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Vice President Vance Holds First White House Press Briefing in Over 40 Days; Tropical Storm Edouard's Flood Threat Not Over for Texas; 1,200-Plus Dead, 5,000-Plus Missing in Nepal After Flooding. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 04, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:33:13]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We've been watching this podium very closely for the past half hour. Because at any moment, we're set to hear from Vice President J.D. Vance. The White House holding its first press briefing in 40 days. And the Vice President has a lot of questions to answer about the war with Iran, the ongoing effort against inflation and energy prices, and of course, the midterm elections now only a couple of months away. So we will bring you the question-and-answer session as well as any remarks from the vice president as soon as he walks through that door.

We're also following the flood threat looming over southeast Texas from Tropical Storm Edouard because it is not over. The system has dumped more than 20 inches of heavy rain and it has barely budged, largely staying intact since making landfall Tuesday near the border with Louisiana. Edouard should soon be winding down but more rain is coming today. Let's get the latest forecast from CNN Meteorologist, Allison Chinchar. Allison, is there some relief on the way?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. But it's going to take a little while before we get there. You can see we still have rain on the radar across portions of Texas and also into Louisiana. A new strong line of thunderstorms has just started to form just to the west and north portions of Houston. That's going to continue into the evening. That's why you still have the threat for flooding even as we go into the evening, the overnight hours and very early into Friday because of what is anticipated over the next several hours.

Here you can see, again, we've got several flash flood warnings still in effect. A lot of those are not going to go away anytime soon until it stops raining. Just because even adding simply another inch or two inches on top of what they've already had is enough to trigger additional flooding, because they have had plenty. Especially this area you see here, the orange, the red colors indicating at least six inches. And then you start to see the pink and even a little bit of white, these are the areas that have picked up over a foot of rain, some cases nearly two feet of rain in just the last few days.

[13:35:00] Now here's a look at the forecast radar. We do still have rain in the forecast today, tomorrow. But then finally by Saturday, we should start to see a lot of these areas begin to dry back out, maybe not entirely, but starting to see those rain chances coming back down at least a little bit. Most of these areas still only expected to pick up about an extra one to two inches of rain. This hot heat dome kind of really dominating keeping a lot of that rain from really moving too far north.

Now that dome is also responsible for all of these showers and thunderstorms, even severe thunderstorms across areas of the Midwest and into the Mid-Atlantic, and that will continue into the evening hours tonight. You can see we've already got several severe thunderstorm warnings in effect. That is only going to increase as we go through the afternoon and evening hours. More of those showers and thunderstorms expected to develop. So all of this area you see here, especially the orange target point. You're talking Cleveland, Pittsburgh, those are the areas that have the highest chance for some severe thunderstorms.

Yes, you're talking the potential, at least for an isolated tornado, but really the most widespread concern here is going to be damaging winds for a lot of these areas. You have that first wave that moves through the Midwest down into the Mid-Atlantic, then the second wave that comes in through it just shortly there behind it. So a lot of these areas you'll get the first wave and then a secondary wave comes in either very early into Friday or continuing into the second half of the day Friday.

So again, a lot of these areas keeping an eye out, especially those folks in the Northeast that have already picked up so much rain the last few days, even getting an extra shower of thunderstorm could trigger additional flooding.

SANCHEZ: A lot to keep an eye on. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

So the death toll from last week's devastating flooding in Nepal continues to rise amid the desperate search for survivors. Disaster Authority officials say more than 1,250 people have died, while the number of people missing surpassed 5,000. Meantime, hope is fading that rescue teams will find hundreds of workers who were feared trapped alive inside some hydropower tunnels. Thick mud has buried those facilities.

A police chief in one of the worst hit districts said that hopes of finding the workers alive was declining, but added that crews are still doing their very best.

Still ahead, the president is trying to project a triumphant tone when it comes to inflation, but some members of his own party sounding different in their midterm messaging, we'll show you next.

