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Biden Meets With Top Economic Team As Inflation Plagues Economy; Gas Prices Set New Record Over Holiday Weekend; Families In Uvalde Begin Burying Victims Of Elementary School Attack; Off-Duty Border Agent Ran To Help And Entered School To Save His Child. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 31, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:35]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Victor Blackwell. welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Right now, President Biden is meeting with Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. This is the beginning of a monthlong effort by the Biden administration to focus on the economy in the face of rising prices and voter dissatisfaction.

BLACKWELL: A new poll shows 46 percent of Americans say economic conditions are poor and the government is not doing enough to fight inflation.

CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee is with us now.

So, MJ, in addition to this meeting, what else is the White House planning?

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you both know, it has not been easy for President Biden to remain focused consistently on economic issues, particularly inflation. Obviously, the first few months of the year, we saw the president be completely consumed on what was happening in Ukraine and the war over there and having to stay engaged on those foreign policy issues.

And then, just this last week as an example, he traveled to Asia, this important foreign trip, where he did try to stay focused on domestic economic issues and as soon as he came back, he, of course, had to react to this mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and had to sort of focus on consoling a grieving community there.

So if we take a look at the president's schedule today and what he is doing, we are seeing this clear demonstration of the president and this administration once again trying to make a pivot to this very important economic and political issue of inflation.

We just saw him having this meeting, I think we're looking at the images right now, going into a meeting with the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell. We know that inflation, of course, is going to be a top issue that they are going to be discussing. And then we also saw the president writing this op-ed in the "Wall Street Journal." Among the things that he talked about in this op-ed is making sure that he gives the Federal Reserve, the Central Bank, sort of the room to do the job that it is supposed to do.

He said that he isn't interested in meddling in the work of the Central Bank. That is actually something that we heard him saying to Jerome Powell just a few minutes ago. The other thing that he said was the administration wants to continue working on bringing down prices, working on supply chain issues, and of course reducing the federal deficit.

Now, let me just read for you a part of what he wrote in this op-ed. He said, "If average monthly job creation shifts in the next year from current levels of 500,000 to something closer to 150,000, it will be a sign that we are successfully moving into the next phase of recovery as this kind of job growth is consistent with a low employment rate and a healthy economy. The most important thing we can do now to transition from rapid recovery to stable, steady growth is to bring inflation down. That is why I have made tackling inflation my top economic priority."

So, what we expect to see from this White House and from this president is to really try to focus over the next month or so on this issue, but again, this has been a consistently difficult thing for this administration to do because so much other news has happened, but there's no question that this president and his top officials understand that this is one of his biggest political vulnerabilities as we head into the midterms -- guys.

BLACKWELL: And the PR push has begun. MJ Lee at the White House, thank you.

Well, two of the country's most glaring economic indicators are still breaking records on this final day of May, gas prices and the housing market.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Matt Egan is here.

So, Matt, walk us through these record breakers.

MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a year ago, you could have bought a gallon of gas for $3.05. Now $4.62 today. And that's if you're lucky because there's seven states where the average is now at $5 a gallon or higher. The latest being Illinois. New York and Arizona are not far behind.

Listen, we know the story here. Demand is strong. Supply is not. It's actually 30 percent more expensive to fill up your tank today than it was the day before Russia invaded Ukraine and the situation in terms of Russia-Ukraine has gotten even further muddled because Europe has agreed to phase out its imports of Russian oil. 90 percent of them by the end of year, trying to punish Moscow, but that is creating further shockwaves in the energy market.

We're seeing Brent oil prices up another 1 percent to $123 a barrel as we speak, on track to close at the highest level in nearly three months. Gas prices move with a lag to oil so that means gas prices could move even higher.

On the housing front, new numbers out today show that U.S. home prices, up another 20 percent, year over year, in March.

[14:05:03]

Biggest jump on record, bigger than anything we saw during the housing bubble of the mid-2000s. Hottest housing markets, not surprisingly, in the Sunbelt, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, all seeing 30 percent increases year over year.

This is a story, though, of haves and have nots, right, because if you own a home, this means you're wealthier, at least on paper. But for first-time homebuyers, it's that much harder to get in and that's a big deal because owning a home is the ticket to wealth creation in this country.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All these numbers lead me now to the Consumer Confidence number that just came out. What do we know?

