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Voting System Breach In Georgia Linked To Trump's Legal Team; Georgia Tightens Security Ahead Of Possible Trump Indictment; Interview With Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) About Legal Dramas Looming Ahead Of Election Year 2024; At Least 93 Known Dead In Hawaii Wildfire; Parkland Survivor Launch PAC To Support Leaders; Five Killed In House Explosion Near Pittsburgh, Three Homes Destroyed. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 13, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:36]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone, I'm Jessica Dean in Washington. Jim Acosta has the evening off.

And we begin this hour with potentially game-changing evidence in Georgia's election interference investigation of former President Donald Trump and his allies. Sources telling CNN Fulton County officials now have e-mails and text messages that directly connect members of Trump's legal team to the breach of a voting system in rural Coffee County.

The new development comes as District Attorney Fani Willis prepares to present the case to a grand jury. She is expected to seek an indictment of more than a dozen people as early as Tuesday. And that means this week a former U.S. president could be facing criminal charges in four U.S. jurisdictions.

We begin with CNN's Zachary Cohen who helped break this exclusive reporting.

Zach, thanks for being with us. How significant is this new evidence that you all have uncovered that is linking members of Trump's legal team to the breach of this voting system?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, these texts really do draw a direct line between members of Trump's legal team and this breach in Coffee County, Georgia, a rural Republican heavy county, about 200 miles south of where we are right now in Fulton County, Georgia. But this breach has emerged as one of the central focus points of Fani Willis's broader investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia itself.

And, you know, Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other former lawyer Sidney Powell, these messages do suggest that they're both involved in the planning efforts to try to secure a written letter of invitation from a local election official in Coffee County who would subsequently allegedly give them access to the voting system there.

Now, look, election officials are not allowed to give outsiders access to voting systems. These are secure systems. Federal agencies have repeatedly warned election officials not to do this, but what we see in these text messages a concerted effort by Trump's legal team to try to secure this letter of invitation and ultimately led to them getting access to the voting systems in Coffee County.

Now we suspect that this new piece of evidence could play into potential charging decisions by Fani Willis. As you mentioned, she is expected to potentially bring charges as soon as this week so we're going to have to see how that factors in. But a really key part of a sprawling investigation by Fani Willis and new evidence that we're learning about just a day before a busy week ahead.

DEAN: No doubt about that. And we know that the grandy jury will meet tomorrow. You're right outside of the Fulton County courthouse, Zach. Set the scene for what we're going to be seeing over the next few days there.

COHEN: Yes. We expect Fani Willis to start presenting her case to the grand jury tomorrow and that could play into Tuesday as well. We know there are at least two witnesses who are confirmed to appear before the grand jury on Tuesday and you know, an indictment could be expected as early as Tuesday as well. So we're going to be closely watching for developments starting tomorrow and there is going to be a lot of activity in this courthouse, in Fulton County, starting tomorrow morning and throughout potentially all the way into Tuesday when we could see indictments happen.

Now the timing is a little bit up in the air. The grand jury may need more time to review the evidence, prosecutors may want more time to present that evidence. But Tuesday and Monday really do shape up to be busy days here in Fulton County.

DEAN: Yes. And we see those security barricades behind you and a lot of security there as they get closer to this.

Zach Cohen for us in Atlanta, thank you so much for that reporting.

And we want to drill down on this a little more, and joining us now is Nick Akerman. He's a former assistant special Watergate prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Nick, we sure do appreciate you sharing your Sunday evening with us. We want to begin with that new CNN reporting that Zach was just walking us through, that the Atlanta prosecutors do have these e-mails and texts that link Trump's lawyers to this breach of a voting system in Coffee County, Georgia. This appears to be a new element that we know about now the Fulton County prosecution. How significant do you think this is?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SPECIAL WATERGATE PROSECUTOR: This is super significant. This all comes out, just to put this in context, this comes out of a meeting that was in the White House on December 18th, prior to all of this happening where Donald Trump met with Sidney Powell and General Flynn, where they actually discussed trying to get the military to impound voting machines. And the White House lawyers came in, there was a big ruckus over this.

But the upshot of all this was that Sidney Powell and General Flynn have another way to get some of this information and that was by going to the states like Coffee County, a couple of counties in Michigan, where they took the voting information the old-fashioned way.

