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Quest Means Business
US CPI Falls To 2.9 Percent In July, Lowest Since March 2021; Donald Trump Gives Campaign Speech on Economy; Trump Gives Campaign Speech On Economy; Fact-Checking Trump's North Carolina Speech; Workers Allege Nightmare Conditions At Now Bankrupt Kentucky Startup Funded By J.D. Vance. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired August 14, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:13]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: The Dow on a positive note there, given the tailwinds it had today from some positive economic news. Those
are the markets, and these are the main events.
This hour, former President Donald Trump will deliver a speech on the economy, and as I was just saying, a key measure of US inflation falls
below three percent for the first time since 2021.
And a tasty tie up, Mars has agreed to buy the company behind Pringles and Cheez-Its.
Live from New York, it is Wednesday, August 14th. I'm Paula Newton in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
And good evening.
Any moment now, former president -- US President Donald Trump is expected to deliver remarks about the economy. He will be speaking in Asheville,
North Carolina, always important to remember, it is a crucial swing state.
Now the Republican candidate often blames the Biden administration for the high inflation of the last few years. There was, however, good news on that
front today. Consumer prices rose 2.9 percent in the 12 months ending in July. That is the first time headline inflation has come in below three
percent since early 2021.
Now investors, widely expect the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates when it meets next month.
Julia Chatterley is in New York for us and Steve Contorno is in Florida.
Julia, first to you, it was a good data point, no debate there. But how does it fit into the political landscape at this point in time, especially
for both campaigns that really need to stake out some real estate on economic policy?
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, "FIRST MOVE": I think there is something for everyone in this number to your point. I think it seals the
deal as far as the Federal Reserve is concerned, to begin lowering interest rates in September. I think it justifies or equates to around a quarter of
a percentage point, not more, which is important, but that is going to be good news for the Biden administration. Good news for borrowers, of course,
and we've already seen things like mortgage rates come down.
One of the key components of this and it formed the bulk of the pressure on prices comes down to shelter, to housing and actually that was double the
price rises in that sector that we saw even last month.
So that's a thorn in the side of the Federal Reserve and it is certainly a flag point for both of these campaigns. Talk to people about how you're
going to help increase affordable housing? How are you going to increase this share and the supply of houses overall, quite frankly? And they both
made hints in different ways and we can talk about that in a moment.
On the downside, and I think this is what helps the Trump campaign in what they can point to is the fact that overall in the last two years we've seen
shelter prices up 13 percent, electricity prices up 10 percent. We've got food and beverage prices up eight percent, transportation up 18 percent.
I am just mentioning a few of these, child care costs up six percent.
If you want to hammer the Biden administration, you can talk to them about the affordability crisis that is still true today for many Americans, and
then you can talk about what you're going to do to fix it, and we are sort of lacking on the detail as far as them that the Trump campaign is
concerned, but I am sure that won't stop him lamenting the rising prices for people. There is opportunity for both sides on this. The question is,
do they take it? Solutions rather than problems.
NEWTON: And to that point, Steve, in terms of the Trump campaign, actually taking advantage of a lot of the different points that Julia just made. You
know, some Trump allies have said publicly what aides are saying privately? Please, Mr. Trump, stick to the issues if you're going to stick it to
Kamala Harris and I want you to listen now to Nikki Haley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want this campaign to win, but the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes. It
is not going to win talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It is not going to win talking about whether she is dumb. It is not -- you can't win
on those things.
The American people are smart, treat them like they're smart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Steve, you follow this campaign closely. The former president is about to speak in a few moments. Do you believe he will stick closer to
that kind of script?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Now, he may for a brief moment in time and then the next, you know, he has a press conference tomorrow where who knows
what he is going to be asked and who knows how he will respond.
Keeping Donald Trump in a box is nearly impossible, but it is certainly an effort by his campaign to at least keep him more on message and that is a
major problem that they have seen ever since this race shifted from being Trump versus Biden to Trump versus Harris.
[16:05:02]
These past three weeks, many people around him feel that Trump has squandered the opportunity to define Vice President Harris because he has
been so focused on these mean-spirited attacks, some of these race-baiting attacks, the conspiratorial retorts.
And instead of focusing on the issues that they do believe that Republicans have an advantage over Democrats. Crime, immigration, and yes, the economy
and so the speech today could be a first step towards trying to synthesize the matter message toward the areas where his campaign feels like they have
an advantage.
But what Donald Trump does one day doesn't guarantee he is going to do it the next, and that is a major concern going forward because what he is
doing right now is risking reminding many people in America why they voted for him in 2016, but turned away from him in 2020.
NEWTON: Yes, and Steve, as you're speaking, we do see the former president there in Asheville, North Carolina. He is obviously going to speak soon.
