Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Epstein Accusers Will Compile a List of Names; Dr. Susan Kressly is Interviewed about Florida Removing Vaccine Mandates; Trump Family Profits from Crypto. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired September 04, 2025 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:23]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.
It's half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will head to The Hill today to face a Senate hearing. It comes at a time when the CDC is in turmoil, and there are growing calls for him to resign.
Seventeen people now dead after a cable railway car derailed in Lisbon. It rolled down the street and smashed into a building. At least 21 people are injured, including a three-year-old boy.
Today, President Trump expected to call Ukraine's president as momentum for a ceasefire stalls. Russian attacks still raining down on Ukraine overnight. Strikes at buildings and vehicles in the Odessa region. President Trump said he does not plan to talk to Vladimir Putin today.
And Jeffrey Epstein accusers say they will compile their own list of Epstein clients if the White House does not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA PHILLIPS, Epstein ABUSE SURVIVOR: We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now, together, as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know who regularly and -- who were regularly in the Epstein world. And it will be done by survivors and for survivors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Now, some members of Congress are backing them on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): If they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol, on the House floor, and I'll say every damn name that abused these women. I can do that for them. And I'd be proud to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The group chat is back.
First, I want to clarify something, why these women are saying specifically on camera, we'll share it confidentially, and then the lawmakers are saying, we're going to speak publicly. That's, in part, because lawmakers can, right, say -- they have a lot more flexibility about what they say on the record.
ZACHARY WOLF, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER: Well, yes. And I mean, a lot of this is just pressure to get the White House and the Justice Department to start releasing this stuff that they have. But can just say, I think we're at the point with this story where nothing that is released will ever completely satisfy the, you know, the folks out there. I don't think that there is, you know, this trove of data that's just going to blow everyone's minds. This is a story that we've kind of been over, over and over again.
CORNISH: It doesn't feel like an inflection point hearing from victims?
WOLF: I --
CORNISH: Because, to me, they're being drawn back into a story they hoped to exit.
WOLF: Absolutely. And what's -- what's really interesting. I mean, we saw Marjorie Taylor Greene there, the person she's working with, Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie, like the bedfellows of this coalition of lawmakers that's pushing for more and more information as it crosses the political spectrum in a really interesting way.
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: This -- this is the difficulty of this -- of this story for the White House. And this has been what has baffled me, and I -- and I -- I understand what the president is saying when he's calling it a hoax from the perspective of, he does think that the Democrats are using this as a political tool against him. And I think he's absolutely right. But it doesn't matter. And that's what the White House has to get out in front of this.
I am going to disagree with you slightly, only in so much that we now are putting faces to the victims, and I think this story is moving in a direction that I have been surprised for years that it hasn't.
CORNISH: Yes.
DUBKE: We've only known a couple of names. We've only had a few people come forward. But when you have the showing of these -- of these women now who were 14, 15, 16 when this was going on, coming forward, I think this is -- this is a train that's left the station. There's no way to get it back. And the White House has to get in front of it. And I -- I -- I think they just need to recognize that and do it. CORNISH: Let me follow your point on that, because I think you're
getting to something. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, we heard earlier. But she also was asked about the idea that the White House says, you know, if y'all sign on to this, that's a hostile act against us.
Here's what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): This isn't a hostile act towards the administration. The hostile act has been against these women for so many years now, for in the hostile act of covering up for Jeffrey Epstein and -- and everyone else that's been involved in this. And that's the real hostile act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: So, I -- I -- I think it's really a miscalculation on the White House's part to call it a hostile act at the political -- the people who do not sign on to this. The campaign ads are going to write themselves. You're protecting pedophiles. You're protecting people who abuse women. And now, to your point, you do have names and faces, and you have experiences. And only more people are going to come forward. So, this is not going to go away.
[06:35:00]
If I was the White House, I would say, release everything you have. I don't think Donald Trump is actually trying to protect Donald Trump. I think he's trying to protect everybody else that he knows. All the finance people.
