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Timeline of Deadly Texas Flooding; Deadly Fire in Massachusetts Assisted Living Facility; Trump Threatens Tariffs on Russia. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired July 14, 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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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A new threat and a new deadline, President Donald Trump with an ultimatum for Russian leader Vladimir Putin: Agree to a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days or face the consequences.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Trump clashing with the MAGA movement he created, as his conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein are coming home to roost. Some of Trump's most loyal supporters, including his deputy FBI director, infuriated by the Justice Department's official memo on Epstein.

And a reckoning in Texas, Kerr County officials holding their first meeting since flash floods devastated their community, the sheriff warning that it could take months to find all of the victims.

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

SANCHEZ: We begin this hour with breaking news out of Washington. President Trump unveiling a new plan to punish Russia if it doesn't end its invasion of Ukraine. The plan includes severe tariffs in 50 days unless President Putin makes a peace deal.

Trump made the declaration a short while ago during a meeting with NATO's secretary-general in the Oval Office saying about the conflict and negotiations that he's very unhappy with how it's gone so far. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to see it end. And I'm disappointed in President Putin, because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn't seem to get there.

So, based on that, we're going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. It's very simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: On top of those potential tariffs, the White House is also detailing an agreement to sell U.S. Patriot missiles to NATO countries, who then in turn would transfer them over to Ukraine.

Let's take you live now to the White House with CNN's Kristen Holmes.

Kristen take us through what the administration is saying about this ultimatum.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so let's start with the tariffs, as you're talking about the ultimatum, and then we can move to the weapons, because both of these are very interesting, in the sense that President Trump ran on this idea that, one, he could solve the crisis or solve the war in Ukraine between Ukraine and Russia within 48 hours of taking office, but also this idea that he was going to perpetuate an America first agenda.

And what you see here is him trying to thread the needle on these things while still trying to help Ukraine end this war and protect themselves. So when you talk about those tariffs, we know that this is secondary tariffs, not first, tertiary tariffs.

One of the reasons why that's important is because Russia currently doesn't really do enough trade with the United States to have that matter. So now there's 50 days for this deal or for some kind of cease-fire in Ukraine to happen before these secondary tariffs at 100 percent would go into effect.

That means that the countries that do business with Russia and also do business with the United States, they're the ones who are going to be facing these extraordinary high tariffs, the point there being that this is an effort to try and get leaders of other countries now to also try and force Putin to the table because you're punishing these intermediaries.

Now, all of this, of course, is coming as we have seen really a 180 from President Trump when it comes to Vladimir Putin. Just listen to what he said about what it's been like working with the Russian president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have been hearing so much talk. It's all talk. It's all talk, and then missiles go into Kyiv and kill 60 people. It's got to stop. It's got to stop.

I felt that we had a deal about four times. And here we are still talking about...

(CROSSTALK)

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: And he didn't send...

TRUMP: We thought and I thought we should have had a deal done a long time ago. But it just keeps going on and on and on. And every night, people are dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, one of the interesting things we heard there was actually not just from President Trump himself, but from the secretary-general of NATO, who said that President Trump came to a decision that the Ukrainians needed to be able to defend themselves, which is something, again, that looks at a big change from what we saw Trump just several months ago.

And when it comes to the weapons, this is also him threading the needle, because he has said that he doesn't want to help support Ukraine, give them more money, give them more weapons because of his America first agenda.

In this, he now gets to say that it's the other countries who are buying this, so the United States is getting money from those purchases, and they are the ones who are then shipping these weapons to Ukraine.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for the reporting -- Brianna.

KEILAR: President Trump has issued this deadline for Russia to come to a cease-fire as Russia has shown no signs of letting up on its attacks on Ukraine more than three years into the war.

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CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in London and has reported extensively from Ukraine.

Nick, is this what Ukraine needed?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, there's two parts to this.

There's the urgent arms deliveries, which it sounds like may be in Ukrainian hands when the matter of days, according to President Trump, talking about Patriot interceptors, the things that shoot-down Russian ballistic missiles, that can only shoot down Russian ballistic missiles that only the United States has and can authorize the distribution of, and also the batteries that fire them.

He even suggested there's a NATO country that has potentially 17 that it's not making much use of. That's a very high figure and more indeed that Ukraine said it wants. But that's something they are urgently, vitally in demand for, given they're attacked every single night by Russian ballistic missiles.

