[0:00]No Epstein questions, please. The Attorney General sidesteps an issue dividing the MAGA base. The Education Department on borrowed time. Education
[0:10]Secretary Linda McMahon joins me to discuss the very large downsizing to come. Beloved by Washingtonians and tourists alike, historic Ben's Chili
[0:20]Bowl takes some time off for renovations and hotter times ahead.
[0:25][Music] Hello everyone, I'm Major Garrett in
[0:35]Washington. Welcome to the Takeout. The sorted Jeffrey Epstein saga is not about politics, a client list, scrutinized footage of Epstein's suicide in federal
[0:46]custody or runaway conspiracy theories touching on one or all of those subjects. At its core, the Epstein case is about victims. victims of sexual
[0:58]abuse, victims of human trafficking, a great number of them young girls from America and other countries. Though it didn't get much attention last week, the Trump Justice Department said there were
[1:09]more than 1,000 victims of Epstein's predatory crimes. Some of those victims have received monetary compensation. Criminal justice, however, has proved
[1:20]stubbornly elusive and of course will never be achieved. Some in the MAGA movement demand more answers. Certain Epstein had powerful friends or pulled strings to evade justice for so very
[1:32]long. They wonder now if the Trump administration has told all it knows or all that is knowable. The attorney general, therefore, is on the spot. Today, our Scott McFarland asked if she
[1:44]felt her job was safe. >> I'm going to be here for as long as the president wants me here. And I believe he's made that crystal clear. It's four years. Well, three and a half now, right? We've got six months in. And I
[1:55]yeah, it feels like six years. >> Bondi also dodged questions about Epstein. We will have more on Epstein's victims in a moment from the reporter who has done more than any other
[2:05]reporter to tell their story. But we start with Scott McFarland here with me now. Scott, it's great to have you here. You were there. I want to play for you also sound win. The attorney general was asked a direct question about Jeffrey
[2:16]Epstein, the files, the justice department conclusion about that much disputed. Let's listen. I appreciate your question, but this today is about fentanyl overdoses
[2:27]throughout our country and people who have lost loved ones to fentanyl. That's the message that we're here to send today. Nothing about Epstein. Not going to talk about Epstein.
[2:37]>> Not going to talk about it. Fentanyl is a legitimate, serious, deadly issue in this country. The Justice Department has every right and priority to look into it, talk about it, put policy forward on
[2:48]that. But Epstein is an issue and it's roing justice department. >> Yeah. She went out to a press event at the DEA headquarters in Virginia to talk about initiatives involving fentanyl and
[2:57]involving drug uh abuse and drug interdictions, but the questions were about Jeffrey Epstein because so much focus has been placed on Pam Bondi on
[3:08]this. I mean, there's so many different players in this sort of drama, but right now Pam Bondi is at the center of what to do with the files. if there are files to be released, if there are files to be
[3:19]released, it's her decision whether to do so. And so many allies of the president are urging her to do so. It's not the Democrats, it's not third parties, it's powerful people in the
[3:30]MAGA universe and she right now is in the political epicenter of a storm. >> And asked about this today, the president said he still supports Pam Bondi as attorney general. And then he
[3:39]made some sort of reference. I couldn't quite distill it about maybe other information that is in their possession or that might come to the surface. >> I don't know what the path out of this is. And that's that's that's a problem
[3:51]as we start the week here in Washington. >> It was as misleading to you as it was to me. >> It was it was cryptic. It was broad. Right. >> But here's the thing. These are the people who have said Pam Bondi might want to consider more transparency.
[4:01]House Speaker Mike Johnson, Lara Trump, President Trump. These are not the people who are there to criticize Pam Bondi. But it's also unclear what there
[4:11]is to release. I mean, they tried this last week. A two-page memo said the death was by suicide. There is no list of cohorts of powerful people who helped Epstein. >> And there's no reason to believe there
[4:22]could be successful prosecutions of third parties, meaning accompllices who worked either with Jeffrey Epstein or Lane Maxwell. What's more, if there is a file of people who may have been
[4:32]investigated but were exonerated or for whom there was no evidence of misconduct, you can't just release that. You can't unring a bell of an innocent
[4:40]person ascribed to a crime. And that's I think what Pam Bondi has alluded to in the past. These files do not include information that is relevant. This this information also includes child
[4:51]exploitive images, too. We can't be releasing this stuff. But that hasn't quieted calls that are inside the house, >> right? And inside the house, there was an effort by the president today to kind
[5:01]of muddy the waters, saying these files were phony Obama Biden files somehow casting some sort of doubt about either their relevance or their believability.