He is, Julia, in front of a sign that says no tax on Social Security. Many economists from both sides, they're saying that look, that is just
something America cannot afford given both the debt and the deficit, and so many other things in the offing that perhaps an administration, another
Trump administration or a Harris administration should worry about and one of them as you've pointed out many times, is the overwhelming worry that
Americans have over housing costs.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and it is an ongoing issue. Talk to us about how you're going to tackle that and it doesn't just involve some kind of rank caps. I
know that the Harris administration or the Harris campaign have talked about, it is going to require more housing. The problem is, I was looking
at the data today. There are 295,000 open construction jobs. They can't actually hire the workers that they need in order to build buildings even
if they could to provide more housing. So what's the plan there?
And if you're starting to criticize the immigration in the country, again, I point to those kinds of stats as huge vacancies in the manufacturing
sector as well. And unfortunately, restricting some forms of immigration is hurting the nation not helping. So it will be interesting to see what he
says on that.
I am sure he is going to talk about the fact that they want to remove tax on tips. Interesting, there has been some pushback on that because of the
distortions that it creates. I know you've already talked about it on the show this week, it impacts 2.4 million people according to the estimates
that I have seen, and it doesn't really help the lower income members of the American population that one, don't earn tips; and two, don't even pay
taxes at all.
So, if you want to help people, raise the minimum wage. Let's talk about some kind of policies like that.
He's going to talk about energy policy, too. I will be quiet because I know he is going to speak very soon.
NEWTON: And Julia, with that, we will listen to the former president.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(PEOPLE chanting "USA.")
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello to North Carolina. Thank you very much.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: It is great to be back in this beautiful state with the proud, hardworking patriots. You make our country run, you really do. You built
our country, you make our country run.
I want to thank a very good man and he is in there fighting, he is fighting and we know he is a fighter.
The next governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson.
Thanks, Mark.
Mrs. Robinson, thank you. They are great, great couple. Thank you, both. Thank you, both.
(PEOPLE chanting "We love Trump.")
TRUMP: Thank you very much. That is a very frisky group, I have to say.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And by the way, we have some very good polls coming out today. I just heard, despite all the fake publicity about this radical left person
from San Francisco. How is San Francisco doing?
(BOOING)
TRUMP: Not like -- not like North Carolina.
Now, we have some very good polls coming out. So that's good. You know considering the fact that they, what they do. I mean, what they do, what
the fake news is able to do. And yet we are leading and let them have their convention and who knows how that's going to turn.
Joe Biden is a very angry man. You know that, right? Because they took it away from him. They usurped it. They took it away from him. Terrible,
terrible.
And I am not sure that they pick the right guy than him, but he got 14 million votes. He got 14 million votes. She got no votes. And you look at
what happens. That's not the way it is supposed to happen.
[16:10:10]
They are a threat to democracy, right, as they say?
(PEOPLE answer "yes, they are.")
TRUMP: They are a threat to democracy, but thanks as well to members of Congress -- Chuck Edwards and Virginia Foxx, warriors, thank you, wherever
you may be. Ah, thank you. Thanks, Chuck. Thank you, Virginia.
State auditor candidate, Dave Boliek. He said, I am only in politics for you, sir. I only -- where is Dave? Anybody that would say -- Dave, if you
say that and have you -- do you mean that? If you mean that, I am for you all the way. He has my endorsement. Thank you, Dave.
A man who is doing an incredible job, so good when we won this state and we won it easily. I said Michael Whatley, you're going to head the RNC with
Lara. Where is Lara? And they're doing an incredible, incredible job.
And also your North Carolina GOP Chairman, Jason Simmons. Jason, thank you. We're doing okay? We're doing good, Jason? Okay. We are way up here. We've
got to make sure everyone gets out and votes, but we are way up. So I want to thank you. We've had tremendous experience here.
We won every time we ran, a special place.
Well my son, you know, he and his wonderful wife, you know, who I am talking about, Lara.
Lara, but, Eric and Lara, they named their beautiful daughter Carolina. I said, which one are you talking about? Well, you know, today I am going to
say its North Carolina, right?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now, she was born here, raised here, and I am sure it is a big reason we've done so well here. She is great. She is really terrific and he
is a great young man. I mean, you know, I am a little prejudice perhaps because he is my son, a little bit, but they are a great couple and thank
you very much. We appreciate it.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: With the help of everyone in this room, 83 days from now -- can you imagine -- 83 days. We are almost there. We've got to get it.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We are going to defeat super liberal, more liberal than Bernie Sanders. Did you hear that? The most liberal person in the Senate. Can you
believe that?
We are going to defeat Kamala Harris. We are going to win back the White House in a historic landslide.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And we are going to take back our country. We are going to take it back and I think it is important to say and I never get corrected, I know
its fact because, you know, if I am slightly off, they do stories -- headlines. He didn't tell quite the truth.
Well, we are leading the biggest political movement in the history of our country, bigger than any movement ever before. There has never been a
movement like this called Make America Great Again, MAGA. Make America Great Again.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I say to the Democrats when they come out, well, you know, we've got to try and stop MAGA. MAGA is Make America Great Again. What do you want to
stop it for? That's what we are doing.
