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Marco Rubio Meets With Russian Foreign Minister; Tunnel Collapses in Los Angeles; Did Kristi Noem Delay FEMA Response in Texas?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 10, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: The FEMA task force sets up command in Texas, as the grueling work to find and recover the missing enters its seventh day. We're live in Kerrville with the latest on the ground.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And, in Los Angeles, a tunnel collapses with dozens of workers inside. We have got details on the incredible rescue. That's just ahead.

Plus, pay to play. Hasbro's CEO says toy prices will rise because of tariffs starting in the fall, just as Americans are gearing up for their holiday shopping season.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

WHITFIELD: Happening now, breaking news: exhausted search-and-rescue crews working through challenging conditions in Central Texas. Earlier, officials in Kerr County giving a brief update, saying that, right now, more than 2,100 responders are on the ground, while at least 150 people remain missing in the hardest-hit county.

At least a dozen others are missing in other parts of the state. And at least 120 people have been killed by the flooding. There are growing questions about how quickly the government jumped into action at all levels. Inside FEMA, four officials tell CNN that a new cost- cutting rule from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delayed federal search-and-rescue teams.

The sweeping rule now requires Secretary Noem's personal sign-off on every contract and grant over $100,000. For example, sources say that FEMA couldn't preposition urban search-and-rescue teams for more than 72 hours after the flooding began. In the past, FEMA would have quickly mobilized those special teams into position near the disaster zone so they'd be ready for urgent requests.

Multiple FEMA officials tell CNN that they were taken aback by the agency's relatively limited response after the disaster. Earlier, Secretary Noem defended the federal response under her leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. 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. Nobody there has said anything about that they didn't get everything that they wanted immediately or that they needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's get right to CNN's Leigh Waldman on the scene there in Kerrville.

So, Leigh, what's the latest on the ground?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, so we're here on a man named Ricky Ray's (ph) property. He allowed us to come here and see what this floodwater has done to his property.

They also own the property across the Guadalupe River, and there's search-and-rescue operations happening there. He tells us, heartbreakingly, since this floodwater moved in nearly a week ago, several bodies have been pulled from that property, including the bodies of children.

And he said and all the time that his family has owned this property, the water has never breached this side of the river. But you can see, over here, this is one of their family homes. You can see how far the water made its way in a huge debris pile over here, the water making it all the way into his home.

Unfortunately, their flood insurance, they lost it just a few months ago. So they're trying to figure out a way to rebuild this property here. He lived in a small cottage on this property. Only the foundation is left at this point. He's thanking God for his life to be saved. He said that he's noticed looters coming around the property.

And a couple was here just the other night. He approached them thinking maybe they were looters, asking them what was going on if, he could offer them any help. And, heartbreakingly, they said, they're just searching for their daughter. And he said, while he's lost nearly everything at this point, they have lost so much more. They can't find their daughter's body.

WHITFIELD: That's terribly sad.

And, Leigh, local officials now are under even more scrutiny over whether they could have done more to alert people hours before the tragedy. Are we learning anything new on that?

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WALDMAN: Well, it's something that we have continued to press local leaders about. Who was in charge? Was the emergency management coordinator awake at the time that the alert went out in between the time that the floodwater actually moved into this area just before 5:00 a.m.?

We're still waiting on all of those answers, but we do know that local law enforcement here came rushing down the road -- Ricky Ray was telling us this story -- with sirens going, honking, alerting people to the fact that the floodwater was coming. Ricky Ray brought up the scrutiny that his community is under, and he said law enforcement saved lives that day. He credits them for saving his life, the life of his brother, who's disabled, who couldn't make his way out of his home by himself.

So he's still thankful for the response that happened, but there are still those growing questions about who was in charge and what crucial steps were taken before the water made its way here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Leigh Waldman, thank you so much -- Jessica.

DEAN: Joining us now to talk about this more, Donell Harvin. He's the former chief of homeland security for Washington, D.C., and a member of the faculty at Georgetown University Emergency and Disaster Management.

Thanks so much for being here with us this afternoon.

Let's go back to this reporting that CNN is getting, sources telling us that Secretary Kristi Noem did not authorize FEMA's deployment of urban search-and-rescue teams until more than 72 hours after that flooding began. We are also hearing of delayed responses to requests for aerial imagery and additional staff at the call centers.

For the record, Noem has called that fake news, but I'm curious what you -- how you would assess its impact on the ground.

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER D.C. CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: It's a tremendous impact.

And I have actually been at state and local waiting for those resources to respond, specifically in New York City with Hurricane Sandy. I would mention that, in that particular case, FEMA and the administration leaned into, leaned forward into that disaster, which they started doing about a decade ago or more, anticipating these severe weather events and prepositioning assets.