[5:11]>> Yeah, I I'm not sure how much traction >> within the MAGA base that's going to work. >> That's that's not that's not effective because again, it hasn't quieted the calls from the the Trump aligned
[5:21]surrogates, from the people who have big audiences, big megaphones for which to scream. But the one megaphone that's gone silent is Dan Bonino, deputy FBI director, who didn't show up for work
[5:33]Friday, had some heated exchange with the attorney general over the Epstein matter. He's back on the job, we're told, but he has been silent on social media. And if you know Dan Vonino, his millions of followers, his huge talk
[5:44]radio audience, he doesn't go silent very often. >> Scott McFarland, always a pleasure, sir. Thank you so much. Investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, Julie K. Brown joins me now. She has been reporting on the Epstein story for
[5:55]years. Julie, it's a pleasure to have you on our program. Talk to me about what all this stuff going on in Washington does or doesn't mean to the
[6:04]victims of the Epstein saga. Well, it's just another disappointment upon disappointment for these victims, some of whom have been brave enough to
[6:15]go public with this case and have urged the Justice Department for years to more thoroughly investigate the case and to hopefully uh get to the root of who
[6:27]helped Epstein because the reality is Epste did not do this by himself. He could not have operated this by himself. He had a staff of people that literally
[6:37]did everything for him. So, there's other people who helped him that they should be looking into. And these victims have named some of those people that they suspect were involved. So, I
[6:49]think that this is probably just another um trauma for them. You know, they relive this every time this story uh explodes and they're reliving all that
[6:59]trauma all over again. I I believe >> picking up on that point, Julie, when you read the two-page Justice Department memo released last week and it said the
[7:10]Justice Department sees no purpose in pursuing potential prosecutions against those third party potential accompllices. What did you think about that? How how
[7:21]did you react to that? Well, I just knew right away in my gut that that was another, you know, another disappointment, as I said, another um
[7:32]slap in the face to these victims who believe that those accompllices were just as much to blame, if in some cases more so to blame because they were the
[7:42]ones that called these women up. They were the ones that brought these women, these girls at the time to Epstein. They were the ones that arranged the schedule, arranged the taxis to come to
[7:54]his house. So, in some respects, these people were uh just as guilty, at least in the eyes of these victims. >> Does it read to you like something
[8:05]approximating a cover up? >> Well, let me put it this way. We know from every all the reporting that I've done and other reporters have done that
[8:16]there was a cover up uh at probably at the highest levels of the Justice Department back in 2008 when he got this miraculous uh sweetheart deal uh that
[8:27]essentially he pleaded guilty to a minor offense, served uh small uh very cozy jail term and then walked free and continued on with his life. continuing
[8:39]on by the way with abusing young women and girls. So the fact that this is now happening like this and there's so many questions I think that it's fair to ask
[8:50]whether this is another example of a cover up concerning uh this horrible crime >> and remind my audience of the scope and
[8:58]scale of the victims involved. Julie, >> we think there's at least 200 because when uh after Epstein's death when they
[9:08]set up a victim's compensation fund uh for them, we know from the organizers of this fund that there were at least 200 people who were approved for these um
[9:20]for these settlements. However, there were probably lots of other victims who either weren't approved because they didn't have any evidence at all, which isn't surprising if you're 16 years old.
[9:31]You're not gathering evidence against people, or uh they were just not willing to come forward. I mean, there's many people who women and victims who have
[9:41]never told anybody that this happened. So, it's possible that there could be hundreds more victims. When the Justice Department memo said more than a thousand, did that number strike you as
[9:52]surprising? >> Yeah, it did. It sounded a little high based on what we what I know, but that doesn't mean it. In fact, what it does mean is there's a lot more information
[10:03]in those files than I even suspected. If if it indicates there's that many victims, then this was a much larger um
[10:13]sex trafficking operation than we had believed in the past. Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald investigative reporter. Thank you so very much for your time. I appreciate
[10:23]it. President Trump says Education Secretary Linda McMahon will start the process of dismantling her agency. The Supreme Court cleared the way for her to do so yesterday, allowing administration to
[10:35]lay off nearly 1,400 employees. President says he wants to quote bring education back to the states. Even though as you look at budgets and the way states run things, states are mostly
[10:45]responsible for K through2 education in our country. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon joins me now. Madam Secretary, I'm glad you are with us. It's been an important week for you as you seek to dismantle the Department of
[10:56]Education. You can't do it entirely, not all the way without Congress's approval, but you can go a long way. What's your time schedule? Well, certainly uh the president made it
[11:08]very clear when he hired me to do this job that he wanted me to be the last secretary of education and uh he said I would have achieved success when I put myself out of a job. I think that we are
[11:20]moving in the right direction and at the right speed. major. Uh this is something that will take some time to do and we it will have to have the approval of Congress. And in my confirmation
[11:32]hearings, uh when I was asked about that, um I was asked did I understand that Congress had to vote to shut down the Department of Education, I said yes.
