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Trump Influencing Stock Prices?; ICE Shooting Investigation; Trump Set to Make Claims of Election Meddling; Texas Flooding; Wildfire Smoke Impacting United States. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 16, 2026 - 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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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A disaster declaration in Texas. Right now, the same areas that were inundated by deadly flooding almost exactly a year ago are again facing rising floodwaters.

And millions of Americans are being urged to stay indoors. Just check out this scene, smoke from Canadian wildfires spreading from Minneapolis all the way to D.C., coating cities in a thick orange haze.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Unbelievable scenes.

And a debate inside the White House. We are told advisers are at odds over just how much President Trump should say during his prime-time speech tonight on elections.

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

KEILAR: We begin with what is really a devastating deja vu that is hitting Texas.

The state's Hill Country region that suffered more than 100 deaths from flooding just a year ago is again facing, as you see here, catastrophic conditions from just unrelenting rainfall here over the last few days.

The Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose more than 25 feet in one hour. It crested at 37 feet, which exceeds last July's level. Over the last day or so, scores of people have been rescued from the rising waters now inundating South Central Texas.

JIMENEZ: And, at this hour, emergency crews are racing to reach people trapped by the flooding. We're seeing scenes like this play out, like this little boy in the snorkel gear being put onto that boat there. Others were able to save themselves after seeing how the rising water was not stopping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COREY ZELLA, ESCAPED TEXAS FLOODING: The feeling this morning when I saw the water was still in the parking lot and it was nonstop raining, because I left the house this morning at 4:30, and it was nonstop. And I was like, yes, I'm going to just go ahead and have a bag ready just in case. And, sure enough, it worked out.

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JIMENEZ: CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is following this extreme weather for us.

So, Derek, the mayor of Kerrville told CNN he thinks the Guadalupe River is higher there than it was during last year's emergency. What is the latest on this dangerous flood wave, as it's being called?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, well, we can confirm that as well. We have seen the river crusting higher than last year.

But for you to understand this large, deadly wave moving, that type of language from the National Weather Service being very specific, I have only heard it two times now in my history of my career, you have to understand the topography of the Hill Country of Western Texas, OK?

So there's a lot of hills here, obviously, but that means the water, when it totals over 26 inches since the beginning of the week, it funnels down into tributaries and rivers, eventually leading to larger rivers like the Guadalupe River and the Pedernales River that are currently being warned of this large deadly wave of water moving downstream.

So, here they are, the two flush flood emergencies. There's another one to our south in Uvalde. Let's get into the Pedernales River. This is very specific, but this is what they're warning about. Fredericksburg to Johnson City, these areas have a catastrophic flood tag associated with them. And this is the reason why.

You could see the rapid rises in the river throughout the course of the morning. It does look as if the Fredericksburg River gauge has peaked and it's on its way down, but they have been noting too that it's important to realize that any additional rainfall upstream could cause a secondary crest in these rivers across the Hill Country in the Southern Edwards Plateau.

So this kind of puts the geography into perspective. These are major flood stage forecasts, the individual river gauges, and within them are the Guadalupe River, which we are all too familiar with from last year's flooding events.

KEILAR: Yes, you can't see these pictures without thinking of the more than 100 people who were killed in this area, and specifically those 25 girls and the two counselors at Camp Mystic.

VAN DAM: Yes.

KEILAR: The camp owners, Derek, tried to reopen the camp this year, but then abandoned the proposal under pressure from families in the state. Tell us how the deluge is impacting Mystic's campgrounds today.

VAN DAM: So, what's very important about this is that it's exactly where the rain falls in relation to the river and the tributaries and the south or the north forks of what leads into the Guadalupe River.

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So this is a map that we have put together. You can see Hunt. We talked about that a lot last year in July. There's Kerrville and there's Comfort. You can see that Comfort exceeded the crest from last year's catastrophic flood event.

But Kerrville and Hunt have not. Camp Mystic is to the south and west. And when we overlay the precipitation within this area, that really lines up with this story as well, Camp Mystic, right about there, but the heaviest of rain upstream, or, rather, downstream, I should say, and just to the north.

