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Fuel Cut to Engines ahead of Air India Crash; Kremlin Awaits "Major Statement" from Trump; No Ceasefire as Gaza Takes More Israeli Fire; Crews Search for Texas Flood Victims, at Least 150 Still Missing; DOJ Subpoenas Doctors Providing Transgender Care to Minors; Justin Bieber Drops Surprise Seventh Album; Bad Bunny Begins Two-Month Artist Residency in Puerto Rico. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired July 12, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on the show, some answers on what might have caused an Air India jet to crash a month ago, killing 260 people.

U.S. President Donald Trump teases a big announcement on Russia as Ukraine deals with more attacks in the war that has dragged on more than three years.

And president Trump makes a visit to Texas to visit areas hit hard by deadly floods.

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HUNTE: Welcome.

The deadly Air India crash that killed 260 people took place exactly one month ago. Now a preliminary report explains why the aircraft fell from the sky just after takeoff on June 12th. But the explanation raises even more questions.

The report says the fuel supply to both engines was turned off. But according to audio from the black boxes, both pilots denied making the change and the switches are constructed so they cannot be flipped accidentally. CNN's Richard Quest has more for us.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST AND CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: The report is 15 pages long and is called preliminary. But it's pretty definitive about what took place in the cockpit.

Apparently, barely a minute after the plane took off, the fuel cutoff switches were moved from run to cut, thus starving the engines of fuel. You can see from the video of the plane as it starts to climb and then suddenly loses altitude until it crashes into buildings next to the airport.

Why did the pilots cut the fuel?

That's the question that no one knows.

One of the pilots does say to the other, why did you cut off?

And the other pilot says, I didn't cut it. I didn't do so.

And then both switches are put back on to run. But it's too late. By then, the engines have spooled down and they can't reignite in time to create lift.

We may never really know the reason why one of the pilots did switch off the fuel. What we do know is that the switches were moved in both directions and that was the cause of the crash.

Was it deliberate or by accident?

The positioning of the switch in the cockpit is specifically designed so you can't knock it by accident. The way it operates, you pull it out, lift it over and let it go. It's not automatic. It has to be done manually.

So the entire way this operation took place suggests, first, one switch, then the other, then this dialogue between the pilots and then they reverse. They switch the engines back on again. As I said, we may never know why that took place -- Richard Quest, CNN, Bordeaux.

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HUNTE: U.S. president Donald Trump is teasing a major announcement on Russia that's set for Monday. It comes as Moscow ramps up its assault on Ukraine.

Kharkiv's mayor says a maternity hospital in the city was evacuated after it was hit early on Friday. The head doctor told Reuters that the attack damaged the side of the building, where delivery and surgery rooms were located.

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OLEKSANDR LAVYRENKO, FATHER OF NEWBORN (through translator): When the first explosion happened, I ran to the baby. My wife stood up and I moved our son straight away into the corridor. Then there was a second impact, it blew windows off, the glass shattered, so we ran to the shelter.

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HUNTE: Here's how president Trump reacted to the latest round of Russian strikes while speaking to reporters at the White House.

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QUESTION: Russian drones hit a maternity hospital in Ukraine overnight.

TRUMP: I know. You'll be -- you'll be seeing things happening.

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HUNTE: The president didn't give any more details on his planned Monday announcement. But the Kremlin says it's watching the situation closely.

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DMITRY PESKOV, PUTIN SPOKESPERSON (through translator): We are waiting for the statement itself so that we can understand what president Trump meant. We carefully monitor all the details in the comments of the U.S. leader.

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HUNTE: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that the U.S. has resumed its deliveries of military supplies after a pause on some shipments last week. It comes as the U.S. envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, prepares to visit Ukraine next week.

His spokesperson says he will continue the, quote, "important dialogue" between the two countries. In his daily televised address to the nation, President Zelenskyy said he expects to see sanctions imposed against Russia.

All of this is happening as the Ukraine Recovery Conference wraps up in Rome. CNN's Ben Wedeman is there with the latest for us.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the headline really is that this gathering underscored the desire of key European countries to play a major role in supporting Ukraine during this war and also, of course, as the title of the conference was recovery, the postwar recovery of Ukraine.

Now we understand that as many as 10 billion euro -- that's more than -- that's about $12 billion -- have been pledged for the recovery. But keep in mind that the cost of rebuilding Ukraine after the war has been estimated at more than $500 billion.

