this is an embarrassment to the senate, to the country, to the founders, and all that they profess to hold dear. comedian and veterans advocate jon stewart is here, standing up for veterans and explaining why this could be a matter of life and death. plus, right now the january 6th committee is interviewing high profile names from donald trump s white house, and they re in talks to speak with even more. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. heightened fears that the u.s. economy is on the verge of a recession or is already in one. the numbers released this morning show the u.s. economy shrank for the second quarter in a row. that is the common definition of a recession. this comes just hours after the federal reserve raised interest rates once again, forcing americans to pay more for loans or credit card bills. the official rules of whether we re in a recession will come from the national bureau of economic research. but joe biden is dismissing these concerns. he says
pbs, rick stengel, an msnbc political analyst and gordon chang, newsweek columnist. yammish, what do we know about this call between president biden and president xi jinping? we know the president for a long time has called china the u.s. s main competitor and said there is this really tug of war between democracy and autocracy this is really a high-stakes call and also a call president biden is welcoming because he has said diplomacy is the thing america should be known for. he s said over and over again that america is back. there s a lot going on there. we should also note that hanging over this call is the potential trip between house speaker nancy pelosi and taiwan. there s a lot of criticism coming from china, based on reporting, that says she should not take this trip and it could set off a sort of crisis. others are saying, if she cancels that trip, the u.s. would look week, including to nations like japan. there s a lot going on the domestic front and the nationa
president hopes to as the president tries of add this this bill to the suddenly bill to the stunningly good jobs numbers good jobs at which numbers as wet might is being shape up to be the best called the best week of his presidency so far. week of his presidency that s for. plus, just days after plus just days after a majority help clear majority firm in state of of indiana abortion rights, the has taken a major step to state of indiana has taken a major step to restrict those rights. i will talk to the women who spearheaded the kansas effort. we re first gonna start in washington, senators have taken to the floor to begin that rare saturday session where democrats hope to pass that spending package. some republican senators promised to create some problems today to elongate the process, democrats appear to be a united front, with senator brian schatz tweeting out that all 50 democrats will vote amendments on the floor today to ensure the passage of the package. this coming
beijing has stopped cooperation with the u.s. on military operations and climate change. meanwhile, russia indicates it is ready to discuss a prisoner swap, one day after a court sentenced brittney griner to nine years in prison. we begin with the increasingly complicated state of the u.s. economy, after a string of not so great data on economic growth, inflation, and consumer sentiment. a sign that things may not be as bad as many think. the government says employers added 528,000 jobs in july, more than double what experts had predicted. the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5%, and when you break down that number, the numbers fell for minorities. president biden state more people are working than at any point in american history. that s millions of families with the dignity and peace of mind that a paycheck provides. he goes on to say there s more work to do, but today s jobs report shows we are, quote, making significant progress for working families. with us now to
right now with connell mcshane. the consumer is really feeling it. not in a good way. in a perfect world, americans would have slowly built confidence back post pandemic. there s now the new signs where actually that we re going back in time instead of moving forward. look at this chart. today s reading on consumer confidence, the lowest since february of last year. mostly because people continue to say their present situation, how they are right now, is getting worse, thanks in large part to inflation. too much of a hassle. we have two kids, both work. drive to a different supermarket, go somewhere else or look for savings. we re biting the bullet. everything is more expensive. supplies for him. i spend a lot of money on blackberries and cherries. so i m cutting back on my fancy fruits. for those worried about recession, walmart s profit forecast didn t help. gigantic retailer that is the largest private employer in the country cut its outlook. saying consumers are