Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Putin Critic Navalny: "I Am Serving A Life Sentence"; U.S. Official: Putin "Trying To Hold Out" Until 2025; U.S. Job Market Slows, Unemployment Near Historic Lows; Some Economists Oppose Downgrade Of U.S. Credit Rating; College Board: AP Psychology "Effectively Banned" In Florida Because Of Gender, Sexuality Content; Poll: 45 Percent Of U.S. Adults Interested In Weight-Loss Meds. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 04, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Putin tried to kill Navalny. We know that. Tried to poison him with Novichok, a nerve agent. He survived. CNN has documented this in a documentary.

Does Putin hope, in effect, that Navalny dies in prison?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it's certainly the implication of doing this additional sentence on what were essentially incredibly trumped-up charges.

That, you know, he had opposed the war in Ukraine, that he had participated in joining organizations that the state didn't approve of. I mean, there were just clear freedom of speech issues, which doesn't take you very far in Russia.

But I think what is really notable about this, Jim, is two things. First of all, even in the old days of the Soviet Union, this would have been an extraordinarily long sentence for a dissident.

And it tells you how much Putin wants to keep all dissent off of most communication lines.

But the second is, this comes after Putin has been through the whole Prigozhin uprising and, he's now being pressed by dissidents on the left and by his critics on the right, who think he isn't conducting the war well enough.

SCIUTTO: Right. CNN's new reporting is Putin is going to wait out the U.S. election cycle, that he hopes he gets a better president of the U.S. after 2024. Perhaps Trump, who happens to be leading in the Republican polls, as you know.

What's the reaction, then -- first of all, do you believe that? Did you find that? And what does that say about Trump's claims repeated that he's tough on Russia?

SANGER: Well, on the first part, Jim, you and I have both been around when we have heard U.S. officials speculate -- I don't think they have any particular intelligence on this -- that Putin's waiting this out.

Because the two leading candidates for the Republican nomination, both former President Trump and Ron DeSantis, have both said they don't think the United States should be involved in the war in Ukraine. So if they get elected, the problem goes away.

If you think that Putin only has three ways to win this war -- a crack in the NATO alliance, the Ukrainians running out of ammunition, or President Trump or Governor DeSantis getting elected and pulling the U.S. out, then it would make perfect sense for him to keep a low-level war going through the end of 2024.

SCIUTTO: There's been some effort it seems to, quote/unquote, "Trump proof" U.S. military aid to Ukraine, with bipartisan support, we should not, in Congress, to lock it in, in effect, regardless of the outcome in 2024.

Is that doable? Can Ukraine fight this war effectively? It may maintain NATO support, but without U.S. support leading the way?

SANGER: It would be hard. These methods of trying to lock it in or basically trying to establish a long-term security agreement with Ukraine, that would be very much modelled on the long-term agreement that the U.S. has with Israel.

And you know, there isn't much debate each day, Jim, or each year about the renewal of aid to Israel. The thought is, put this on auto pilot. It would be a very hard thing for many Republicans to vote against.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SANGER: But at the same time, it's more than just money. You know, it's intelligence sharing, it's the daily tending of the allies to keep them together, it's opposing other countries that are continuing to ship arms and technology to Russia, including China but not only China.

And that requires a lot of daily diplomatic effort. So I think while you might keep the money flowing, you'd also need to keep the diplomacy going.

SCIUTTO: No question. That comparison to Israel is one we've heard more and more from U.S. officials in public, seeming to make that something for this going forward. We'll see if it's possible.

David Sanger, always good to have you. Thanks so much.

SANGER: Great to be with you.

SCIUTTO: Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Ahead, why the college board is advising schools in Florida to stop offering advanced placement psychology classes to high school students.

[13:34:23]

Plus, the latest jobs report shows the labor market cooling off, and the president is calling it Bidenomics at work. We're going to ask an expert what the numbers mean for you and your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It is finally starting to cool down, at least in the jobs market. The latest jobs report out this morning shows the U.S. added 187,000 jobs in July, slightly lower than the 200,000 that economists predicted. And the unemployment rate inched down to 3.5 percent from 3.6.

President Biden is claiming these numbers are part of a winning formula he calls Bidenomics.

Here was the vice president in the last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since we took office, we have created more than 13 million new jobs. In two and a half years, we have created more jobs, more new jobs, than any other administration has created in four.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's talk the numbers and more with Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics.

