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Search and Rescue Efforts in Flood-Ravaged Texas Enter Day 5; Sean Combs' Attorney Propose October 3 for His Sentencing; Rubio Imposter Uses AI to Contact Officials. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 08, 2025 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Here in flood ravaged Central Texas, the latest confirmed death toll has risen to 108, and in about 90 minutes, Governor Greg Abbott is going to give an update on the state's response. Rescuers and volunteers are now hacking through massive piles of debris and fallen trees in and around the Guadalupe River, desperately hoping to find victims of these catastrophic floods.

And at Camp Mystic, five campers and one counselor remain unaccounted for, but officials have been unable to provide the total number of people still missing as the search now enters its fifth day.

Joining us to talk about this important work is Mikki Hastings, president of the National Association for Search and Rescue. Mikki, thank you so much for being with us. As this search and rescue operation stretches now into a fifth day, hopes start to dwindle that someone is going to be found alive.

If you could talk to us about the challenges that crews face knowing the likelihood of these outcomes.

MIKKI HASTINGS, PRESIDENT, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE: Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me. I think that the crews that are out there are keeping all hope that they are going to find somebody alive. That's what motivates them to keep going until they find out otherwise. That's their hope.

The conditions along the river are pretty strenuous for searchers. Whenever the water comes up, it takes all the debris down with it. And whenever the water recedes, all the debris stays in their search area, basically. So they're having to look through basically everything that has come down through the river.

It's muddy in the area. There's a lot of debris. There's a lot of snakes. There's a lot of challenges for the searchers that are out there.

[14:35:00]

SANCHEZ: Yes, no doubt. And one potential additional challenge could be water, more water coming that could impact search and recovery and relief efforts. I wonder how teams adapt given that potential. HASTINGS: Well, a lot of times whenever they're on search operations, they're receiving up-to-date weather reports in their particular area that they're working. So they're monitoring those. And if there is warnings in that area or a threat in that area, then they are having to adjust for that.

SANCHEZ: And Mikki, I understand that you worked on the Albert Pike floods in Arkansas. How does that compare to what you're seeing in Central Texas? In the context of the country's most devastating flooding events?

HASTINGS: In 2010, we had the Albert Pike flood here. And the situation with that is very similar to what has occurred in Texas. There is a lot more devastation from the Texas flood.

But we had -- we had a significant amount of rain that dropped in the middle of the night in the watershed above the Little Missouri River. The water level come up very quickly in the middle of the knight. It was in an area where there wasn't a lot of cell phone service or a lot of television reports or anything like that.

So it did catch a lot of people off guard. It ended up -- we ended up having 13 adults and seven children who were lost in that flood. Very, very similar situation.

SANCHEZ: Mikki Hastings, great to get your point of view. Thank you so much for joining us.

HASTINGS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We are learning more about those lost to these devastating historic floods. The family of Hannah and Rebecca Lawrence are mourning the loss of their twin girls. These sisters had just finished the second grade, and they were spending the summer together at Camp Mystic.

Their father told our affiliate KTVT, Hannah and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their bigger sister, Harper, and to so many others. We're going to keep finding ways to hold on to that joy and to continue to spread it for them. But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them and that they shared with each other is now frozen in time.

Hannah and Rebecca were just eight years old. We'll be right back.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: A court hearing just wrapped up minutes ago for the newly convicted felon, Sean Diddy Combs, and his attorneys are no longer trying to fast-track his sentencing. Less than a week ago, a jury convicted the rap mogul on federal charges of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted him on the more serious crimes of racketeering and sex trafficking. After initially hoping to push sentencing up, Combs' lawyers are now asking for October 3rd. Now, that's the same date the judge proposed shortly after the verdict was read. Combs remains in custody after being denied bail, and his spokesperson says after his big win in court, he received a standing ovation from his fellow inmates.

Joining us now, trial and defense attorney Misty Marris. Misty, always great to have you. Thank you so much for being here.

First, what do you think happened with the defense? Why now propose the date that the judge initially proposed?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, so initially the defense wanted to move this up, and they had proposed September 22nd. And then in a really short hearing, the defense went back to that October 3rd date. The reason that that happened is likely because the probation department has to sign off on that timeline.

The probation department's role in sentencing is actually really important. They prepare a report, which is called a risk assessment, and make a recommendation about what the sentence should be. And it's something that the judge takes into consideration.

So that risk assessment takes a bit of time for the probation department to put together, usually about 11 weeks. And if you do that calculation, that brings you right up to about October 3rd. So my guess is that the probation department pushed back a little bit on that expedited timeline.

DEAN: And on the day of the verdict, his lawyers, Sean Diddy Combs' lawyers, said they wanted the process, you know, expedited. And you're talking about why this would change. It's likely because the parole has to sign off.

Is that probably the likeliest reason they would change their mind?

MARRIS: It probably is. And I think they wanted it expedited because, remember, they asked for bail. They asked for Combs to have the opportunity to serve on house arrest up until the sentencing.

