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Trump Pushes Back On Dems' "Weird" Criticism: "They're The Weird Ones"; U.S. Economy Added Just 114,000 Jobs Last Month; Biden Weighs More U.S. Defense For Israel As Iran Vows Retaliation; Back-To- Back Episodes Of "1968" Air Sunday At 9PM ET; Soon: Justin Timberlake To Be Arraigned Virtually On DWI Charge. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 02, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think voters hear that. I think you're absolutely right. They don't care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CUPP: But ultimately, they might not know that they care, but they should because we're going to ask questions that they have and that they don't have access to her to ask. And there's a difference between her putting out an ad, that's all the things she wants to say. And then being challenged on some things. And that ultimately benefits voters, her own voters who should know her very well. And, and intimately what -- what she wants to do.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The good news is we still have less than a hundred days left.

CUPP: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you guys. Thank you so much.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: New this morning, today's jobs report is raising red flag coming in far lower than expected. What does this mean in this big old question of the Federal Reserve and the fight against inflation?

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:22]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news in the economy this morning, new data shows that the U.S. jobs market cooled way more than expected last month adding just 114,000 jobs.

Now the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3 percent, that's the highest it's been since October 2021. And the report underscoring concerns that the economy has slowed down too quickly and could lead to a recession. We're going to talk about all of that now with Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. Madam Secretary thanks for being here. Really appreciate it.

I just want your initial reaction and read on the new data we've got here.

JULIE SU, ACTING SECRETARY OF LABOR: So as usual we look at not just one month's data but we look at trends and the three-month trend in job creations is still 170,000. Remember for the last couple of years we were talking about how the labor market is too hot and the plan was always to reach a transition to steady stable growth. And this number is cooler than expected but it is part of that transition to continued job growth but at a steadier more sustainable pace.

JIMENEZ: And I guess one of the questions is I mean it was Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that a broad set of indicators suggest that conditions in the labor market have returned to about where they stood on the eve of the pandemic strong but not overheated, I guess use his words. Based on what we've seen this morning, do you agree with that assessment?

SU: Yes, I mean when you look at things like you know the GDP remains high, consumer spending remains really strong, layoffs remain relatively low. And the labor force participation rate remains strong too. It is -- it reached the highest in over two decades for both men and women of prime age working age.

And so, when you look at the overall trends, yes, it's still a very strong economy that has defied all expectation in terms of its recovery and now in terms of its level of sustained steady growth.

JIMENEZ: Well, do you believe it was a mistake not to cut interest rates this past July?

SU: I mean I won't comment on the Fed's policies but I will say that one of the most important measures for us about whether the economy is doing well is how working people are doing. And the wages for workers remain higher, the growth remains above inflation. And so, that means more money in working people's pockets. And I continue to travel the country and meet with workers who are unionizing for the first time, have reached a union contract that is providing double digit wage increases. We want to make sure that workers get a fair share of the economy that they're helping to make possible and we see that happening and that's one of the measures that we use to -- to indicate that the economy is doing well. We have more work to do and we'll continue to do it but that is an important measure for us.

JIMENEZ: So, we're in a period of job growth as you mentioned even if this particular assessment was cooler than expectations. I want to get your take on a specific aspect of it because the chief economist at ZipRecruiter told CNN recently that a lot of the growth has come from just a few industries, healthcare, government, leisure hospitality.

So, in short overall aggregate numbers look good but everyone might not be feeling that goodness equally. Can you speak to that and how prevalent of a dynamic that actually may be?

SU: Yes. I mean if you look at the numbers even for last month but certainly again over trends the growth is broad based. It's all the industries you mentioned, it's -- it's -- it's -- it's multiple industries, it's primarily private sector but also some in government we're seeing it across the board. And this is important because that also has a sign of economic strength. And we're seeing growth in, you know, construction for example is up 200,000 over the year. These are, you know, manufacturing has continued a steady growth under President Biden's leadership.

These are all, you know, things that don't happen by accident that are happening because the investments that we are making are helping to grow certain industries and are leading to private investments in those same sectors.

So, we are fixing things, we're making things in America again, there's work that we still need to do. But that -- those are reflected in the numbers and they're not just single industries that are growing.

JIMENEZ: And quickly before we go, do you worry that we're headed for a recession?

SU: I don't. Again, the overall indicators are not consistent with recession. You know, 114,000 jobs last month is still you know higher than the last administration had seven months of less than 100,000 jobs and, you know, a four year overall net decrease.

[09:40:05]

And so, we are still looking at over 15 million jobs created in this economy to find all expectations, a transition as planned from rapid recovery to sustainable growth. And we'll continue to keep an eye on the numbers and continue to do the work to make sure that the prosperity, the job growth, the opportunities are broadly shared.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And we'll see what the Fed does next month when they have the opportunity. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, really appreciate you being here.

SU: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, meanwhile, more military defenses could be heading to the Middle East amid escalating fears of a larger regional conflict. You've got new reporting on what President Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel braces for a retaliatory attack from Iran.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:2]

BOLDUAN: New this morning, we are learning that President Biden is now considering sending more U.S. defenses for Israel in light of the threat of retaliation from Iran. Retaliation for the killing of Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Iran this week. I'm going to play for you what White House spokesman John Kirby told me about this earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN (on-camera): When you're talking resources, is that -- is that people or is that hardware?

