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Trump May Soon Be Able To Access $2B Truth Social Stake; WH Vows To "Aggressively" Defend Student Loan Relief Plan; GA Gov Kemp Expected To Fundraise For Trump Despite Past, Public Feud; 9 Now Dead From Listeria Outbreak Tied To Deli Meat. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 29, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:32:02]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Former President Donald Trump may soon have access to his more than $2 billion stake in Truth Social. This money could potentially be used to pay his legal fees or even fund his presidential campaign but accessing the social media fortune may not be easy.

CNN's Matt Egan joins us now.

So, Matt, the lock-up period on Trump's Truth Social stake expires soon. What happens then?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris, in theory, this would free former President Trump up to sell part or all of his stake in his company.

And look, he owns almost 115 million shares and the owner of Truth Social that's valued at $2 billion at current prices. And this pot of money would give him the ability to potentially pay his lawyers or even fund his presidential campaign.

But in reality, it's always really hard for dominant shareholders to sell out of their stake. And it would be even harder in this situation.

Because former President Trump, he's not just the leading shareholder. He's the most popular user on Truth Social. His name is on the parent company. The stock ticker is even "DJT."

And so that's why NYU law professor, Michael Ohlrogge, he told me that it would be all but impossible for Trump to liquidate his whole stake or even a third of it without completely tanking the stock price.

And look, the stock price has already been tanking. It fell another 4 percent yesterday, dipped below $20 for the first time since the company went public in March,

It's actually down 70 percent since this spring. And that selloff has been accelerating of late. And this has, of course, shrank the value of Trump's stake in his company. It was worth about $6 billion in May. Now, $2 billion

One last point here, Boris. In theory, Trump could monetize this stake in the company by borrowing against his shares. But to do that, he would have to find a bank or a wealthy individual or some other entity to lend to him. And that would not be easy either -- Boris?

[14:35:10]

SANCHEZ: Matt Egan, thanks so much for breaking that down for us.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The White House is vowing to aggressively defend President Biden's student loan relief plan, which remains on hold after the Supreme Court declined to lift a sweeping block.

The high court signaling that it wants the process to play out in the lower courts first.

For millions of people in debt, the plan could slash monthly payments and quicken the path to loan forgiveness, if it can survive the legal challenges. Some big -- a big "if" there.

CNN politics writer, Katie Lobosco, joining us now on this story.

All right, what happens now, Katie?

KATIE LOBOSCO, CNN POLITICS WRITER: Well, a lot of these borrowers are going to have to sit tight. We have eight million borrowers in this plan, which is known as the SAVE Plan. And we need to wait now until the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rules on whether it's legal. And this could take weeks or longer.

And now, remember, this student loan -- reducing student loan debt was a big part of Biden's campaign policy in 2020. And once his earlier plan was knocked down, some student loan forgiveness was rejected by the Supreme Court last year, this SAVE Plan became his most significant policy to address the issues.

KEILAR: Yes. And it's very popular, of course, with a lot of people who are feeling the squeeze of this debt.

What borrowers need to know about how this is going to impact them. Because for the folks who -- they are impacted by this, they are hanging on every little piece of news it's about this.

LOBOSCO: Oh, this is a huge deal. They're stuck in limbo.

So there is some good news for most of these borrowers. The Department of Education has put, basically, a pause on their payments. They don't have to worry about paying right now while this plays out in the courts and interests won't accrue.

But there's a couple other constant questions that I think borrowers need to know about. First of all, this could delay some student loan forgiveness for some borrowers that are pursuing that. This could delay this by months.

And second of all, you can't actually switch into a different loan plan right now. And so some experts are really worried about new grads. They just graduated and they might not be able to get into a plan that helps lower their payments before their first bill is due this fall.

KEILAR: That is very important to know.

Katie, you've been doing great reporting on this. Thank you so much for the very latest. We do appreciate it, Katie Lobosco.

And still ahead, a critical swing-state governor going to bat for Donald Trump despite their troubled past. How Georgia Governor Brian Kemp plans to help the former president today.

Plus, a new urgent warning to check your fridge. A batch of recalled deli meats now tied to the deadliest Listeria outbreak in more than a decade.

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[14:42:16]

SANCHEZ: Feud? What feud? Today, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is expected to attend a fundraiser for Donald Trump in Atlanta. The two Republicans have set aside their nearly four-year-long-running clash for the sake of beating the Democratic ticket.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Kemp for refusing to support the former president's push to overturn the 2020 election results in the Peach State.

Here's Trump in Atlanta earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a bad guy. He's a disloyal guy, and he's a very average governor.

(SHOUTING)

TRUMP: Little Brian, Little Brian Kemp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Despite that, Kemp is still endorsing the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Well, there was a little distraction, obviously, on -- on their side when it came to Georgia.

But, to me, that's in the past. I've been saying that, guys, literally, for over a year now that I was going to support our nominee, that we had to win Georgia. The road to the White House runs through Georgia.

And I still believe today, we cannot afford four more years of Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We want to discuss with Bobby Saparow. He's Governor Kemp's former campaign manager.

Bobby, thank you so much for being with us.

I first want to start with a new FOX News poll that has Kamala Harris leading donor Donald Trump in your state by two points, though that's within the margin of error.

What do you think will ultimately determine where Georgia lands on election night?

BOBBY SAPAROW, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR GA GOV. BRIAN KEMP: Yes, I think it's important to notice, as someone who works on campaigns, that I view polls more as trends less than fact.

So obviously, it's trending that Kamala Harris has made this a serious race. And Georgias a very tough state for either -- for both Donald Trump or Kamala Harris to win.

But I think the main point that Donald Trump should focus on is the economy and getting Kamala Harris to actually articulate what her agenda in policy positions are.

