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New Details Revealed as Kohberger Pleads Guilty to Student Murders; State Officials Scramble Amid Wall of Silence from FEMA; Airports Brace for Packed Fourth of July Travel Weekend. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired July 02, 2025 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA), CHAIR EMERITA, CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS: ... the White House owes an apology to the American people for what they are doing.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, thank you so much for being with us.
JAYAPAL: Thank you.
KEILAR: Brian Kohberger pleading guilty to killing four Idaho college students three years ago. What comes next?
We'll have that after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We're following more breaking news today out of Idaho. A short time ago, Bryan Kohberger admitted in court that he killed four college students who were found stabbed to death back in 2022. CNN's Jean Casarez was in the courtroom.
Jean, how are the victim's families reacting to this?
[15:35:00]
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they're reacting in different ways because, first of all, this was sort of sprung on them. They thought there was going to be a trial, a long trial, and they were prepared for that, ready for that. It wasn't until over the weekend they started to hear about that, and some families pushed back that they didn't want that. Of course, victims' families have to be notified.
However, it rests in the hands of the prosecutor what is actually going to happen. So, if you take the Goncalves family, and if you take Xana Kernodle's father, they have come out against this, saying, we want answers. We want to know why this person did this. We don't want it to be easy for him. We want him to face justice in the courtroom.
But today, the family of Maddie Mogen, through their attorney, said the opposite view, that they actually are finding some peace. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEANDER JAMES, ATTORNEY FOR MADISON MOGEN'S FAMILY: We support the plea agreement 100 percent. While we know there are some who do not support it, we ask that they respect our belief that this is the best outcome possible for the victims, their families, and the state of Idaho. We now embark on a new path.
We turn from tragedy and mourning. We turn from darkness and uncertainty of the legal process to the light of the future. We have closure.
We embark on a path of hope and healing. We invite all of those who have mourned with us to join us, and we wish you well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: The main question that may remain a mystery forever is why. Why did he murder these four particular people? And he's not going to be required -- that we know of -- to answer that question.
Now, we learned a couple of things today. The prosecution, lead prosecutor, talked about that when he was coming back down the stairs to the second floor, Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were on the third floor. So when he was coming back to the second floor, he bumped into, ran into Xana Kernodle, who was up eating her DoorDash.
So it appears as though the intent was going to the third floor, where those two best friends were, and then the second floor, you have to obviously to get yourself out. So that was one clue.
Here's one thing also that has never been spelled out in any pretrial hearing that I've heard, but we knew it. But we now know they never found the knife. The knife is gone. And you know, when Brian Kohberger was intently watching the prosecution, as they said, we have never found the murder weapon, the knife.
He didn't flinch. No emotion in court, except when he walked in and smiled at his lead attorney. There was a confidence about him today.
The courtroom was filled with the victim's families. No emotion, but such intensity in that courtroom. The sentencing is July 23rd, possibly the 24th.
The prosecutor said that there are so many family members of the victims, he wants each of them to be able to speak in court. The question is, will Brian Kohberger, on his own volition -- because there are no requirements here, it seems -- will he want to speak before the court also?
SANCHEZ: Jean Casarez, thank you so much for the update from Idaho.
Ahead, officials across the country say they cannot get answers on critical disaster relief funding. Why some say they feel like they've been ghosted by FEMA?
We'll be right back.
[15:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Brand new CNN reporting. This hurricane season, officials across the country report a disturbing wall of silence from FEMA. One disaster relief official in North Carolina tells CNN they have been ghosted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. President Trump has made it clear he plans to phase out the agency that Americans depend on during major disasters.
CNN's Gabe Cohen has our reporting on this, and Gabe, officials have been speaking to you on and off the record. What are they saying?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so the state and local emergency management officials are panicking right now because they say that FEMA is months behind its schedule in its process to make sure that billions of dollars in funding can get out the door in the months and years ahead. This is funding for counterterrorism, for cyber security, for local fire departments. It funds so many things, and there's growing concern that a lot of that money is going to go unspent.
And so these agencies right now are trying to figure out what's going on and what to prepare for, and they say they're struggling to get information out of FEMA. I talked to the head of Wyoming's Homeland Security Office who told me: It's very frustrating not to have good official information with lots and lots of rumors flying around, which creates anxiety for folks. I believe the regional level of FEMA is doing their very best to support us, but they are also being asked not to share too much information with us, and so it is very unfortunate.
And that really gets at this larger issue we're hearing about, which is this information lockdown happening at FEMA. I've been told by sources that regional FEMA staff have at times been told to limit their information sharing with those local partners, and I've also obtained memos that show this goes up to the federal level, that FEMA staff have been told not to communicate directly with lawmakers on The Hill, and even with the Office of Management and Budget and the National Security Council, which are part of the White House. So big questions there.
[15:45:04]
I asked the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, about this. They deny that there's any sweeping directive limiting those external communications. They say it's normal for a front office to want to know what's happening. But this memo --these memos we've obtained and the sources we're talking to indicate this really goes well beyond what's standard practice and their implications, their repercussions.
KEILAR: You've got the receipts there. OK, so what are the potential consequences of an information lockdown like this?
COHEN: Yes, so there's obviously concerns about transparency, that information sharing to The Hill or to the White House now has to be vetted by political appointees. But there's also this concern about a bottleneck, the bottleneck it creates, which is particularly alarming when they have to coordinate quickly during a disaster. I spoke to a former senior FEMA official who told me: To narrow the number of people who can actually do this engagement will create a choke point for that type of coordination, never mind the fact that the people now trusted to do that have no experience in disaster management.
