in a period where that's no longer the

case.

Nick, I think all of this is, to your point, telling a story about a less than healthy job market.

[16:05:01]

WATT: I mean, any bright spots, David. I mean, you mentioned leisure -- I say leisure -- and hospitality down, health care up. Is there anything we

can read at slightly deeper into these numbers?

GOLDMAN: Health care was up. It was up 22,000 jobs over the course of the past month. That is undoubtedly good news, except for the fact that we were

gaining on almost close to 100,000 jobs a month in this sector alone, just a few years ago.

So, the gains in healthcare are also declining and I will tell you why that is a big problem, it is because almost all of the job gains that we had in

the United States were coming from this one sector. And so, if it can no longer support the jobs economy, well, then we are going to see more job

losses in upcoming months.

And I am glad you said leisure, I am bilingual, by the way. I lived in London for a year, so I can speak your tongue as well.

WATT: Excellent! David, thanks a lot. That is fascinating stuff. Appreciate your time.

GOLDMAN: Thanks so much, Nick.

WATT: Okay, so the U.S. labor market isn't quite as strong as we thought, so maybe you'd expect stocks to fall on that news; instead, U.S. markets

finished the week near all-time highs. The Dow closed 176 points higher. The S&P 500 rose half a percent and the NASDAQ gained more than one

percent. Why? Well, traders believe the poor job numbers make it less likely that the Fed raises rates and traders like that. Next week's

inflation data will be another critical piece of this puzzle.

Now, Diane Swonk is the chief economist at KPMG. She joins me from Chicago. So, Diane, we had David just talk us through the numbers. Can you talk us

through what you think this is showing?

I mean, you know, they say one month doesn't make a trend, but David showed us a trend.

DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, KPMG: Yes, actually we've seen a big slowdown in job growth over the last two years. Last year, we only saw 15,000 jobs

created a month. This year, it has been year-to-date, 61,000 jobs. But in a low fire, low hire environment that we are in, that is more than enough to

bring down the unemployment rate because the supply of workers, as we already noted, is constrained.

People are dropping out of the labor force. Foreign born workers tend to participate at a higher rate than native born workers and we are losing

foreign born workers. In fact, we hit another cliff in the month of July and saw some early firings in response to the Temporary Protected Status of

Haitian workers.

The bulk of them actually had to roll off the payrolls by the end of July. Some firms, there is uncertainty. We are laying them off as late as late

June. So they would have shown up in some of that weakness. And in fact, in the health care numbers, the places where we saw the weakness was in social

assistance. That is in home care, day care, elderly care, nursing home care. Those are areas that tend to be filled more by immigrant workers.

And so, losing that supply has had an impact. We did see the slowdown in wage gains, but what we need to really see for the Fed not to be worried

about inflation is those inflation numbers next week. And is this a more persistent inflation situation? What we saw in the ISM and the PMI, these

surveys on both manufacturing sector and on the service sector, showing that they both are not only still growing, although the hiring was mixed in

them, but inflation was remarkably hot in those numbers.

And so that's going to be something that will ultimately determine whether or not the Fed has to hike or not. I think that we are probably going to

see more momentum in inflation. We are now over five years in and we are getting a muscle memory. Inflation is becoming the norm instead of the

anomaly, even as the labor market cools a bit.

We also did see some good news in the numbers. The number of people who are long-term unemployed actually dropped, and the number of unemployed

actually dropped, even though we lost the supply of workers as well, bringing that unemployment rate down to 4.1 percent.

WATT: And is there anything else going on here? I mean, are we talking Iran War, tariffs, energy prices -- presumably all of that is factoring in here?

SWONK: Absolutely. Yes. Actually, you know, we also know that vacations during the month of July were their second lowest on record. People out on

vacation. That was in the household survey. That is in response to higher prices at the gas pump that picked up again in the month of July and

outside of host cities, the World Cup didn't play a very big role. The travel industry has been very concerned about that.

