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31 Workers Rescued from Tunnel Collapse in Los Angeles; DHS Secretary Noem Renews Call to Eliminate and Remake FEMA; Russian Drones Swarm Kyiv from All Sides in Shift of Tactics. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 10, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a terrifying tunnel collapse traps 31 workers deep underground in Los Angeles. We have the stunning rescue as workers are pulled to safety.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 120 people now dead, more than 160 still missing after the Texas floods. This morning, we've got new CNN reporting that reveals a critical FEMA delay. The arrival of federal search and rescue teams took days.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: also breaking this morning after Trump called Putin B.S., Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with Russia's top diplomat right now.

And Russia just launched another massive drone attack on Kyiv.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, 31 workers pulled to safety after a tunnel collapse in Los Angeles. The crew was working on the giant tunnel as part of a waste wastewater project. It was more than 400 feet underground. Preliminary reports suggest the workers were trapped and more than a hundred firefighters were called to the scene to help out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Light Force 85, this is a tunnel and it's than 300 feet. Let us know if we can order up the tunnel equipment from 88.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, I'm pulling up, assessing right now. Give me a minute or so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, let's go ahead and get the tunnel rescue equipment coming. This is going to be in a tunnel. We're at the tunnel entrance right now. The figure the collapse happened about five or six miles from location.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: See how huge that tunnel is terrifying.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joining us now. What can you tell us about the workers who were rescued overnight? Were there any major injuries? When you look at this picture, it seems dire, but it is amazing that they are out.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not only look at the picture, Sara, but also when you listen to that dispatch audio, I was listening to it a little while ago to more of it, and you can clearly hear a tremendous sense of urgency overnight there in Los Angeles to get to these trapped workers who were successfully rescued without injury.

Let's bring up full some of these remarkable images of what played out overnight here. These early reports showing that they were trapped, that these workers that were trapped actually at the climb over up to 12 to 15-foot piles of soil that essentially caved in here to get to their coworkers. From there, they were shuttled to the entry point of this tunnel that we're told it's about five to six miles or the collapse happened about five to six miles from that entry point after they were there, as you see here. They were actually putting these rescue cages and then hoist it back up to safety without injury.

I want you to hear directly from officials here as they describe what they believe to be a possible cause in this collapse here which happened again about five to six miles from the tunnel entry point with the L.A. County sanitation officials calling a phenomenon known as squeezing ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT FERRANTE, CHIEF ENGINEER, L.A. COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICTS: The failure, yes, a section that they had already built had squeezing ground and had a collapse, a partial collapse. It didn't completely fill the tunnel. So, the men were able to come back to that point, walked through, come through that collapse, and get into a vehicle that brought him out to the shaft site here at the A. K. Warren treatment plant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: This was an 18-foot tunnel according to officials on the ground. It was part of a municipal wastewater project that was being worked on there. So, again, a very positive outcome here, Sara, as all of those 31 workers were rescued from this project site without any further injury. And as you heard, they do have a preliminary idea of what likely may have led to this.

Of course, this will now lead to further questions of how and why that would've happened.

SIDNER: Yes. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. What an incredible rescue this morning. It's nice to have a bit of good news. John?

BERMAN: And new this morning, the death toll from the floods in Texas has now climbed to at least 120, at least 160 people are still missing. And this morning, there are growing questions about the timelines of the response at the federal, state, and local levels.

[07:05:02]

Four officials inside FEMA tell CNN that cost controls implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem requiring her to sign off for anything more than $100,000 slowed the federal response. Sources say that FEMA's deployment of urban search and rescue teams, which are often prepositioned in anticipation of disaster, that was delayed until Monday. That's more than 72 hours after the floods. Multiple FEMA officials tell CNN they were taken aback by the agency's relatively limited response in the immediate aftermath of the flooding.

President Trump has said he wants to wean off of FEMA and shift the burden of emergency response to the states and Kristi Noem yesterday renewed the call, the secretary of Homeland Security, renewed the call to eliminate FEMA as it exists and overhaul it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Federal Emergency Management should be state and locally led rather than how it has operated for decades. It has been slow to respond at the federal level. It's even been slower to get the resources to Americans in crisis. And that is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today and remade into a responsive agency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In a statement, a DHS spokeswoman told CNN, quote, FEMA is shifting from bloated D.C.-centric deadweight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actress provide relief for their citizens.

CNN's Pamela Brown is on the ground in Kerrville, one of the hardest hit communities. Good morning, Pam. What do you see in there this morning?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, devastation all around John, but we are also finding. Some incredible stories of survival, stories that really, as the family I met yesterday, are miracles.