[19:05:16]

They basically stole it. So they were able to go into Coffee County. It was directed by people involved in the White House, trying to get this information because they were trying to somehow prove that there was fraud in the election. They thought that by getting this data, they could prove fraud. But to get to that data, they committed a crime. And the crime that's involved here, which is computer trespass, is a predicate for the Georgia RICO statute.

So this does not auger well for the individuals like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and others, and Donald Trump of course. That this may be part of a major RICO indictment of all of these individuals, tying in all of the other facets of what they did in Georgia to try and change the --

DEAN: Right. And you mentioned this RICO case, and District Attorney Fani Willis has tried a number of those. They are in her wheelhouse. She's expected to seek more than a dozen indictments this week. We know that. This would be racketeering conspiracy charges. Exactly what you're laying out. And these are very wide-ranging cases. There is a lot of layers to them.

As an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, you were the first prosecutor to use the federal RICO statute to prosecute a mafia boss. So you have had some experience with this at the federal level. Do you think this case is a good fit?

AKERMAN: It's absolutely a good fit. I mean, you've got predicate acts here with predicate acts, meaning what -- let me back up a minute. RICO basically turns a number of different crimes into one crime. It takes a pattern and turns it into the one crime of racketeering. So what you have here are a number of false statements, false statements to Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia, by Donald Trump.

You've got statements that Donald Trump made to the speaker of the House in Georgia. You've got statements that Donald Trump made to the governor of Georgia, and you've got statements made by Donald Trump to the chief investigator for the secretary of state. Most of these conversations are on tape. So these are going to pile up as predicate acts, as false statements to government officials which are part of a RICO violation.

And in addition to that, now you've got this computer intrusion, which is also a RICO violation. And then you've got the false electors which were created in order to be able to send a competing set of electors, claiming to be legitimate electors for Donald Trump saying that he won the election when in fact he didn't, and this was all behind the plot to get Vice President Pence to accept those electors over the legitimate electors that have already been certified by Governor Kemp.

So you've got a whole series of events here that are going to be put into this RICO count and the question is, who are all the other defendants going to be? I think what you're going to see is this is not going to be like the latest federal indictment in Washington, D.C. with just one defendant, Donald Trump. I think you're going to see some of these unindicted co-conspirators in the federal case suddenly show up as indicted defendants in the Georgia case.

DEAN: Yes. And that is what our reporting has indicated is likely to happen.

Before I let you go, if you could help everyone kind of understand, there are -- this would be the fourth indictment, so just trying to keep them straight. But as you mentioned, there is a federal case about overturning -- trying to overturn the election that the former president has been indicted in. This would be a state case as we've said.

What could the difference there when it comes to not being able to pardon yourself and also all the way to there being television cameras potentially in the courtroom?

AKERMAN: Well, first of all, with respect to pardoning, in Georgia, the only way a convicted defendant is pardoned is through the Georgia Pardon and Parole Board. And in order to be even qualified for a pardon, you have to serve at least five years of your sentence. And on top of it all, by statute, the governor does not have the power to pardon anyone. So it's all done by this parole board.

And, of course, if somebody is a U.S. president, they can't pardon for violations and for convictions in the state, nor can they do it in the state of New York where there also is another pending indictment.

[19:10:03]

The other question you had about the state violation, what was that again? I'm sorry, you said --

DEAN: Just that it could be televised. That could be the difference as well. There aren't cameras in federal courtrooms, yes.

AKERMAN: There could be. I think it would be a bad idea. I think in Georgia it could be televised. I'm not sure what the practice has been in the past. But you've got problems with witnesses who are testifying that are going to be put in danger by virtue of appearing on television, and you've got the problem of Donald Trump who is absolutely adept at dealing with reality TV and will create all kinds of problems just to appeal to the audience out there in television land. So, yes, they could do it, but I think it would be a big mistake.

DEAN: All right. More to come on this. We'll all be watching Fulton County.

Nick Akerman, thank you so much. We sure do appreciate it. AKERMAN: Thank you.

DEAN: And for days now police in Atlanta have been preparing for the Fulton County DA's announcement. As we mentioned a few minutes ago, those barriers are already set up around the courthouse. They've been closing streets in the vicinity.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is outside that building.

Isabel, we can see kind of the orange barricades behind you. What do you know about security preparations? And you've also learned that officials have been talking to officials in other places where Trump has already been indicted to learn from that.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Jessica, the big question is, will Fulton County be yet another place where Trump is charged and arrested? And it seems like regardless of what that answer will be, Fulton County is ready.

