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Putin Speaks As Russia-Africa Summit Wraps Up; Mike Pence Campaigns In Iowa This Weekend; Mar-A-Lago Employee Indicted In Classified Docs Case; Black Man Mauled by Police Dog Considers Filing A Lawsuit; Bidens Acknowledge 7th Grandchild For 1st Time; Hunter Biden Plea Deal Collapses; Why America Stopped Building Public Pools As Dangerous Heat Increases; Barbie & Taylor Swift Mania Help Stimulate Economy. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 29, 2023 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:30]

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Washington, I'm Paula Reid in for Jim Acosta. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin this hour with the war in Ukraine and a new regional concern. Poland's prime minister says about 100 fighters from the Wagner mercenary group in Belarus are headed toward the Polish border. He warns they could try to cross it disguised as migrants. The area is highly strategic. Poland's border with Lithuania is nearby, dividing Belarus, Russia's ally, of course, from Kaliningrad, a Russian territory.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military forces are gaining ground in their counteroffensive. Those specks of yellow, those represent the areas recaptured by Ukraine as it edges on the northern edge of the Russian- held territory near the Black Sea.

And Russia is vowing to retaliate, accusing Ukraine of terrorism after a missile attack on the Russian city about 25 miles from Ukraine's border. Authorities say at least 14 people were wounded.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is in the Ukrainian capital.

Alex, just moments ago Russian President Vladimir Putin began speaking. What has he said?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, this is a really interesting moment because this is the culmination of a three-day summit between African leaders and President Vladimir Putin, and it was designed to essentially reinforce and deepen the ties between Russia and the African continent.

But African leaders have really been expressing their concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine particularly when it comes to food supplies, food prices after Russia pulled out of the grain deal last week which has made food prices go up, has made things a lot more difficult to send food around the world, grain around the world, particularly to the African continent. So President Putin has been trying to walk this line between being essentially agreeable with these African leaders but standing firm when it comes to the war in Ukraine.

He just finished a meeting with those leaders from Africa about the peace deal that they've put forward and he essentially said very politely that it's a peace deal, but he continued -- that it's a good peace deal, but then he continued to lay the blame at the feet of Ukraine, essentially saying that it's their fault that the fighting is ongoing, that the war even started, that there isn't peace now, that there aren't peace negotiations.

He said that there can't be a cease-fire right now when we're being attacked. He claimed that he never rejected a peace plan, but he went on to compliment this African peace plan as being a good basis for conversations going forward. So Putin continues to play the victim here, continues to not take any blame, to deflect and lean on some of his old arguments that it was essentially Ukraine leaning towards the West that forced Russia into invading.

So this summit with African leaders in St. Petersburg over the last few days has really been interesting in terms of highlighting the strains that Russia is feeling from the international community and the pressure that it is under including from some of its closest allies here specifically from Africa -- Paula.

REID: Alex, what can you tell us about Ukraine's battlefield advances in that counteroffensive?

MARQUARDT: Well, they've been extremely modest. They certainly are encouraging for the Ukrainian side. They are hailing these advances as victories. But it's clear that there's still a very long way to go. Where Ukraine is right now specifically on the southern front which is arguably the biggest priority for them, is they're consolidating gains that they've made over the past 72 to 48 hours. They've made advances in some places.

And remember, Paula, the goal here for Ukraine is to push forward on that southern front. They've been prodding along the front, trying to find weak spots in that Russian line, trying to pierce through that Russian line. We heard yesterday that they had taken the town of Staromaiorske, that's a town that had been occupied for a very long time, and they did hail that as a victory. President Zelenskyy posting about that on his social media.

We understand that elsewhere along the line that they are making progress. But it is small progress. It is slow progress. And the hope is that as they grind away at those Russian forces, as they pound at the Russian positions with artillery, with their infantry using those Western vehicles that they got and the training that they got from the U.S. and Germany earlier this year, that they will eventually be able to pierce through that line.

And they're hoping that at some point once they do that that they can then accelerate this counteroffensive and really make some real gains in terms of splitting those Russian forces in the southern part of the country -- Paula.

[16:05:03] REID: Alex Marquardt, thank you so much.

And let's continue this conversation with CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel Cedric Leighton.

