Return to Transcripts main page
CNN News Central
Interest Rates Affected by U.S. Debt Downgrade; Lizzo Finally Speaks Out About Former Dancers' Lawsuit; Lizzo Accused of Harassment and Hostile Environment by Three Former Dancers; Russia Claims to Shot Down 7 Ukrainian Drones Close to Moscow; 20+ Russian Drones Over Kyiv Repelled, According to Ukraine; At Least 20+ Settlements in Zaporizhzhia Targeted by Russian Shelling; Interview with Jones Group International Founder and President, Former NSA Adviser to President Obama, and Former Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones (Ret.); Rio Grande, a Second Body Discovered Near Floating Barriers; Lawyers Investigating Number of Migrant Families Separated at Texas Border. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired August 03, 2023 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:00]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: The first fallout from the Fitch U.S. debt downgrade is coming in the form of interest rates. On Tuesday, the U.S. government's debt rating was knocked down by Fitch for one -- one notch to AA-plus from the highest rating. And now, treasury yields have jumped to an eighth month high, that impacts student loan rates, auto loans, credit cards, as well as mortgage rates. We're going to find out how -- just how much those mortgage rates were impacted when new numbers drop today at noon.
The Biden administration was reportedly sent into a frenzy over Fitch's decision on this. Sources telling CNN, the move left Biden's top aides scrambling to work out how to craft an aggressive response to this, and that began with the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Fitch's decision is puzzling in light of the economic strength we see in the United States. I strongly disagree with Fitch's decision, and I believe it is entirely unwarranted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:35:00]
BOLDUAN: CNN's Kayla Tausche has more on this, she's joining us now. Kayla, so what were your sources telling you today about what more the Biden administration is planning on doing to go after this?
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, it's safe to say that the White House was frustrated. They were miffed when they saw this decision from Fitch when they learn of it on Monday. The fact that it happened when it happened, and the fact that it was based on what Fitch called deterioration of governance and not on the relative strength of the economy. It is that strength of the economy that made the White House and treasury and the Biden re-election campaign all extremely confident that they believed Fitch had made, in their words, a mistake, and that they needed to craft a forceful and aggressive response.
A senior administration telling me this about the White House's response once they learned about it from Fitch that 24 hours, where they essentially circled the wagons to try to figure out exactly what they needed to say to response. This senior official telling me, the view directly from the economic team was that we need to be aggressive in our response. There was unanimity among the top economic officials that this was a mistake by Fitch.
Now, it wasn't altogether unexpected, Kate. Fitch warned in May that it could downgrade the U.S.' credit worthiness. And Fitch alerted treasury with about 24 hours' notice that it was going to be making this decision, that's customary. But the 24 hours that ensued were essentially that period where all of these officials were saying, hey, wait a second. We don't agree with this. We think that they made a mistake.
And so, the forceful response that resulted, you saw the press secretary talking about Republican extremism being the real threat to the economy. You saw the Biden campaign calling it a Trump downgrade, essentially mirroring or echoing the messaging that they crafted during the debt ceiling debate where they said, hey, this debt has been accumulated over several centuries, and it was really the predecessor to President Biden that caused it to balloon. Kate.
BOLDUAN: And it's happening. And then they're seeing some of the results of all of it and added it all -- added it altogether right now with this downgrade. Kayla, thank you so much.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: So, this morning, unrelated story, pop star Lizzo is breaking her silence about a lawsuit in which three of her former backup dancers alleged workplace harassment. In a statement on Instagram, Lizzo responded in part by saying, these last few days have been gut-wrenchingly difficult and overwhelmingly disappointing. My work ethics, morals and respectfulness have been questioned. I'm very open about my sexuality and expressing myself, but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something that I am not. This morning those three former backup dancers spoke with CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIANNA DAVIS, FORMER LIZZO DANCER: It took me, actually, until leaving the camp that I figured out that everything that went on was bad because I just chalked it up to, you know, oh, Lizzo might be a diva or, you know, this is just the industry. This is what we go through. Me, personally, looking at the response from Lizzo was so disheartening because she was there. She was there. And to fix your hand to write on a piece of paper that you don't -- that you discredit everything we're saying is incredibly frustrating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Some of the claims in the suit include racial and religious discrimination. Comments about weight gain and being encouraged to touch nude performers. Kate.
BOLDUAN: All right. Got much more ahead. Coming up for us, Ukraine and Russia in a battle of the drones. Just ahead, how unmanned aerial weapons are increasingly being used, not only the Ukrainian capital, but also in Moscow. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:40:00]
BERMAN: The battle of drones playing out between Russia and Ukraine today. Russia's defense ministry says, it shot down seven Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the Ukrainian air force is saying it repelled more than 20 drones in and around Kyiv during a three-hour raid overnight. Officials in Ukraine say, this is the eighth day in a row that Russian has launched Iranian-made drones at the capital.
With us now, founder and president of Jones Group International, former national security advisor to President Obama, and former supreme allied commander in Europe, General James Jones. General, great to see you. I want to ask you about something else that's going on that really does focus on your expertise as former supreme allied commander. And that's where some of the places where the Russians have been targeting lately. It includes Port Reni on the Danube River, the Izmail Port.