We saw also that the participants agreed on a joint defense technology development program, which will be partially funded by the Ukrainians, partially funded by the European countries.

Now it's important to keep in mind, of course, that, for the European countries, that Ukraine does represent an important opportunity. This is a country of 40 million people. It has become a leader, for instance, in drone technology.

We've seen the defense production in Ukraine, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of that country in February 2022, has increased 35 times. So I think there's a lot of interest in learning from the experience of the Ukrainians, who have been very in the forefront of developing, for instance, drone technology.

So as I said, this has been an opportunity for the Europeans, who are worried about the position of the United States, which, since the beginning of this second Trump administration, has been somewhat unsteady and unpredictable.

And the emphasis now for the European countries is to do what they can to support Ukraine, because they really can't depend on the United States as they did in the past.

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HUNTE: Close to 800 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food or other aid in Gaza in recent weeks. That's from the U.N. human rights office, which says a vast majority of them were killed near the sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Others reportedly died along the routes of aid convoys.

The U.S.-backed foundation has been operating since late May but other aid groups refused to use its distribution sites because they're concerned about its impartiality and safety practices.

The foundation denies anyone was killed at its locations and calls the numbers false and misleading.

It's day seven since Israel and Hamas began their latest round of ceasefire talks in Qatar but there's no agreement so far as they try to reach a truce in Gaza. Israel's prime minister conducted his own diplomacy in Washington. Jeremy Diamond has the details. But we must warn you, some images in his report are extremely graphic.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now returned to Israel after a week of meetings in Washington, D.C., with senior Trump administration officials, including two meetings directly with President Trump.

And despite the fact that President Trump had said he believed a ceasefire deal could and would be reached by the end of this week, the Israeli prime minister has now returned from all of those meetings with no ceasefire agreement reached.

Prime minister Netanyahu has said that he believes a deal can be reached within the coming days. And yet, at the same time, the fact that there isn't a deal raises questions about President Trump's ability and how far he's willing to go to pressure Netanyahu to get this deal.

And I say that because Prime Minister Netanyahu, in recent days, has been emphasizing that Israel will return to the war in Gaza if the goals of this war can't be reached through diplomacy, meaning during this 60-day ceasefire, if it is agreed to, Israel and Hamas are supposed to negotiate an end of the war in Gaza.

But Netanyahu is maintaining that those negotiations must lead to Hamas' total surrender and a demilitarized Gaza strip. If not, he says, Israel will return to war in order to achieve those goals.

And that could undermine those U.S. assurances that have been provided to Hamas, that this temporary 60-day ceasefire is designed to lead to negotiations that will end that war in Gaza.

[03:10:09]

There are still a number of sticking points. But one key sticking point in these negotiations, I'm told, is the timeline and where Israeli troops would withdraw from in Gaza during this 60-day ceasefire, with a particular emphasis in the negotiations right now over the Morag corridor.

It separates the southern city of Rafah from the rest of the Strip. Questions about when and whether Israeli troops would withdraw from there during this 60-day ceasefire.

Now as these negotiations still continue in Doha, Qatar, to reach this ceasefire agreement, we are seeing Israeli strikes continuing unabated in the Gaza Strip.

And it was a particularly harrowing day on Thursday, as we saw a strike outside of a health clinic in central Gaza that was actually run by an American nonprofit. This strike killed 15 people. Of those 15, eight of the victims were children. And the aftermath from this strike is absolutely harrowing, as you can see.

The bodies of very small children splayed on the ground where the strike took place. And then also inside of the morgue at this hospital, the victims included a 4-year-old girl named Aya, who was impossible to miss in her white dress that was smeared with blood. Her mother was also wounded in that strike.

And UNICEF's executive director is also saying that the youngest victim was a baby named Muhammad, who had just uttered his first words hours before this strike, hours before he was killed.

UNICEF is now calling on Israel to investigate this strike and saying that it should, quote, "urgently review its rules of engagement to ensure the protection of civilians, including children."

The Israeli military has said that it will review this incident. It claims that it was striking a single Hamas militant but it declined to name who that militant was, other than to say that he participated in the October 7th attacks on Israel -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

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HUNTE: As the death toll rises in Texas, crews are searching for at least 150 missing people. Ahead, U.S. president Donald Trump's message as he visited the areas devastated by last week's floods.