You can see the heavier police presence than normal around the courthouse, even beyond this angle right here. In fact I took a lap around the courthouse and on every side road touching the courthouse, I saw officers staked out there. And also metal barriers and these plastic orange and white barricades have been posted all across the courthouse. I've seen officers, too, with K-9s, just patrolling making sure everything is secure for Monday, Tuesday. This very busy week ahead.

And it's not just this courthouse. It's not just the physical building, but also the very visible face in front of this investigation into Trump here in Fulton County. And that's the D.A. Fani Willis. According to a source with knowledge of law enforcement movements here in Atlanta, she has received additional security protection near her home. And she has recently warned local officials to stay vigilant about any security threats.

Sharing in an e-mail obtained by CNN examples of messages, racist and sexualized messages that she's received and also similar sorts of threats via voicemail. And the man in charge of security here on the ground is the sheriff of Fulton County, Patrick Labat. He says that his team is ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF PATRICK LABAT, FULTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: So we all live in technology, right. And we want to make sure we focus on the latest and the greatest, what that looks like, how it can really create a force multiplier for us, but then we have as many as four or five other sheriff's offices that are coming in to help across those particular parameters and making sure holistically we are safe. So we're ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Yes, they're not just using technology. They're bringing in deputies from other nearby counties and they've also been taking notes from New York to Miami, to D.C., other places where Trump has faced an indictment, and taken note of what good security looks like so they can execute this this week.

Another thing that they're keeping a close eye on is what Trump is saying in these next couple of days. He has attacked Willis on the campaign trail and also on Truth Social. Willis has previously said that that rhetoric from Trump has escalated security concerns -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Isabel Rosales, it's kind of surreal that they've had three other indictments to learn from for a former president. Thanks so much for that update. We appreciate it, Isabel.

Well, the death toll is rising in Hawaii after those devastating wildfires. Officials say they don't know how many people are still missing. We're going to have a live update for you. Plus the search for answers after five people were killed when a house exploded in a Pittsburgh suburb. Also could the special prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden lead to legal issues for President Biden?

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of the House Oversight Committee, joins us next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:40]

DEAN: As former President Donald Trump faces mounting criminal indictments in the midst of an election cycle, President Biden could also be affected by some legal drama close to home. On Friday, the attorney general named a special counsel in the investigation of his son Hunter Biden. It's a case that's been the main focus of Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.

And joining me now is Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Congresswoman, great to have you. I know we flagged you as an Oversight member. You're on Weaponization and a host of other committees. But I would love to get your thoughts first on this Hunter Biden case because it has been so central to your Republican colleagues there in the House. They have talked about this over and over again. They wanted a special counsel named, then it's been named, now they're criticizing that.

In fact Chairman James Comer has called the DOJ's decision an attempt at a family cover-up. But we want to note Comer has not been able to provide any evidence of that or any links between Biden and any wrongdoing, alleged wrongdoing by his son.

What I'm curious about from your perspective is if you think the Justice Department could have done anything differently here either to apiece Republicans or just simply to make this process more smooth or more transparent? REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Well, I think Republicans in the

House are absolutely desperate to do anything to distract from the fact that, you know, former President Trump has been indicted three times, and, you know, is likely about to be indicted a fourth time.

[19:20:13]

Your breaking news uncovered that in Georgia President Trump's team as well as likely President Trump actually breached or attempted to breach a voting system. In order to gain those votes that he was pressuring the secretary of state to try to find so that he could win Georgia when he actually lost.

So the desperation on the part -- and the abuse of the legal process on the part of the Republican Party is really stunning. And on the other hand, you have the Biden Justice Department, A, initially appointing a Trump appointed U.S. attorney to do -- handle the investigation of Hunter Biden, and now ensuring that there is a special counsel. So it's just so clear, the contrast between the two approaches to the legal system and that Republicans are just obsessed with doing anything other than focusing on trying to take care of the American people as President Biden has done throughout his time in office.

DEAN: And they really keep trying, House Republicans on the whole, leadership for sure, keeps trying to really draw this comparison that it is the same, the Hunter Biden cases and what's going on with former President Trump, and try to, you know, make one issue bigger than the Trump issues, make the Hunter Biden bigger than the Trump issues. How do you respond to that?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I mean, because they want -- look, let me go back in September, Jessica. They're likely going to start up a baseless impeachment process for President Biden when Comer has admitted there is absolutely no evidence that they've come up with that President Biden did anything wrong and that they -- I mean, there's just -- they want to distract from President Trump's really serious legal jeopardy and the fact that President Biden has been the most successful president in modern times.

