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Workers Rescued from Collapsed Tunnel; RV Camp Devastated by Floods; Mike Pence is Interviewed About Current Politics. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired July 10, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Notes around his house, around his car, illuding that the wife did commit suicide.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, wow.

All right, Jean Casarez, a lot going on here. We know you'll be watching this case very closely.

CASAREZ: Yes.

BERMAN: Thanks so much.

A lot going on. A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-one workers trapped more than 400 feet underground after a huge tunnel collapses in L.A. Miraculously, they all survived. We will give you a look at that dramatic rescue.

And CNN has new reporting about FEMA's response after the terrifying floodwaters barreled through Texas hill country. Sources to CNN saying critical help from FEMA was slowed down because of new cost controls put in place by Kristi Noem.

And a one-on-one with former Vice President Mike Pence. He's sitting down with our Kate Bolduan in studio this morning. She'll ask him about everything from Ukraine and Russia, FEMA and the presidents spending and tax bill.

I'm Sara Sidner, with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the breaking news, a terrifying close call for more than two dozen workers who became trapped inside a collapsed tunnel. This happened in Los Angeles. The crew was working on an L.A. wastewater project when part of the tunnel suddenly fell in. Thirty-one workers had to be rescued. And video from above shows just how big that site really is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT FERRANTE, CHIEF ENGINEER, L.A. COUNTRY SANITATION DISTRICTS: It was over five miles down, the tunnel. It was about 400 feet below the surface. So, it is, without the lights and other equipment, you can imagine it is dark. It is a very large tunnel. It's 18 feet in diameter, so it is very large.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And CNN's Stephanie Elam is at that site this morning.

Stephanie, what an amazing story. What is the latest you're hearing here?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's miraculous that nobody was injured. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, all 31 of those workers were rescued with no visible injuries. Although we did hear from one Los Angeles official who said that the workers were pretty shaken up, as you might expect.

Apparently being five or six miles away from the entry point, they -- some of the workers, we're hearing, had to scramble over some loose soil about 12 to 15 feet tall to get to the other side, to get to the transport that brought them back to the entry.

But I want you to hear a little bit of the Los Angeles Fire Department dispatch call as they were working out the details of what they are dealing with inside this tunnel.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What limited communication they have, they lost their -- their phones, so they do not have any communication with them at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, registered. Copy that. No communication. Additionally, do we have a number of patients or victims inside the tunnel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have a head count or a patient count at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: So, Los Angeles Fire Department saying more than 100 of their responders were here on scene, including their urban search and rescue teams, as well.

What we understand, listening to the chief from the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts is that the boring machine was working through the tunnel and part of the tunnel that they had already been -- passed through, collapsed. And they called it a squeezing ground situation. And they're saying that this is something that happens, I want to make sure I read it right to you, "when ground or soil deforms significantly during excavation." But overall, the officials here, very happy with the response, getting all 31 of those workers out of there safely. Obviously, there will be more of an investigation as to what's happening here.

You can see it's very industrial, the site here where this tunnel collapsed inside. But just imagine being five or six miles away from the entry point and about 400 feet below the surface, Kate, when this happened. It had to be terrifying. It had to be dark. But they worked together. They worked quickly. They had trained for this. And in this case, it worked out all right.

BOLDUAN: Yes, this is one of those scenarios that you just laid out that I never want to imagine. And, thankfully, it turned out OK for -- thankfully it turned out well this time.

Thanks so much, Stephanie. Really appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, new this morning, the growing tragedy in Texas. At least 120 people now confirmed dead and 160 more missing in those catastrophic floods. And now there's mounting scrutiny on the federal response. Four officials inside FEMA telling CNN that cost controls implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem required her sign off for anything over $100,000, slowed the federal response.

[09:05:02]

Sources say that FEMA's deployment of urban search and rescue teams, which are often pre-positioned in anticipation of a disaster like this, was delayed until Monday. That's more than 72 hours after the initial floods.

Last hour, Noem disputed the reporting. Here's what she told Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Our Coast Guard, our Border Patrol, BORTAC teams were there immediately. Every single thing -- I was on -- they asked for, we were there. The governor and the emergency management director, Nim Kidd, are fantastic. And nobody there has said anything about that they didn't get everything that they wanted immediately or that they needed. And I'm proud of the work that we've done to support that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, CNN's Isabel Rosales is in the hard hit community of Center Point, Texas, with quite a view.