[11:41]And it will be my job to show you show you Congress as we proceed with what we're doing that as we take the different parts of uh the Department of
[11:52]Education and the things that they're responsible for and show how they can be maybe put in other agencies or uh you know even taking a look at them and that
[12:04]not all those things are necessary. I want to show Congress by taking different parts and placing it other places that Department of Education's
[12:13]functions can actually be handled, I think, better and more efficiently by returning it to the states. I mean, let's not forget the the title 1A money,
[12:23]the idea money that was that's distributed directly to the states that was done before there was a Department of Education. There were grants that were given before there was a Department
[12:33]of Education. And I do believe that um education in our country as and the president believes this too is best served when it's closest to the student
[12:44]and not handled by bureaucracy in Washington. So that's that's the goal >> as you know well madam secretary some of the core functions of the department which the president says he wants to
[12:55]protect special education which is costly and states need a lot of federal assistance. That's not me saying it. That's governors of both parties who've said that for decades. There's also Title
[13:06]One, which is lowincome assistance for schools that are underserved with the tax base in which they operate. Then you have Pell grants and student loans. Are all those core functions which the
[13:17]president, if I've read him correctly, says he wants to preserve, going to leave the Department of Education? And if they do leave it, where are they heading? >> Well, that's what we're looking at now.
[13:28]uh as to how would how would those uh those different projects be served best? What agencies might could handle them? I
[13:36]mean, if you if you think back um IDA was first at um what what was the department, you know, that is now HHS.
[13:46]Um and maybe that's a place for it to reside or maybe not. And I'm not trying to dodge the question. I think these are things that we have to look at and see where they will best be served. Pell
[13:56]grants could possibly rest at labor because after all that is part of workforce development. I think that there are many places where you know
[14:07]these jobs and these functions should better reside than you know in the department of education and with the goal as you mentioned let me just digress for a second as you mentioned
[14:16]about 90% of a state's education budget is provided by the state federal government provides about 10% of that >> correct >> and the department of education doesn't
[14:26]educate anyone it doesn't decide on curricula it doesn't um it doesn't hire teachers It doesn't buy books. It's a pass through agency for money that is
[14:37]appropriated by Congress, you know, to be spent. Uh, and it does have, you know, competitive grant programs uh that um that go to the states. And it's our
[14:47]it's our goal to simplify that process and to have more uh of simplified funding that is delivered formulaically in the state. And therefore, you don't
[14:58]have to have grant writers. You don't have to have the expense. You don't have to have all the regulations that go with that if it's formulaically delivered. And that's the goal. And that's a smart it's a smart way to look at that money.
[15:09]>> Madam Secretary, the education department also does research on education outcomes. It also has or at least had a civil rights component that
[15:19]has been significantly whittleled down under your watch. And there are those who worry that that mission of the education department making sure education and civil rights protections remain supervised by the federal
[15:31]government have vanished. Have they? >> Well, clearly they haven't vanished. There are many agencies that have their own uh office of civil rights, but we
[15:41]have a very robust justice department that has its office of civil rights as well. So the fact that um may that those uh cases wouldn't be brought at the Department of Education, but they would
[15:52]be brought more than likely at the Justice Department because if we look at Title Six and Title Nine, uh we we know that they need to be monitored uh you
[16:03]know by an office of civil rights, but clearly that can be in the Justice Department. So I have no worries about that whatsoever. >> Madam Secretary, talk to me about where
[16:12]you think things stand with Harvard. how they're going to be resolved and if Harvard is an example of what institutions of higher learning ought or
[16:24]ought not to do when challenged by the Trump administration. >> Well, certainly the things that we're we are looking at I think we we started with Colombia uh looking at their
[16:36]anti-semitism actions which they had not taken properly. We did the same with Harvard and and we are negotiating with them not
[16:45]only on you know those uh those issues of anti-semitism but we are also negotiating with them on their hiring practices and how actually
[16:54]the case of students v Harvard which said that you couldn't use race or or other uh you know methods to determine who you're hiring what students are
[17:05]permitted to come in you have to to do it you know really by meritocracy Y and and not by race. And so those are some of the issues that we are discussing
[17:15]with Harvard and with Colia and I do think that I think that we're making good progress with those negotiations and I'm I'm hoping we'll get those cleared up pretty soon.