All right, Colonel, thank you so much for being here with us. How significant is it that these Wagner forces are moving closer to Poland's border?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it's very significant, Paula. And you know, what's interesting about this, this is near the area that's called the Suwalki gap, and the Suwalki gap is it's this area between Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus that is really a vulnerable point for the NATO forces because it allows the Russians, it's an area where the Russians have transit rights or at least in the past had transit rights to take equipment and men into the Kaliningrad Oblast which is an enclave of Russia that Russia has had since basically the end of World War II.

And that area is one that the Russians want to protect because that's where their Baltic Sea fleet is, if they want to also be able to project power into the Baltic. So what they're trying to do is they're trying to make sure, the Russians or the Wagner Group, is trying to make sure that they can maintain that connection to the Kaliningrad Oblast. If they can do that, then that, of course, puts forces at risk for NATO.

And also in addition to keeping maritime forces at risk, of course, they're trying to keep Polish forces at risk and at least tie down Polish forces in the northeastern part of their country, whereas in the southeastern part, that's the part that faces Ukraine. And that's the area that, of course, could also see some action if the Russians move forward in that direction, as well.

REID: It seems like a significant development. Should NATO be concerned about potentially being drawn in here?

LEIGHTON: Yes, absolutely because what the Russians are trying to do is they're trying to set trip wires up so that if they do the kinds of things where they, you know, provoke a particular incident, or do something like that at least from a propaganda standpoint, they can say, look, we were attacked by NATO or NATO forces are responding to us in a very provocative way. And it may not come to a shooting war, and hopefully it doesn't. But the risk is certainly there, and the risk has just gone up because the Wagner Group is still acting as a proxy for the Russians at this point.

REID: You know, it's interesting Russia is vowing revenge for this missile attack. You know, Ukraine usually doesn't take responsibility for these kinds of things. Is there a strategy here?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think the main strategy that the Russians have is to blame anything that happens in Russia on the Ukrainians. Right? And so as a result of that, they almost always formulaically have to say the Ukrainians did it, and in many cases the Ukrainians did do it or at least they're somewhat responsible for it, but the idea that the Russians have is every time that the Ukrainians react to a Russian attack, the Ukrainians then, you know, are in that position.

But the Russians then react to what the Ukrainians have done. So it becomes an issue where there's always, you know, a movement on one side responded to by the other, and that then comes into -- you know, gets into a snowball effect where there's a possibility of an escalation of this fight even further and in areas that go beyond the southern front or the eastern front in Ukraine itself.

REID: Interesting. Colonel Leighton, thank you so much for helping us try to make sense of this.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Paula.

REID: And despite three new criminal charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case and a possible third criminal indictment in the election interference probe, Donald Trump remains the GOP frontrunner. And almost all of his challengers continue to tiptoe around his growing pile of legal baggage. Former Congressman Will Hurd was the only candidate at the last night's Lincoln Dinner in Iowa who dared to call Trump out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL HURD (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison. And if we elect --

(CROWD BOOS)

HURD: I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Listen, I know the truth. The truth is hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: CNN's Kyung Lah is on the campaign trail today with former vice president Mike Pence.

Kyung, how are Iowans responding to the GOP media blitz?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think you heard at least if there's any criticism like Will Hurd took at last night's dinner is that they weren't so welcoming. It is those types of comments that really this field is certainly paying attention to because the response you simply can't ignore it, Paula, inside the room when we were there. People weren't just booing, they were taking the forks and hitting plates. It was very loud.

He was essentially booed off the stage. And that sound and that response may be echoing in the ears of Mike Pence as he heads to places like this. We're at the Nevada Fire Department. He sat down for a roundtable with first responders.

[16:10:03]

This is a fire department where everyone except for the chief is volunteer. And so they brought up challenges, local challenges about violent crime and, you know, converting gas fire trucks to electric vehicles and the challenge and the costs of all of that.

It is these types of issues that the vice president, that the former vice president wants to talk about, not Donald Trump. And if you talk to Iowa caucus-goers, there may be a very strong reason behind it.

I want you to listen to these next two caucus-goers, Republicans, registered, who I specifically asked what do you think about these new charges. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GUSTOFF (R), IOWA STATE HOUSE: People see through this as a political trial. It's just political by nature so people see through that. And that they're supporting him in the polling is just reinforcing the fact that they see this as a politically driven trial.