They put in a candidate and we beat him, badly. How did he how did he -- how do in the debate?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Then they put in another candidate. This is like F-2 fighters. One guy lose, they say, come on out. Let's put it in another one.
So then they put in another candidate and we are doing very well considering the fact that she has the greatest press. She went from being a
totally disrespected person six weeks ago. Nobody thought she had a chance. Nobody -- and I don't think she can possibly win. If she does, our country
is finished if you want to know the truth.
But she was totally disrespected. The most unpopular vice president in the history of our country, and then they decided to get politically correct.
We have to put her in. They put her in and now they are putting her on the covers of "Time" Magazine with an artist sketch.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: They don't use a picture. They don't use a picture, they use an artist sketch. I want to use that artist. I want to find that artist, I
like him very much.
But we are going to beat her also, and they may then get a third candidate. Who knows? This is a little bit different than what we are supposed to be
doing. You're supposed to have a candidate.
You know, we spent probably $100 million on beating him, then we had a very good debate and we beat him, and they said, well, instead of letting it go,
who knows what happens, right? It is the world of politics.
They say, we want him out. Joe, you're getting out now, Joe. Well, I don't want to get out. I have 14 -- you're getting out now, Joe. We can do it the
nice way or we can do it the hard way and he is getting out. He is getting out.
[16:15:11]
In fact they're not even giving him a good spot to speak, you know, when he is speaking on Monday. Monday is not the -- that's the worst day, but
that's what they do. It is their own form of -- it is just another, I guess relatively, it is a minor form of cheating by comparison to what they
really do, right?
Everything Kamala Harris touches turns bad. It all turns bad. San Francisco was a great city. Now, it is unlivable.
California was a great state. Now, it is unlivable.
She breaks everything just like she broke the border, broke our economy, but soon, we are going to fix every single problem Kamala Harris and Joe
Biden have created it is and we are going to save our country. We are going to save America.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We are going to save America.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now this is a little bit different today because this isn't around - - this is what we are talking about, a thing called the economy.
They wanted to do a speech on the economy. A lot of people are very devastated by what has happened with inflation and all of the other things.
So we are doing this as an intellectual speech. You're all intellectuals today.
Today, we are doing it and we are doing it right now and it is very important. They say is the most important subject. I think crime is right
there. I think the border is right there personally.
We have a lot of important subjects because our country has become a third world nation. We literally are a third world nation. We are a banana
republic in so many ways, and we are not going to let that happen because we are starting a freefall.
But from today and from the day I take the oath of office, we will rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again, we are going to make
it affordable again.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Under Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden, the American Dream is dead. You don't hear about the American Dream anymore, it is dead.
The radical liberal policies have caused horrific inflation, decimated the middle class and gutted the finances of millions and millions of American
families.
Real incomes are down by over $2,000.00 a year per family. I mean, that's a lot of money. They are down by that and it is actually much more of you
figured a certain way, if you add some other categories and it is much more than and that, but down by $2,000.00 since she took office and it was just
announced that real earnings were down once again at a record rate.
The Harris price hikes have cost the typical household $28,000.00. Congratulations.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: I hope everyone is happy.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: Credit card debt has exploded and its exploded to the highest it has ever been in the course of a typical monthly mortgage has tripled, tripled,
and probably more than that, if you think about it. We were at about 2.4 percent and now you're up to 10 percent and even 11 percent, but you're
really not there because you can't get the money even if you want to pay it.
In July alone, 350,000 people were added to the unemployment rolls. Kamala Harris wants to talk about her fantasies and they are -- everything she
says, if I say something she said that is what she is going to do, too.
I said, what are you doing? But she wants to talk for the future about these fantasies, but really what she needs to explain is the present
suffering that she has caused along with Joe Biden. And by the way, they're a team.
You know, she is trying to throw him overboard. She doesn't want to know who he is anymore. She doesn't want to talk about him anymore. She says,
let's not bring this guy in. Let's not bring him in.
No, no. They were team. He appointed her as border czar and she did the worst job in the history of borders, I will tell you.
Does anyone hear feel richer under Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe than you were during the Trump administration?
(PEOPLE answer "no.")
TRUMP: Is anything less expensive under Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe?
(PEOPLE answer "no.")
TRUMP: We had inflation that -- I don't believe we've ever had inflation like that. You can go back a long way.
Are you better off now with Harris and Biden than you were with a person named President Donald J. Trump? You know him, he is a nice gentleman --
nice gentleman.
With four more years of Harris, your finances will never recover. They are never going to recover. Our country will never recover, frankly, more
importantly, it will be unrecoverable.
Vote Trump and your incomes will soar, your savings will grow. Young people will be able to afford a home. And we will bring back the American Dream
bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(PEOPLE chanting "Trump.")
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
[16:20:10]
TRUMP: Thank you. Look at his. We have lot of Front Row Joes here. Wow. What a great group of patriots they are.
I don't know, they've gone to, I think 219 or 220 this isn't a rally, but this is a different kind of thing today. We are going to talk about one
subject, and then we will start going back to the others because we sort of love that, don't we?
