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At Least 111 Dead, 170+ Missing In Catastrophic Texas Flooding; MAGA World Outraged Over DOJ's Handling Of Epstein Investigation; Family Climbs On Hotel Roof To Escape Deadly Flooding. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 09, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking this morning at least three people are dead, including two children, after flash flooding in New Mexico. Nearly three inches of rain fell on ground already scarred by wildfires.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You can see that home just getting washed away.

This is what the woman who shot that video said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLYN CARPENTER, FLOOD EYEWITNESS: I thought I would just wait it out and it kind of just went from bad to worse to be honest. The flood started and then a really big flood just came -- like a wall of flood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yeah. It just took that house right away.

With us now is CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Derek, what are you seeing this morning?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, John. It was yet another tragic flash flooding event that unfolded in New Mexico late yesterday in Rio Ruidoso. And what struck me as peculiar and very fascinating about this video is just how quickly this torrent of mud, boulder, trees, and even an entire home swept down this river -- which by the way, has an unconfirmed record-breaking crest of 20 feet, which is shattering its old record by five feet. Look at how quickly it's moving.

And this type of flash flooding is different than what we could potentially experience on the East Coast, and I'll tell you the difference right now.

This is known as North American monsoon flash floods and it's heavily dependent on the terrain out in the western parts of the U.S. But it's very fast moving. It picks up all the debris along with it. And you can see how quickly it moves. Again, the burn scars there are making this area particular vulnerable with recent wildfires last year across Lincoln County. We only had about 3 1/2 inches. Compare that to the 20-plus inches across Texas.

But it's all about the topography. Where it funnels that water into the rivers and the tributaries. And there is that spike. The unconfirmed record-breaking river rise of nearly 20 feet -- just incredible.

Now on the East Coast we have our own flash flood threat today but this, of course, is more susceptible to the urban areas. So we can quickly overwhelm the drainage systems across some of these dense urban corridors cross the mid-Atlantic. So it can't get absorbed into the ground and so what does it do? Water seeks its own level and raises.

So tonight's flash flood threat across the mid-Atlantic really from suppertime through the overnight hours as a band of showers and storms move through. These could be efficient rainfall makers -- two to three inches per hour. Any of these storms that set up over the same locations could produce this localized flash flood threat -- John.

BERMAN: It's over the entire southeast. Look at that map there.

All right, Derek Van Dam. Thank you --

VAN DAM: Right.

BERMAN: -- very much for that.

VAN DAM: You got it.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, heading back to Texas where officials gave a stunning new account of the number of missing, estimating it's now more than 170 people -- seven times the number they estimated just 24 hours ago.

The search for any possible survivors growing more desperate as we are six days into this tragedy.

Joining me now is Ryan Logue, an incident coordinator with the United Cajun Navy, a volunteer group that aids in disaster relief and emergency response.

Man, I know you're tired. I saw you out there last night. I know you have been out there for days as have the entire Cajun Navy.

You've heard this new number of missing people in the flood. You think that number is going to go --

RYAN LOGUE, INCIDENT COORDINATOR, UNITED CAJUN NAVY: Yes.

SIDNER: -- higher as I understand it. Why?

LOGUE: So at this point right now -- so where we're located -- where we're based out of the Guadalupe River -- its center point -- there are -- upriver from us there are anywhere from three to five RV parks or -- I know -- I know three RV parks and then there are multiple campgrounds. And all of those locations that I've gone and visited there's nothing remaining there.

[07:35:08]

There were -- if they were, you know, at capacity, if not even maybe sometimes over capacity, which will happens sometimes at camping grounds on the Fourth of July just to make sure everyone gets their experience, there would have been a couple of hundred people at those parks, and there's nothing remaining of those parks.

We -- you know, we did get reports of one of the -- one of the owners of the camps were able to actually get their campers out in time but that was -- that's just one of them and that was only about 20 people that they had accounted for. There was only 20 people staying there at that one.