KELLEY KOCH, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN PARTY OF DALLAS COUNTY, IOWA: I don't think Trump is undermining. I think the acts that he's being accused of will play out in court. I think they're doing a level fishing expedition looking at all sorts of avenues of his life, and they're digging for things that are going to stick and things that they're going to come up with. I think the Republicans are starting to catch up and looking at the Biden family corruption.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: That's why we're seeing the former vice president try to talk about these local Iowa issues. That is his entry point, Paula. He doesn't want to talk about Donald Trump.

And we should point out one little bit of news. The former vice president did say he was at least two weeks away from qualifying to that debate stage -- Paula.

REID: Kyung Lah, thank you.

And now to West Palm Beach where another Trump employee has now been indicted in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. Carlos De Oliveira is accused of trying to delete security camera footage at Trump's Florida resort after the Justice Department issued a subpoena for it last year.

CNN's Randi Kaye joins us with more.

Randi, De Oliveira is a property manager. He's been described as a little-known employee. You've done some great reporting on exactly who this man is. So what more have you learned?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paul, we've learned that he really was not on the radar of people at Mar-a-Lago. CNN spoke with eight current and former Trump allies and aides, and they were frequent visitors to Mar-a-Lago, and they really did not know anything about this guy.

As you said, he was listed in the indictment as a property manager, but the picture of him that we're really getting is this low-level maintenance worker who did odd jobs around the property at Mar-a-Lago. He didn't really interact with club members there. He wasn't part of Donald Trump's inner circle. He certainly wasn't privy to these high- level conversations until the special counsel investigation and his alleged involvement.

We also learned that he's been at Mar-a-Lago, working there for about 20 years, and he started ads a valet and then worked his way up through the ranks, working in various maintenance jobs and then became that property manager.

But, Paula, it's just so interesting to talk to these people because he's really this low-level worker who somehow allegedly got pulled into doing the dirty work to get rid of this security camera footage -- Paula.

REID: The former president clearly trying to work around his lawyers, all right, and find people who may not have been aware of the legal consequences. Have you been able to reach him for any comment?

KAYE: We tried certainly. We went to his apartment in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, which is about 20 minutes north of Mar-a-Lago. We knocked on the door. We didn't get an answer. Nobody came to the door. We've tried reaching him in other ways, as well. But still, nothing from Carlos De Oliveira. But we did reach his landlord who told me that they're actually good friends. They've known each other for 30 years.

He says he's a great guy and a great friend. He said that he doesn't believe that he would break the law. He said he hopes that he does the right thing, and he also said that if he does know anything he would hope that he would come clean.

We also met a neighbor who lives just across the way from De Oliveira, and he did go on camera with me. And we talked about this indictment and what he thinks about his neighbor being indicted. And here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAYMOND BRION, CARLOS DE OLIVEIRA'S NEIGHBOR: I think that it's -- anybody that gets involved with Donald Trump, he's a train wreck. And anybody that gets involved with Donald Trump ends up somewhere in a bad place. I don't think that guy had any knowledge of what he was doing, none. And you know, he's caught in the net. Now he's got to walk himself out of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And Paula, family members have also told CNN that they don't believe that De Oliveira understood the consequences of what he was allegedly getting himself involved in. Back to you.

REID: Randi Kaye, thank you.

[16:15:03]

And joining us now former federal prosecutor and defense attorney Shan Wu.

All right, Trump was facing 37 criminal charges. Now he faces 40. Do you think that this really changes the legal jeopardy he faces, or it's just adding on to a truly significant case?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think it's mostly adding on. If this was a normal defendant, this is a standard practice if you have another charge, you start layering it on. And ultimately the pressure usually buckles people. Even though if he's convicted it might run concurrently, it's just heavier charges.

It's not going to work with him because his campaign strategy and legal defense are so intertwined. But there's another benefit from an evidence standpoint, it's very helpful to them, these initial charges. Great jury appeal. They have the actual document now that he was waving around to match up with the audiotape. And it allows them to more easily get that audiotape into evidence because it's part of the actual act being charged.

That, plus the consciousness of guilt with trying to get the servers deleted, that all adds up to a lot better jury appeal for them.

REID: That's interesting. How often do you have to charge someone with trying to obstruct their own obstruction, right? Because that's really what the added charges are. The first round, you had the alleged mishandling of classified materials, the alleged obstruction. But now you have the alleged obstruction of the obstruction. How common is that?

WU: It's not that common, and I hate to use this analogy because it's used I think a little too much for Trump. More common in organized crime situations.

REID: Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

REID: It is an interesting analogy, but hey, they refer to the boss, right?

WU: Yes, exactly.

