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Interview with Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-MD): Trump Weighing Massive Attack on Iran, "Bigger than Ever Before"; U.S. on Pace for Highest Level of Measles Cases in Decades; Bertha Remnants Fuel East Coast Storms; Accused Georgia School Shooter Due in Court, Expected to Chang His Plea. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 24, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Depend upon events like that. We depend upon the President's ability to get out to actually see the voters and the citizens and to make statements in all kinds of different venues. The question is, what do we need to do to help the Secret Service to be able to manage this increase in threats and to still be able to deliver essentially perfection even in those large events going forward?

They are an agency that has traditionally really struggled to get the budget increases they need to do the hiring they need and things of that nature. So, yes, I think we need, this is more a question of what can we do for the Secret Service.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's important framing. Andy McCabe, great to see you this morning. Thanks very much.

Brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, President Trump is considering a massive attack on Iran. That's what he told Axios, showing no sign of wanting to make a new deal, as Iran is refuting reports that it rejected a ceasefire proposal from the United States, though clearly there is no deal right now.

Also breaking, the FDA says it's identified a new outbreak of the parasite that causes severe explosive diarrhea. What it means for the general public with some 1,600 cases confirmed since May.

And in today's edition of Welcome to Florida, a deputy who just moved down from the Northeast gets his first go with a gator, how the deputy ended up wrangling the beast.

Kate is off today. She is not the beast I am referring to. And John -- I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, breaking this morning, the New York Times is reporting that Iran rejected a U.S. offer for a new truce, though Iranian state media says that's not exactly true. Either way, the fighting is still very much on. Iran says it targeted U.S. military bases in multiple countries across the Middle East, while U.S. Central Command says it carried out new strikes on Iranian military targets. According to Iranian state media, at least four people were killed. Now, this has been going on every night for nearly two weeks straight now. President Trump told Axios he's considering a, quote, massive attack on Iran.

Again, another quote here, bigger than ever before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're doing very well against the Islamic Republic of Iran. We're doing extremely well. They would like to do something, but I say they're not ready yet.

They need more of the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, John.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Johnny Olszewski of Maryland. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Thank you for being here this morning. Let's, of course, start with Iran.

It says it didn't outright reject a deal. But to be clear, there is no peace deal signed here, no ceasefire deal. The president says he's now considering a massive attack.

I mean, what would you propose President Trump do when there is no sign of a ceasefire?

REP. JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI (D-MD), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Well, we're not doing well, as the president suggests, and we are in a mess that he created. The president has consistently refused to level with Congress and the American people about this war of choice, this illegal war of choice. And he clearly doesn't care about the impact it's having on Americans, the lives lost of our service members.

He doesn't care about the price you're paying at the pump. He doesn't care about the grocery costs. He doesn't care about the tens of billions of dollars he's spending.

So for me, we have to try to get a deal done. Unfortunately, the president ripped up JCPOA, an imperfect deal. But he's the reason we're in this war.

He's chosen this war and he has to come up with a plan and level with Congress and the American people about how we get out of it.

SIDNER: For the second time, Democrats, as well as a handful of Republicans, managed to pass a war powers resolution rebuking the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran. I mean, do you think the U.S. should just end their bombardments even without a deal at this point? OLSZEWSKI: Yes, what's happening is we're at this juncture where the two choices are in terms of Trump's world is either going to escalate. And I don't know what that means, taking out civilian infrastructure or boots on the ground. And I think all these choices are potentially devastating for American interests.

It's why Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of this war. It's as unpopular as Vietnam and the Iraq war. I fear we're sliding into an endless war.

And, you know, I'm reminded of the saying that all it takes for terrible things to happen is for good people to stay silent. So I applaud those couple of Republicans who stood up and voted for the war powers resolution just earlier this week. But what I want to see is more action from Republicans in the Senate.

There was no courage in the Senate when we passed it out of the House.

[08:05:00]

And we should be looking at things like withholding the funding if the president insists on moving forward without being clear. He's a pathological liar. He's lied about this war. He's lied about all sorts of things.

But we need some courageous Republicans in Congress to step up and help us end this madness.

SIDNER: All right. I do want to turn to some domestic issues here and the fact that you were once a public school teacher long before you got into politics. I want to ask you about what is happening with the United States and measles.

We're seeing an enormous spike in measles cases, mostly in children. U.S. measles cases hit a 35-year high and vaccinations are down significantly. Look at this graph that was brought to us by our medical reporter Meg Tirrell where you look at 2010 and you look at 2026 and the number of cases has shot up.

