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Man Threatened Biden Killed by Agents; Inflation Rose in July; Shark Attack Statistics. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 10, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:07]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning we are learning more about that FBI deadly raid against the man who allegedly threatened to assassinate the president. FBI special agents shot and killed him in his home in Utah yesterday. A law enforcement source says Craig Robertson pointed a gun at the agents as they were giving him commands while trying to serve him a warrant, and that's when they shot him.

This all happened hours before the president landed there in Utah. CNN affiliate KSTU got the video of the moments agents descended on Robertson's home.

Watch.

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: So, that was a flash-bang, not a gunshot.

We've also obtained court documents detailing the graphic and specific threats Robertson made against President Biden and other public figures in recent months. They include social media posts with photos, like this one, a gun Robertson called his "Democrat eradicator." Another one with several guns, "just getting ready for the 2024 election cycle." And on Sunday he posted, "I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old Ghillie suit and clearing off the dust from my M24 sniper rifle. Welcome, buffoon-in-chief."

Joining us now, CNN legal analyst and former Manhattan prosecutor, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, and Astead Herndon and John King, they are back with us too.

You're new to the table, so let me start with you.

It is - like these tweets and these posts are contemptible, but at least they have a heads-up. How is the FBI, their resources, are they keeping pace with the expanse of having to search for all of these. And, fortunately, they got to this one when they did.

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, luckily, jurisdictions like New York and the NYPD and the FBI, they're on top of many of these threats. But there really are a lot of people out there who they don't even know about and they're not on their radar screen.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

AGNIFILO: And that's why I think Trump's words that he -- these dog whistles that he calls out to his followers, you know, whether it's the baseball bat picture next to DA Alvin Bragg's head, or --

HARLOW: Who was also on this list, by the way, of this guy.

AGNIFILO: Exactly. Exactly. Or whether it's the recent tweet that he said, if you're coming after me, I'm - you know, you go after me, I'm coming after you. They hear him. He doesn't ever shut that down. He doesn't try to stop them. They hear his words. They know what he wants them to do.

And it's becoming frightening and dangerous to law enforcement and to the rule of law. Now, no one's linking Trump directly to this man, but look at January 6th, right? He, for 187 minutes, after he pointed an armed mob at the Capitol, he - they - he didn't do anything other than do a tweet at 2:24 in the afternoon, sort of exacerbating it. He doesn't ever say, don't do it.

[08:35:02]

And then later on he denies that that's what he meant, right? But they - but he never stops them.

And so it's becoming increasingly alarming and it's very difficult. And it's dangerous. His words have consequences.

HARLOW: John, having covered, I think, ten presidential campaigns -

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HARLOW: Just some perspective for us. Andy McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, told us earlier in the program, he thinks things like this are going to get worse as Trump heads to trial, for example.

KING: Right. Well, the evidence is in front of us. January 6th. The plot to kidnap, take over the state of Michigan, the Michigan governor and all that. And so the burden is on people in positions of responsibility.

Karen's right, there's no link to Donald Trump here per se. Direct - Donald Trump did not say, you know, do this. But his words, right, he posted just the other day on Truth Social, you come after me, I'm coming after you. Given what happened in Michigan, given what happened on January 6th, anyone in position of authority and influence, including people in the news media, especially politicians, be careful. Look at the environment you're in. Accept your responsibility and act responsibly. If you didn't mean it but you saw some unintended consequence, then dial it back. Change it. Say, I don't mean violence, right? Tone your language down. We - we live in a polarized society. You see this slice of

radicalization now. We used to think it was a tiny fringe. It's growing. Talk to anybody in law enforcement. It is growing. And when something like that is growing, anybody in a position of influence and authority needs to think, not once, not twice, but 10 times about what they say and how they say it.

BLACKWELL: Maybe - he's got a new ad up now that's airing in New York and Georgia calling these DAs and the special counsel "the fraud squad," going after them again.