But it is an important -- no, it is an important subject. They say it is the most important subject. I am not sure it is, but they say it is the
most important -- inflation is the most important, but that's part of the economy.
Kamala Harris wants to be in charge of the entire US economy, but neither she nor her running mate, isn't that a beauty, isn't he?
(BOOING)
TRUMP: He signed a bill, he wants tampons in boys bathrooms. I don't think so.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: But they've never held a private sector job in their entire professional careers and it is no wonder they're both socialists. They're
actually beyond socialists. I think they skipped over socialist.
That's why I think when people find out, because you don't know who these people are. I think when people find out who they are, I personally don't
think they could do well in the election. They've destroyed this country.
What they've done -- when you look at San Francisco, what happened -- and she was the one that started it. Years ago, she was district attorney, then
she was the attorney general of the state of California. California is a disaster now.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: Now Gavin Newscum hasn't helped very much, but it is a disaster. She was the one.
This November, voters are going to give radical liberal Kamala Harris the opportunity to try something new, a real job in the private sector for the
first time in her life.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Nice.
Kamala has declared that tackling inflation will be a day one priority. Just think of it, for her, but day one for Kamala was three-and-a-half
years ago. Why hasn't she done it?
You know, I keep saying, ah, she is one of these complainers, you know, like a critic. I remember growing up, I'd see plays on Broadway and I'd go
to different things and you'd always have critics, they criticize. But I would see and they were critical, critical, but they never did it
themselves, you know?
She's a critic. That's all she is. She never did anything, nothing that she ever did worked.
When Kamala -- and she got lucky with this. She was the first one out. She was -- there's 22 people, I guess, I hear. I just asked. I said, that many?
A lot of people. She never made it to Iowa, the great state of Iowa. She was the first one out.
She had a lack of skill and people didn't like her and now she is running for president? And she never got one vote. Think about that.
When Kamala lays out her fake economic plan this week, it will probably will be a copy of my plan because basically that is what she does.
Just remember, she goes to work every morning in the West Wing. Her desk is 10 steps from the Oval Office. She cast the tie-breaking votes that gave us
record inflation and for nearly four years, Kamala has cackled as the American economy has burned.
What happened to her laugh? I haven't heard that laugh in about a week. That's why they keep her off the stage. That is why she has disappeared.
That's the laugh of a crazy person, I will tell you. You have it -- it is crazy. She is crazy.
They told her don't laugh, don't laugh. No, it is her -- no, her laugh is career threatening. They said don't laugh. She hasn't laughed. She doesn't
laugh anymore. It's smart, but some day it is going to come out. That's the laugh of a person with some big problems.
She says her plan is going to be and bring down prices. She thinks she is going to bring down prices, then why -- it is a simple little few words --
why didn't you do it, Kamala? Why didn't you do it? You've been there three-and-a-half years. Why aren't you doing it now? You can do it right
now.
I can say that with everything, why hasn't she secured the border? You know, she was the border czar, right? She was the border czar. It was a big
deal. She says now she wasn't the border czar. That's okay. She was in charge of the border. Call her whatever you want, but she was in charge and
it was the worst -- this was the worst border in history. There has never been a border in the world like this.
Why hasn't she brought back the jobs? Why? She talks about jobs -- we are going to come up with a new plan. She has been there for three-and-a-half
years with a man who frankly, she defrauded the public because she didn't tell you about that man. I exposed him during the debate. Thank you very
much. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And now, the bombs are starting to drop in the Middle East. You see what's going on there, right? That would have never happened. Israel would
have never happened. Ukraine would have never happened with Russia. You wouldn't have ever had an embarrassment like that. Afghanistan disaster.
The worst, most embarrassing day in our country's history.
Inflation would have never happened. We would have never had it. It was caused by a very stupid energy policy. Then he went back to my policy
because prices were going up so much, but it will end.
If they won this election, on day one, all of that would end and this country will go to hell and it can never come back. Once it goes, it is
pretty far down already. I am going to have to work very hard. It is pretty far down.
When you let 20 million people come into our country from places unknown and from prisons and from mental institutions and terrorists.
Kamala Harris won't end the economic crisis, she will only make it worse, and why has she done it? She talks about it. she is doing a plan. You know,
she is going to announce it this week, maybe. She is waiting for me to announce it so she can copy it.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Like, remember a couple of days ago and we will have no tax on tips. I said that was my plan. Not, only didn't she -- I mean, they came up with
a plan to go after all of these people violently. Then one day, she just uttered that sound, but she will copy a lot of other things, too.
But she will never do them. She will never do them. She will say them for the election, but she will never do it.
She can't solve the problem because she is the problem. She really is. People like her.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: When I left office, I handed Kamala and Crooked Joe Biden, a surging economy with no inflation, the 30-year mortgage rate was 2.4 percent.
