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Wolf Blitzer is Interviewed about his Holocaust Museum Documentary; July PCE Released; Biden's Loan Forgiveness Draws Praise and Anger; College Football Starts the Season. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 26, 2022 - 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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[08:31:15]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Today, connecting a painful past with the present. CNN's Wolf Blitzer takes us inside the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at a time when anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are running rampant.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Hate ignited the Holocaust. Ignorance fueled it. Eight decades later, it's horrifying to see a rise in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial around the world and here in this country. We want to take you on a tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Washington, D.C. More than 45 million people have visited this museum since it opened back in 1993. This institution serves as a reminder of what happens when society doesn't stand up to hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now is our friend and the anchor of "The Situation Room," Wolf Blitzer.

The Holocaust Museum, Wolf, is truly a treasure.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

BERMAN: Tell us about this special.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": It really is a treasure because it takes you inside the horror of what happened what -- during World War II. And if we don't learn from those blunders and those mistakes and those horrible experiences, we're bound to repeat those kinds of horrors down the road. So that's why it's so important when people come to Washington, I recommend it all the time, go visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, right on Raoul Wallenberg Place on the Washington Mall near 14th Street. I drive buy there all the time on the way to work. And it, for me, as you guys know, it's very, very personal to see

what's going on as a son of Holocaust survivors and as a grandson of four grandparents who were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. So it's just all very, very personal for me.

COLLINS: Well, and, Wolf, I know when it comes to how personal it is for you, what was so special about this is that you are telling the story of that, about being the child of Holocaust survivors, about being the grandchild of Holocaust victims. And you had a little bit of your dad's story in here that I want to share with the viewers this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, sir, can we begin.

Would you please tell me your full name?

DAVID BLITZER, WOLF BLITZER'S FATHER: David Blitzer, b-l-i-t-z-e-r.

W. BLITZER: That's my dad, David Blitzer. He survived the Holocaust, met my mother, another survivor, and they got married and came to America after World War II. He recorded his very personal, very powerful survival story for future generations.

D. BLITZER: I'm originally from Oswiecim, which is actually the name of the city of Auschwitz before the war. My wife did not believe that she's going to be able to have children after the concentration camp. But 10 months after we were married, she would.

W. BLITZER: Like so many survivors, he knew he had to speak for the millions who couldn't. And now I'm carrying on his legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Wolf, what is it like to take such a deeply personal moment like that, to your dad's voice, to hear that, in his moment, and have it in this.

BLITZER: It was so powerful, Kaitlan, for me to watch that interview that my dad did, that oral history. I knew he had done an oral history at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Washington, but that was audio only. He did a separate one years later, down in Florida, where he and my mom had retired after moving from Buffalo, at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center down in Hollywood, Florida, where they were living. And that was audio and video. And to see my dad open up on such a personal level, I obviously knew my parents were Holocaust survivors, I knew that my whole life, but to hear in detail all of his recollections, his remembrances of the horror that he and his family went through, and to watch it on video, it was just, for me, such an emotional, powerful experience.

[08:35:15]

And I was grateful to our team that help put this documentary together for tonight, that they discovered, that they found this video and I could watch it and learn from it.

BERMAN: I've got to say, I got chills when I just heard that, Wolf, listening to your father. And I think what people need to know is that, for many years in the United States, even for survivors, it wasn't something that they talked about as much in some ways as it's discussed now.

Wolf, did he ever talk to you about wanting to open up, about why it was important to tell the story?

BLITZER: He always spoke about that. And that's why he did these oral history interviews so that future generations from his family, but for everyone, that they could listen and learn from his experience, from my mom's experience, from their family's experience, and hopefully never watch this happen again. And that's why he -- it was so important.

There are so few Holocaust survivors who are left these days. Sadly, you know, they're dying. And it's so important to hear what they have to say, because they lived through it and they experienced it. And as a child of Holocaust survivors, you know, I grew up learning about it. I didn't know all the details until I was, you know, fully grown.