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[13:41:52] SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. We are continuing to watch this podium at the White House, where we're anticipating Vice President J.D. Vance. We did get a two-minute warning about five minutes ago, so it is possible that he will walk through that door as I am speaking.

Otherwise, we're going to move on to other news and bring you the vice president's remarks as they happen. All right, so we'll move on from that, but we will be watching it very closely. With the midterm elections quickly approaching, and as Americans struggle with rising prices on gas, groceries, and more, President Trump continues to falsely claim that prices around the country are rapidly falling.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're also helping bring down grocery prices for hardworking Americans, and they're coming down very rapidly.

Now, inflation is way down. Everything is great. We have the prices are coming down.

We have the greatest economy that I've ever had. We had one of the greatest economies in history in my first term. This is blowing it away, and the prices are all coming down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: As the president repeats those false claims on the economy, some Republican midterm candidates are running political attack ads that acknowledge the reality.

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ZACH LAHN, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR IOWA GOVERNOR: On our farm here in Belle Plaine, we see it every day. Gas, groceries, everything is expensive. Iowa families are hurting.

REP. ZACH NUNN, (R-IA): Hardworking Iowans are doing everything right, and still struggling to achieve the American dream. Housing costs keep rising, and it's getting harder to afford a place to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN Senior Reporter, Daniel Dale joins us now. Daniel, this is a delicate balance for these Republican candidates to empathize with voters when it comes to affordability without getting blamed.

Daniel, we're going to hold that thought because here is Vice President J.D. Vance at the White House. Let's listen.

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's a matter of the administration that we're very proud of. So, first of all, you probably saw the announcement earlier in Michigan, earlier this week in Michigan, that we have taken over 2,000 fraudulent CDL mills out of business, which makes America's roads safer and also protects the jobs of American truckers. And so if you're an American trucker wondering why it is that the last administration facilitated illegal aliens driving semi-trucks on our roads, or if you're an American who just shares a road with somebody who isn't properly qualified, we've made the roads safer. We've seen trucker wages go up by 7.5 percent, and that effort was obviously led by our Anti-Fraud Task Force because so many of these people were engaged in effectively fraudulent driving. They were getting these diplomas, these CDLs, through fraudulent means.

We stopped that. We're very proud of it. And I want to give a special shout-out to Secretary Sean Duffy at the Transportation Department for helping us in facilitating that work. And it goes into our broader effort, which is we're trying to make sure that your tax dollars and basic institutional trust is protected by your government.

Whether it's a guy who gets a commercial driver's license to drive on the road or whether it's a person applying for Medicaid or Medicare benefits, the people who get these things should be legally entitled and should qualify. And for too long, we had a government that basically just gave out your money, the American taxpayer's money, to people who didn't qualify for it. We've put a stop to that, having found, I think, north of $200 billion in fraud and we're going to keep, of course, working on that in the months and years to come.

[13:45:00]

The second thing I want to talk about a little bit is the Venezuela oil deal, which I know some of you will have questions on, but I think it's just an amazing testament to what a smart foreign policy could look like and how it feeds back in to good outcomes for the American people. So as a lot of you know, and I think even some of the more liberal outlets in here had talked about, we had for a very long time the Biden administration draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve purely for the purpose of lowering gas and oil costs.

There wasn't an international crisis. There wasn't a foreign nation that was trying to disrupt world energy markets. There was just an administration that was trying to juice gas prices for the midterms. And what that meant is for Americans, our Strategic Petroleum Reserve under the administration got extraordinarily low. Well, now, we're using, of course, the successful Venezuela operation and some of the friendships and some of the relationships that have developed in the wake of that operation to create what is effectively a new 65 billion barrel of oil reserve for the United States of America.

And the way that that's going to work is that private companies, American companies can go in there, generate a lot of oil revenue. Obviously, that's going to mean world oil markets get only more supply that will lower costs for Americans. That means a lot of is going to go to the people of Venezuela. But also, thanks to the deal struck by Marco and Pete Hegseth and others in the administration, it actually sets us up to where the American people will directly receive some of the royalties as well.