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

U.S. president Donald Trump surveyed the damage and flood ravaged central Texas on Friday. The death toll is now 129 and at least 150 people are missing. The president and the first lady met with families affected by the devastating floods in hard-hit Kerrville, Texas.

At a meeting with officials, the president praised first responders and community members. He also expressed his condolences to those who lost loved ones at Camp Mystic.

The president has talked about downsizing or eliminating FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But on Friday, he said that there are, quote, "good people running FEMA."

President Trump also dismissed criticism over a lack of alerts ahead of the flooding and he criticized a reporter who asked questions about it.

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QUESTION: Several families we've heard from are obviously upset, because they say that those warnings, those alerts, didn't go out in time. And they also say that people could have been saved.

What do you say to those families?

TRUMP: Well, I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances. This was, I guess, Kristi said, a one in 500 -- one in a 1,000 years. And I just have admiration for the job that everybody did. There's just admiration.

The -- only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don't know who you are. But only a very evil person would ask a question like that.

I think this has been heroism. This has been incredible, really, the job you've all done. It's easy to sit back and say, oh, what could have happened here, there, you know? Maybe we could have done something differently. This was a thing that says, never happened before.

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HUNTE: Texas governor Greg Abbott says more counties are now part of the president's major disaster declaration that makes them eligible for federal assistance.

But there's more bad weather on the way. Meteorologists are warning that severe storms this weekend could cause flash flooding. Meanwhile, crews are searching for victims of last week's disaster. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has that part of the story.

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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From shovels and chainsaws to heavy machinery, volunteers in central Texas are using any means necessary to find those who are still missing.

CHIEF CHARLES HOLT, CENTER POINT VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: We're dealing with lots of huge debris fields that take lots of heavy equipment. And each time we debrief something, you know, more dogs, more people are moving through and we're checking layer by layer by layer.

JONES (voice-over): Seven days out from the rains that brought catastrophic flooding, search efforts along the banks of the Guadalupe continue.

HOLT: Hopes and prayers is what we're running on and adrenaline. We want to make sure that we get everybody accounted for. That's our goal.

JONES (voice-over): We rode along with one of the teams working through some of the hardest hit spots.

JONES: This is what the search and rescue operations are looking like now seven days on. They're still going strong. And not just the heavy machinery here, all of this has been combed through by different crews many times over. And they're checking even as these machines are making these piles to make sure that absolutely nobody is left behind.

JONES (voice-over): Officials tell us the scene up the river is the same for the 30 miles between center Point and Camp Mystic.

DANNY HILL, FIREFIGHTER AND UNIFIED INCIDENT COMMANDER, CENTER POINT: You are looking at America and Texas. This is what it looks like when good hearted people come together to complete a mission with people in need.

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JONES (voice-over): Food, water and donations pouring in.

HILL: The entire town is here, they're helping. But if you look around, you have support from all over Texas, you have support from the states surrounding us, just so they can bring a cooler, just so they can sit there and be side by side with the people that are struggling and lend ahead for whatever they need.

JONES (voice-over): Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Center Point, Texas.

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HUNTE: Hundreds of Venezuelans gathered in Caracas, calling on the U.S. government to reunite families who have been torn apart by the U.S. crackdown.

A Venezuelan government official has said women who were arriving in the country after being deported from the U.S. were separated from their sons and daughters. Some Venezuelans are demanding that the United Nations intervene.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We demand the U.N. intervene and bring our grandchildren, our children, our nephews, our godchildren that are kidnapped in the U.S. back.

Once again, the Venezuelan people will be in the streets so that our children come back. They are just up to 12 years old and are kidnapped in the U.S. We demand the U.N. speak up.

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HUNTE: The Trump administration has suffered a setback in court over its aggressive immigration raids in the Los Angeles area. A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop making arrests without probable cause.

The order bars immigration agents from stopping individuals based on their race, language or occupation. The judge also ruled that the government must allow arrested immigrants to meet with their lawyers seven days a week.

In his first interview with CNN since being released from the U.S. federal custody, Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil discusses his time in an ICE detention center with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Take a listen.

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MAHMOUD KHALIL, COLUMBIA STUDENT ACTIVIST: The moment you enter such facilities, such ICE facilities, your rights literally stay outside. On the inside, as you would expect, the food was as close as could be to inedible.

I had to switch to vegetarian because the meat was -- I threw up like after I ate the meat there. It was so cold. We had to ask for more blankets, but no one would answer our requests.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You missed the birth of your first child, a boy. Everybody was very concerned about your wife, who is an American citizen there without you.

