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Inflation Didn't Rise as Much as Expected in July; Now, Georgia Officials Give Update on CDC Shooting; Firefighters Battle California Mega Fire, Only 33 Percent Contained. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, he has been nominated to lead the agency he's been a harsh critic of. The latest on President Trump's pick for the key jobs data bureau head. His experience, his comments about the agency and why his nomination is feeling concerns about future jobs reports.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, an exploding mega fire, the largest wildfire in California this year is now 120,000 acres and growing.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, a brand new measure of inflation and how far you can stretch your dollar. This morning's new numbers deliver some good news. Inflation did not rise as much as expected last month. The consumer price index held steady at 2.7 percent. That's compared to last July. And it's the same inflation rate as the month before.

Let's go to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. Vanessa, what does this new CPI number tell us?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it shows us that inflation really held steady amidst these historic tariff levels that we have not seen since the 1930s. As you mentioned, Wolf, on an annual basis in July, inflation up 2.7 percent, and on a monthly basis, inflation up 0.2 percent. That's really a mirror image to what we saw in the previous month of June.

Now, when we look at key categories that we track regularly, energy, food, and shelter, take a look what happened here. Energy was down 1.1 percent led because gas prices fell by 2.2 percent. Food flat, so prices at the grocery store actually came down by 0.1 percent. And then shelter, that's what we pay for rent, we saw an increase there, that's the biggest share of this report up, 0.2 percent.

But when we look at core inflation, we can see where the tariffs, where the price increases are starting to take effect. It was hotter than expected, and the highest level on an annual basis since February up, 3.1 percent on an annual basis, a 0.3 percent month-over-month in July. Key categories that we have been tracking because of the tariff pressures are toys, furniture, appliances, apparel. You can see almost all of those up a little bit, except for appliances, which are down by 0.9 percent.

I just spoke to the CEO of a major U.S. retailer who said that he's actually not surprised that prices are rising slower than expected. There's some feathering going on with prices where things can go up one month, things can come down another month. And, Wolf, that is in reaction to the volatility around the tariffs changing week to week, even day to day. But as a whole, inflation looking tame amidst these really historic tariffs, Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Vanessa, it's, I think, important to point out that these new numbers come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's the same agency that President Trump criticized without evidence of manipulating numbers to support Democrats. But will he be happy about these new numbers?

YURKEVICH: Well, Wolf, will wait for that truth social post to see if he is indeed happy. But he didn't just fire the commissioner of the BLS, there have been a lot of layoffs at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the people who are, involved in collecting this inflation data, so much so that they've suspended collecting data in three key metro areas and have cut back in surveys and collections in 15 percent of the rest of the country.

So, economists have said that this could be a little bit of a cloudy report and we may see more volatility in the months ahead, Wolf.

BLITZER: Americans, Vanessa, are also dealing with record high beef prices this summer. And you spoke, you had a chance to speak to the CEO of Omaha Steaks. That's the home delivery service. So, what does he say about where these prices are going?

YURKEVICH: Prices in the month of July for beef have spiked up 2.4 percent, and on an annual basis, up 11.5 percent. That is some of the steepest price increases that we have seen in this inflation report. I did speak to the CEO of Omaha Steaks. He told me this has been a long time coming and he's not sure prices are going to fall anytime soon.

[10:05:05]

Take a listen to our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATE REMPE, CEO, OMAHA STEAKS: We're at the lowest herd size in 70 years. And at the same time, demand is in all-time high.

I don't expect the herd rebuild to really start turning the corner until Q3 of '26. So, you know, we're in for quite a long haul here. Until we start to see some relief in retail, grocery and in other specialty providers, like Omaha Steaks, of beef costs coming down.

YURKEVICH: How is the beef market impacted by tariffs? REMPE: In ground beef in America, 8 to 20 percent is imported from outside the United States.