A few years ago, as you guys might remember, CNN sent some of us on a roots package to put together a little documentary about our family history and our heritage. I did that. And I went to Auschwitz, where my dad was born. He was born in the city of Oswiecim (ph). Every city - every little city and town in Poland, before World War II, which had millions of Jews, had three names, I discovered. They had a Polish name, a Yiddish name, and a German name. And it was just, you know, I heard my dad growing up, Oswiecim, Oswiecim, Oswiecim, with was the Yiddish name for Auschwitz. And it was a - it was a town that had a significant Jewish population before the war. Almost all of them were killed, sadly, during the war.

So, it just was an emotional experience for me to eyewitness what happened.

BERMAN: Well, you're a living tribute to your father and to the memory of your grandparents, Wolf. Thank you so much for doing this and thanks for being with us this morning.

BLITZER: Thank you.

COLLINS: And, you know, whenever you go to the Holocaust Museum in D.C., which everyone should do, and kids - people -- parents should take their children. Every time I've gone, you learn something different every time. You see some new. You learn someone's story. And it really is such a powerful experience to go in there.

BERMAN: And every time you listen to one of those stories, you are helping.

You can hear the stories from survivors, including Wolf's father, and witness a history that has to be remembered. "Never Again" airs tonight at 11:00 Eastern on CNN. So, just in, a key inflation report has just been released. We're

going to have a breakdown of those numbers on this busy morning.

COLLINS: That comes just days after President Biden's student loan relief plan has sparked some serious debate among those who have debt and those who already paid off their debt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great! That means I don't have to pay on what I owe that's left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like that there's a bigger problem, like the cost of education.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[08:42:25]

BERMAN: All right, just in, a key inflation report has just been released.

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans here with the numbers.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Signs of cooling in runaway inflation. This is the PCE price index. This is the Fed's favorite inflation gauge. It gets a lot more of what you're paying for stuff and services and medical care. And it grew 6.3 percent year over year. But look at the month to month number, you guys, a decline. The first decline I've seen in at least five months. A decline of 0.1 percent. Incredibly important to see those signs of cooling or peaking in what has been red hot runaway inflation.

When you look at a line chart, you can see, you know, it's hard to get so excited about such a small move. You want to see a trend develop. But that is, again, a sign that these price increases are backing away from a 40-year pace here.

Lots of chaotic cross signals in the economy. Usually, in normal times, we wouldn't be paying so much attention to the PCE price index, right, but all of these economic indicators have become incredibly more important as we try to figure out what the Federal Reserve is going to do next to tamp down runaway inflation.

We also learned this week that the economy likely shrank again in the second quarter, but didn't shrink as much as we thought, down 0.6 percent. So it just adds to this complicated picture of what's happening to the U.S. economy right now and what we're looking for heading into the fall.

The Fed chief speaks in just over an hour, hour and a half or so, on -- in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So we'll get more clues from him when that happens.

BERMAN: Yes, and we know you're watching it very closely.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: This collection of small signs, what you want to see.

Christine Romans, thank you very much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COLLINS: President Biden has been providing relief to millions of Americans who are dealing with student loan debt. His decision has stirred up some debate for those who support the move and welcome it and will see a lot of relief from it and others who are against it.

CNN's Ryan Young joins us live from Atlanta.

And, Ryan, you have been talking to people who will be affected by this. You've been talking to people who may be opposed to this. What are you hearing as a reaction to this major announcement?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Kaitlan.

Look, I heard the energy on set that you guys had with John and Van Jones. It's the same thing out here in the streets. People are definitely talking about this, and they can't wait to see it go into effect. And some people are like, hey, how are we going to pay for this?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In my campaign for president, I made a commitment.

YOUNG (voice over): President Biden's announcement canceling student loan debt for millions of Americans created instant strong reactions. Is it too much or not enough?

