The Blame Game Over Rising Political Tensions
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For every life-saving treatment. For every next step. For every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. It's Wednesday, September 18th, right now on CNN This Morning. The clearest line from incitement to action is coming from the rhetoric of J.D. Vance and Donald Trump. They haven't learned a damn thing and they're going to get somebody killed. They've got to stop this. They've got to stop it. Pointing the finger, both sides blaming the other for rise in political division and...

Bail denied Sean Diddy Combs still behind bars facing charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. A shocking attack. Israel hits Hezbollah with a wave of exploding pagers. It's furthering fears of a wider regional war.

The big announcement, the Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rates for the first time since 2020, just weeks from Election Day. 6 a.m. on the East Coast, a live look at New York City on this Wednesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. There are just 48 days until Election Day. Donald Trump holding his first campaign event since Sunday's apparent second assassination attempt.

The former president getting up close with his supporters, greeting them, shaking hands as he took the stage in Michigan. The proximity, a projection of confidence just days after the Secret Service engaged a gunman who was lying in wait for Trump as he golfed. A few days ago we had an incident. I have to say, Secret Service did a hell of a job. This guy was all set. He was all set to do his number. And there was no talk. He didn't say, "Hello, what are you doing here, please?"

And he ends up getting shot himself. He took his gun, started shooting him. And this guy ran. Sunday's events reignited debate in Washington over Secret Service shortcomings and over the relationship between heated rhetoric and political violence. Trump's opponent, Kamala Harris, called him yesterday to check on him. Here's what she told the National Association of Black Journalists about their conversation.

I told him what I have said publicly. There is no place for political violence in our country. We can and should have healthy debates and discussion and disagreements, but not resort to violence to resolve those issues. Harris' running mate echoed her message yesterday. J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate, told a crowd in Michigan that calls to lower the temperature on the trail could actually lead to violence.

We don't solve our differences in this country with violence. We condemn it in all its forms. We solve our differences at the ballot box. Don't lecture Donald Trump about softening his rhetoric after two people tried to kill him. It's ridiculous. Don't try to censor your political opponents because censorship will eventually lead to political violence. We've seen that now twice in the last couple of months and I hope Democrats learn the lesson.

All right. Joining us now, our panel's here. Annie Linsky, she's a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor. Megan Hayes, former Biden White House director of message planning. And Brad Todd, Republican strategist and a partner at the strategy firm On Message. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here. This, Annie, is one of these...

the public partisan finger-pointing exploded right out of the gate in the wake of what we saw Sunday with Donald Trump. And as you could see, J.D. Vance was going there and saying that it's blaming Democrats for rhetoric that he says is escalating this. But

it does seem to me that it is impossible to pull apart what we have seen from Donald Trump, the level of the rhetoric that he has injected into this campaign and the actual events we have seen in terms of how the levels of violence in our political system have risen in recent years. Yeah, I mean, one thing to sort of to be clear here with the two incidents, and thank God the Secret Service reacted as they did, and

the former president was unharmed. We don't know the motive of either one of these shooters, right? I mean, we just don't. But I think that the underlying point is right. And I think you see that the most clearly, quite frankly, in Ohio, where the rhetoric about, the false rhetoric about immigrants there has caused bomb threats in schools. And so there's a relationship there that's very clear. When you look at political violence and our leaders being targeted,

Unfortunately, these incidents often happen in clusters and it's terrifying and it's very scary. And I think that the responsible thing to do for leaders is to tamp it down. You did see after the first assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Democrats, Joe Biden pulled his campaign ads down. The reaction here was a little bit different. The incident was a little bit different.

all the campaigns plowed forward. So, you know, I was really struck by that, that there was a little bit less of a big pause, but the incident was a little different. Yeah. Brad Todd, when you hear J.D. Vance say these things, is he right?