Other missiles potentially too could be part of this, and there's now a mechanism for Europe essentially to pay and for the arms to get bought off the United States, a win, frankly, all around and one that could plug urgent holes. But there's obviously been the delay of the last six months that have, it seems, allowed Russia to toy with the notion of diplomacy and possibly ready a summer offensive, which may be under way in the weeks ahead.

And then there's the issue of sanctions. Look, we have had deadlines before when it came to trying to pressure Russia into diplomacy, possibly not with the same explicit level of sanctions, but Trump's threatened secondary sanctions before, and it's made no difference to the Kremlin's calculus.

Perhaps this is now aimed at China and India, who, let's face it, are the real potential targets of any secondary sanctions. They're the main customers of Russian hydrocarbons, oil and gas. But they're so dependent, certainly China, that the idea of them overnight shunning those particular supplies to maintain good relations with Trump, well, that's an enormous, if not impossible ask.

And they may instead calculate that Trump may change his mind or slip the deadline moving ahead. But, bear in mind, 50 days is a huge period of time in this conflict. Cast back to where we were 50 days ago, we were still talking about Istanbul negotiations and whether they would potentially yield any fruit. They didn't.

And now we have another 50 days until this much more severe threat could potentially kick in. So it's important to point out, whatever we talk about the effectiveness of these moves, it's a huge change from Trump's rhetoric just a matter of weeks ago. He's clearly frustrated, almost given up with Putin as an interlocutor here and gone to a Biden-esque position of backing Ukraine and indeed his European allies here.

But this is not the most aggressive -- the very aggressive steps that Lindsey Graham, the U.S. senator, suggested might be part of this announcement. It's a lower key of that and the big threat kicked down the road.

KEILAR: Yes, an important note to make there.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for that.

Let's discuss this further now with former director for Russia on the National Security Council Jeffrey Edmonds, who's now a senior fellow at the Center For a New American Security. We're also joined by CNN military analyst retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel, I just wonder what you think about this, the threat of the tariffs and then more Patriot missiles. What is that going to mean?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, so I think one of the key things, Brianna, is the fact that there's this very long period, 50 days, between the imposition of -- basically saying this and then the imposition of any possible sanctions.

And the thing that's most important, though, is the fact that these weapons apparently will be delivered fairly quickly. So, if that's the case, that could be helpful to the Ukrainians, but that long pause is, I think, going to be a critical factor not in Ukraine's favor at this point.

SANCHEZ: Jeffrey, if this is designed to get Modi and Xi to bring Putin to the negotiating table, how effective is this ultimatum?

JEFFREY EDMONDS, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR RUSSIA, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I don't think it's going to be very effective at all. I think Putin knows what he wants. I think he believes that he can continue to win. The trajectory is not going great for the Ukrainians right now. He's met his requirement, his recruitment requirements, for example.

So he believes he can keep pushing this war forward. And I don't think the ultimatum is going to change that.

KEILAR: So, when Putin is looking at this, it's not necessarily that he's seeing a rope tightening. It's that he's getting 50 extra days of rope?

EDMONDS: Kind of. I mean, I just think he sees that this is not going to be effective, right? And you have to also remember that Putin doesn't believe that American presidents actually have power. He believed that, like, there's a large organization, a large deep state, if you will, that is very anti-Russian.

And so it doesn't really matter what Trump's going to do. Putin knows what he wants. He wants to change the strategic direction of Ukraine, and he's going to continue to pursue that.

SANCHEZ: That's a really fascinating perspective.

Colonel, I wonder what you think this says about NATO and what appears to be a vote of confidence from Trump in the alliance?

LEIGHTON: Yes, at least at the moment, Boris, it does seem to be a vote of confidence. And it's clearly a sea change, at least in public rhetoric, from what he said before the NATO summit that was recently held in the Netherlands.

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So, when you look at that, that's going to give NATO a chance to move things -- kind of move the chess pieces in the right place for the alliance, as well as for Ukraine. Now the question is, how long can they stay in the right place and what's going to happen with the summer offensive?

Because the Russians are engaged in what amounts to a summer offensive right now. It's not, at the moment, very effective in terms of gaining territory, but they're in places like Sumy, they're in places like Pokrovsk on the east. And what that means is that the Ukrainians are going to be in a fairly tight spot as the summer unfolds.

