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CNN This Morning

Five Dead, Dozens Injured After New York Tour Bus Crash; Lyle Menendez Denied Parole One Day After His Brother, Erik; Maxwell Says She Doesn't Believe Epstein Died By Suicide; House Oversight Committee Gets First Batch Of Epstein Records; United Nation-Backed Group Declares "Man-Made" Famine In Parts Of Gaza; GOP Governors Send Troops To Help District Of Columbia Crackdown; Trump's District Of Columbia Takeover Raises Legal Questions; United States Takes 10 Percent Stake In Intel As Part Of Trump's Big Tech Push. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired August 23, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Always a pleasure to start a Saturday morning with you. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is August 23rd, I'm Victor Blackwell. Here is what's new this morning,

We are learning more about the horrific tour bus crash in upstate New York. Police say that bus rolled over, killed several people, several -- dozens were sent to the hospital, and new details coming in this morning.

Plus, parole denied for both Erik and now, Lyle Menendez. California Board ruled both brothers should stay in prison for the 1989 murders of their parents, but their fight for release is not over yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GHISLAINE MAXWELL, CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER: I'm not saying that Mr. Epstein did not do those things. I'm not casting those -- I'm not going to say -- I don't feel comfortable saying that today given what I now know to be true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Ghislaine Maxwell, in her own words. The key takeaways from her interview with the justice department, including what she said when asked about President Trump's relationship with Epstein.

CHRIS WARREN, METEOROLOGIST THE WEATHER CHANNEL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Extreme heat and a very serious fire concern here in the West. Meanwhile, I'll let you know where a welcome cool down is on the way, coming up.

BLACKWELL: We are starting with that devastating tour bus crash in Western New York. That accident killed five people, left dozens injured. The crash happened near Pembroke. That's about 40 miles east of Niagara Falls.

The tour bus was returning to New York City at the time. Authorities say the bus driver got distracted, lost control, full speed, then, veered off the median, over corrected, rolled the bus into a ditch. Some of the 52 passengers on board were ejected, others were trapped inside. More than 30 people were taken to hospitals, a range of minor to critical injuries.

CNN's Lee Waldman is live in Buffalo that's outside one of the hospitals where the injured are being treated. What do you know?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: Victor, it's good to be with you.

We know that 24 people were taken to the Erie County Medical Center, that's just behind us here, to be treated for their injuries. Six others were taken by either ground or air ambulance to another hospital in Rochester. We are hearing from those medical professionals, and they are telling us that their injuries range from head to internal injuries, broken bones. Others have been declared medically stable.

But here is what we know about that crash, at this point. Investigators who are on the scene responding to this, they said they have ruled out any mechanical failures, they have ruled out driver impairment as a cause. They say that this bus was traveling at full speed when the driver became distracted, lost focus, lost control of the bus, and that's what caused it to roll.

They are still working on that investigation to determine if that driver will face any charges. We know people were ejected from that bus. People on the bus range in age from 1 years old to 74 years old.

Now, there was also two members, the bus driver and also a tour member for the Niagara Falls Tour, where this group of people had spent their morning taking the sights of Niagara Falls before trying to come back to New York City. We also heard from the hospital administrators here at this hospital behind us about how they prepared for this influx of patients here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SAMUEL CLOUD, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: ECMC is the only adult level one trauma center for Western New York. We plan, we train, and we are prepared to implement our plans for mass casualty incidents, which we prove today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: Now, this was described as a volatile scene by first responders, made more complicated by the fact that many people on this bus did not speak English. There are people from China, India, and the Philippines. So, translators had to be brought in.

That bus, at this point, has been towed away to police barracks in Batavia to continue on with that investigation. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Many more questions. Leigh Waldman, thank you. All right. Breaking overnight, Lyle Menendez will stay in prison after California parole board rejected his bid for release more than three decades after the murders of his parents.

His brother Erik was denied parole just one day earlier.

Now, Governor Gavin Newsom, he now has final say on whether the brothers will ever walk free. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more on why the board made their decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Erik and Lyle Menendez pleading their case in front of a parole board for the first time in more than 30 years. The brothers, now in their 50s, were 18 and 21 years old when they brutally murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home.

[07:05:04]

They claim they feared for their lives and that their father had physically and sexually abused them for years. Prosecutors maintained they were eyeing their parents fortune instead, and they were sentenced to life without parole.