We have this sort of donut economy where, you know, the middle, lower income and middle income households are really quite squeezed by the

cumulative effects of inflation while the top 20 percent continue to spend almost with abandon and that is also holding up inflation and gets to the

issue of why we've not had overall wage gains of any magnitude, adjusted for inflation since August of 2021, except for two months.

[16:10:19]

That really is pretty stunning period, even as consumption has picked up. That is really important. Not only have we drained savings and the stimulus

that we got from the pandemic, we had additional stimulus in the second quarter, too, but also wealth effects are playing an outsized role with

those higher income households and wealthiest households really carrying more of the overall economy. They are also more resistant to rate hikes

when they come through.

WATT: Diane Swonk, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it.

SWONK: Thank you.

WATT: Now, President Trump is now doubling down on his efforts to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook. CNN has obtained a letter from The White House to

Cook's attorney. It gives her three weeks to answer allegations of mortgage fraud.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that Cook wasn't given an opportunity to respond to those accusations. She has denied wrongdoing.

Kevin Liptak is at The White House.

So, Kevin, it didn't work last time. He is trying again, right?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And I think, it is just an example of the President really focusing very much on these efforts

to use the federal government to try and go after these individuals who he thinks have crossed him or gone against his own interests and it was

interesting, actually today to listen to the senator, Bill Cassidy, explain his rationale to vote confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General.

One of the reasons was lawfare, in his view, at the Justice Department, needed to be reined in more and he thought Todd Blanche would do it. Well,

only a few hours later, we did learn that the President and his administration actually still continue to plan to go after Lisa Cook at the

Federal Reserve.

I think, it just goes to show how intent the President is on prosecuting a number of these cases. Now, his record on this has not been particularly

good so far. When you think about all of the examples that have been essentially thrown out, whether it is James Comey or Letitia James, who the

President has also tried to use various parts of the federal government to go after and exact some form of retribution, the courts have essentially

thrown them out.

This is another example where the courts have not necessarily ruled in the President's favor, but he is demonstrating an intent and a desire to

continue going down this path.

WATT: Kevin Liptak, thanks very much from The White House.

Now, a terrifying scene in Thailand as a student opens fire at his school. What we are learning about the attack that killed five teachers, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:41]

WATT: Thailand is reeling from its deadliest school shooting in years. Authorities say a 14-year-old boy opened fire at a school outside Bangkok,

killing five teachers and wounding more than 30 people.

Police say he killed both of his grandparents at their home before heading to the school. Students described a scene of chaos and confusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through translator): And then it started getting more frequent, like bang, bang, bang. And then it went quiet at one point, and

the shooting started again. I didn't think it was the sound of a gun.

After that, we went to the toilet. We thought it was over. I walked over there when a teacher shouted "Quickly! Run here! He has gone to building

four," so we had to run here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Ivan Watson joins me now from outside the school.

Ivan, what is the latest you're hearing?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Well, Nick, I mean, this is -- we are outside the compound where all this violence took

place. It is a large school, the Debsirin Nonthaburi School, some 3,000 students, boys and girls here. So it is on this compound that authorities

say a 14-year-old student went on this rampage, which could have been much, much worse.

The Prime Minister of Thailand says he came here in the hours after the shooting and says that the student opened fire on himself and was later

found after dying with some 30 rounds of unused ammunition.

The authorities then made this very grisly discovery when they went to the suspect's home, they found the bodies of his grandparents, both shot and

killed, apparently hours before the suspect came and unleashed this violence here.

Now they've gone through computers and electronic devices at the home, and it appears that the suspect, police say, was looking up mass murder

incidents before this happened. We've seen some footage released by police that shows heavily armed police going up through the stairs of the building

and trying to evacuate frightened children from the school.

The Prime Minister says that because the suspect killed himself, it spared the police of having to make the very difficult decision of having to

potentially open fire on a child in this terrible incident.

Now, we've spoken with the father of the suspect, who was understandably in shock. Both his parents and his son now dead in the matter of one morning.