I mean, the fact that we have record job growth, that we've passed, you know, bipartisan legislation, most significant gun safety reform in 30 years. That wee been making sure that we make investments in infrastructure by passing the infrastructure legislation. The Inflation Reduction Act. We brought inflation down and really tried to make sure that we focused on getting the American people back to work and this economy healthy again. And that's bad news for Republicans. So they want to distract from all of that good news.

DEAN: I want to talk a little about your home state of Florida. First off, I want to talk about abortion and abortion rights potentially going on the ballot because we saw abortion right activists with this victory, this kind of proxy victory in Ohio after the voters there turned down that ballot measure that would have made it more difficult to guarantee abortion rights in the state's constitution. And we've seen votes around abortion rights in Kansas, Kentucky,

Montana, not typically, you know, blue states as it were and obviously Florida has been a swing state for many years but has gotten increasingly red. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed that six-week abortion bill earlier this year. But we know that the Florida Women's Freedom Coalition is now pushing to get a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights on the 2024 ballot.

Do you think that that could impact how Florida goes in 2024 for Democrats and do you think it could be the next now red state to protect abortion rights?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Abortion rights in Florida is a 70 percent plus issue. More than 70 percent of Floridians support a woman's right to make her own reproductive choices and having autonomy over her own health care decisions. What Ron DeSantis in Florida and Republicans across this country are focused on doing is banning abortion nationwide. They want to take women's rights away.

That's the extreme MAGA Republican agenda. And I mean, 15-week ban that they passed last year wasn't enough. Now they've passed a six- week ban. So in our state, thankfully, voters have the opportunity to get signatures and amend our constitution and that is where voting abortion rights supporters are headed. And it is likely going to drive people to the polls who want to make sure that we don't have extremism ruling our state, and that women's bodies are not taking over by government and those decisions made for them instead of them being able to make those decisions themselves.

DEAN: And lastly, before we let you go, I also want to get your reaction to Governor DeSantis announcing that suspension of the state attorney for Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit. He accused her of neglect of duty and incompetence, and it's actually the second time he's removed a democratically elected prosecutor whose politics don't align with where he thinks they should be. And it's something he really takes as a battling cry on the campaign trail and gets a lot of applause for frankly when he's in Iowa or New Hampshire. I'm curious what you make of his decision.

[19:25:10]

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: What I make of his decision is what the majority of Floridians have made of it, and that is that it's an abuse of his power. It's a gross abuse of power to replace his judgment from the voters' judgment, the prosecutor in Orange and Osceola County was overwhelmingly elected 65 percent of the vote. Ron DeSantis removed her because he doesn't agree with her policy decisions even though that's what she campaigned on and the voters elected her to execute those.

And it's just outrageous that he thinks that he has the right to replace voters' judgment. And it's very clear he's an autocrat, he's an authoritarian, and he doesn't understand following the rule of law and making sure that people have the ability to elect -- to select elected officials based on their point of view, and he doesn't get to replace their point of view. And that's obviously the kind of president he would be.

He's clearly been a horrendous governor, banning books, he's tried to -- he's adopted an education program for African-American history focused on suggesting that slavery have some benefits and that that has to be taught. He's caused chaos and confusion with banning AP psychology then not banning it. This is a governor who doesn't know how to govern. Only knows how to be an authoritarian, and that's the last thing that this country needs. It's certainly the last thing Florida needs.

DEAN: All right. Well, we're going to have to leave it there. As always, lots going on in Florida. We could go through more issues than we have time for.

Congresswoman Debbie Wassermann Schultz, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Sure.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:08]

DEAN: CNN has learned President Biden has been regularly briefed on the situation in Hawaii where 93 people are now confirmed dead in the Lahaina wildfire. That blaze is now America's deadliest fire in more than a century. That toll is expected to rise even more.

With more than 2,000 structures either damaged or destroyed, the state's governor now estimates the economic toll is nearing $6 billion.

CNN's Mike Valerio is on the ground on Maui.

Mike, tell us what you're hearing from residents. I know you were saying earlier that they're now a little bit -- it's a little bit easier to get back in to the epicenter of where these fires were.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jessica. It was organized chaos yesterday and we'll get into that in a moment.