KING: Right.

BLACKWELL: Astead, let me come to you with the "ProPublica" reporting about Justice Clarence Thomas, that beyond Harlan Crow there are now three additional billionaires who have given 38 of these vacations, 26 private jet flights, undisclosed up to this point. Thanks to their reporting we now know. But what is going to happen?

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Democrats are trying to enact some type of ethics, some more rules. The court says, thanks, but this is not your purview.

HERNDON: I mean I think nothing. And if that's the example of what we've seen earlier this year, we can plan on happening. I mean "ProPublica" has led on this, kind of giving us a full accounting of the scope of these relationships that Justice Thomas and some other justices have with these billionaire benefactors. This goes even beyond what we've seen from them and some -- "The New York Times" has reported the shows the kind of interwoven nature between these two groups.

The thing is, the kind of recourse is really unclear. You've had Democrats try to call these justices in, try to kind of put pressure to try and execute some ethics guidelines, and the court has basically thumbed their nose at them. They kind of understand the independent power and the kind of independence from political pressure that they really place above anything else.

I think this speaks (ph) to what we were talking about last time with the erosion of trust -

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HERNDON: That continues to happen on the kind of court level. Yes.

HARLOW: Yes, the Supreme Court has record low approval ratings right now that it's ever had. And to have confidence in the judiciary is so key for our democracy.

HERNDON: Yes.

HARLOW: I just wonder, your perspective, having had such a -- having had so much of a career in it? AGNIFILO: Yes, I mean, look, again, Donald Trump, I hate to keep

coming back to him, but, you know, he's tearing down our institutions, right? He criticizes whether it's law enforcement or the courts, you know, people used to have respect for the courts and the judiciary and the three branches of government, but now everything has been politicized, everything's been polarized. And if the courts won't police themselves, you know, like - like the Supreme Court, like Clarence Thomas, and it becomes sort of a hypocritical, how do we trust you if you won't even police yourself, if you won't even do anything? You know, it looks -- it's a bad look, if nothing else.

HARLOW: And a word on this?

KING: At a minimum there's just no excuse for the lack of transparency in today's age. Everything in our lives, every sector of the economy has changed because of globalization, technology. So, if you think this is OK, you know, why haven't the ethics rules been updated in years? Everything has been updated. Everything should be updated as technology changes, as public opinion changes. But, for me, the main issue is transparency. If you think it's OK to do these things, disclose them. Put out there and let people decide. Don't hide them because that makes it suspicious. Jut the very nature that we're learning so late after the fact makes it suspicious, whether it is or not.

BLACKWELL: We've not heard from the court or from Justice Thomas on the latest reporting. We'll see if they have something to say now that it's out.

John, Karen, Astead, thank you.

HERNDON: Thank you.

KING: Thank you.

HARLOW: Just released, the July inflation report. Our business team combing throughout data. That's ahead.

BLACKWELL: And arraignments happening right now in Michigan. Sixteen fake elector, they're facing criminal charges related to their actions after the 2020 election. Live feed of the hearing you're watching right now.

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[08:43:48]

BLACKWELL: All right, this just in, the July inflation report.

CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon is here with the numbers.

All right, what did we learn?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

So, this is a nuanced inflation report. So, at face value it actually looks like an acceleration, but let me put this in context. So, headline inflation came in at 3.2 percent on an annual basis, which appears to be an acceleration, but it is actually what economists call a base effect. Essentially this has a lot to do with what inflation was doing a year ago, right? So, I think the monthly picture actually gives us a better sense of

what inflation is actually doing. So, you can see inflation healed steady at 0.2 percent on a monthly basis. And 90 percent of that increase was shelter - 90 percent of that was shelter.

When you look at sort of core inflation, which strips away categories like energy, which can be really volatile, or food, which can be really volatile, that also remained steady at 0.2 percent on a monthly basis. On an annual basis that came in at 4.7 percent.