He said his son was guilty. He went on to say that his son had never exhibited violent behavior in the past, that he liked playing with his pet

birds and playing soccer, that he lived with his grandparents because the parents had been separated.

This is, of course, devastating for the community here, frightening for the children who go to school here, and it hits close to home. Our own

producer, Karla Cripps, her 17-year-old son, goes to school here. Fortunately, he was away at an athletic event, but he said that his

favorite teacher was a victim of the violence.

The Prime Minister says there will be compensation for the families of victims, for the people who were wounded. He has talked about having to

beef up inspection of guns at police checkpoints in the wake of this. And there is some precedent for this violence, Nick. There was a terrible

incident four years ago where a police officer attacked basically a daycare center and killed some 36 people there, most of them children with guns and

knives.

But basically, a dark day for this community -- Nick.

WATT: Ivan, thank you for bringing us the horrific news. Appreciate your time.

Now, we are nearing the one-year mark, the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration's first strike against alleged drug boats. The

campaign goes on with military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

CNN's Jake Tapper has new reporting shedding more light on who the Trump administration is targeting and why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): They are murder victims.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): That's Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine's assessment of the Trump administration's campaign targeting

people that the administration calls narcoterrorists.

In a letter to The White House this week, Kaine accused the Pentagon of going far beyond its original goals in Operation Southern Spear and killing

people who are, "entirely unaware that they are marked for execution."

Operation Southern Spear, which began nearly a year ago has killed 221 people and destroyed at least 66 vessels. But the results do not seem to

have been effective. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data analyzed by the think tank, The Washington Office of Latin America, does not show a

meaningful decrease in cocaine seizures.

During the ten months before the boat strikes began, CBP reported seizing more than 56,000 pounds of cocaine; during the ten months following the

beginning of the boat strikes, September 2025 through June 2026, CBP has reported seizures actually increased two percent.

Fentanyl, which President Trump claims this operation is targeting, is largely produced in Mexico, not Venezuela or Colombia, according to the

Drug Enforcement Agency.

And CNN reporting shows military officials do not always know whom they are targeting, some of whom may even be innocent.

Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo were believed to have been killed in the October 14th strike last year. Their families are suing the Trump

administration for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. The complaint says, "Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo were not members of or affiliated with

drug cartels" and Trinidad's government says "There is no evidence drugs were on board."

Chad and Rishi's families told ACLU attorney, Jeffrey Stein they were fishing and doing farm work in Venezuela and boarded a boat to get home to

Trinidad.

JEFFREY STEIN, STAFF ATTORNEY, ACLU NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT: Rishi wanted to come home to help care for his elderly mother, who had fallen ill. Chad

wanted to come home to see his wife and three young children.

TAPPER (voice over): In response to our request for comment on this lawsuit, The White House said, "... all of these decisive strikes have been

against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores," but they have provided absolutely no evidence to back up any of the

strikes, which is not to say everyone on these boats had nothing to do with the drug trade. Some were clearly fishermen trying to make extra money.

We sat down with two investigative journalists who have looked into who is being killed. They uncovered the stories of 19 of the dead.

JOSE LUIS PENARREDONDA, EDITOR, EL CLIP: Many of them are reporting shows have -- are somehow involved in drug trafficking business, in drug

transportation business in very low levels of the chain.

TAPPER (voice over): Journalist, Lorena Melendez told us one of the stories really stuck with her.

LORENA MELENDEZ, JOURNALIST: The case of Juan Carlos, he was a bus driver and his bus got damaged and he couldn't repair it. He said, I have to do

bad things, so he traveled to Trinidad.

TAPPER (voice over): Juan Carlos' wife, told the journalistic consortium, "El Clip," she did not want him to get on the boat, but he insisted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): "I am leaving. I can't take it anymore. What desperation. I am leaving to live or die, but I am leaving,"

that's how he told me.