[17:27]>> Even those within Harvard who acknowledge problems on campus with protests, anti-semitism would say, "Look, governance ought to be left to private institutions. who they hire, how
[17:38]they hire, how they develop curriculum, how they look at potential members of the faculty, and they resist or believe there's something dangerous about any administration, yours, the previous Biden administration, some incoming
[17:49]future Democratic administration getting into their business on a day-to-day basis. How do you respond to that? Well, when you have a court action that
[18:00]you know has found that in the students v Harvard case that there were instances when there was not meritocracy that was being used to to hire professors there
[18:10]was you know 3% of the Harvard faculty by reported by you know the Harvard Crimson was 3%. That's uh that that's clearly not a balanced viewpoint across
[18:21]universities. And if they're receiving federal funding, then they're going to have to pay attention to some not well not only federal law, which is of course first and foremost, you know, but other
[18:32]issues as well. Now, if you don't want federal funding, okay, then you have a right to operate totally as a private university. But if you were taking taxpayer dollars, uh then you you really have to pay attention to this. And
[18:44]we're, you know, we're we're looking across universities for for many issues. You know, in terms of the cost of attending university u when you think
[18:53]about the fact that, you know, $1.6 trillion dollars of debt is a result of college, you know, uh loans, you know,
[19:02]to students. And that's an amazing amount of debt for our country, you know, to be on the hook for. and and universities aren't delivering ROI on a
[19:13]lot of that debt. So, we want and and the the big beautiful bill does have some provisions in it. >> It does it does cap a lot of those loans and got rid of a couple of the loans as
[19:23]well because you the taxpayers shouldn't have to bear the burden of someone else's debt. So, we want colleges to you to have a little bit more skin in the game with that as well. So, there are a
[19:34]lot of issues to look at across our universities. I I don't think that we're in any way being unfair. We're not trying to say this is the curriculum you have to have. But what we are saying is
[19:46]have a balanced viewpoint for the students and this is doesn't have anything to do with first amendment rights. We want everyone to have first amendment rights. You should be able to
[19:57]debate on college campuses, but I do believe that both sides should be presented fairly. >> It's an ongoing conversation, Madam Secretary. I hope you come back and join
[20:05]us for that in the future. >> Thank you so much, Gary. It was a pleasure to be on. >> You can always call me Major, Madam Secretary. Still to come, Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria Elviris
[20:17]Salazar defends conditions at the so-called Alligator Alley detention center as she pushes for immigration reform.
[20:26]Trump's quest for power reverses many Nixon era reforms. Filmmaker Michael Kirk previews his new documentary on the
[20:35]future of democracy and the rule of law. Ben's Chili Bowl is a legendary grill and diner with a historic past. I take
[20:45]you there before the original DC location shuts down for renovations and its next downhome culinary chapter. That's all ahead on the takeout.
[20:57][Music] Welcome back. Lawmakers here in Washington are pushing new bipartisan
[21:08]legislation that would reform the US immigration system by providing legal status for certain undocumented migrants. The authors of the so-called
[21:17]dignity act introduced it earlier today. If you are undocumented and you have been in the country for more than five years, you do not have a criminal
[21:29]record. You're working and paying taxes. You can come out of the shadows with no fear and apply for the dignity status. >> We recognize that immigrants make our
[21:40]country great. >> Immigrants are the backbone of our communities and of our country and our economy. Lawmakers here in Washington are pushing
[21:51]new bipartisan legislation that would reform the US immigration system by providing legal status for certain undocumented migrants. The authors of the so-called dignity act introduced it
[22:03]earlier today. >> If you are undocumented and you have been in the country for more than 5 years, you do not have a criminal
[22:13]record. You're working and paying taxes. You can come out of the shadows with no fear. and apply for the dignity status. >> We recognize that immigrants make our
[22:25]country great. >> Immigrants are the backbone of our communities and of our country and our economy. >> Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria
[22:35]Alvaris Salazar joins me now from Capitol Hill. Congresswoman, great to have you with us. Talk to me about this legislation and is it designed to in
[22:44]some way temper or soften the aggressive immigration enforcement going on now under the Trump administration? >> Well, I was going to put an end to it
[22:56]because what we're presenting is common sense. I call it is a solommonic type of uh immigration reform and it has dignity and no amnesty, no path to citizenship.