YOUNG (on camera): What's your initial reaction when you heard that finally being announced?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like, great, that means I don't have to pay on what I owe that's left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is a lot of money given out to a small segment of the population. And they didn't do anything to really deserve it.

[08:45:04]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have mixed emotions about it.

YOUNG (voice over): For small business owner Bryan Lonsberry, the forgiveness plan isn't the right move. His family tightened their budget to make sure they kept paying their loans during the pandemic.

BRYAN LONSBERRY, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: We have done the sacrifices, the no vacations, the no out to eats, and now I'm on the other side. The reason it upsets me so much is, are we setting a good example?

YOUNG: Bryan believes that the students should think about the financial impact before taking out giant loans that will affect their futures.

LONSBERRY: It's a little upsetting that we kept paying and struggled, and through everything, and then other people just gave up and quit. And I wasn't raised to quit.

YOUNG: The president's plan could affect up to 43 million Americans, and forgives federal loan debt of up to $10,000 for people making less than $125,000 a year. Twenty-seven million Americans with Pell grants will be forgiven up to $20,000. According to the White House, over 45 percent of borrowers, or roughly 20 million people, will have their debt fully canceled.

It's a plan President Biden first spoke about on the campaign trail.

BIDEN: I'm going to make sure that everybody in this generation gets $10,000 knocked off of their student debt.

YOUNG: It was Mateo Gomez who asked candidate Biden about his plans to help Americans his age achieve their dreams.

MATEO GOMEZ, BARRY UNIVERSITY GRADUATE: I was asking him overall, does the American dream still exist?

YOUNG: He points to the president delivering on a campaign promise despite wondering if more can be done.

GOMEZ: This is a first step for something. When looking at the campaign promise, he did say that, so I could say, check.

YOUNG: As the president's plan continues to receive mixed reaction, one thing is clear, the high cost of college is something many believe needs immediate attention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Education is too expensive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to go back to the core of, why is school so expensive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like that there's a bigger problem, like the cost of education.

YOUNG: As former students digest the president's move to cancel billions in loans, for some, it's a welcome relief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the debt. I'm paying back the debt. So, I will take it and keep it moving.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Kaitlan, it was amazing to see the bridge between both sides on this subject in terms of college costs. Everyone was talking about that, the idea that they keep seeing it rise. So many people who are still paying for college now have kids in college and they're still paying that debt. The other thing that people were talking about was the interest rates that are tied to some of these loans.

COLLINS: Yes.

YOUNG: They would love to see some of that brought down and they hope that Congress sort of takes a look at that as well.

COLLINS: Yes, I've seen --

YOUNG: But a lot of opinions out here.

COLLINS: A lot of opinions. I've seen people highlighting, you know, what the cost of college was when some of these Republicans who are criticizing Biden's move was when they went to school and, of course, what it is now.

Ryan Young, thank you for talking to those people and seeing how this is affecting people in the real world.

OK, the college football season is about to kick off tomorrow. I don't know if we've talked about this enough this week. Harry Enten is here with the chances of a little known school, University of Alabama, and some other fine, OK teams, making it to the championship. We'll see what he says. And, no, he is not under any kind of threat of coercion here by me.

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[08:52:33]

COLLINS: OK, tomorrow is the start of the college football season. My personal favorite time of year. And I know what I think about Alabama's chances of another national championship, but we're going to see what the data has to say.

SO, let's bring in CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten.

What should Crimson Tide fans be expecting, Harry?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: What should they be expecting on college football eve? All right, this is the chance of winning. Alabama is the favorite at a 30 percent chance. Of course, that means a 70 percent chance that somebody else other than Alabama wins the national title. Ohio State, 27 percent. Georgia, 24. Clemson, 10. I'll note that Harry and John's alma maters are not, in fact, in the football (INAUDIBLE).

