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PBS and NPR on Cusp of Losing Federal Funding; Retail Sales Up 0.6 Percent in June, Rebound From May Decline; White House Gives Health Update on President Trump. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 17, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against the measure, citing concerns over how the cuts will affect smaller rural communities. The bill has moved to the House, where it could be up for a vote as early as tonight.

Joining us now is the CEO of National Public Radio, Katherine Maher. Katherine, thank you for being with us. How concerned are you about this for NPR, as well as PBS?

KATHERINE MAHER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: I mean, I think that the primary concern and the one I would want all of your viewers to understand is that the biggest harm to losing federal funding will be at the station level, which means that of the hundreds of stations, public media stations across the country, small stations in rural areas are likely to go dark because they will not have the funding to continue.

Of course, it will affect national broadcasters, but it is that local service that is so important, and it is that local service that our listeners and viewers turn to when they turn on their TVs, when they go to their radios, or when they go to seek that information over their digital devices.

KEILAR: Talk to us about the timeline here and the specific changes that viewers may be seeing. How quickly will they see these changes and what will they look like?

MAHER: It's a great question. So, I know that we've heard from some members of Congress that there's lots of time for people to absorb this, but the reality is, is that the new budget year has already started for many stations, meaning that they are waiting on those federal funds. That means they're already in a deficit relative to their ability to be budgeted for this year.

We also know that for those -- the federal cycle starts on October 1st, so we're talking really, truly just weeks away. It's very possible that by the end of this year, we will see harm to the station. It's possible that we'll see stations go dark, and it's possible to start to see holes in that national network that serves the country today. KEILAR: Republican Senator Mike Rounds worked out an agreement to actually keep funds flowing to rural radio stations in South Dakota, to your point. He says specifically that these tribal broadcast services provide "potentially life-saving emergency alerts." You had Alaska Senator Murkowski voting against the bill because she had similar concerns, safety concerns about rural Alaska. What are you expecting that to look like on the broad scale?

MAHER: Absolutely, and we really appreciate both Senator Rounds and Murkowski's support for their local stations, especially the support of Murkowski who has been able to maintain that commitment to the national network as well. Just last night, while the Senate was debating this bill, there was a 7.3 earthquake off the coast of Alaska and three local stations went immediately into action, broadcasting alerts to their communities.

In fact, the local sirens in those towns and cities notified residents to turn to their local broadcaster, their local public radio broadcaster for information, and staff members at atleast one of those stations stayed in the path of a potential tsunami in order to ensure that that information went through. This is not a service that can be replicated in other ways, and it's certainly not that community connection that would have people put themselves in harm's way to take care for their communities.

We're concerned about this, not just in coastal Alaska, not just in rural South Dakota. Now, our tribal nations, we're concerned about this in Appalachia, we're concerned about this given the increased instances of flooding across the country, deadly flooding around the nation, hurricanes, tornado warnings, public radio serves an incredibly important role in alerting and maintaining a connection with the community before a crisis, during a crisis, and after a crisis in the time of recovery.

KEILAR: Yeah. Certainly as a journalist, so many of us are familiar with our colleagues at PBS and NPR, they are among the best. But you are aware that a lot of the criticism here and the reasoning, the rationale that Republicans have for cutting funding has been what they call biased reporting. How do you respond to that? Especially, NPR's popular Morning Edition news program is so essential for so many people. What's your reaction though, to that criticism?

MAHER: Well, I really appreciate you saying that because I do think that we have some extraordinary reporters and producers on staff. They are people who take this job so seriously, and they do it both out of a commitment to the independent press and the role of journalism in this country, but also a real love for the public service that we provide. You see 3,000 local journalists across the country, many of whom spend their days crisscrossing enormous states, standing outside municipal town meetings, waiting to be able to report on the state championships of their local sports team.

So, we're talking about people who are in it, yes for the work, yes for -- but also for the love of what they do for their communities. When it comes to the accusation of bias, I would start, as I always start by saying, which is we of course are a non-partisan organization and we want to serve and are required to serve the entirety of the American public.

