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Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is Interviewed about the Blanche Hearing; Houston Mayor John Whitmire is Interviewed about the ICE Shooting; Wholesale Inflation Cooled in June; Polls on Inflation; House Passes Bill on Daylight Saving Time. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 15, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Are going to ask some tough questions. Prepare for fireworks.

Joining us now is New Jersey Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer.

It's so good to see you.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Thanks for having me.

SIDNER: I see you smiling there because you know the fireworks are going to happen.

I would -- I just want to ask you --

GOTTHEIMER: A lot of fireworks, I think.

SIDNER: A lot of fireworks.

What would Todd Blanche have to say or do to gain your trust that he is the right person to be the U.S. attorney general?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, obviously, it will be up to the Senate and their hearing to ask the questions. I'll tell you what I'd be asking about is, a, Epstein files, what happened? What was your involvement? B, the slush fund, which obviously is ludicrous and I think everyone in the judicial world knows it was ridiculous to say the president could have a slush fund to go after his personal enemies. That was, obviously, dictated by the Department of Justice. And what was Mr. Blanche's involvement in all that?

And of course, you know, the big thing is, the attorney general is not the president's personal lawyer. I know the president has, with Pam Bondi, has tried to use the attorney general as his personal lawyer, but it's the country's lawyer and not out there to do his dirty work and do a retribution campaign. I think that would be my biggest concern.

Blanche was the president's personal lawyer. He's not, you know, as attorney general. The key is for him not to continue to serve in that capacity, but to be the country's lawyer. And that's my biggest concern. SIDNER: You have many different questions, 1776 fund and the Epstein

files and how that was handled and has continued to be handled. Those are top of your list, I think, as many of your colleagues feel the same.

I do want to go to the U.S. war with Iran now. President Trump is floating the idea of the U.S. policing the Strait and charging something like 20 percent of a sort of toll for ships going through. He is also in a position where he was asked about whether or not he could rule out troops on the ground, and he said he would not rule that out.

How do you think this should all be handled, and what do you think of the job he's doing so far?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think he's backed off that toll already. The U.S. toll already backed off, I believe, yesterday. Rightly so. I mean I think the most important thing is to get the Straits open.

But what's very clear, to your question about how is the conflict going? Obviously, it's the -- it's a conflict without a clear strategy. And we don't have a clear strategy. And you haven't made the case continuously to Congress or to the American people of what your plan is to stop what is clearly, and I believe deeply, not a friend of the United States, like a clear adversary, the Iranian regime, right? They've got a very sophisticated nuclear program, terror program, ballistic missile program, drone program, right? These are -- and they clearly don't believe in democracy or freedom for their own people, or in our approach to life, you know, they are an enemy.

But you actually have to sell to the public what -- you know, why it's imminent that we deal with them and what the strategy is to actually handle it. And all that's happened, at least appears to the country is, we've got a new problem that's developed where they're blocking the Straits of Hormuz and people's oil prices are going up, right? And the natural gas prices are up and oil prices are up. And it's wreaked havoc on the global economy.

So, that's where we are. And I would hope that the president would come out and say, if we're going to stay involved, here's our endgame, here's our plan, at least here's our strategy of what we're trying to achieve. And, as you know, it's changed every day. It's totally unclear. And that's a huge frustration.

SIDNER: All right, I want to go to some domestic policy now. According to trace, which tracks gun violence in America since January 2025 at least eight people, including two Americans, have been killed by immigration agents. In less than a week there have been two fatal shootings, one in Texas, one in Maine.

We just heard from the president, who sort of seemed to reverse what Tom Homan said. Tom Homan said, look, we're going to pause doing traffic stops as an agency for a bit. The president said, we should not pause those. I guess to you, and this is what he just put out this morning, does ICE need to be reined in or change tactics? GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think, first of all, we've got to immediately

investigate these last two shootings. And obviously, like everyone, I'm deeply concerned. I'm concerned also that the officers apparently do not have body cameras on. And it's unclear of their extent of training, or if they got proper training, had time for training. So, those are two questions I want to know the answer to. And I also want to see the outcome of the investigation of, in these instances and other instances, where I think we need more transparency.

I thought it was a good step that the Department of Homeland Security took action and said, were going to freeze all auto stops until we get some, until we understand what's happening here and what things need to be fixed. And I would hope that the department moves forward with that despite the president's comments today. I think it's really important to make sure these officers have proper training, there's clear transparency, there's clear investigations, more -- and accountability when this happens.