How do you view what our leaders should be doing in these moments? You know, I've been struck by, in the wake of this attack, there's just been no reflection from Democrats. You know, after the first attempt, as Annie points out, Democrats immediately reacted and sort of checked the campaign. This time, none at all. Since Donald Trump came on the scene... Well, both Biden and Harris have put out calls saying there's no place for political violence. They did... Even Trump spoke relatively graciously, entirely graciously, honestly, about his conversation with her. Of course. That's not my point. My point is that

Since Donald Trump came on the scene, Democrats have basically said that democracy will end if he's elected, which is eventually some people with a screw loose are going to hear that and go, wow, maybe it's justified if I do anything. Hakeem Jeffers' favorite phrase on him is clear and present danger, which Elliott will tell us that's the Supreme Court's code for when the government can suppress speech.

And so I think we have to pull way back and like this election is going to happen and someone's going to be sworn in and government will be go on. And it would be a little bit better if Democrats, I think, pulled way back with their apocalyptic rhetoric about Donald Trump being the absolute end of the republic. Criticize him on his policies, but don't act like the country ends. He also Trump didn't reflect either. He insisted

instantly blame the Democrats for their rhetoric and he's putting out a press release with people's names saying what they have said about him you don't think that people that targets people who do you know not everyone we don't know everyone's mental state into those names being out there that also makes people a target than what's going on in Springfield it's just I disagree that it's only Democrats I think everyone needs to take a look at this and everyone needs to be reflective because something is going to happen like something it's going to get worse if we don't control the narrative

I've said on this network plenty of times Donald Trump needs to rein in his rhetoric. But I think we have to back off. Democrats have to back off the whole consequences and let everybody know, look, hey, guess what happens? We'll have lower tax rates if he wins. We disagree with that. Let's run the campaign on that. But what I'm struck by on the defense of this, or I guess on the attack on Democrats on this threat to democracy stuff, is that, for instance, Trump has not committed to accepting the results of the election, right? That sounds to me like

like a threat to democracy. And I don't think it's that unfair to question someone's commitment to democracy if they're saying that they can't commit to the results of election. Another one is a lot of defenders of the former president have latched on this dictator concept that Kamala Harris said that Trump might be a dictator. He said those words himself. Now he might've been joking, but he said, "I will be a dictator on day one." And I guess I'm struggling with this idea that echoing those points is somehow putting chum in the water

to drive up violence against the foreign president. - I would say though that rhetoric has changed and Vice President Harris isn't really talking about democracy as much and it's not, the reason may not be related to political violence, it's related to the ballot box and the fact that this democracy message wasn't actually working very well for Joe Biden and she's shifted to something else and the sort of ancillary consequence to that may be at least on the Democratic side, just notching it back a little bit.

All right. We're going to continue this conversation ongoing throughout the morning up here on CNN this morning. The Fed widely expected to announce an interest rate cut later today. We're going to discuss what that decision says about the economy, what it could mean in the election. Plus, beepers. Remember them? They explode across Lebanon and Israel's latest target of militants, broadening concerns of an all-out war in the Middle East. And Sean Diddy Combs denied bail as more details emerge in his jarring sex trafficking indictment.

I do not see it happening. He's innocent. I believe he's innocent. I believe he's innocent of the charges. And he is going to go to trial. And I believe he's going to win.

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Combs allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances, which he called freak-offs, and he often electronically recorded them. The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics, such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.

shocking graphic allegations against Sean Diddy Combs waking up this morning in a special housing unit at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The rapper denied bail after pleading not guilty to charges of racketeering, conspiracy and sex trafficking. He'll be back in court today making an appeal to be released. Prosecutors allege that since 2008, Combs has participated in a criminal organization that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. Sean Combs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy.

that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity. Combs abused and exploited women and other people for years and in a variety of ways. As alleged, Combs used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances.

Law enforcement seized guns and drugs in raids of Combs' home in Miami and Los Angeles in March, along with more than 1,000 bottles of personal lubricant. The indictment alleges that Combs held freak-offs or elaborate, coerced sex performances. Diddy's attorney want his client released pending trial, insisting that he did nothing wrong. We're going to fight this case with everything we have, as is he, and eventually he's going to be shown to be innocent.

