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Relentless Rain Creates Life-Threatening Flooding In Southern Texas; Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) On Trump's Primetime Address Tonight; Hegseth: New Policy Will Test Troops For Low Testosterone. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired July 16, 2026 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:30:00]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we've got some breaking news for you. Life-threatening flooding sweeping over parts of Texas at the hour -- the same area of the deadly Camp Mystic floods last summer. This is a number of that starkly scary. The Guadalupe River has risen 16 feet in just the past 30 minutes with a brand new warning for what's being called a large and deadly flood wave.
And right now flood rescues are underway. They are trying to help people out of the situation. They've already rescued 75 people.
Reporter for our Texas affiliate KENS, Bella Popaduik, is in Kerr County with more on this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BELLA POPADIUK, KENS REPORTER: We are right in front of the Guadalupe River and it is roaring behind us. I'm not sure if you can hear how loud it is, but the water is rushing very, very fast. Actually, just a couple of minutes ago we watched what looked like a washer or maybe dryer machine that was just, like, being pulled down the river. Not sure where it came from. It must have come from a house or a business. But we're seeing some debris in the river and it's looking pretty brown.
There are some street lights over here, so we do have a better view of how high the water is, and it's coming up on the bridge a little but it's not too, too high on this bridge over here.
Again, this is the Guadalupe River. We are in Kerrville right now where emergency management is warning everyone to seek high ground, to shelter in place. And they did open two emergency shelters as well because they say this is life-threatening flooding.
We'll continue to keep you updated as we stay out here and as we learn more and as we see more along the Guadalupe River and in Kerr County.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're going to continue to follow this. It will be developing throughout the morning for sure.
Let's also turn to this. President Trump is preparing for a primetime address today where he says a big part of his focus is free and fair elections. The president has also been promoting that he's got a big announcement to make and will be discussing new findings about election security.
Two sources tell CNN he's expected to talk about voting machine security and the alleged efforts by foreign countries to influence U.S. elections. And a lot of concern that the focus will once again return to six years ago and the 2020 election and his unfounded accusations of fraud.
Joining me right now is Pennsylvania Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean. She sits on the House Foreign Affairs committee. It's great to see you. Thanks for being here.
What are you going to be listening for in this speech from the president tonight?
REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): Good morning, Kate, and may God bless the folks in Texas and that they all get to safety. So thank you for your coverage of that.
I -- what I wish the president were going to speak about is what my constituents wish he would speak about. How is he going to reduce the price of gas and groceries and everything else? What's he doing to stop the illegal slaughter of folks by ICE on our streets? These extra judicial killings on our streets. What's he going to do about corruption, and what's he going to do about the war in Iran that he so recklessly got us into and now can't get out of?
So the nonsense that he is going to use this important platform and Oval Office address -- the president's Oval Office address to go back to 2020 and his delusional ideas, it shows you he is unwell, he is distracted. He is distracted by his own vanity, and he is fearful of losing the midterms.
What I believe is Republicans should call upon him to say, "Mr. President, use the Oval Office and this important address to the nation to talk about what they care about." The cost of living, a war in Iran, and all of the other issues of the day.
BOLDUAN: There does seem to be some concern among Republicans.
Here's what Politico has. "Trump plans to talk about 2020 and free and fair elections, alarming some in the GOP who worry he will continue to make baseless claims or repeat debunked conspiracies. Here's the quote. "The people I talk to are scared shitless, said a former Trump administration official who was granted anonymity. It's not scared shitless about the text of what he's going to say, it's what does he add to the text."
And if Democrats want to win the majority again in the House and want to paint Republicans as not focused on what voters care about, as I'm hearing from you, in a raw political sense, Congresswoman, are you happy to watch this play out tonight?
[07:35:00]
DEAN: No, not at all. Not in a political sense. I see this as what will make our country more safe and secure.
Wouldn't you think the president would be alarmed at two people being killed at the hands of ICE in such extraordinary fashion -- unmarked, no body cams? An agency that is so flush with money that I voted against. And yet they have no accountability, no body cams. And the president is somehow persuaded to say keep doing these traffic stops, or as I've been saying, traffic killings.
