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Trump Tells Schumer To "Go To Hell" Over Funding Demands; Office Of The Special Counsel Now Investigating Jack Smith; Trump Orders Nuclear Subs Repositioned After Russia Remarks; Trump Fires Top Jobs Data Chief After Weak July Report; Trump Announces $200 Million White House Ballroom; Trump Unveils New Tariffs For Most Countries; Parents Race To Beat Price Hikes On Back-To-School Supplies; Pope Leo Makes Appearance At Vatican Jubilee Of Youth. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 02, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:42]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York. Jessica Dean has the day off.

Tonight President Trump with a direct message to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer telling him to, quote, "go to hell" over tough negotiations over Trump's upcoming nominations in the Senate. Now, according to sources briefed on the conversations, Schumer, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and the White House are looking to resolve a standoff on the nominations so the Senate can take its summer recess.

CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now.

So, Julia, what are we hearing from the president on this front?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as these conversations have been ongoing, we did get this very intense reaction from President Donald Trump where he told a member of Congress, one of the highest ranking members in the Senate, to, quote, "go to hell."

Democrats have been slow-walking some of his lower level nominees, forcing Majority Leader John Thune to keep the Senate in session through the weekend and potentially even longer into their highly anticipated August recess. Sources tell CNN's Manu Raju that Schumer had been making some demands for different interests in his party, including to unfreeze funding for an array of programs and also asking Trump to agree to not attempt to push through another rescissions package that would codify some of the Department of Government Efficiency's cuts.

We saw that $9 billion in cuts go through earlier this summer that impacted the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of course, a topic that is still in the news today. But I want to pull up for you in full this Truth Social post from Trump where he said, quote, "Senator Cryin' Chuck Schumer is demanding over $1 billion in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees who should right now be helping to run our country. The demand is egregious and unprecedented and would be embarrassing to

the Republican Party if it were accepted. Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the radical left lunatics, to go to hell. Do not accept the offer. Go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are and what a great job the Republicans are doing and have done for our country."

He ends that with, "Have a great recess" and "make America great again." This post, coming after Trump had repeatedly said that maybe they need to cancel August recess altogether so that they can stay and get his nominees across the finish line. Of course, Schumer taking these moves, this is a part of the power that the Democrats have in the minority is to put some hurdles in the way for Republicans when it comes to getting things done.

JIMENEZ: Julia, while have you, federal officials are also now investigating former special counsel Jack Smith. I should say they're not investigating him criminally right now. More along the lines of the Hatch Act, which is more of a policy investigation. But Jack Smith obviously oversaw federal investigations into Trump.

What do we know so far about the nature of this investigation and at what stage we're in now?

BENBROOK: Yes, this is an independent federal agency that is tasked with enforcing several rules. Among those is the Hatch Act, and they confirmed to CNN that they are investigating Special Counsel Jack Smith for alleged violations of the Hatch Act. This is essentially the investigation of the investigator. And this was something that was first reported by the "New York Post," later confirmed by our team.

And of course, Smith has made headlines for several years now as he helped lead criminal probes into then former President Donald Trump for his handling of classified documents, as well as his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election. Now, both of those cases were ultimately dropped when Trump was reelected. And as you mentioned, when it comes to repercussions here, these are workplace guidelines and not crimes. So if he is found to have violated this in any way, the repercussions for it could vary dramatically.

[19:05:06]

It's also important to note that Smith resigned from his role at the Department of Justice just about a week before Trump started his second term -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Julia Benbrook, really appreciate the reporting.

Let's go deeper with this. To better understand the significance of this investigation, I spoke to CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig a little bit earlier tonight. Here's a part of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So, Omar, it's important to understand there are two completely separate types of special counsel in our government. The first type of special counsel is the one that we're all probably most familiar with. That's when the attorney general taps an outside prosecutor to come in and investigate the president or some other high ranking official.

We've seen a bunch of these in recent years. Robert Mueller Robert Hur investigating Joe Biden, and Jack Smith himself. So let's call that prosecutorial special counsel. Completely separate and apart from that, there's what we'll call bureaucratic special counsel coming out of this Office of Special Counsel. They're not prosecutors. They can't charge someone criminally. What they do is investigate whistleblower complaints for ethical issues, for conflicts of interest.