[08:35:02]

And it seems to me that's been the direction the department has moved in since Noem has left. But -- and -- but this is going to be a key test of that.

SIDNER: I do want to lastly ask you this. You talked about transparency. DHS, as it did in the Alex Pretti case, started with one story, that he was brandishing his gun at an agent, and ended up changing that story later because video came out to show that they lied about it.

In Maine, DHS initially told the public the man was shot. He was part of a operation, that he was a target of an operation. But then the new head of DHS, Markwayne Mullin, has now said he was not the target. He ended up dead anyway. How can the public trust DHS to be truthful? I mean, do you trust what is coming out of there, especially in the initial --

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think that's why --

SIDNER: Go ahead.

GOTTHEIMER: No, no, I mean it's the right question to ask. I think this is exactly why you have independent investigations. This is why you bring in the FBI or you bring in an attorney general, or you bring in a U.S. attorney to do these investigations and to make sure that there's an independent audit of what happened, right? I mean, listen, when you're in the middle of things, obviously there's a lot going on and a lot of different facts come out in the beginning, as you know, and all these things. That's why you actually take the time and figure out -- put the pieces together and figure out what happened and then you can have accountability, then you can have transparency.

But I think the big thing we should focus on now is, are we doing the right training, right? Are the agents get the right -- are they getting the right training they need? Are they following the right protocols and procedures? And are they being held accountable for failures, right? And I think those are the kind of things that the public needs to know about, and especially in what happened in these instances.

SIDNER: When there is life or death on the line, that is usually what the public expects.

GOTTHEIMER: When there's life and death -- there's life and death on the line. By the way, it's not -- and it's probably life and death at the worst, right, but there's a lot of things in between also that I think the public deserves to know about. And there should be transparency and accountability because, as you know, their operations are wide and there have been involved in a lot of communities all across the country. And there's a lot of questions out there.

So, right, you need to give people answers so that they feel confidence and comfort of what's going on. And, of course, in these worst case situations, when there is a life or death situation, you really need to make sure you move fast in these investigations and you -- and you come clean with the public.

SIDNER: Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thank you so much for joining us early this morning. Appreciate it.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: One of those fatal ICE shootings was in Houston, Texas, last week. And just last night, Houston's police chief and the mayor of Houston asked the Texas Department -- the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch its own investigation into that shooting and death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.

Joining me right now is the mayor of Houston, John Whitmire, to talk more about this.

Mayor, thank you for being here. I appreciate your time.

MAYOR JOHN WHITMIRE, HOUSTON: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: So first, I want to ask about what seems to be some -- I mean it is confusion today over what DHS and ICE tactics are that are allowed in your city and others. DHS and Tom Homan said there's now a pause on most traffic stops after these shootings. But the president, just this morning on social media, said that we cannot give up on that tactic, he said, the traffic stops.

In Houston, are -- what's your understanding? Are they happening or are they not?

WHITMIRE: Well, obviously, that was breaking news as I got to work this morning. It's unfortunate. I thought certainly a pause was appropriate. In fact, I would go a step further. I'm asking for a moratorium. Maybe a 90-day moratorium to allow DHS, Homeland Security, to review their policies, their model. It's obviously, to anyone, any objective person knows that their methods are not working. They've got to be trained, called back in, de-escalation. You know, major cities have trained their officers to de-escalate.

Apparently, the ICE officers get no such training. And if you don't remember anything else I'll say this morning is, they should do a moratorium until they can fit everyone with a body camera. Body cameras work. As a member of the legislature, we debated it. It is an honest, hard-working law enforcement officer's best friend. There wouldn't be the speculation that we've had for a week now. The facts would show the conduct of the officers, the conduct of Mr. Araujo.

So, I'm very frustrated. I'm sad. I'm mad. But mostly frustrated. Frustrated because we need DHS to allow independent authorities to investigate. We've asked for the Texas Rangers. We're working with our district attorney. We're furnishing everything HPD has. Metro video, 911 tapes, but we need the participation of the federal government.

And this is what really irritates me. Where's the compassion? Where's the compassion from the federal government? You know, these are -- Mr. Araujo ought to be going to work this morning. So, there's a pattern there. There's a series of tragedies, and it must stop.

[08:40:03]

Not certainly only in Houston, but across this nation. These are human beings.

So, regardless of your party affiliation, or your policy on immigration, come together and fix the immigration enforcement policies. They're broken.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you, so, you have asked for the Texas Rangers now to conduct their own investigation. You've also acknowledged, I've heard you say, that the FBI was tightly controlling the evidence. Can you -- tell me more about this. What has been asked for? What has been withheld? What -- do you not trust the federal investigation they say is happening?