I think, as Georgians and Governor Kemp's done a fantastic job of talking about the economy. He got us through Covid. There's a lot of great policy points that he hit on during his 2022 race.

But what Donald Trump needs to focus on and I think the message he needs to try and hit voters with is, are you better off today or are you better off four years ago?

And I think if he can do that, he'll get right back on track and I think he'll be in a good position to win.

But to your point about the poll, two points, you know, Kamala's up two points, we're playing a little bit of catch-up, but I still think Georgia's Trump's to lose.

SANCHEZ: So after Governor Kemp's endorsement, the former president seem to make amends. He put out this message on social media.

Do you think, partly, it's a sign that Trump was concerned that this feud could cost him votes? I mean, we did see Republicans stay home for a number of Senate races that were crucial to control of that chamber of Congress.

[14:45:11]

SAPAROW: Yes. I can't speak on why President Trump did it, but I think there's a new approval number out for Governor Kemp today that had him at 64 percent.

I think everyone in the state knows Governor Kemp's the most popular elected official here by a pretty good margin.

And I also think it's important -- and I listened to the clip of Governor Kemp before. He said for over a year, he would support the Republican nominee. He's continued to do that and kept his promise.

But one of the things I think is also important is Governor Kemp in his political operation have created a great ground game that was created back in 2022.

That I think will be very important for the Trump campaign but also top-to-bottom candidates across the board, for that turnout operation to come into full effect and have a huge impact on Donald Trump winning the state of Georgia.

SANCHEZ: It is also interesting to me, Bobby, that, in the statements that I've seen from Kemp, he's maintained that Trump lost Georgia in 2020, though the former president doesn't seem to have accepted his defeat there.

SAPAROW: Yes, look, yes, the election was certified. Governor Kemp has held that that stance. But I think what's important with everything going on right now is there's a lot of questions it's about whether the 2020 election will have similar effects in 2024.

But one point that I think a lot of people are -- have not mentioned that's very important to this election, and I hope voters here this, is back in 2021, Governor Kemp, the Election Integrity Act, which made it easier to vote and hard -- harder to cheat, which created more transparency.

There was higher turnout for both Republicans and Democrats. There was less -- less wait times to vote, which is a big gripe that Democrats have had since 2018, that I think will bring confidence to the 2024 election.

That President Trump should feel confident that the outcome of this race will be -- will be safe can secure.

SANCHEZ: You alluded to making it harder to cheat. But again, there was no evidence of widespread fraud in Georgia, right?

SAPAROW: Right. And just to be clear, obviously, there's -- you know, it's not just Donald Trump and the MAGA lane who said this. There's also been Stacey Abrams and the Democrats who have been harping similar messages.

I think the point of it is the Governor Kemp believes the election was legitimate. Obviously, in elections, not everything is perfect. But I think the Election Integrity Act helped voters.

And I hope Georgia voters are hearing this. It created a great opportunity to prove that elections are safe and secure. But also the University of Georgia conducted a poll in the 2022

election, 99 percent said there was no issues, 97 percent had under five-minute wait times, and over 90 percent said they felt it was safe and secure.

So I think it's a positive momentum for the 2024 election just to show that voters should feel confident that this election will be secure and safe, and that there shouldn't be any issues with there being any, quote, unquote, "cheating"

SANCHEZ: Bobby Saparow, we have to leave the conversation there. Thanks for coming on.

SAPAROW: Thanks so much.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still to come, a warning today from the CDC after more deaths are linked to an outbreak of Listeria from Boar's Head deli meat. What you should be looking out for at the grocery store, when we come back.

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[14:52:53]

KEILAR: New today, health officials are warning about a deadly Listeria outbreak that has now claimed nine lives and made dozens of people so sick they had to go to the hospital. The outbreak is tied to some Boar's Head deli meat.

So let's bring in CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, on this story.

Jacqueline, how big has this outbreak gotten?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Oh, Brianna, this outbreak has become the largest Listeria outbreak the country has seen since 2011.

And so far, at least 57 people have been sick in this outbreak. All of them we're hospitalized. And this is across 18 different states. And sadly, nine people have died as part of this outbreak.

The deaths have been reported in New Jersey Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico, New York Illinois and South Carolina.

And, Brianna, the CDC has been investigating this outbreak since last month. And July is when Boar's Head recalled seven million pounds of its deli meat.

And so, Brianna, this is becoming something that is of concern. The recalled products contain the established number 12612 on their packaging. So that's what you went to look for inside the USDA mark of inspection.

If you have any recalled products in your refrigerator, throw them out. SANCHEZ: And what symptoms should people be looking out for, Jacqueline?

HOWARD: Listeria is a bacteria. And so, if you have a Listeria illness, then the symptoms you typically see will be fever, muscle aches, fatigue, stiff neck, sometimes even seizures.

And I will say, Brianna, there could be cases out there of people who've gotten sick and they didn't see their doctor. And so their illness wasn't reported. So this outbreak could possibly be larger than we realize.

And that's why, again, it's important to check your refrigerator, look for any recalled products.

If you do have recalled products, keep in mind, refrigeration does not kill the stereotype so that's why it is important to throw out anything that's been recalled.

KEILAR: All right, Jacqueline, thank you so much for that.

[14:54:57]

Coming up, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz sitting down for their first joint interview with our very own Dana Bash. We'll take a look at what is at stake.

CNN NEWS CENTRAL is back in a moment.

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[14:59:55]

SANCHEZ: A critical test. No teleprompter, no cheering crowd. Just Vice President Kamala Harris, her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, and CNN's Dana Bash asking the tough questions. The first sit down interview these two have had since becoming the Democratic presidential ticket.