So my -- you know, if I was to give a personal estimate I would go with there's 300, 400, 500 people missing. I feel like that's still a low number. I don't feel like the whole -- I don't -- I don't feel like the government or whoever does these numbers has been looking at the whole distance of the river instead of just a large -- the large -- the largest impacted areas. I haven't slept very much lately. And the largest impacted areas up towards the north part of the river and not what we're looking at farther down south -- southeast of it.

SIDNER: I mean, that is quite a stunning estimate on your part and you're judging that, and I think as have authorities been now judging it on the RVs. People likely from out of town as well because it was the July Fourth weekend when lots of folks like to go out, camp, and enjoy themselves for the weekend.

We heard from authorities that no one has been found alive since Friday. I hate to say this but is it foolhardy to think that there are still survivors considering the conditions you're dealing with there as you're trying to do these rescues?

LOGUE: So right now the conditions are what are making this the toughest, in a lot of ways, for so many of the volunteers. It's up in the middle 90s with, I would guess, 85 to -- I mean, 99 percent humidity. It's -- it is -- it's painful out there. And it's -- you know, I'm able to go sit in the shade when I need to, and water. I'm able to have certain things that if you were part of this catastrophe I -- you know, I would never -- I will never ever give up hope on a single soul that is out there.

SIDNER: Ryan --

LOGUE: But at the same time if I'm -- if somebody there in their situation had to live through what I've been living through the last couple of days with this weather, it would be getting increasingly, increasingly harder to survive.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, that's just the stark reality of it. I know you've been out there for days now as have all of these rescue crews who are searching through unimaginable amounts of damage that goes for dozens and dozens of miles.

Ryan Logue, thank you so much --

LOGUE: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- for talking to us because I know you're exhausted. I hope you can get a little bit of sleep even if you take a quick nap.

LOGUE: Yeah, you can probably hear it. Thank you all so much for having me and you all have a blessed day.

SIDNER: All right -- you, too -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning outrage among the president's own supporters over how the Department of Justice is handling the so- called Jeffrey Epstein files. In a series of scathing posts on Twitter, longtime Trump ally and fierce supporter Laura Loomer called for the president to fire Attorney General Pam Bondi.

This all happened after a memo released by the Department of Justice and the FBI this week said that accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide -- confirmed that. The attorney general also said there is no evidence that Epstein kept a "client list" despite previously suggesting there would be some kind of bombshell.

CNN's Alayna Treene live at the White House this morning where this just doesn't seem to be going away, Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, John, and it's not just people who are in the MAGA movement -- in the president's base. And I will say there's many. It's not just Laura Loomer but many other prominent people like Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and the list goes on, who have been really reeling from the drop of that memo that the Justice Department released on Sunday essentially concluding, in their words, that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide and that there's no so- called client list.

But there's a lot of people as well inside the White House -- the president's own officials -- who are increasingly frustrated with how not just the Justice Department but specifically Attorney General Pam Bondi has handled this. I mean, I spoke with one Trump adviser, and they said that Bondi had

bungled this case from the start by overpromising some of the findings that they were anticipating. Another adviser told me that this was a political nightmare, questioning why they released this at this point in time and the way in which they did it. Again, releasing this short memo and also leaking it to a certain media outlet.

[07:40:00]

Look, part of these problems as well that adds to all of this is Bondi's own claim back in February when she was doing an interview with Fox News where she said she had the client list on her desk for review. Now, she was pressed on some of these questions yesterday during the president's cabinet meeting and tried to argue that she was referring to the broader case.

I want you to take a listen to both -- both that interview but also her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that.

I was asked a question about the client list and my response was it's sitting on my desk to be reviewed, meaning the file, along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That's what I meant by that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now look, we talked to a lot of different people following Bondi's answer there yesterday in the cabinet room who said essentially, they are not satisfied by that answer, particularly given so many people in the MAGA movement -- so many of the president's supporters -- and including even some people in his own administration had previously argued that there was so much more to this case, particularly wanting to unearth potential accomplices to Jeffrey Epstein, not totally satisfied by this.