I mean, there have been massive multimillion dollar lawsuits settled for the victims on this. There are many more people involved here than -- so, I actually don't think Donald Trump is trying to protect himself.
DUBKE: No, I agree with you on that. And I -- I think that's why this is such a strange --
CORNISH: Can I ask you something, though, about the -- the Democrat part? I think it's one thing for Democrats to take advantage of an interesting story, so to speak, right? And I -- I see them taking advantage. The flip side is, there is a community of people connected to even QAnon who are deeply preoccupied with the trafficking and violation of kids on -- in -- in a bunch of other areas. It feels weird to turn to that community and be like, hoax, hostile, back away from this, you're -- you're hurting my cause, the White House, rather than what they see as like a very profound cause.
DUBKE: Yes. Well, I'm going to just --
CORNISH: No, please.
DUBKE: Discuss the--
CORNISH: Yes.
DUBKE: The Democratic portion of it.
The silence of Democrats during the Biden administration on this was deafening in so much -- and this is the point I'm trying to make --
CORNISH: Yes.
DUBKE: That now that Democrats are coming forward and saying, release the list.
What I took from that press conference yesterday, the one takeaway that no one is talking about is that several of the victims and their lawyers all said that this was for the benefit of Jeffrey Epstein. That some of these women were then trafficked to others. But for the most part, the women that were culled (ph) and brought together were for Jeffrey Epstein, which is a dynamic of this I don't think that we've heard, nor is anyone talking about. And --
CORNISH: But are they not coming forward, in part, because Ghislaine Maxwell is now at a low security facility. Like they feel as though, wait, this is taking a turn that we don't appreciate.
DUBKE: Absolutely. Absolutely.
CORNISH: None of that is Democrats' doing.
DUBKE: Well, the fact that you have both the Democrats and Republicans pushing forward in -- on -- in -- in Congress for the --
CORNISH: For the distribution. Yes.
DUBKE: Distribution of the list is where I'm coming back to. But I think your point on Maxwell and -- and -- the fact that we're just still talking about this is why they're coming forward.
CORNISH: I know. Well, that's the thing. It's like, I'm not picking on you. It's the idea that this is something that maybe transcends politics a little bit.
DUBKE: I think it does.
CORNISH: And that is, in part, why it's becoming such a difficulty here.
DUBKE: And this is why I don't understand why the White House can't get ahead of it, because they know that.
WOLF: Well, it certainly crosses politics. It's like operating outside of politics. It's a --
CORNISH: Yes.
WOLF: It's -- there is a visceral reaction to seeing people talk about their abuse in public --
CORNISH: Yes.
WOLF: And having the feeling that the government is somehow standing in the way of -- of, you know, of them getting justice in some way. And, you know, how does that resolve itself?
CORNISH: Yes.
WOLF: Are there charges? Is there something that we haven't seen that is to be released? That's what I'm not sure, how --
CORNISH: Right, like what --
WOLF: What is the resolution?
CORNISH: Yes.
WOLF: How do you solve this problem? I don't see what it is.
CORNISH: OK.
HAYS: The fact that it's even come to this is also pretty gross. I think that's one thing that we also should look at as a country here. The fact that it's come to this, that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have pretty much gotten away with doing this and trafficking young women, and now they're standing on the steps of Congress begging for the files to be released, begging for any sort of justice here, it's really gross as our justice system and what we've done to these women.
CORNISH: We'll see where this story goes next.
I want you guys to stick with me.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, the back to school checklist. Notebooks, pencils, updated vaccine shots. Not in Florida. The vaccine requirement is gone. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics joins me next.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We can move the needle in crypto. And I think that's going to be the future of finance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And it's the new family business, crypto. But are the Trumps playing by the rules?
And is Eric Adams working on his exit strategy from the New York City mayoral race? Not quite yet.