[23:07]So, what we're going to do is that if you've been here for more than five years and you do not have a criminal record and you have been working and paying taxes in construction, hospitality, agricultural, slaughter
[23:18]houses, uh fisheries, dairies, you can come out of the shadows and pay $7,000 over seven years. You grant 1% of your
[23:28]earnings for seven years and then you can go home for Christmas or bury your mother and you can come out and buy homes and continue contributing to the economy, paying taxes and working in
[23:39]those jobs where other Americans don't want to participate in. >> Would you have green card status under this legislation? >> No. This is the dignity status. There's
[23:50]no path to citizenship for seven years. And if you want to renew it for another seven, perfect. So you will continue contributing, working, and being part of
[24:00]the American economy with no federal programs, with no any type of government assistance. The undocumented, the illegals don't have any right now. So
[24:11]this is just gain for them. And I am and I am sure that the White House is going to look upon this bill with good eyes because the president has said it already. He understands better than
[24:22]anybody. He is the construction guy and he knows that we need people if we want to continue being the number one economy in the world. So this is solommonic. This is common sense. Now that the border is sealed because we have
[24:34]dedicated $150 billion dollars under the BBB to secure the southern border. Now is time to start the uh national conversation as to what are we going to
[24:43]do with those people who do not have a a criminal record who are not trenagua who have been here for a long time. We know them and we just need to bring them out of the shadows, make them pay.
[24:55]>> Have you Have you talked to the president or any senior White House adviser about this specific legislation? Do you want a White House endorsement? Do you need it?
[25:04]I I it's it's the I is basically the only endorsement we need. We know that the president is leading. We just I you just saw him. Look what he did with Iran. Look what he's done with China.
[25:15]Look what he's done with the tariffs. Look what he's done with NATO. Look what we did uh with the BBB. So he could be for immigration what Nixon was for China, what Reagan was for communism,
[25:27]what uh Lincoln was for slavery. This is the man who can do it. It's been 40 years where no one has dared to step up to the plate and say, "Let's solve this
[25:37]mess." It's simple. It's there. We can do it. It depends on Congress. As uh Secretary Gnome said that Congress needs to do its job and write legislation.
[25:49]Well, we did. We wrote the legislation. It's called the Dignity Act. It's not amnesty. It's dignity. And that is that's the least we expect from the American people. And you saw it. I mean
[25:59]there are uh some polls that are saying that 60 plus percent of the American uh people, the American audience agrees with some type of uh of immigration of
[26:11]of of immigrants being part of our economy. We're talking about the good people, not the bad umbra. >> You uh recently went to Alligator
[26:21]Alcatraz, so-called. What did you see there? Did you find anything disturbing? Do you wish you had more access? Did you wish you could interact with those who were being held there? And what do you
[26:32]say about the statistics that seem to indicate that a certain percentage of those who were there don't have criminal records, but are nevertheless described
[26:41]as the worst of the worst? >> Well, if you do not have a criminal record, I do not like the fact that you are uh that you're going to be deported
[26:52]because that is why the dignity status is I just presented. I'm going to report it as I was a news reporter for many years. It's a jail. People are in a
[27:02]cage. I sat on the beds. They're clean. They're soft. In those pots, as they call them, caged pots. You have 32
[27:11]males. You have three toilets of metal metal toilets. You have with a little wall to cover them when they're doing their business. You have two phones to call their attorneys or their family
[27:23]members. Is clean. You have another area which is the kitchen. We went through the kitchen. They provide two hot meals a day and if you need a kosher some
[27:34]specifications for kosher, they provide that. If you have allergy issues, they provide for allergies. Uh it was clean and it was very well presented. I'm talking to you about the areas where
[27:45]that I visited. We also went to this recreational area that it was all caged in. It has some grass. It was clean. It was big. and uh where people could
[27:55]exercise. After that, we went to this other area where the attorneys could be meeting with the detainees. There was another area where they could pray. Uh so, hey, no one wants to be there, but
[28:06]it meets the highest standards for any federal detention center or installation like this one. But it's not who is not the conditions is who wants up there. We just need to be deporting the bad
[28:18]ombres, the trendera, of course, but not the cleaning lady who's been here for 20 years. and may deserve some dignity and that's why we presented this legislation today
[28:29]>> on alligator Alcatraz. The DHS secretary Christine NMA said she wants five more like it. Based on what you witnessed, should America have at least five more
[28:39]facilities like so-called alligator Alcatraz >> with the dignity law when it becomes uh the law of the
[28:50]land. We ICE will then concentrate on those 600,000 illegals who are criminals, mass murderers, child sex traffickers, um rapists, go after those,
[29:02]but the ones who have been working for more than 5 years and do not have a criminal record and they're contributing to the economy. Those people are needed. And the first person who said it was the
[29:12]president. It's just that Congress, we just did our work. And I am sure that in life, everything is timing. And this is the perfect timing for this type of bill, which I'm telling you is not
[29:22]amnesty, is dignity, and is solommonic. You're breaking the baby into two. >> Congressman Maria Salazar, I'll put the Alviver in the middle there. Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it. Hope you'll come back.