So that means the flow of the water along the Guadalupe River moves this way. And that is why we have seen the dangerous flash flooding in places like Comfort, Texas, where we saw that dramatic 25-foot rise in a matter of an hour. That is the large deadly wave of water that the National Weather Service continues to warn about.

Again, going back to the topography of this area, the water rushes down from the hillsides, the local streams and creeks, and into the larger rivers, and that is what accumulates. The water has nowhere to go but up, and, unfortunately, it becomes this lethal wall of water, that now we have these catastrophic flash flood warnings ongoing across so many areas.

I got to point this out. There were areas that were receiving five inches an hour rainfall rate. That is astounding. That's a true tropical deluge that is causing catastrophic flooding right now.

KEILAR: Yes, unbelievable.

And officials are hoping that the warnings may have spared some of the tragedy that we saw a year ago. So let's hope, as we see how this continues.

VAN DAM: They learned a lot of lessons.

KEILAR: Derek, thank you.

And from water now to fire, these are scenes today from some of the nation's biggest cities. We're feeling it here, even in Washington, but this is happening because of those wildfires in Canada. Dangerous smoke has crossed the border. It's impacting the air for more than 100 million Americans.

JIMENEZ: And the smoke, as you can see, is sending air quality in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and as far east as Boston plummeting to levels the EPA considers very unhealthy, even hazardous in some locations.

So I want to bring in CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir, who's been tracking this for us.

So, Bill, can you just put these conditions in perspective for us? I mean, I can see you're outside. What are you seeing and feeling just being in the New York area right now?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Omar.

Yes, right now the air quality index here in the side of the East River, we're looking at Lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn side, is just over 100. Anything over 200 is when you should start being concerned, despite your health. And really anything over 150, health conditions will show up for the general public.

Over 200, it could get worse. Over 300 is definitely the worst, and that's when people should maybe think about wearing masks outside, definitely stay inside if you can. But, for perspective, in Hibbing, Minnesota, today, where the fires are raging, the air quality index was over 1,600.

I didn't really know if that was possible. I thought it maxed out at 800. And it stayed 480 a couple years ago here in New York City in 2023 for a couple of days because the weather systems held it. Right now, we have got a couple of pressure systems funneling the smoke down in the neighborhoods of about 100 million Americans.

And that air quality index that you want to keep an eye on in your particular backyard measures the particulate matter. That's 2.5 microns across or smaller. So that's 1/30th the width of one of your hairs, a human hair. So it's tiny, tiny toxic soot that gets past your nose, hair, and mucus, into your bloodstream, into your lungs, potentially your brain.

Particulate matter is a carcinogen. It causes about five million early deaths a year worldwide. So it's not to be trifled with. When that air quality index gets above 150 and it starts to get above 300, wherever you are, that is time to take it seriously.

We're hoping for relief by the weekend, certainly by the World Cup final, which is just across just a few miles that way in the Meadowlands on Sunday. But here we are. This is becoming almost, sadly, a summer ritual, where you have to think about air quality, like you think about sunscreen or rip currents.

But these Canadian boreal forests, over 850 of them, raging uncontrolled across the country, most of them that are affecting us are in Ontario, about 160 fires there, most started by lightning. It is tinder-dry up there, triple-digit temperatures, way high in Canada, all contributing to what we're breathing down here in the States.

JIMENEZ: All right, Bill Weir, appreciate it. Stay safe out there, as you monitor those conditions and we monitor other cities as well.

Thanks, Bill.

We're also learning more about what President Trump will say or maybe claim during his prime-time speech on election security tonight. People familiar with the address say the president will focus on what he will allege is new information about foreign efforts to influence U.S. elections.

KEILAR: We're told his advisers have been debating how much should be revealed, including alleged efforts from China.

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CNN's Kevin Liptak is live for us from the White House, where -- pardon me -- I'm -- this is the air we're having problems with in D.C. here.

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KEILAR: We're actually expecting a briefing at any moment here, Kevin. What more are you learning about tonight's speech?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes.