I think it's important that people understand that FEMA is not your first responders. FEMA help funds search-and-rescue, aerial imaging, large contracts for all types of human support and to support the rescue and recovery operations, but they're not going to be there on the day of the incident.

DEAN: And, yesterday, she also reiterated her desire, her thoughts to eliminate FEMA altogether. What do you think about that?

HARVIN: Well, this is something that the current administration has made a policy decision.

Many in our industry have decried that. FEMA, while it is bloated, while it does have some type of administrative and bureaucratic issues -- we have known this for quite a long time -- it is a lifesaving agency. It's not one of these agencies that you can just blow up and kind of recreate at the state and local level.

In fact, this incident in Texas speaks exactly to why the state and locals do not have the capability to fill that federal response gap. It will take decades. Speaking from someone who's worked with FEMA, who's trained under FEMA, it will take decades for the state and locals to build the response capability that currently resides at the federal level.

And, in the interim, people will die.

DEAN: And, look, I think a lot of people, even people like yourself who very much support FEMA, have said, look, there are ways to streamline it. There are ways to make it even better than what it already is.

What might those be like? What are in your thoughts realistic ways to make it more effective?

HARVIN: Absolutely.

In fact, the president and the secretary of DHS has commissioned a panel to better understand how to recreate or what to do with FEMA. The report of that commission is not even out yet. That commission just met a few days ago. And so what many in the emergency management industry, the International Association of Emergency Managers, the National Association of Emergency Managers and the Big City Emergency Management agency is talking about is, wait for that commission to come out with their report.

This is a commission that's been paneled by Kristi Noem and the president to come up with their findings. In the interim, we have these crazy policies such as having the DHS secretary sign off on any contract over $100,000 that are really going to -- as we see right now, it's going to delay response and quite possibly cost lives.

DEAN: And, yes, do you worry about that? You're talking about that rule of anything over $100,000, which, frankly, when you're dealing with disasters like this, is a drop in the bucket. That's a very -- despite being a large number, is a very small number within this circumstance.

What kind of concerns do you have as we approach hurricane and wildfire seasons that are now getting under way?

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This policy really needs to be reevaluated. Every year, we have had more intense and more frequent disasters. President Trump, who led through Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, knows very well the cost of disasters and how harsh they can be on the state and locals.

And so as we enter the -- probably what's going to be a very busy hurricane season, I think the DHS needs to revisit this contracting mechanism that they have come up with. I will let the viewers know. They're probably asking, what type of contracts?

Things as simple as getting hotel rooms for first responders that are coming from across the country to go and support the state and locals, mobilizing the USAR, urban search-and-rescue teams, which are coming from all over the country, as far as Alaska and Hawaii sometimes, getting their travel, getting their authorization.

These are the type of contracts that we need to have a streamlined process. FEMA's always had that. And, apparently, in mid-June, Kristi Noem kind of crushed that whole process and made it so that it goes to one person, and that's her.

DEAN: All right, Donell Harvin, thanks so much. We really appreciate it.

HARVIN: Thank you.

DEAN: Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica, cheers and relief in Los Angeles today. All 31 workers got out alive after part of this gargantuan tunnel, which is 18 feet wide, collapsed underground.

Video shows a crane hoisting a rescue cage with some of the survivors inside. Fire officials say the workers had to climb over a pile of loose soil that was at least 12 feet high to reach their co-workers on the other side. A sister of one of the survivors tells the Associated Press that her brother had to squeeze through a tight space, saying -- quote -- "My brother was crying. He told me he thought he was going to die underground" -- unquote.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is there.

Stephanie, tell us what happened.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Fred, this is a miracle that everyone got out of there safely.

But what we understand is that this happened at about 7:45 p.m. local time last night, when they were basically burrowing through with this equipment to build this tunnel, which has been under development for several years here now, and it's going to take treated wastewater out to the ocean. It's replacing two tunnels that are 60 and 80 years old.

So this is an important project, but it's taking a long time. This tunnel is 18 feet in diameter. And what we understand is that part of the soil of the area where they had already worked collapsed after they were past it. So those workers on the other side then had to scramble over 12 to 15 feet of soil to get back to the other side, to get back to the tunnel transportation, to take them back up to the entry and exit point of this tunnel.

So the great news here is that there were no major injuries, just some minor ones that they found with the people who were coming out of there, as they used cranes, 100 L.A. Fire Department officials who were here, including urban rescue, coming on scene to help get these people out.