Mark, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

This jobs report seems to show the Fed is threading the needle here. The jobs market appears to be cooling, inflation cooling. What does that mean for a potential rate hike?

[13:40:10]

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Yes, you're right, Boris. It was a near perfect report. The Fed is threading the needle. They're raising rates high enough, fast enough to slow growth, quell inflation, get it back in the bottle, but not raise rates so far, so fast that it undermines the economy.

It's a pretty tricky thing to do, and historically they haven't done it very often. They seem to be pulling it off now.

And my sense is that things are sticking roughly to script. We are going to see continued slowing in growth. And I think inflation will continue to come in.

So I don't think -- I think the Fed's job is done here. I don't think they need to raise rates any further from where they are today. They're still very high, but I think this is as high as they're going to get.

SANCHEZ: The highest they have been in 20-plus years. The markets seem to be responding well. The Dow up roughly 210 points.

Another aspect of this report that stood out to me, the fact that wage growth is also moving up 4.4 percent, roughly in the last year. What do you make of that?

ZANDI: From the Fed's perspective, that's the one blemish in the report. They're desperately trying to get inflation back to their 2 percent target.

If you do a little bit of arithmetic, they're hoping that they get wage growth closer to 3.5 percent. That would be consistent with that 2 percent inflation and kind of underlying productivity growth.

So the wage growth is still a little on the hot side, a little strong side. I think they'd like to see that come in a little more here over the course of the next few months.

But I think they will. All the trend lines look like that's happening. Job growth is slowing. There is an easing up in the labor market.

Businesses aren't laying off workers. That's great. That's why we're not going to have a recession. But they are pulling back on their hiring.

The other thing that we're seeing is people aren't quitting their jobs at the same rate they were, say, a year ago, and that will also cool off wage growth, because people get bigger pay increases when they switch jobs.

So I think everything's coming together for that wage growth to moderate, but still a little bit on the hot side for them.

SANCHEZ: Mark, I also wanted to ask you about the U.S. credit rating being downgraded by Fitch, while Moody's is keeping it at an AAA rating. Why that discrepancy?

ZANDI: Well, I'm not going to comment on the ratings. But I will say I think global investors think the U.S. treasury debt is AAA.

I mean, if push comes to shove, if anything is going off the rails in the global economy, even if they're going off the rails here in the United States of America, money comes flowing in the United States.

Because global investors know that is good money, that they're going to be able to get their money back when they need it and they're going to get paid principal interest when it's owed.

I think investors are telling us very clearly that no matter what the ratings are, they think the U.S. is still the AAA credit on the planet.

SANCHEZ: Still a solid investment, fortunately.

Mark Zandi, thanks for the perspective. Appreciate it.

ZANDI: Sure thing. SANCHEZ: Jim?

SCIUTTO: Back to the negotiating table. For the first time in weeks, Hollywood studios are set to sit down with striking writers today. Could there be a breakthrough? How far apart are they?

Plus, new polling on weight loss drugs in the U.S. and just how many adults are interested in trying them. We're going to break down the numbers and some of the significant side effects that you should be aware of. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:16]

KEILAR: First, Florida stripped down African-American A.P. studies and, now A.P. psychology courses could be axed.

The college board, which overseas advanced placement courses, is telling Florida schools not to offer A.P. psychology after the state reportedly told its school districts to exclude content on sexual orientation and gender identity, saying such content is illegal under state law.

Joining us now is Dr. Arthur Evans. He is the CEO of the American Psychological Association.

Doctor, your organization issued a statement in support of the college board decision. Explain your concern here.

DR. ARTHUR EVANS JR., CEO, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION: We did. We issued that support for the college board because psychology is a science of people. It's about understanding how people think, how we feel, why we do the things we do.

And we believe strongly that any course, particularly an advanced course in psychology, has to include information about sexual orientation, gender identity, because they are part of the human experience.

KEILAR: Is this topic of gender identity, is this something that could easily - I mean, is that like a chapter you could skip, or is this something that permeates different parts of the curriculum and actually would be very hard to skip over?

EVANS: Well, it's both. The issue here is that human sexuality is such a basic part of who we are, and to say that basic information cannot be discussed in a course that is helping students to understand people, understand differences, understand differences in how we think and behave just is not acceptable from our standpoint.

[13:50:04]

KEILAR: So, I'm thinking -- I'm a former psych major myself.