So what's happened here is the latter. A bureaucratic special counsel is now investigating Jack Smith. So this is not a criminal probe. This is a probe into ethics and conflicts of interest. Not good news for Jack Smith. But it's also not as if he is now under criminal investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: That was CNN's senior legal analyst, Elie Honig.

Following other news, including President Trump is responding to what he called, quote, "highly provocative comments" from Russia's former president. So he's ordering the repositioning of two U.S. nuclear submarines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was talking about nuclear. When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared. And we're totally prepared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So these are the comments the former Russian president and current deputy chairman of its Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, accusing Trump of playing a game of ultimatums, saying, "Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war."

We're joined now by CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty. She's also author of the book "My Russia: What I Saw Inside the Kremlin."

So, Jill, can you just put in perspective for us, is Medvedev someone the president of the United States should be engaging with online? I mean, how in line is he with the current view of the Kremlin?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he's part of the Kremlin in the sense that he is. He has a very important position as the deputy head of the Security Council. That's very big. He was the former president in that period where Putin stepped aside and then came back in. But, you know, Dmitry Medvedev used to be considered a serious politician. But I think now how he is perceived, because he's online all the time, is essentially as the troller-in-chief. I mean, that is his mission. He goes out there and he makes truly

unhinged comments, which are sometimes shocking and sometimes amusing. And so maybe it would have been easier just to ignore him because he has made, you know, nuclear threats before. But I think the situation with President Trump is different. There are a lot of issues going on for him domestically, and this offers a way not only of pushing, you know, the Kremlin.

Because don't forget, you know, Medvedev makes those comments because Putin allows him to do that. It's all part of the choreography. But I think it gives Trump a chance to push back at Putin and also deflect a little bit of attention, a lot of attention actually, from what's going on domestically.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, troller-in-chief are not -- it still ended up in a concrete action by the president of the United States sending -- repositioning these nuclear submarines. How does Russia view this escalation, if you want to call it that, from President Trump? Do you expect a response from the Kremlin here?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I think you can say that they already have because President Putin is talking about this supersonic missile.

JIMENEZ: Yes. With Belarus.

DOUGHERTY: The Oreshnik missile, super hypersonic missile, and that's very serious. That is a serious weapon. It's new. And I think, you know, he -- they have -- he has already said something kind of cryptically saying, you know, it was excessive expectations led to President Trump's statement. He didn't call out by name President Trump, but he's saying, in other words, you expected too much from me, Mr. Trump.

JIMENEZ: President Trump says his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is going to travel to Russia in the coming days with the backdrop of the repositioning of nuclear submarines, with the expected transfer of weapons from Russia to Belarus, both obviously bordering Ukraine.

[19:10:06]

What type of reception do you expect Wikoff is going to get, given all of what's going on around that meeting?

DOUGHERTY: Yes, I think the Russians are prepared for everything, but I would tend to think that it would be very different. I think previously, if you remember, Mr. Witkoff has been very complimentary of President Putin, saying, you know, he's kind and he's smart, et cetera. This time it could be a very different message. So I think the Russians are going to be waiting to hear what Witkoff says and then respond, and they will have various responses already.

But I think the mood that you can see in Moscow that's really shaping up is that they are not going to kowtow to President Trump. They're making it clear, they may say, yes, we are willing to negotiate. That's what they always say. But I think that there is this idea that you can see on TV in Russia and on the social media, which is they don't want to be dictated to by the American president.

JIMENEZ: Sure. Look, I think it's no secret President Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated with President Putin. Here he was on Thursday. Take a quick listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Russia, I think it's disgusting what they're doing. I think it's disgusting. I don't know that sanctions bother him. You know, they know about sanctions. I know better than anybody about sanctions and tariffs and everything else. I don't know if that has any effect, but we're going to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So on the sanctions themselves, obviously this is not a new dynamic between the United States and Russia, but is it a legitimate move here that would actually hurt Russia if Trump actually goes through with sanctions?

DOUGHERTY: Well, there are two types of sanctions. So one would be on Russia itself, and that would not do much of anything because we don't trade with Russia. It's very, very small number. But what could hurt would be India and China. And these are called secondary sanctions. So the United States would sanction countries that buy energy, especially oil, from Russia.