What was that like?

And then what was it like when you were first able to hold your child for the first time?

KHALIL: Missing the birth of my child, I think that was the most difficult moment in my life, especially because, like, this could have been avoided. We put so many requests to be able to attend that moment. And I will not -- I don't think I would be able to forgive them for taking that moment away from me.

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HUNTE: You can see more of Christiane's interview with Mahmoud Khalil on the "AMANPOUR" hour. That airs on Saturday at 11 am Eastern time, 4 pm in London.

The U.S. Justice Department issued subpoenas for dozens of doctors and medical clinics that provide gender affirming care to minors. Why one critic says the Trump administration is looking to drive transgender people out of society. That's coming up next.

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HUNTE (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Ben Hunte. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

A preliminary report into the deadly crash of an Air India flight last month has been released. It says the crash happened because of the fuel supply switches that were flipped, starving the engines of power. The data came from the plane's black box recorders. The crash left 260 people dead, including some on the ground.

As Ukraine continues to fend off escalating Russian attacks, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says much needed shipments of military aid from the U.S. have resumed.

Last week, the Trump administration pulled some weapons shipments, including air defense missiles.

U.S. President Donald Trump and the first lady surveyed the devastation caused by floods in central Texas on Friday. There are 129 confirmed deaths and the search continues for at least 150 missing people.

The president praised first responders and offered condolences to people who lost loved ones.

HUNTE: Since taking office nearly six months ago, Donald Trump and his administration have worked to make it harder for transgender people in the U.S. to live openly and safely.

Now we're learning that the U.S. Justice Department is pushing to get the private medical information of some transgender children. The DOJ sent subpoenas this week to more than 20 doctors and clinics involved in performing transgender medical procedures on young people.

The subpoenas reportedly demand confidential patient information as part of what officials say is an investigation involving health care fraud, false statements and more. Critics say it's part of a political campaign of intimidation.

Shannon Minter is legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights and he joins us from Seattle, Washington.

Shannon, how are you doing?

SHANNON MINTER, LEGAL DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CENTER FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS: Great.

Good to be here, Ben.

HUNTE: It's good to have you here. Let's get straight into this. I want to just kick off with the main headline. The Justice Department's hunting for private patient data from doctors and hospitals that treat transgender young people. Give me your reaction.

And how unprecedented do you think this move is?

MINTER: Completely unprecedented and shocking. I mean, this has absolutely no legal basis whatsoever. It's a blatant abuse of power. It's clearly designed to try to intimidate and harass these doctors from providing care to these families who really need support.

We're talking about doctors who are just following best medical practices and treating families in need.

HUNTE: Did these subpoenas have any legal basis or, in your view, is this an abuse of power?

MINTER: This is pure bluster, pure politics. It is just an attempt to intimidate these providers.

[03:30:00]

And scare them away from doing what they're supposed to do, which is provide care to patients who need it.

And the timing is so ironic because, just about a month ago, one of the most well-respected medical review programs in the country -- it's located in Utah -- did an incredibly comprehensive review of the health care for treating these transgender young people and concluded, overwhelmingly, it's safe. It's effective.

It significantly reduces suicidality. These doctors have done absolutely nothing wrong. And there is zero legal validity to these subpoenas.

HUNTE: Meanwhile, though, there are supporters of the subpoenas, right?

I mean, looking on socials now, some people say that this is about protecting children. But you've called it part of a broader campaign to intimidate doctors and politicize medical care.

Can you just explain to me what's really at stake here for families and providers?

MINTER: Oh, yes. This is part of a much broader effort far beyond this specific population. It's part of this administration's complete disdain for medical science and attempts to just take away trusted, essential health care, whether it's vaccines, reproductive health care.

Now, it's health care for this particular group of young people. But this is part of a much larger pattern.

HUNTE: This move comes just weeks after the Supreme Court upheld state bans on gender-affirming care for young people.

Do you see all of this as part of a coordinated federal push, even in states where this care is currently still legal?

MINTER: Yes. I mean, this administration has targeted this particular population. They think that that is politically popular. And it may be in the short run. But in the longer run, I think most people in this country recognize this is so dangerous.

I mean, people do not want the federal government interfering with the conversations that doctors and patients can have. They certainly don't want the federal government stepping in and making health care decisions that belong to families and parents, not to federal officials.

HUNTE: We are in a political climate where misinformation spreads ridiculously quickly.