You've got a firsthand look at that area that was utterly devastated. And we are seeing you there from a very different vantage point than we've seen before to give us a real look at what happened.

What can you tell us?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sars, good morning.

This lot right behind me, this is the Guadalupe Keys RV Resort, right on the river. A beautiful site where the Fourth of July weekend was supposed to be the busiest out of the entire year for the park's owner. His name is Drew.

But he woke up on the Fourth of July to frantic knocking on his door. It was his park manager, telling him he had to get out. All the campers, 30 to 40 people there on site, had to get out because the water was coming. He went door to door to door knocking on those RVs, telling them, we got to go.

Now, he thought that his trailer would be OK because it was 27 feet off of the ground. And he heard there that the water was coming. The river was flowing 20 feet higher. Well, his trailer was back there. And now take a look right over here. That's his trailer, broken into pieces. Just utter destruction into the Guadalupe River.

Volunteers have been out here for days trying to get that out of the river. You can see all of these cypress trees, huge trees also knocked down like matchsticks.

Listen to what else he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW YANCEY, OWNER, GUADALUPE KEYS RV RESORT: I know it takes 20 feet to get here. So, when they said it was 27 feet, I knew it was going there.

ROSALES: What do you think would have happened if your park manager hadn't knocked on your door?

YANCEY: I -- I don't know. I mean we probably all would've been in big trouble.

ROSALES: Did you ever receive an alert on your phone?

YANCEY: I didn't.

ROSALES: Like not one?

YANCEY: Not one. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And it's not just a trailer he lost. This is his home. He told me that in there are important documents, business records, mementos, his computer. Everything that he's ever owned, all of it is lost. But he is so grateful to perfect strangers and their kindness of trying to help him out. He's checking his insurance. He's trying to make the next steps to turn over this chapter.

But of course, Sara, the important part here too is, over 160 people missing. All but ten of them out of Kerr County, where I'm at right now. So, we have search and rescue crews going all over the Guadalupe River, every body of water leading from this river, trying to make sense of where these people have gone, trying to give their family some answers.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, but thank you for giving us sort of that really incredible view of how powerful this water was in just that one spot. And we're talking this has happened over dozens of miles there in the Texas hill country.

Isabel Rosales, great reporting from you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Just as President Trump seems to have reached his limit with Vladimir Putin, Russia launches the largest drone strike on Kyiv since the very start of the war. Just ahead for us, the former vice president, Mike Pence, joins us in studio.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:13:26]

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, Russia launches a large-scale aerial assault on Ukraine's capital. Hundreds of drones from all directions attacking Kyiv. You see in the video just some of those explosions, Ukraine's president said more than 400 drones and at least 18 missiles struck. At least two people were killed in these strikes.

And this is just the day -- and just the day before, Russia launched hundreds more, the largest drone attack since Russia started that war.

This comes as President Trump is suggesting now that he has reached his limit with Russian President Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We get a lot of bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED) thrown at us by Putin for -- you want to know the truth? He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is the former vice president of the United States, Mike Pence.

Thank you for being here.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thanks for having me on, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I really appreciate it.

PENCE: And can I also say, I've -- I just am grateful for CNN's consistent coverage of the tragedy in Texas. Our hearts and our prayers have been with all of our countrymen there and appreciate the yeoman's work you all have done to tell that story.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. It's -- the -- it's a very tough job that we have our team down there to do, and an important one. And I appreciate that.

PENCE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: On Ukraine, I know this is something that you cared so deeply about. At one point, President Trump accused Ukraine of starting the war.

PENCE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: We don't even need to quote the "Time" magazine article again.

PENCE: Right.

BOLDUAN: And now he's calling Putin BS.

You have seen up close President Trump's sympathies towards Putin over the years.

[09:15:03]

Do you believe that he has fundamentally shifted his view on the Russian president, or could Trump be one happy phone call away from blaming Zelenskyy again?