So it's good for Venezuelans. It's good for anybody who's buying gas. And it's good for the American taxpayer as well. So it's very much a win-win thing. We're very proud of it. And I also just think that it gives supply stability in the energy market.

I think if we've learned anything over the last six months, but importantly, if we've learned anything over the last 40 years, it's that these things, the supply of critical minerals and resources really matters. We had an administration for a very long time that underinvested in this stuff. And now we're trying to change that. And we're doing so quite successfully.

A couple of other final points. So for all the kids at home and their parents, importantly, today is -- I believe tomorrow is the last day of the second lady's summer reading challenge. So let me give a little plug for the second lady who I think has done an amazing job. And we've had an amazing outpouring of support, but you've got to return your summer reading challenge stuff in by tomorrow. You can go to whitehouse.gov in order to do that.

And just on a personal note, obviously, Usha has been very busy this summer. We now have a six-week-old baby who is happy and healthy. So honey, I love you. I'm very proud of you. And amazingly, you keep everything together despite the chaos and despite the craziness. And speaking of chaos and craziness, I will now take questions from all of you.

Let me start here with Nick, who I believe is the new media chair. Nick, what do you got for me?

NICK GILBERTSON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BREITBART NEWS: Thanks, Mr. Vice President. Today is the first White House press briefing since the departure of the great Karoline Leavitt. A key part of her legacy, the defining part, was bringing more voices, not less, into this room. And that's something our founder, Andrew Breitbart, certainly believed in. From the first briefing, she added this seat, the new media seat that I'm in today.

What does the President, what do you, and what does the White House plan to do to continue that legacy and to empower new media?

VANCE: Sure. So before I answer that question, let me just say a word about Karoline Leavitt, who is an amazing person, an amazing mom, was an amazing colleague here at the White House, and was not just a person who stood up here and answered your questions, and I think did so admirably, but was also just an amazing part of the very cohesive team that we had working here in the West Wing. Just an amazing person.

She texted me this morning and wished me good luck, because obviously going up against all of you is very dangerous business. But she's going to do great in whatever she does next, and we're very grateful to her. So Karoline, if you're watching, which hopefully you're not, but if you're watching, thank you for your service, thank you for your friendship, and thanks for doing a great job.

And yes, one of her legacies, one of her many legacies, I would say, is that she opened up this room to non-legacy media. And why does that matter? I mean, if you look at one of the biggest transformations that have existed in this country over the last 20 or 30 years, it's the rise of digital technology. Now that means a lot of different things for a lot of different people.

But for this industry, what it's meant is that a lot of people have been able to get access to information, have been able to get access to telling stories to the American people, not because they have a credential, or not because they have a connection, but because they have something interesting to say. And I would certainly put you in that category, Nick, and obviously our friends at Breitbart. But for too long, this room, and I think this city, have tried to lock out non-legacy media. They've seen it as a threat to themselves, and we actually think that it's an amazing way to democratize access to information.

You should not have to have a fancy credential or a lot of money to tell a story to the American people. And if you think of like the heart of the First Amendment is that all of us are allowed to speak.

[13:50:00]

But if only some people are actually given a microphone, if only some media outlets are actually given access, then it strikes not just the heart of your ability to tell a story, it actually makes it harder for people to get access to their First Amendment rights. And you know, with all due respect to all the people in this room, there were a lot of Americans who felt like they were not properly represented by the information that was on the airwaves, the traditional media.

So we're going to stay committed to that legacy. We're going to build on that legacy. And I think that you and a lot of other new media types should certainly expect to have a lot of access in the months and years to come, just as the traditional media does. And I do think, you know, not to brag on my boss too much, but I do think the president has set us about to be the most transparent administration in history. And we have done that with flying colors.

If you just look back to the last administration, I mean, even the Democrats in the room, and I know you guys, if you're being honest, most of you are Democrats, you would have to admit that the level of access, the level of access to the president of the United States, the vice president, the senior team here, it's just completely off the charts. Now, why does the president do that? He doesn't do it just because, you know, he wants to or it's fun, though I think he definitely has a little bit of fun with it.

