Authority to Fire: CDC’s Susan Monarez & Fed’s Lisa Cook 8/28/25

Squawk Pod

CNBC

Business News, News, Investing, Business

4.2 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The White House on Wednesday said it had fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez after she refused to resign. Dr. Kavita Patel, former White House health policy director, discusses the implications for public health and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. policies. Then, while President Donald Trump attempts to remove Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, economists raise questions on Fed independence. Chris Hughes, Economic Security Project co-chair and Facebook co-founder shares his thoughts on the White House’s pressure on the Federal Reserve, as well as the risks and rewards of AI content. Plus, Tesla’s sales in Europe plunged in July, marking the company’s seventh consecutive month of declines while sales of Chinese rival BYD surged. Dr. Kavita Patel - 4:01 Chris Hughes - 16:37 In this episode: Leslie Picker, @LesliePicker Wilfred Frost, @WilfredFrost Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Cameron Costa, @CameronCostaNY

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bring in show music, please.
0:03.0	This is Squawk Pod, and I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa.
0:08.0	On today's episode, the nation's health system in operational chaos.
0:14.0	The CDC director ousted after refusing to resign.
0:19.0	They accused Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of, quote, weaponizing public health.
0:25.6	All while our vaccine and public health policies are shifting.
0:30.6	Former White House policy director, Dr. Kavita Patel, joins us.
0:34.6	There's more confusion about everything from the top, because if you go to a government
0:39.8	website, I'm not sure that you can trust the clinical information they're recommending.
0:44.5	And Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes now leads the economic security project, and he's speaking
0:51.2	out against the White House's push to influence the Fed, from the inside and from the outside.
0:57.0	The reality is that this is the most aggressive assault on Fed independence that we have ever seen.
1:02.0	Plus, Chinese EV maker, BYD in the left lane.
1:07.0	The company has overtaken Tesla in Europe.
1:10.0	Maybe our cars, even though we'd like to think we've got great cars, will never catch up or be as good.
1:16.6	It's Thursday, August 28th. Squawk Pod begins right now.
1:21.8	Stand and under five. Three, two, one, up and enter two.
1:27.0	Good morning and welcome to Squackbox right here on CNBC.
1:30.0	I'm Andrew Ross Sorkin, along with Leslie Picker and Wilford Frost in for Becky and Joe.
1:35.2	We've got a big show that we continues to be crazy in terms of just the amount of news coming at us, guys.
1:42.0	The Trump administration firing the director of the CDC hours after she refused to resign.
1:48.0	In a statement, a White House spokesman said Susan Menares is not aligned with the president's
	...

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