I don't look at this speech in terms of raw political advantage one way or another. I worry about our country. I worry about the health and stability of our president who is so vain and so easily distracted by his delusions about the 2020 election.
BOLDUAN: Yesterday, the House rejected a measure to eliminate U.S. aid to Israel but almost half of Democrats supported the move. You were among the Democrats supporting the move.
Hakeem Jeffries though -- he voted against it. The way he put it is he believes that there are more decisive ways to achieve the urgent change necessary when it comes to the far right Netanyahu government.
What do you say to criticism that rather than leading, you all are following the political winds when it comes to needing a friend in that neighborhood in the Middle East?
DEAN: Oh, I don't see it that way at all. And my vote -- yes, on the Massie amendment, which was a flawed amendment, and I think a flawed messenger -- Mr. Massie. But mine was a message to Mr. Netanyahu's coalition and government. I don't want to send another dime to support the atrocities that have been carried out in the name of response to Hamas' slaughter of October 7, almost three years ago.
It is against Mr. Netanyahu and the way he has prosecuted this war, targeting civilians, targeting health care workers. Just collapsing whole neighborhoods.
And, of course, we see this being repeated in Lebanon as we were supposedly alongside Mr. Netanyahu.
So -- and I also dispute that this -- was an attempt by Mr. Massie and Republicans to divide our caucus. I have to tell you our caucus conversations around this set of issues -- peace and stability in the region, security for Israel, dignity for the Palestinians -- it was a very unified conversation even as our votes were yes, no or present. It was not a division of Democrats.
It was not any kind of a tearing away of support for Israel. It was to -- those of us, like me -- my vote, in particular, was to say what Mr. Netanyahu has done with the atrocities after atrocities, including in the West Bank -- I've been there many times --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
DEAN: -- are unacceptable. We will not fund them.
BOLDUAN: Congresswoman, there is also new reporting about the Iranian school that was hit in the first days of the Iran war. CNN has new reporting that the Pentagon has not launched the standard intelligence review that would normally happen. A review of satellite images and other intel that would provide -- the way they describe is like a holistic determination of what really happened here.
And the president -- he just said this to Fox. Let me play this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I don't think anybody is going to ever be able to say what happened there.
TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: There are images from this site that show fragments that appear to be from U.S. Tomahawk missiles. Is it possible that old intelligence or a mistake during a very active time in the war led to this event?
TRUMP: It is, but it's also possible that those images that you have are AI-generated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: What do you make of that?
DEAN: That's very sad, frankly. This was, I believe, the very first day of this reckless --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
DEAN: -- illegal war. And how many children -- 200 schoolgirls killed. The evidence is and, of course, should be followed that it was a mistake by America.
I was with the Gulf States' ambassadors talking about the war in Iran. It was a roundtable, sadly with just Democrats. And that was one of the issues brought up -- that America has a chance to reveal its credibility when it takes responsibility for that which it did by grave mistake. It appears this was a grave mistake on day one of the war. A mistake of intelligence. A mistake of I don't know what. But we lose credibility when we do not take responsibility for such a grievous, grievous mistake.
Think of those schoolgirls. Think of their families. Think of what that says to the Iranian people on the ground. After all, we are not at war with 91 million people of Iran. We are at war with the regime that has been so brutal. And yet, the United States and the president, right there, couldn't accept responsibility.
[07:40:07]
But that's the pattern with this president. Failure --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
DEAN: -- and then cover it up.
BOLDUAN: I think it was 168 children, Iran had said were killed --
DEAN: Forgive me -- yes.
BOLDUAN: -- and 14 -- no, no, no, no forgiveness needed at all. Just the -- just putting a number on exactly what really happened there on that first day of the war.
Congresswoman, thank you for coming in. I appreciate your time -- John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new questions this morning about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and low-T. The Pentagon announced new plans to screen servicemen and women for low testosterone. Annual tests of everyone over 30. It would be optional for those younger.
In a social media video, Defense Secretary Hegseth, who is over 30, said the program is "aimed at improving military readiness and restoring health."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: If treatment is recommended, it's entirely your choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy. This initiative -- it's not about artificial enhancement. It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. With us now, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University. Doctor, always great to see you.
