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Confirmation Hearing for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche; Officials Asked to Turn Over Phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel Lead Intensifying Lead Probe; Parts of South Texas Face "Worst-Case" Flood Scenario; House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 15, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

DR. FIONA HAVERS, CDC OFFICIAL WHO RESIGNED OVER CONCERNS ABOUT RFK JR: ... on CDC websites that vaccines are -- linking vaccines to autism. And that's the kind of political inference that no CDC -- current CDC scientists would allow to have happened.

So, I do think in terms of rebuilding trust, I do think we need to see an independent agency led by science, led by evidence. I think that, you know, the -- the last year and a half, we've lost thousands of experts in CDC. Either they've been fired or forced to resign. The majority of CDC senior leadership has been -- been removed either because they're forced out or -- or they were fired.

There's been massive program cuts. And there's -- there's public health that are going on right now that need strong scientific leadership at CDC but without inference in this administration.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Dr. Fiona Havers, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your time today.

HAVERS: Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate it.

KEILAR: And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Grilled on the Hill. Three of the President's nominees facing off with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche questioned about election security, the Epstein files and the fate of the President's anti-weaponization fund. And the President visiting Pennsylvania. He's at the defense and innovation summit at the U.S. Army War College as escalation in the war with Iran leads to new questions about how this conflict will end.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: And a pretty ominous site, smoke from Canadian wildfires, no filter on what you are seeing here, clouding the skies over several cities and leading to air quality alerts for millions of people. We're following this major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Today, President Trump's nominee for Attorney General, Todd Blanche, faced tense questioning on Capitol Hill. During the confirmation hearing, senators pressed Blanche on a number of key issues, from the controversial anti-weaponization fund to DOJ's handling and extensive redactions on the Epstein files. JIMENEZ: Blanche was also grilled about his relationship with the

President after previously serving as Trump's personal lawyer. Just listen to this exchange between Blanche and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): What happened to the Todd Blanche of the Southern District of New York that could convert him into you, someone willing to say the President has both the -- the right and the duty to prosecute his political enemies?

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: You ask me what happened to Todd Blanche. I am still here. I am the same exact person I was when I was a federal prosecutor in the SDNY, which is do the right thing and -- and do everything you can to keep communities safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez joins us now. So, Evan, what -- a lot happened in this hearing to start with. What -- what are your -- some of your biggest takeaways?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Look, over five hours, the demeanor that you saw there from Todd Blanche, where he seemed to try to keep his cool. We saw, you know, how Pam Bondi dealt with the attacks from Democrats during her hearings, where she angrily came armed with these -- with -- with these, you know, prepared remarks.

In his case, he was ready for all of this, and he seemed to keep calm for most of it. What was surprising is, you know, the -- the way he approached John Cornyn, who is one of the senators. He's a Republican senator retiring, who -- whose vote he really needs. Obviously, he has very low margin for error here.

And there was an exchange about the weaponization fund, this $1.8 billion fund, that Blanche has been trying to reassure everyone is dead, so dead that you shouldn't even bring it up. But one of the things that Cornyn was homing in on is that there's this agreement that no one has signed away, no one has said doesn't exist anymore, despite the fact that what he is saying, you know, under oath, the President really has not signed any papers saying that this agreement is dead.

Listen to this part of the -- the exchange with John Cornyn, where he homes in on a particular part of this, this IRS immunity agreement that is still alive. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): So, does this release -- apply to, let's say, an investigation by the Security and Exchange Commission or some other federal agency?

BLANCHE: No. That's the standard language that we use when we enter into settlements between plaintiffs and -- and the IRS. But no, it doesn't bind -- it's issued by me because statutes require and authorize me to do that, as opposed to other cabinet members. And in this case, it binds only the IRS and, by extension, the Treasury.

CORNYN: Well, I -- I hear what you're saying, but I certainly don't read that in the -- in the agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And I think that that's very important, because that's one of the big issues with that -- with that deal.

[15:05:04]

You -- you can put -- set aside the $1.8 billion thing, because Trump keeps saying that he wants to find a way to pay people off for what they went through after January 6th. But this issue as to whether the President still has the ability to enforce an agreement that says, you know, even if his sons are being investigated, say, for this crypto stuff that they've been doing, that -- that -- that this agreement essentially says that they can't even be investigated for that, which is what Cornyn is saying. That language covers not just the IRS, everyone else.