We want to know what's in your group chat. Send it to us now on X. We're going to be talking about ours after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:43:19]
CORNISH: As millions of school kids return to classrooms, health officials in Florida are moving to end all vaccine requirements for students.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JOSEPH LADAPO, FLORIDA SURGEON GENERAL: The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law. All of them. All of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, so here's what that means. Children will no longer be required to get vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus, chickenpox and hepatitis b. No other state has done that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JOSEPH LADAPO, FLORIDA SURGEON GENERAL: Vaccines in your body, God bless you. And I hope you make an informed decision. And that's how it should be. That is -- that is a moral, ethical universe, not this nonsense where people who don't know you are telling you what to put in your temple. The temple of your body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I want to talk about this with Dr. Susan Kressly. She's the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
I want to start with what we just heard from Dr. Ladapo in Florida. He's saying, look, it's going to be a choice now. What's wrong with it being a choice?
DR. SUSAN KRESSLY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: So, let's start with the fact that we know that vaccines keep the entire community safe. And so, when you take away the regulations, busy parents have a lot to juggle going back to school. And one of the things the regulations do is remind them that vaccines are part of keeping their child healthy -- safe and healthy. And if they're busy and they don't have to get that done, it may be a choice that they actually want to make, but they are not compelled in myriad of other things they need to do to run their family. And so, they skip on vaccines, which means that here are children, in close quarters in schools, who share everything, from crayons, to jump ropes, to infections, and then they get sick.
[06:45:11]
And so, we have sick children spreading germs, like they spread their crayons, in the community, in their school community, in their family community, and then the broader community. And that has ripple effects as parents then have to stay home, miss work, impacts the economy of their family. There are all kinds of ripple effects. These regulations for vaccines in schools protect not only the child, but the -- the community of the school and the broader community at large.
CORNISH: Now, this relates to the broader conversation about the CDC, where people are talking about the resignations and the concerns over their recommendations and the vaccine schedule. And I know that families rely on health insurance in a lot of ways to pay for these shots sometimes. And the insurers were following whatever the CDC recommends. So, with these recent changes to the CDC recommendations, do you think insurers might stop paying for some of these vaccinations?
KRESSLY: Well, we certainly are hopeful that doesn't happen at the -- the insurers know what we know, which is that safe -- that vaccines are one of the best ways to keep their insured and our patients healthy. And so we are working with parents and everyone else.
CORNISH: But I'm pretty sure they're happy to let us pay out of pocket, right? Not to hate on my insurer, which I won't out here, but they're happy to let me pay for things. And why wouldn't they, as they see this movement spreading across the country, say, it's a choice, you pay for it?
KRESSLY: Because it's an investment in the health of -- of -- of people and keeping patients and populations healthy is in everyone's best interest.
CORNISH: Is there anything you can do about that? I know that the governors of California, Oregon, Washington, they're creating this West Coast Health Alliance. And I don't know, I mean, California is such a huge state. Is that the kind of thing that would help in asking insurance companies to pay for a vaccine list that is suggested by bodies, like yours, outside of the CDC?
KRESSLY: We are having lots of conversations at the American Academy of Pediatrics with payers, with employers who make decisions for their -- their employees and families. And we are feeling positive in what we're hearing from people and that they know that vaccines save lives and they want to keep our children and our communities safe with high vaccine rates.
CORNISH: But I hear what you're saying is, there's a little bit of a scramble. If the CDC is saying one thing, and you guys are saying something else, you're trying to find a way to square that.
KRESSLY: That is absolutely correct, which is why we want everyone to speak up and make sure that we understand that we're all rowing in the same directions to keep our children safe.
CORNISH: What do you want to hear from RFK Jr. today? He's facing down some senators. Like, what should they ask him?
KRESSLY: So, I won't be in the room, but I'm hoping that our senators and congressmen really hold him accountable and ask him where the information was made, what data it was based on, where the facts that informed his decision and what he plans to do moving forward to reestablish what we need in ACIP and all of the branches of HHS, which is fact-based, evidence-based, expert informed decisions that put nothing but the interest of the public health first.
CORNISH: That's Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Thank you.
KRESSLY: Thank you.