Gasoline had reached $1.87 a gallon and for periods of time, it was even lower than that.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: The African American poverty rate was down seven percent. That Hispanic American poverty rate was down eight percent. The biggest drops,
the greatest drops that you've ever seen in this country. They've never had it so well, nobody -- nobody has. Every group, every group -- men women,
Hispanics, Asians, Blacks -- everybody was down at a level that nobody has ever seen.
We had the -- we had some of the greatest periods of economic growth and health that any country has ever seen, I think probably more than any
country has ever seen.
In four short years under President Trump, we passed the largest just tax cuts in history, the largest regulation cuts in history. We unleashed
American energy and real income surged by more than $4,200.00 in just a short number of months. I mean, it was -- nobody -- you never had it so
good. Now, you're not doing so well the way they did it.
We had the strongest economy in history. There has never been a country that had an economy like us. I gave Harris and Biden an economic miracle
and they quickly turned it into an economic nightmare with a nation- wrecking agenda, ripped straight out of Kamala's San Francisco liberal playbook. What they've done to poor San Francisco.
We are going to try and bring that back to you.
Harris and Biden waged war on American energy, threw open our borders, flooded the country with low-wage migrant workers, passed the green new
scam, racked up almost $10 trillion in debt and buried our workers in job- killing regulations costing $10,000.00 per family. That's a lot of money.
You don't have to imagine what a Harris presidency would look like. You're living through the misery right now, except it will get worse and you're
paying the price, a price like nobody has ever paid and we are disrespected all over the world as a country.
We were respected before. Putin respected us. President Xi of China respected us. Kim Jong-un of North Korea respected us.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We were respected by everybody in the world. Today, we are being laughed at.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Today, we are being laughed at all over the world.
You're paying the price for Kamala's liberal extremism at the gas pump, at the grocery counter, and on your mortgage bill and on everything else. How
about your car insurance? How is that doing? Not too good, right?
I saw today, it is up like 82 percent. We are not going to let this incompetent socialist lunatic keep breaking our economy for four more
years. It will destroy our country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
[16:30:12]
On election day, we're going to tell her that we've had enough, that we can't take it anymore, Kamala. You're doing a horrible job. You're a
terrible attorney general. You were a terrible district attorney. You're the worst vice president in history.
Kamala, you're fired, get out of here. Go. Get out of here. Get out.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
That was not a pleasant day. I'll tell you. Front Row Joes were there. Front Row Joes were there. They were -- they've seen it all, haven't you,
huh? You've seen it. That was a horrible day. That was a terrible day. She's flip-flopping on every single thing she's ever espoused or believed
in, the border, health care, crime. But she truly is a radical. She's flip- flopping on everything to get elected. After she gets elected it all goes right back to where it was.
She refuses to do any interviews or press conferences. Almost 30 days now she hasn't done an interview. You know why she hasn't done an interview?
Because she's not smart. She's not intelligent, and we've gone through enough of that with this guy Crooked Joe. He didn't do interviews either.
They kept him in his basement and essentially they're keeping her in the basement the same way they kept her -- they don't want to expose her to
like a question, like, uh, what did you have for dinner tonight?
Remember Joe? What kind of ice cream is your favorite? Vanilla. I like vanilla. That was George Slopadopoulos. He asked him that. What's your
favorite ice cream? With me they asked me a little bit different question. That's all right. Did everybody the other night see Elon and me? It was
great. That was one of the most successful shows ever have done. I mean, that was a lot of people like him. I think they like me, too, come to think
of it.
But he's great and he gave us his full endorsement. He's a great guy, but he basically, you know, he's a guy doesn't need this stuff. What he wants
to do is see our country be great again and he understands. And it's very hard for him to endorse the opposing party. It's not easy. It's very hard,
but you know he really cares about our country and he knows the opposing party has destroyed, really destroyed our country, and will destroy our
country and permanently destroy a country. And he can't watch that, but we had a great chat for two and a half hours.
NEWTON: And you're listening to the former president Donald Trump there giving a speech each in Asheville, North Carolina. I think you can tell at
times when he was on script that is listening to the teleprompter -- reading the teleprompter and what was written there, and many times going
off prompter. He certainly made some direct attacks against the VP Kamala Harris especially on the economy, and writ large she called her an
incompetent socialist lunatic, who will destroy the economy.
He did make some claims there, though, about the economy saying that things like mortgage rates have tripled since they came to power. That is not true
according to a report out at Zillow. They've gone up enough, most Americans will tell you. They've almost doubled since then, but not quite tripled as
he has said. Also saying that insurance rates, car insurance rates have gone up well over 80 percent.
Also, according to CNN, insurance rates went up about 21 percent up until February, although we got new numbers on that from CPI today. And yes, they
are high.
Rana Foroohar joins me now as well.
Rana, I mean, look, the fact check here is not anything that is easy to do, especially as he's speaking here, and yet he did, he was much more
disciplined and really honed in on what is an Achilles heel for VP Harris, right, and again, it's that whole adage that we can talk about inflation,
we can look at data points, but most Americans feel it, right? Affordability is a problem.