And this will be a big speech by the president's own telling. The White House is keeping the specifics of what he will say pretty closely guarded, although the president himself said that, yes, he would be addressing issues of election integrity, and that there would be a very, very big announcement.

Our understanding is that some of the topics in the speech include, as you mentioned, the idea of foreign influence or foreign interference in American elections, including by China, and that the president would also discuss purported vulnerabilities in election systems, including in voting machines.

But the specifics of what exactly he will say here at this point aren't clear. There has also been discussion and debate inside the administration about potentially declassifying some documents that would back up the claims that the president will be making in this speech, although that is not a universally held position.

There are officials who worry that by releasing some of these documents that it could paint a muddled picture of the security of American elections, or potentially even reveal some of the ways that they collected that information, although there has been behind the scenes this intensive effort to try and find potential documents to declassify.

There's been this task force that has been led by the conservative journalist John Solomon going through the various intelligence agencies to try and find information that could potentially be put out that would potentially support some of the president's claims here.

And, of course, we know that the president is trying to rally support behind the SAVE Act, that voting reform bill that he's trying very hard to get through Congress, but which at this point does not have the votes to pass, and, certainly, I think it's likely that the present uses the context of what he says tonight to try and rally support behind that bill. JIMENEZ: All right, Kevin Liptak, appreciate the reporting live from

the White House, where, again we're moderating for the start of a White House press briefing. We will bring you those details when they get here.

Thanks, Kevin.

Still to come for us in the meantime: A top Texas prosecutor counters FBI claims surrounding a deadly ICE shooting in Houston.

KEILAR: Plus, comparing President Trump's trades with his TRUTHs. See what a CNN investigation uncovered about the president's stock market purchases.

And, later, see the dangerous beach flyovers -- flyover, I should say, that is now under investigation.

We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: New developments today in the case of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Houston last week. The Harris County district attorney is now questioning the FBI's claim that suspected drugs were found inside the van that Salgado was driving.

The DA tells CNN he does not believe the substances collected were drugs.

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SEAN TEARE, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: A couple of things about that search warrant, though.

We -- based on the information we have regarding who Mr. Salgado was, and just eyeballing the evidence as it was collected yesterday, we don't believe that they are drugs. All that to be said, this -- the fact that this search warrant was unsealed by the federal government is truly unique in my 20 years of doing this.

That is not something that we see the FBI or any federal agency do, especially prior to any presentation of a grand jury.

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JIMENEZ: Now, it's unclear whether the DA's office was actually able to witness the FBI search of the van, but the FBI is saying the plastic bags seen in these images here that you're seeing on the screen are what gave them reason to believe the van was carrying illegal drugs.

So it's important to note, DHS has not indicated that agents had any knowledge of drugs possibly being in the van at the time of the shooting. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more now on what we're learning.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There were already intense questions swirling around the shooting death of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo last Tuesday in Houston, Texas, by ICE officers.

But now, with this latest information revealed in a federal search warrant obtained by CNN, there are now accusations that federal investigators are trying to launch a smear campaign against what they believe -- who they believe is the victim in this case, Salgado.

This comes as we have obtained this federal search warrant. We should point out that it is highly unusual for a search warrant like this to be made public in a federal case. But this search warrant says that, in the white van that Salgado was driving, there were four plastic bags containing a white crystal-like substance that was consistent with methamphetamines.

Now, we should point out and be very clear that the search warrant document does not say that these were illegal drugs definitively. In fact, we have reached out to the FBI to find out if that substance has been tested and has been confirmed to be drugs. We have not heard so far.

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But supporters of the Salgado family say they believe that the information contained in this search warrant affidavit is -- quote -- "trying to change the public discourse," that it -- quote -- "smells of a smear campaign and a cover-up."

The ACLU, which is now helping the family on the legal front as well, says that the Trump administration cannot be trusted to investigate itself. They continue to call for a full independent investigation. The prosecutors there in Houston say they are trying to continue doing an investigation.

The FBI says they are investigating the possible assault of a federal officer. Critics say they should be investigating a murder. We have also learned that the Texas Department of Public Safety, the State Police, and the Texas Rangers will also launch an investigation into the shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo as well.