But you know, for the start of your question, what we hear, what we experienced at this spot, Jessica, it's such a moving range of emotion from people who are openly weeping at this spot.

This is the only checkpoint to get in to Lahaina. So this is where people come to terms with, oh my God, I'm going to see what if anything has survived.

So you have people who are crying, really meeting that emotional moment or people who are stoic. It has sunk in and that is Blake, who you're going to hear from in a couple of seconds.

We met him earlier today. He lost his house, but he survived. He gets out of there, barely, and he is going back in to the disaster zone, not to mourn what has been lost, but carrying out the value here of ohana, caring for his family, and extended family and neighbors. Listen to what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAKE, LAHAINA RESIDENT: My home burned down. I live right in Lahaina, so I lost pretty much everything except for what I could grab on my way out. It's just -- it was so fast. It was unbelievable.

So I'm not going to go look at my home or anything. I've seen the videos, it's just -- there is nothing left. So I just have a truckload of gas. And I have, you know, a lot of friends that are stuck over there. So I'm just going to check in with them and make sure everybody is okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So setting the scene, the pride of this place. You're looking out at the beautiful azure Pacific Ocean. So all of our friends in the Mainland United States, way out that way.

But the juxtaposition when you look at the aerial pictures and it sinks in that it's just moonscape, ashen, things turned to dust, compared with this lush landscape that surrounds us.

So what's happening here, Jessica, people are being checked for their IDs. This is going much more smoothly than yesterday, compared with the mile line of cars and trucks to get in. Word is better getting out of how to access inside the disaster zone as people figure out how to move on to the next chapter -- Jessica.

DEAN: Just devastating. Mike Valerio for us there on Maui. Thanks so much for that update.

A Parkland shooting survivor has made it his mission to combat gun violence in America and now he has a new motive. David Hogg is live to tell us about his new PAC he is launching and the group he has his eye on.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:37]

DEAN: David Hogg, one of the surviving students of the 2018 Parkland School shooting is launching a new PAC called Leaders We Deserve, and the concept is to back young candidates running for Democratic seats, whose goal among other things is to curb gun violence in America, and that group initially plans to focus on state level races and a few congressional matchups in the 2024 primary season.

David Hogg joins us now.

David, thanks for coming on. Tell us first what prompted you to do this to launch this PAC?

DAVID HOGG, CO-FOUNDER, LEADERS WE DESERVE PAC: Yes. Well look, it all goes back to the work that we started doing in Parkland after the shooting in 2018.

There were many adults that said, you know, young people are great. It's great you're passionate, but you're not going to change anything here because this is Florida. And we said okay, we're still going to try and we're going to work at it and we actually did end up changing gun laws.

We raised the age to buy a gun in the state of Florida to 21, and we passed Red Flag Laws. Then they said young people don't vote, but then we have at the highest numbers in American history and we've mobilized by the millions to turn out and vote and demand change.

And lastly, most recently, you know, they said you couldn't elect a 25-year-old to Congress like Maxwell Frost who is a March for Lives organizer, and we said, okay, we'll work at it, and we ended up electing the First Gen Z member of Congress.

And after we had his election and that amazing success, I talked with his campaign manager, Kevin, who I had worked with on the campaign and I said, it would be great if we could work through elect more people like Maxwell, people like Justin Jones, and others to state legislatures especially to take the charge, straight to people like Ron DeSantis, to lead the fight as young people to give them a voice in the state legislatures, and more in Congress.

[19:40:12]

So that's why we're doing this work. To get people elected, who understand the anxiety of what it's like to go through a school shooter drill, and the anxiety of what it's like not knowing if the planet is going to be inhabitable in the future.

DEAN: And I think it's really interesting that you all are going to focus on state legislatures and state candidates. They're not necessarily aren't as shiny of a race, sometimes as these federal races, but oftentimes, that's where the work is, is at that state level.

Help us understand kind of your thinking. I know you got a little bit at it in your answer there, but it seems like that's a very targeted choice that you're making.

HOGG: It is, and the reason why we focus on state legislatures is because that's the place where young people or really anybody can have the biggest impact in politics a lot of the time.