Now the president, for his part, John, has argued that this is old news. He kind of dismissed some of the questions on this yesterday in that cabinet meeting as a desecration. We are told that he's not acutely annoyed with Bondi herself. He was briefed on some of these findings last week by Bondi and the FBI director Kash Patel.

But still, a lot of people inside the White House not exactly happy with how this all played out.

BERMAN: All right, Alayna Treene at the White House this morning. Thank you.

With us now is CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton, and Christine Quinn, the executive committee chair of the New York State Democratic Committee. And just to review, some of the people calling for Bondi's head here

-- again, it's Laura Loomer, a fierce supporter of the president, putting out these tweets "She needs to be fired. She has tainted the investigation."

Elon Musk, one-time friend of the president, saying "How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?

And then Megyn Kelly -- and Politico pointed this out this morning -- said of Pam Bondi "Her days are numbered as a member of the Trump administration."

I mean, Shermichael, this isn't just one person now. It's a lot. And it's not getting quieter, it's getting louder.

SHERMICHAEL SINGELTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it's not getting quieter and she made a statement that many believed was accurate, which was that she was going to attempt to prosecute the individuals, whether it's Republican men, Democratic men who were engaged with Jeffrey Epstein in doing some pretty atrocious and disgusting things against young girls and young age -- young women. I mean, what type of society doesn't rally around protecting young girls and women? I have been involved with groups in the past wanting to bring and shine a spotlight on these types of issues.

And my hope would be the top cop in the nation would take this very seriously, and she really isn't, and a lot of Republicans are scratching their heads questioning why. I think this is a bipartisan issue. I think Americans want these powerful men, whoever they are, to be brought to justice.

BERMAN: And the president was asked about this in this cabinet meeting yesterday. Let's listen to how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And are people still talking about this guy -- this creep? That is unbelievable. I mean, I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein at a time like this when we're having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Christine, the president is wishing it away here. But it was his own supporters.

CHRISTINE QUINN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, WIN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE: Right.

BERMAN: People like J.D. Vance, not to mention the people we've all listed there, talking about the Epstein files all during the campaign. I mean, this was a thing that his people were pushing and now he's like nothing to see here. QUINN: Right. His people pushed it. His appointee brought it back up square in front of everyone with saying there would be prosecutions, things would be released, and now nothing. And what's a desecration is what happened to those girls --

BERMAN: Yeah.

QUINN: -- and those young women; not reporters appropriately asking questions which are not new questions but follow-up questions to what Pam Bondi had already put out there. And when you make promises to prosecute, to release information and you don't, then all theories come up. And it's a terrible thing that there are people saying the president might be on the list. How horrible would that be? They can put all of this to rest by putting all the information out there.

And you're right. This isn't Republican or Democrat. This is a matter of justice, and that is what Pam Bondi should be focused on.

SINGLETON: And that's why people are upset about with Pam Bondi. I mean, these conservatives -- Megyn Kelly. I mean, even Tucker Carlson --

QUINN: Yep.

SINGLETON: -- talking about this.

Charlie Kirk had a post on X, and he said even if Republicans were on the list would you be OK with --

BERMAN: Right.

SINGLETON: -- them being brought to justice? And overwhelmingly the responses were yes because people want to protect the innocence of young girls and young women. And we should all be about that.

BERMAN: And again, it was -- it was people within this administration promising it would be released. We'll see where this goes next.

[07:45:00]

I want to ask about something else that came up during this cabinet meeting and that was Vladimir Putin with whom the president has had this relationship for some time but now really seems fed up -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We get a lot of bullsh*t thrown at us by Putin if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time but it turns out to be meaningless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, so now is when he figures this out, Shermichael?

SINGLETON: Hey, John, I --

BERMAN: And I guess my question is to what effect?

SINGLETON: Look, I applaud the president for coming to this conclusion. Some people wish the president would have gotten there a little quicker. I say you've got to give the guy an opportunity and I think he was trying to find a diplomat approach to dealing with Vladimir Putin.