JOHN KIRBY, WHITEHOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATION ADVISER: It's -- it's most likely going to be a combination of both, of course, because it's not just hardware when you're -- when you're adding capability to a region.

BOLDUAN (on-camera): Yes.

KIRBY: You've got to add troops into that mix as well to maintain and operate that equipment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Natasha Bertrand is tracking this one from the Pentagon.

Natasha, what are you hearing about what they're preparing for?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden in his phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night, he did say that he would be willing to send additional military deployments to the Middle East to help protect Israel against what is possibly going to be a major Iranian retaliation for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh earlier this week in Tehran.

Now, the U.S. is bracing at this point for something that is possibly much larger and more coordinated than even the Iranian attack that we saw on Israel in April back when Israel assassinated a few members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. That was a major attack with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones that the U.S. largely was able to counter to intercept along with a coalition of allies who essentially came together to protect Israel and of course the U.S. forces and other allies' forces that are in the region.

Well now they are saying that this could be even bigger than that. It could be coordinated with Hezbollah, which of course is a very powerful paramilitary force in southern Lebanon. It could also be coordinated with the mini proxy militias that Iran has in the Middle East that have been launching attacks against U.S. Forces over the last several months.

And so, what the U.S. is weighing now is just how they're going to be shifting these resources that they already have in the Middle East, including, you know, amphibious assault ships that are currently in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as a carrier strike group that the U.S. has in the Gulf of Oman, which could be moved closer to Lebanon, closer to a possible point of conflict if something were to break out.

But of course, there's also the consideration of what happens if a major conflict erupts. And the U.S. has to get its citizens out of the region. So, another thing they're considering is a possible noncombatant evacuation operation if it comes to that.

But again, everything is kind of in the planning stage at this point remains unclear whether any of it is actually going to be necessary. But they're preparing for the worst essentially, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Natasha Bertrand, thank you.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, it was a year marked by seismic shifts in American politics, social movements and cultural icons from top to bottom that completely changed the modern landscape. And no, we're not talking about 2024. This weekend, CNN's original series "1968" looks at the tumultuous events of that year. It all starts Sunday at 9:00 p.m.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Downtown Chicago at Balbo and Michigan avenues, there has been in progress for some time a peace demonstration. The police have come to put it down. The National Guard has been called to help.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police and demonstrators tussling all over this busy intersection. On this tonight at the presidential nomination at this Democratic convention.

GLORIA STEINEM, SOCIAL ACTIVIST: It was a police riot and I had never seen that before in my life. I had never seen groups of policemen with lead knuckled gloves and clubs going after civilians. There were pools of blood on Michigan Avenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: It's going to be incredible to watch and provide pretty incredible perspective with where we are now.

But we're also following minutes from now, Justin Timberlake is scheduled to be arraigned on a DWI charge. We're going to have the latest on his case. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:54:08]

BOLDUAN: Just a short time ago, attorneys for Justin Timberlake arrived in a Sag Harbor, New York courtroom for his arraignment for his DWI case. Timberlake himself currently on tour in Europe, but he is set to appear virtually in court for this hearing.

CNN's Brynn Gingrass is following this case for us. She's joining us now.

Brynn, what do you learn about this?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, you know, Ed Burke, the attorney for Justin Timberlake, remains adamant that Timberlake was not driving drunk that June night. And he also says that he's confident that this charge is going to get thrown out. Now, we're not expecting that to happen in court today.

Actually, this is somewhat of a do-over of the arraignment. There was a hearing last week where Burke actually pointed out there were some errors in the court paperwork. And so, the judge asked for this arraignment to happen again.

That is why we are now seeing Justin Timberlake. He will be appearing virtually, as you just mentioned, as he is on tour in Europe right now for his world tour. We're also expecting him to make a plea, which, not surprisingly, is going to be not guilty. And then we'll likely see the next court date set.

[09:55:08]

So, this does appear to be a procedural arraignment, and we'll expect this court process to kind of further go on.

What we do know, of course, is that this happened on June 18th. Timberlake, according to police, he failed to stop at a stop sign. He was swerving lanes. And when they pulled over, the cop reported that he had bloodshot eyes. He performed poorly on a field sobriety test. He failed -- he didn't -- he refused rather to take a breathalyzer test three times, and he spent the night in jail. Of course, he is going to continue to fight these charges, and we're going to remain on top of this.

What we do know right now, though, is that court has not started. So as soon as we get an update, we'll give it to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Bryn, thank you so much for following that one for us.

Thanks for being here.

JIMENEZ: Of course, of course. I only came here because I wanted to also speculate on what Tom Cruise was going to do at the end of the Olympics.

BOLDUAN: Would you like to speculate right now?

JIMENEZ: I would like to see him run straight down the side of the stadium, you know, like rappel down like he did in the Burj Khalifa, maybe.

BOLDUAN: Maybe. JIMENEZ: And then I want to see Mayor Karen Bass get involved. I don't know. I don't know. Let's just see what -- let's see what she can do.

BOLDUAN: Grab if you will. Grab if you will, Omar says.

JIMENEZ: Thanks for joining us, everyone. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "CNN NEWSROOM," up next.

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