EGAN: Well, Consumer Confidence ticked lower in May, not as bad as feared, but still well below pre-COVID levels. One in four Americans are actually expecting that economic conditions are going to get worse. There's also that Gallup poll that you mentioned, a staggering 46 percent of Americans say economic conditions are poor. 46 percent, just 14 percent say excellent or good.

Normally, when the jobs market is as high as it is today, you would expect these numbers to be much stronger, but they're not and that's really because of high inflation and these recession fears that have played out in the stock market. I would argue, though, that in some ways, the Consumer Confidence number might be a bigger deal politically than it is economically because if people say they hate the economy, but they keep spending, then this economic recovery can keep going. Until they stop spending.

But politically, if they hate the economy, that's a big problem for the president and his party. One thing to keep in mind, if inflation is peaking and we've seen some signs that perhaps it is, maybe that will change the mood in the country. We don't know.

CAMEROTA: OK, Matt Egan, thanks for explaining all that to us.

EGAN: Thank you, guys.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Matt.

Cecilia Rouse is the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She's also a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University.

Cecilia, welcome back. Let me start here with the meeting today. The president, first six words of his op-ed in the "Wall Street Journal," I will not meddle or I won't meddle with the Fed. A year ago said he's got very fastidious about not talking to the Fed chairman.

Does the president have a message for Jerome Powell today? Why the meeting?

CECILIA ROUSE, CHAIR, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: So it's not uncommon for presidents to meet with Federal Reserve chairs and given that Chair Powell was just reconfirmed along with three others, this seemed like an appropriate time to do so. Importantly, the president -- the single message the president has for Chair Powell is that he's going to let them -- give them the space to do what they need to do.

We all understand that the Fed has a dual mandate to stabilize prices and maintain full employment. The president shares those goals, and he is -- what he is saying, which many prior presidents have not shared this view, he's going to let the Fed do what it needs to do.

BLACKWELL: And that's actually part one of the three-part plan that the president outlined in the "Wall Street Journal" today. Part one, let the Fed do its thing. Part two, though, he says he's highlighted what it's done, says now it's time for Congress to act as well, and then on the third, he says to reduce the federal deficit, also pack some tax law reform. And that's a long-term political fight.

But this line stood out to me. He wrote, "I've done what I can do on my own to help working families during this challenging time and will keep acting to lower costs where I can, but now Congress needs to act."

Has the White House exhausted all of its options and the PR push now that is all that's left?

ROUSE: So what the president is trying to do in the op-ed is to talk about his vision for the economy and also to help the American people understand that we've come out of a tremendous period of recovery. But thanks to the American Rescue Plan, we have shots in arms, household finances are healthier than they were before the pandemic started, we've had record numbers of businesses start. The bones of the economy are good.

We have inflation. It's important that that come down. But the president's long-term goal is to see stable, steady growth, and that is a growth where families see their real incomes rising, where the economic capacity of the economy is expanding, and that goes to the root of his economic goals, and so that goes to the root of lowering costs for families in healthcare, child care, especially with child care, that allows families to get to work, so we have labor supply.

And it goes to having a healthy fiscal balance sheet for the federal government, which means deficit reduction, which this president has always championed, which is why we know --

BLACKWELL: So we --

ROUSE: That the federal deficit will reduce $1.7 trillion this year.

BLACKWELL: My apologies, I jumped in, I thought I heard a break there.

ROUSE: That's fine.

BLACKWELL: So listen. We understand the goal, and you've been on with us several times and have outlined the goal. My question is, what can the president do? How will he get there? What is the next action that this White House can take?

ROUSE: So the president has already taken steps, recognizing that gas prices are a problem for many families, because of, you know, largely, especially, of late, due to Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine, and so he's released, you know, released barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He's eased the, you know, using ethanol over the summer, which means there's a little bit less reliance on fossil fuels.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

[14:10:02]

ROUSE: Let's take housing. Housing is a big component. We know that housing prices have increased tremendously. The president has been looking at administrative actions to increase housing supply and also as part of his longer-term goal to increase housing supply and to close that gap over the next five years.

BLACKWELL: Cecilia, what I'm hearing you, though, is outlining what the goal is and what the president has already done. I'm asking for the action in between those. We know what he's done. We have read the plan. How will he get from here to there? What is the next action this White House can take?

ROUSE: So on the administrative side, we are always looking for new ideas and we are always looking for ways on the administrative side he can act unilaterally. But what he's really signaling is he's willing to work with Republicans, Democrats, independents, all on Congress to help him achieve these goals.