REID: The mafia parallels in the superseding document are -- they loom large. So that's fair. A little something you do come up with in mob cases occasionally?

WU: Yes. It's the repeated obstruction. There is threatening one witness, there's telling them to get rid of something, and then it continues. And so it builds that way.

REID: Is one part of the case stronger? Is it easier to do you think convict on obstruction versus the willful mishandling? Like what do you think one part of this case is stronger than the other?

WU: I think it's easier to prove the retention and the mishandling of the documents. The obstruction right now we're seeing is a little bit of hearsay issue, not so much in terms of the evidence, but it's not Trump directly saying to someone destroy this. So I think that's a little harder. But the document part seen as very, very strong.

REID: And, as you know, timing is really significant in this case. We were in court just about 10 days ago, and I watched this judge press the lawyers for all the details that so she could come up with a schedule. She did that. There's 30 deadlines on that schedule. And then 10 days later they come up with new charges and a new co- defendant.

What do you think the judge is going to say to this? This is just how it happens? Or do you think she's going to be frustrated?

WU: I don't know if she'll be frustrated, but she's probably going to say that this does not help their efforts to move the trial along very quickly. It's interesting, while superseding indictments as you know are not that unusual, it's a little unusual to have it superseded so quickly. And I think it reflects very much the frenzied pace at which the Smith team is moving.

They were in a hurry to get this out, the first indictment, it's solid. But they were in such a hurry they couldn't completely wrap, these sorts of loose ends up.

REID: Yes. I think you make a great point because it's unusual, too, to have your first hearing in front of the judge insisting on a trial date that has to stick. So it will be interesting to see her reaction.

Shan, I know you'll be joining us again later. Thank you so much.

And coming up, quote, "I was just hoping that I wouldn't die." Those words from the black truck driver who was attacked by a police K-9 while surrendering with his hands up. Why he's speaking out now.

Plus, Hunter Biden's plea deal unraveled this week, so what happens now as the GOP sharpens its attacks on the president's son?

And later, are Barbie and Taylor Swift concerts keeping the U.S. economy afloat? We'll explain ahead. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:09]

REID: I didn't want to die in the hands of police. That's what a man in Ohio told CNN after he was attacked by a police K-9. Jadarrius Rose, who is black, was unarmed with his hands in the air when an officer released the dog on him. The officer has since been fired, and Rose is considering filing a lawsuit.

CNN correspondent Isabel Rosales is covering this story for us.

Isabel, what are you hearing from Rose?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, Jadarrius Rose told me that he was scared that day that he was going to lose his life, and that he couldn't help but think in that moment when the dog attacked, during that police stop, he couldn't help but think of another Memphis native, Tyre Nichols.

So let me bring you up to speed with what happened. This all started on July 4th with a motor carrier enforcement inspector who noticed that the truck that Jadarrius Rose was driving had a missing mud flap. So he tries to stop Rose. He puts on his siren and his lights, but Rose fails to stop. So he calls for back up.

Then ensues a three-county pursuit. At a moment there Rose actually gets on the phone with his mother who tells him, son, stop the truck if you haven't done anything here. Rose also calls 911, telling a dispatcher that he feels unsafe because he saw that the officers had previously pointed a gun -- guns at his truck, and that he didn't even know why they were pursuing him in the first place.

But then we do see Rose come to a stop with his hands up. He comes out of the truck, and he is surrounded by law enforcement officers. And we hear a state trooper not only giving him commands, but also a Circleville Police Department officer, a K-9 handler, telling him, hey, do not release this dog on this man while he has his hands up. And despite those repeated warnings, and we're not clear here if that state trooper was heard, Officer Ryan Speakman released the dog. Watch.

[16:25:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not release the dog with his hands up. Do not release the dog with his hands up. Do not release the dog. With his hands up. Don't --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back. Get the dog off of him.

JADARRIUS ROSE, ATTACKED BY POLICE K-9: You just let the dog bite me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you had to do was come to me.

ROSE: I was coming -- all the guns pointed at me. How do you expect me to respect you? You got a gun pointed at me. It's like 20 of y'all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you had to do was stop, brother.

ROSE: I did stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And here it is straight from Rose, what he thought in this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSE: When the dog was biting me, I just was terrified. I thought I was going to lose my life. I was in pain. I really couldn't see what the officers was doing because the dog was biting me. I just was in fear of my life. I just was screaming in pain. And I just -- I just didn't want to die. Like I didn't want to die in the hands of the police.