Now the plot thickens because we're beginning to see the Chinese are essentially saying we don't care. We're going to go along with what's in our interest. And then the Indians, initially there might have been some indication that they could, you know, hold back from buying oil from Russia somewhat. But now it seems that their position is hardening as well, and it's not clear. I mean, we have to get a final statement from the Indians, but it looks as if they too are saying we will do what we want to do, and that could be a problem for President Trump.

But again, this is, you know, fast-moving and sending Witkoff could, you know, there could be some message that he carries from President Trump.

JIMENEZ: Witkoff has a lot on his shoulders these days.

Jill Dougherty, appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

All right. Coming up, when a California man accused of sending money to ISIS is arrested, this is what the FBI recovered from inside a bedroom. We'll explain coming up.

And President Trump makes a pretty startling move by firing a chief Labor Department official because it appears he didn't like Friday's job numbers. We're going to talk about the fallout.

And the Pope celebrates jubilee in Rome. Lots of young people.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll take you to what is being described as Woodstock for the Catholic folks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:31]

JIMENEZ: President Trump fired a top government official in charge of putting out the country's jobs data after really a disappointing July report. Trump claiming, though, the employment data was, quote, "manipulated for political purposes" without any evidence.

CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter is with us now.

So, Brian, look, I think it's no secret. We know President Trump likes to control the narrative. He's also claimed she's been wrong, this commissioner, in the past, seemingly tied to the downward revisions we saw, which, while shocking to some, was pretty standard.

Was this him looking for someone to blame? Or do you think it means anything? And do you think it means anything for reliable government statistics?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: This is -- yes. This is one of the most universally criticized moves that President Trump has made during his return to office. Certainly there are some MAGA Republicans defending him, saying, hey, their data was wrong. But this is not a matter of simply right versus wrong. It's so much more complicated than that. Dozens of people work on this government data. This data is collected over a time period.

You know, these agencies say they need more money in order to create a better data set. This has been a problem for quite some time. So it's not simply a matter of right versus wrong. It's about trying to get to the best possible data. And instead of doing that, we're seeing the president intervening, trying to shoot the messenger as many have said in the last 24 hours.

It was striking to see some Republicans, including the -- well, I don't know if it's Republican or Democrat, but he's the Trump appointee who was the predecessor in the job, William Beach, who came out with a strong statement and said, quote, "The president seeks to blame someone for unwelcome economic news, but the commissioner does not determine what the numbers are. They simply report on what the data show."

[19:20:08]

So William Beach was the former head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and he went on to say the following. He said, "U.S. official statistics are the gold standard globally. When leaders of other nations have politicized economic data, it has destroyed public trust in all official statistics and in government science.

And that's the thing about this, Omar. There's a playbook here that has been seen in other countries. We have seen this in more autocratic forms of government, where people who run the data, who crunch the numbers, they're the ones that are forced out by a leader who doesn't want to hear bad news. We have seen this before in many countries, and that is why I think there was so much criticism of this action yesterday and now all weekend long.

JIMENEZ: And so put this into perspective for us. Trump has broken a lot of norms in his second term, but some have said this latest move is right out of an authoritarian playbook or an autocratic playbook. Is this in line with some of the norms he's previously broken, or does this -- is this a step further?

STELTER: I would say this is a step further, although it is very much in keeping with a phenomenon with a trend that we have witnessed for months. And of course, dating back to Trump's first term when he didn't want to hear about COVID cases, and he was concerned about the amount of testing during COVID. Ultimately, I said shooting the messenger. Ultimately, this is all about trying to change the message.

It's about control. That's the through line of so many of these stories, and we can put some of those headlines on screen from the last six months that I think capture this really well, from deleting government Web sites, databases on government Web sites, to renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and then punishing the AP with not going along with the name change.

You know, from trying to ban diversity initiatives and also really trying to ban the entire idea of DEI, from removing some books in schools on military bases due to the content. There's a headline from Axios, 381 books removed from the Naval Academy Library. All of this is of a piece. It is all ultimately related. And there was a story just a couple of days ago broken by the "Washington Post," saying the White House pressured the Smithsonian to remove an art museum director.