What's interesting about this, and I have a push-in to show you here, this is where that -- one of those ports is, this is the Danube right here, this is NATO territory. It is literally right across the river from Romania which is NATO territory. How provocative is it for the Russians to be targeting locations feet away from NATO?
GENERAL JAMES JONES (RET.), FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, JONES GROUP INTERNATIONAL, FORMER NSA ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, AND FORMER SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER EUROPE: Well, John, it's very -- potentially very troubling because you could make a mistake and actually penetrate into NATO territory. And, you know, the realignment of the Wagner group, for example, along the Polish border is also troubling.
[10:45:00]
So, I think that we should pay attention to that. I know NATO authorities are very concerned about it.
BERMAN: Pay attention, how can and should NATO respond? I do understand that a military response is not something that's on the table, but what do you do if the Russians are bombing this close to your territory?
JONES: Well, I think that you have to send unequivocal messages that this is a risky business that they are entering into. And that NATO has really transformed itself into an ability to really deter and respond if necessary. But that's certainly the worst thing that could happen would be for NATO and the U.S. to get into a land war with Russia.
BERMAN: Now, obviously, the Ukrainians have been involved in this counteroffensive, particularly in the southern front here where you could just make out in our map here, these areas in yellow which are right here and here, where the Ukrainians have retaken some territory. It's been slow going. It's been very slow going.
And today, the United Kingdom ministry of defense put out its analysis of one of the reasons why it's slow growing, and they say because of shrubbery. I'm only, sort of, joking here. They say, undergrowth, regrowing across the battlefields of southern Ukraine is likely one factor contributing to the generally slow progress of combat in the area. Explain what that means.
JONES: Well, I know that the performance has been slower than most people hoped for. I think one of the reasons is that Ukraine has gone from being on defense to offense, and the Russians have had plenty of time to interdict progress with laying of landmines and three -- two or three layers of defensive measures that would prohibit and restrict a rapid advance.
But the transition from Ukrainian going on from the defense last year to the offense this year is something that is different. Generally, when you are on the offense, you need a three to one personnel advantage. You take more casualties. And I think the other thing that is really important here is that Ukraine is trying to fight a combined arms tactic which is a western tactic but without adequate air power. And that element that's missing is really important.
And the sooner that we can help them with air power, and it's not going to be any time real soon, unfortunately, but that is the missing element right now. And that contributes to a slower rate of advance by Ukraine, although they're making some progress, there's no question about it.
BERMAN: General, thank you so much for joining us today and helping us to understand what we are seeing. Really appreciate it.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Come up for us, a second body has been recovered in the Rio Grande. This happened yesterday near the floating barriers set up to curb illegal crossings into the United States. Coming up next, CNN's new reporting on this and how migrants are being treated if they get across. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:00] BOLDUAN: A second body has been recovered near the floating barriers in the Rio Grande along the southern U.S. border. Mexico's foreign ministry says that the body was found Wednesday, about three miles from where another dead person was spotted earlier that same day. The causes of death and the identities remain unclear.
CNN's Rosa Flores is live in Houston though with more. And Rosa, these barriers were part of an effort by Texas and the Texas governor to crackdown on illegal border crossings. What more are you learning about the crackdown in Texas?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, there are several developments, Kate, that are happening. First of all, the two bodies that you're referencing that the foreign ministry in Mexico has announced that they found these two bodies, they're, of course, are investigating to see what cause and manner of death are in those two particular cases.
One of the obvious questions, of course, is did these buoys contribute to the deaths? Did the concertina wire that was deployed by the State of Texas, did those contribute to the deaths? Mexico is investigating. At this point in time, we don't know exactly what has happened. We are hoping to find out more.
The other development involves Texas separating migrant families. Now, this is a new development. Now, we, of course, have heard this happening along the border back in 2018 during the Trump administration. But this is different. I've talked to several attorneys who say that they're trying to figure out how many migrant families have been separated.
And here's what it looks like right now on the border according to these attorneys. They say that at least 26 migrant families have been separated since July 10th. Now, they say that these are Venezuelan families. They were asylum seekers who were hoping to turn themselves in to U.S. immigration authorities, but instead, they were waived on by Texas state troopers either in airboats or on land. They were rounded up and then separated.
And so, what do these separations look actually look like? According to the clients from this attorney, they say that the father in a family unit was separated then arrested for criminal trespass under the state statutes.
[10:55:00]
And the mother and the child, and/or children, were then turned over to U.S. immigration authorities. Texas DPS is now denying this. They are admitting to this, Kate. I just want to leave you with their statement. They say, "There have been instances in which DPS has arrested male migrants on state charges who were with their family when the alleged crime occurred. Children and their mothers were never separated, but instead turned over to U.S. border patrol."
Now, again, Kate, all of this is being investigated by these attorneys. They're trying to figure out the scope to figure out just how many families have been separated. Kate.
BOLDUAN: Rosa Flores in Houston for us. Rosa, thank you.
John.
BERMAN: So, in a few hours, Donald Trump will be under arrest in Washington, D.C. Why some lawyers are calling this among the most important cases in the nation's history.
And escaping from what investigators are calling a makeshift cinder block dungeon. A woman's bravery leads to a man's arrest in Oregon. Why police worry that more victims might be out there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:00:00]