But in May, a judge re sentenced the brothers with the possibility of parole. The case and its sensational trial captured the attention of the world in the 1990s, and again, more recently, when a Netflix series and several documentaries were made about the case.

A central point of Erik's hearing on Thursday was whether he took responsibility for his crimes. Asked by parole Commissioner Robert Barton, "Is there any part of this which you believe was self- defense?" Erik replied, "No."

Still. Erik described their father as cruel and domineering, and said, the killings came after a week of escalating tensions and confrontations with their parents over the abuse.

After nearly 10 hours of proceedings and testimony, Erik Menendez was denied parole by a California Board that decided he still poses a risk to public safety. Lyle, who has a slightly lower number of prison violations, faced the board on Friday, asked whether the killings had been planned, Lyle said, "There was zero planning." And that the decision to buy guns had been, "somewhat impulsive" and for "emotional protection", and also "the biggest mistake".

Despite the California parole board's decisions, it is Governor Gavin Newsom who will ultimately have the final say on the brothers' fates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (on camera): The Parole board's decision could still go through an internal review, Victor, for up to 120 days, and after that, Newsom has 30 days to affirm or reverse that decision, if he so chooses. Now, the key question, Newsom will have to answer is whether the brothers are still a risk to public safety, and if they shown any kind of insight into their crime. The governor has yet to tip his hand. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you.

New developments this morning in the Epstein file saga. All 377 pages of the transcript and audio of Ghislaine Maxwell's interview with Deputy A.G. Todd Blanche, they are all out.

Jeffrey Epstein's convicted co-conspirator weighed-in on several outstanding questions. While she said she would not defend him, she did acknowledge he preferred, as she characterized it, younger women, but only because they were, "invigorating" and brought new ideas to the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAXWELL: I think if he had been creepy, like, as you would define, and you would expect someone who was living that lifestyle to be creepy, I don't think the women would have been there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Maxwell's interview was released as the Trump administration is trying to tamp down conspiracy theories about the financier and his death. The justice department issued a memo just last month, saying that Epstein died by suicide. But that's done little to quiet conspiracy theorists. And a lot of people in the president's base, they believe that Epstein was murdered, including, listen to this, Ghislaine Maxwell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, UNITED STATES DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Do you -- so, you think he was -- he was -- he did not die by suicide, given all the things we just talked about.

MAXWELL: I do not believe he died by suicide, no.

BLANCHE: And do you believe that -- do you have any speculation or view of who killed him?

MAXWELL: I -- no. I don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, Ghislaine Maxwell didn't believe that he died by suicide, but she has a suggestion that he may have died from an unrelated attack. Watch and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAXWELL: In prison, where I am, they will kill you or they will pay -- somebody can pay a prisoner to kill you for $25 worth of commissary, is about the going rate for a hit with a lock today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, critics of this interview both Maxwell's responses and the treatment by the DOJ. They point out that these are the words of a convicted sex trafficker, a woman who appears to be also seeking a pardon from President Trump.

These are also events from nearly 30 years ago. And at several points, she admitted that she did not remember details of conversations.

With me now, CNN's Camila DeChalus, hundreds of pages, hours of recordings, big picture. What did we learn?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. This audio transcripts really provide a small glimpse into her account, what her relationship was to figures like Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump, and other high-profile figures.

But when it comes to Trump himself, she made it very clear that she, in her account, did not see him in any inappropriate setting. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAXWELL: I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting. I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way.

[07:10:03]

The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DECHALUS: Now, Victor, she also detailed how she did go to Mar-a-Lago once or twice. But when it came to Jeffrey Epstein, he went on his own accord and separately without her, and she also took time in the interview to also praise Trump, saying that it was an extraordinary achievement for him to become president.

But I want to really focus on the timing of all this in the release. We are told by sources to CNN that the president's team really debated for weeks on whether to release the audio transcripts or not. Some within his administration said that this would be a bad thing, that it would help really resurface the Epstein story that, as you know, Trump has received a lot of criticism for within his support base and even among people that do not support his administration, but others in his administration said that if they did release it, the positive of this is that they would really be able to kind of control the narrative around the Epstein story and really promote this idea that they are -- they are trying to be as transparent as possible.