And then recently it was noticed that the impeachment exhibit was changed to remove Trump's impeachment. Well, there's breaking news from "The Post" tonight saying that that exhibit is going to be restored, that even though there was a controversy, it was removed. People wondered if Trump wanted that to happen. Why is the Smithsonian seemingly trying to censor itself in order to appease the president?

Well, the news tonight, according to the "Washington Post," is the Smithsonian is going to reverse and go ahead and restore that impeachment exhibit. I think that's important. I think that's an important data point. What it shows is that public scrutiny, public pressure, news media coverage still can make a difference, whether that's talking about the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whether they're talking about the Smithsonian, these government agencies are under pressure in order to follow the president's lead, in order to tell the story he wants told.

But when that story breaks with reality, public pressure and media scrutiny does in some cases still matter. At least it does this weekend at the Smithsonian.

JIMENEZ: Well, and President Trump's relationship or war in some cases with I think institutions whether it's the government, whether its universities, whatever it may be, it seems some have chosen to fight and listen to public pressure. Some have said, you know what? It's easier to just -- to just settle or to move forward so that we can go about business accordingly.

Does that I just wonder what you make of that ongoing dynamic and do you anticipate it getting worse in regards to people just rolling over or getting or going the opposite?

STELTER: Well, there's the comment that former Vice President Kamala Harris just made the other day to Stephen Colbert. She said she expected a lot of what's happened in Trump 2.0, but she didn't expect the capitulation. That C word, capitulation, is on the tongues of so many people across the U.S. and people around the world who are watching what's happening in the U.S. But I've seen for every media company or university that seems to fold, others then seem to fight.

And I've noticed this inside some of these news outlets that I cover on a daily basis, when there are journalists who feel like they're under Trump's thumb, when they're feeling the pressure, some of them leave and they launch their own startups, they go independent, they launch their own media companies. So for every action, there's an equal possibly reaction. There's a counter reaction. And I think that's what we're seeing when it comes to this so-called capitulation.

Yes. It's happening. It's happening at universities, in law firms and media companies, but others are also choosing to stand up at the same time. And that's why stories like the Smithsonian stand out to me because for every reaction, there are these equal reactions.

JIMENEZ: Brian Stelter, appreciate the perspective and reporting as always. Thanks for being here.

All right. Coming up, President Trump also announces he's adding a $200 million ballroom to the White House. But there is growing outrage against it. A lot of gold there.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:29:12]

JIMENEZ: We've been following some growing outrage after President Trump announced he's adding a $200 million ballroom to the White House grounds. Critics are slamming the project's expensive price tag, with some lawmakers saying the president should bring the plan before Congress.

CNN's Brian Todd gives us a closer look at the project and how this wouldn't be the first major addition to the people's house.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump has long been fixated on leaving his own personal imprint on the White House grounds. His latest project will cost about $200 million, he says.

TRUMP: They've wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years.

TODD: Construction begins next month on a grand ballroom at the White House, which will resemble the ornate Donald J. Trump Ballroom at Mar- a-Lago. There will be gold and crystal chandeliers, according to the renderings. Gilded Corinthian columns, a coffered ceiling with gold inlays, gold floor lamps and a checkered marble floor. Three walls of arched windows will look out over The White house South Lawn.

[19:30:11]

LINDSAY CHERVINSKY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY: It is certainly a departure from the historic elements of the rest of the state floor of The White House.

TODD (voice over): The President and his team characterize this as a necessary addition to The White House, which has often hosted major events in a temporary tent that Trump calls a disaster, especially when it rains.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: People are shlopping down to the tent, it is not a pretty sight. The women, with their lovely evening gowns, all of their hair all done and they're a mess by the time they get in.

TODD (voice over): This is certainly not the first ambitious addition or renovation to The White House.

In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt undertook an extensive remodeling which relocated the President's Offices to the West Wing. In the late 1940s, Harry Truman basically had to gut the entire infrastructure of the White House.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: What Truman did was he oversaw the restoration of a White House that was falling apart. It was so weak that one of the legs of Margaret Truman's piano broke through the floor in the residence of The White House.

TODD (voice over): First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy brought in historic furniture and fine art.

CHERVINSKY: Jackie Kennedy wanted the White House to be of museum quality when people came to visit. She wanted them to see the finest American art, furniture, but also to capture the history of The White House.

