? we cannot let these republicans run away with this narrative. guest: thank you. you are correct. she did not destroy with a hammer cell phones. that is another one of these conspiracy theories that is out there that is not true. were there emails that were deleted? yes, they were. but an investigation done by the trump administration found that those were not intentionally deleted to subvert a subpoena and they were not classified documents. at the end of the day trump was not indicted by his peers but by other americans for the boxes and boxes of documents he had. he had 31 counts of indictments for classified materials.

material that is detrimental for him possessing. it is detrimental and can cause great harm to the national security of our country. host: congresswoman stacey 828 with the handle -- a tweet or with the handle @ c-spanwj. this is what gallup found out in may. 61% say recent price increases have cause hardship, up from 55%. 15% say it is severe. 46% say it is moderate. more mention inflation as the most important financial problem than any other. do you also sha tse sentiments? if so, we want to hear from you this morning, and tell us how inflation has in fact impacted

you. jerome powell yesterday held his quarterly news conference. here's what he had to say about the fed's decision to pause, for now, interest rate hikes. [video clip] >> my colleagues and i remain focused on our mandate to promote employment and stable prices for the american people. we understand the hardship that high inflation is causing and we remain strongly committed to bringing inflation back down to our 2% goal. price stability is the responsibility of the federal reserve. without stability the economy works for no one. without price stability we will not achieve a sustained period of labor market conditions that benefit all. since early last year the fomc has tightened monetary policy. we have raised our interest rate five percentage points and continued to reduce our security

holdings at a brisk pace. we covered a lot of ground and the full effects of our tightening have yet to be felt. in light of how far we have come the uncertain lags with which it affects the economy, the potential headwinds from credit tightening, today we decided to leave our policy rate unchanged and to reduce our security holdings. looking ahead nearly all participants view it as likely that some further rate increases will be appropriate this year to bring inflation down to 2% over time. host: jerome powell yesterday. we are wanting to talk you this morning about how inflation has impacted you personally after the fed decided yesterday to pause interest rate hikes due to a cooling of the economy. as you have heard or may be read in the papers, the federal

reserve is expected to raise at least two more times. alan in brooklyn, new york. how has it impacted you? caller: my suggestion is that more attention should be given to the thoughts of elizabeth warren and bernie sanders about failure to enforce antitrust rules in ways that would prevent large companies from exerting an increasingly profound force on controlling prices. i believe until we recognize that is a powerful force for inflation as the power of individual workers getting salary increases, then using the one tool of raising interest rates to cut jobs to control inflation is a backward way of handling things. we need to revisit the system and have other tools in the

fed's basket besides raising interest rates when large companies have such control. host: we have heard your thought. tell us personally how it has impacted you. caller: i do not think it has affected me as much as the knowledge that, politically, we are creating a very strong back lash among people losing job security and losing the ability to get home loans and car loans and consumer loans at affordable prices. when the superrich are accumulating wealth at record levels, that is a better avenue for controlling inflation long-term. host: got it. caller: take the buying power out of that end. host: here is the new york times. food prices rise even as inflation eases, straining consumer's budget. prices at grocery stores kicked up 0.2%, an increase after

prices remained flat for two months. here is the monthly changes in may for consumer's purchasing power. used cars and trucks 0.4% increase. motor vehicle insurance increases, fruits and vegetables increases, hospital services up 1%, non-alcoholic beverages up, medicare commodities, tobacco, motor vehicle maintenance, food away from home, alcoholic beverages, rent of primary residence already seeing an uptick. jason in wake forest, north carolina, republican. caller: it affected me like it affected everybody else. good morning. host: good morning. caller: i guess the communist /socialist pedophile network is done spreading hate on donald

trump again? host: robert in michigan, independent. caller: hello? host: hi, robert. what are your thoughts on inflation? caller: good morning. it does not affect me too much. a little bit but i am doing all right. yeah, i cut down on my spending here and there. i do not drive as much as i used to, but i don't feel it as much as a lot of people. host: what do you hear from people when they are complaining? what do they point to? caller: well, they play the blame game and i do not associate with many people in my

area because it is what it is around here. there is a lot of people that love to complain. one small thing about this national security issue. host: we are going to stick to the inflation question. marcus in arizona, republican. caller: hello. inflation has definitely affected me. i am an attorney and i had to move in with my parents and i even had to apply for food stamps. those will be coming soon. gas prices are really high. just all kinds of bills. host: gilbert in san juan, texas, democratic caller. how has inflation impacted you? caller: it has caused me to spend more money buying eggs. host: what have you done in

response? how have you cut back, if at all? caller: i have cut back on excessive medicine. host: you have? what were you paying and how much did you cut back? caller: i had to cut back based on the rate of inflation, like 3%. host: across-the-board? caller: across-the-board. host: what does that mean for you? what sort of fun have you eliminated? caller: fun? host: yes. caller: i am not having any fun because i am having to deal with medicines. host: i see. a reminder that you have to turn down the tv. marie in california, independent. caller: good morning.