BLACKWELL: All right, still, people are asking for more. Camila DeChalus, thanks for the report.

Last hour, I spoke with CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson and "Spectrum News" host Errol Louis about the case. I asked if Maxwell's testimony will help set the conspiracy theories to rest. Here is what Errol said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, they have, if anything, they've sort of started another firestorm, because here you have Ghislaine Maxwell, saying, she doesn't think that he died by suicide. She thinks that he was murdered, and that it could have been done for as little as $25 or something like that.

And so, now, everyone will go back to all of the swirling controversy around what happened to the missing videotape and who was in charge the night in question, and what happened to the guards, and on and on and on and on.

The problem, of course, here is that she was asked, and she was clearly assigned one thing and one thing only, which was to exonerate President Trump. At all of the circumstances around it lead right to that. From the leading questions by Todd Blanche, to the mere fact of the situation that she was moved into a lower security confinement, and that President Trump, of course, has the power to pardon her.

So, it's clear what game she is playing, but now we still don't have the answers that the conspiracy theorists always said that they wanted to have answered, and it's going to continue. President Trump is getting what he wants, which is to have his name a little bit disconnected from it, but the controversy will continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's take a look at other headlines this morning.

Early this morning, the Texas Senate approved new congressional maps. They are designed to give Republicans up to five more seats in next year's midterms. And now, that the vote has cleared, the final legislative hurdle heads to Governor Greg Abbott's desk. The Democrats are vowing to fight back in Court.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom and state Democrats, they are pushing their own maps to offset GOP games. The voters will have the next say here in November, when they will decide whether to override the state's independent commission and adopt the new lines.

Hundreds gathered yesterday to remember David Rose, the DeKalb County police officer killed in the CDC shooting in Atlanta on August 8th. The memorial service for that 33-year-old was held at the First Baptist Church of Atlanta. Rose joined the police department last September, leaves behind a wife and two children.

A judge just blocked President Trump from pulling federal funds from more than 30 cities and counties over sanctuary policies. This new expanded injunction from a U.S. district judge covers more cities that sue the administration and save billions of dollars at risk, and the White House is issued executive orders to cut off funds to cities, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles. Those cities have refused to cooperate with the administration's immigration crackdown.

The President Trump argues that these sanctuary cities make it harder for ICE to arrest undocumented immigrants.

All right, let's turn now to the west, where extreme heat is helping to fuel wildfires in the region. But parts of the East are headed for little cool down, little taste of fall. Meteorologist Chris Warren is here now with that, Chris, we're starting where? With the heat? We start with the cool?

CHRIS WARREN, METEOROLOGIST THE WEATHER CHANNEL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Yes. Well, oftentimes when one goes up, the other goes down.

BLACKWELL: OK.

WARREN: We start with the heat, where things are looking, unfortunately dangerous this weekend for fire weather conditions, red flag warnings are in effect. So, essentially, conditions are perfect for fires to start and then spread.

So, with the heat, very dry conditions, very dry fuel. So, dry grass, dry vegetation. If something does ignite a fire, which could be this, showers and thunderstorms that are expected to increase this afternoon, and then again tomorrow afternoon.

[07:15:01]

If a fire does start, likely to spread very quickly, and could spread erratically. So, very difficult to fight. So, we hope that does not happen.

Meanwhile, looking for some relief in the West. Pacific Northwest, some serious heat here. Seattle, right around 90 degrees the next few days. Lot of people, west of the Cascades don't have air conditioning, so, this is some serious business.

Meanwhile, here's that welcome cool down that's on the way. Remains hot here in the west, but that cold front, this time of year, when it's typically the hottest time of year, cold front can bring some cooler temperatures, not necessarily to the point where it's cold. 70s and 80s reaching parts of the Midwest and into the south by tomorrow and into early next week for much of the central and eastern time zones.

Now, as far as the Northeast goes, you're going to be feeling some temperatures that are going to be a little bit cooler. By tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, some of the low temperatures down into the 50s. So, it's that time of year where we're starting to see a little bit more dew on the grass, Victor, and eventually start talking about some fogs.

So, you're still August, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WARREN: We're not quite there to fall. We're getting a little bit of taste from time to time.

BLACKWELL: Sweater weather. Post the sweater always.