PENCE: Well, my hope is that the president's starting to recognize that Vladimir Putin doesn't want peace. Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine. And again and again, President Zelenskyy, who I came to know during my time as vice president, has -- has made it clear he's prepared for a ceasefire. He's prepared to negotiate a lasting peace in the region. While we saw again just last night, you know, a barrage of merciless attacks on civilian populations. And -- and I welcome the president's decision to reverse a decision somewhere out of the Pentagon that -- that suspended aid to Ukraine.

You look back at our administration, Kate. And we were the first administration to provide lethal aid to Ukraine. Remember, Barack Obama only provided, you know, military meals and blankets. We came in and gave them the kind of stinger missiles and resources that -- that I think prevented Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine during our four years in office. And that it -- literally, in the aftermath of the Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, I think Putin was emboldened. He rolled across the border. He's made no secret of his ambitions.

And while I had concerns and expressed them in those first 100 days about the president's kind of ongoing hope and desire for a negotiated settlement, I welcome his decisions this week and his rhetoric.

And I think what may have changed is that some of the isolationist voices in and around this administration that recently condemned the president's correct and -- and courageous decision to launch a military assault against Iran, I think -- I think they may have lost some of their footing with the president, I think, by -- by leveling criticism in our effort to ensure that Iran could never obtain a usable nuclear weapon. I think some of those isolationist voices may have literally lost some credibility with the president.

But whatever the cause, I welcome it because I do believe the time has come for us to renew our military support for Ukraine, make it clear that we're going to continue to provide that support, along with our European allies, until a just and lasting peace is achieved. I also am hopeful that that -- that Senator Thune will bring the new Russia sanctions bill to the floor of the Senate next week and move it.

BOLDUAN: So, there are issues with two of those things. But with both of those things, there are issues right now. And I -- I -- I saw you almost shake your head in disbelief at what the reporting has been, which is, today we learned that U.S. weapons shipments are starting back up to Ukraine.

PENCE: Right.

BOLDUAN: But this comes after the reporting is that the Pentagon paused shipments on some weapons, signed off on by the secretary of defense, without the knowledge, without informing the president of the United States. The idea that a decision that big was made without getting the approval of, or even informing the president of the United States, does that make any sense to you?

PENCE: Well, look, when -- when you've served at the level I've served at, it's a big government. And a lot of people in your agencies and in departments are making decisions all the time. But that one was troubling to me. And my bet is it's very troubling to the president. I -- my expectation is that he'll get to the bottom of it. He will -- he will find out who initiated that decision.

But the most important thing is that he reversed it.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

PENCE: And -- and -- and made it clear in a phone call with President Zelenskyy last Friday that the -- the support is going to continue to come.

Now, I -- I will say, and I say respectfully to the president, if he's looking on, this isn't just about defensive weapons.

BOLDUAN: Right.

PENCE: We've got to continue to provide President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian military with the offensive capability, as well as, you know, the kind of support against aerial assaults --

BOLDUAN: This isn't the first --

PENCE: That will allow them to achieve a real peace. BOLDUAN: Sorry, Mr. Vice President.

This isn't the first problem at the Pentagon that has come out under the leadership of Pete Hegseth. Thom Tillis is suggesting he's questioning his support for his confirmation. Do you think Pete Hegseth is up for this job?

PENCE: Yes, I saw Senator Tillis' criticism. And I don't think it's fair.

BOLDUAN: OK.

PENCE: Look, I -- I've known Pete Hegseth a long time.

[09:20:01]

He's someone who's worn the uniform. As you know, I've got a couple in our immediate family that are currently serving in the armed forces of this country.

And I got to tell you, I'm very encouraged overall with the president's leadership and his team at the Pentagon. I think -- I think General Caine had demonstrated his extraordinary capabilities with the success of that mission over Iran. Our airmen did an incredible job after the president made that -- that -- that courageous decision to launch U.S. forces.

I think the launching efforts earlier this year that -- that caused the Houthis to stand down on what had been years of attacks against U.S. military vessels in the region, and probably the most hopeful thing I would say, and I credit first the president, but also the secretary of defense and his entire team. His recruitment is up. I mean we -- we had fallen behind in every branch in the service in meeting recruitment goals at the end of the Biden administration. And now I'm told that we -- we're exceeding goals in every branch of our armed forces. And -- so all of that is -- all that is welcome news, positive.