CARLA JONES, MOTHER OF JADARRIUS JONES: I'm thankful that my son is still living because it could have went another way. He could have been like Tyre Nichols. So I'm thankful and grateful to God that God kept him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Carla Jones, his mother there, says she has not watched the body camera footage. She cannot put herself through the pain of watching her son in pain from that dog attack. Circleville Police Department did put out a statement defending the training of their K-9 units saying that a use of force review board found that, quote, "The department's policy for the use of K-9s was followed in the apprehension and arrest."

Still, they terminated Officer Ryan Speakman saying in part, "Officer Speakman did not meet the standards and expectations that we hold for our police officers." Paula?

REID: Isabel Rosales, thank you.

And up next, President Biden and the first lady are breaking their long-held silence, publicly acknowledging their seventh grandchild for the first time. Details ahead live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:36]

PAULA REID, CNN HOST: President Biden is breaking his silence on what he will calls a, quote, "family matter." For the first time, the president is acknowledging his seventh grandchild.

The young girl is the daughter of Hunter Biden and a woman in Arkansas who was recently in court with Hunter Biden over child support payments.

CNN White House correspondent, Jeremy Diamond, joins us now with more details.

Jeremy, this young lady is 4 years old. So what took the president so long to finally acknowledge her?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It seems like it's a combination of some of the political and media pressure that the president was facing over this issue.

And then also the fact that there was a resolution in court in recent weeks to a situation involving Hunter Biden and this daughter's mother.

But look, President Biden has put his family at the center of his political life in terms of his grandchildren, his role as a grandfather, his role as a father.

And until yesterday, the president had only acknowledged that he had six grandchildren and not seven. That changed with this statement, which I want to read to you in full where he says, quote:

"Our son Hunter and Navy's mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward.

"This is not a political issue. It's a family matter. Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy."

Now a source familiar with this situation points to that resolution of this legal case last month as to why the president is now acknowledging this and why he hadn't acknowledged her previously.

It's important to note that it was back in 2020 when a DNA test revealed that Hunter Biden was, indeed, the father of this child, that he started paying child support payments.

They went back to court because Hunter Biden sought to reduce those child support payments.

Now the question of, how involved is Joe Biden going to be in his granddaughter's life going forward? Another source familiar with the situation tells us he spoke with Hunter recently.

He wants to do whatever's in the best interests of the child, including the possibility of meeting her eventually -- Paula?

REID: Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that reporting.

And it's not just complicated family matters hanging over Hunter Biden. It's been a chaotic week for the president's son, too, as his plea deal fell through on Wednesday for federal charges involving misdemeanor tax crimes and a gun violation.

CNN's Sara Murray has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (voice-over): After a tumultuous day in federal court, Hunter Biden left with no plea deal after a federal judge said she was not ready to accept it.

President Joe Biden's son arrived in federal court today prepared to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and to strike a deal to avoid a felony gun charge after a five-year Justice Department probe that Hunter Biden once predicted he would emerge from unscathed.

HUNTER BIDEN, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S SON: I am absolutely certain, 100 percent certain that, at the end of the investigation, that I will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

MURRAY: Instead, Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, wanted to know if the investigation was over. Prosecutors told her it was ongoing.

Then the two sides could not agree if Hunter Biden was at risk of additional charges if he took this deal. With that, the deal was derailed.

Eventually, Hunter Biden's team agreed he was not shielded from further charges, and the deal seemed, for a moment, back on track.

But then the judge raised questions about the gun deal. "Is this even constitutional?," she asked. And she said she was not ready to sign off on the deal.

The hearing ended with Hunter Biden in a pro-forma move pleading not guilty. The courtroom drama providing another opening for Republican lawmakers who slammed the plea agreement.

[14:35:06]

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): At least there's some scrutiny going on. The plea deal we saw as it started was garbage.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Hunter Biden is getting a sweetheart deal that no other American, who wasn't rich and had a father who's the president, would ever get. Ever.

MURRAY: Republicans already seeking more information about the Hunter Biden probe after two IRS whistleblowers, who worked on the case, claimed there was political interference, dating back to the Trump administration and continuing under the Biden administration.

GARY SHAPLEY, IRS WHISTLEBLOWER: There should not be a two-track justice system depending on who you are and who you're connected to.

MURRAY: The White House reiterating that the president stands by his son, but played no role in the investigation.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This case was handled independently, as all of you know, by the Justice Department under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president, President Trump.