i wanted to say we are focused on the buzzword of inflation but what we are ignoring is that there is -- yes, there is an inflation problem -- but it is corporate greed. we cannot chalk it up to just inflation when all these companies are having record-breaking profit years. we need to have our government put in checks and balances with this and try to give more back to the working class. maybe, you know, cut back what the ceo's are making and giving to those producing so they get more of the benefit of the products and services they are providing. i have an advanced degree in a field that is in very high demand. i worked two jobs, 12 hours a day. host: we lost you.

caller: it is insane. thank you. host: you said you work 12 hours a day? caller: i work 12 hours a day. i have an advanced degree and can barely support my family. i have one husband, one kid. that's it. there is three of us and i am barely surviving working two jobs, 12 hours a day, with an advanced degree. i cannot afford to go to the doctor because of medical bills. host: what are your bills? what are your expenses? caller: i have a mortgage, which i was lucky enough to lock in when there was a lower interest rate. obviously, utilities. i personally have to take several medications for my health. i had to go off of two of them because i could not afford them anymore. we have my son's preschool. we have gas. we have car payments.

it is not like we are living the high life. we do not get to take vacations, we do not visit family that lives across country. it is definitely far from the life of luxury. host: student debt? any debt for that advanced degree? caller: oh, yes. i was fortunate that my dad helped me with half of my undergraduate degree, but i had to pay for half of that and entirely for my advanced degree. i am at $63,000 in debt and my husband is a full-time student. we have about $40,000 in debt for him so far. we are over $100,000 in debt. and the student loan forgiveness with the interest would have made such a huge difference as it would have for so many middle-class and lower-class americans. it feels like the rug got pulled out from under us.

that commercial where they are dangling the dollar, like, "i got you a dollar." that is what it the government did to us. there was a light in the tunnel and they pulled it away. it is heart wrenching to be frank. host: how much is your student loan bill every month? caller: hundreds. hundreds of dollars. host: marie in california. we are talking about the impact of inflation on your wallet as the federal reserve yesterday decided to pause interest rate hikes. look at the national newspapers. the wall street journal said, causes rate hikes but signals more. this is what the report was. after holding the rate near 0%, they raised at every meeting since march 2022 by a cumulative five percentage points, the most rapid series of increases since

the 1980's. officials slowed their increases this year, lifting the rate a quarter percentage point at the last three meetings. here is the new york times, fed ends string of raising rates. policymakers predicted they might need to raise rates two more times this year as inflation, while moderating, remains stubborn. and then from the money section of usa today, fed holds off on rate hikes but indicates more to come. by next year the central bank expects to cut rates to 4.6% amid a weak economy and lower inflation. two more increases, according to the papers, but by next year the central bank expected to cut rates to 4.6%. you may have heard the fed chair

say they still all have the goal on the board of achieving that 2% inflation rate. from the washington post this morning, fed leaves rates unchanged, signaling new phase in its fight against inflation. they say according to lindsay owens, executive director of the groundwork collaborative, urged the fed to stop raising altogether last year and raise alarms about the potential hit to the job market if the fed did not back off. owens said it was a good sign the fed did not raise further this week but she cautioned there were already signs of weaknesses that it should not ignore. and last month's job report, we saw the black unemployment rate tick back. an unnecessary push on rate hikes. we know who is going to be impacted. not that we did not know it before, but we are starting to see it. the black unemployment rate rose

nearly a fully percentage point to 5.6% in may. the current unemployment rate is 3.7%. peacher in west palm beach, florida, democratic caller. good morning. caller: good morning. im 92-year-old, retiree, and a union worker from 18 till i was 60-years-old. i retired 31 years. i have accumulated enough money to live very comfortably where inflation does not bother me. i put some money in the market. it keeps me financially sound. i have no mortgage payment. no car payment. the fact that union workers are better off than any workers around because we have had decent salaries, we have security, we had medical coverage. you ask any union worker today how the situation is. you would find out union workers are very well off because they

are paid well and the bosses have to pay them a decent salary. host: are you saying inflation has not impacted you? caller: not at all. i live a very comfortable life. i can go out to restaurants. i can still play golf. financial problems, i do not have. host: im going to hear from scott in dallas, texas. independent. what is your situation? caller: it has impacted me in good ways and bad ways. the good ways is that we have been able to get yields on bonds and notes we have not seen in years. my cash is really working better for me. unfortunately, i recently had an accident. my car was totaled and i figured

out what i would pay for the car versus the reimbursement from the insurance company, and for the five years that i have a car, it cost me $239 per month. i have no debt and no long-term debt. as far as the bad news, yes, food prices have risen, but i am not going to cut out beef or chicken or go vegan. i will pay the higher price and i am still working at age 67 and able to save money. on the good side, last >> we are going to leave this program but watch online. as we take you live to discussion on u.s. trade policy. you are watching live coverage on c-span.