[13:35:00]

We have been working over the course of the past year under my leadership to ensure that we are listening to that criticism and ensuring we are hearing from audiences who feel as though perhaps our reporting does not serve them or reflect their voices in the way they'd like to hear. Today, we've invested in enhancements to our editorial process, increasing capacity for local reporters and state- based reporters, regional reporters, to be able to make sure we're lifting up and hearing voices from across the nation. It's our obligation to serve the whole country. It's a commitment that we have and certainly, we are going to keep doing that work in order to both understand those criticisms, but also to ensure that we remain the non-partisan organization that we are today.

KEILAR: Thank you so much for being with us, NPR CEO Katherine Maher.

MAHER: Thank you.

KEILAR: And coming up, the latest on the investigation into the murder of a UC Berkeley professor in Greece. Stay with us for that.

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[13:40:17]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Today, some positive news about the economy, even with concerns about the president's tariffs. The Commerce Department says retail sales actually bounced back in June after falling in May. Specifically, they rose 6 percent last month after a near 1 percent drop the month before. Economists are obviously closely watching consumer behavior as President Trump's tariffs begin to drive up prices of some goods and services.

Separate data out today shows the jobs market also remains resilient as new applications for employment benefits fell for the fifth straight week. CNN Business and Politics Correspondent, Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now. So, Vanessa, the retail sales report didn't account necessarily for inflation. Just what are we learning about this data here?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this data did come in better than expected, and as you note, increasing -- retail sales increasing by 0.6 percent. That is a marked turnaround from the prior two months of April and May, especially May where we saw that decline of 0.9 percent in retail sales. June's number really signals that the consumer is in a good place, but also it could signal that consumers are trying to buy ahead because they're nervous about tariffs going up even more.

But if you look at the last six months or so, what we have seen with retail sales, there's not really a trend there, right? You see dramatic declines in sales, then increases in sales. So it's really hard to say if June is an important month of what is to come. Also, worth noting that there are certain categories that we saw increases and decreases in the month of June. You can see those there. Furniture, electronics, slight declines, but people spending on food and drinking places. That's notable Omar, because that is discretionary spending and that is usually where consumers cut first. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Vanessa, appreciate the reporting as always. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, let's go now to the White House where Karoline Leavitt, the Press Secretary, has begun speaking.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- which I would like to highlight today. Joe Biden's inflation crisis has been defeated. Prices paid to American businesses for goods and services were flat in June, which is lower than all 50 forecasters and the Bloomberg survey predicted. And core inflation, which is the best measure of inflation, came in lower than expected again in the month of June. Since President Trump took office, core inflation has tracked at just 2.1 percent overall and has come in below or at economists' expectations every single month.

Wages are growing at a strong pace and prices are falling for everyday Americans. We also saw prices for new and used vehicles and airfares drop last month. In addition, prices for gas, fuel oil, energy, commodities, hotels, airfare, public transportation, and fresh vegetables are all down over last year. As we said all along, trust in President Trump, the American dream is back and everyday families are already reaping the benefits of this incredible economic turnaround in just six months.

President Trump has ended the era of economic surrender and implemented powerful tariffs to stand up for our workers and businesses and rebalance America's trading agreements. Despite all of the doom casting from the so-called experts claiming that these tariffs would be the end of the world as we know it, the opposite has occurred. Tariffs are not inflationary, as President Trump has said all along. In reality, tariffs are a source of massive revenue. We're seeing trillions of dollars in private investment pour into our country right now, because the companies around this world want to make their products right here with American labor and not have to pay any tariffs at all.

Customs and tariff revenue has already totaled more than $113 billion since President Trump entered office, helping to lead a budget surplus in June for the first time in nearly a decade. We are truly entering a golden age as a result of these pro-growth and America First trade policies.