CNN legal analyst, of course, and former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams has been with us. Elliot, he's been denied bail. Is there any chance that he ends up out of prison here? And what's next for him? It's up to the judge to decide. Now, it would be pretty remarkable to release him here for a number of reasons. Anytime in federal court someone is charged with a crime of violence or a drug crime,

They're presumed to be locked up prior to trial unless the defendant can establish that he's not a risk of flight and not a danger to the community. Prosecutors are going to walk into court and say, number one, this guy committed or is accused of serious sexual assaults and has the private jets and the planes and the apartments. He's both a risk of flight, a danger to the community. He may never get out even after trial. Can I ask you, Elliot, we were talking a little bit on the show yesterday about

He went to New York in anticipation of this arrest, is our understanding. He was staying at a hotel where he was taken into custody. The person I was talking to about this yesterday said, well, our Joey Jackson, he's a CNN legal analyst, he said, well, he's trying to demonstrate that he has nothing to hide, right? That, like, here I am. I question, like...

if he has all these private planes, you know, why didn't he flee? Like what's going on here? - Well, that's why the indictment was sealed up until it became public and he was arrested because of the risk of flight. Often what prosecutors will do, will get secure an indictment, put it away, lock it up, arrest the person, then make it available to the public.

Because if he knew what was in the indictment, he would be more likely to flee. And it's not just fleeing. It's tampering with evidence. Those thousand bottles of Vaseline or whatever, or baby oil, someone could dump them down the toilet. Someone could set a house on fire. You know, I know that's all doomsday, but certainly the risk of destroying evidence is really a big one when you're talking about this volume of it and how serious the crimes are.

All right. Well, I'm sure we'll have much more on this going forward, Elliot. Thank you. Straight ahead here on CNN This Morning, a robbery scene straight out of a movie. And they went through the ceiling? Yeah. That's crazy. Thieves breaking into a check-cashing business through the ceiling. It is one of the five things you have to see this morning. Plus, Republicans in Congress blocking a bill that would have guaranteed access to IVF. Breaking with their presidential nominee.

Alright, 21 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. A daring robbery in Atlanta. Thieves breaking into a check cashing business through the ceiling. They knocked an employee to the ground and they made off with $150,000. Police are asking for the public's help to identify these suspects.

A natural gas pipeline fire near Houston, Texas. It's still burning. An SUV crashed into the pipeline's valve, sparking the fire on Monday. Crews now waiting for the fuel left in the line to burn off. Surrounding neighborhoods have been evacuated. It looks like a kid. An eight-year-old Ohio girl took her mom's car for a spin. She drove it roughly 13 miles to go shopping at Target and for a Starbucks Frappuccino.

Police said that once they found the child safe and unharmed, they let her at least finish her drink. Glad she's okay. All right, terrifying moments in a New Jersey Little League game. A tree crashing down on top of kids in a dugout. Coaches and parents scrambling to help several children who were trapped. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt.

Wildfires raging in Portugal. At least seven people, including three firefighters, have died since Sunday. More than two dozen fires igniting across the country this week. All right, time now for weather. The rain from that potential tropical storm moving out along the mid-Atlantic after 113 days. Meanwhile, Phoenix finally sees temperatures below 100 degrees. Those cooler temperatures spreading across the West. Let's get straight to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning.

Talk about an Arctic outbreak. I mean, first time in 113 days without the temperature rising above 100 degrees. They're having a party in Phoenix, and skiers and snowboarders like me are having a party, too, because we had the first flakes of the season fall at some of the local ski resorts. This is coming out of California near Mammoth Lakes. I don't know who's more excited.

me or the puppy that was in this video. That is what we call white gold for people who like to ski on those ski hills. Yeah, Phoenix, you had quite the day yesterday, temperature only reaching 93. For the past 113 days, you've had that temperature above 100 degrees.

It'll stay below 100 for the next several days. The cool weather continues over the west. Severe weather chances over the nation's midsection. Do you remember what happened two days ago along the coastline of North Carolina from a non-named tropical storm? Tropical system, I should say. Well, the flooding

Waters are receding, but we're still feeling the impacts from this system as it moves across the mid-Atlantic. Rain showers from D.C. to Philadelphia as well as New York, eventually Boston by Thursday afternoon. Locally, one to two inches of rainfall could fall from the sky. And I'm gonna leave you with this. Did you step outside last night and see the partial lunar eclipse coinciding with the harvest supermoon?