So, that's where we see some more work for -- for Todd Blanche to do in the next coming days.

KEILAR: I want to ask you about some exclusive CNN reporting about this hunt for a leaker. So, we know here recently when the President went to the NATO summit in Turkey that he came back on the old Air Force One, that sort of lighter blue and white one, instead of the new Qatari gifted one.

PEREZ: Right.

KEILAR: And that was because of security concerns, but now it appears that you have administration officials, including Kash Patel and Susie Wiles, who are on the hunt for whoever leaked that.

PEREZ: Right. This is an extraordinary story. Kristen Holmes, Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand reported this in the last hour or so. And what happened at the White House is that they set up essentially a war room where Susie Wiles and Kash Patel were orchestrating or overseeing this effort by -- by federal agents to look at the phones and to question members of the administration, people who may have gone on the trip, people who were involved in organizing the trip to -- to Turkey. All of those people were being questioned about whether or not they -- they were part of the leak of this information.

The President is very upset that this was published by The New York Times and by other organizations. And so, this we've never seen before, where something like this goes down inside the White House. This is something that usually FBI does behind the scenes. And so this is what went down last Friday at the White House.

JIMENEZ: Evan Perez, appreciate the reporting. Good to see you.

PEREZ: Thanks.

JIMENEZ: All right. Any moment now, President Trump is set to speak at a defense technology summit in Pennsylvania. The gathering bringing together key voices in the industry at a time when U.S. weapons stockpiles remain significantly depleted and face new pressure as strikes on Iran intensify.

KEILAR: Right now, there is no clear off ramp. Iran's foreign ministry said today that there are no plans for negotiations after Trump threatened to target civilian infrastructure if Tehran does not return to talks. CNN's Danny Freeman is there in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. So, Danny, talk to us about the significance of President Trump appearing at this summit.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna. Yes, this is an incredibly significant visit from President Trump. We're right now at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It's just outside of Harrisburg. We're in day two of an event that's been hosted by Republican Senator Dave McCormick called the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit.

And President Trump is expected to speak really any moment now behind me. And his remarks, Brianna, come at a time that you were just saying is of intense national security. There's, of course, the increasing tension and conflict that's been occurring over the past few days, even in Iran, of course, munitions that have been spent over the course of these months' long war. So, a lot of questions about next steps in this conflict.

But I'm going to get to President Trump's remarks in a moment. I actually want to describe a little bit more about this event, because it's really been fascinating. It's featured a huge number of administration, military and financial leaders over the course of the past two days. We've heard from the secretary of the Army, the head of Northrop Grumman, Governor Josh Shapiro, in fact, the CIA director, Ambassador Mike Waltz, Jamie Dimon is expected to be on that stage, also Secretary Hegseth. So, it's a lot of people right here, all focusing on making massive investments in the national security and defense industry, less than a lot of the speaker's world. We lag behind our adversaries.

And this event really has been encouraging close knit connections between both the government and a lot of these industries. And, of course, all while boasting Pennsylvania's involvement in these industries as well.

Okay, so let's get back to the President now, because we're expecting him to start speaking, like I said, in just a few minutes. It's going to be a roundtable format behind me, as you see, with a lot of speakers on stage. We're going to be watching to see what, if anything, he says about Iran. I'm sure he'll say quite a lot.

Also, we're curious to see if he mentions anything about the upcoming speech tomorrow night during primetime. And then, of course, if he mentions anything about the contentious confirmation hearings earlier today with Todd Blanche. A lot on the table right now, certainly Pennsylvanians and Senator McCormick, hoping that he focuses on Pennsylvania as well. McCormick himself trumpeting $10 billion worth of investment in the national security industry just due to this event. We'll see ultimately, though, what the President has to say. Brianna, Omar.

KEILAR: All right, Danny, thank you so much for that.

And still to come, an ominous scene for drivers on a highway in San Antonio. Look at this, a tornado just sweeping over the area.

[15:10:02]

We'll have a look at powerful storms that are bringing life- threatening flooding to Texas.

JIMENEZ: No, thank you.

But later, we're going to jump into a hot button topic. Should the U.S. make daylight-saving time permanent? Get your opinions ready. We'll talk about it. That and much more coming up on CNN News Central.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:14:43]

JIMENEZ: More slow-moving storms packed with heavy rain are pounding an already drenched area of southern Texas.