[29:34]US inflation accelerated in June as President Trump's tariffs pushed up prices ever so slightly. Our Kellyio Grady standing by to tell us what it all means next here on the Takeout.
[29:46][Music] Welcome back to the Takeout. Thanks for hanging out with us. Here is a look at what else we and now you are watching.
[29:57]This evening, President Trump traveled to Pittsburgh today for the first Pennsylvania Energy Innovation Summit. He announced a record $90 billion in private sector investment, expanding the
[30:08]state's energy and artificial intelligence capabilities. There has been some push back to all this over the administration embracing fossil fuels for the nation's future energy needs and
[30:18]its stated use potentially of artificial intelligence for some surveillance practices. Computer design making giant Nvidia gave that NASDAQ a boost today after the company said it would resume
[30:30]sales of its processing chips to China. The announcement came after CEO Jensen Wong met with President Trump last week. Nvidia now says the White House has cleared the way for those sales after
[30:41]first restricting them, seeking to block China's use of American technology to advance its own military and AI systems. Last night on the takeout just before
[30:51]this news broke, I spoke with Steven Whit. He's the author of a book about the company and says this has been a long-term goal for Nvidia. Now, what Jensen really wants Trump to
[31:02]do is lift the ban on selling microchips to China, which Trump has not done. Uh, and so Jensen continues to sort of follow Trump around the world and and
[31:12]try and get his ear. >> We were quite a bit ahead of the curve last night here on the Takeout. Happy to say that. Now to the economy where a new report showed inflation accelerated last month and a sign that President Trump's
[31:23]tariffs are beginning to bite. The consumer price index rose 0.3% on a month-over-month basis and 2.7% annually. These are the largest
[31:34]increases seen since this past winter. CBS News moneywatch correspondent Kelly Grady joins me now. Kelly, this is like a streaming show with only one episode a
[31:44]month. So, what was the grabber in the episode today? Well, then I think the headline here is this is the first month where we saw
[31:53]meaningful impact from the tariff inflation or the tariff price increases. I think a lot of folks have been wondering when are you going to see that? And if you peel back the onion, you can see a couple of areas where this
[32:05]really shown through. Apparel was up 0.4%. That was higher than the monthly average. Furnishings up 1%, appliances up 1.9%. I highlight those because these
[32:15]are products that we import from overseas and they're subject to those import taxes. Now, I mean, it's not surprising because you had the Treasury
[32:25]touting that they have taken in 300% more in tariff revenue this past June than the month before or rather the year before. So, this was really the first time where economists said, "Yeah, this
[32:36]is what we've been talking all along. It's starting to show up in that headline number." And when it shows up, is it showing up, Kelly, in what economists regard as an alarming rate or
[32:47]something that mostly consumers are not feeling and companies are either absorbing through lower profits or some other means
[32:57]>> or as we've seen them sort of stockpiling products ahead of those tariffs ticking in. Look, this wasn't alarming, but this is showing inflation
[33:07]from a 10% tariff on most countries, 30% on China. So, what I'm hearing from economists is over the next 3 to 6 months, you're going to see this accelerate, especially as we move
[33:17]towards that August 1 deadline where you're going to see higher tariffs impacted on a wide range of countries. Obviously, there are deals that can be done, but right now, this is uh what
[33:28]economists are expecting, but right now, certainly not alarming. We're not at that 9% level that we saw in summer of 2022. >> Stay tuned for streaming inflation episodes in August and September. Kelly O'Grady, always a pleasure. Thanks so
[33:40]much. A new documentary goes inside the showdown between President Trump and the courts and of course Congress. I'll talk to one of the filmmakers about just how far the president appears to be willing
[33:51]to go to gain and expand presidential power. That's next here on the Takeout. As we discussed earlier, President Trump
[34:03]won another significant legal victory yesterday with the Supreme Court signing off on his mass firings at the Department of Education. How court decisions on actions taken by this
[34:13]second Trump administration are impacting its power and the power of the presidency as a whole is the compelling subject explored in a new documentary