I want to show you some of the categories that we, as consumers, deal with the most. You can see, gasoline prices over the last year or so have fallen quite precipitously, about 20 percent. Food prices, 4.9 percent. And, shelter, still higher by 7.7 percent.

So, what we're seeing in this report, again, shelter prices still high, but we saw some declines in areas like airline fares, used cars and trucks, medical care.

[08:45:07]

So, still seeing some declines. It's a moderating inflation picture despite what the headline looks like.

What does this mean for the Fed? The Fed meets next month. They still have a lot more reports between now and then. They have another jobs report. They have more inflation reports. But I will say that a report like this -- Citi Bank, for example, put out a report this morning saying that if, in fact, we saw core CPI, core inflation coming in at 0.2 percent, it would give the Fed some credibility, some evidence to perhaps pause next month. So, take that for what you will. I mean we still have a few more weeks left, but maybe a pause.

BLACKWELL: Maybe.

SOLOMON: Maybe.

BLACKWELL: All right.

SOLOMON: I'm saying there's a chance.

BLACKWELL: Yes, so you're saying there is a chance?

Rahel Solomon, thanks so much.

SOLOMON: Good to be with you, guys.

HARLOW: Thank you, Rahel.

A popular presidential candidate in Ecuador was assassinated in broad daylight. Fernando Villavicencio was killed as he was leaving a campaign rally. This happened just north of the capital of Quito. We now have footage that appears to show the moment he was fatally shot. A warning to our viewers, it's very hard to watch.

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HARLOW: Villavicencio was an outspoken critic against corruption and organized crime fueled by drug trafficking. Investigators say the suspected gunman died in police custody after an exchange of gunfire. Ecuador's president says the election set for August 20th will go ahead as planned.

BLACKWELL: All right, a woman says that she is grateful to be alive after being bitten by a shark at a New York beach. It's the first such attack there in 70 years. So, are shark attacks really on the rise? Harry Enten is here with the data.

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[08:51:10]

HARLOW: So, we told you earlier this week about a woman bit by a shark right here in New York City. Well, she's grateful to be alive, she says. The 65-year-old is said to be focusing on her recovery after the shark bit her leg. The attack happened at Rockway Beach in Queens, New York. Once again, it raised a lot of fears about sharks and attacks this summer.

Are they actually on the rise, though? Harry Enten here with this morning's number.

Are they?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: This morning's number is about 31. That's how many shark attacks there have been in the U.S. this year. That 31, to answer your question, Poppy, matches the 2022 pace.

HARLOW: About? It's either a shark attack or it's not.

ENTEN: Well - well, some of them don't necessarily get reported.

HARLOW: OK. Fair.

ENTEN: So, I want to provide a confidence in (INAUDIBLE) here. I don't want to express too much confidence going on.

HARLOW: Fair.

ENTEN: So, it matches the 2022 pace. And this is the rate that we've seen so far this century. So, the answer is, no, we are not, in fact, seeing a disproportionate amount of shark attacks this year or in the last few years. It remains pretty steady.

And I will note, the risk of dying from a shark attack is very, very small. It's about one in 4 million. To give you an understanding, a car accident, chance of dying in your lifetime, is about one in 84. Significantly greater. Or a lightning strike, which I think a lot of people think is unlikely, is still far more likely than a shark at about one in 80,000. So, the facts are, shark attacks are not on the rise and the chance of dying from a shark attack is very, very small.

BLACKWELL: But is dying the threshold? I mean I think like a real hard bite is enough for me. I don't need to die.

Are people really afraid of sharks, though?

ENTEN: Yes, I think that -

HARLOW: I am.

ENTEN: I raise my hand, too. I am petrified of them. I am absolutely terrified of sharks.

HARLOW: Totally.

ENTEN: Fifty-one percent of Americans agree that they are absolutely terrified of sharks. You and I are on the same page.