Without foreign imports of lean and trim, you know, America could not support, at least today, could not support, you know, America's demand for ground beef. So, you know, that's why the price is going up, you know, because the demand is there. And so companies that source foreign beef are incented to do it despite the price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: And so we heard right there prices continuing to rise and likely not to fall until sometime next year. Also, one of the prices that we've been tracking is coffee prices. That along with beef is on the rise because of weather conditions but also because some of those significant tariffs put on our trading partners, like Brazil, a 50 percent tariff, Wolf, where we get a lot of our coffee. Wolf?

BLITZER: Good point. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf.

Well, this new inflation report is welcome news of course for the White House, as we were just talking about. I want to bring in CNN's Alayna Treene. Alayna, what are you hearing from the administration on this report?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, two things we had come in moments ago, Pamela. One is we did see the president himself post on Truth Social, kind of a typical post for him. He went on to tout the economy and go after Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He actually criticized his previous Treasury secretary from his first term, saying essentially that it was a bad recommendation on behalf of Steve Mnuchin back then and how Powell has not been good, of course, this whole idea of him continuing to keep rates steady and refusing to raise them where the president wants him to.

But then we also got a statement from the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, specifically on the CPI numbers. And, of course, they are celebrating them.

I'll just read you a little bit of it. She said, today's CPI report revealed that inflation beat market expectations once again and remain stable, underscoring President Trump's commitment to lower costs for American families and businesses. She used the term the panicans, something they've been using to describe people who they believe are panicking too much, continue to be proven wrong by the data. She then touted the president's tariffs and arguing they're bringing in a lot of money to the United States.

And, look, this is welcome news for them, of course, particularly after we saw all of this controversy around the most recent jobs report, as we heard Vanessa talk about, you know, the same agency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that had brought the jobs report, bringing this. So, they're celebrating this after the worst than jobs -- the worst than expected jobs report from last month. BROWN: Right. I guess the follow -- the natural follow-up would be for our viewers is how can you trust these numbers after he fired the head of the agency because he claimed without evidence she was manipulating the numbers? How can you trust these new numbers coming from that same agency?

TREENE: Well, I mean, this is something we've seen even before. I mean, in the course of my reporting, when they had you know, the reason behind why he had ousted the former commissioner of the same agency was because, like you mentioned, he provided without evidence that he believed she was rigging the numbers. He had believed that even before when he was on the campaign trail.

But one of the things that had been interesting is if you looked at earlier in the year before he had decided to fire her, the jobs reports were pretty good and he had no reason not to. In my conversations, he had brought up previously that he didn't like that the commissioner of the agency, had been a Biden appointee, but he had no reason to fire her because the jobs report had been so good up until July.

And so that's where a lot of this, you know, criticism of that move comes in and there is a lack of trust, I think, in some of these numbers as we look ahead to these further reports.

BROWN: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Happening now, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is holding a news conference about Friday's shooting over at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Headquarters in Atlanta. A police officer who responded to the shooting was killed.

Investigators now say the gunman fired more than 180 shots at the CDC'S Atlanta campus. Around 150 windows were shattered, and the bullets even pierced blast-resistant glass. As CDC employees work from home this week, many are calling for tighter security.

Let's go to CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell, who's joining us right now. Meg, what's the mood at the agency in Atlanta, the CDC, right now?

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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. I mean, we're hearing from employees at the agency. There's obviously still a lot of trauma from what happened on Friday, a lot of questions about security and safety as plans come into place for returning to their headquarters there in Atlanta. And there is anger among employees about what some have called this sort of environment of misinformation and disinformation about public health and about the work that they do at the CDC that many feel led to a circumstance like this where there was anger directed toward the CDC.

Now, we understand that there is going to be an all-agency meeting later this morning at the CDC. That was pre-planned ahead of the shooting on Friday after the director, Dr. Susan Monarez, was confirmed. But hearing from a source within the agency that it's been communicated, obviously the content of that meeting is going to shift to address what's happened on Friday. We also have obtained a video that Director Monarez shared with employees internally.