KEILAR: Yes, this situation is creating life-threatening flooding and several water rescues are underway. More than six months' worth of rain has already fallen in some areas. So, let's get more now from CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. This is scary stuff here.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, believe it or not, flash flooding wasn't the only concern out of West Texas. Look at this screen right here on my left, that is a tornado that ripped through the suburbs of San Antonio earlier this morning. All associated with the same storm system that is bringing the flooding that you see on the screen here to my right. Just an incredible amount of water. A half a year's worth of water in such a short period of time.

No matter we've seen these swift water rescues, we have seen multiple vehicles getting swept away by the floodwaters. It has been quite the day and you can see why. Look at these rainfall totals. They are over 17 inches. This is, of course, radar estimated totals across the area. But it's the Medina and Uvalde counties across west central Texas. We're talking about the Edwards Plateau into the hill country of Texas. That Highway 90 corridor that is just getting hammered with some of the heaviest rainfall as we speak. The radar lighting up like a Christmas tree. You can see the flash flood warnings that are underway. There was flash flood emergencies issued in Burney, Texas earlier today. That was part of the video I showed you a moment ago. And here it is, the level 404 risk from the Weather Prediction Center. This is their highest alert level for the potential of flash flooding. Only issued about 4 percent of the time, but it accounts for, get this, over a third or roughly 33 percent of all fatalities during flash flood events.

So, we still have a moderate risk as we head into tomorrow. Finally, we start to clear things out as we go into the early parts of the weekend. But boy, we've got a rough next 12 to 24 hours across west central Texas. Omar, Brianna?

JIMENEZ: I mean, a lot of -- a lot of rain to deal with as we talk about already a drenched area. I want to ask about just the extreme heat and wildfires in Canada because it seems like it's already posing an air quality risk for some good portions of the country.

VAN DAM: Yes, this has been quite a story that we've been covering as well. The wildfires across southern Ontario into Minnesota. This is video widely distributed on social media as a train car is engulfed in flames by one of these wildfires that took over the train tracks. They were evacuating people from the wildfire. Fortunately, everybody was able to get out of this area unharmed. But that video is just so dramatic.

And here's a look at those fires just erupting throughout the course of the day on Monday and Tuesday. But, of course, now we're dealing with the smoke across the eastern seaboard. You see that thick, hazy kind of tint to the cloud cover? That's not cloud. That is dangerous, low-level smoke that has been filtered thousands of miles away from the original fires and descended on some of our largest population densities.

This is a look at current air quality index. And any time you see those dark shades of red or magenta, that is air that's unhealthy for all age groups, especially people with vulnerabilities, upper respiratory vulnerabilities like myself, an asthmatic. Breathing that air is very, very dangerous. Unfortunately, New York City, you had the fifth worst city's air quality across the entire planet today. Earlier today, this is what it looked like. And this is in Toronto about an hour ago. You can start to see that thick, dark, almost apocalyptic orange to the skies. Brings back memories from June of 2023. I'm sure, Omar, Brianna, you remember what it looked like in New York City back then. Well, now they're dealing with it in Toronto.

JIMENEZ: Yes, I don't want this -- the return of this filter in real life where you've got smoke and haze ...

VAN DAM: Yes.

JIMENEZ: ... but, you know ...

VAN DAM: Permanent (INAUDIBLE) ...

JIMENEZ: ... the wildfire effects. Exactly. Derek Van Dam, appreciate you breaking all that down for us. Good to see you.

VAN DAM: You got it.

JIMENEZ: All right, coming up for us, House lawmakers pushing to make daylight saving time permanent. But is more sunshine in the evening worth it? It feels good. But is it worth it? We're going to break down the pros and cons and why some critics say it's the wrong move.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:36]

JIMENEZ: Congress could soon make it so you don't have to change your clocks twice a year. It's been doing for a long time now. House lawmakers voted to make daylight saving time permanent. Not clear, though, if the Senate's going to approve that. While in polls, Americans strongly favor doing away with changing the clocks. What they don't agree on is whether we end up in standard time or daylight- saving time.

Senate Republican leaders, including John Thune, have not committed to bringing the measure up for a vote.

KEILAR: They've never agreed on whether we call it daylight saving time or daylight savings time. But it is ...

JIMENEZ: That's the debate, too.

KEILAR: That's also the debate, but it's saving time, which is ...

JIMENEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: ... I've been saying it wrong. Anyways, the bill is known as the Sunshine Protection Act, and it could allow states to choose permanent standard time. Senator Tom Cotton is strongly opposed to adopting daylight saving, arguing it could create safety risks. It could hurt workers and schoolchildren who have to walk to the bus in the dark. His opposition could block the bill from moving quickly through the Senate. So, let's talk about this with Henrietta Treyz. She's the director of economic policy at Veda Partners.

All right. Thank you so much for being with us. I think this is quite the debate. It's something we just take for granted that always is the thing we have to spring forward or fall back. But talk to us about this debate here. Historically, who has favored making daylight saving time permanent? Who has been opposed?

HENRIETTA TREYZ, DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC POLICY, VEDA PARTNERS: Yes, those are great questions, and it's actually a fascinating debate.

[15:25:02]

My interest is always in how does this impact the economy? So the first thing you want to focus on is who does this benefit the most? And the sector that stands to get -- to gain the most from this change is actually golf courses. They can make an estimated $200 million to $400 million more per year, because people would be able to have tea times later into the day. So, it makes sense that President Trump is advocating on behalf of this initiative because it's great for the state of Florida, for golf courses, which we know he frequents and has some.

So, that's one of the main winners. On the loser side is a lot of rural America. As you point out, Senator Tom Cotton, and basically anybody in the middle of the country, some states, like in the Dakotas, would have their actual sunrise around 9:45 A.M. So, that really messes up the gears if you're driving to work, if you're taking your kids to school, if you're an A.M. radio station. They're actually not allowed to have frequency overnight. It messes with the other stations. And as a result, those early morning where you get your newscast or your a.m. radio, that would be potentially deeply impacted for about two or three additional hours. So, it's a -- it's a pretty big deal with winners and losers on both sides.

JIMENEZ: And just -- just on that point, you know, you talked about rural America. You know, a lot of times you hear about daylight saving time. You hear about farmers. You hear about the farming and agriculture industry. I mean, is that economically speaking an industry that would see significant impact from a vote one way or another to make this permanent?

TREYZ: I think for a lot of them, their dispute with it and the issues is that it causes a lot of accidents to be operating machinery around the time when it changes. So, think you're sleep deprived. You're adjusting. That can create a problem. But also you're going to be working in the dark for additional periods of time that, you know, you otherwise would be used to it being daylight during. So, you create this situation where there's a, you know, heightened risk for accidents that they would have to deal with.

KEILAR: Yes, I definitely don't feel at my best. When is that in the spring? When you ...

JIMENEZ: Yes, spring forward.

KEILAR: ... which one? Which is the one that messes you up?

JIMENEZ: Spring forward.

KEILAR: Spring forward.

JIMENEZ: Yes, yes, yes. That's when you lose the sleep. Yes.

KEILAR: See, I'm probably still affected by it. That's probably the issue here. Okay, so it -- I'll ask you this, though, Henrietta, because it -- it seems like there's always this debate, right? We come back to it. I know we all have it twice a year, especially once a year in the spring, but then it never actually changes. So, do you think that we're actually going to see this change?

TREYZ: You know, it's really funny. It's a weird quirk of the House versus the Senate. I remember last -- a couple of years ago, I want to say in 2022, Senator Rubio at the time from Florida, as I mentioned, it's a huge burden for the state of Florida. He offered a bill and there were not enough senators on the floor to object. So it passed via unanimous consent. And it never went anywhere in the House because nobody actually wanted the change to go through. But that really caught us off guard. Speaking of being disrupted by the hour change. So, they got caught off guard by that. And it never actually went back to the other chamber for passage. So, in this situation, the House passed it. The reason Leader Thune

hasn't committed to holding a vote is because it would create a lot of controversy. And again, a lot of Republican senators are opposed to this bill that Donald Trump champions. So, that would put them in the awkward position of having to vote for or against the bill. So historically, what happens is the other chamber leader, in this case, Leader Thune, just keeps the bill off the floor and they don't take the vote.

KEILAR: Yes. We'll see if that continues. Henrietta Treyz, it's great to have you. Thank you so much.

TREYZ: Thanks for having me. Still to come, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche telling lawmakers he cannot meet directly with Epstein victims, even though he could become the nation's top prosecutor. We'll talk to an Epstein survivor who plans to testify at his confirmation hearing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)