On another matter, yesterday in the East Room, the president was proud to sign the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act into law surrounded by angel families to help finally end the devastating fentanyl crisis that has ravaged millions of Americans. Under the HALT Fentanyl Act, anyone who possesses, imports, distributes, or manufactures any illicit fentanyl related substances will be subject to criminal prosecution in the same manner as any other Schedule I controlled substance. [13:45:00]

This legislation will close the loopholes that criminals use to skirt around the law and make it easier for law enforcement to prosecute vicious traffickers who pedal poison in our communities. President Trump has always made tackling the drug crisis a top priority and this important bipartisan legislation further follows through on that commitment. The complete and total success at our southern border that many in the media in this room continue to ignore is another example of the president keeping his word to families who have lost loved ones due to fentanyl. And it is another win for the American people.

Customs and Border Protection just released the final operationalized stats for the month of June, and I must highlight some of these incredible numbers. There were only 6,072 Southwest apprehensions in June, 15 percent lower than the previous record that this president set in the month of March.

To put that in perspective, the Biden administration routinely saw the same number of encounters in a single day. And on many days, that number was more than 10,000 apprehensions at the southwest border. There were also zero illegal aliens released along the southwest border for the second consecutive month in a row. President Trump promised to end the illegal alien invasion, and he has delivered on that promise to the American people in record time. With the border sealed, deportations are ramping up.

This past weekend, our brave ICE agents were arresting violent, criminal, illegal aliens all across the country. ICE Atlanta arrested an illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of attempted rape of a child in North Carolina. ICE Baltimore arrested an illegal alien from Guatemala who was previously convicted for sexual abuse of a minor in Maryland. ICE Houston arrested a criminal illegal alien from Mexico whose previous conviction includes aggravated sexual assault of a child in Texas.

ICE Salt Lake City arrested a 32-year-old illegal criminal alien from Mexico who was previously convicted for child abuse and injury. ICE Baltimore arrested a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, convicted in Maryland for possession of child pornography. And ICE San Antonio arrested a criminal illegal alien from Mexico convicted of aggravated sexual assault in Texas. The men and women of ICE are heroes. They are putting their lives on the line every day to get the worst of the worst, these types of criminals out of our communities and out of our country.

And the president continues to strongly have the backs of all ICE agents who are doing their jobs to keep all of us, including everyone in this room, safe. The facility -- sorry, one second. And other news following President Trump's bold executive actions protecting American children from irreversible chemical and surgical mutilation, the largest provider of these barbaric practices will now be closing its doors. The facility in Los Angeles, California is just the latest facility, downsizing or eliminating their irreversible and harmful services that feed into the lie that you can somehow change a child's sex. The Biden administration peddled dangerous policies that defied medical science in favor of radical transgender ideology. But President Trump has put an end to that to ensure American children --

KEILAR: We're waiting more from this briefing, right now, the Attorney General has been visiting Alcatraz as, obviously, you hear Karoline Leavitt there talking about ICE. But we're also awaiting some questions, no doubt that she's going to get and we're going to see if she makes a statement about exactly what is planned with that facility, closed decades ago because of the exorbitant cost of running it. But obviously, the administration here looking at opening it back up. So, we will continue to follow that. We'll get a quick break in and be right back.

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LEAVITT: -- underway a comprehensive --

KEILAR: Let's listen into a health update of the president at the White House.

LEAVITT: -- including diagnostic vascular studies, bilateral lower extremity venous Doppler ultrasounds were performed and revealed chronic venous insufficiency, a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70. Importantly, there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease. Laboratory testing included a complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel, coagulation profile, D-dimer, B-type natriuretic peptide, and cardiac biomarkers.

[13:50:00]

All results were within normal limits. An echocardiogram was also performed and confirmed normal cardiac structure and function. No signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness were identified. Additionally, recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand. This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent hand shaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen. This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy, and the president remains in excellent health, which I think all of you witness on a daily basis here.

So, the president wanted me to share that note with all of you. I'm happy to take further questions on it. We will provide the memorandum from the president's position to all of you, as we always do, and we'll get to questions. Here in our new media seat, we have Frank Corva, who's the White House Correspondent for Bitcoin Magazine, which comes at a timely week with crypto legislation moving across Capitol Hill. So, why don't you kick us off, Frank, and thanks for being with us.