Who do you blame for this and what must be done about it?

OLSZEWSKI: Well, I appreciate you mentioning my time in the classroom. Some of my fondest memories were as a public school teacher here in the Baltimore area. And what I can tell you is whether as a teacher or as a public official, we should trust the science.

And unfortunately, this is an administration whom I blame for this, who is spreading misinformation about the efficacy and the benefit of having vaccinations. And so there's a direct correlation, as you pointed out, between vaccination decline and the increase of not just measles, but all sorts of other outbreaks. And this is an administration that I think is directly responsible.

And again, they don't care about you. They don't care about the families who are getting sick. They don't care about the families who can't afford their cost of living because, you know, they're lining their pockets with billions of dollars and they're living the high life.

But it's really unfortunate. This is an administration that doesn't believe in truth or science. And Americans are paying the cost here just as we are with the war in Iran.

SIDNER: There is another major outbreak that you alluded to, and we'll just talk about it now, the FDA reporting a new outbreak of that cyclospora, which is causing explosive diarrhea in consumers, not just the one linked to lettuce. This one isn't linked to lettuce, they say, but there was the one linked to lettuce that is still ongoing, that has sickened thousands of people. Do you see this as a direct result of cuts that were made to particularly the FDA?

OLSZEWSKI: Absolutely. When you gut the agencies that are responsible for ensuring the safety of our food, these are predictable consequences. And so, again, this is a Trump administration, this is a president, this is an administration that doesn't care about you.

He is happy to fire hardworking federal employees to gut federal agencies while he stuffs his own pockets in those of his friends and associates. Americans are getting sick. Americans are dying.

Americans are paying at the pump, the grocery store and with taxpayer dollars while, you know, they enjoy the fruits of their corruption, really.

SIDNER: Of course, the Republicans and the administration says they're doing everything they can for America. And I know Democrats certainly beg to differ. Congressman Johnny Olszewski, thank you so much for coming on this morning and talking us through that.

All right, we're standing by now this morning as the teen accused in a deadly Georgia school shooting is returning to court, expected to change his plea to guilty.

Plus, we're just hours away from the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner. How security is being ramped up, as you might imagine, after that attack back in April aimed at the president.

Plus, nearly a dozen people rescued after a seaplane crashes off the coast of Washington state. This is incredible video. We'll show you the images and how this rescue went down.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right, we've got new video in this morning after a shootout between police and a murder suspect on one of Florida's busiest highways. Traffic came to a standstill on I-75 Wednesday after Florida Highway Patrolmen stopped a suspect wanted in connection with a deadly shooting. Here's how it went down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come out with your hands up. I got it. Crawl out. Crawl out. Let me see your other hand. Let me see your other hand.

Put your other hand where I can see it. Keep crawling. Keep crawling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This all happened in Lee County, Florida. That's where Fort Myers is. The sheriff's office says the suspect was taken into custody and that investigation currently ongoing.

All right, in New York, police are investigating whether two stabbings are actually potentially hate crimes. Officials say a 51-year-old man stabbed an Asian man and a Jewish man multiple times.

Police say the attacks happened yesterday afternoon completely unprovoked. The victims were just minding their own business. They say mental health in this case may have been a factor -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, severe flood threats across the East Coast fueled by the remnants of Bertha. Flood watches are in effect for more than 7 million people from North Carolina and Alabama.

Let's get the very latest in the forecast. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar with us this morning. Good morning, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Bertha is dead and gone, but we're still pulling up some of that moisture from the Gulf Coast up into this stationary front that you can see right through here. And it's not just for today. This will linger even as we head into the weekend.

[08:15:00]

So that flooding concern for some of these states is going to be a multi-day concern. Here's where we have the rain at the moment. You can see some pretty heavy showers right there along the coastal Carolinas.

We've also got our next cluster kind of sliding through areas of the Midwest and the Mississippi Valley that will also slide eastward in the next 24 to 36 hours. Here you can see again a lot of orange and red on that radar. You're looking at some of these pretty good downpours this morning.

Keep in mind some of these areas already had very heavy rain yesterday too, so now we're just adding to that. It's why you have the flood watches in effect because it's a multi-day thing for any of these areas. They got rain yesterday, now we're adding it on top.

It's that compounding effect that's really going to trigger the biggest concern for flooding. They will continue through the afternoon. You can see a lot of those showers and thunderstorms firing up late this afternoon, continuing through the evening hours, and even going into Saturday and Sunday for some of these locations.