KEILAR: It's so important for an American president to have an idea of how Putin thinks. And I wonder what you think about how Trump thinks about Putin, because he was lamenting at this Oval Office meeting that he felt like he'd had this deal with Putin on the war about four times.

EDMONDS: Right. KEILAR: But here we are still talking. How do you think he's viewing this?

EDMONDS: I mean, I think he's disappointed because he believed coming into power that the sheer weight of his personality and his relationship with Putin would deliver some kind of peace deal.

But I think he just misunderstands that this is everything to Putin. And, again, Putin doesn't really believe that presidents have much power. And so there's really no reason -- I mean, Putin will just play Trump as long as he can, but it's ultimately not going to matter, to Putin anyway.

SANCHEZ: Does Congress, do lawmakers right now, looking over the Senate bill that would force sanctions, do they exert a significant amount of influence on what the White House does here? Can they sort of change the calculus on this 50-day ultimatum?

EDMONDS: I don't know if they can change the calculus. I think they have a fair amount of weight as far as this bill coming forward. I mean, the bill coming forward is timed really well with Trump's announcement. So it wouldn't surprise me if he actually supports this.

And so I think there's actually a fair amount of agreement between Congress and the White House on this one.

LEIGHTON: Plus, it gives him a lot of flexibility because he doesn't have to impose -- Trump does not have to impose the 500 percent tariffs on anybody. He can go 100 percent, like he said at the White House, or he can go to 50, or he can go nothing. So there is a lot of leeway in that bill as far as the president is concerned.

So, for that reason alone, I think he will support it at this point as well.

KEILAR: Yes, he has that flexibility.

Colonel, Jeff, thank you so much for your insights. We do really appreciate it.

And ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, we have a critical new piece of the timeline that led up to those deadly July 4 flash floods in Texas, including when Camp Mystic first learned that there even was a flash flood threat.

And President Trump said a new ICE detention facility in the Florida Everglades would hold some of the most vicious people on the planet, but a new report says hundreds of the detainees have no criminal convictions or charges in the U.S.

SANCHEZ: Also, we have new details about a deadly fire that swept through an assisted living facility overnight. One woman says she was on the phone with her elderly father while he was trapped inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was on the floor talking to me, and I'm crying, telling him: "Break the window. Try to break it," because he's so weak and he couldn't break it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SANCHEZ: We're learning new details about a deadly fire in Fall River, Massachusetts, that ripped through an assisted living facility. Officials there say that nine people were killed and more than 30 others were injured, including some who were seen pleading for help while hanging out of their windows.

One woman says she was on the phone with her father who was trapped inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was on the floor talking to me, and I'm crying, telling him: "Break the window. Try to break it," because he's so weak and he couldn't break it.

And I'm like: "What are -- where are you?"

He's like: "I'm in the bathroom."

I says: "Open your bathroom window."

He says: "It is open, but they're not hearing me. They're not hearing me, Melanie. I'm going to die in here."

And I'm like: "Please don't say that. Please don't. Like, try to fight it. Get on the floor. Stay low so you're not breathing in the smoke."

And he was coughing and choking, like he was breathing in all that smoke. I don't even know how low he was on the floor or whatever, but they eventually did bring him out. And I'm so forever grateful for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, fortunately, her father made it out OK.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins us now with the details.

Gloria, what are you learning about this?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris.

And we have heard so many different accounts from survivors, elderly people who were trying to get to their mobility devices, their wheelchairs, as they tried to get out, trying to get their oxygen tanks, many of them needing them before they could get out. Many of them said that it was extremely difficult to make their way

out of the building because of how much smoke quickly covered the facility. As you said, nine people, sadly, have lost their lives and more than 30 people were injured, including some of the firefighters that responded to that fire, which broke out shortly before 10:00 last night.

This is in the Fall River section of Massachusetts, not far from Boston. And this nursing home facility was home to about 70 residents -- assisted living, I should say. It had capacity for 100 residential units; 70 people were there last night. Several of them were able to get out, the fire officials describing this all-hands effort by both firefighters and police officials in the area, who all responded last night in an effort to rescue people.

I want you to take a listen to Governor Healey, who visited a reunification center just a short while ago. That is the area where people have been trying to connect with their family members, survivors, spoke to her about what they experienced last night. Take a listen.