WHITMIRE: We want an independent, transparent investigation. The FBI met with my police chief and the district attorney yesterday. They are doing a search this morning of the vehicle. So, the FBI is examining the conduct on the scene. The preparation, the identifying of Mr. Araujo, the evidence, the witnesses are all DHS controlled. So, we need collaboration. We need the federal government.

They called in the Texas Rangers in south Texas because they admitted they didn't have the resources. So, in Houston, we have asked the Texas Rangers, probably the best investigative body in the world, to come investigate this with a thorough, transparent investigation. But we cannot continue to have these tragedies across the U.S. It's not only so upsetting, and the loss to the family, but the entire community. Its impacted America. So, where is the compassion just as a human being?

BOLDUAN: Of course, I want to -- I want to ask you really quick -- just real quick on your investigation.

WHITMIRE: So, I get -- I get angry as I sit here. BOLDUAN: I -- oh, I -- believe me, I can -- I can understand it. And I can -- I can sense that from you, Mayor. But when it comes to this investigation, have any state, county, any Texas investigator, I'll say, had access to the three men who saw what happened, who were in the car with Araujo?

WHITMIRE: I understand Congresswoman Garcia, Silvia Garcia, met them last Sunday night. She had individual visits with each one of them. She's reported back to me, her visits.

But no, the evidence is controlled by the DHS. The DHS, as I mentioned, asked for assistance in south Texas. We would like the same here. Let the Texas Rangers come, come in their community with their expertise and investigate.

We are planning Mr. Araujo's funeral. He ought to -- for Friday. We ought to be going to work. Where's the compassion? It's impacting this community. Houston has not had the disruption of other major cities over this issue, and we're not going to because we are united together to see that a proper investigation is conducted. And we certainly are doing everything we can to support the family.

So, I'm calling on Homeland Security. I'm calling on Washington. Please do a moratorium against any enforcement. I'm not calling for the ending of ICE. I'm saying, do it right. Training. And as I told you a moment ago, body cameras change behavior. I know it as a fact.

So, if we had a body camera, we could hold everyone accountable. All the parties accountable. But for some reason, they don't want body cameras. A body camera is an officer's best friend. If he's a law- abiding, hardworking, honest officer. It also exposed corrupt officers and those that ought to be held accountable.

BOLDUAN: OK.

WHITMIRE: So, I'm going to be working in that direction. Washington, please come together in a bipartisan fashion. Regardless of your policy on immigration, come together to save lives. And that's a really basic request.

BOLDUAN: Let me -- let me ask you this, though, before I let you go. You have faced some criticism from residents in the community --

WHITMIRE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: For not taking a stronger stance against ICE and DHS in light of this. Would you characterize your response to this shooting, your response to DHS and ICE and the administration here as treading carefully or lightly in fear of retaliation by the Trump administration, in light of this shooting?

WHITMIRE: Well, obviously, those are political critics and I don't have time for politics. I have shown you my passion to getting to the bottom of this. It occurred last Tuesday, a week ago. I spoke out Wednesday in council. I called for an independent, transparent investigation. Thursday night, we learned more information from Congresswoman Garcia. Friday, I called for a transparent investigation.

My police chief, former Texas Ranger, has been conducting investigations, sharing everything we have as an HPD office with this district attorney.

[08:45:09]

Metro tape, 911 video. I can't tell you how we continue to dialog with the district attorney. But the jurisdiction is federal. They control the evidence. We're asking them to release that to the Texas Rangers. And I'm also calling for this moratorium.

It's broken. It's not working. I don't want to get -- it's not even debatable. The Saint Augustine tragedy of yesterday. Maine. I could go through the whole list. We can have an immigration policy that works going after violent offenders, not our nannies, not our construction workers. These are residents.

And it impacts not only the tragedy within the family, but the entire community and the entire city. And, in fact, I will say, America. We need to be focusing on more productive projects.

BOLDUAN: OK.

WHITMIRE: But it's something that we're going to work on until we get to the bottom of it. I have a commitment to the family. I've met them at the memorial site. Nothing is more important for not only Houston, this family, but I'm suggesting this morning for America.

BOLDUAN: And this --

WHITMIRE: Stop it. Go back to training. You --

BOLDUAN: This is --

WHITMIRE: Look at background checks to these officers.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

WHITMIRE: Don't be giving them -- and for -- the hell with quotas. Quotas. you got to do away with them. That brings on bad behavior. Law enforcement can get their job done if they're properly trained, held accountable. Body cameras. I've seen it before and after body cameras existed in the state of Texas.