CORNISH: Now, the Trump family business is cashing in on the crypto craze. Just this week, crypto coin ventures, led by the president's sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, surged on Wall Street, putting their stake at more than $1.5 billion. The president has promised to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet. He says this while a meme coin bearing his name has raked in an estimated $320 million in fees.
Speaking to CNBC back in June, his son says they are playing by the rules.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The first time around in the administration, we actually stopped doing all foreign deals. We stopped doing those things and the market still said, oh, they're profiteering off of this, they're doing that. We got zero credit. We shut down hundreds of millions of dollars of business to voluntarily just say, just in case.
So now what we're going to do, we're going to play by all the rules. We're going to do what we're allowed to do. But we got zero credit for going so far above and beyond, because, you know, that's the nature of this beast, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Zach, cryptocurrency is so new. I don't totally know the rules here. Is this -- is there any legal issue with what they're doing?
WOLF: I haven't heard anyone say that they're breaking the law with what they're doing, but it is absolutely shocking how extensive these business interests are.
And, you know, kind of writing about this yesterday, you know, the -- Eric and Don Jr. have a company that they have taken over that's essentially buying tokens from another company that they founded with their father and Trump's top diplomat. That company is advertising itself, you know, around the world as, you know, sort of an alternative -- having an alternative to the dollar.
[06:50:05]
So, they want to prop up as sort of, you know, shadow currency in some ways. There are other companies that they're dealing with. They're raking in
money from fees. There's the potential that they have these billions of dollars on paper that could be realized at a future date. I mean, it is incredible the structure and the depth of how this business venture is working. I'm not sure it's illegal, and it's --
CORNISH: Yes.
WOLF: But it's the kind of thing where if they were doing it secretly, it would be a major scandal.
CORNISH: And it's certainly a turnaround. In 2019, Donald Trump had tweeted about crypto back when I think more people were also skeptical. He said, "I'm not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and illegal activity."
Not a lot of that has changed, although there is more attempt to create some regulatory environment.
DUBKE: So, since we were talking about Texas, crypto is right now, and still is, in 2019 was, the wild, wild west of the financial markets. And part of what is happening now is the -- his family is taking part in that wild, wild west. At some point they may lose all of what was gained as well. So, these are highly speculative --
CORNISH: Even if they're making bank on fees?
DUBKE: Well, I --
CORNISH: Fees is just collecting.
DUBKE: But there's also all the costs associated with -- with -- with putting out the -- the meme coins and everything else.
My point to all of this is, yes, they are doing it in the open, as -- as Don Jr. was saying in the -- in the thing. And -- and at the end of the day, the technology here of blockchain is a revolutionary technology that I think we're losing the -- the conversation over when we're talking about these meme coins. Elon Musk had his own Dogecoin.
CORNISH: A private citizen.
DUBKE: Exactly. But my point is that there is a lot of technology here that is really important for our -- that will -- will shape our financial markets going forward.
CORNISH: Can I just bring in, Meghan, for one thing.
I saw Democrats online saying, wait, I thought Biden was the crime family. I thought the Biden family was making -- was benefiting from proximity to power. I don't think they want to rehash the Biden thing but --
HAYS: I, for sure, don't.
CORNISH: OK.
HAYS: But -- but I think it's interesting that the Trump family has 40 percent of their wealth they have gained just in the time that Donald Trump has been president. So, I think that there is a lot here. That the hypocrisy is very palatable. I think for people who had to be part of that -- the Biden crime family era in our time and having to defend that or talk about that. So, I think it's really interesting that they're doing this.
I don't know enough about crypto to have, you know, an honest conversation about it.
CORNISH: Well, you're in luck because Zach's newsletter, "What Matters," tackles this, this week. Please come out. It comes out every weekday. You can subscribe on cnn.com.
All right, there's one more thing I want to bring to the chat.
New York Mayor Eric Adams insists he is not exiting the mayoral race in November to take a job in the Trump administration. Two sources tell CNN the president's aides floated the idea of offering Adams a job to help clear the field that would benefit former governor and now independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani in the June primary.