COLLINS: I want to make sure Charlie Moore sees this, if he's watching this morning.

BERMAN: That's right, Georgia fans.

ENTEN: Charlie should be very excited. Charlie, of course, being Anderson's executive producer. He's a huge Georgia guy. I'm OK with Georgia. Whatever. COLLINS: Eh.

BERMAN: I like how, by the way, you say let's see what the data says. Mocking the data, as if the data doesn't matter here. The only thing that matters is what you think.

COLLINS: Well, there is a lot of question about polling these days. So, we'll see what it says.

A big question, of course, is people love to hate on Alabama because they are so good. So who do - what -- who do Americans want to see win?

ENTEN: So - so this is -

COLLINS: Well, this isn't surprising to me at all. That's where my dad is, right there in the middle.

ENTEN: Right there in the middle.

Look, if you look, essentially, this is Google Trends over the last 30 days. I'll note that Alabama is number one overall. I broke this down by region. If you break it down by state, it's really specific to the state. But because this is television, you can't see the individual states, we'll notice in the west that Oregon's the favorite. In the Midwest it's Iowa. In the Northeast it's Penn Sate. That's not much of a surprise. And then, of course, Alabama in the south, dominating.

COLLINS: That's a pretty big chunk.

You know, one thing that surprised me when I moved from Alabama, my home state, to Washington, was, it wasn't this pivotal moment on Saturdays where everybody went and watched college football. And I was a little devastated and questioned my life choices. But, you know, how popular is college football in the U.S.?

ENTEN: I think it's pretty popular. I mean, look, how many adults are fans of, not surprisingly, pro football's the runaway. Pro baseball at 38 percent. You look at college football, 35 percent. That's more popular than college basketball and more popular than pro basketball.

BERMAN: More popular than pro basketball?

COLLINS: That's pretty surprising, actually.

ENTEN: More popular than pro basketball, that's right.

COLLINS: And, you know, something we were arguing about before we did this segment.

BERMAN: This is amazing. This is amazing.

ENTEN: Look at this.

BERMAN: This is, who are the biggest fans by region?

COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE) by region.

ENTEN: This is -- this is exactly right. And, you notice, the Midwest, 41 percent, the south, 40 percent, that's where Kaitlan's from.

[08:55:01]

Look here in the Northeast, 25 percent. And I'll note that only 17 percent of people in New England said that they were fans, where John's from.

BERMAN: Well, are you saying -- are you saying that the country more Big Ten than SEC fans? How do you feel about that, Kaitlan Collins?

COLLINS: I mean, if you're an SEC fan, you're a fervent SEC fan. It is concentrated. It is strong. And it's a - it's a - it's the only thing that matters. (INAUDIBLE).

ENTEN: It's the only thing that matters. I'll tell you what does matters, is I love this, college football national titles. All those with ten or more. Actually Yale is number one at 18. Now, granted, they haven't won a national title since 1927. But, still, Kaitlan's team is second at 16.

COLLINS: I will say that I would like to edit Harry's data here because that number is actually 18.

ENTEN: According to Alabama, but I'm going by the official NCAA website.

I will note --

BERMAN: You got 10 seconds, Harry.

ENTEN: I got ten seconds. Harry's Columbia Lions above 500 the last four seasons, three of the last four, they lost 44 straight in the mid '80s. But, hey, they won the 1934 Rose Bowl, and I look pretty cute next to my (INAUDIBLE), Wiley (ph).

COLLINS: When was - when was the last time they won a national championship?

ENTEN: I don't think ever.

BERMAN: You look fantastic in the Columbia jersey, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Thank you so much for helping us understand this.

Kaitlan Collins, thank you for being here all week.

COLLINS: And thank you to our viewers for permitting me my Alabama talk. I promise I won't do it too much.

BERMAN: So, a noon deadline approaching for the Justice Department to release its redacted version of the Mar-a-Lago search affidavit. Our coverage continues after this.

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