MURRAY: The plea deal was set to cover Hunter Biden's tax transgressions over a five-year span, his drug issues, and his firearm possession charge.

Prosecutors say Hunter Biden failed to pay between $1.1 million and $1.5 million in federal taxes.

And they highlighted his substantial income from Ukrainian and Chinese energy companies, saying he did, in fact, have the funds available to pay his taxes in certain years but he failed to do so.

Instead, prosecutors say he spent wildly on personal luxuries and expenses. (on camera): Now our team that was in the courtroom for this wild hearing. As it was wrapping up, the judge did address Hunter Biden and said, I know you wanted to resolve this, I'm sorry. But she said she has to be careful in how she's handling it.

So it's clear that, for now, Hunter Biden's legal woes are not over. Neither, of course, are his political woes.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: For more analysis, I want to turn to our guest once again, Shan Wu.

Shan, the judge raised legitimate questions but they seem like things you would have the parties brief, not bring them into court. Was this political theater on the part of the judge?

WU: It could have been. I have to say this was a mistake I put on the prosecution. Back when I was a prosecutor, big case like this blows up in court, I would be yelled at back at the office. They should have made this clearer up front.

For the defense, some ambiguity is actually helpful for them. For the prosecution, that ambiguity was not helpful. And when the judge probed, like, exactly what is he being covered on in this, they didn't have a clear answer for that. That's really on the prosecution's shoulders.

REID: Going forward, do you think that the judge will ultimately accept this plea deal?

WU: Yes. I think they're going to clarify it for her, clean up this issue that she raised that how come she is involved in the pretrial diversion, which is usually 100 percent within the control of the prosecution. I think that they're going to reach a deal.

Which in the long run is good for both sides. For Hunter Biden, of course, it closes this part of the chapter. It also gives insight that for sure there may be other things lurking.

And for the Justice Department, having a true ongoing investigation, that they've told the judge there is one, will really insulate them from congressional hearings.

So I think they will wrap up this plea deal once DOJ finishes wiping the egg off its face.

REID: It will be interesting to see if the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, David Weiss, if he does go testify because he suggested he would. But you have the ongoing investigation where usually you don't. Once again, unlike any investigation out there right now.

Shan Wu, thank you so much. And coming up, it's a classic summer activity, cooling off in the

community pool. But access to public pools is dropping in the U.S. So what's behind the shift? That's next, live, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:46]

REID: Right now, about 100 million people are under heat alerts in more than 20 states. One way to cool off is to dive into your local community pool. But those are getting harder and harder to find.

Underfunding and privatization are straining access to public pools, and it has a much bigger impact than you might think.

Joining us now is CNN business reporter, Nathaniel Meyersohn.

What is the state of public pools in America right now?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: So, Paula, as you said, it is hot out there right now. But if you don't live near a public pool and you can't afford a private swimming pool or private swimming club, it means you're not going to be able to swim this summer.

There are about 10 million private pools in the U.S. We've seen that number boom in recent years. But just 300,000 public swimming pools. We've seen a drop in public swimming pools and closures over the past couple of decades.

REID: Why have public pools declined, especially as private pools increase exponentially?

MEYERSOHN: So I think you have to look back to the civil rights era, Paula. There are some communities, particularly in the south, that close their public pools rather than integrate them.

We also saw the expansion of private swimming pools as the suburbs began to be built in the '50s and '60s.

And then cities really came under budget gaps and budget constraints. It's expensive to maintain a public pool. So we saw closures.

And then more recently, cities have had a lot of trouble hiring lifeguards and staffing their pools, so that's led to closures, as well.

And this impact really hurts low-income and minority communities hardest. And 79 percent of children in families making less than $50,000 a year don't know how to swim.

Also much higher rates of black, Latino, and Native American children don't know how to swim.

And a big reason for that is because of the lack of public swimming pools in this country.

REID: Nathaniel Meyerson, thank you.

[16:45:03]

And still ahead, it turns out Barbie and Taylor Swift are helping to buoy the U.S. economy.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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REID: More indications that Americans are feeling better about the economy as inflation cools. Consumer sentiment tracked by the University of Michigan rose 11 percent from June to July. It's at the highest level since October 2021.

Economists are pointing to slower inflation as the reason for the uptick in consumer sentiment. But are Taylor Swift concerts and the "Barbie" movie also playing a role?