Here's what Mamdani has said about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL NOMINEE: The reason that so many New Yorkers are fed up with politics as they know it is because of news like this. Backroom deals. Corrupt agreements. All of which serve to increase the sense of disaffection and despair as it pertains to how people feel about politics across this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, group chat is back.
I wanted to bring this to you guys because there is a lot to unpack. The Eric Adams of it all. Even the sort of strategy of Republicans ahead of the midterm elections in terms of who they want to see as the face of Democrats at any given time.
But, Zach, what struck you about how this kind of emerged from our reporting?
WOLF: Yes, I would love to know if those two sources, you know, for -- for us and for everybody else who's reporting on this, are they coming from the White House or are they coming from the Cuomo campaign, or are they coming from the Adams campaign, or are they coming from Mamdani? Like, everybody has an interest.
CORNISH: An incentive here. HAYS: That -- that was my question too. Like, where is this coming
from?
WOLF: Yes.
CORNISH: Sorry, I can't tell you. I can't tell you.
DUBKE: Are you shocked? Are you -- are you shocked that there is politics in politics? I mean, I'm not. I -- I -- I -- it -- and -- and I'm not even sure that it matters.
CORNISH: Here's what's interesting. Eric Adams had already been accused by other Democrats of basically being in a situation where Trump was his patron by keeping him out of legal trouble. And this, I think, is making news because it's a step further. It's like, we're just going to straight pay you to come out of the race so that we can get what we need.
I don't know if this is true, but I think this is why it is catching with people, because they already have a certain perception of Adams, who recently had an aide, I think, hand a reporter money in a sour cream potato chips bag. Like, it's a lot. It's a lot around the Adams campaign.
HAYS: But you're going to -- you're going to leave being the mayor of New York City, or in a re-election effort to be the mayor for a job at HUD and you're not going to be the secretary.
[06:55:05]
Like that doesn't make logical sense to me for Adams. Like, if you're going to make him the ambassador somewhere, OK, maybe we can have that conversation, and that might make more sense. I just -- and I also don't think, why would Donald Trump help the Democrats? This is --
CORNISH: Because wouldn't you want Mamdani to be the face of things?
HAYS: Well, that's exactly --
CORNISH: Mike, I don't mean to jump in. Is that incentive?
DUBKE: No, as a Republican, I do. I do.
HAYS: But that's exactly --
DUBKE: Can I raise my hand and say yes, please?
CORNISH: Yes. OK.
HAYS: That's exactly it. And Cuomo and Adams are going to split the vote. And so Trump --
CORNISH: But you think it's unnecessary because of where the polling sits right now?
HAYS: Yes. CORNISH: So --
DUBKE: Well, I also think that there are a number of people who actually, you know, I'm from Buffalo, other part of the state from New York, love-hate with New York City. There's some people that want to protect New York City and think Mamdani is going to be terrible for the city. I think that's a motivation for several.
But as a Republican operative, I would love for him to be the face of the midterms.
WOLF: And Donald Trump may -- he may wear two hats here.
DUBKE: Exactly.
WOLF: He may be one of those rich New Yorkers who doesn't actually want to see Mamdani as -- as the mayor so that that could -- that could factor in here as well.
DUBKE: Yes.
CORNISH: OK. We'll see where this story goes now.
I want to come to your group chats. I know what is in Mike's. It's the hunting wives --
DUBKE: Yes.
CORNISH: Which, obviously, you have thoughts about.
DUBKE: I'm terrible at this. Yes.
CORNISH: What else are you thinking about, Mr. Dubke?
DUBKE: Oh, well, I've already mentioned that I'm from Buffalo. I'm going to do a shout out for HBO and "Hard Knocks."
CORNISH: Oh.
DUBKE: Their episodes this year have been incredibly boring as they followed the Buffalo Bills, which, as a Bills fan I'm thrilled about because that means that the team actually has chemistry, they like each other and there's not all of this --
CORNISH: No news is good news.
DUBKE: No news is good news.
But what we're talking about right now in my group chat is whether or not were going to do burgers or Italian sausage for the tailgate and how much beer I need to bring.