TODD (voice over): President Trump says the $200 million project will be funded by him and other private donors.

Trump is already replacing The White House Rose Garden with a patio, but still keeping the roses. He also added a flagpole and a massive flag, and he has added his taste for gold to the Oval Office.

Here is a comparison from just after last year's election to more recently.

CHERVINSKY: Most usually change out the carpet and the draperies and some art, but he definitely changed out more than is, I think, standard for presidents, and it reveals his preferences.

TODD (on camera): White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the ballroom project is expected to be completed long before the end of President Trump's term. Trump himself offered to build a new White House Ballroom when Barack Obama was President, and Trump says it would have been about half the cost of the current project. But Trump says he never heard back from Obama's team on the idea.

Brian Todd, CNN, The White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right, Brian Todd, appreciate it.

This week, The White House also revealed a new trade policy to start August 7th for every country around the world, solidifying his break with America's long standing free trade policy.

CNN chief data analyst, Harry Enten joins us now to run the numbers. Good to see you.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Hey, there.

JIMENEZ: So a lot of folks have claimed Trump always chickens out, TACO, when it comes to tariffs. Is that true?

ENTEN: No, I don't think that's true, Omar. And I think the theme of this segment is going to be love it, like it, lump it, Trump is remaking the United States of America.

We can start there with tariffs. What are we talking about? No tacos for Trump. The effective tariff rate, get this 18 percent. It is the highest, Omar, the highest since the 1930s, up from get this, just two percent last year. As I am going to talk about in this segment, I can't think of a more influential president during this century and it starts here with tariffs. He said he was going to raise tariffs and despite the claims otherwise, he is in fact doing that.

The effective tariff rate at this point looks to be nine times as high as it was last year. The highest since the 1930s and FDR -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: And the effective tariff rate is up from two percent last year for those that might see the banner there.

Tariffs, though, aren't the only way Trump is remaking policy in America, right?

ENTEN: It is not the only way that Trump is remaking America. What are we talking about? Well, let's jump, the other big thing that Trump ran on, right, was immigration. How about net migration? In the United States, get this, it is down. It is going to be down at least 60 percent. We may be dealing with, get this, negative net migration to the United States in 2025. That would be the first time there is negative net migration in this country in at least 50 years. We are talking about down from 2.8 million in 2024. So Donald Trump ran -- has always run on tariffs and he has run on a hawkish line on immigration and on both of those issues, we are seeing record high tariff rates for this century going all the way back, well back into the early part of the 20th Century and when it comes to immigration, net migration, we are seeing record low levels way down from where we were during the Biden administration.

We are potentially looking at negative net migration for the first time in at least 50 years, and that is a big reason why that I am saying that Trump, at least in my mind, is the most influential president certainly this century and probably dating a good back chunk into the 20th Century as well -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: So when you say most influential, I mean, statistically, how much is Trump doing?

ENTEN: Yes, okay, so let's talk about this.

How about executive orders? Already 180 executive orders signed by Donald Trump this year. You have to go all the way back to the FDR administration once again to find a year in which there were as many executive orders signed as we have this year.

[19:35:13]

To give you an idea, Biden during his first year, signed 77. That's the entire year. We are only a little bit more than halfway through this year, Omar.

Again, this is why I am saying executive orders, immigration with net migration, and we are talking about tariffs and the effect of tariff rate, Donald Trump is remaking the United States. Love it, like it or lump it, he has been tremendously influential to a historic degree -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, 180 executive orders. One of them, though, let's talk about one of them, because he is bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test. As I understand, you tried it out. I don't know if you did it as a kid, but you tried it out again.

How did you do now at this advanced age?

ENTEN: Yes, okay, at this advanced age, you know -- but I will note, here we are, me on the screen, I was doing the sit ups. Look at that. I will say --

JIMENEZ: Not sped up at all. That's real time.

ENTEN: No, that is real time. That is real time. Here I am, I am doing the running on the treadmill. That is actually real time. We also have me -- I tried, look at this, I was trying to test -- trying to test how flexible.

JIMENEZ: Look at those kicks. What are those, bro?

ENTEN: Here I am wearing them right now. JIMENEZ: There you go.

ENTEN: The same exact ones. The same ones to work out. I was able to beat the median six-year-old male on four of the five tests. Most shockingly, I was able to do the pushups, and then finally, I will note on the shuttle run, I was able --

JIMENEZ: That's incredible.