Casey, I don't know if you did. I certainly didn't because I was sleeping. We got to get up too early in the morning. Yes, we were discussing this an hour ago because we were both here also here an hour ago. And it was indeed too late. I am sorry that I missed it.

But I am glad that I got a couple extra hours of sleep. Derek Van Dam for us this morning. This is what it looked like. It's beautiful. Thank you so much, Derek. See you tomorrow. You're welcome. All right. Still ahead here on CNN this morning, exploding pagers across Lebanon. How the coordinated attack targeted suspected Hezbollah members. Plus, on the campaign trail, Donald Trump vowing to have IVF covered by insurance for all Americans. But in the Senate, his own party not playing along.

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Hundreds of nearly simultaneous blasts across Lebanon yesterday as pagers, remember those? Used by Hezbollah militants exploded in an attack, deepening fears of a wider regional war. We do want to warn you, some of the footage you're about to see might be disturbing. Oh, oh, oh.

At least 12 people were killed, including an eight-year-old child. Thousands more were injured. CNN learning that the explosions were part of a joint operation between Israel's intelligence service and the IDF. Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a foreign terrorist organization, vowing to retaliate, while the Israeli military says it's not commenting on the incident. The U.S. is denying any involvement.

So we are gathering information on this incident. I can tell you that the U.S. was not involved in it. The U.S. was not aware of this incident in advance, and at this point we're gathering information. Joining me now, CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore. He's also a retired supervisory special agent for the FBI. Steve, good morning to you. Thank you for being here. Good morning.

This is quite a remarkable series of events. What do we know about how the Israeli intelligence and their military were able to pull this off?

Well, obviously the details of it have not come out yet, but there were some pagers, I guess, that did not go off. And they were able to determine that small, very small pieces of explosive, probably plastic explosives, were set into these devices and set to go off when a certain set of buttons were pushed, which ensured that the user was safe.

was present with the pager when it went off and the buttons were triggered by an error code that was sent out. So for something like this, I mean, it must have taken months of planning to figure out how to actually do something like this, no? This was huge. This was huge. It was a...

a massive in Endeavor to get this done highly covert and you know, the difficulty here is you have to do this without the pager company being aware of it. You don't want them to be the targets of retaliation.

The other thing is that you have to know in advance. You have to have enough intelligence in advance to know that Hezbollah is making a purchase of hundreds or thousands of pagers and you have to be able to target it. So it indicates just a massive intelligence breach of Hezbollah's operation.

And Steve, this does also, of course, raise fears about a broader conflict here, because the reality is, while there are a lot of James Bond-style qualities to what happened, the impact is that the communications network that Hezbollah relies on has now been damaged. That's a strategic objective.

Yes, yes, there were several strategic objectives and I think all of them were achieved here. Number one, now they don't have their pager network and they use the pager network because cell phones are too easily traceable. I mean, look at our society who uses pagers anymore.

The same way in Lebanon, whoever uses pagers instead of cell phones likely was a member of Hezbollah. And so what you're finding now is two things. Yes, their communications have been disrupted terribly.

And almost as important, the morale and the fear that this has caused. People are now wondering if any of their devices, if any of their equipment is safe and whether they're safe in their own homes. Yeah, start taking it all apart. Steve Moore, thanks very much for being with us this morning. I really appreciate your time.

All right, let's turn now to this. A bill to guarantee access to in vitro fertilization nationwide once again fell short in the Senate yesterday. They failed to get the 60 votes needed to pass the Democratic-sponsored measure, with all but two Republican senators voting against it. Shortly after the vote, President Biden called out the bill's opponents. He said in a statement, quote,

Yet again, Senate Republicans refused to safeguard access to fertility treatments for women trying to get pregnant. Republican officials have had every opportunity to protect reproductive freedom from IVF to contraception, but they refused to do so. And of course, IVF has become a mobilizing issue on the campaign trail. After that Alabama Supreme Court decision put fertility treatments there in legal jeopardy. Alabama lawmakers later clarified protections for IVF after the ruling.

Senate Republicans argue this legislation was merely an election year show vote from Democrats. I think we have to be careful here because the Senate did not block an IVF bill. The Senate blocked a ridiculous show vote bill that had no chance of passing. Our panel is back.