You know, you're right. These are the president's aspirations. He needs Congress to work with him and what he's signaling is he's actively engaged in conversations on the Hill. Those are ongoing, and he is saying this is really important that we get this done.

BLACKWELL: OK. Listen. I know you saw -- many people read this detailed list from the "Washington Post" in which headlined here, U.S. policymakers misjudged inflation threat until it was too late. I want you to listen here to the president and to the Fed chairman, this is in 2021, about the threat of inflation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we've seen were expected and are expected to be temporary.

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: I really do not expect that we'll be in a situation where inflation rises to troubling levels. This is not a problem for this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Those expectations, clearly wrong. Does the White House acknowledge that it got it wrong for too long?

ROUSE: Well, look, what we understood about inflation at the time was that it was tied to the pandemic. We are still in the midst of this pandemic. The Russia's war on Ukraine de-stabled not only gas prices and food prices but also disrupted supply chains. We didn't foresee Delta. We didn't foresee Omicron. And so yes, there have been unexpected challenges, which have disrupted the natural -- getting us back to equilibrium, which would help bring down those prices.

But we are optimistic, forecasters expect that over the coming months inflation will ease. This is what the Fed is expecting. That's what outside forecasters are expecting. So, as our economies heal, as, you know, the war of Russia against Ukraine, Russia has control to bring that to an end, we're facing those challenges but it's really important for the American people to understand that we come into this challenging times with an economy that has some resilience to withstand some of those challenges.

BLACKWELL: All right, Cecilia Rouse, thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: So new audio is released from the school massacre in Uvalde. And as the community searches for answers, funerals are set to begin today for two of the children murdered. We have the very latest ahead.

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[14:17:28]

BLACKWELL: Ten-year-olds are not supposed to have obituaries, or caskets or in memoriam videos. But that is what the community of Uvalde, Texas, will see today and in the weeks ahead. This tribute is for Amerie Jo Garza. Her funeral will start in less than an hour.

CAMEROTA: Amerie is the first of 21 funerals for the victims of the Robb Elementary massacre. This evening will be another for 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez.

CNN's Nick Valencia is in Uvalde, Texas. So, Nick, tell us about what's happening there.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor and Alisyn, this community is filled with so much pain and so much grief officially one week since the massacre happened at Robb Elementary, and they will continue to rally to support one another, as you mentioned, as the funerals of two of the youngest victims are expected to be held later today.

The funeral of Amerie Jo Garza is expected to be held -- she turned 10 just two weeks before the shooting and according to her classmates was on the phone with 911 begging for help when she was shot and killed. Her schoolmate, Maite Rodriguez, also 10 years old, she had dreams of being a marine biologist and was described as just a sweet kid that was harmless and loved everybody. She will also be laid to rest.

We know that three others will have visitations and rosaries. You're looking at the photos of them right there on your screen. Nevaeh Alyssa, her visitation was under way a short time ago, as well as Jose Manuel Flores, also 10 years old, and that beloved teacher, Irma Garcia, 48, whose husband also died just two days after she was shot and killed in Robb Elementary.

Each one of these families of the 21 victims of this shooting grieving in their own way, and it's something that the archbishop of San Antonio -- the archbishop in San Antonio who's head of the diocese at Uvalde is connected to, he spoke about that earlier and talked about how grief is being handled here in this community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARCHBISHOP GUSTAVO GARCIA-SILLER, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: We need to deal with each one of them in a different way because each family is different. Each child is unique. And so we will try to do the best we can, and then to assure them with gestures, again, that we will be for them in the long run. It's not just this moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: And if there is some positive news today, we did just get an update from University Hospital in San Antonio with the conditions of three of Tuesday's massacre. The victims there that were rushed to the hospital. They are listed now in good condition, including a 66-year- old grandmother, a 10-year-old and another 9-year-old.

[14:20:06]

Their conditions are good or serious, so that update is a good one here to receive for this community -- Victor, Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Some good news there as the individual and collective grief will be in that community for some time to come. We understand also that there -- that people are starting to show up to pay their respects, including an actor who's from Uvalde.

VALENCIA: That's right, Matthew McConaughey, this is his hometown, Uvalde, and he has been very vocal about his support of what happened here and very vocal about his support to the community. He made an unexpected and surprise appearance there at the site of the school shooting. He didn't take any questions. He was there very briefly.