Can I just start before we get into whether or not this will have an impact. What are the affects of low testosterone? What does it mean for men?
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (via Webex by Cisco): So low testosterone, also known as hypogonadism, is a collection of symptoms such as severe fatigue, loss of -- loss of libido, erectile dysfunction. And that can -- that can be seen in a variety of syndromes that result in very low testosterone levels, either primary failure of the testicles or, you know, issues involving the hypothalamus and pituitary access.
The problem with measuring testosterone in the population -- in the population of men is that it's not uncommon to find relatively low testosterone in men with absolutely no symptoms. A European study looked at this a few years ago and about 17 percent of men over the age of 40 measured, you know, low for testosterone levels, but only two percent of those men tested actually had symptoms.
So this is not recommended. Docs don't do this. Docs don't routinely measure testosterone levels in the general population unless folks have symptoms. So it's -- it makes no sense to test the military.
BERMAN: What are the impacts then of testosterone enhancement if you are found -- if these tests do reveal low-T?
REINER: So first of all, it -- you know, giving men testosterone can increase muscle mass, but not necessarily strength. But elevated -- very elevated levels of testosterone can have significant negative effects. Decreasing sperm count, increasing prostate size, shrinking the testicles.
So this is not like just talking a multivitamin that'll make you feel better. There are real consequences for substantially increasing testosterone levels in people that don't need it.
The other issue I have with this is Secretary Hegseth said that it's going to be mandatory to test all service members over the age of 30 for this, but it's going to be voluntary on whether you need to be treated for a low testosterone level.
By the way, it's not so easy to test testosterone. It has to be done in the morning. It has to be done fasting. And if it's low it has to be repeated. And there are -- and there are a million men in the military so this would be a logistic problem in doing this.
But suppose you test low, but you feel great. I think this creates a coercive environment in the military. Are they going to use testosterone levels in promotion decisions? Are they going to use testosterone levels to help figure out if you're deployable to a war zone? And let's say -- and is this going to cause members of the military to perhaps take testosterone so that they don't measure low? So that they don't have a low testosterone in their medical record.
There are a lot of ramifications to doing this and it just makes no medical sense.
This is the second time this year that Secretary Hegseth has announced a medical initiative for the military that makes no sense. The first was removing the mandatory flu vaccine, which was followed quickly after that by a large outbreak. So this just makes no sense.
[07:45:08]
BERMAN: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, always great to talk to you. Thank you for sharing your opinions on this -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Anthropic's new and scary, frankly, job openings. Why the leading AI company is now looking to hire people focused on chemicals and explosives, nuclear weapons, cybercrimes, and more.
And the World Cup final -- it is set and it will feature Messi and the baby that he once did a photo shoot with.
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[07:50:00]
BOLDUAN: The World Cup final is set. Argentina versus Spain in New Jersey on Sunday. And what an emotional rollercoaster it has been to get here, especially just yesterday when Argentina took on England.
CNN's Andy Scholes joins us now and was there. Holy smokes.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh, holy smokes is right, Kate. I mean, it was just another incredible atmosphere in Atlanta, and I can't believe Argentina pulled it off yet again. It was another amazing comeback from their squad.
Now this was the first matchup between these two heated rivals in 24 years. You could feel the tension from the start of the match. There were 19 fouls in the first half and no shots on goal. England fans finally rejoicing in the 55th minute when Anthony Gordon put this cross into the back of the net. So once again, Argentina was on the ropes in Atlanta.
But we got some more Messi magic. He gets it to Enzo Fernandez here. He would drill home the equalizer. That sent all the Argentina fans into a frenzy.
Then in the 92nd minute Messi retrieves the ball off a miss and puts in a perfect cross to Lautaro Martinez. His header wins it for Argentina. They now head to New Jersey for Sunday's final.
And I caught up with some Argentina fans afterwards and asked them what would it mean to them to see Messi go out with back-to-back World Cup titles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IGNACIO CUBERO, ARGENTINA FAN: It would mean everything. The team loves him so much. The most important thing in the world to them is to see him lift the trophy again. We're so proud of this team. We love this team. We love Messi. It would just solidify he's already the greatest of all time, but you could never argue it again. It would mean everything.