BOLDUAN: Well, I can --

WHITMIRE: They change behavior. They hold people accountable. And --

BOLDUAN: And you can absolutely this morning see your passion and your frustration there.

WHITMIRE: And let's just get it done. I'm so -- I'm so --

BOLDUAN: I appreciate it.

WHITMIRE: I am frustrated, because you know what?

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

WHITMIRE: I know we can do it better. We are a can-do city and a can- do America. So, let's fix it.

BOLDUAN: Mayor --

WHITMIRE: And be compassionate, please, Mr. President. Yes.

BOLDUAN: Mayor John Whitmire, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we do have breaking news.

Just moments ago, new data on inflation. This on the producer side. Cooling a little bit last month. But what about going forward?

Let's get right to CNN's David Goldman for the latest on this.

What are you seeing?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: All right, so yesterday we had the consumer prices. These are the producer prices. It's basically wholesale. Up 5.5 percent. This was 6.5 percent last month. That is a big decline. We want to see that. Minus 0.3 percent might not sound like a lot, but that is the first time we've had a month to month decline in wholesale prices in a year.

So, what's going on here? Well, energy was still up 23 percent over the course of the year, but it was down 6.4 percent over the course of the month. That is good news. And that's what's dragging it down.

But, of course, oil prices are rising again, up 21 percent over the course of the month. So, that's something we're a little worried about.

BERMAN: Oh. So, that could get all washed out there basically.

GOLDMAN: It could get all washed out.

BERMAN: And the core, when you strip it all out, how's core doing?

GOLDMAN: Core basically strips out energy, food. It's OK. This was down from 4.9 percent in the previous month. We like to see that. It could have gone down a little bit more considering how far monthly prices fell. Still the right direction.

BERMAN: Again, and this measurement was from before this recent, you know, what, ten, 15 percent increase in oil. So --

GOLDMAN: That's right. We're looking back in time. Now we're in the present. It's hard to predict the future, John.

BERMAN: All right, David Goldman, thank you very much for that.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, I am here with our favorite person. Let's talk a little --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Oh, I love that. Yes.

SIDNER: I meant Mike behind the camera, but, fine, you can take the credit.

ENTEN: Oh.

SIDNER: Let's talk more about inflation in America with chief data analyst Harry Enten.

All right, consumer inflation did improve in June, but did Trump's numbers, among Americans, improve along with it?

ENTEN: No, not really. I mean, look, the inflation numbers may be coming down from very high levels, but the American people aren't moving along with those levels. You could just see it right here. I mean, take a look at the trend here. Trump's net inflation on approval -- on inflation, look at this. In January of 2025 he was at minus six points. Then he hit rock bottom in May of 2026, according to the Ipsos poll, he's at minus 50 points. Did he improve? Yes, maybe a tiny, tiny bit at minus 47 points. But the bottom line is, the long term trend for Donald Trump's net approval rating on inflation is down, down, down. These are numbers that wrecked presidencies. These are numbers that Republicans do not want to see going into a midterm election. Even at this slightly lower number holds, you can bet that Republicans would be in for a whole heck of a lot of pain come November.

SIDNER: All right, I love it when you take us back in history and give us comparisons. So, compare this -- these numbers with other presidents.

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, you see this minus 47, right?

[08:50:01]

How does that -- sort of put its place in history? It's historically bad at this point in a presidency. I mean just take a look here. Net approval rating on inflation about this time in a presidency. Jimmy Carter, of course, inflation ruined his presidency. He was down there at minus 44 points. How about Joe Biden according to the Ipsos poll in June of 2022. Look at this. He was at minus 43 points.

Who takes the cake at the worst, at least according to Ipsos? Take a look there. Donald John Trump at minus 47 points. All these numbers are bad. They're all in the same neighborhood. They're sort of within the margin of error of each other. But if you're looking at these two numbers, and you understand history and you understand how inflation impacts presidencies, you do not want to be, if you're Donald John Trump, in the brotherhood with Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter on inflation, because inflation ruined their presidencies. And unless this number improves, and given that the gas prices seem to be climbing higher again, it probably won't. That means, as I said, a whole heck of a lot of pain for Republicans come the midterms.

SIDNER: There is a fallout. The Iran war starting up again.

ENTEN: Yes.