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GOV. MAURA HEALEY (D-MA): These are not people who can -- a lot of them are immobile. They're in wheelchairs or they have walkers. They can't easily move. And they were disoriented and just struggling to figure out what was going on.

Two brothers I spoke with, both of whom got out, one made it out into the hallway and couldn't see a thing, but felt the hand of a firefighter reach out and lead him out to the porch. The other brother was -- he tried to get out of his room, but he couldn't. The smoke was just too much, so he went back in his room and went to the bathroom, and a firefighter put an axe through the window there and literally pulled him through that window and down a ladder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So many accounts about that smoke, an elderly resident describing the fact that he opened the door to try and get out and all he got was a wave of smoke choking him and making him think that he wasn't going to make it out of there.

He was extremely grateful to those first responders, who eventually were able to get him out of there. So far, this investigation into exactly what might have started or led to the fire is still very much on its early stages. Fire officials have yet to say the cause behind this fire, but it is currently under investigation -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for that update -- Brianna.

KEILAR: There is a new development in the historic deadly flooding in Central Texas, "The Washington Post" reporting that Dick Eastland, the longtime director of Camp Mystic, received an alert warning of -- quote -- "life-threatening flash flooding" on his phone about an hour before he began to evacuate young campers.

Eastland died trying to rescue some of those children; 27 campers and staff at Camp Mystic died in the July 4 catastrophe, the floodwaters so devastating in the area that the Kerr County sheriff now saying today it could take months to find the approximately 140 people who are still unaccounted for.

There's been a question if all residents in the county received a 1:14 a.m. alert after Kerrville's mayor said that he did not get an alert on his phone.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is in Kerrville for us.

Julia, what are you learning about the camp director's actions that night?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we have a bit of a timeline of what happened at Camp Mystic that night of July 4 in those first few hours, that he did receive that 1:14 flash flood alert warning of life-threatening conditions. So that's about an hour before he starts evacuating campers.

Between 2:00 and 2:30, they were assessing the river conditions. That's when they start bringing campers into a different part of the camp. That initial alert, though, it did not order evacuation. And there was that more urgent alert that comes later that says move to higher ground now. That doesn't come until 4:03 a.m. on the morning of July 4.

As you mentioned, Eastland died trying to save those girls, specifically from a cabin called Bubble Inn. Those were the younger girls that were in the camp. And we did hear from a family spokesperson, who said that they acted promptly based on the information that they had and that at the time they weren't aware of the scale of that disaster.

And a lot of people here in Kerrville and Kerr County in general have told us that they weren't aware. So -- and also that they are used to receiving flood alerts. I have to say that. The attitude here is, every time it rains, we get some kind of flood alert. So what is it that was different about this one and why when they told that this would be different?

Well, today, in the meeting of the county commissioners, I -- we heard about that. We heard about -- from the county judge here, Rob Kelly, where I asked him, what happened? He said: "I didn't know."

So, if the person in charge of emergency management says that he wasn't even aware of the dimension of this tragedy, it's hard to say how someone could have known in the flood zone that they had to take action immediately.

KEILAR: Yes.

And, Julia, officials also saying that the search for the missing could last months and months. Why is that?

VARGAS JONES: Well, look, the scene here, as you know (AUDIO GAP) Brianna, but the water wasn't the only issue. There's so much debris and there's so much gravel, tree limbs.

I want to show you a photo that we have received. This is from the United -- Unified Cajun Navy that shows you this vehicle that's completely covered in gravel and in debris. And officials addressed this at the meeting earlier today. Take a listen.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON HARRIS, KERR COUNTY, TEXAS, COMMISSIONER: All you CAN see is a tire and door. Just a little more gravel, it wouldn't even been seen. And so who knows how many's out there completely covered that we're going to get to?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS JONES: In speaking to the folks who have been out there, Brianna, every day for now 11 days basically looking for those missing people, they're saying this is painstaking work.

And many of the areas that have already been searched, they have to be searched again now, because, as more water moves things around, it becomes a whole new search area. It just adds to the challenge that these teams will face in the weeks and now potentially months to come.

KEILAR: Julia Vargas Jones there in Kerr County for us, thank you for the live report.

Coming up: In revolt? Some of the president's fiercest supporters are revolting over the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. And now there are questions about whether Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino will stay in his role.

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