She was fairly emotional in this video, expressing her empathy and support for CDC employees after going through this experience. She said, quote, science and public health should never be under attack. What we do here is about protecting lives, preventing suffering, and building healthier communities. She said, acts of violence will never weaken our resolve.

Wolf, we also know that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited CDC's campus yesterday, surveyed the damage. We know that as you mentioned, there were so many bullet holes in those windows at CDC's headquarters there. But there is anger at the health secretary among current and former employees, at least some of them, who feel that he contributed to this environment of information and misinformation, they say, that led to this.

And over the weekend, there was a call with CDC leadership where one employee asked Dr. Monarez about that, and employees tell us they feel, they didn't get a clear answer on whether that misinformation will be addressed.

HHS telling us yesterday, in response to calls from some outside groups for Secretary Kennedy to resign, that, quote, this is a time to stand in solidarity with our public health workforce, not the moment for the media to exploit a tragedy for political gain. And they say he unequivocally condemned the horrific attack. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Meg Tirrell reporting for us, Meg, thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, firefighters are battling a California mega fire that's only 33 percent contained. The Gifford Fire, as it's called, is now the state's largest this year. It's about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles and has burned nearly 200,000 square miles so far. For perspective, that's bigger than the entire city of New Orleans.

CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is joining us right now. Derek, why has this been such a challenging fire to contain?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Wolf, Pam. I think the video really speaks for itself. There is an incredible amount of dry vegetation within this part of Southern California. And look at the ridge tops here, right? So, the fire, as it kind of moves up and over these very steep hillsides makes it extremely challenging to fight not only on the ground, but also in the air. Think about all the updrafts from the fire itself. Helicopters flying around this dry vegetation, extremely challenging conditions. So, it doesn't take much for additional spot fires to actually help expand the size of the Gifford Fire.

So, here it is. It's about 200 miles to the north and west of Los Angeles. There's also the canyon fire that we're monitoring, but still only 33 percent containment. So, a lot of factors here, we haven't had the relative humidity increase overnight like we would like to see. The heat is still well in place. This doesn't really give a good representation of what's happening across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It is hot, especially as you head into those canyons and some of those ridges. We're talking upper 90s in some locations. And, of course, the winds out of the northeast have been a factor as well.

There are increased fire concerns for the day tomorrow, but there is relief in sight with a cooling trend expected by Thursday and Friday of this week. Wolf, Pam?

BLITZER: And it's burned nearly 200 square miles. I just want to be precise on that point. Derek, thank you very, very much.

And still ahead, quote, manufactured intrusion, that's what the chairman of Washington D.C. City Council calls President Trump's move to federalize the police force here in Washington, D.C. We're going to speak to the chairman. That's coming up next.

BROWN: And then later, how prices are forcing many shoppers to change their grocery list.

You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, federal law enforcement patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., and local police under federal control at President Trump's direction. He's using his unique authority to take action, citing a public safety emergency, even though violent crime here in the District of Columbia is actually down since its 2023 spike. Trump also activating 800 soldiers from the D.C. National Guard with up to 200 assigned to support law enforcement, according to the Pentagon.

Here's what the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, said about their role.

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PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's no rogue law enforcement going on from the National Guard, but there's also the application of common sense. We're not going to have National Guards sitting there like this seeing a crime committed and not do something about it.

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BLITZER: The D.C. mayor, Muriel Bowser, and the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi, meeting today to discuss all of this. Two sources familiar with the meeting tell CNN that they're having a serious discussion.

Joining us now is D.C. City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. The council has called this a, quote, manufactured intrusion on local authority.

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So, why, Phil, in your view, did the president take this action?

I think we just lost our connection with Phil Mendelson. We'll try to reconnect with him. Important questions we have standing by for him. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: We've reconnected with the Washington D.C. City Council chairman, Phil Mendelson. Phil, thanks so much once again for joining us.

The council has called all of this, basically a manufactured -- I'm directly quoting, a manufactured intrusion on local authority with the president of the United States announced yesterday.