This, Annie, is obviously an incredibly personal issue for people. And while JD Vance is saying this is a show vote, it's worth noting that the person at the top of his ticket says that IVF should be covered by insurance. Absolutely.

And in many ways, it was a show vote, and it did show that the Republican tent and the Republican coalition has two sections that oppose some amount of protections for IVF. This vote got at the

the small government hawks, the small government folks within the Republican Party who did not like the idea of a mandate for IVF or insurance companies to have to cover it. But also it revealed that there is

influence from the question conservatives within the party who have a more visceral dislike for ivf so there are there are two segments of the party who were opposed to this legislation and i think that was you know very clearly revealed by the vote yeah i mean brad uh it's worth noting the two republicans who voted for this two female republicans susan collins and lisa murkowski this is also again i mean the presidential nominee at the top of the ticket has said

He wants this policy in place, right? He's trying to campaign on it. Why not do it? Well, there was a chance to do it. Katie Britt had a bill, Republican senator from Alabama, had a bill yesterday that would force any state to allow IVF to be legal. If they didn't, they'd lose all Medicaid funding. So every state's going to do that. Democrats wouldn't go along with it. That was a surefire way to protect IVF in every state. Rick Scott had a bill yesterday to decouple HSAs from...

that people use to save for IVF from their high deductible plans. Democrats wouldn't do it. Chuck Schumer wants this vote to use in this campaign. He's not willing to work with Republicans to try to come up with a way to actually protect IVF in every state. Yeah, I mean, it's worth noting, I think there are some provisions in both of those bills that gave Democrats separate concerns. But, Megan, how do you see this? Well, there's something in this bill that gave concerns. I mean, the bill that Democrats tried to pass

would legalize designer babies. It would also allow three-parent embryos. It would have illegalized human cloning. There are a lot of poison pills that Democrats put in that bill to get Republicans to vote no. There was a lot in there that I'm not sure I can, I certainly can't back up, especially the three-parent question. But Megan, go ahead. I was just going to go off of what Annie was saying. This is a show vote. It showed Republicans and these independent women that are out there that you need to win the election exactly where the Republican Party stands on reproductive

their freedom. Every Republican senator is on a letter that says we're supporting IVF. Every one of them. But when they had the opportunity to vote for it, they did not vote for it again. It's not a clean bill. It doesn't matter. That's not the way our legislation doesn't work that way. And the no bill is clean. So they had an opportunity to do it. They did not do it. This is a...

I agree that this is a show vote, it is a political move on the part of Democrats, but it is showing women exactly where the Republican Party stands. If Democrats wanted to make sure IVF is legal in every state, they could pass Katie Britt's bill. It's as clean a bill as you're going to get. I mean, I don't know enough about her bill, but there's a process how this goes through legislation. It did not make it through to get a vote on the floor. This bill did. They voted against it. That is all the people need to know. It got a vote because Chuck Schumer only let that be.

that there is a process that works your committee they did not do it and it shows women and the independent voters that you need to win the election exactly where the republican party family and elliott williams mean the big picture here is that the reason we're having this conversation is because row fell right and every state now has its own rules around uh... re reproductive rights uh... and freedoms and there are places where i mean if you follow the letter of the law the way many conservatives uh... evangelicals in particular like any pointed out

you end up with this being illegal. - Yeah, well it's two things. It's Roe fell and it is a winning issue for Democrats. Both Roe and all of its progeny and when you talk about reproductive freedom, but also IVF specifically. You say the letters and Democrats have taken the issue, taken sort of the issue over. And this idea, and so for folks that don't live in the Beltway, this idea of the show bill or the messaging bill is very common in this town where the party in power

knows they have a winning issue, pulls a vote up that's very hard for other people to say that they oppose, gets them to vote against it, and then they can say, well, look, our opponents don't support this basic fundamental human freedom. But you know what, Elliot, when Republicans do it, the press calls it a political stunt. When Democrats do it, it says, well, this shows where everyone is. Yeah, no, I was just going to say, Elliot explained the concept of show vote. Very neatly right there. I also said it was a...