TAPPER (voice over): She also remembered the moment she knew he'd been killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): But since I am making empanadas here, the phone is ringing too much. When I see an international call, I

say "No, something has happened. Something happened to Juan Carlos." The mistake was seeing the video they sent me where they were blowing up boats.

TAPPER (voice over): Juan Carlos was believed to have been killed in the October 3rd strike. He leaves behind three children and a grandchild

according to "El Clip." Does that sound to you like a narcoterrorist?

Another victim was a fixture of his community. Here is investigative journalist Jose Luis Penarredonda.

PENARREDONDA: I think about a Venezuelan guy called -- I mean, his nickname was "Piccirillo." Managed to speak to people who knew him very well. One of

them told me, "Just tell everyone he was a super nice guy."

TAPPER: Edouard Jaime (ph) or "Piccirillo" was a beloved local athlete, a family member tells "El Clip" he was also on the boat that was blown up on

October 14th.

None of these individuals seem to have even been mid-level drug traffickers. At worst, they seem like couriers. Remember when the U.S.

struck what Trump called a drug submarine? There were two survivors. The U.S. Military held them, then released them to their home countries, again

raising questions about whether the Trump administration knew who they were targeting.

Andres Tufino Chila was one of those two men. His sister told CNN he was not a criminal. Last month, "The Los Angeles Times" followed the stories of

eight fishermen from Mexico who vanished after the February 16th U.S. strikes. "The men sometimes earned extra cash by transporting gasoline to

the High Seas, where they would refill speedboats ferrying cocaine from South America."

They were all killed.

[16:25:17]

A mass was held for the men at sea a few days later. This video, provided by "The L.A. Times," shows mourners drinking beer and singing songs.

There are many more of these stories from Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago, maybe couriers caught in the crosshairs

of the Trump administration's so-far fruitless quest to end drug trafficking, often going after the lowest on the chain, men who felt they

had no other choice and were executed by the United States.

TAPPER (on camera): We asked the Pentagon if they knew who they were targeting, exactly who they were targeting and the Pentagon maintains "...

targeting decisions are deliberate, based on comprehensive assessments and reviewed through established processes. Every narcoterrorist killed in

Department of War operations was an affiliated member of a designated terrorist organization, actively transporting illicit material."

But U.S. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine tells me that the Trump administration is, "lying" and the ending or transitioning out of Southern

Spear will make way for an 18-country collaboration to go after drug traffickers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: That was Jake Tapper reporting.

Now, earlier in the show, we were talking economic doom, but the head of the busiest container port in the U.S. says business is booming.

I will speak to the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATT: Hello, I am Nick Watt. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when I will speak to the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, who

says activity remains strong despite the softening U.S. jobs market. Gene Seroka joins me live.

[16:30:00]

And Meta has been ordered to pay more than half a billion dollars into a teen mental health fund.

Before that, here the headlines this hour.

Thai authorities say a 14-year-old boy who may have been frustrated at the pressures of school shot and killed his two grandparents on Friday. He then

took a gun to his school near Bangkok and opened fire. He killed five teachers and wounded more than 30 other people. The teenage shooter then

turned the gun on himself and took his own life.

A shocker from the U.S. jobs report: the U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July. Economists had been predicting a gain of almost

100,000. The jobs numbers for May and June have also been revised down. It's a further sign there may be underlying weakness in the labor market.

U.S. President Trump says he'll ask the Supreme Court for authority to build a White House ballroom. The D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the

project is being "unlawfully constructed" and needs congressional approval to move forward. The suit was filed by the National Trust, a historic

preservation group.

Returning to our top story. The U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July. U.S. tariffs and the confusion they bring are one possible reason

for the weak results. Just yesterday, President Trump announced a 15 percent tariff on products made from polysilicon, aiming to protect the

U.S. solar industry from Chinese competition.

Despite the softening labor market, the head of the busiest U.S. container port says activity there remains strong. Gene Seroka is executive director

of the Port of Los Angeles, and he says retailers are set up for the holidays, and businesses can adapt to trade policies as long as there are

some certainties.