[10:25:06]

What's your reaction to what's going on right now?

PHIL MENDELSON, D.C. COUNIL CHAIRMAN: What the President did is damaging to the District because it creates this national narrative that the District is unsafe and dirty. We know that the city is beautiful. We have millions of tourists coming here. But what's more damaging is this suggestion that there are roving bands of youth, that we are one of the most dangerous cities in the country, if not the world. The statistics bear otherwise.

BLITZER: The chairman of the Washington, D.C. Police Union, you've probably heard this, says his group agrees with this move by President Trump, saying, and I'm quoting him now, every aspect of our criminal justice system in D.C. is broken, end quote. What do you say to him?

Did you hear me, Phil? I think we've lost our connection again, unfortunately.

BROWN: All right. Well, as we try to work on that connection, I want to go to another big story, Wolf. New this morning, we are getting a new look at prices at the grocery store. July consumer price index shows inflation for food prices over the past month, that's steady. But over the past year, that number is 2.9 percent.

Recent polling shows that Americans are worried about the cost of food. In fact, 53 percent say grocery prices are a major stress.

Joining us now is Stew Leonard Jr. from Stew Leonard's Grocery Stores. Hi, Stew. Quite the backdrop you have for us. All right, I know you have some props as well. What items at your stores are going up the most with prices?

STEW LEONARD JR., PRESIDENT AND CEO, STEW LEONARD'S GROCERY STORES: Well, here's a good one. You guys could put this on the grill right here, but here's probably one of our rancher's favorite when they come, sort of like a Fred Flintstone steak. But you know, rib eye steaks are huge and meat prices have gone up. We're at a like historic low herd size in America, so that supply is very low and prices have picked up. I just talked to our beat buyer this morning and he said he's feeling even more escalation than me. It could be around $0.80 to $1 a pound coming up to the holidays.

BROWN: S,o when do you see that trend subsiding?

LEONARD: Boy, I don't know. You know, another thing that's really big as we have shrimp, you know? And, you know, right now we're, we can either get it from Ecuador, we could get it from India, but the bay there, India has huge tariffs. So, we're not buying it from India right now. That's 50 percent, I believe. And now Ecuador is at 15 percent.

So, we're trying to move our shrimp reduction over to Ecuador, which is huge. We do a half a million pounds of shrimp a year at Stew Leonard. So, it's a big thing.

BROWN: What about some other items, like coffee, like eggs? Where does that stand?

LEONARD: Hey, well, you know, coffee is -- that's a supply and demand issue right now. They're having some, you know, heat problems and, and weather problems, so coffee prices have spiked. But, you know, this is a big one here because, you know, usually, what we can do here is I can resource product, sort of like what I did during COVID. We were jumping all around trying to buy products from all over the world. And we're doing the same thing now because of the tariff.

So, bananas is one thing. It's a 15 percent tariff from Costa Rica. We don't grow them in America. So, you have to import those. And that's a 15 percent tariff. Our importers eating the whole thing, they have not raised the price yet.

So, I talked to our buyers this morning, the Caesar comb (ph), we have not raised prices at Stew Leonard's due to the tariffs. We've had a little bit of an increase in things like aluminum trays from China and stuff, negligible. We haven't raised prices, but I don't see that happening unless this tariff thing gets worked out by really next month or even October.

BROWN: Just to be clear, you don't see your ability to continue not raising prices unless the tariff situation has worked out, is that what you're saying?

LEONARD: Yes. Well, you know, we've been here 50 years. We work on thin margins. Like my dad always said, people have to eat. So, we're always going to be busy and have sales, but we don't make a lot of money now. I can't absorb, you know, if all of a sudden there's a 50 percent tariff on something or even a 25 percent, I can't absorb all of that as a family business.

So, I'm being delicate, like I've left our ground beef price at $3.99, you know, for the families that want to make hamburgers for the summer, and that's a little bit of a cost. [10:30:07]