What does the latest research actually say about gender-affirming care for young people, especially when it comes to their safety and the effectiveness?

And are there any regret rates (ph)?

MINTER: It's so clear. There is a very substantial body of research that has been conducted, for more than three decades now, that shows that these treatments. And they're very carefully given. The screening is very careful.

But for the young people who need this care, it is clear, it is safe. It's effective. It really reduces the risk of suicide, which is very high in this population.

I mean, this really is, for many of these young people, life-changing, life-saving care. And there -- this is care that their parents have to consent to. And it's only prescribed after extensive evaluation for a very small group of young people who need it. But for those kids, it is really essential.

HUNTE: Taking in the broader pattern here, from the subpoenas to clinic closures, to funding threats, to DEI being canceled, what do you believe?

And be honest with me here. What do you believe this administration is ultimately trying to do to

transgender young people in America?

MINTER: Well, I think it's not just transgender young people, unfortunately. I think this administration has decided to make one of its political goals the -- to, as far as they're able to do so, make it impossible for transgender people, legally and socially, to live in this country.

I think they really are under a kind of ideological grip that they can stamp out the transgender population. And that is a very frightening development. It's something we have never seen before. I don't think it's something most people in this country support.

But their efforts just continue to escalate and are becoming more and more extreme. And it is very frightening for the transgender community, especially for families, parents of transgender kids. Things have gotten to a really dangerous and frightening pitch.

HUNTE: Shannon Minter, for now, thank you so much for being here.

MINTER: Thanks, Ben.

HUNTE: OK, up ahead, no promotion, no PR rollout, a global superstar just released a surprise album.

Why it's being met with mixed reviews. Up next.

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

Pop star Justin Bieber surprised fans with a new album on Friday, his first in four years, with no promotion. The former teen sensation released a 21-song album titled "Swag," with features from popular rappers Sexyy Red, Cash Cobain and other mega producers plus interludes from internet personality Druski.

That speaks to the social media posts that have worried fans in recent months. Bieber's seventh studio album has opened to mixed reviews but is a sign that the 31-year old is expanding from his pop past that launched him to superstardom take you high.

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HUNTE: That is the new single "Jump" from K-pop superstars Blackpink. The girl group is back after a three-year hiatus, where each member pursued solo acts. The K-pop darlings have kicked off their world tour with stops in 16 cities, including L.A. tonight. Hong Kong is the final stop next January, Latin music megastar Bad Bunny kicked off his two-month residency in

Puerto Rico on Friday. It's projected to boost the domestic economy there by over $200 million, with the potential to attract over half a million visitors to the island. CNN's Juan Carlos Arciniegas has the latest on the sold-out 30-date concert run.

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JUAN CARLOS ARCINIEGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bad Bunny has been described by "Billboard" magazine as the king of Latin trap. He's an artist with global reach, whose popularity has allowed him to achieve something that no other Latin artist has managed.

Four of his six studio albums have hit number one on the Billboard 200 chart, a chart dominated by English-speaking performers. So when Bad Bunny announced a 30-day residency concert series in his native Puerto Rico, tickets sold out in a matter of hours.

[03:40:06]

According to the tourism agency, Discover Puerto Rico, his concert series, titled "No Me Quiero Ir de Aqui" or "I Don't Want to Leave Here," is expected to bring in about $200 million to his Caribbean island home.

And about 600,000 people are expected to visit Puerto Rico specifically for the concerts, roughly double the number of visitors it usually gets.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was amazing. I'm so excited to see Bad Bunny. It's my first time seeing him, so I'm really excited to see how it's going to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm feeling great. You can really feel the emotion in the air. Everybody's excited. It's a once in a lifetime event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARCINIEGAS: For those who couldn't get tickets. Bad Bunny will start a new world tour in November to promote his new album. Although that tour still does not include dates for the United States, Bad Bunny has not forgotten his fans there.

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ARCINIEGAS: On the 4th of July, he released a music video for his song "NUEVAYoL" with a political parody, in which a voice that sounds like president Donald Trump apologizes to immigrants in the U.S. and admits that, without them, the country would not be what it is today.

(AUDIO CLIP, "NUEVAYoL")

ARCINIEGAS: Juan Carlos Arciniegas, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

That's all I got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. "WORLD SPORT" is next. And there is so much more CNN NEWSROOM in about 15 minutes' time. See you tomorrow, same time. 'Bye.