As for the rest of the year, Seroka says the biggest variable is the strength of U.S. consumers. Gene Seroka joins us now.

Gene, a lot of bad news on the jobs. You got some good news to give us?

GENE SEROKA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT OF LOS ANGELES: Good afternoon, Nick. What we have seen is that when importers here in the United States have a

window of opportunity with some level of certainty, they start speeding the cargo to market, and that's what we have seen over the last three months.

With the temporary Section 122 tariffs expiring back on July 24th and lagging fuel surcharges by shipping lines about to come into play, many

small to middle-sized importers got their products through the ports and into the U.S. system.

The larger importers also pulled forward a little bit of inventory to get it in under the wire of those tariffs. But in the months of July and

August, we see cargo volume still at a pretty high level because those retailers are filling stocks for back-to-school, fall fashion, and the all-

important year-end holidays.

WATT: And Gene, any -- I'm trying to think what else is coming in. I mean, A.I. chips. I mean, is there anything else that's kind of contributing to

this rosy picture you are giving us?

SEROKA: Well, it's a rosy picture because of a snapshot in time. As we have said all along, Nick, while jobs haven't cratered, we haven't seen big or

huge losses of jobs through contraction. The jobs market's been relatively soft for a year and a half. And although, inflation isn't run away, it's

still much higher than most of us would like.

Prices of fuel have increased by 25 percent at the pump for those of us in Southern California, and the diesel price is up nearly a third. That moves

about 70 percent of all of our cargo on and off the ports.

So, there are pieces to this economy which just keep it kind of moving along, nothing going down at a rapid pace. Yet, we don't see exponential

growth.

On the import side of the business, the retail goods, as we covered, parts and components for American factories are steady. And the ISM moving in the

right direction over the past six seven months is also encouraging. And then, some project cargo on some data centers across the country, but a

small percentage compared to the overall cargo that comes through the port.

WATT: Gene, always a pleasure. Thanks for your time.

Now, President Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department now has a path to Senate confirmation.

[16:35:00]

Republican Bill Cassidy said Todd Blanche isn't perfect, but he will support his nomination anyway.

Blanche is Trump's former personal attorney. He is been serving as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi was fired in April.

Cassidy and others have expressed worries about the Justice Department's targeting of Trump's perceived enemies.

CNN's Annie Grayer joins us now from Capitol Hill. So, yes. I mean, hardly a ringing endorsement, and you know, we had Lisa Murkowski, saying she

wouldn't vote for Blanche for similar reasons. Not a ringing endorsement, but a win for the president.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Huge win for the president, because all eyes were on Senator Cassidy. He was the deciding vote after Lisa Murkowski

and Susan Collins came out as no votes.

Republicans couldn't afford to lose any more votes, especially because Senator Mitch McConnell is out, and still recovering from his health

matter. He can't vote right now in person, so, it was all going to be eyes on Bill Cassidy. If he would come out as a no vote, Republicans would not

have had the votes to confirm Todd Blanche.

But his speech this morning laid out his entire process here. He talked about how he met with Blanche a number of times. He talked with a number of

U.S. attorneys, former attorneys general. Talked with a number of his colleagues, and he had -- he raised a lot of concerns in his speech. He

talked about his concerns about the politicization of the Department of Justice, his concerns about this weaponization fund that could have given

money to January 6th rioters. He talked about his concerns that Todd Blanche was Trump's personal attorney prior to serving as acting attorney

general.

But he said he came to the conclusion that Blanche would be the best served for this position, because he almost was not sure who else President Trump

could nominate, and he felt like he got to know Todd Blanche enough to the point where he felt like he could trust him.

But it sounds like this was a really difficult process because, as Senator Lisa Murkowski came out, she had the same concerns that Senator -- that

this senator had. But she -- but she came to a different conclusion and decided that she couldn't ultimately support Blanche.