MARTIN ARAMAYO, ARGENTINA FAN: It would solidify his legacy. It would -- it would -- it would go down in history. You couldn't compete with it. He would be undeniable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yeah, those are the scenes in Buenos Aires when Argentina scored that second goal. Argentina is looking to become the first country to win back-to-back titles since Brazil back in 1962.
And in today's "What a Shot" brought to you by Arkay, we have now one of the most insane pictures of all time. So this is 20-year-old Messi bathing Spain's superstar Lamine Yamal when he was a baby. So Yamal's family won a lottery to be picked to be a part of UNICEF charity calendar that paired local children with Barcelona first-year players.
I mean, this picture is now iconic for so many reasons. One, that Messi became the greatest player of all time.
BOLDUAN: Let's list it out.
SCHOLES: Two, Yamal also became a star. Three, Kate, because Messi is still amazing at 39 years old. And four, both Argentina and Spain end up making a final. For these two to square off 19 years after that picture was taken -- I mean, Kate, that would be like if we had a picture of Wolf Blitzer with a baby John Berman.
SIDNER: That's not OK.
BOLDUAN: Give me five minutes -- give me five minutes with ChatGPT and I've got you.
But seriously, one, that is such a cute baby. I totally understand why they won --
SIDNER: Totally so adorable.
BOLDUAN: -- this lottery. And, I mean, what -- the trash talk that Messi can do -- well, that both of them can do on this is going to be --
BERMAN: The trash talk Messi can do -- I washed you.
BOLDUAN: I washed you? I don't know. It's so awkward. It's so weird and awesome at the same time. Andy, this is such a good one. Can you believe it?
BERMAN: They should recreate the photo now with --
BOLDUAN: I want that.
BERMAN: -- with Yamal in a little tub -- yeah.
BOLDUAN: Oh my gosh. That is amazing.
SIDNER: OK.
BERMAN: All right.
BOLDUAN: All of a sudden --
SIDNER: There's nothing more awkward than John Berman in this segment.
BERMAN: Calling Wolf right now.
BOLDUAN: I'm calling Wolf.
BERMAN: A Texas DoorDash driver was hit by a car driven by a man fleeing police. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DoorDash driver being hit by car fleeing police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: We don't have the video -- oh, we do.
So after hitting the DoorDash driver, the suspect ran out of the car, sprinted through people's yards, even jumping a fence.
One witness says she could not believe what she saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe somebody could reward her or something. Poor lady. At the end of the day she did deliver the food though.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: A police dog eventually caught the suspect who is now under arrest. The DoorDash driver, we should note, is OK.
So over Pensacola Beach, the Navy's Blue Angels way close to folks watching on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Blue Angel's jet doing low flyover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: People at the event say the planes flew so close that sand, tents, and chairs were sent flying.
Blue Angels' leadership is now reviewing the incident to make sure the pilots did not violate any Navy and FAA safety standards.
[07:55:00]
So in Oakland, a pigeon got a little help from fire crews. Shortly after the crews put out a vehicle fire the tiniest pigeon approached them and was apparently having trouble breathing. So what did they do? As you can see, they gave the pigeon a small little oxygen mask to help the pigeon breathe better. And shortly after that the bird flew away. Aww.
SIDNER: That's lovely. I have a friend named Mallory. She's going to love this. She absolutely --
BERMAN: Is she a pigeon?
SIDNER: She adores pigeons. She might be. Is she a -- she might be. She might be, John.
BERMAN: OK. SIDNER: I'll let you know. We'll do a DNA test.
All right. New this morning the AI company Anthropic has warned that AI could bring the end of civilization, and they are now trying to figure out how to keep us from creating a scenario that wipes us out.
Joining me now is Madison Mills, senior AI reporter for Axios. You wrote about this. That was your first line in your article. And you also say that Anthropic is trying to deal with and find 32 -- and fill 32 jobs. You called them very scary job openings.
MADISON MILLS, SENIOR AI REPORTER, AXIOS: Um-hum.
SIDNER: What do you mean? Like, what are the job openings?