SIDNER: That means prices go up. Then people get pissed. Sorry, for lack of a better word. I know your mother's not happy with that.

ENTEN: It's OK. She loves you.

SIDNER: One last thing. You know, a lot of people -- and I love her back. A lot of people will look at this and say, hey, look, the world has been dealing with inflation. America is dealing with the same thing. Like, what's the big deal? What are you seeing?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, just take a look here. Inflation the past year, the rest of the G7 average, look at that, 2.5 percent. The United States CPI, even worse at 3.5 percent.

And I'll note that Joe Biden, in his final year, inflation, the CIPI, was three percent. We are still at a worse level right now than Joe Biden saw in his final year. No wonder the American people are pissed off.

SIDNER: All right, Harry Enten -- I made you use the word. We are both going to get our hands slapped by Madame Enten.

ENTEN: It's fine.

SIDNER: But it's fine.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning, a new push to stop addictive scrolling. More on the social media curfew that the U.K. is trying to impose on teenagers.

And Gus, the t-rex, has crushed the record now for the most -- to be now the most expensive fossil ever. How expensive? We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:55:50]

SIDNER: All right, on our radar for you this morning, this is really fascinating. Many parents already have placed a curfew for their teens. But what about a curfew for their social media? The U.K. is now planning to introduce a new social media curfew for 16- and 17-year- olds that would ban them from using the apps from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. It's part of the country's announcement last month to ban all social media for those who are under the age of 16. But the new curfew won't be mandatory. That's the catch. The teens can simply opt out by changing their settings. We'll see how that goes. Also, a rare tyrannosaurus rex skeleton from South Dakota just had a

major payday. Gus the t-rex sold for a record $50.1 million. We don't even need the point one, like $50 million at Sotheby's Auction in New York. The fossil, which is about 67 million years old, which is how I feel when I get up at 3 a.m., 38 feet long and 12.5 feet tall makes Gus one of the largest t-rex ever found. He was named after a cattle rancher who owned the land where the fossil was found. The identity of the buyer is still unknown. We will check John's closet.

BERMAN: The dinosaur gets none of the money, by the way.

SIDNER: Which is -- actually, his family should get something. Maybe --

BERMAN: The dinosaur gets nothing.

SIDNER: Right. All right, here's -- you're going to like this. Squeeze what? A 77-year-old south Florida woman's new license plate is the talk of her retirement home. The woman says she went, quote, "ballistic" when she opened her mail and saw the plate with SQZ-A55. Now, if you -- if you look at that, I'm just going to say it out loud to spell it out for the rest of you, squeeze ass, that's what it seems to say. She plans to, at least for now, keep it after she notifies the -- she should keep it, obviously, John. You know --

BERMAN: It's an inspiration to all of us, right?

SIDNER: Oh, my gosh. Do not come after me like this. I will call HR.

BERMAN: And she walks away.

All right, this morning, the House of Representatives has voted to end the practice of changing the clock twice a year and going 100 percent Daylight Saving Time. It now goes to the Senate, where there are notables, defenders of standard time.

I will note, I actually think the majority of people involved in this debate don't even understand what it actually means. That said, Tom Foreman has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After years of this being raised as a debate in Congress, the House has voted resoundingly to ditch the switch, meaning that we would not jump from Daylight Saving Time to not Daylight Saving Time every spring, every fall. Instead, it would be permanently Daylight Saving Time.

The argument for this has long been that it's a meaningless ritual that confuses people, that makes life difficult in a lot of ways. The argument against it has been that doing this in some parts of the country could force more people to take costly measures to deal with more work in the darkness. It could create more hazards for people who have to travel in the darkness, including school kids.

The bottom line, though, is this has been considered for a long time, and now the only debate is, can it survive the Senate where its prospects are not clear?

We do know this though, Donald Trump has long suggested he doesn't like the idea of Daylight Saving Time. So, if the Senate does pass it, the president will sign it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SIDNER: All right, these are live pictures happening at this very moment. As you see, the room there filling up there on Capitol Hill for what could be one of the most contentious and certainly the biggest hearing that we expect to hear this summer.

We are expecting some fireworks as the Senate Judiciary Committee begins to grill Todd Blanche, who is going after the A G. official position. They're going to talk to him about a lot of different topics.

We see people filling in there. You also see some flowers there and some black bunting. That is to honor Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away unexpectedly this past week.

CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is on Capitol Hill this morning watching all this unfold.

[09:00:03]

But this could be a big, big day for the DOJ because watching this, I think, we're going to get a lot of questions