FRANK CORVA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BITCOIN MAGAZINE: Thank you so much. We appreciate it, Ms. Leavitt.

LEAVITT: Sure. CORVA: I was curious to hear if the president was in favor of removing any and all language around Central Bank digital currencies from the GENIUS Act, maybe as a means to get it across the line and get it on his desk. And then my second question was about something the president spoke about in this room. He talked about a $600 de minimis tax exemption for Bitcoin and other crypto spending. So, I was just wondering if you could comment on those.

LEAVITT: Sure. Well, the president did signal his support for a de minimis exemption for crypto, and the administration continues to be in support of that. We are definitely receptive to it to make crypto payments easier and more efficient for those who seek to use crypto as simple as buying a cup of coffee. Of course, right now that cannot happen. But, with the de minimis exemption, perhaps it could in the future and we will continue to explore legislative solutions to accomplish that.

As for the Central Bank digital currency and the GENIUS Act, which you noted, has passed through Congress and will be sent to the president's desk. I believe the House is voting on it. If they haven't, they should be passing it. We know we have the votes and we expect it to get to the president's desk and we are planning a signing ceremony tomorrow afternoon. All of you will get more details on that.

This piece of legislation is going to make America the crypto capital of the world, and that's what the president promised. As for a Central Bank digital currency, the president opposes that. He made that promise to the American people on the campaign. And while it's not in this specific piece of legislation, he did sign a January executive order banning a Central Bank digital currency. The administration supports Congress' efforts to codify that executive order into law, and I believe there will be future pieces of legislation in regards to crypto that will be moving through Capitol Hill.

The president looks forward to signing them, and he looks forward to the signing ceremony this afternoon. So, thank you for being with us today. Sure, Jacqui?

JACQUI HEINRICH, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Thank you, Karoline. There's been a lot of discussion about the Epstein files and the president's comments yesterday, calling it a hoax. Can you clarify which part of the Epstein hoax is the hoax part?

LEAVITT: The president is referring to the fact that Democrats have now seized on this as if they ever wanted transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, which is an asinine suggestion for any Democrat to make. The Democrats had control of this building, the White House, for four years and they didn't do a dang thing when it came to transparency in regards to Jeffrey Epstein and his heinous crimes. It was this president who directed the Department of Justice and the Attorney General to do an exhaustive review of all files related to Jeffrey Epstein, which they did.

The Attorney General and the FBI led by Pam Bondi, Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, these are great patriots, some of the most trusted voices in the Republican Party movement. It's part of the reason the president appointed him -- appointed them to these high law enforcement positions, and they spent many months going through all of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein, and they concluded what they found in that memo, which they drafted and they released.

And so, the president has been transparent. He has followed through on his promises to the American people, but he doesn't like to see Democrats and the mainstream media covering this like it's the biggest story that the American people care about. The president has been working so hard this week. On Tuesday, he went to Pennsylvania where he secured $90 billion in investments for the Commonwealth, for the people of that state. After that, he came back to the Oval Office at 8:00 p.m. He went in there to whip votes to get the GENIUS Act signed into law. And because of his efforts, that bill is now going to be signed and passed.

The following day, yesterday, he meets with a foreign leader, the King of Bahrain, to secure more investments into this country. And then yesterday afternoon, the president is in the East Room of the White House, mourning with parents who have lost their children because of fentanyl, signing a bipartisan piece of legislation and not a single cable network in this country took that event live and covered that event like they should.

[13:55:00]

Those are the issues the president cares about. What could be more important to the American people than helping families who have lost their children? Those are the issues this president is going to remain focused on.

HEINRICH: I understand he wants to move on from the story, but you do have some prominent figures, including the Senate Majority Leader, the House Speaker voicing support for the files to come out. Representative Massie collecting signatures that would force a discharge petition for a vote on the floor for this. It doesn't seem to be going away. What is stopping the administration from just redacting any sensitive information, grand jury information, and putting out what is appropriate so that the American people can decide and then let this story die?

