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Sheriff: Search Efforts for Texas Flood Victims Could Take Months; Supreme Court: Trump Can Resume Mass Firings at Education Department; State Department Fires 1,300 Plus Staff Members; Trump Says He's Considering Revoking Rosie O'Donnell's Citizenship. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 14, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, the sheriff in Kerr County, Texas said it could take months to find at least 140 people still missing after deadly floods there. At least 132 people died in the disaster. At the first commissioner meeting since the catastrophe, the head of Kerr County explained that campers and residents are accounted for. But the challenges come from visitors who were in the area for the 4th of July holiday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT KELLY, KERR COUNTY, TEXAS JUDGE: It's the tourists that came in for the fourth weekend, the concert, the fireworks. We don't know how many came. We don't know where they are. We don't know how many we lost. We've heard accounts of trailer after trailer after trailer being swept into the river with families in them. Can't find the trailers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: I want to bring in Tom Moser. He's a former Kerr County commissioner. He tried multiple times to update the area's flood alert system. He retired from the commission four years ago. Tom, thanks so much for being with us.

So it's been just over a week since the deadly flooding began. What would you say are the commissioner's priorities right now?

TOM MOSER, FORMER COMMISSIONER OF KERR COUNTY, TEXAS: Well, I don't know their priorities right now since I'm not on the court, but I would imagine that this has got to be priority number one.

SANCHEZ: What can you tell us about the efforts that were made previously that you believe may have mitigated some of the extent of what we saw unfold in this disaster?

MOSER: Yes, I'd be happy to do that. And it all began with us being focused on this improve our warning system. In 2015, I believe there were 11 people that drowned in the Wimberley, Texas area south of Kerrville. So with that, we use that as a catalyst to look at our early warning system, flood warning system, and had an engineering study performed by a local engineer, quite a -- quite a detailed study that would enhance the flood warning system in Kerrville and Kerr County. The city of Kerrville occupies 6 percent of Kerr County and land area. So this was much, much larger than just the city.

But that plan, we had what methods of identifying when an emergency was going to occur. We had methods of warning in that. I think you can find that plan on our agenda website on Kerr County Commissioner's Court.

But anyway, we did that we presented that to the to 40 or 50 people in the community and plan to proceed forward with which we did. It was had a price tag of like about a million dollars on it, not including sirens. And let me comment on not including sirens.

Sirens were in the plan, but a large number of people in the community did not want sirens throughout the county. So we said, well, let's move forward with the plan of enhancing our warning system but without the sirens. We tried to get a grant in this from the state of Texas, and I'm sure there were a lot of competing requests for those grants.

We did not receive the funding for that from the from the state. So that's where we left it. The county included in its budget each year the amount of funds it would take to complement the funds if we received them from the state. So that's the bad news.

If I may add, the only thing that could or the good thing that could come out of this tragic event is that it be a catalyst to develop a very enhanced, aggressive, effective flood warning system now with current technology.

SANCHEZ: And to that point, you know, we received conflicting information from folks on the ground about whether they received alerts on their cell phones. Some people said they did. Other folks said that they did not, including the mayor of Kerrville.

Is that something that was addressed in this effort to enhance the warning system? Are you familiar with those alerts? Was that something that was discussed at any point? How to perhaps amplify cell phone coverage to make sure that folks were going to get those?

MOSER: Well, the cell phone warnings were part of the 2016 plan that I mentioned. There were other methods of warning people. Sirens were a major part of that, and there were other mechanisms.

I think today, you know, we have a much better capability to predict an emergency with all types of technology.

[15:35:00]

We have a better way of projecting the warning. So hopefully the little thing that will come out of this terrible event will be the development of a warning system that is much, much better, even than what we proposed in 2016.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I imagine it's a tough time for a lot of folks out there, and we heard from residents that had a lot of questions for local officials. I wonder, Tom, as we let you go, what your message is to that community?

MOSER: Well, the community is, let's all pray for those that the families who suffered such tragic events. Let's heal from that. But at the same time, move forward to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen again.

And I don't believe the financial resources will be an issue after this major event.

SANCHEZ: Tom Moser, thank you so much for the time. We appreciate you joining us.

MOSER: Thank you for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Just to let our viewers know we are anticipating a press conference from Texas Governor Greg Abbott later this afternoon in less than an hour or so. So we're going to keep tracking that and bring you the latest from Texas as we get it.

Also coming up, the State Department lays off roughly 9 percent of its workforce. The American Foreign Service Association says the move sends the wrong signal to the world. Its president will join us live.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We're breaking news into CNN.