BOLDUAN: You also mentioned sanctions. Thune is talking about bringing it forward, but has said he's not going to bring forward this sanctions bill pushed by Graham and Blumenthal and has 80 co-sponsors. I mean, nothing has 80 co-sponsors in this kind of bipartisanship anymore in Washington. But he won't do it unless Trump signs off. And Trump is not a yes yet. Is there any good reason, in your mind, to not be moving forward with this sanctions bill right away?

PENCE: Well, I -- my hope is the president will make it clear that he wants that bill on his desk.

BOLDUAN: He keeps saying, yes, maybe, no.

PENCE: He -- he's -- he says -- said --

BOLDUAN: I don't need it yet. He -- he suggested to advisers he thinks it won't deter Putin.

PENCE: Well, yes, but, you know, Kate, I spoke Trump fluently for four years.

BOLDUAN: So, decipher please.

PENCE: Right. So, when he said -- when I saw him the other day, he said that he's strongly looking at it. I know what that means. And I saw Senator Graham actually put out on social media that he talked to the president, and the president wanted them to move the bill.

BOLDUAN: So, you think it means --

PENCE: Well, I -- my hope is that the president will understand the value of the Senate acting, and they can put that on his desk. And it has broad waiver authority in it. But -- but I literally think that the very presence of those new sanctions, especially the secondary sanctions that are included --

BOLDUAN: Right.

PENCE: That are -- that essentially are going to go against countries that are subsidizing that war effort --

BOLDUAN: Then why pump the brakes? Then why pump the brakes?

PENCE: Well, I -- I think it's -- I think and hope the president will see the value of Vladimir Putin seeing those sanctions on his desk available for a signature. But the most important thing is that we continue to make it very clear that we're not going to tolerate Vladimir Putin redrawing international lines by force. He didn't do it in our four years. He had done it -- it's important to remember, Russian forces had crossed the border in -- in Europe, broadly, under the Bush administration, under the Obama administration in Crimea. And, of course, under the Biden administration. But under our administration, we -- we -- we built up our military, we unleashed our armed forces to take down the ISIS caliphate. We even took down the leader of the Iran Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

PENCE: We sent cruise missiles into Syria, not once, but twice. I think Vladimir Putin saw us supporting Ukraine with lethal aid. I think he saw us willing to use force to defend our interests and our allies. And he stood down. And the pathway today to peace in the region, in -- in eastern Europe, in the Middle East, in the Asia Pacific, is American strength.

BOLDUAN: You add this together with just what you said and the strikes on Iran, and you have isolationists, as you say, the isolationist wing of --

PENCE: Yes, we do.

BOLDUAN: Get -- no get no more -- you -- get -- get out of every foreign conflict. You've been speaking out against it. But do you -- about -- against that growing part of the Republican Party. Do you see Donald Trump as a hawk or an isolationist?

PENCE: President Trump is not an isolationist. Now, we -- we can talk --

BOLDUAN: And what do you say to the isolationist wing of the party that says he is?

PENCE: I -- I said this --

BOLDUAN: And he ran on it.

PENCE: I said this in a major address in Washington last fall, that -- that the president I served with is not an isolationist. He -- his bias is to lead. I think he understands that America is the leader of the free world.

One of the reasons our administration demanded that our European allies live up to their commitments, and I'm also very encouraged with the news that our NATO allies are now moving to 5 percent. Again, that's -- that is -- that's not the action of an isolationist. That's the action of a president who understands that America's role is to lead the free world.

But make no mistake about it, there's a -- there's a vigorous debate in the Republican Party today by some of the loudest voices around the president that say that America needs to pull back.

[09:25:10]

That we need to -- we need to pull the shutters in. We need to worry exclusively about what's happening here at home.

And while -- while we should always be concerned about what's happening in our country first, our economy, our security, our prosperity, our values, I think for the better part of the last century, the American people have understood that our role is to lead the free world.

And one of the things I learned as vice president is, if America is not leading the free world, the free world is not being led. There's no backup. There's no leading from behind, as Barack Obama said.

And so, I -- what -- what I saw in the last week was -- was the president kind of, I think, returning to his well-honed instincts and bias for leadership on the world stage. And I welcome it.

BOLDUAN: So interesting.

Mr. Vice President's going to stick with us. We're going to speak just after this.

Coming up, the latest on the flooding disaster out of Texas. New questions about the federal response and the future of FEMA.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)