They've also, in another submission to the court, have said he should not be serving this time in between the verdict, where he was acquitted on the more serious charges, and the sentencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center, known to be one of the harshest prisons in the federal system, that he should actually go to a prison with less -- more moderate security for less violent offenders. So they've made that argument.

And I think that's why they wanted to expedite this, because they wanted to see if they could get Combs some relief in some form. But I do think that probation report, the defense wants that too, because every -- the sentence is going to be in the judge's discretion.

[14:45:00]

Prosecutors have already said they're going to ask for more time than the guidelines, the federal guidelines, something the judges pay attention to. What does a sentence look like for an individual that was convicted of these crimes? Prosecutors are going to ask for something harsher, whereas the defense is asking for something on the lower end.

So this risk assessment report is likely to be important to both sides, the defense included. And I think that's why we saw this pivot today.

DEAN: And Misty, how much time are we talking about? What amount of time could he face?

MARRIS: So we actually got a significant preview from the bail arguments. Remember, both sides submitted papers to the judge. They submitted their arguments. And the defense said that, pursuant to the federal guidelines, this would be about two years. That's the type of sentence we should be looking at with what's called time served, meaning the time that he's been behind bars would cut against that.

So not -- if that's what ends up happening, not much longer than he's already served would he still be incarcerated.

Now, prosecutors did what they called a rough calculation, and they said the lowest amount of time that he should be serving is about five years. But they intend to ask for what's called an upward departure.

That means they want to ask for something even more than that five- year calculus and likely to be something closer to what the maximum is, which would be 10 years per conviction, so 20 years total.

You know, we're likely to see something, I think -- if I had to use my crystal ball and predict something within those guidelines, between that two and that five, again, that's within the judge's discretion. And that probation report, that's going to give us a lot of information about where the judge may land. The judges do tend to take that report into consideration significantly when making their determination.

DEAN: And just, you know, continuing with this crystal ball of yours, did you hear anything during this particular hearing that could preview what we might see at sentencing? Any indication?

MARRIS: Well, we know that they set a schedule for not only the probation report and when that's going to come out but gives the defense the time to actually contest what might be in there. Remember, everything is about these federal sentencing guidelines. The prosecution is saying that these are crimes of violence.

The defense has argued that he was actually acquitted of the crimes that relate to force, fraud and coercion and racketeering. So that's going to be the critical question. And those are going to be the arguments that we can preview.

My crystal ball -- sometimes it's a little rusty, but a lot of times we can predict at least what the arguments are going to be. It's really going to be all about what are we look at in criminal justice? We look at rehabilitation, punishment and deterrence. Those are the three tenets of the criminal justice system when it comes to punishment. So we're going to see those arguments coming, mitigating factors from the defense, aggravating factors from the prosecution.

DEAN: All right, Misty Marris, always great to have you. Thanks so much.

MARRIS: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, someone used AI to pose as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, trying to trick a governor, a member of Congress and some foreign ministers. Details on how this happened next.

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DEAN: CNN has learned someone used AI to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then contacted at least five people, including foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress. All of this is according to a diplomatic cable.

I want to go to CNN State Department reporter Jennifer Hansler, who has more on all of this. It's kind of shocking, Jennifer, to think about that this was able to go on as far as it did. What did the cable say? Why was it sent?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Jessica, this cable really goes into details on this effort for someone to impersonate the secretary of state. It says that back in mid-June, someone, they don't know who yet, set up a signal chat using the username Marco.Rubio@state.gov. Of course, not his real e-mail address. It goes on to describe how this person left voice-mails on Signals for at least two targeted individuals, and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal.

Now, it said that this person also likely aimed to manipulate targeted individuals using AI-generated text and voice messages with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts.

Now, they contacted at least five people, and those include very important people, three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress. And of course, this could have really chilling implications if someone were to actually fall for this impersonation of the top U.S. diplomat.

So this note went out to all embassies and consulates last Thursday, and it was advising them, hey, you might want to tell external partners that there is this impersonation attempt going on, not only of Secretary of State Rubio, but a separate Russian-backed attempt to also impersonate State Department officials, Jessica.

DEAN: Incredible. And what else is the State Department saying?

HANSLER: Well, the State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce actually just addressed this at our briefing just a little while ago. She said she couldn't really get into details, but she noted that they are, of course, aware of this matter, they are investigating it, and that they are taking seriously their responsibility to safeguard information, and they are continuously taking steps to improve their cybersecurity here. But she said this is something that they are looking into -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Jennifer Hansler at the State Department, thanks so much for that reporting.

And stay with CNN for much more of our breaking news coverage of the deadly floods in Texas. As we head into our break, we do want to remember one of the victims.

[14:55:00]

Holly Frizzell is among the more than 100 lives lost. Her son shared her obituary on social media, reading, her personality was larger than life, magnetic, warm, and unforgettable. Her laugh was her signature, distinctive, booming, and full of joy. Holly leaves behind two children and four grandchildren who called her Lolly. She was 72 years old.

We'll be right back.

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