News Wrap: Trump refuses to answer questions in civil investigation

Judy Woodruff:

Inflation in the U.S. has eased, at least modestly, for the first time in months. The Labor Department reports that consumer prices were up 8.5 percent in July from a year ago.

Still, that was slower than the 9.1 percent jump in June from the previous year. And on a monthly basis, there was no net increase from June to July, as President Biden noted at the White House.

President Joe Biden:

Today, we received news our economy had zero percent inflation in the month of July, zero percent.

Here's what that means. While the price of some things go up — went up last month, the price of other things went down by the same amount, the result, zero inflation last month. But people are still hurting.

Judy Woodruff:

We will take a closer look at inflation's effects later in the program.

Former President Trump says that he refused today to answer questions in a civil investigation of his real estate dealings. He traveled to the office of New York's attorney general in Manhattan and left six hours later. He said he invoked his right against self-incrimination.

In a statement, he said — quote — "The raid of my home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday by the FBI wiped out any uncertainty. I have absolutely no choice" — end quote.

The Mar-a-Lago search was unrelated to the New York investigation.

The U.S. Justice Department has charged an Iranian national with targeting John Bolton for assassination. Bolton was a one-time national security adviser to then-President Trump. Federal officials say that a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard tried to hire a hit man to kill Bolton. We will return to this after the news summary.

China announced today that it's winding down military drills around Taiwan. The war games saw Chinese ships and planes crossing into Taiwanese waters and airspace. China said today that it will continue regular patrols in the area.

In Beijing, officials again cited the Taiwan visit by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through translator):

Every time the U.S. side makes a serious provocative act of infringing on China's sovereignty, the Chinese side will resolutely fight back. China will never allow its sovereignty and territorial integrity to be wantonly trampled on.

Judy Woodruff:

Speaker Pelosi said today that China used her trip as an excuse to make aggressive new moves in the region.

Kenya waited today for results from Tuesday's presidential election. As ballot counting continued, some early tallies showed Deputy President William Ruto leading with just over 50 percent of the vote. Human rights groups urged calm and warned of false claims about the vote circulating on social media.

Back in this country, Trump supporters have scored more primary wins. Republicans who reject the 2020 election results were nominated Tuesday in Wisconsin and Minnesota for offices that could oversee elections. Also in Wisconsin, Trump-endorsed candidate Tim Michels won the GOP gubernatorial nomination. And, in Washington state, Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler conceded defeat in last week's Republican primary. She had voted to impeach Mr. Trump after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

President Biden signed a bill today to expand benefits for military veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. They were used in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of chemicals, plastics and human waste. The bill also expands a number of existing health care benefits for veterans.

And, on Wall Street, stocks advanced on the news that inflation backed off a bit in July. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 535 points to close at 33309, up 1.6 percent. The Nasdaq rose nearly 3 percent. The S&P 500 was up 2 percent.