And these men are fine physically, but obviously many of them shaken up as well. Still, there's a lot of praise for how well this went because they followed their training. In fact, take a listen to a L.A. city councilmember as he discusses how this went down.

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TIM MCOSKER, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, CITY COUNCILMAN: This is a highly technical, difficult project, and they knew exactly what to do. They knew how to secure themselves. They knew how to get to the train that brought them back. They knew all of the signals.

As we spoke to them, they talked about their relief as they saw every piece of their emergency preparedness come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And keep in mind that it was already 7:45, so it was getting dark. It was completely dark under there. Their phones weren't working. There was no communication. And this happened at about the five-mile mark of this underground tunnel that is expected to be seven miles long.

And it's supposed to begin operation in a couple of years from now. On top of that, Fred, they were 400 feet below ground.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ELAM: So this is all happening back there. We have seen some workers back out there today, but still they're investigating this, what happened here, to make sure it doesn't happen again.

But it's fantastic to be able to tell you good news, that 31 people are out safe and sound.

WHITFIELD: It sure is. It sure is, indeed.

And so I wonder too, Stephanie, what do investigators think is behind the collapse?

ELAM: Yes, they call it this thing called ground squeezing that sometimes happens. And so the soil can compact and fall into that area.

Obviously, though, you don't want to risk lives when this is happening. And they're also doing this under streets that are in operation. They're burrowing underneath parts of the city that are very much occupied. So, lots of questions here on how this happened. There's obviously many more questions that need to be answered here that we are looking to find out hopefully later today, Fred.

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WHITFIELD: All right, we look forward to that. Thank you so much, Stephanie Elam. All right, still ahead: the sinking of another ship in the Red Sea

after a deadly attack by a terrorist group and the effect it could have on commercial shipping, we have new details.

And as the Kremlin escalates its attacks on Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Russia's foreign minister. The message Rubio says he relayed from President Trump during what he describes as a frank conversation.

Also, Hasbro's CEO warns that prices could go up on some of America's favorite toys because of tariffs. We will tell you when and how coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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DEAN: Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting face-to-face with his Russian counterpart today in Malaysia. The two shared what Rubio called a frank conversation. And it comes as President Trump has increasingly voiced frustration over Russia's disregard for peace talks.

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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We understand that these things take time and patience, but, obviously, we're also frustrated that more progress has not been made. And, hopefully, we -- based on today and in the days to come, we will have more clarity about what exactly the Russian position and priorities are in this regard and can begin to make some progress.

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DEAN: To add a little context to this, the talks are happening just hours after Russia launched another massive drone attack, hitting Kyiv from all sides, and it marked the second straight night of strikes.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon for us.

Natasha, it certainly doesn't seem as -- that Russia is interested at all in any sort of peace talks. How does the U.S. put effective pressure on Moscow?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far, what we have seen is President Trump really ramping up the rhetoric when it comes to Russian President Vladimir Putin and voicing his displeasure, especially after that phone call that President Trump had with Putin last week.

During a Cabinet meeting earlier this week, President Trump had the strongest language that we have heard from him recently about Putin, saying that he says a lot of B.S. to Trump, but that much of it, if not all of it, is completely meaningless, so seeming to come to the realization here that President Putin is not serious about these peace talks that President Trump has said repeatedly in recent months, and even before he was even in office, was one of his main goals, achieving peace between Ukraine and Russia.

And so there are also other aspects of this as well. We saw Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who met with Lavrov earlier today, and he told reporters afterwards that he also expressed his displeasure and frustration on behalf of the president with the fact that Russia is really not letting up here. We are seeing the same kind of massive barrages of missiles and drones against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on a real nightly basis.

And so there are two other ways, also, of course, the weapons shipments. Those are a real, tangible way of increasing pressure on the Russians, and something that was, of course, reversed just this week from last week, when the Pentagon decided to stop that weapons shipment. That has now restarted, according to sources, and, of course, that Russian sanctions bill that is really gaining momentum in the Senate.

And that could be something that is implemented, and that would put real pressure on the Russians as well, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, certainly.

Natasha, there's also been talks surrounding Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's decision to authorize a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine without first telling the White House. What more are you learning about how all of that transpired?

BERTRAND: Yes, there's been a lot of confusion about this because President Trump has refused to say categorically whether he approved the weapons shipment being paused or whether he was told about it by the secretary of defense.

We reported, of course, that Secretary Hegseth did not inform the White House or even the State Department before approving that pause. But, ultimately, people say, look, the bottom line now is that the weapons shipments are being restarted. President Trump reversed this. And one of the people who said that is the former Vice President Mike Pence. Here's a little bit of what he said earlier.