LEAVITT: Well, in terms of redactions or grand jury seals, those are questions for the Department of Justice. Those are also questions for the judges who have that information under a seal. And that would have to be requested and a judge would have to approve that. That's out of the president's control. He has said in agreement with some of the leaders on Capitol Hill that if the Attorney General and the Department of Justice come across any other credible evidence, they should provide that to the American people. The president has said that and he agrees with them on that.

HEINRICH: Why did he fire Maurene Comey?

LEAVITT: The Department of Justice did, and I would defer you to them. Dasha?

DASHA BURNS, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: Has the White House been directly in touch with some of the MAGA influencers that are still not satisfied with the administration's handling? And has a message to them been similar to what the president has said, which is sort of either let this go or we don't need your support?

LEAVITT: Well, look, the president and this team are always in contact with the president's supporters, with voices of many kinds on both sides of the aisle. I think that's part of the reason this president is a great president because he's willing to listen and hear other people's perspectives. But ultimately, he has led this country not just over the past six months to historic success, but also through his first four years as president. And as the leader and the creator of the MAGA movement, he has led through these perilous times for our country based on instinct and in the best interest of the country. And as I always say, the American people should trust in President Trump. Jon?

JON DECKER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND SENIOR NATIONAL EDITOR, GRAY TELEVISION: Thanks a lot, Karoline. The president on Monday announced that if there's not compliance with Russia within 50 days, there would be increased tariffs. Can you explain how that works? First of all, what happens if Russia doesn't end its war with Ukraine in 50 days?

LEAVITT: Well, in 50 days, as the president clearly laid out, if there is not a ceasefire agreement or a peace deal within that timeframe, if Russia refuses to legitimately agree to a ceasefire, then they will face very steep tariffs and they will also face secondary sanctions. So, countries that are purchasing oil from Russia will be sanctioned as well and of course, that will do deep damage to Russia's economy. And I would just add that the president wants this -- still wants this war to end with a diplomatic solution. He's been pushing for it. This administration has spent many hours and a lot of time trying to solve this war, very far away, but the president wants to stop the killing and he wants to save lives. Reagan, go ahead.

DECKER: As far as the first part of what you are saying, Karoline --

LEAVITT: Reagan, go ahead.

REAGAN REESE, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY CALLER: I have two questions for you.

DECKER: It's just about, if I may, just about the tariffs. The first part, I get the secondary tariffs, but there was only $3 billion worth of trade between the U.S. and Russia in 2024. It's expected to be far less this particular year. On April 2nd, both you and the Treasury Secretary said it's not necessary to apply any tariffs on Russia. You said that because of the lack of trade, it precludes, that was the word you used, any need for tariffs. Why now? And why do you think that that would make them cave and come to some sort of peace agreement as it relates to Ukraine?

LEAVITT: $3 billion is still a lot of money, Jon. And it's not just tariffs. It's the secondary sanctions as well that will be implemented in 50 days. Reagan?

REESE: Thanks, Karoline. I have two questions for you. LEAVITT: Sure.

REESE: First on Congress. Congresswoman Salazar introduced legislation that would give some illegal immigrants in the country path to citizenship. 10 Republicans signed on to what she's calling the DIGNITY Act. I'm curious what the White House's position is on the legislation, and if the president would veto this bill if needed to discuss?

LEAVITT: From my understanding, the White House nor the president has actually read through this legislation. We've been focused on, of course, the one Big Beautiful Bill which passed, which is another historic accomplishment of this president in record time, the GENIUS Act this week, the Rescissions package, that's been the focus of the White House. But, the president has made it very clear he will not support amnesty for illegal aliens in any way.

REESE: And I want to give you a chance to respond to the CEO of NPR. She's claiming that the cuts to their network will "be real risk to public safety of the country." Congresswoman Murkowski has argued that public broadcasting stations save lives. Could you respond to these concerns?

LEAVITT: The NPR CEO said cutting NPR will be a risk to public safety. I am not sure how NPR helps the public safety of our country, but I do know that NPR, unfortunately, has become really just a propaganda voice for the left, just a few examples for you. In 2020 --