I met Penny Deupree, she's 83 years old. She had her family visiting for the 4th of July holiday. There were nine of them, including two kids. She said she woke up in the middle of the night, saw what she said was an ocean coming in and quickly got her family up this ladder. You see it right here, John. I climbed up there to see the loft, and they watched as the water rapidly started rising up and up, but there was nowhere to go. They were all up there in that tiny loft. And so they grabbed a lobster buoy on the top shelf there and were able to bang on the back wall and create a tiny little escape pole to bring the nine out.

Here's what Penny Deupree told me. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENNY DEUPREE, TEXAS FLOOD SURVIVOR: Right there's the escape hatch, right there.

BROWN: Yes.

DEUPREE: The escape hatch.

BROWN: So, you all squeezed through that --

DEUPREE: I was the hardest one to squeeze. That was the problem. I couldn't diet fast enough to get out there. But, anyways --

BROWN: But you got out.

But at one point though you were going to die or --

DEUPREE: No, I didn't.

BROWN: You didn't?

DEUPREE: No, because that's not an option.

BROWN: Yes.

DEUPREE: Right? Is it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: This family certainly had a lot of grit. We are seeing that all over on the ground.

And, you know, John, another interesting note here, their great grandmother authored The Secret Garden, the famous book. I love that book as a child. And somehow through all of this, the original copies were able to be semi-preserved. And, you know, as they said, look, the most important thing is we have our people. Materialistic things don't matter, it's just paper. But they said them in all this loss, those little wins like that, finding that, finding their wedding rings, those wins, keep them going, I mean, all of this devastation. John?

BERMAN: Yes, that is remarkable. I've seen even more remarkable seeing flood damage in ceiling fans. It gives you a sense of just how high the water is there when you see the muck in the ceiling fan.

Pam Brown on the ground there, thank you very much for that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, that is incredible, John, you're totally right.

Coming up for us, we have this breaking overnight, Russia launched a large scale aerial attack on Ukraine's capital city. Is this what pushes President Trump to finally sign on to new sanctions against Russia? There's a new push happening right now.

And a live look at market futures this morning after President Trump threatens 50 percent tariffs on Brazil, promises a 50 percent tariff on copper, and as one major company says, expect prices on toys to go up just in time for the holidays.

And some wild video we wanted to show you. Just take a look at this. The commercial cargo ship attacked by Houthis rebels sinks in the Red Sea, that massive ship, killing some of the crew members and others kidnapped.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, they're meeting on the sidelines of a conference in Malaysia. And this meeting comes at quite a moment days after President Trump lashed out at Vladimir Putin, saying that Putin's feeding him B.S. when it comes to Ukraine, and just as Russia is launching its largest drone attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war. Overnight, hundreds of Russian drones swarmed Kyiv from all directions in an apparent new Russian tactic. It's the second consecutive night of this. Officials say at least two people were killed and more than a dozen were wounded.

CNN's Nic Robertson is watching all of this for us right now. This is quite a moment for these men to me meeting. What are you learning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it is, and one wonders what the substance will be of it, because neither of them within their respective, the Kremlin and the White House, appear to carry a huge amount of weight compared to their bosses.

[07:15:01]

Certainly, Sergey Lavrov has been marginalized by President Putin over many, many years, a relatively small meeting.

Now, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked the question by journalists in the room, what was going to be the subject of the discussion, he didn't respond, but he did apparently look across the table at Sergey Lavrov and winked at his Russian counterpart.

What that symbolizes isn't clear. There's a lot of diplomacy going on in Europe, all about supporting Ukraine and a degree of hope maybe, but that the White House has buckled down, found its new course on Ukraine and is going to continue supplying the weapons that Ukraine wants, and that seem to be in the balance for quite a while. That will be part of the context of the discussions both in the U.K. and in Rome.

But at this table here, it's quite unclear what they're actually hoping to achieve. Their bosses seem to be at loggerheads. There hardly seems to be a diplomatic track left for them, because the last time they had a conversation, I believe it was in Saudi Arabia, the hope was that maybe Putin would decide to wrap up his attacks on Ukraine in favor of some kind of peace talks and a ceasefire. That didn't happen. President Trump seems to have seen that. So, what's going to happen at this table? Perhaps it's an opportune meeting rather than something of substance.

BOLDUAN: All right. Well, stand by to stand by on this one, but an important day nonetheless.

Nic, thank you so much for always watching for us. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Still ahead, more than a hundred people still missing in Texas as officials are facing major questions about what happened with the FEMA response and the emergency response as a whole.