And Cassidy has a long history of going back and forth with President Trump. He, of course, voted to convict Trump in the second impeachment

trial, and that put a target on his back.

So, when he was up for re-election, Trump endorsed Cassidy's opponent. Cassidy lost in his primary. So, people thought maybe Cassidy would be

voting a little more free, a little more free conscious, given the fact that he doesn't have to worry about re-election.

But he ultimately still came down on the same place that he believes Blanche is the right person for the job.

So, now, it's just a matter of when will Republicans schedule this vote? Republicans are trying to get out of town for their August recess. Senators

are trying to get back to their home states to campaign to be back in their home states. And right now, they can't get an agreement on what to put on

the floor and when.

So, it's really just a ticking clock now. But it is pretty -- it's pretty all but certain that Blanche will have the votes when it does eventually

come up for a vote. Nick.

WATT: Fabulous. Annie Grayer. Thanks very much for your time.

Now, a major court ruling against Meta. The tech giant has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for its role in the youth mental health

crisis.

More on that ruling after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:41:03]

WATT: Meta has been ordered to pay more than half a billion dollars into a teen mental health fund. A New Mexico jury found Meta liable back in March

of endangering children and misleading customers about the platform's safety.

The judge already set damages for that at $375 million. The company must now pay an additional $567 million to remedy its role in the youth mental

health crisis.

The judge told Meta to delete the data of users younger than 13 years old, at least in New Mexico. And he set a curfew on push notifications for

people under 18.

Meta says it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal the decision.

Lisa Eadicicco is following the story from New York. Lisa, a billion dollars for a company with a market cap of like $1-1/2 trillion isn't much,

but this is about more than the money. Right?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yes, exactly. This is about more than the money. This is really kind of an extension of a lot of the

pushback and the kind of the reckoning we have seen around social media companies and the alleged impact they are having on the mental health of

young people.

So, one of the key findings from this ruling is that Meta's encouragement for users to engage in the platform in ways that are somewhat harmful to

teen users' mental health, and that's really driving some of the changes that the judge is asking for in this ruling.

For example, one of the required changes will be that push notifications during school hours are stopped, and the same thing goes for push

notifications at night. The idea being that Meta shouldn't be encouraging young people to engage with the platform during the hours when they should

be in school and should be asleep.

So, that's a big one. Also, making accounts for New Mexico users under the age of 18, private by default.

So, again, this kind of speaks to the larger question that is really coming up here about how social media is impacting the mental health of young

people and what role the companies should be playing here and being held accountable for that.

So, I do think this is about, like you said, much more than the money. This is really kind of -- It seems like the ruling here is pushing for change to

these platforms more than anything else, and that kind of continues the trend that we have been seeing.

And in one striking comparison made in the ruling, the judge compared the impact of Meta's apps to pollution from a factory, trying to kind of paint

that picture of the impacts not just being isolated in this one place, but kind of spreading out, and that, that was definitely part of the ruling

here as well.

WATT: You know, I mean, I've heard critics say that essentially, we are carrying out this mass experiment on our young people right now with social

media. But also, listen, so, this was one legal issue, New Mexico, but I mean, there are others, right? And this New Mexico ruling could set some

precedent there?

EADICICCO: So, this kind of continues a trend that we have been really talking about and seeing all year.

Earlier this year, as well, Meta and YouTube were found liable in a landmark social media addiction trial. And you know, one interesting thing

between these two cases is that the focus is really on the design of Meta's platforms. That the specific features and how those features impact mental

health, especially for young people. Things like push notifications.

In the previous separate case from earlier this year in California, endless scrolling was -- and face filters were topics that came up as being

potentially harmful. So, again, I think the trend here that is really being examined is not just the content that users and teenagers are exposed to on

these platforms, but the way these platforms are designed.

And one key thing to note with this New Mexico ruling is that Meta is not being ordered to change its algorithm, and that's also really key here

because the algorithm determines what people see in their feeds and the content that appears.