The worst policies we're seeing get passed are not from Congress, necessarily. They're things like the Don't Say Gay Laws being passed by people like Ron DeSantis. They are things like open permitless carry passed by people like Ron DeSantis, and so many others that are turning our states into anarchy a lot of the time because you know, what would have been a fistfight is turning into a potential shootout. And the reason why we're focused on these state legislatures is

because that's where the real power lies, where we can change these things. We don't have to deal with the filibuster there. And it's a lot easier to get young people elected there early on, to gain the experience they need to then run for higher office.

I don't think it should be -- it is not lost on us that, you know, somebody like Joe Biden was elected when he was first 29 years old. And I don't think -- I think a major reason why he's been so impactful is because he started that young and if anybody believes in that mission of bringing more young people into office, like Maxwell Frost and others, they can support us by donating at LeadersWeDeserve.com.

DEAN: And just lastly, there are a lot of packs out there. Those are political action committees. What do you think is going to make yours different? How are you going to convert to success and make sure that you're achieving these goals that you're setting out for yourself?

HOGG: Yes, well, I think what makes us different is when our special emphasis on a lot of open blue seat primaries during primary season to help elect young people. We're not here to challenge incumbents. We're focused on races that are safely Democratic to help elect young people there in the primary, and then when there's more competitive races, helping the young people run in those races, but again, most of our focus, again, is on state legislatures like Florida, like Texas, like Georgia, North Carolina, and others.

We're working with people like Anderson Clayton, who is one of the youngest Democratic Party -- state Democratic Party chairs in the country to create that change and that's kind of what makes us different, it is our very selective nature.

We want to come in and supercharge these campaigns, give them the right advice, help them get the right step that they need, and do all that we can to make sure that they cross the finish line to help young people.

So we're focusing on really 15 to 30 young people at the state legislative level and a few members of Congress. We are not trying to elect a thousand people at once. We really want to make a difference in the campaigns that we help out and if people want to help with that they can donate five or ten dollars a month at LeadersWeDeserve.com because the work has to start before election season.

DEAN: Yes. There will be a lot on the ballot in 2024.

David Hogg, thanks so much for joining us.

HOGG: Absolutely, thank you.

DEAN: Investigators are trying to learn what caused a house to explode just outside of Pittsburgh, and it's not the first time this has happened there.

The latest, next on the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:53]

DEAN: An update now on that horrific home explosion in a Pittsburgh suburb. Officials now saying five people are now known to have been killed including a teenager. Three houses were destroyed, dozens damaged.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

DEAN: You can see just how violent it was. The RING doorbell video there showing the moment the house exploded Saturday morning blowing out windows and doors throughout that neighborhood.

Officials say the investigation is just beginning and the cause may remain a mystery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE IMBARLINA, ASSISTANT CHIEF, ALLEGHENY COUNTY EMERGENCY: Now that we are at this phase, the cause and origin investigation of our fire marshal's office will begin in earnest.

Please understand that this will be a slow and long process as things need to be tested and there will be lots of forensic testing to be able to prove anything one way or another and that this investigation may last for months, if not years, so please keep that in mind. It's a slow process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN Pittsburgh affiliate, KTKA is reporting this is the third house explosion in Plum Borough in 15 years; one last year, another in 2008.

The Consumer Price Index is out for the month of July and the US saw a moderate rise in consumer prices over June. So what does that mean for your pockets?

Here is CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich with today's Before the Bell.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The consumer prices rose on an annual basis for the first time in over a year. Shelter played a significant role in the monthly rise accounting for 90 percent of the overall increase.

This comes after the Fed's interest rate hikes pushed mortgage rates around seven percent. However, when you strip out volatile food and energy components, core inflation saw the smallest monthly rise in nearly two years and annual core inflation cooled. Everything from eggs to electronics to airline fares all saw declines last month.

It is important to note that inflation though is still higher than the Fed's two percent target, but much lower than last summer.

On the wholesale level, prices rose more than expected in July. Despite that, headline producer prices remain well below two percent annually.

[19:50:08]

Jobless claims are rising, but still remain historically low. A so- called soft landing is still possible, but the economy is not out of the woods yet. That's why every piece of economic data is important.

Retail sales data and big retail earnings from Home Depot and Walmart are all on top this week. We'll also get the minutes from the Federal Reserve's critical July meeting.

DEAN: Vanessa, thank you.

And just minutes from now, celebrity chef, Bobby Flay showing you what's changed with restaurants since the pandemic including tipping.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Just a few minutes from now, "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper returns with a slightly new recipe. This time, celebrity chef, Bobby Flay has cooked up a special exploring how America's restaurant industry has changed after COVID-19.