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Look, Americans feel inflation, but let's pull the lens back. First of all, I would not call down Trump
disciplined in that presser, right? You know, I think the amount that we heard about the economy versus a lot of other rhetoric was pretty low.
[16:35:01]
Here's the fact of the matter, Paula. The treasury, U.S. Treasury recently released some numbers showing that between 2019 and 2024, if you tally up
the amount of goods and services that the average American worker can afford, they are doing better in 2024 than they were in 2019, OK. And that
plus $1400. So the long and the short of it is that, yes, we've seen inflation, but we've also seen wage hikes that have mildly outpaced that.
So is there pain? 100 percent there is. Particularly there has been pain over the last few years in areas like food, fuel, housing. But let's look
at why those things are occurring. This is very, very important. We had a global pandemic. That's when you started to see grain and fuel prices
spiking. That was helped along by the war in Ukraine. There were all kinds of supply chain blockages.
A lot the supply side pressures are now coming out of the economy and you're beginning to see that in the inflation numbers. That's what we're
seeing just in this latest bit of inflation data. The thing that is still up is housing, and that's something that you're going to hear a lot more
about, particularly for Kamala Harris in this election cycle.
NEWTON: Now, and as you said, I mean, look the American consumer has been incredibly resilient through this as those income gains have come to play
and kind of counter some of the inflation.
I want to bring in our Kristen Holmes now who's at the rally there in Asheville, North Carolina.
Kristen, I'm wondering, we were listening to you talk in the last few days about how aides wanted him to stick pretty close to prompter on this speech
that he had something to say on the economy, I mean, he's standing right there with no tax on tips and before it was no tax on Social Security. How
do you think his staff will say he's doing right now?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He is following the teleprompter for the most part, I will say, then he has added in obviously
a number of jabs at Kamala Harris that were not there, saying that she's not smart, which is something the has said repeatedly. I will note that as
you were just talking about, it is true that the economy is better, that we have seen this uptick.
However, I talked to voters at these rallies every single day or every time he is on the road, and they just don't feel that way. So regardless of what
the cause was, they feel like they were better off under Donald Trump. Now that's not everybody but that is enough people to where you look at the
polling from the last several months, you see that he was outpacing President Joe Biden when it came to the economy. People thought he handled
it better.
And that's why it is that his team wants him to focus on the economy because he wants -- they want him to remind people that it was better under
him. Again, regardless of the actual -- the actual data that we have seen, we are talking about how voters feel.
Now the other thing that they want him to be talking about is immigration and crime, we do expect to hear more of these kind of smaller policy
speeches. This is not a rally. People are sitting in seats, where he goes over and talk specifically about one issue. But I don't think we can
undervalue how the economy feels to the American voter because that is why that is why you are seeing his aides and his advisers want him to stay on
message.
And again, going back to that polling that we saw for months while President Joe Biden was in office, that's what they're going off of.
They're going off of American people saying that they felt like they were better off under Donald Trump. And that's why they want him to say it. The
other part of this is Donald Trump has yet to really make an attack line on Kamala Harris that has landed.
And what you've heard today is clearly the direction that they're trying to go in now, which is Kamala Harris can make several promises, but why hasn't
she done it yet? Now, obviously, there are a whole host of reasons that she would not -- it's not her only administration, Congress, there's a lot of
different things at play here, but that is where they're going to see the messaging heading, which is that Kamala Harris does not exist in a vacuum.
She has been in the administration for quite some time. So any pain that you're feeling particularly at the pump or when you're buying groceries,
that's also partly on her not just President Joe Biden. Now whether or not that's successful we'll have to see. Obviously we have seen a huge boost in
both enthusiasm and pulling around Kamala Harris. It is unclear that people are linking the two of them, President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the
policies together at all. But that is an effort that Donald Trump's team is making right now.
NEWTON: Yes, Kristen, you really did lay it out there for this campaign and what they have ahead for them in the next few weeks.
Rana, as Kristen was saying, you know, any polls that I have seen say that more than half, half of voters say that they were worse off again under
Biden, I should say, not Kamala Harris, but Biden and Harris, worse off than they were during the Trump administration.
[16:40:11]
So when we see these economic policies laid out, how serious is it that both candidates now are saying no tax on tips? We have Donald Trump saying
that in fact there's going to be no tax on Social Security. Kamala Harris has hinted that there will be a key focus on affordability, which might
even usher in an era of things like rent controls.
Can the United States afford this?
FAROOHAR: The United States has had the most robust recovery in the rich world. And frankly, many parts of the world. So, yes, we can afford a lot.
In fact, we can afford more than I think many policymakers think.
Let me just step back for a moment because the "Financial Times" actually recently did a poll showing that more voters now trust Kamala Harris on the
economy than Trump. So that's one of the first polls you've seen, you know, showing that kind of shift. And I know that it's been a real tailwind for
her campaign.
I think that you're going to see the same issues being taken on and talked about in very, very different ways by Trump and Harris. Let's talk about
affordability and housing because frankly if you break down the latest inflation numbers, housing is where you still see a problem. Everything
else is either flattening or in some cases disinflationary, which, P.S. to fact check what Trump was saying, we are not seeing hikes in insurance
prices.