(CROSSTALK)

WARREN: right. Almost. Almost.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right. We got something beautiful to show here. My producer just told me we've got us a shot here of the Gateway Arch in St Louis. My goodness, that is beautiful. A beautiful sunrise here, courtesy of KSDK. Gateway Arch. 630 feet here, tallest monument in the Western Hemisphere. Little trivia left over from the fourth in -- America special that. I had to learn about St Louis. A beautiful shot.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be back.

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[07:21:28]

BLACKWELL: The families in Gaza are on edge ahead of a possible new Israeli offensive and a growing humanitarian crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: This morning, Israeli strikes sent a huge plume of smoke, you see here billowing into the skies over central Gaza. Palestinian first responders say a series of Israeli strikes killed at least 18 people sheltering at a school in Gaza City on Friday.

The Israeli military told CNN it was not aware of any incident there at the time of the strikes. The strikes came on the same day, a U.N.- backed monitoring group officially declared parts of Gaza, including Gaza City, are experiencing man-made famine. The report warns that the crisis is expected to worsen and spread in the coming weeks and months.

Live now to London and CNN's Nada Bashir.

Nada, good morning to you. And what is happening as this next phase of Israel's war with Hamas commences?

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: Well, there is Victor. Huge concern, as we see the Israeli military doubling down on its renewed military offensive on Gaza City, the area, of course, which, as you mentioned, has now been confirmed by this U.N.-backed initiative, to be experiencing famine.

Now, we've been hearing the warnings for months now from U.N. agencies, from humanitarian organizations on the ground around this hunger crisis gripping the Gaza Strip. This U.N.-backed initiative, the IPC report has five phases. Parts of Gaza are now in phase five, that is famine. But previously, we'd already heard that the entire Gaza Strip was at phase four, emergency level when it comes to that hunger crisis. So, the alarm bells have been sounded for some time now around that starvation crisis that we are seeing in the Gaza Strip. We've been hearing those repeated calls for more aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip through the numerous land crossings, which are, according to U.N. agencies, the most effective way of getting humanitarian supplies, crucially, food supplies, into the Gaza Strip.

And of course, we've been hearing those mounting testimonies from humanitarian organizations who, many of whom haven't been able to get into the Gaza Strip to operate on the ground. Where we have also been seeing the harrowing images of emaciated civilians, including children, of young people, children families, scavenging for food, waiting at aid distribution points, some even being killed at aid distribution points run by the Gaza humanitarian Foundation, which is, of course, highly controversial and backed by the U.S. and Israel.

And, of course, this report was released yesterday. We saw that press conference held by the U.N. Take a listen to this impassioned statement from the U.N.'s humanitarian affairs chief, Tom Fletcher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FLETCHER, UNDER SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: Please read the IPC report cover to cover. Read it in sorrow and in anger. Not as words and numbers, but as names and lives. Be in no doubt that this is irrefutable testimony. It is a famine. The Gaza famine.

It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: And, of course, you have there, it being described as a man- made famine.

[07:25:02]

We heard from the U.N. Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, saying that Israel, in his words, as the occupying power, has an obligation to allow food supplies into the Gaza Strip, in those crucial provisions.

We have heard from the Israeli authorities, rejecting this U.N.-backed report. They have said that it is one sided bias, that it is using data provided by Hamas. But, of course, it really stands in contrast to the devastating images that we've been seeing and those testimonies from humanitarian organizations with warnings that while this is focused on parts of central Gaza, they are expecting famine to spread across the strip. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Nada Bashir, thank you.

Coming up, President Trump is naming some of the cities he plans to target in his federal crackdown on crime, where he plans to send the National Guard next?

And the luck of the Irish will be with one team as college football, the season kicks off in Ireland. Andy Scholes has a preview in sports.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:22]

BLACKWELL: President Trump is getting help from GOP-led states with his D.C. takeover. Republican governors are deploying National Guard troops to Washington to assist with the president's crackdown on crime. But as CNN Marshall Cohen explains, some of those states have their own challenges with crime at home,

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: There is a lot of talk, there is a lot of spin on this topic, but the numbers don't lie. So, we took a very close look at the FBI violent crime statistics for last year.