MILLS: Yeah. These are experts in nuclear weapons, chemical harms, intense cybercrimes, financial scams -- all of these buzzwords that sound terrifying. And the reason Anthropic is hiring for them is they're kind of putting money and head count behind this doomsday AI scenario that a lot of people have criticized Anthropic for. Well, clearly, they believe it because they're hiring up for it. These are well-paying roles in the high $200,000 ranges.
And this is something that we've seen the AI labs continuing to do increasingly more as we're not seeing regulations. So they're stepping in themselves and saying we need experts in these things because our models are getting better every day.
SIDNER: I've got a lot of questions here because it seems really ironic that a company creating the thing that could destroy civilization is warning about this thing that could destroy civilization that they are creating.
OK, so if you follow that path wouldn't AI be smarter and faster than any of us could sort of figure out before it --
MILLS: Yeah.
SIDNER: -- goes haywire -- goes bonkers and takes us out?
MILLS: Sara, you're perfectly pointing out all of the irony in this, right?
First of all, the models are getting so much smarter to the point where there is concern that they are already smarter than the best experts that are human on planet Earth. So that's one problem here.
SIDNER: Hmm.
MILLS: The second is this idea that all of the AI CEOs are saying this technology is so scary somebody has got to do something and slow it down. Well, you're the CEO of the AI company.
SIDNER: You're the somebody.
MILLS: You're the somebody. We know as of this morning that the CEO of Anthropic donated to a
super PAC focused on slowing down the AI race, right?
So questions about whether or not the AI labs themselves are willing to take their own advice. The problem, they would say, is that if they slow down, their competitor won't. So they're waiting for regulation across the board here.
SIDNER: You know, people have been waiting for regulation for a long time for social media and --
MILLS: Um-hum.
SIDNER: -- and that has not happened. So with AI going as fast as it is, I mean, you have to wonder what you -- what the jobs of the future are going to look like, right?
MILLS: Yeah.
SIDNER: Maybe these are them.
MILLS: Yeah. Catastrophe (INAUDIBLE).
SIDNER: But if it gets smarter than all of us --
MILLS: Um-hum.
SIDNER: This doesn't seem good --
MILLS: Yeah.
SIDNER: -- is what I'm saying.
MILLS: Well, and there is -- there is some hope, I guess. Some people would say there is some regulation and executive order coming from the White House that people at the AI labs have told me they are hopeful is going to do something. And we've seen the White House pushing to delay it -- the release of these AI models so that there is some government review of them.
SIDNER: Yeah.
MILLS: But then there are also questions from people who don't necessarily want the government deciding what intelligence from these models can look like. So a lot of differing views on what the safest path forward is.
But all of these CEOs do tell Axios -- and we spoke with the CEO of Google DeepMind this week who said there needs to be something that happens.
SIDNER: You know, what's fascinating is we've always been so afraid that aliens were going to come and take us out.
MILLS: Um-hum.
SIDNER: And it turns out we're going to take us out --
MILLS: Yeah.
SIDNER: -- with our own --
MILLS: Exactly.
SIDNER: -- technology.
MILLS: Yeah.
SIDNER: All right. Well, we'll end on that note -- John.
BERMAN: All right. This Saturday a new CNN flashdoc "ROYAL FEVER: WHY AMERICA CAN'T QUIT THE CROWN." I know one guy who wants the answer to that question. Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Here we have an American marrying into the British royal family when almost 250 years ago we were fighting to get away from British royalty.
KRISTEN MEINZER, POP CULTURE CRITIC: We all learned in elementary school about 1776 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
ERIN VANDERHOOF, STAFF WRITER, VANITY FAIR: The original 13 colonies decided they didn't want to be British subjects anymore, and so that's what kicks off the Revolutionary War.
KATE WILLIAMS, ROYAL HISTORIAN: America fighting back against Britain is David versus Goliath. And yet, America fights back, throws off the British empire.
JULIE MONTAGU, COUNTESS OF SANDWICH: We become our own independent country.
MEINZER: But for all of our insistence that we don't want kings and queens here, we can't look away from them.
WILLIAMS: With Meghan Markle we have a biracial American woman marrying into the royal family.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: A commoner. An American of race. And my word, an actress. Good lord.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