But it is showing Republicans where, or showing these independent women where Republicans are. But you see what I'm saying? You know, heavy is the head that wears the crown, right? And when you have the power in the United States Senate, you bring up these bills to force the other side to cast a difficult vote on it. If Chuck Schumer wanted to bring the Senate together to protect IVF, he could. Republicans are all willing to do it. He doesn't want to. Well, the House could do it. I mean, you know...

we can say the same thing on immigration and the border bill. I mean this is the exact same thing that happened with immigration. Republicans turned down a bipartisan bill. This is just showing the American people where Congress is and where your party is and this is the problem. This election is going to be in five or six states with independent women and these types of bills show people because there's not enough, the nuance isn't heard in commercials and in these states. Alright, still to come here after the break.

All eyes on the Fed today. The central bank is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years. Plus, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders criticizing Kamala Harris not for her policies, but about her not having biological children. My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble.

All right, 45 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Sean Diddy Combs indicted in New York and charged with racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking. He is accused of running a criminal enterprise and forcing victims into drug-induced and coerced sex performances or so-called freak-offs. He will be back in court today to appeal a decision to hold him without bail. He has pleaded not guilty.

Students in Springfield, Ohio are heading back to class with increased security. Classes were canceled there this week amid bomb threats to schools. The town has been put into the national spotlight after Donald Trump and J.D. Vance baselessly claimed that Haitian migrants in the town are eating people's pets. Those claims have been debunked by local officials.

And Instagram taking what they're calling their biggest step yet toward protecting younger users. The social media platform announcing it will put in place new teen settings, which will automatically make millions of accounts private and restrict certain content for those users.

I have a question here. I mean, is this actually going to make a difference? Because I mean, this is again, anecdata for my Instagram feed. The parents that I am hearing from are just saying this is not enough. I mean, what do you think, Elliot? It's never enough given how pervasive social media is and kids' access to it. Now look, it's a step. It's a valuable step. But I think that's absolutely correct. You're trying to plug, I don't know what the

And I think they're also trying to get credit ahead of there's this bill in Congress, right, around this that would basically force them to do some of these things. You know, there's not much agreement on Republicans and Democrats in Washington much, but on social media regulation for teens, you can pretty much get unanimity. It's coming, and Silicon Valley knows it. Yeah, and that's why. Again, we're seeing this. All right.

Let's turn now to this anticipated news today, an announcement from the Federal Reserve. This afternoon, the central bank expected to cut U.S. interest rates for the first time in four years, a move that's meant to lower borrowing costs for American consumers and businesses. That could mean cheaper mortgages, credit card rates, and auto loans.

It signals that the Fed does think inflation is under control, and it's shifting attention to the job market, which has shown some signs of weakness. The expected decision comes less than seven weeks from Election Day. That breaks a norm to leave interest rates alone in the months leading up to a presidential election. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both trying to get out ahead of the Fed's announcement on the campaign trail.

So Annie Linsky,

This is clearly something where there is pressure on the Fed to do, the question is are they gonna do a quarter point, are they gonna do a half point? Elizabeth Warren and some others want them to do three quarters of a point. The point is that there is concern that they have let these rate hikes stand for too long.

and that it may be damaging the economy to the point where it's endangering a recession. It is unusual for them to do something like this this close to an election. What do you make of it? Yeah, to do it so close, you're absolutely right, is unusual. And I think there were some people who had very much hoped that the Fed would have done this a little bit earlier in the summer. That being said, you know, one of the...

amazing parts about Jerome Powell and this Fed is he has been very clear about signaling what he's going to do. And so I think that it helps kind of reduce sort of swings in markets that we saw with previous Fed chairs. But he has been very clear that he sees an opportunity for a rate cut. And it is really just balancing whether or not he believes that, you know, has he gotten, has inflation gotten under control to where he could really do a

they could really do a full half a point or will they just ease it just a smaller amount? - Yeah, Brad Todd, what are the politics of this year? Because obviously, I mean, as much as we talk about all of these various developments, right? The fundamentals of the economy are still likely to be the driver of the outcome in November. - If you got a mortgage in Donald Trump's presidency, it's probably for three and a half percent. If you've gotten one in Joe Biden's, it's probably seven.