So, we are coming to you from Washington, D.C., where there are 2,000 National Guard troops in this city right now. About half of them are from the D.C. guard, the other half come from these six states that have Republican governors and are sending troops here. Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

When we looked at the data, we found that there are actually 10 cities in these states that have a higher crime rate than D.C. Look at this: Cleveland, Toledo, Memphis, Tennessee. They were number one in the country last year. Nashville, Charleston, the capital of West Virginia, and then, two more down in Louisiana, Shreveport, and Lafayette, by the way. Shreveport is the home district of House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in Congress.

If this was is bad, it actually gets worse. Look at the murder rate. I want to compare the murder rate in Washington, D.C. to Jackson, Mississippi. Last year in D.C., 27 homicides per 100,000 residents. That's not good. But it's better than this. 77 last year in Jackson, Mississippi. They were number one in the country. And it's stats like these, which is why social justice groups, criminal justice reform groups, Democratic lawmakers, and Trump critics have argued that this whole deployment in D.C. is just a show. It's a pretext. It's not based on the data. If you really want to crack down on the most violent cities, you need to be looking elsewhere. That's the criticism.

But here is the pushback. We reached out to all of the governor's offices and they defended their actions. Ohio, they told us that, look, the president asked for our help. When the president asks, we heed the call, and they pointed out that they have sent troops from their Ohio National Guard, when Democratic governors and Democratic mayors and Democratic presidents have also asked for their assistance.

And then down in Mississippi, the governor's office told us that they thought it was ridiculous to suggest that they can't do two things at the same time, they said they can help out President Trump here in D.C., while also tackling crime at home. And they would point out that they believe the stats in Jackson, Mississippi, by the way, are looking a lot better this year than last year.

Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.

BLACKWELL: There are now hundreds of federal agents and National Guard soldiers patrolling the streets of Washington, DC. It's led to reported tensions in some local neighborhoods there. Federal authorities have set up checkpoints in some areas, which is not uncommon in the district. One of them was a large checkpoint with dozens of officers and agents on highway leading out of the city. So, what is legal? What may be pushing the limits of the law?

With me now to discuss is former U.S. Attorney Shan Wu. Let's start with the checkpoints, legal basis for those, what's necessary?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The legal basis for those, Victor, is seems to be lacking here. I mean, they are commonly used in certain very limited situations. Let's say you're actually at a border, which we're obviously not in D.C., certain areas, like airports, for examples, we're probably most familiar with kind of the drunk driving checkpoints. New Year's Eve, something like that. They will have sort of random stops of people to see if they might be drunk or not.

This is wholly inapplicable to the standard or the lack thereof being used right now, which really appears to be just part of an immigration hunting season going on right now. Their only reason for these checkpoints appears to be sort of pretextual to look for potential illegal migrants. And that really is not the way it's normally done. And having prosecuted in D.C., that's the office I grew up in as a baby prosecutor is everything from, you know, street crime, shoplifting, sex crimes, corruption.

It's a unique place where the trust of the community is really important, because that office prosecutes street crimes as well as more traditional federal crimes. And having this type of a system with checkpoints, I think that's really hurting the relationship to the community.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's important that you point out that, in your opinion, this is just for undocumented immigrants.

[07:35:06]

CNN analysis of recent government data shows that since August 7th, federal agents arrested 300 people who do not have legal immigration status, more than 10-fold increase over the typical ice arrest numbers for D.C. So, that's an important detail there.

Let me ask you about a change that people in the district are waking up to. The defense secretary has authorized National Guard members who are patrolling now to carry their service weapons. Up to this point in the deployment, they were not armed. What's the significance? And also, remind everyone of what they are authorized to do versus what they legally are not authorized to do.

WU: So, generally, the National Guard, you treat them as the military being called out, and the Posse Comitatus Act prevents the U.S. military from being used in domestic law enforcement. That's the legal standard. On top of the legal standard, there is the fact that trained military people, as well trained and well intentioned as they may be, are not trained to do civilian police enforcement. That's not their training. That's not their job.

So, having them carry arms is both a very poor, again, visual message to the community. But also, it's not what they normally do, trying to enforce street crime and such, and it adds an element of recklessness and danger to it.

I thought, you know, the piece just before this Marshall's great reporting about the National Guard coming from other states, some of them with, you know, worst crime problems in D.C.

Really great point there, which is they are not using the National Guard there to address the crime problems. Their crime rates are going down, it's because of their police forces, they are doing the work, not national guardsmen.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And in Memphis, the violent crime rate, 2-1/2 times, what it is in the district.