ENTEN: -- yes, I love the shuttle run. I was doing it with Diet Cokes, picking it up back and forth. I was able to do pretty gosh darn well. I meet the median six-year-old male, six-year-old male on four on the five tests.

Last little thing I will note, Omar, we have the fitness test here. A guy that I know that really loves a lot of fun things is the executive producer of this program, Tim Carter, who unfortunately is waving adios amigos, goodbye to us.

This fine red-haired man is leaving CNN, and I just wanted to wish him a nadu. I love you, Timmy. I love the chats that we always have. Good luck in the future, but you're certainly going to be missed here. But we will always have the memories.

And as I said, this is one fine looking red-haired man.

JIMENEZ: Come on, it doesn't get better than that.

Red hair or not, that's just -- that's just the guy. The guy.

ENTEN: He is beautiful.

JIMENEZ: Tim Carter, always the man. Harry Enten, you're somewhere close. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thanks, man.

JIMENEZ: Everyone else, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:42:06]

JIMENEZ: President Trump's new tariff policy is expected to mean higher prices for U.S. consumers, and with children headed back to school, many parents are trying to beat the price increases when buying school supplies.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The steepest tariff hikes in modern history, taking place just weeks before millions of children across the country go back to school, pushing families to move fast before prices go up. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The tariffs are definitely a little scary. We're trying to get ahead of time because we don't know what's going to happen.

JONES (voice over): This year, two-thirds of American families started shopping for the school year in July, the highest number on record, fearing prices will soon rise due to tariffs, according to a new survey from the National Retail Federation.

KATHERINE CULLEN, V.P. OF INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER INSIGHTS, NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION: As consumers start to feel that the tariffs might be a little more real, might be coming into effect a little more quickly, they decided to kind of shift their attitude towards buying now, with the idea that things may be cheaper at this moment than they will be down the road.

JONES (voice over): An economist at the Yale Budget Lab estimates that in the short term, prices on electronics, including computers, could rise by 18 percent and clothing, one of the U.S.' top imports by 37 percent. Goods from China, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are all affected.

Bracing for even higher prices, Americans are also pulling back on spending, budgeting for about $858.00 per family on clothes, school supplies, and electronics this year, down two percent from last year.

JONES (on camera): With shoppers spending less, big box stores are fighting for every dollar. Target is advertising 30 percent off of school supplies and promising to not raise prices on 20 of their most popular items.

JONES (voice over): Another retail giant, Walmart, says 14 of their most popular school supplies cost less than last year, and online, Amazon saw a 175 percent spike in back-to-school sales during July's Prime Day Event.

But once their pre-tariff inventory runs out, higher prices will inevitably catch up to the consumer.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:49:08]

JIMENEZ: Tonight, Pope Leo appearing before huge crowds gathered for what's being dubbed Catholic Woodstock.

The Pontiff answering questions from young pilgrims. CNN Vatican correspondent, Christopher Lamb reports on why the Jubilee is a test for the new Pope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPE LEO XIV, BISHOP OF ROME, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SOVEREIGN OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE: You are the light of the world.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A surprise appearance by Pope Leo in front of thousands of young Catholics. The future of the church is gathered in Rome in what's being dubbed a Catholic Woodstock.

The mega youth gathering, part of the church's jubilee year celebrations, bringing together an estimated hundreds of thousands from every corner of the globe.

Many of them camping out in warehouses like this one, all part of the festival atmosphere. Not tourists but pilgrims.

Among those on the streets of Rome, youngsters from Leo's hometown of Chicago, like him, fans of the White Sox and the city's pizza.

[19:50:05]

VICTORIA AGUIRRE, U.S. PILGRIM: It is such like once in a lifetime experience to just be here, gathered with so many teens of the same faith from around the world.

LAMB: And if you could ask Pope Leo one thing, what would it be?

AGUIRRE: Deep dish or thin crust pizza?

LAMB: This week, Leo was handed a slice from Aurelio's Pizza, his favorite.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazing.

POPE LEO XIV: Amazing.

LAMB: It's less than 100 days since Leo's election and he's still settling into his new role. But this week is a big test.