We're now actually seeing deflation in things like car insurance, but we'll put that aside for the moment. Housing is still an issue where we do have
concerns, but let's look at why that is. If you, go back pre-pandemic, you already had pretty robust housing crisis. That's something that's been
happening for 15 years now. That's been happening since we were, you know, lifting the economy up after the financial crisis.
You then go into COVID, you see a lot of Americans moving to different, different parts of the country. You see areas that had had lower housing
prices taken off. Then you get the bout of inflation from the supply side issues I talked about. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, trade tensions, et
cetera. Inflation goes up, interest rates go up, that then creates kind of a perfect storm for housing where you've got high prices that have been
with us for a long time under many administrations.
And then you have interest rates which are high as well. That means people have a hard time getting a mortgage if they -- even if they can get it,
they may not want to pay those rates. Those two things created this real, you know, I would just say a perfect storm for the housing market. The
latest inflation and jobs numbers point to a fed rate cut in September. That will start to take pressure out of mortgage rates and out of the
housing market.
And I think that you're going to see Harris riding a little bit of that tailwind. I think you're also going to start to hear talk as you put it
about housing affordability, about, you know, nimbyism, about, you know, how will we actually creating housing in this country? Maybe we need to
change. You know, the last time we really had a revamp of housing was in the post-World War II period. So it's long time overdue to start talking
about housing policy.
NEWTON: Yes. And as you said, I mean, 70 percent of core CPI, that's core inflation, comes from that shelter statistic there. And boy, do Americans
ever feel it.
Rana Foroohar, thanks so much for jumping on with us, and Kristen Holmes doing excellent work there at the rally as usual. Thanks so much. Really
appreciate it from both of you.
And we'll be right back with more news in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:47:16]
NEWTON: So CNN Donald Trump is still speaking at -- making a speech in North Carolina. He has at times been speaking about the economy. Other
times he's gone off script for some fairly harsh criticism of his rival Kamala Harris. Thankfully CNN's pro fact checker Daniel Dale has been
watching it.
It is not an easy job. I tried to do it without you on the fly here, Daniel, but in terms of what you've heard over some of the more egregious
things that he said because many times there is hyperbole, even though there might be a kernel of truth in what he's saying.
DANIEL DALE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is, and forgive me, I missed what you said so I might repeat myself.
NEWTON: You got for it. You do it.
DALE: So he claimed as usual that Vice President Harris was made the border czar. He said put in charge of the border by President Biden. That did not
happen. In reality, she was given a much more limited immigration related assignment, which was to lead a diplomatic effort to deal with the so-
called root causes of migration in three Central American countries.
He claimed as usual that he gave Americans the largest tax cut in history, certainly a significant tax cut. It was not the largest in history. He
claimed that Harris has allowed 20 million people to legally come across the border into this country. Aside from the question of Harris' role and
responsibility here, it's not anywhere near 20 million people. There have been about 10 million so-called border encounters of both the northern and
southern border, and not even all of those people were allowed in. Many of them were expelled back to Mexico and other countries.
He called switching candidate, you know, from Biden to Harris a minor form of cheating. It is not any form of cheating. It's perfectly permissible
under all laws and election rules. He boasted -- this isn't quite a lie or a false claim, but he boasted of African-American poverty during his own
presidency. He said no one has ever seen it that good. What he didn't mention was that the African-American poverty rate has actually fallen
lower under Biden and Harris than the record that was indeed set under Trump. So better today than it was then.
And then there were a whole bunch of subjective or not quite checkable claims that I think many people would dispute. He said California where
many millions of people live happily is unlivable, that the U.S. is a banana republic in a third world country. He claimed there wouldn't have
been a Hamas attack on Israel under Trump. I can't call those false or misleading, but I think it's important to note that even the claims we're
not calling false and misleading may not be provably true.
NEWTON: Yes. And Daniel, before we let you go here, in terms of what you have heard in the speech, was there anything new in there? Because many
times I know it was his aides want him to stick to the script and the stuff in the script usually is at least checked by his own campaign.
DALE: Yes, I'm struggling to think so. I've missed about the last 15 minutes for TV responsibilities.
[16:50:01]
In the first chunk that I did here, there wasn't anything that was both new and significant. There may have been a new line or two that he read from a
teleprompter, but nothing important. These false claims were all claims that I've checked before. Some of them many times before. And that's
usually the case with Mr. Trump. He says the same false stuff over and over and over again.
NEWTON: Yes. And we will see as he continues to roll out more policy at these speeches, what more we hear.
Daniel Dale, as always, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
DALE: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now, before he was Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance had a career in venture capital. Employees at one of the companies he funded tell CNN the
working conditions were in fact grueling. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Now before Donald Trump began speaking in North Carolina, his running mate, J.D. Vance delivered a speech in the swing state of Michigan.
As a venture capitalist, Vance backed a startup promising to bring agricultural jobs to Eastern Kentucky.