Also, Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, one of the only Republicans to vote against President Trump's mega spending bill, taking aim at Trump's inner circle, saying, quote, amateurs are advising him.

That story and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. At Wimbledon, the Joker is back in the semifinals.

Let's get right to CNN Sports Anchor Andy Scholes. Novak Djokovic, this is his roughly 212th trip to the semifinals of a grand slam.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, it's hard to count the right at this point, John. Djokovic, he's going for that record 25th Grand Slam title, but he's 38 years old now. The big question is, you know, can he get one more? Djokovic lost the first set to Flavio Cobolli yesterday, but then he was able to win the next two, and then he was on his second match point when he had this huge scare right here. Djokovic going down, his leg bending really awkwardly. His wife and son, they were certainly concerned.

The seven-time Wimbledon champ, though, was able to shake it off. He then won the next two points to reach the semis at Wimbledon for a men's record 14th time. Djokovic saying after the match, he hopes he can bounce back from that fall. At his age and he's going to need to be at his best because he's now going to face world number one Jannik Sinner.

Sinner taking out American Ben Shelton in straight sets. And Shelton, he actually won the first ever matchup between these two, but ever since, Sinner has dominated Shelton, winning 15 straight sets. Sinner three-time Grand Slam champ, but he is number one at Wimbledon. He's 0-2 against Djokovic all-time at the All Club, including a loss in his semis two years ago.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, we had more Messi magic last night. He scored twice becoming the first player in MLS history to score multiple goals in four straight league games. Miami would win 2-1 over the Revolution. More than 43,000 fans on hand there at Foxboro. They didn't get to see the home team win, but hey, good to see Messi scored twice is a nice consolation.

All right, finally, MLB All-Star game coming up on Tuesday, and for the first time ever, the mid-summer classic is going to have a Robo- Ump. Major League Baseball announcing that they're going to have the automated ball strike challenge system in play for the game. So, a pitcher, batter, or catcher can immediately challenge a ball or strike call by tapping on their head. Then on the jumbotron, they're going to play that animated video of the pitch, like they do on like a line challenge in tennis.

You know, they tested this out in spring training, John. It really looks like it's coming to Major League all the regular season games next year. It's good and bad. It's good because they're going to get the calls right. It's bad though because, you know, the coaches aren't going to have anything to argue about anymore. We're not going to see all those confrontations at home plate.

BERMAN: That'll be a shame not seeing the managers get thrown out quite as much anymore Andy. They did it in spring training. I have to say, I liked it. The players really seem to like it. There is some excitement in the stands when they show the graphic like that and everyone cheers and says, hey, you know, the ball was, you know, 0.8 inches outside. So, you know, it sounds like it's coming next season.

BOLDUAN: I'm going to take the opposing side of it.

BERMAN: You're taking the opposing side?

BOLDUAN: I love when a manager's like kick the dirt, like I'm mad at you. Like there's nothing better than when the managers get all flummoxed.

BERMAN: They can still do it, just they have to find different reasons, or maybe --

BOLDUAN: They're going to kick the dirt at the jumbotron?

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE) come out, kick the dirt.

All right, Andy, thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: Oh, yes, sorry. Thanks, Andy.

I'll take it now.

BERMAN: Okay.

BOLDUAN: Okay. Coming up for us, breaking overnight, dozens of workers were trapped underground stranded in a collapsed tunnel beneath Los Angeles. We have more details now on how it happened and how they were rescued.

And markets reacting this morning, as President Trump is now threatening Brazil with a 50 percent tariff all over a trial of Brazil's former president who's been described as the Trump of the tropics. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BOLDUAN: So, in Texas this morning, the death toll from the catastrophic floods has climbed to at least 120 people killed. And almost a week after the disaster struck, they are still searching for at least 160 people missing.

At the same time, there are mounting questions about the federal response. CNN has new reporting from four officials inside of FEMA that say, cost controls recently implemented by the Homeland Security Secretary slowed the agency's response.

And with FEMA personnel on the ground, Kristi Noem yesterday reiterated her promise to eliminate the agency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOEM: Federal Emergency Management should be state and locally led rather than how it has operated for decades. It has been slow to respond. At the federal level, it's even been slower to get the resources to Americans in crisis. And that is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today and remade into a responsive agency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is Carrie Stevens, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She specializes in crisis and disaster communications. It's good to have you here.

There are beyond FEMA, but more on the ground, there are big questions about warnings and communications ahead of the disaster ahead of time, and as the disaster was striking.

[07:25:02]

I mean, disaster -- this is your expertise. Do you see problems in how this unfolded and what we know public.