Speaking of the military and things they typically do not do, the hill is reporting that jag officers, military attorneys could start working as special federal prosecutors in the office of the U.S. District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

This is not a done deal, so I should say that. But they would prosecute civilian cases. What's the significance? I've never heard of this, is it unprecedented? Is it rare? What do we need to know?

WU: It's a different system. So, they wouldn't be skilled and experienced at prosecuting civilian cases, they would need to be trained. That's not unprecedented in that, again, very unique attorney's office. There are a lot of people in detail from other agencies, and sometimes there would be Jaguar officers coming on detail. But they are being used and in very specific instances, and they are trained generally before they can start to do these kinds of street crimes.

It probably reflects both a performative aspect. We, really, Trump administration loves to use the military to do everything. But also, there may be genuine shortages going on in the office. So, that's reported that there is a lot of obviously, firings as well as resignations have gone on, and the office may be rather short-handed at the moment as well.

I think having them come in to do it may reflect that problem with it, but it also reflects some priority issues with the office.

I mean, the idea they are not going to prosecute certain types of gun crimes now. At the same time, while they are claiming there are claiming, they are going to be more serious about prosecuting all crimes, seems like a kind of a hypocritical stance to take, and not a very effective one, either. Ultimately, again, hurts the safety of the community. BLACKWELL: Yes. Shan Wu, thank you.

All right. Still ahead investors showed some renewed optimism after a speech by the Federal Reserve chairman, what he said they got everybody so excited, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:41]

BLACKWELL: Stocks surge, Friday, Stocks surged, Friday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, hinted that interest rate cuts could be on the way. The Dow closed at its first record-high of the year, up more than 800 points. The S&P 500, the tech -- I mean, NASDAQ also made some major gains after Powell's speech at the annual central bank forum. It was Friday.

And while the market celebrated, Powell opening the door to rate cuts, the Fed chair also warned the economy is still in flux, in part, because of the president's tariff war.

Joining me now is the economic reporter for the New York Times, Lydia DePillis, Lydia, good to have you.

So, let's start here with the single sentence from Chairman Powell that inspired the confetti cannons on Wall Street. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: With policy and restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And there was, you know, woo-hoo after that. Can you explain, just for the folks who are not economic reporters, what he said there and why that was so exciting for people?

LYDIA DEPILLIS, ECONOMIC REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: Sure. So, what Chair Powell means by the balance of risks is trying to navigate between the two sides of their mandate, one of which is maintaining full employment. So, as low unemployment as possible, and the other is keeping inflation in check.

[07:45:05]

And for the past couple of years, obviously, the inflation side has been their biggest concern. They really wanted to make sure that kept coming down to their two percent target. But the problem is the employment side is starting to look a little iffy over the last couple of months. We got this July employment report showing very little job creation over the past few months. And now, if that is stalled out, that could lead unemployment to start to rise, and in that case, you'd want to stimulate the economy. The challenge, of course, the Fed has is, well, we have a whole bunch of very inflationary policies coming down the pike in the name of tariffs. So, what Chair Powell explained is he thinks that tariffs will be a one-time price increase, that they will not necessarily kick off an inflationary spiral. So, that has left them a little bit of room to start easing rates without fears of letting inflation get out of control.

And so, what's that mean to people who want to get into the housing market, maybe want to buy the new car? Do you wait until October? Do you wait until the end of the year? February?

DEPILLIS: Yes. So, the question of mortgage and auto interest rates is a little bit different.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Sure.

DEPILLIS: Of course, the federal funds rate does affect those rates eventually, but it's not a straight line. The thing that it will most likely effect quickly is big ticket projects that companies have been holding off on, waiting until their borrowing costs could come down. So, that's big construction projects that might have stalled, big equipment purchases. So, that is the hope of the channel through which lower interest rates could stimulate the economy.

BLACKWELL: Well, let's talk about this announcement from the commerce secretary -- announced that the U.S. government now owns 10 percent of Intel. The chips manufacturer.

President says that the U.S. paid nothing for this, and now it's worth $11 billion. Explain, if you can fact check that. But explain why this is such a big deal.