The long-term trend shows an uptick in young people disaffiliating from mainline religions in the West. But for the Catholic Church, some research points to a growing interest among Gen Z'ers in Catholicism.

To that end, Pope Leo meeting Catholic social media influencers this week who were trying to reach a younger generation and who have turned out in force.

LAMB (on camera): There are also events like this one where young people are invited to go to confession. There are hundreds of tents laid out for them to go and receive the sacrament of reconciliation. Same time, though, there's huge enthusiasm for Pope Leo.

JEAN MATTHIEU BILLES NOL, U.S. PILGRIM: I feel like I already know the guy, you know and just -- just seeing him walk down with the papal cars and him seeing the American flag and just waving at us, it's super exciting. And I feel like he truly loves us.

LAMB: (voice over): And at a time of uncertainty, political and otherwise, young people finding in their faith and Pope Leo a reason to hope.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right, everyone, we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:23]

JIMENEZ: Live Aid may have changed music forever, and CNN's Bill Weir sat down with the musician who co-founded Live Aid -- co-founded it to talk about bringing so many music legends together for epic concerts and how he organized one of the most successful charity events in history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In 1985, Bob Geldof sat down to watch the six o'clock BBC newscast in

London.

BBC REPORTER: Our correspondent Michael Burke has been back to Korem --

WEIR (voice over): And little did he know that what he was about to watch would change his life and career forever. His first glimpse of widespread famine in Ethiopia.

BOB GELDOF, ROCK AND ROLL MUSICIAN: These elegant human beings, all that intellect, all that possibility, dying of hunger in biblical numbers. That's what he said, a biblical famine of biblical proportions. My partner began to cry, not sob.

I looked around to see and she had just tears. And she grabbed our baby and ran upstairs, almost as if she didn't want this infant to see the world that she was going to be in.

WEIR (voice over): The next day, Bob called his friends across the music industry and convinced them to do something, to make a record, to raise money for famine relief.

GELDOF: So, by the end of the day, we had the Rats, Ultravox, Bandai Ballet, the police and probably Duran Duran. Everyone felt the shame, the disgust, the rage and the frustration of not being able to do something. It isn't enough just to find a charity box and do that.

And so that Christmas, that seven-inch piece of plastic became the price of a life.

WEIR (voice-over): They sold over 11 million copies of that record and raised more than 125 million with Live Aid, concerts that took place across London and Philadelphia with headliners that included Queen, David Bowie, U2 and many more. And a second charity concert called Live Aid in 2005, Geldof committed himself to a life of activism. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You both have a lot of money, both have a lot of fame. You don't need to be doing this. You don't need to be sitting in these meetings on and on and on, having a world leader fall asleep on you.

Why in the world are you doing this?

GELDOF: Usually he falls asleep. Because it works. Poco a poco.

Those terrible pictures that you rightly show on CNN, you look at that, the pornography of poverty trawling across America's teatime tables every night and people say it's hopeless, nothing can be done.

Wrong. You've been doing it 20 years. It does change.

WEIR (voice over): Bill Weir, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: The final episode of "Live Aid: When Rock and Roll Took on the World" airs tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

All right, now, before we go tonight, we've got to say goodbye to a special member of the NEWSROOM family. Tonight is executive producer, Tim Carter's last day at CNN. There we are there, Tim, with my colleagues, Priscilla Alvarez and Kit Maher.

Tim has been with CNN for 10 years. He is moving on to other opportunities. There he is with our team. He has helped bring you all the news day in and day out from behind-the-scenes. We want to say a proper goodbye to him. I want to -- I've got some friends here on the line. But Harry, I know you know Tim pretty well. I know you've got some words. What do you want to say?

ENTEN: I am just going to keep it simple, because I brought up earlier on, I will say there are so many people that you see who come across the air, but we are nothing, we are nothing without the people behind- the-scenes like Tim Carter.

He is one of the best people I know, and CNN is much lesser because Tim is leaving us -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: So for Harry and Brian Stelter, and Colonel Cedric Leighton, Maria Cardona, Jill Dougherty and Juliette Kayyem and all of Tim's colleagues, in from of and behind the camera, we raise a glass or a plastic cup to you.

Thank you and all the best of luck to you and your family.

Goodnight. You, the man!

[20:00:42]