Americans understand that housing costs a lot more to buy during this Biden-Harris administration. And I think what's more important is that early in the Harris-Biden administration, they said inflation was transitory. They said it wouldn't last. And that's why it was okay to keep doing stimulus. That's why it was okay to keep raising up the price of energy. That got us more inflation. I think that is driving the election more than anything else that happens in the daily news cycle, is Americans know the economy was a lot better off before Biden and Harris were in office.

I see what you did there, by the way, the Harris-Biden administration. It is still the Biden-Harris administration. He's good. He's good. Megan? Yeah, I just, I mean, I think that the rate cut will help. You know, inflation is lowering. Unemployment is at a low. I mean, the economy that they inherited, I think that they were doing what they could do. And they say full well that we inherited an economy and we had to make decisions. And inflation, it was high and is now lower than it was in January or January of 21. I think it's like

right around there. So I think, you know, this will help that. And I think that this is an important issue. It is interesting. That's going to be it makes it very political, this this rate cut. So I think it will be interesting right before the election to see how it plays out. Yeah. Elliott Williams, there does seem to be this sense. And obviously the Fed is independent, right? They do not they do not take their marching orders from whoever is the president or people who are running for president.

However, there is this sense when you read kind of banking reports on political environments that come out of the major banks, they look at Congress, they look at things like this. There is this sense from that some of them seem to be bringing to the table that if Donald Trump is elected, rates, there will be more aggressive rate cuts because he will be basically putting pressure on the Fed. How do you see that playing out, especially now? Right. The reality, and this is picking up on Brad's point, the reality is that the, well, it's

pushing back on Brad a little bit, but you're making an important point by using the term Harris-Biden administration. In reality, presidents don't have full control over monetary policy, but to your point,

did you have a mortgage a few years ago versus do you have a mortgage today? It doesn't matter that Jerome Powell might be more the chair of the Fed for what your mortgage is than the president of the United States. The simple fact is today it's the president and people associate that with the president of the United States. And so to some of these points about Donald Trump, there's the optics and the association that's made there. And it

you can't change it. - Yeah, I mean, I think inflation is something, it's a once in a generation thing. This generation, we are not used to inflation. And I think that Brad is right, that in terms of what voters are thinking about,

the cost that has gone up so much since the pandemic. And even though the rate of inflation has lowered, the costs are still going up. And it's just, you know, the country's never going to get back to where it was. I mean, you know, you'd have disinflation, which would create other problems. But there's still that expectation when you go into the grocery store that you're not going to be paying, you know, $150 for groceries.

yet you are. This is exactly to the point why both of these candidates should be talking about the economy and what they are going to do for the economy and not all these other issues and flinging things back and forth each other. They should stick to the economy. Let me tell you what, Republicans would be glad if Donald Trump didn't talk about the economy every day. Most Republicans would be very happy about that. I seem to recall you basically coming on here and saying, could we just

Can we just please? Can we just please? - No, more dogs and cats in Ohio. That seems to be a little-- - Well, so speaking of dogs and cats, although not the ones in Ohio, let's turn now to this. If you only talk about childless people when you need a political punching bag on right-wing podcasts, stop talking. - A Republican candidate for vice president would never attack a woman for having kids. So as they say, my work here is done.

Meow. And let me say what an honor it is to work with two guys who are this far away from being childless cat ladies.

From the halls of Congress to, of course, the Emmys stage, J.D. Vance's childless cat lady remarks continue to stir up anger. Despite that, others in Trump's orbit seem to be piling on. During a town hall with Donald Trump yesterday, Arkansas Governor and former Trump White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said this about Kamala Harris.

You can walk into a room like this where people cheer when you step onto the stage and you might think for a second that you're kind of special. Then you go home and your kids remind you very quickly you're actually not that big of a deal. And ours are pretty good at it. My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble. That's not a very nice thing to say.

Well, I mean, I could tell you my teenagers keep me humble. In fact, they're going to critique this performance today, I'm pretty sure. I mean, I have no issue with her saying her kids keep her humble. That is not the issue. If you listen to the whole Sarah Huckabee Sanders speech, I actually think that was taken a little bit out of context.