[16:45:08]

WATT: Lisa Eadicicco, thanks very much. Fascinating stuff.

Now, long before there was Instagram or even Facebook, there was MySpace. Now, the social media pioneer could be making a comeback. Its owners say

they plan to revive the site, hoping to win over a new generation. We asked some of our own CNN team about their memories of MySpace,

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Millennials, we are so back.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not something that I thought I would say again. MySpace?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Man, I loved me some MySpace when I was in college.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: I was fully addicted to MySpace as a teenager.

EADICICCO: That's right, millennials are rejoicing because MySpace might be making a big comeback.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think, mine was pink and sparkly. I learned how to code. There was music. I was probably having a

big John Mayer moment. Still am.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I stood in front of the mirror for the longest period of time with a digital camera, trying to catch just the

right amount of light.

EADICICCO: The owners of the site said in a recent documentary that they plan to revive it. Although we don't know much more than that.

But if MySpace does come back, it will be entering a much, much different social media world than the one that existed in the early 2000s.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was like this one-stop shop of personality, where you could stop by and be like, yes, OK, that's who Omar

is. That's the song that's on his mind right now. Oh, those are his top friends. Why am I not on there? I was there last week.

SCHOLES: If you wanted to message someone, you went to MySpace, but it was also controversial because of that top eight.

ROSALES: And that's starting fights because people felt some sort of way about that

KLEIN: Which is arguably where 13-year-old Betsy learned more about politics and strategy than I have in Washington in years.

EADICICCO: If you moved someone out of your top eight or if you put someone in your top eight, I definitely remember there being a lot of drama.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Let me just get into some trouble of my own here and pick my top eight, CNN Josh Campbell, Elex

Michaelson, Laura Coates, Dana, Bianna, Jake, Priscilla Alvarez. Oh, Mike Valerio.

I lost count. I think I have one more. Wolf Blitzer. We need Wolf Blitzer in the top eight.

EADICICCO: There is also a growing desire, especially among young people to sign off and spend less time on social media. So, we'll have to see if that

nostalgic factor will be enough to make MySpace a hit once again.

ROSALES: All right. Gen Z, hear me out. If you are addicted to doom scrolling, this could be a solution.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maybe our time is now, MySpace?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: It was never my bag.

Still to come: CNN investigation into the company the FDA links to that outbreak that's causing explosive diarrhea. Turns out this is not the first

time they have been tied to outbreaks, and their response is always pretty much the same.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:24]

WATT: Now, the latest on the spreading cyclospora outbreak: at least 15 U.S. states and more than 6,000 cases have been linked by federal health

officials to lettuce sold by Taylor Farms. It's at least the fifth time the company has been directly tied to outbreaks, but as CNN's senior

investigative correspondent Kyung Lah finds, Taylor Farms has a long pattern of deflecting blame.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the headquarters for Taylor Farms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is his private property.

LAH: OK.

LAH (voice over): Taylor Farms won't talk to us on camera today.

We'd already asked for an interview and had not heard back. This is the company, the FDA linked to the historic cyclospora outbreak: 6,000 sick,

hundreds hospitalized, and two dead. Here is what we want to ask the company:

The government traced at least five different outbreaks directly to Taylor Farms in the past 13 years, and a CNN review finds time after time, the

company turned to a similar playbook, deflecting blame.

How? By relying on negative test results to imply that Taylor Farms products are not responsible, even though investigators mainly find the

source of outbreaks by figuring out what and where people who got sick ate,

BILL MARLER, FOOD SAFETY ATTORNEY: It's deja vu all over again. I sort of feel like we are on a repeat record.

LAH (voice over): This month, Taylor Farm said, "According to the FDA, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for

Cyclospora as of August 5th, 2026. We are confident in our food and food safety systems."

Let's rewind through the known outbreaks linked to Taylor Farms. 2013, eerily similar Cyclospora cases connected to Taylor Farms salad.

CEO Bruce Taylor said at the time, "All our tests have been negative, and we have no evidence of Cyclospora in our product.