[19:55:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those first three weeks were super chaotic. It wasn't clear if food delivery was even allowed by the regulations. So one of the things that we knew right away was that restaurants were going to be platforms like ours to be able to stay open.

We channeled all of our marketing dollars at the time into building the campaign called Open For Delivery. We're up on air six days after the stay-at-home orders were in place.

BOBBY FLAY, CELEBRITY CHEF: When the pandemic hit, I had one high-end restaurant in New York, Gato, and we decided to close almost immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

FLAY: Because we didn't know what was going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

FLAY: I didn't go down the road that most of my contemporaries did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

FLAY: Which was partnering with a company like yours.

A lot of my contemporaries would say to me, I'm doing a ton of business on delivery, but I can't make any money because of requisition rates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. Right. And during the pandemic, we heard that a lot.

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DEAN: Now, Jim Acosta sat down with Bobby Flay to discuss the many challenges that restaurants and their customers are now facing after the pandemic. One restaurant featured in tonight's episode is responding to two of the biggest -- wages and tipping in an unconventional way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And in Portland, you mentioned those owners, they actually found a way to start paying their employees in a much more equitable fashion. They started to show their financial books to their employees. Well, they transformed the way they do business.

FLAY: They took an opinion about how to pay their employees. So basically, what they do is they charge you the consumer, 22 percent service charge, and then they pay their employees a salary. So do people tip in that case? I think sometimes if they feel like it, but they're not -- they're not sort of asked to.

What I was saying to them was, the bottom line is there is some shortfall here and everybody is trying to figure out a way to kind of, you know, figure it out. That's not a pandemic issue. That's just the restaurant business.

ACOSTA: If you ask them, will the people object to this being charged a flat 22 percent fee, and they essentially said not really.

FLAY: They're very open about what they're doing. Obviously, they have a lot of customers that they know will come back and back. I would consider it a neighborhood restaurant in Portland. So I think they know a good or a majority of their customer base.

So the customer base understands what they're doing there. You know, that said, I asked them, Is it working? They said it is and so, you know, this is just one more way to kind of take a look at how to run a restaurant in hopefully a profitable way.

ACOSTA: A lot of people argue about this, wherever you go, now. How should tipping work? Should the person flip around the iPad towards you and make you tip somebody on the spot there.

FLAY: I think there's no one size fits all for this. I think that every restaurant is different, every restaurant has its own set of issues in terms of, you know, how pay people and also make a profit.

It is a very, very tough balance, but as you see in the piece, I talk about the fact that I think we're just going to have to charge more.

I mean, and the folks in Portland made a really good point, which is that it's all about perception. So instead of just raising the prices, you know, they're doing it differently. They are adding a service charge to the prices, because when people look at a menu, they just say, oh, the chicken is $22.00 and the fish is $18.00.

At the bottom of the menu, there's definitely, you know, a notation that says 22 percent service charge, but they feel like the perception is to keep the menu prices moderate, and then just add the service fee at the end.

ACOSTA: I grew up with a single mom. My mom worked in restaurants her whole life, that's how she raised me -- tips. What is your feeling about that system? And is that the way we should be paying restaurant workers in this country?

FLAY: Personally, I like to be able to tip my server. I want to I want to give them a tip that they obviously -- there is a number, like there's a percentage that you like you always tip, and then if there's like really extra great service, I want to be able to tip them even more.

Now, you can argue that you can do that no matter what, but for the most part, when you take tipping out of the equation, people typically will tip less.

So again, there is no right answer to this, except that the thing that we've seen is that everything costs more in the restaurant business. Everything costs more in general because of inflation.

But the bottom line is that you know, labor is more expensive than it used to be. The commodities, the foodstuffs have gone up of course, and occupancy costs are traditionally always high.

So far the landlords haven't said, you know what, we're going to we're going to lower your rent. I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

So the bottom line is if you want to be in the restaurant business, you do understand that it is going to be -- you know, it is going to be tough.

You can definitely make it happen because there's plenty of -- there is plenty of really good stories of people you know running restaurants and making a really good profit. But you know, it's gotten tougher.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Don't miss Bobby Flay's new episode of "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper. It is next right here on CNN.

Thanks so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. Jim Acosta is back next weekend.

Have a great night.