Our reporter, Omar Jimenez, was there and we were able to capture some video of him, but he did walk away, very solemnly looking down, not taking any questions from those around him -- Victor, Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia for us there in Uvalde. Thank you, Nick.

CAMEROTA: So new this afternoon, we're hearing from a teacher who saw the gunman enter Robb Elementary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NICOLE OGBURN, 4TH GRADE TEACHER AT ROBB ELEMENTARY: I just like looked out the window, and I see this guy with a gun walking up. And I just told my class, get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get to the corner. I just kept hearing shots fired. And I just kept praying, God, please don't let him come in my room. Please don't let him come in this room. And for some reason, he didn't. And I don't know why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Nicole Ogburn says she's mourning her fellow fourth grade teachers who were killed a week ago and she continues to ask why she was spared from the carnage. Ogburn says she tried to call 911 through her watch but ended the call for fear the gunman would hear her.

CNN has also obtained a recording that appears to capture the voice of a child caught in the gunfire at Robb Elementary.

BLACKWELL: It's from a Facebook live video that picked up the audio of a radio call from a Customs and Border Protection car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you injured?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where? Where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A kid got shot? They shot a kid?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, the man who recorded the video did not want to be identified. It's not clear at what point that video was recorded, and CNN has not confirmed if the person who said, got shot, was a student.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz is in Uvalde.

Shimon, we're getting this new perspective today from an off-duty Border Patrol agent who was in the school after the gunman locked himself in that classroom. What did that agent say?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, he went to the school because both his daughter and his wife -- his wife is a teacher, and his daughter is a student, and essentially, went there to rescue them. He spoke this morning, talked about what he saw and also talked about the moment as he walked near that door where the gunman was. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB ALBARADO, OFF-DUTY BORDER PATROL AGENT WHO RUN INTO SCHOOL: I was there at the door, fixing to go in. But once again, I didn't have any of my gear. It wouldn't have been a smart move for me. All those guys had their gear and stuff, so like I said, I pulled back. Pulled back. My wife had texted me, called me that she was OK at the funeral home. All the kids were already out of that building so I went on to find my daughter in her wing.

SAMANTHA GUTHRIE, NBC NEWS HOST: Obviously there's a lot of scrutiny now about the police response. What's your take on all of that?

ALBARADO: To me, I believe everyone there was doing the best that they could, given the circumstances. Yes. I believe everyone there was doing everything in their power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: Alisyn and Victor, what's really interesting here is that from this Border Patrol agent, you hear when he talks about he's at that door. He wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest. When he looked over and he saw the other officers there, those 19 officers that we have heard about, he said they were in full gear, and so again, of course, this raises the question about why didn't these officers go in? Why were they waiting for tactical teams to come in?

He says these officers were in full gear, so they were wearing bulletproof vests, and they also had long rifles with them. You know, I've talked to law enforcement officials who say that those officers did, in fact, have long rifles, that they were wearing body armor, but we're still waiting, really, for a more detailed explanation for as to why those officers didn't go in.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, Shimon, what you and I heard at the press conference, well, what the world heard, was that it was the school district police chief, Arrendondo, who was the man who made the decision on the ground not to storm the classroom for more than an hour. Now, that same man is supposed to start a new job today as a city councilman. Is that going to happen?

PROKUPECZ: No, it's not going to happen as of right now. He was set to be sworn in tonight, actually, in just a couple of hours. The mayor putting out a statement saying that that was not going to happen.

[14:25:02]

And he writes, in part, it is because of the funerals, and he wants to focus on the family, the mayor says that. No, we have not heard from this police chief since the day of the shooting. The mayor writing about Peter Arredondo, this is the chief, saying that he was duly elected to the city council and that there was nothing really to prevent them from not putting him in that seat.

He also says that as far as they know, as far as the city is concerned and knows, that Arredondo is not under investigation. However, we know that there will be a review from the Department of Justice into the response by the police. We also know that the DPS is continuing their investigation, but it's interesting to note that since really that first day, we have not heard from the chief. He also hasn't taken any questions. He didn't even take questions on the day of the shooting.

CAMEROTA: OK, Shimon Prokupecz, thank you very much for the reporting.

BLACKWELL: Supreme Court officials are going to unprecedented lengths to find out who leaked that draft decision showing the court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. Why some clerks are alarmed and lawyering up. That's next.

CAMEROTA: And while we wait, yet again, to see if Congress can do anything to prevent gun violence, Canada takes swift action. The details ahead.

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