He does it because he believes that part of governing a constitutional republic is to make yourselves accessible to the American people. So we do that. And we're going to do that with nontraditional media. We'll continue to do it with traditional media. And that will certainly be a big part of our approach as we continue to govern the country, and I think govern it well.

Great. Peter?

PETER DOOCY, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Are we talking to you as the vice president or the press secretary?

(LAUGH) VANCE: So I'm not Marco. I've not yet accepted any additional jobs. I guess, the Fraud Task Force is my co-chair, is my second additional job. It's funny, before I came out here, I was talking with the president in the Oval Office, and he said, be careful. I want you to do well, but if you do too well, I might make you the press secretary.

So I've got to screw up a little bit because I'm busy enough as it is, but I'm very much up here as the Vice President of United States.

DOOCY: I do have a political one and then something a little bit more upbeat.

VANCE: OK.

DOOCY: First --

VANCE: politics could be upbeat. It could be upbeat, Peter.

(LAUGH)

DOOCY: It's almost Labor Day. Labor Day is traditionally the real kickoff for campaign season. Midterm voters are looking for somebody to blame for high prices on things like gas, energy. Why shouldn't they blame Republicans?

VANCE: Well, I'd say a few things. First of all, if you look at how endemic inflation became during the Biden administration, and this is not to cast blame because I don't really care who's to blame for it. I care about how to fix it, and that's what we've been working to do. So inflation under the last administration hit a record high of about 9.5 percent, and it's funny, during the 2024 campaign, the president and I would say, this is the highest inflation in American history.

And people would come back and say, no, no, no, it's not the highest inflation in American history. It's just the highest inflation in the last 60 or the last 48 years. It's like, well, that's still very, very bad. So what happened with that is that when prices get baked in like that, it takes a little bit of time for us to undo some of the damage. Now, you know, we have done a lot of things in order to build upon the great success of the first Trump administration and deliver wins for working people.

No taxes on Social Security, no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime. We've seen $19 trillion of new investment come into the country, but most of that is building new factories and new facilities. Those factories are being built. So if you're a construction worker, that's great. And obviously, we love our construction workers. However, it takes time to build those factories and employ the rest of the workers, and then, of course, to make the stuff that's going to be made at those factories.

So I guess my point is that because America's inflation problem wasn't created in a day, it was created by very bad policies of the Biden administration, trillions of dollars of new spending that was going more to fraudsters than it was to the American people. It takes a little bit of time to rebuild the foundation of America's middle-class economy.

I think we've made incredible strides, but our argument to the American people is, look, it's very simple. You don't even have to listen to what we say. Listen to what the Democrats have said. If you think that inflation is a problem, if you think affordability is a problem, number one, we're doing everything that we can to bring down prices. But what do the Democrats say? They say that they want to undo taxes.

They want to increase taxes on Social Security and tips. If you're worried about affordability, how is the Democrats' tax increase going to make your life more affordable? One of the things I'm most proud of that the president has done is TrumpRx. If you look, we have almost 800 medications now that are part of TrumpRx, the most significant reduction in prescription drug costs that we've seen in 60 years. And again, that's going to accelerate as this program actually gets implemented.

The Democrats did nothing. So while they're out there bragging that they're going to reverse the very policies that are making some of these prescription drugs more affordable, we're saying we're going to double down on the policies that are going to make prescription drugs more affordable.

[13:55:00]

So I think if you just listen to what the Democrats are saying, what they're telling you is that every inflation problem that you're worried about today, they're going to make worse and they're going to undo our very good efforts to try to bring down the inflation and to make that reduction in inflation sustainable.

DOOCY: And I did just want to ask you, there have been reports about this, but I have not heard you talk much about it.

You have lost a ton of weight lately. How much sauerkraut do you eat in a day?