I think that the broader context was more about her own experience. But let's get back to this. This campaign needs to be very focused on are you better off today than you were four years ago? Is the border more secure than it was four years ago? And the Trump campaign and the former president himself have to laser focus in on that. If they don't, they're going to be in trouble. Listen, no. Here's the thing.

She is one of the most skilled communicators, certainly in the party today, if not within the last generation. She knew precisely what she was saying and doing right there. It is an old, tired saw about women that don't have kids. Look, Barbara Boxer, the Democratic Senator, did it about Condoleezza Rice in a hearing when she had her in front of her, you know, which made a point.

about, I know you don't have, I guess a husband and children or something like that. She knew exactly what she was doing, playing into it. And I don't think the audience was booing the comment. I think they're booing Kamala Harris. They were in on it too.

Also, one, why can't she get her name right? I just fundamentally don't understand why these Republicans who are elected officials cannot get the vice president's name right. So that's the start. Second, why are we making it that women who do not have children are less than in this country? That is a horrible way to view women in general and then to also then make them less than. And also, let's not forget, she has stepchildren. So it's not like she doesn't have a family at all. And

Not that that matters, but it's gross. Let me jump in on the stepchildren because Kirsten Emhoff, who is Doug Emhoff's ex-wife, weighed in on this this morning in a tweet. And she wrote, Cole and Ella, these are the stepchildren, Kamala Harris' stepchildren, Doug Emhoff's children with Kirsten. Cole and Ella keep us inspired to make the world a better place. I do it through storytelling. Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working for the people, all families. That keeps you pretty humble.

Vice President Harris' family shouldn't be an issue in the campaign. How your family's doing in this economy has to be the thrust of the campaign. That's the message. If only your party would hire you to work on their messaging, we would not be sitting here talking about it because it is disgusting that an elected official who's a governor of an entire state would like to continue to make women feel less than that do not have children and, again, cannot pronounce her name correctly as a sitting vice president. Well, Brad, you're trying to win a Senate race in Pennsylvania where women in Chester County...

and Bucks County are gonna hear these kinds of things. It's gonna be part of it. It makes your job tougher, no? - Again, a campaign about the economy is gonna be pretty good for Republicans. A campaign about border security is gonna be good for Republicans. Personal shots are not gonna work out.

Yeah. I mean, Annie Linsky, part of why I think this has become so much a part of the... I mean, the J.D. Vance comments around childless cat ladies and the various iterations and the whole of this conversation has penetrated the culture in a way that a lot

of the back and forth that we talk about here at this table doesn't punch through. This is something that a lot more people talk about, like normal people are aware of, and that makes it a little different. Well, Taylor Swift, when she endorsed Kamala Harris, she had her cat with her. Benjamin Button.

Exactly. Exactly. So, I mean, look, I think Democrats have done a very good job of embracing it. But I've been perplexed as a political reporter as to why, you know, Republicans continue to use this as an issue. And there are plenty of women without children who want to have children. There are a lot of women who want to have children. And, you know, access to things like IVF would help with that. And I think that...

Yeah, no, it's been surprising that this conversation has continued to come up because there are a lot of, you know, there are a lot of Republican women who are. And Nikki Haley has been out there herself saying, look, when you do this, you are sending the wrong message. So it is perplexing. Yeah. All right. I'll leave you with this. My grandfather wishes he could be here. Not, of course, everyone gets 100 years. But when someone does and uses that time to do good, it is worth celebrating. As.

An array of celebrities paying tribute to America's 39th president, Jimmy Carter. Last night, two weeks ahead of his 100th birthday, 4,000 people filling Atlanta's Fox Theater to highlight Carter's work on human rights and his love of music. You're my Sunday, Lord, you don't make me howl when you turn your love my way, turn your love my way.

That was Chuck Lovell of the Allman Brothers. The band campaigned for Carter in 1976. And here was Jimmy Carter himself at the Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden that summer. Our country has lived through a time of torment. It's now time for healing. We want to have faith again. We want to be proud again. We just want the truth again. It's time for the people to run the government and not the other way around.

All right, Jimmy Carter is currently receiving hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia. He turns 100 on October 1st, which is when we will all get to see the entirety of that event. Thanks to our panel. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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