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New Trump Post on Blanche Nomination; U.S. Strikes Iran as War Pulls in More Countries; Secret Service Emails Reveal How Case Against Comey Was Built; Why Is A.I. Making Life More Expensive? Aired 11:30a- 12p ET

Aired July 30, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. President Trump has just weighed in about the current battle underway over his attorney general, nominee Todd Blanche. Let's go to the White House. Our senior White House reporter, Betsy Klein, is getting the latest information. Betsy?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, at issue here are two Senate Republicans, again, members of President Trump's own party that are responsible for this holdup. Both of them have tangled with President Trump in the past. They're Senator John Cornyn of Texas. President Trump, of course, endorsed his Republican opponent in the primary. He lost that race. As well as Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is retiring.

Both of them were seeking written confirmation from the Trump administration that they would abandon that very controversial $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. And we heard earlier today from Cornyn, who told our colleague Manu Raju that he believed if he could just talk to the deputy attorney general, the nominee Todd Blanche, one-on-one, they could work this out. But that he believed that there was someone higher up, potentially someone at the White House, that was keeping that from moving forward.

Now, the president, the White House, needs both of their votes to advance Blanche's nomination out of the committee, ultimately bring it to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote. But President Trump now making clear that he doesn't think that this needs to move forward. He's willing to wait until after the election. He says in a brand-new post to social media, quote, "Todd Blanche is a star and everyone knows it. He has the potential to go down as one of the greatest attorney generals of all time. However, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom I refuse to endorse and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this great nominee who will remain in any event as acting. Remember, both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland and others too numerous to mention. I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name if they do not do the right thing and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office." The president goes on to sign that.

Now, Blanche is currently Senate confirmed. He is the deputy attorney general serving in an acting capacity. He can continue to do so indefinitely. So, it is true that he can remain in that position. The key question here is whether Republicans continue to hold the Senate after those November midterm elections just three months away. And even if they do, they may have some challenges getting that confirmation set. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Betsy Klein reporting for us from the White House and acting attorney general can stay acting attorney general for 210 days, but can then continue to remain as acting attorney general if a nomination is still pending. So, we'll see what happens.

Let's discuss all of this and more with CNN's senior political and global affairs commentator, Rahm Emanuel. Rahm, thanks very much for joining us. First of all, what's your reaction to the president threatening to delay Todd Blanche's nomination?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR AND FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, I don't know who he's inflicting pain on except for himself. You know, these two senators, I mean, you can get to the politics pretty quickly. They have some real questions and they're legitimate questions about the tax protection the president wants. And for him and his family, that goes on indefinitely. Nobody gets that. And the president's like consistently because the Supreme Court gave him the idea, thinks he's above the law. And these two senators are saying, no, you're not above the law.

And I think Senator Cornyn made something revealing, which is they could have worked this out with Blanche, but it was stopped at the White House.

[11:35:00]

So, all things lead to the president. And he wants a set of rules that allows him to be treated as if he is above the law rather than being held by the law and the same standard through the IRS and investigation for him, his family. And given the level of corruption, I wouldn't give him a get out of jail card from, as we would say, a monopoly.

BLITZER: Let's also talk, Rahm, while I have you, about this escalating war involving Iran right now. The U.S. has launched more strikes overnight against Iran. It looks like Iran has now attacked a target inside Egypt. Saudi Arabia is now moving together with the U.S. to launch strikes against Iran. Does this appear like there's a new strategy unfolding now?

EMANUEL: I think it will, for all the viewers, just pull back and take a wide lens view. Two things Iran has said since the revolution in 1979. One, they want to get the great Satan, America, out of the Gulf so they can reestablish the Persian Empire. And two, they want through their proxies to deal with what they call the little Satan, the state of Israel.

Now, if you start with the latter one, Hamas is clearly, as they just said, they're ready to give up their weapons. Hezbollah is cornered. Syria is no longer a country they control. In fact, the president there wants a security agreement with Israel, wants to be the oil pipeline out of Iraq. The surrogates and the proxies in Iraq are diminished, and they only have Houthis left. So, that tells you that footprint is diminished, which is why they're accelerating their control of the Strait of Hormuz, because that is that counterweight.

The second piece, they are saying to Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the price for America staying in the region is too expensive, you're not willing to pay it. And the United States can't let that happen because we are that counterweight. Nobody wants in the region that are our allies an uncontrolled, untethered, unencumbered Iran. So, those two things are happening right now real simultaneously.

And I also think it's about who has a bigger pain threshold between the Iranian economy that's broken and the world economy that's being held hostage by the Strait of Hormuz. That's where it is right now.

BLITZER: And, Rahm, before I let you go, lately you've made a number of appearances on podcasts talking about a candid conversation you had after meeting with the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, specifically about Israel and the war in Gaza. Let me play a little bit of this for our viewers. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: When we got to the Middle East, I said, look, you are your father's son. I'm my father's son. You chant a river to the sea. And that means there will never be a Jewish homeland for Jews who have faced the Holocaust. And I said, I want you to hear this over my dead body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A Mamdani spokesperson took to social media yesterday to address your remarks to the mayor, posting on X, quote, "They did not happen." How do you respond to that reaction from Mamdani's staff?

EMANUEL: Well, first of all, basic breakfast was about two mayors, one former, one incoming, all about the city. Second is I've said that as recently, Wolf, you were the first one I talked to after I got off the stage at Tel Aviv University. I've said that before, a river to the sea and a greater Israel are two fantasies chanted by fanatics. I told them up front, you know me for long enough.

As I said, I'm going to tell people directly like I did the prime minister in the White House. What you're doing on the West Bank is going to lead to perpetual conflict and isolation. I've never backed down from telling people. And I do think the river to the sea will never happen. It is a fantasy chanted by fanatics and you're basically confronting.