DEPILLIS: So, I don't think that's quite true. Obviously, the government has already poured multiple billions of dollars into Intel. I think it's around 10 through the CHIPS Act. And then, my understanding is that they also purchased this stake in Intel for a non-negligible sum. And this is unusual for the government. It is not unprecedented. Of course, the U.S. government did take stakes in the automakers during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, when they otherwise might have gone under entirely, and it was in the national interest to make sure that those jobs remained safe, or at least the majority of them.

So, what the government is doing now is taking a stake, for the sake of control and interest, in this key industry of semiconductors. It is, again, I think, questionable from the standpoint of the government having an interest in one company, not all of them.

So, there may be cries of unfairness from other parts of the semiconductor industry, although, Intel is historically a U.S. company, and perhaps that is why the federal government felt it should take an interest in this one. And we'll see how it plays out. The board did sign off on it. So, maybe they see it in their interest as well, among a range of sub optimal options for them.

BLACKWELL: All right. Lydia DePillis, thank you.

DEPILLIS: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The new college football season kicks off today. Andy Scholes is here.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: We made it, Victor. It's now officially college football season. Five games today, including two ranked opponents in the opener from Ireland. I'm going to have a preview of that one, up next.

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[07:53:10]

BLACKWELL: College football season kicks off later today, from Ireland.

CNN's Andy Scholes missed his flight.

SCHOLES: Yes.

BLACKWELL: So, he is now here with us this morning.

SCHOLES: I got to be here. Now, but I wish I could be there, Victor. It's certainly going to be a fun day.

Yes, this is actually the fourth straight season we've got a kickoff game in Ireland. It's a good one. 17, right? Kansas State taken on 22nd ranked. Iowa State, both of the teams arriving in Dublin earlier this week to do a little sight-seeing and get acclimated.

The players giving Gaelic football and hurling a try after practice one day, and thousands of fans from both schools made this trip to see their teams play abroad. The game is going to kick off at noon, Eastern. There is games all day long, if you want to sit on your couch today and watch some football. Stanford, they make the trip to Hawaii in the nightcap.

The NFL preseason, meanwhile, is going to wrap up today. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, they got done last night as they took on the Bears. And Mahomes and that first team offense looked like they are in mid-season form. They played the first three drives, and they scored on all of them.

Mahomes hitting Rashee Rice here for a four-yard touchdown. Mahomes left the game leading 17-0. Bears reserves, though, did come back and win that game, 29-27.

We had some amazing shots of your championship yesterday. The best was from Shane Lowry on the 14th green. He reads this putt to perfection. Nails it from 97-feet out. It was the longest made fun tour playoff history. Lowry, seven under for the day. He's six shots back of leaders, Tommy Fleetwood and Russell Henley. They are both 13 under heading into today's third round. Reigning champ, Scottie Scheffler, he is five shots off the lead.

In baseball, meanwhile, Pirates calling up their top pitching prospect, Bubba Chandler, he had a historic debut. The hard throwing 22-year-old came in in the sixth, and he struck out three, pitched four scoreless innings to get to say.

[07:55:00]

Chandler is the first pitcher ever before scoreless inning to get a save in his debut.

He said it was everything he dreamed of as the Pirates won that one 9- 0.

All right. And finally, Yankees Red Sox were playing last night at the home of Sammy the Squirrel. Sammy was not happy that there are a bunch of players on his field. He ran around to inspect what was going on.

Look, look how close he got in the batter's box. Even jumped in to touch Jhostynxon Garcia. Then, he went to the mound, trying to figure out where he buried his dinner. And then, he ran around for a while. Look for the right exit. Eventually, he made his way out the right field fence, Victor.

But, you know, if I was a squirrel, Yankee Stadium, not a bad place to live. Peanuts all over the place, plenty of food.

BLACKWELL: My house. Sammy said, this is my house. Andy choles, thank you.

All right, "FIRST OF ALL" is coming up at the top of the hour. A special agent who recently left the FBI says the agency anti-DEI stance is making the country less safe. She is here to share her warning.

Plus, there is a housing development in Arkansas. They are looking for neighbors. You have to be white and straight and a Christian. Is that legal? A reporter who actually visited the community is here to share what she learned.

And the White House says this work of art is proof that the top museum system in the country is out of control. Well, you will hear from the artist, and you might be surprised by his reaction to being singled out. Those stories and conversations you will not hear anywhere else are coming up after a short break on "FIRST OF ALL".

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