If I'm a student in Florida, who is interested in psychology and pursuing that in college and wants to take an A.P. psychology course, what about taking it the way Florida's going to teach it.

Which is going to be missing something, and then supplementing it outside of the classroom, taking the test in a fulsome way? I mean, what about that possibility?

Because, in the end, those students who want to take this test, learn these things, they are the ones who are not going to benefit from this decision to maybe not have this course.

EVANS: Yes. Sure. And that's why we hope that the state will reverse its decision. You know, it's like saying, we want to teach a course in mathematics, but we will leave out division.

The course does not have integrity when you take out pieces that experts from the field, and including teachers, have said this is content that is important to understand this discipline, to understand the science behind how people think and act and so forth.

So, I think the other thing to note here is this content has been in the A.P. course that is taught around the country. Over 300,000 students take that course each year.

In the state of Florida, 28,000 students take that and have been taking that course and taking the exam. And this is information that has been there since 2014.

So, the state of Florida has embraced those standards, had incorporated them, had approved them. So we are not quite clear why, at this point, this important content is being excluded.

We hope the state will reverse its decision because we want students to have access to this information and to be able to take this course.

KEILAR: Do you see this as having a ripple effect through college and the profession of psychology?

EVANS: Well, we hope not. You know, that is why we hope the state will reverse its decision.

You know, A.P. psychology is one of the most popular courses. And psychology, as a course, is usually one of the top two or three courses on college campuses.

It is a very popular -- it is a very popular topic. It is the foundation for many other disciplines or it is a good foundation for many other disciplines. People major in psychology and they go into law and medicine and the social work and other important areas.

People believe that that foundation that they get in understanding people is so foundational to so many other areas. And that is the reason why we really feel strongly that if we're going to have a course that has integrity, it has to include all of humanity.

We cannot erase certain groups and say we are teaching a legitimate course in psychology.

KEILAR: I found it very helpful in journalism. Day to day, I actually have.

Doctor Arthur Evans, thank you for being with us. We really appreciate your time.

EVANS: Thank you.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we are watching this hour.

Hollywood writers are now nearly 100 days into their strike against major studios. But today, the two sides are back to the negotiating table in the first talks since the strikes began. So far, no negotiation inside for the actors who joined the picket line nearly a month ago.

Also, two members of the so-called Tennessee Three, who were expelled from the state House earlier this year, have won their reelection. State Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson will finish out the rest of their terms.

The two were expelled in April after they were accused of breaching decorum for participating in a gun-control protest in the House chamber.

And a major milestone for Phoenix Mercury star, Diana Taurasi. She became the first WNBA player ever to score 10,000 points. Taurasi ending the night with a season-high of 42 points, a legend of the hardwood.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Those are both higher numbers than me.

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO: Popularity among weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, appear to be growing. A new poll from KFF found that nearly half of adults in the U.S. are interested in using this type of medication to help them shed some weight.

CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell, joins us to break down the survey.

That is quite a figure. I imagine they have seen the results and they are understandably reaching out to their doctors.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, there is obviously a huge amount of attention being paid to the medicines.

[13:54:58]

And of course, this comes at a time when the backdrop is that more than 30 percent of U.S. adults are in the overweight category, according to the CDC and the NIH. And more than 40 percent of adults are considered to have obesity. So, KFF did this poll of more than 1,300 adults in the U.S. And what

they found is among people who said they have more weight to lose, maybe they're trying to lose at least 20 pounds, 68 percent of those folks said they are interested in trying a safe and effective prescription weight loss medicine.

What is fascinating in these results is that even 23 percent of people who said they are not currently trying to lose weight, are also interested in these medications. And that sort of speaks to the cultural moment they are having.

But when the pollsters sort of dived into some of the details with these folks, people started to say, maybe I'm not so sure about this.

And 23 percent, once they found out they are weekly shots, 23 percent were still interested in potentially taking them. But that is down from 45 percent overall.

And 16 percent said they would still be interested if they were not covered by insurance. And 16 percent said, if they were not FDA approved specifically for weight loss, which is the case for both Ozempic and Manjaro, which are approved for type 2 diabetes. They'd still be interested.

And 14 percent said they're still interested if they may gain the weight back.

And, Jim, these are all known issues about these medicines.

SCIUTTO: Listen, some of the newer versions have a greater effect. You can imagine the interest will only go up.

Meg Tirrell, in New York, thank you so much.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, President Trump's legal problems are on a collision course with the political calendar. We will walk you through it, next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)