And what they're referencing there is this group of Homeland Security officials who have been inserted into FEMA's front office in recent months to run the agency. They have very little experience dealing with natural disasters.
So all of this turmoil coming together, sort of crashing as there's been this mass exodus of experienced leaders at FEMA and hurricane season also getting underway.
KEILAR: Yes, certainly is an important time to have those kinds of resources in place. Gabe Cohen, great reporting. And thank you so much for sharing it with us.
COHEN: Thank you.
KEILAR: And it is time to pack your patience, as we like to say here at CNN NEWS CENTRAL. If you're among the millions of Americans who will be traveling this holiday, so how are airlines gearing up for what could be their busiest travel weekend of the year? We'll have that next.
[15:50:00]
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KEILAR: All right, get ready, people, for some long lines and some wait times. And you better pack your patience, because the airport's going to be a little maddening over the next few days.
The TSA says it expects to screen more than 18 million people for their flights over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, which is going to make people have to pack your patience, as Boris just loves to say.
SANCHEZ: Yes, yes, yes. In the parlance of TV news, pack your patience is among the worst things that we --
KEILAR: Oh, no.
SANCHEZ: -- include in our broadcast. CNN Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean agrees, right, Pete?
Nobody, who says that?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Punch the graphic back up. That should say, sorry, Pete Muntean, for having to do this riff over and over.
SANCHEZ: You're the aviation guy, so you're forced to deal with pack your patience constantly.
MUNTEAN: It has become such a thing now that even in the TSA news release leading up to this, it said you might have to pack your patience.
I was like, you got to be kidding. Anyway, we love a cliche though, don't we?
SANCHEZ: To be fair, passengers will have to pack some patience this weekend.
MUNTEAN: I think we should talk about driving first, because this is sort of more of a driving holiday to me when you consider so many people leaving town to get to the beach. And the bottom line here is if you're traveling this weekend, you are about to become the traffic. Sorry.
AAA says nationwide another 1.3 million people will drive 50 miles or more compared to the last July 4th rush. And Independence Day falling on a Friday this year is making things kind of interesting. Technically, that's when the federal holiday is observed.
But a lot of people are getting a jump on things now, meaning today is the busiest on the roads before the holiday. Unsurprisingly, Sunday will be the busiest after the holiday.
Here's the big advice from AAA. Try to drive in the morning before noon or 11 a.m. in most cases. The worst times to drive generally in the afternoon and evening. Today is bad until about 9 p.m., according to AAA, in general. So if you're not left already, probably hosed.
Think of airports, too. That's a big thing here, because even though I think of it as a driving holiday, a lot of people are going to be traveling by air. And TSA says it will screen 18.5 million people at airport checkpoints nationwide through Monday. That's a big total over the totality of the holiday weekend.
Sunday, again, will be the busiest. That's when TSA anticipates 2.9 million people at airports, which is pretty close to the all-time high. This kind of slinked under the radar, pardon the pun, but TSA screened 3.1 million people on June 22nd, only a couple weeks ago, right after the Juneteenth holiday. Here are the busiest airports this weekend, according to travel site Hopper.
Hard to avoid. Atlanta, DFW, Denver, Chicago, O'Hare, LAX, some big hubs for airlines. A lot of people will be making connecting flights. You may expect some delays in security if you don't have Real ID. That mandate went into effect on May 7th, and TSA is handing out warnings to those who are not compliant.
That's the actual one you get, which might slow things down a little bit. I had this happen to me in a line not long ago. The good news is TSA says about 94 percent of travelers have a Real ID now, so things are improving, although there may be a couple snags here and there.
KEILAR: OK, there was a snake on a plane and a delay. What happened there? Snake on a plane.
MUNTEAN: I tried to duck, dip, dive, and dodge the story, but they called, so this was in Australia.
KEILAR: I made you do it. I said we're doing it.
MUNTEAN: Oh wow, I didn't even know there was video. This is a snake catcher.
KEILAR: It's a whole movie.
MUNTEAN: His name is -- his name is -- it's a whole movie. I saw it in theaters with my idiot high school friends in 2006.
[15:55:00]
This is a guy named Mark Pelley, and I looked him up, snakecatcher.com.au, and he is -- was near Melbourne Airport in Australia where they heard of this snake in this Virgin Australia flight in the cargo hold. It is a green tree snake. It's not venomous, although expert Mark here thought it could be venomous, so he raced out there, tried to get the snake off the plane, was successful. They can't release it back into the wild, which is kind of interesting here, so they're releasing it to a specific snake handler.
Mark seems to have a corner on this market, and he -- he is, he -- pardon another pun, man, I'm really on fire today. And it seems that this snake is going to be OK in the long run, but you know, it wasn't, it wasn't on the plane like Samuel L. This wasn't like while they were in the air. They were still on the ground.
They were delayed two hours.
KEILAR: Snake on a plane. Pete Muntean, thank you. We'll be right back.
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[16:00:03]
KEILAR: Look out, Messi move over Ronaldo. The world's first humanoid robot soccer league kicked off in Beijing. A preview for the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games.
SANCHEZ: And if this was a preview, it's going to suck because these robots were terrible. Yes, during the competition, a lot of them fell down. They had to be carried off on stretchers, flopping if you ask me.
KEILAR: What are they doing?
SANCHEZ: Yes, I don't think we're going to get Terminator anytime soon.
Anyway, thanks for joining us this afternoon. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now. END