Now CNN spoke to former workers who described grueling conditions at the now bankrupt firm. Kyung Lah has our investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTHONY MORGAN, FORMER APPHARVEST WORKER: A nightmare. It was a nightmare that should have never happened.
KYUNG LAH, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That nightmare happened here at this nearly empty greenhouse in Eastern Kentucky.
AppHarvest, a failed high-tech startup, promised local workers a future that spiraled into broken promises. Anthony Morgan bought into the
company's public pitch that it was for Appalachia by Appalachians.
MORGAN: We was being told that, hey, guys, he's from here.
SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Wow.
LAH: He is J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president.
VANCE: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.
LAH: Leaning on his personal rise out of poverty to reach swing state voters as Donald Trump's running mate.
TRUMP: I chose him because he's for the worker. He's for the people that work so hard and perhaps weren't treated like they should have been.
LAH: But before politics, Vance was a venture capitalist and AppHarvest's first outside investor, eventually steering millions of dollars to the
company. Vance was a lead pitchman for the vertical farming startup, tweeting, he was a supporter and investor, writing, "I love this company."
VANCE: It's a great business that's making a big difference in the world.
LAH: The company's investor presentation pledged a commitment to Appalachia, estimating thousands of new jobs to a poverty-stricken area.
[16:55:04]
MORGAN: A major emphasis with them was we want to bring work to Eastern Kentucky. This is why we are here.
LAH: Morgan left a stable job to join AppHarvest as a crop care specialist, pruning the greenhouse grown vegetables. A single father with 6-year-old
twins, the job rapidly turned when production fell behind under what a dozen workers described to CNN as mismanagement, including dangerous
conditions.
Employees filed multiple complaints to the state and federal government alleging heat exhaustion, working in extreme temperatures, and lack of
water breaks. But the cases were all closed with no citations.
MORGAN: I think about the hottest that I experienced was around 128 degrees.
LAH: Inside?
MORGAN: Inside. A couple of days a week, you'd have an ambulance show up and you're seeing people leaving on gurneys to go to the hospital.
LAH (voice-over): The cuts came next to promised worker benefits. And then foreign workers came in to fill those so-called local jobs.
MORGAN: The second round of folks they brought in was folks on work visas. And they didn't bring just a van full, they brought busloads.
LAH (voice-over): Documents show AppHarvest hired contract workers from outside the region. At one point as many as 500, the majority of its
workforce, locals. But that's not the image AppHarvest wanted the world to see. This is Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell visiting in 2021.
Mitch McConnell coming through. Were the migrant workers there at the time?
(LAUGHTER)
LAH: You're laughing. I mean, I look at the video. It doesn't look like there's any --
MORGAN: They hid these guys. They took them out of the plant. They was gone. And then Mitch McConnell is giving a speech about all this work that
AppHarvest has brought Eastern Kentuckians.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I like the idea of taking the tomato market away from the Mexicans. How about that?
LAH: So they were trying to hide the migrant workers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specifically yes.
LAH (voice-over): This worker who asked not to be identified says the hiring of migrant workers became part of a mirage that AppHarvest was
helping the region. He took this video as his co-workers clapped for visiting investors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And any time they did that, they kept workers off the floor, doing our, like, stationary parade while people come through. And
yes, it was awkward having to stand there and just be a prop.
LAH: A prop for what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, look at all of these poor folks we're employing.
LAH (voice-over): The worker says it's impossible to forget about his time at AppHarvest as J.D. Vance ascends to national politics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's gotten away with a lot of money and fame for pretending to be one of us.
VANCE: O-H-I-O.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's just another grifter. Just another carpetbagger. Another tourist who wants to tell us what we are.
LAH: Vance left the board in April 2021 to run for the Senate. Shortly after, shareholders filed suit claiming they were misled. By 2023,
AppHarvest had filed for bankruptcy a little more than two years after its public launch. But the workers in this failed startup say they are the real
people in the Vance story.
Do you blame J.D. Vance for any of this?
MORGAN: I blame all of the original investors at AppHarvest. The original board of directors knew what was coming. You would have had to have been an
idiot not to.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (on-camera): CNN's review of documents and interviews with a dozen former workers show that problems emerged while Vance was still a member of
AppHarvest's board. Now, after he departed, he was still an investor and had more than $100,000 invested in the company, according to disclosures.
A spokesman for Vance says to CNN in a statement, "J.D. was not aware of the operational decisions regarding hiring, employee benefits, or other
workplace policies which were made after he departed AppHarvest's board. Like all early supporters, J.D. believed in AppHarvest's mission and wishes
the company would have succeeded."
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
NEWTON: Now U.S. markets were mixed off those latest CPI numbers. The Dow Jones crept above 40,000 once again, picking up 242 points after inflation
slowed to a three-year low. Meantime, the S&P 500 also edged into the green, but recession fears still loom as investors await a potential
September rate cut. And what it will be, 25 or 50?
That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Paula Newton. "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER" is next.
END