The Supreme Court is clearing the way for the White House to resume mass firings at the Department of Education. CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid joins us now with more. Paula, walk us through what the court found.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So, Boris, this is yet another big win for President Trump at the Supreme Court. Here he's getting the green light to continue what he has said will be the dismantling of the Department of Education. Specifically, they're focused on his efforts to carry out mass firings.

Now, a lower court had blocked that effort, but here the Supreme Court is allowing them to continue with those mass firings while these larger legal challenges play out among the lower courts. Now, this is an unsigned opinion, but the three liberal justices, Justice Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson wrote a pretty lengthy dissent here, and their argument against this decision is that this is a separation of powers issue.

They note that the agency was established by Congress, and you cannot dismantle it without going through Congress. They say, quote, the majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its rulings or naive. But either way, the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave.

And they go through the history of what President Trump said on the campaign trail, his promises to try to dismantle the department, and then they push back, arguing that he cannot do this unilaterally. This is something that you would have to do with Congress.

So this is just another in a series of decisions we've seen from the high court, that conservative supermajority giving Trump a green light to continue to try to reshape the federal government in the way he wants while legal challenges continue to play out.

And what I'm told is, you know, this is great for the Trump administration because they can continue with these firings. They can continue to try to reshape the federal government. And even if they ultimately lose these challenges, which they don't expect to by that point, most of the damage or most of the changes, depending on how you see it, we've already been completed.

SANCHEZ: And we'll see ultimately what this means for education and for students in the United States. Paula Reid, thank you so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: 1,300 staffers at the State Department were laid off on Friday as the agency reorganizes. According to a CNN count, as of today, more than 51,000 workers have been laid off or targeted for layoffs from federal agencies so far.

I'm joined now by Tom Yazdgerdi. He is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. It's the union that represents foreign services officers. Sir, talk to me a little bit about the picture that you were getting of the people who were laid off and why.

TOM YAZDGERDI, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION: Yes, Brianna, first of all, we are we oppose this in the strongest possible terms. It's nearly 250 diplomats are our members. Most of them are our members.

Excuse me. And we just don't see the necessity of it. We have an up or out system. We're kind of patterned on the military, the Foreign Service. So if they want to actually reduce the force, the workforce, they can do that without having to riff. You know, they could -- they have a hiring freeze, which is still on.

They could, you know, slow promotions. But the point is, if you start -- if you do this riff as they're doing, you basically we're the eyes and ears, the Foreign Service, the eyes and ears of our country overseas. We are the first line of defense for America, and we're a global workforce.

So if you -- if you riff an office in the State Department in Washington, D.C., it has an effect on our ability to project American interests abroad because we move every two or three years. We spend two thirds of our life, our work -- our work life overseas. So we don't see why this is happening now.

It has an incredibly bad impact, we think, on promoting the American national interest abroad. And that void, as you've probably heard before, and it's true, will be filled by China, which doesn't have these problems. Now that the diplomatic footprint of China is larger than that of the United States.

So we're very concerned about this. We don't think it was necessary, and we strongly oppose it.

KEILAR: Thomas, do you see this -- where you see that people are being let go? Is it random?

[15:45:00]

Is it geographical? How are you seeing people targeted for the layoffs?

YAZDGERDI: Yes, it's basically where you were on May 29th. As far as we understand, I think when the Secretary agreed to this reorganization plan. And so some of our members, American diplomats are not even in those positions anymore. They've moved on. They've moved abroad, they've moved to another office within the department in Washington. And so it's just kind of happenstance.

It's kind of random in the sense that if you're in an office that was slated to be closed in the reorganization, and you've even moved on, then you're out of luck. So it's kind of just luck of the draw, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to us.

KEILAR: So what could this mean when you're looking at some of the major conflicts right now that the U.S. has interest in whether it is Israel, Gaza, whether it is Ukraine and Russia? Would you see any specific impacts there?

YAZDGERDI: Well, here's the thing. Even before this administration, we were stretched thin overseas. I know that because we would see -- we would hear from our members working overseas.

You know, we saw instances of real burnout because there weren't enough American diplomats to staff our embassies and consulates overseas. So you come in now with this administration, and you want to cut, not even hire new people, which which we think we would we needed, you're actually cutting the workforce. So that'll only hurt, I think our ability to conduct, you know, American diplomacy overseas, it's going to be very difficult, whether it's in hotspots like Gaza or Ukraine, or what's happening with it with Iran, any manner of, you know, sort of conflict areas overseas, it's going to have an impact.

And anybody that tells you it won't, it just doesn't know the situation.

KEILAR: Tom, is there anything the union can do or is currently undertaking legally to oppose the layoffs?