I think after a series of victories on the international stage -- the Democratic Republic in Rwanda having a deal, Iran and Israel a ceasefire, and now trying to work on the details of a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and the issue of Gaza with the Palestinian people, I think the president recognizes you know what, I want an end to this and I want an end immediately. And after trying to work with Putin it's very obvious that this guy has zero interest in wanting to come to the table.

And so I think the president is doing the right thing by saying look, Ukraine, we'll give you some munitions defensively. And Russia, maybe even considering the possibility of putting sanctions on Russia economically speaking or at least countries that are engaged with buying and selling goods to the Russians that the president has alluded to would be a right -- a step in the right direction to constrict economic developments that allow them to continue to spend money for this war.

BERMAN: And add to this some sound that I think reemerged last night. And this comes initially from reporting from Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and I'm forgetting one other author on this book that is just coming out right now where they say that President Trump, then running for office again in 2024, was making these sort of threats or talking about how he was tough on Vladimir Putin and China for that matter during fundraisers.

And we found the audio of this -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: With Putin, I said, "If you go in to Ukraine, I'm gonna bomb the sh*t out of Moscow. I'm telling you I have no choice. So he goes, like, "I don't believe you." And he says -- he says, "no way" and I said "way."

And then I'm with President Xi of China. They great me with 100,000 troops in there. I said the same thing to them. I said, you know, "If you go into Taiwan, I'm going to bomb the sh*t out of Beijing."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He said, "no way"; I said "way."

QUINN: Yeah.

BERMAN: President Trump is saying. But that's 2024, a fundraiser to supporters talking about how he's tough on Putin, which is not something we had seen. QUINN: Yeah. I mean, look, the -- one of the similarities between the two stories this morning are promises made, promises broken. The president said he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. He basically told people he had Putin the palm of his hand, whether it was by bromance or through being tough. And now we've seen that war not only continue but escalate. In recent days the worst bombing Ukraine has seen.

Every reasonable diplomat knew and probably told the president or his people the way you're dealing with Putin, treating him nicely face-to- face and saying tough stuff behind back, is going to come around and bite you. This needs to stop. You need to engage and support Ukraine.

He's also saying he doesn't know how the ammunition shipments to Ukraine stopped. I mean, how -- that is beyond impossible for a president to actually mean that.

The president needs to get tough with Putin and really support the Ukraine and stop thinking that talking like you're a 6-year-old is somehow going to move Putin forward.

SINGLETON: Well, he's doing exactly that, and I think we need to give the president some opportunity John to see what the results of this new posture will be.

BERMAN: We will see what -- we'll see what the results are in terms of the weapons going -- if they end up getting out the door.

Shermichael Singleton, Christine Quinn, thank you both so much.

SINGLETON: Thanks, John.

QUINN: Yep.

BERMAN: Great to see you both -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Still ahead we're hearing new and remarkable stories of survival in those Texas floodwaters. The latest story involves 33 members of one family. Their story is ahead.

And gentle and doe-eyed -- not this deer. Wait until you see what he does to this house.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:53:10]

BERMAN: So we have a new story of survival emerging from Central Texas. The Fry family goes -- or went to the River Inn Resort in Hunt, Texas every year. This time, as the Guadalupe River rose more than 25 feet in less than 60 minutes, they ultimately had to climb to the roof of that inn to survive.

And David Fry is with us now. David, so great to see you. I am glad you're OK. Can you just describe to me what happened that early morning? DAVID FRY, TEXAS FLOOD SURVIVOR: Yeah, John. Thank you so much for having me and giving me the opportunity to share our story.

This is kind of an annual pilgrimage that we always look forward to. We're three decades in the works at this point. You know, we have family members that come in from as far as Chicago, Seattle, and in some instances the U.K. So it's one of those things that we definitely look forward to all year.

We had arrived early the evening of the third and sat down to a family dinner, and within a couple of hours everyone had retired for the evening. Around midnight kind of the light, intermittent rains that we'd had throughout the day really intensified. Electrical activity picked up as well.

And so about 2:00 a.m. we'd had just steady, consistent rain. I had been outside kind of monitoring the situation and just watching the river begin to swell, and eventually the riverbank disappeared as it crept closer.