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MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My expectation is that he will get to the bottom of it. He will find out who initiated that decision. But the most important thing is that he reversed it. This isn't just about defensive weapons.

QUESTION: Right.

PENCE: We have got to continue to provide President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian military with the offensive capability, as well as the kind of support against aerial assaults that will allow them to achieve a real peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: So, the question now, of course, particularly for the Ukrainians, is whether they can count on a steady supply of weapons from the U.S.

As of right now, the only thing that's been restarted is some of those defensive weapons. And it's unclear if the U.S. is going to provide any additional systems on top of what has already been allocated by the previous administration. Is President Trump going to provide a new Patriot system, for example? All of this really remains to be seen, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, more to come. Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon, thank you so much for that reporting -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica, let's talk more about all of this.

We're joined now by retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Mark Schwartz.

General, great to see you.

So, we just heard the former Vice President Pence saying that Ukraine needs offensive weapons from the U.S. to achieve peace. What kinds of weapons could he be talking about?

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Yes, great to be with you, Fredricka.

So, certainly, the Patriot weapons systems, but there's a whole array of air defense systems. Obviously, the Patriot is not the ideal system that you would want to use against a slow-moving drone. So there's other capabilities that ideally, as part of this restart of defensive weapons systems, the president, the secretary of defense are working with our European allies, and even to include Israel, because they have provided some of their unique capabilities that only they possess.

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And, ideally, those discussions are happening this week, but certainly Russia has a very good ability and a sustained ability to overwhelm the air defense systems that are currently in place across Ukraine and its critical infrastructure and population centers.

So I was really pleased to see the public acknowledgement that -- who we're dealing with and who the president is dealing with in Vladimir Putin.

WHITFIELD: And in terms of the president now saying he doesn't think Putin is sincere about having any kind of real negotiation.

So, that -- having that been said then, we have seen Ukraine launch highly sophisticated attacks inside Russia before, only for the Kremlin to respond more forcefully. If the U.S. gives these weapons to Ukraine, surely there can't be a feeling that this will entice Russia to get to the negotiating table, when it seems universally established that Putin doesn't necessarily want to negotiate.

SCHWARTZ: Well, there certainly has to be a military cost to their -- Putin's unwillingness to come to the negotiating table, and there's going to be an economic cost with this bill that's currently in the process of going through Congress.

So it's a combination of levers that the United States has. And, candidly, I think only the United States has those levers, but in partnership with the broader alliance of NATO and the broader European Union, I think there's opportunities to apply the pressure that's needed to get serious discussions to restart between Ukraine and obviously Russia facilitated by the United States.

WHITFIELD: All right, and, General, let's shift gears. Let's talk about what happened in the Red Sea, the sinking of the Liberian- flagged cargo ship by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

It was happening just as Liberia's leadership was meeting with President Trump at the White House yesterday. Do you see a connection?

SCHWARTZ: There probably is a connection. The -- all the commercial maritime vessels that navigate through the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb up to the Red Sea, it's -- their cargo maybe isn't specifically identified in kind of open, commercial, but certainly the origination and destination.

So I imagine there was a link, and this was a direct message, not a really smart move on behalf of the Houthi leadership. I think also the fact that Netanyahu has been in Washington, D.C., this whole week and the Houthis claim that these two ships were heading towards Israel may have weighed into this. But we haven't seen an attack since last December.

And I suspect that the coalition probably led by the U.S. and Israel will respond in some way kinetically to these recent attacks this week.

WHITFIELD: What kind of potential response do you see? Because it has been -- at least in the last year, there have been about 100 ships that have been targeted as it pertains to the Houthis. They have said in the past year, year-and-a-half that this is in retaliation for what's taking place in Gaza and their support for the Palestinians.

So who do you see, which countries would you see actually intervening, whether it be militarily or otherwise, especially since this is a vital transport?

SCHWARTZ: Well, I think you may see as a result of these attacks this week a building up of the combined maritime task force.

There's different lead nations that have responsibilities for certain areas from the Arabian Sea going all the way up through the northern end of the Red Sea for maritime commerce security. So you may see an increase in military vessels from the combined coalition deploying.

But I think, from a standpoint of attacks directly on Yemen proper, you will see going forward very similar to what has occurred in the past of standoff attacks either by Israel or the United States.

WHITFIELD: All right, Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, we will leave it there. Thank you so much. SCHWARTZ: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up: A judge issues a nationwide block against President Trump's order seeking to end birthright citizenship. What it could mean for the administration's immigration agenda.

Plus, if you have got little kids on your holiday gift list, you may want to start your shopping early. The new warning from the company behind toys and games like Monopoly and Play-Doh, we will discuss next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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