YAZDGERDI: Well, we're looking at that because we were not involved, we would have been but our collective bargaining rights were suspended. We no longer have them or though we're fighting that. But we would -- the way it was done because we're set, we're a unique workforce within the U.S. government, it wasn't done by the provisions that there were supposed to be followed in the what's called the foreign affairs manual. Where if you are going to be rift, say, for example, I'm a mid level political officer, I'm actually a senior political officer, you would actually be, you know, in a competition class from everybody that's in your rank, and in your area of specialization.

That wasn't the case here, it was just anybody in your little office that was slated to be rift. And sometimes that competition class was just you. So you had no competition. So you were just rift, there was no -- there was nobody you were competing against. So this was not done, taking into account the unique nature of the Foreign Service, it was done by basically doing away with all those regulations that we had painstakingly negotiated decades ago. And now we see the result that we see.

So I really think it's both bad for American national interests abroad. And it's also has a huge impact on our members. I mean, we've heard story upon story of how this has affected folks who, you know, were really given no notice that this was going to happen.

And I really feel for our mid level officers who can't take an immediate annuity can't take it a pension. And now they might have kids that might have pets, they might have financial obligations. Now they're really out in the cold.

And that just isn't right. It doesn't make sense in terms of the overarching policy that we want to promote in the world. It doesn't take make sense on a human level either.

KEILAR: Yes, they're all around the world, representing the United States' interests or or they were. Tom Yazdgerdi, thank you so much for being with us.

YAZDGERDI: Thank you, Brianna, appreciated it.

KEILAR: Still ahead, they have been feuding for years now President Trump is threatening to take comedian Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship away. But can he really do that?

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: President Trump is reigniting his decades long feud with comedian Rosie O'Donnell, the president taking to his social media platform to write in part, quote, I'm giving serious consideration to taking away her citizenship. She's a threat to humanity and should remain in the wonderful country of Ireland if they want her.

O'Donnell drew attention last weekend after she posted a video to TikTok, slamming the trump administration's response to deadly floods in Texas. CNN's Tom Foreman has been following this escalating feud and Tom, it goes back a ways. back like two decades for some reason.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Back like two decades. For some reason, you know, he's a notoriously thin skinned, for some reason she got way under that skin a long time ago and has never let go.

This latest feud very, very hot right now. He's upset about -- he's upset about a lot of things -- but he says he's going to throw out of the country. She's basically saying, bring it on. He mentioned her being in Ireland --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

FOREMAN: -- when he was inaugurated right beforehand, she moved to Ireland saying, look, I'm not going to stay in this country while he's in charge enforcing far right policies that she very much disagrees with.

SANCHEZ: She's one of a few people that have made the claim that they would leave the country of Trump were elected. She actually followed through with it. Does he have the ability as president to denaturalize her to take away her citizenship?

FOREMAN: Not even close, not even close. The Supreme Court ruled on this many years ago and they said, look, this is something that the government cannot do when you're a U.S. citizen. She's a born U.S. citizen. She's living in Ireland right now because she went over there where her family was once from.

SANCHEZ: O'Donnell.

FOREMAN: She's applied for citizenship, but that doesn't mean she's giving up her U.S. citizenship. So no, he has no power to do this.

So even as he's making noise, she's hitting him again and again, as she always had on his bankruptcies, on his criminal charges and convictions, on the trouble he has with his businesses, on the troubles he has with his private life. She just keeps punching him.

[15:55:00]

Most recently posting video of him with Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender and basically saying, Oh, am I getting under your skin? Am I bothering you again, Donald?

So this feud, I don't know why the two of them have locked up so hard for so long, but it is not fading one bit.

SANCHEZ: No love lost between those two. Tom Foreman, thanks so much for bringing us up to speed.

Still ahead. How much would you pay to own an actual piece of Mars? The price tag when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: A bidding war is about to begin for an exceedingly rare red space rock from one of Earth's neighbors. Sotheby's New York is preparing to auction off this massive Martian meteorite on Wednesday, the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. It weighs some 54 pounds.

KEILAR: It was discovered actually back in 2023 in a remote part of Africa, and the auction house thinks that it will fetch $4 million.

[16:00:00]

But keep in mind that there was an auction back in 2021 for a much smaller Martian rock that sold for four times its initial estimate. So really, the sky's the limit here. It could be a lot more.

SANCHEZ: What do you do with a Martian rock? I mean, you put it in glass in your living room so people can admire it.

KEILAR: Yes, or you could admire it. Just walk by it every day and say, wow, that's awesome that I own this thing.

SANCHEZ: Also a meteorite. Like, how did you wind up here? Did somebody like, did an alien drop it? Like, who knows?

KEILAR: Yes, let's hope that's exactly what did not happen.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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