So, a lot of intense developments, intense accusations as to why the information was released in this federal search warrant that critics of the federal investigation say is simply a smear campaign against Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

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KEILAR: Ed Lavandera, thank you for that. And coming up: why some social media posts by President Donald Trump

are being called an ethics disaster by someone who used to work for his administration.

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JIMENEZ: Now to an exclusive.

A CNN investigation has found that President Trump has promoted companies on his TRUTH Social account just days after he bought stock in those companies.

KEILAR: The companies include major chipmaker Nvidia, Boeing, and Apple.

CNN investigative reporter Isabelle Chapman is with us on this story.

Isabelle, tell us what you found here.

ISABELLE CHAPMAN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Yes, so my colleague Casey Tolan and I took a look at all of President Trump's trades and all of his posts on TRUTH Social from last year.

We found dozens of examples where Trump's money managers purchased stock for him, and within a week he had posted a complimentary TRUTH Social message about those same companies, their executives. And, sometimes, it was their products.

There were also several times where he announced government actions that could benefit the companies he had just invested in. Last year, for example, he purchased between $250,000 and $500,000 of stock in Intel. Just a few days later, Trump announced the U.S. government would take on a 10 percent equity stake in Intel.

Another example that stood out to us, you might remember that controversial ad last summer with Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle. Last summer, Trump purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 in the company. And a few days later, he praised the ad on TRUTH Social, calling it the hottest and said that jeans were flying off shelves.

JIMENEZ: It's been one of those things that, as you lay out those dynamics, I mean, that's something that you and your team were able to track over a good period of time. Do we have a sense on what the White House is saying or -- about all of this?

CHAPMAN: Yes, the White House has said that Trump's money is managed by a third party, that he has no control over any of the stock trades, and that he has never used his office for financial gain.

Historically, presidents have put these types of assets into a blind trust, meaning that they can't see what their holdings are. But Trump's money is in a trust that's run and managed by his son, his son, who's a trustee on this trust, Don Jr.

KEILAR: And so what are experts -- what do they say about what you learned?

CHAPMAN: Yes, I mean, this has obviously raised a lot of conflict of interest concerns from ethics watchdogs who we spoke to about whether Trump was using his megaphone to boost his own portfolio.

One expert that I spoke to who's at the Cato Institute, he actually worked for Trump in the first Trump administration, during the first term, and he went so far as to say that this is an ethics disaster.

JIMENEZ: All right, Isabelle Chapman, really great reporting, you and the team. Thanks for being here.

CHAPMAN: Thanks so much.

JIMENEZ: All right.

And we do want to go to the White House now, where a press briefing is under way right now. We're going to dip in really quickly, listen to what's going on. There's Karoline Leavitt.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: ... our country, we cannot have a country.

It is a vital part of our democracy, of our constitutional republic. The president will be speaking about that tonight. And, in addition, at the very same time, of course, he is working on all of these economic issues that the American people have at home. I just read to you, the latest inflation numbers are looking good, the best report in six years.

The president -- Republicans and Democrats and all Americans have this president to thank for the largest tax cuts in American history, which every Democrat on Capitol Hill voted against. You have this president to thank for the Trump Accounts for our children and the securing the future of the American dream.

So this president is doing a lot, but obviously safe and secure elections are a true tenet of our constitutional republic, and the president will be speaking about that tonight.

Thank you.

And, Ben, please.

QUESTION: Hey. So, I'm from England. I have been following the World Cup all around, absolutely loving it. Unfortunately, we got knocked out last night, so...

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LEAVITT: I'm sorry for the loss.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

LEAVITT: Tough day for you today.

QUESTION: Yes. It's all good, though.

But I want to know, so all these football fans coming to America absolutely having a great time. I have had an amazing time. What do you want these football fans to take away from their time in America?

LEAVITT: Sure.

Well, I'm so glad you enjoyed your experience here in our country, and sorry for the loss. We look forward to the final match on Sunday. And I know the president looks forward to attending. But I think the world saw that this president and this country is able to put on the greatest show in sports in the world.