But I'm also been up front to those who think that there's going to be a greater Israel. That is never going to happen. So, up front. And then today I've said it to everybody and continue to say it.

BLITZER: All right. Rahm Emanuel, as usual. Thanks very much for joining us. EMANUEL: Thanks.

BLITZER: And just ahead, accusations of illegal surveillance, interviews with a notorious former underboss from the Gambino crime family and special requests for President Trump. New Secret Service emails revealing how the case against James Comey was built.

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[11:40:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, attorneys for James Comey, the former FBI director, are now working to have a case against him dismissed after newly released court filings reveal how that case was built. Comey's attorneys allege that federal officials tracked him without a warrant after he posted photos of seashells spelling out 8647 last year.

CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz is joining us. Katelyn, what did the federal investigators do to build this case?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the lengths they went to, there really are so many details now that we're learning from court filings from James Comey's team. They've looked at the record and there are a number of things that the Justice Department did through investigators from the Secret Service, from the FBI, to build the case against James Comey for that seashell post. You'd think it would have been just the Instagram post and then interviewing Comey afterward about why he posted it and asking him if he believed it was a threat. He said he did not believe it was a threat at the time.

What they did, though, is that not only did they interview Comey and his wife, Patrice, shortly after they returned from the beach in North Carolina where he took that photo, they also briefed the Secret Service that was traveling with Donald Trump abroad at that time how the interview with James Comey went that day.

[11:45:00]

So, that was something showing how interested Donald Trump and the White House was in this investigation back in 2025 when the seashell post happened. They then tracked James Comey when he was driving home from the beach in North Carolina to Virginia with his wife, tailing him on the interstate and making the unusual push to have pings sent to his phone so they could determine where his location was at any given time as he was traveling.

That is something that there is some indication in the court record and what Comey's lawyers have seen that that may have been met with some skepticism by the agents as they were saying, is this legal to ping his phone? That could become something in the case that the defense team is trying to mount in court saying this should never have happened, this particular indictment against Comey.

They also interviewed not just a person who was texting Comey's wife after this post saying that this could be a threat of violence. They interviewed an ex-mobster, someone named Sammy the Bull. He was someone that was convicted and who had been prosecuted in the district that Comey had worked as a prosecutor, prosecuting mobsters, and they were asking him about whether 86 in that post, 8647, could mean to kill in the lingo of mobsters. That mobster, Sammy the Bull, he said that yes, indeed, that was the case, although he didn't indicate at all that he believed that this post from Jim Comey would have meant a call to violence. Wolf.

BLITZER: So, Katelyn, what did they find on that 8647 being a threat, an actual threat to Trump's life?

POLANTZ: In addition to Sammy the Bull being interviewed about this, that was part of what they were doing to build the case, the agents that were working against -- on this case against James Comey, they were searching the records that they had, the extensive court records, recordings, bugs of calls, bugs of rooms where mobsters had been talking over the years, and they searched for mobsters potentially using 86 as part of the lingo of saying that they would want to kill someone.

Turns out they didn't find much at all, that that wasn't something that had been used by the major crime families, the mafia families of New York City. 86 just wasn't mafia jargon, and then Sammy the Bull also told them, hey, go talk to this one prosecutor I really respect. The defense team went and asked that man, John Gleeson, and he says in court under oath that it's preposterous that 86 could mean to kill. There's a lot more to this case, though, Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. Katelyn Polantz reporting for us. Thank you very much. Coming up, A.I. and your wallet, how artificial intelligence is boosting inflation. CNN's David Goldman is making it make sense. David.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Americans are fed up with inflation, and A.I. is making it worse to the tune of $750 billion. I'll make it make sense after this.

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[11:50:00]

BLITZER: Happening now. A.I. is raising prices for Americans, and it's not just your electric bill. CNN Senior Business Reporter David Goldman is here to make it make sense for us. David, today's question, why is A.I. making life more expensive?

GOLDMAN: Yes, it's really expensive, Wolf. I mean, we're talking about a perfect recipe for inflation. When you have a massive amount of spending and a growing economy, I can't think of a better way to make prices go higher.

We're not talking about a small amount of spending as well. We're talking about three quarters of a trillion dollars this year alone, building out data centers and all the other stuff that we need to make A.I. a reality. That's according to JPMorgan. And that translates into significant expenses for the average American household, $375, according to Moody's, per household this year because of A.I.

Now, a lot of that, as you mentioned, is going to be the electricity that we all use. A 4 percent expected increase this year because of all the electricity that this stuff takes to power. It's a tremendous amount of power for all of these data centers. And look at this. It's like a $10 increase in the average electric bill for the average American home, $176 a month. That's a lot of money.

But it isn't just electricity. It is also consumer electronics. They're getting hit hard, too. In June of 2025, chip prices were falling. It's a very different story right now. We're looking at a quarter increase just over the past year for chips. And that's having a significant impact on what we buy at the store. Look at this, a 14 percent anticipated increase in smartphone prices. Also, iPads and Macs already got 20 percent more expensive this year. The Xbox got 25 percent more expensive this year. And Microsoft raised the price of software, even, which now has Copilot, their new A.I.

Now, this adds a lot to inflation because JPMorgan says for every 10 percent increase in consumer electronics, that adds a point to overall inflation.

[11:55:00]

And when you're talking about 3.5 percent inflation, which is what we have now, Wolf, a point, that adds a lot of expense for every American household.

BLITZER: Excellent explanation. David Goldman, thank you very, very much. And if you need David to make it make sense, email or send a selfie video of your question to makeitmakesenseatcnn.com.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media, @wolfblitzer and @pamelabrowncnn. See you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning, 10:00 a.m. Eastern for two hours. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts after a quick break.

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