2015, a multi-state E. coli outbreak. Taylor's public response: the tests were "preliminary findings", and "it looks like a false alarm".

The FDA later said a product with Taylor Farms produce was the "likely source".

2024, another E. coli outbreak traced to onions distributed by Taylor Farms. The company said it found, "No traces of the bacteria. All Taylor

Farms products in the market today are safe to consume."

MARLER: I think they have played a little bit fast and loose with the facts.

LAH (voice over): Food safety attorney Bill Marler has sued Taylor Farms a dozen times in multiple outbreaks, representing more than a hundred

clients. He says the company implies its food may not be to blame by telling the public their testing found no trace of the microbes.

But Marler says that doesn't prove anything.

MARLER: Taylor Farms is using those negative results to muddy the water. The scientists at Taylor Farms know better that the products that get

tested are not the products that people consumed. And I -- and I always say this, and it sounds like I'm making a joke, but people eat the evidence.

LAH: About half of America's domestic lettuce is grown here, in the Salinas Valley in Central California. It's also where Taylor Farms is

headquartered. But the focus of this Cyclospora outbreak is in central Mexico at the Taylor Farms facility there. The same plant linked to another

Cyclospora outbreak in 2013.

MARLER: It's the same facility. They are drawing iceberg lettuce in from the same area and expecting a different result.

LAH (voice over): Taylor Farms tells CNN it invests more than 200 million a year in food safety. The problem is that nothing can kill Cyclospora on

fresh vegetables without cooking.

LAH: In the middle of this enormous outbreak, some of the nation's top food safety experts are gathering in this one conference in New Orleans. So, we

have come here to talk to a consultant who has worked with Taylor Farms.

TREVOR SUSLOW, PROFESSOR, EXTENSION EMERITUS, U.C. DAVIS: It absolutely feels like deja vu for all of us, for everybody.

LAH (voice over): Food safety expert Trevor Suslow, says he is one of the scientists hired by Taylor Farms on this outbreak. Part of the rapid

response team to find what could have gone wrong at the facility in Mexico.

LAH: Is there a working theory right now?

SUSLOW: Right now, it's very difficult to come up with a working theory. If they are missing something, they want to know, and then, they put in

programs in place to correct that.

And they have really built a strong program, you know, really progressively since 2013.

[16:55:01]

LAH: Would you open up a bag of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce and eat it today?

SUSLOW: Yes, I would. If one assumes that, that was a source, there's nothing been chipped for, you know, since mid-July. You know, it's either

consumed already, or it's gone.

LAH: Do you eat bag salad?

MARLER: No.

LAH: Ever?

MARLER: No, no, ever. No.

When you have been with families who've lost family members to a bag of romaine lettuce, you do change your eating habits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (on camera): Taylor Farms did e-mail us a statement saying the company goes above and beyond industry guidance or requirements for testing. It

added, "We have cooperated fully with regulators in any instance where food safety concerns were raised, taking corrective action where warranted. For

this recall, we have acted voluntarily, moved more broadly than required, and will continue to be transparent as more information becomes available."

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

WATT: Let's take a look at U.S. markets just before we go. The Dow gained 151 points after a surprisingly weak jobs report. It showed the U.S.

economy lost 23,000 jobs last month. That number has investors thinking the Fed may hold off on raising interest rates, and lower rates are good for

business.

Next week's inflation report should provide a clearer indication of what the Fed may do next. Let's look at the Dow components. Salesforce finished

on top, closing more than three percent higher. Despite today's gains, it's still down nearly 25 percent year to date. Investors are worried how it

will fare in the age of A.I.

Nvidia closed more than two percent higher. SpaceX said earlier this week that it would exclusively use Nvidia's chips. The stock has gotten a pop

from that.

And as you can see, a third of the Dow closed in the red. Visa finished at the bottom, closing more than two percent lower.

That was Quest means business. I'm Nick Watt. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END