At that point there had been some moderate discussion with the management and ownership of the resort as we were just keeping an eye on the situation. And by about 2:45-3:00 a.m. we just had to make the executive decision it is time to clear this place out. We go through and start banging on doors and notifying as many people as possible to get to safety.

[07:55:13]

BERMAN: And so you knocked on people's doors to tell them to move and go where at that point? Where did you all end up?

FRY: At that point there was really only one direction to go and that is move away from the river as quickly as you can.

One of the things that people may not understand about the geography of the area is these creeks, these rivers, these tributaries wind in and out around roads, around bends, and around the hills that are there. So oftentimes, as was true in our instance, you can be essentially surrounded by water. You will have a river on one side, a low crossing -- low water crossings in other places. That was certainly true in our instance.

And so in those cases you really only have one place to go and that's where we went, just trying to --

BERMAN: You went --

FRY: -- see higher ground on the road in front of the resort.

BERMAN: And just before I let you go here, given what you went through can you believe now what happened elsewhere?

FRY: It is not hard to fathom just given the intensity of the storm and what we were subjected to. But I will say that our heart breaks and goes out to that community. And just very quickly, I did want to honor and give some credit to a

handful of folks. First of all, the first responders that are out there, the utility workers, the volunteers, thank you. Like, that's true bravery. That's what these guys sign up for and going to knowingly every day.

Also, to Scott and Connie who manage the River Inn. To my family and to the strangers that I will never meet, thank you for contributing. Thank you for helping to keep my family safe.

BERMAN: Listen, we're so glad your family is safe, and we hope that one day you can get back there as a family again.

David Fry, appreciate your time this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, what a story. Thank you so much, John.

All right. On our radar for you this morning Sean Combs' sentencing hearing is set for October 3. Combs' attorneys initially wanted the sentencing hearing pushed way up to this month, but they ended up agreeing with prosecutors and the probation office to keep the sentencing hearing scheduled for October.

Combs was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted on racketeering and sex trafficking charges. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each count.

All right, this might make you just a little bit more, I don't know, comfortable, happy. Keep your shoes on and maybe a bit of your sanity. After nearly 20 years, flyers will no longer need to take their shoes off at the airport security lines. TSA announcing it is eliminating the requirement around the country effective immediately. And the reviews already rolling in. People love it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was surprised but it was much easier, and I think they should do that with the laptops as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You can if you get TSA, but you've got to pay for it.

The dreaded shoes-off policy has been around since 2006. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said they were able to end the policy thanks to the TSA's "layered security" now and insists flights will be just as secure.

All right. One man in New Jersey got quite the shock when a deer crashed through his living room window. The man says he woke up to the sound of breaking glass and discovered a young buck scrambling around his house just going nuts there. With some quick thinking and a firm grip on the deer's antlers he was able to get the deer out. The deer appeared uninjured as it ran off into the woods. I'm sure it had some choice words for that man -- John.

BERMAN: Yeah. The deer did not like the polished wood floor there to be -- to be sure.

All right. New this morning top tech companies are teaming up with several teachers' unions to train hundreds of thousands of teachers on how to use artificial intelligence. This as schools and parents around the country are grappling with questions about this.

CNN's Clare Duffy has new reporting on this and is with us now. I have two recent high school graduates and it's been fascinating to see how they're all dealing with AI in the classroom.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah. I mean, schools have really faced some of the biggest questions about whether and how AI should be used. Should it be used in the classroom? How will kids use it to cheat? And if teachers are using it, are kids really getting the full benefit of their education.

So now this group of tech companies and teachers' unions is teaming up to try to answer some of those questions. It's Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, the American Federation of Teachers, and the New York-based Union Federation of Teachers -- United Federation of Teachers. They are creating the National Academy of AI Instruction. This is a total of $23 million that is being invested in hopes of training 400,000 K- 12 teachers over the next five years.

They are going to be building an in-person campus in New York City and creating online courses on everything from how AI systems work, how they can be used to create lesson plans, as well as ethics and safety instruction.