VANCE: Oh my Lord. OK, so when you're the vice president of the United States and one of the first questions at a press conference at the White House is how much weight you've lost, you must have gotten very fat. That's one thing that I take from that question. So I'll tell you a little story, Peter.

So every Lent, I try to like, you know, I'm a devout Christian. I try to take it very seriously. So I try to do some kind of self-denial. And so I was talking to my wife on Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, and I was like, I think I'm going to give up sugar and I think I'm going to give up social media. OK? So if I wanted to tweet something, I'd tell these guys to tweet something for me and I'd, you know, otherwise try to stay off social media.

So I call Bobby Kennedy and I'm like, I know you're really into health. I'm thinking about giving up sugar. What do you think? And Bobby Kennedy says, no, no, no, no. I've got something that's way better than that and way more intense. And basically it's like, yeah, I eat a lot of high protein stuff and I eat a lot of sauerkraut. And let's just say that if that was Fat Tuesday, Fat Wednesday never came. So my advice to you is that if you want to lose weight, call Bobby Kennedy. And if you want to enjoy what you eat, do not call Bobby Kennedy.

(LAUGH)

VANCE: Yeah. What's up, man?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. On July 2nd, Treasury Secretary Bessent was asked when Americans could see $3 gas again. And he said, maybe by Labor Day. Things haven't worked out that way. But do you have a new timetable for Americans on when they could expect lower gas prices? And should they not expect to see $3 gas again until at least 2027?

VANCE: Well, in defense of Scott (ph), he said, maybe by Labor Day, because we're talking about things that are inherently unpredictable. And I think it's important -- you know, I'm a strong believer that the American people are our fellow citizens and we should speak with them honestly about these things.

And the fundamental reality is that the reason gas prices are so high right now is because the Iranians are shooting at commercial shipping. Even by the way, when they signed an agreement that said, we're going to stop shooting at commercial shipping, they almost immediately went back to shooting at commercial shipping. And I actually think that this drives home a couple of points.

Number one, it's why things like the Venezuela oil deal are so important is because we've learned that we can't be over reliant on anybody for the world's supply of energy and gas. It's one of the reasons why the president has pursued an energy dominance agenda because, yes, gas prices are higher in the United States. They're way worse everywhere else in the world because of what the president did, particularly during the first administration to make us more energy dominant.

I also think it drives home, frankly, the ridiculous atrophy that we saw in our European allies and their inability to actually do anything to help keep world energy markets supplied. So when the Iranians shoot at commercial shipping, obviously that means some ships don't want to go through. A lot of ships have gone through. We got about 15 million barrels out of the Strait of Hormuz just yesterday, despite the fact that the Iranians continue to shoot.

What has anybody in the world done? Why is it incumbent upon the United States of America to be the only country in the world that can actually ensure world energy markets continue to stay supplied? And the answer is because we're the only country that has the capability of doing it. And so what the president has said is, we really have two options here. We could leave and the entire world would be way worse off because there would be no guaranteed access to oil and gas. By the way, the Gulf Arab countries are telling us that would be the worst thing in the world. Or we can accept the Iranians are going to shoot at ships like crazy people and we're going to do what we have to do in order to ensure that their efforts don't lead to a worldwide energy crisis. Now, we've been quite successful up to this point. Gas, frankly, could have been much, much higher were it not for our efforts.

But I'm not going to make a promise about when it's going to return to $3. What I will say is that we have to remember, why are we doing this? Number one, it's so that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. And number two, what we're doing right now is protecting commercial shipping in order to ensure that we don't have a worldwide energy crisis.

The only reason -- the only reason we do not have a worldwide energy crisis is because of the leadership of the president, but also because of the fine work of our military from Pete Hegseth on down. But the Iranians are doing what the Iranians do. I think that they're losing their capabilities by the day. I think they're realizing, by the way, that their control over the Strait of Hormuz is effectively gone and it's a diminishing asset.

So if you go back three months ago, how much oil and gas was coming out of the Strait under Iranian threats, it was virtually nothing. Now it's almost back to where it was before the conflict even started. So my advice to the Iranians is --