HARLOW: Totally.

BLACKWELL: No, I'm not really scared of them.

ENTEN: You're - you're not? What?

HARLOW: Come on.

BLACKWELL: You -- the last slide says that I'm not going to die. And so, I mean --

ENTEN: Well, I - you know, I'll just note, I think part of the reason why people are so terrified of sharks, and a lot of psychologists actually agree on this, was it was the movie "Jaws" back in the mid- '70s. Seventy-seven percent of Americans have seen the movie "Jaws," and I think that is largely responsible for a lot of the fear that we've had.

HARLOW: Of course, I've seen it.

ENTEN: Have you seen it?

HARLOW: Can you do the music?

ENTEN: Da, da, da, da. Na, na, na, na. Na, na, na, na.

BLACKWELL: That's "Batman."

ENTEN: Is that "Batman"?

HARLOW: No.

BLACKWELL: Why don't you both do "Batman."

HARLOW: That is 100 percent "Jaws."

BERMAN: It's, da, da. Da, da.

ENTEN: Da, da.

HARLOW: Oh, OK.

BLACKWELL: Y'all just did, da, da, da -

ENTEN: Ah, yes, that's it. You haven't seen it, but you know it.

BLACKWELL: Well, I know the music. I have not seen the movie.

ENTEN: All right.

BLACKWELL: All right.

HARLOW: Thank you, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

HARLOW: We appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: All right, we continue our breaking news coverage out of Hawaii. The wildfires there. Thirty-six people now confirmed dead. CNN is live on the ground.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 3-2 pitch. Swung on, popped up. Shallow center field. Rojas sprinting in. He's under it. He has space. Makes the catch. And Michael Lorenzen has thrown the 14th no-hitter in Philadelphia Phillies history.

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: Oh, it's a big moment for Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen. And he pitched the fourth no hitter of the baseball season. He needed 124 pitches to get that done and it was just his first start in front of the home crowd there in Philadelphia. You see here, after he got mobbed by his teammates, Lorenzen then celebrated with his family on the field. And that was his nine-month-old daughter June, lifted her into the air.

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MICHAEL LORENZEN, PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES PITCHER: Don't let other people tell you what you can and can't do. And that's - man, I worked insanely hard to make this dream come true. I've watched every single one of Nolan Ryan's no-hitters because I've always wanted to throw a no-hitter. And the fact that I just did it in front of this fan base, I can't believe it.

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BLACKWELL: There was also this special moment at last night's game. Outfielder Wes Wilson made his Major League debut after spending seven years in the minors and in his very first at-bat. The 28-year-old hit a home run into left field, in the stands there. Wilson's family went nuts. The moment brings his father to tears. You see him there. All around a good night for the Phillies and their families.

HARLOW: I love that.

All right, paging John Berman. Red Sox fans are used to the green monster at Fenway Park swallowing homerun balls, but this time it ate an 86-mile-an-hour line drive. Kyle Higashioka hit this laser into left field and then the ball seemingly disappears. You can see Masataka Yoshida frantically looking for the ball. Eventually, he found it lodged inside one of the lights at the bottom of the wall. A first. This has not happened in the ballpark's 111-year history. And, in case you were wondering, the hit was ruled a ground-rule double.

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Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said after the game they always talk about the rules, if a ball ever gets stuck in the monster. He never thought it would actually happen, though. The Red Sox would go on to beat the Royals 4-3.

BLACKWELL: I really want to thank everybody in the room and in the control room who helped us get through these two baseball stories.

HARLOW: So true. How'd I do?

BLACKWELL: You did well.

HARLOW: Convincing enough?

BLACKWELL: You did well.

HARLOW: All right. Great. Great.

BLACKWELL: You all are the real MVPs.

HARLOW: It's so true.

Thanks. We'll see you here tomorrow.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" is next.

BLACKWELL: Bye.

HARLOW: Thank you.

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