[34:23]premiering tonight on PBS. Do we have the rule of law or do we have royal decrees? That's what's at stake here. >> You're not going to scare us and we're not going to stop. Our constitutional
[34:34]structure is definitely stressed. >> Joining me now, documentary filmmaker and the man behind this new feature, Michael Kirk. Michael, it's great to have you with us. Richard Nixon plays a
[34:45]prominent part in this documentary in that many reforms passed after he resigned the presidency now appear to be under assault willingly intentionally by
[34:56]this Trump administration. That's the thing. When we first saw the the chaos and the anger and the fear that happened in Washington as the second Trump administration got started,
[35:06]all those executive orders being sent out as as Steve Bannon called with said with muzzle velocity. Um, I've covered Trump enough and made enough films about
[35:17]him to know, well, maybe this is just a flash in the pan moment. Maybe it's the beginning of of of a victory lap and then it won't last. But it didn't take very long before we discovered that what
[35:29]he was really doing was he had real people around him who were really determined to do more than just babysit him as they did in the first term. And they were uh and and we talked to many
[35:39]of them. And over the last six months, we followed the trajectory of what we saw start with the way Congress and the American government constrained uh the
[35:49]presidency after Richard Nixon, after Watergate, and how these people, the people in the White House now, especially Donald Trump, are determined to break those constraints, testing the
[35:59]limits of uh of his power, hoping to revive that age-old Andrew or uh Alexander Hamilton idea of
[36:10]a very strong executive running the American government and feeling that he has a mandate. I think the president is giving it a try. And you have many prominent voices in and around this
[36:22]Trump White House in the documentary and the to a person say the following. He won the election. The election made him chief executive and what he says as chief executive goes. And when we put
[36:34]that question before the Supreme Court, this Supreme Court and its conservative majority answers back more often than not, you're right.
[36:44]Well, that's the big question. Uh, Major may be right about some of the things he's done. Test cases, USAD, the firings, uh, the IGs, the firings, early
[36:55]immigration efforts, taking people by dark of night on airplanes to El Salvador. These are all um test cases I
[37:05]think uh to see how far he can go and knowing that they're going to find their way through federal courts that are composed of justices or judges that are
[37:14]either his Obama's you know George W. Bushes, even Ronald Reagan uh jud judges who have found, you know, in in an awful
[37:24]lot of cases against the president, but these these are not for faint of heart these uh gambits that are going on and they know they're headed for the Supremes. That's that's the world
[37:36]they've planned for. Uh but the real question is the showdown uh that is looming is when it gets there when the cases the big cases actually get there
[37:47]next term probably maybe uh rule of law cases maybe habius corpus cases uh uh due process cases who knows whatever it
[37:56]is when it gets there can John Roberts and the marginal conservatives the ones that might be a little bit in play Coney Barrett Kavanaaugh perhaps uh Roberts
[38:07]himself. Uh will they come up with an opinion? They're trying to avoid it, but will they come up with an opinion where they say to the president, "You can't go this far." And then what will the
[38:18]president do? Bannon says he won't blink. That this is a moment that this will be a moment where executive power reaches its uh its peak and Trump will
[38:28]not blink. Well, everybody else I talked to, Judge Ludig, uh, Tai Cobb, uh, Peter Kaisler, they all say, "Well, that's that's the moment. We're at a
[38:40]constitutional crisis." >> Very quickly, Michael, in the interim, law firms, the media, others are yielding. Colleges, and Steve Bannon seems delighted about that. Very
[38:50]quickly, 30 seconds. >> Uh, yes, this is this is more than just playing around with the law. Uh he's also changing the culture, playing
[39:01]around with Congress that he he's doing that too. But the Smithsonian, the the Kennedy Center, universities, public television, it's all it's all on the
[39:11]agenda as as he feels. He he's doing what uh he was elected to do, which is uh uh practice democracy. That's what Bannon calls it. That's what Mike Davis