CORNISH: I can imagine those emojis. I got it.
DUBKE: For the home opener, Sunday night football. I'm ready.
CORNISH: OK.
HAYS: Mine's also a food-oriented group chat. Lots of food going on. Oreos and Reeses did a combination. They have now Reeses Oreos. So that was really big in my family group chat yesterday. I found them after going to several stores and tried them, 7.5 out of 10.
CORNISH: I'm sorry, what? What brundfly (ph) is this?
HAYS: Yes. I have not tried the actual Reeses peanut butter cups with the Oreos in. I will try to find those.
CORNISH: Because you'd like to preserve your arteries.
DUBKE: What is a ten out of ten for you?
HAYS: Just a plain Reeses peanut butter cup is a ten out of ten.
DUBKE: Oh, OK.
HAYS: But it's just -- it's not that good. The peanut butter cream ratio in the middle is just not right. It just doesn't hit right.
DUBKE: It just doesn't mix for you? OK.
CORNISH: Honestly, I love this bipartisan energy.
HAYS: I should have brought you one.
DUBKE: I would have eaten it on stage.
WOLF: I think your tailgating idea is flawed because you shouldn't have to choose. It should be burgers and Italian sausage.
But I was a little -- I wasn't quite as fun with my group chat. Like, I --
CORNISH: That's why I came to you last.
WOLF: Yes, hard turn, thanks.
CORNISH: It's OK. It's OK. I got you.
WOLF: No, I was looking at this, you know, Donald Trump -- what seems to have come between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi in India is this idea that Trump thinks he should get the Nobel Peace Prize and India kind of riffing off that. The Pfizer CEO says, you know, as Trump sort of seems to turn against Covid vaccines, give him the Nobel Peace Prize for the Covid vaccine.
CORNISH: I did see that.
WOLF: And get him back -- get him back involved.
CORNISH: Yes.
WOLF: Get him back invested in vaccines. That's it. CORNISH: But just the idea that regular anyone in any industry now says to themselves, offer him Nobel Prize. And like that somehow that is going to endear them to him, which is not the case. Like, this vaccine thing will not be solved by that kind of thing.
DUBKE: I'm just surprised there's so many Norwegian companies that can offer the Nobel Prize here.
CORNISH: Listen. Hey, I mean, the applications are free. I don't think it's a big deal.
We should --
DUBKE: It's just an honor to be nominated.
CORNISH: Oh. Thank you. Thank you.
You know, for me, the thing was actually this week when the head of McDonald's was on CNBC and he was talking about how they have lower foot traffic because people are skipping breakfast. And he talked about it as a tale of two economies. And I was like, what? Like, I need more information here. And I'm wondering if that kind of thing, what we know about the economy is going to change as more of that, like, real world data comes out, not just being like jobs are this, GDP is that.
WOLF: It could also be a lot more people are intermittent fasting. I mean --
CORNISH: That's what's going on in -- that's what, you're just fasting.
WOLF: It's possible.
CORNISH: I mean they're bringing back the value meal.
WOLF: Yes.
CORNISH: And, like, not for vibes.
WOLF: The dollar meal.
CORNISH: They're bringing it back because there's some people in this economy that are struggling.
DUBKE: Well, there was a very real political look at foot traffic at Cracker Barrel.
CORNISH: Bring it. OK.
DUBKE: This was several years. At Cracker Barrel to determine whether -- how the economy was performing. That when there was an uptick in Cracker Barrel, the economy was performing worse. I didn't really understand the whole thing, and I just wanted to say Cracker Barrel again because --
CORNISH: I appreciate that.
DUBKE: It's a scandal that hasn't -- hasn't left.
CORNISH: I appreciate that. The youngs call that a recession indicator.
DUBKE: Yes. There you go.
CORNISH: So, we're all just looking for recession indicators.
All right, you guys, thank you for sharing your group chats. I appreciate it.
[07:00:00]
Thank you for waking up with us. We know you have a lot of choices and we're glad you chose to spend time with us.
I'm Audie Cornish, and "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.