[16:50:02]

Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve was even asked about this over the weekend. And he pointed to high consumer confidence.

With us to discuss is Betsey Stevenson, professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. She also served as the chief economist at the Department of Labor.

Betsey, can you help explain this phenomenon? What is going on with the economy, and what do "Barbie" and Taylor have to do with it?

BETSEY STEVENSON, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS & PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Well, I mean, "Barbie" is a really excellent movie that a lot of people are excited about, and Taylor Swift puts on one heck of a show.

But I think what we need to keep in perspective is that spending on things like going to the movies or concerts, it's a really small fraction of overall spending.

So it does tell us something about how people are feeling. They are feeling like they want to spend their money on entertainment, particularly entertainment that they're doing in a group setting.

I don't want to say live. Taylor Swift is about live entertainment. "Barbie" is about going to a movie theater. A lot of people didn't feel comfortable doing it for years. And now they want to do that.

But if we stand back and say, is this going to contribute to inflation? I think the answer is no. It's a small share of consumer spending. And big -- you know, bucket items like housing, energy, that's what's really -- food, that's what really matters when it comes to inflation.

But it does tell us something about how consumers are continuing to have faith. They believe this economy's doing OK, that they're going to be able to hang onto their job.

And they should spend their money to get out and have a good time and see, you know, all the kind of amazing things that there are out there to go see like Taylor Swift concerts and "Barbie" movies.

REID: Well, we actually got some new numbers from Bank of America showing that cardholders spent 13.2 percent more on entertainment than a year ago while spending fell in many other categories like online electronics, home improvement, you know, furniture and lodging.

Why is that? Is that more of just the post-Covid rebound?

STEVENSON: So a lot of that, it is a post-Covid rebound. I looked up inflation in entertainment items, like going to concerts and movies, and it's running around 6 percent. So it's about where everything else is. It's not contributing more or less, I think, than many of the other categories.

But what -- you just told me is, well, the shares of spending is more, so it's not all about an increase in prices. And that's just because bought a lot of stuff during the pandemic. Now they're actually sick of buying stuff.

So we're seeing people, you know, they're interested in buying refurnishing their home or buying a new appliance. That's not as strong as it was, but people are interested in spending more in services.

That's been one of the things people have been concerned about as we knew inflation, which was primarily driven by rising prices for goods early on would spill over to services.

And what we've seen is that inflation and the price of goods has come down, and, in some cases, the price of new cars, these things have really slowed. And in some cases, we've even seen reversals a little bit. So deflation, prices coming down.

What we were worried about is that when, once we sort of recovered in goods, inflation would take off in services. And that hasn't really happened. We've certainly seen some inflation. But not enough to mean that we can't bring inflation down overall.

And I'm not really worried that people's excitement to see Taylor Swift is going to make it harder for the Fed to fight inflation.

And I think, you know, there's some mechanical sense in which consumer confidence does make it a little bit harder for the Fed, but to bring down inflation.

But I think it makes it easier for the Fed to get that soft landing they want. They want to bring down inflation while at the same time allowing economic growth and employment to continue.

And consumers believing in the economy, that the economy can and will remain strong is an important part of that. And the fact that that's happening when we're seeing pretty historic

rates of people googling recession, what some people have called a vibe-session, I think is pretty remarkable.

REID: That is remarkable.

Betsey Stevenson, thank you so much for joining us with your insight.

[16:55:55]

And speaking of Taylor Swift, it turns out her fans not only have the power to help stimulate the economy, but they can also create seismic activity, much like an earthquake.

An expert says, at her Seattle concerts, dancing Swifties caused record-breaking seismic activity similar to a 2.3-magnitude quake. Apparently, her fans really can shake it off.

And the new CNN original series, "SEE IT LOUD, THE HISTORY OF BLACK TELEVISION," celebrates the creators who thought for representation and inspired generations of viewers.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are new developments in the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man in Minneapolis who died in police custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As with Rodney King the situation with George Floyd's murder was caught on camera, which gave people all over the world an inside look into a broken system.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody realizes that now's the time when you can't just sit on the sidelines. You can't -- you have to be actively anti-racist. That's what has to happen now.

(CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The genre of television where we see the most change following the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed that is the unscripted realm. It's the shows that used to follow police officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: The new episode of the CNN original series, "SEE IT LOUD, THE HISTORY OF BLACK TELEVISION," premieres tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. on CNN.

We'll be right back.

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