So overall, when you look at the scope of things, some of these areas are most likely to pick up, say, an extra one, two, maybe three inches. But there's a few pockets there where you see those orange, the dark red, those kind of colors, where these areas could pick up five, six, or maybe even seven inches of additional rainfall, again, on top of what they've already had. And that's going to be the concern, because for some of these areas that ground is already saturated.

Now you add some more of the rain, especially if it comes down very quickly. It can pond, it can start to fill up very quickly, and that's why you have that flooding concern. The greatest concern for the flooding exists in this red area you see here.

That includes Wilmington, the southern suburbs of Columbia, and portions of Charleston, South Carolina. That's where the greatest threat exists. However, anywhere on this map where you see even the green or the yellow colors, the potential is still there for the flooding.

And noting, too, that this is the threat for Friday, but many of these same areas are also under the threat even as we head into the day on Saturday. Now, I would like to point out a lot of these areas are very dry. They could use some of this rain.

The concern is when you end up getting so much rain in a very short period of time, that's what in turn ends up triggering a lot of the flooding concern. So, yes, these areas would prefer maybe one or two inches total, not five to seven inches total, as we've been seeing over the last few days and could continue to see as we make our way through the rest of the weekend.

BERMAN: Yes, spread it out a little bit next time, they're all saying. Allison Chinchar, thank you very much for that.

All right, an AI model goes rogue and hacks into a company without being asked to. Now lawmakers are calling for some kind of kill switch.

People who rent are used to all kinds of fees on their bills, but how about being charged an extra 200 bucks a month if you work from home?

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, the Georgia teenager accused in a deadly high school shooting is due in court and expected to change his plea from not guilty to guilty. Four people were killed in that mass shooting at Appalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is outside of the courthouse. This is a big change and will avert a long, drawn-out trial. What are you learning this morning?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, good morning. What he will not be facing as part of sentencing in this multi-day hearing where he's expected to change his plea from not guilty to guilty, what he will be facing is a death penalty, and that is thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that found that juveniles who committed a crime before the age of 18 cannot be sentenced to death. So what we're looking at here is what's called a noncompetitive plea.

It's something the prosecutors and his offense team have been discussing for months, and basically this means that the DA does not have a direct deal made out with Colt Gray. Colt does face a mandatory life sentence. So the main question here before the court, before the judge, is whether he's eligible for parole as part of that life sentence.

That will ultimately be up to the judge to decide. Now, Colt Gray is now 16, and according to authorities, he admitted to the shootings that day on September 4, 2024. He was 14 years old at the time.

What we heard in these hearings that he brought, and we witnessed video, too, of him bringing in an AR-15-style rifle hidden in his backpack. He left his math class and then carried out this deadly assault that ultimately claimed the lives of four people. What we can also expect to hear during these days is survivors, potentially, they will make the decision of whether they want to confront for the first time in a court setting the shooter, Colt Gray.

Obviously, if they decide to do that, that's going to be a deeply emotional testimony. Colt, by the way, will also have an opportunity to speak to the court on his behalf. We've also taken a look at the court documents that show that he has three witnesses speaking on his behalf. And these witnesses show that clearly his defense is going to use mental health here as a key to argue for the judge that he should approve this eligibility of parole. And those three witnesses are his maternal grandmother, a psychologist, and also a counselor for the juvenile detention center. Back to you.

SIDNER: We are looking at a family holding the plush toy of their child they lost. It is a devastating case. We'll see what happens in court today.

Isabel Rosales, thank you so much for reporting for us there from Georgia.

All right, this is both terrifying and amazing. A seaplane crashing, then catching fire, but 11 people aboard somehow saved. We'll explain how.

Plus, if President Trump's massive arch is built in the middle of Washington, D.C., as he wants it, it could actually cause problems for pilots trying to land planes. See what they might be up against, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, gas prices rising once again to $4.11, above $4 a gallon, up $0.13 since just last week. Rising prices come as inflation still a burden for millions of Americans.

CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, joining me now. All right. We've seen some numbers here about how Americans feel about the war in Iran.

How do they feel specifically about whether the war in Iran was worth it, the pain at the pump that they are dealing with?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, this is where President Trump seems so politically tone deaf. I mean, this is what we're talking about. It's like, oh, you know what?

It's worth it to me. You know, I'm not actually taking part in the midterm elections.