[39:21]calls it. This is democracy in action. uh Trump doing what he feels he has a mandate to do. >> Definitely in the eye of the beholder and those who want to behold that can watch tonight on PBS. Michael Kirk, our
[39:32]congratulations on the documentary. Well done. Next, my day at historic Ben's Chili Bowl. The DC landmark closes its doors for the first time in 67 years. But don't worry, it's just for renovations and of course a pledge to
[39:44]preserve the past. All that coming up next here on the takeout. You know, we love food here. I want to tell you this. Ben's Chili Bowl is not the best restaurant in Washington, but
[39:56]it is one of the most beloved. It's 67 years old on US Street corridor. It's not saying goodbye. It's taking a pause for renovations. Yesterday, I spoke with Ben's wife and co-founder, Virginia Ali,
[40:06]about efforts to plan for the future while holding tightly to the beloved past. If walls could talk, Ben's Chili Bowl, located in the heart of Washington
[40:16]DC's historic US Street corridor, has more than six decades of stories to tell. We'll get to the celebrities in a minute. What sustains Benz is a
[40:26]multi-generational flow of DC residents and tourists from across the country and from across the world. Ben's opened in 1958, the brainchild of newlyweds Ben
[40:37]and Virginia Ali. They converted an old movie theater into one of the best known blackowned businesses in the segregated nation's capital. >> We have never closed. We were open seven
[40:49]days a week and the only time we closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. >> Half smokes, chili, cheeseburgers, many a family recipe in service of a
[40:59]community inshed in civil rights history. >> Well, this was the entertainment center of African-Ameans. It was called Black Broadway. Harry Bellfonte could perform
[41:11]downtown, but they couldn't eat down there. Come on back up to You Street. >> Dr. Martin Luther King and his team helped plan the march on Washington while eating at Ben. The restaurant
[41:21]donated food to Throngs who marched in 1963. After King's assassination in 1968, riots engulfed the city, but Ben stayed
[41:31]open, exempted from a city curfew as a place of comfort and sustenance. >> I think we've shown our community and our young people stability.
[41:42]Young our family can work together for 67 years and we've made relationships with people from all walks of life.
[41:51]>> Ben passed away in 2009. Virginia is the leader of the family enterprise which has three other locations and is looking to expand. Mom to regulars, Virginia,
[42:02]aided by a cane at age 91, has achieved a gentle renown all her own. Rappers, comedians, movie stars, >> everybody. Yeah.
[42:12]>> Now I want to meet you. >> Everybody. But it was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. But we're all just people, you know.
[42:21]>> True. But the people on Ben's wall, massive stars who came when they were on the rise. Virginia's daughter-in-law Vita gave me a tour. >> This wall is when they were on their
[42:32]journey as you can see how young they were, you know. So we have Dave Chappelle. I know. Isn't that cool? Cuz he went to Duke Ellington right up the street. And then you have Tucker. Look
[42:42]at Chris Roth. Look at Serena. That's what's crazy. >> Serena looks like a teenager. >> I know. I know. I know. And look at She went on to make history in many ways. >> And this is Denzel.
[42:54]>> Denzel Pelican Brief was filmed here. So that's when he came in the restaurant. >> Inside the restaurant. Yeah. >> Bono. >> Bono. Of course, we love Bono. He comes in here when he's in town.
[43:05]>> Ben's also served up its juicy links to Presidents Obama and Bush. When it bends, you feel like a king and can eat like a president.
[43:14]>> Here's my appetizer. Nothing bashful about that.
[43:25]>> Ben's menu does not bow to passing foodie fads, but father time is cruel to old buildings, and Ben's needs a new roof, plumbing, air conditioning, the
[43:36]works. And so, the Ali family will close Ben's mothership location for 4 months. Virginia has already given the contractor's orders as strict as the
[43:47]cook time on a halfm smoke. >> Do not want a nice shiny stainless steel bench chil. >> That'd ruin everything, wouldn't it? >> Absolutely. >> It was all shiny and buffed up.
[43:59]>> No, we don't want that. >> Is that as much a part of your success as the food? The way people feel here? >> I hope so.
[44:08]like people to be can feel at home and they're walking this door from day one. >> That's it for the takeout today. Tomorrow, Vice President Mike Pence joins me here for his take on Trump 2.0
[44:20]and how he's staying politically active outside the beltway. Stick around. The daily report coming up next right here on CBS News 247. [Music]