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Thailand Launches Airstrikes on Cambodia Amid Border Dispute Pressure; No Breakthroughs Yet in U.S. Trade Deals with China, E.U.; U.S. Lawmakers Appeal for Organ Donation Reforms. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 24, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Just ahead.

There's a dire need for aid in Gaza, no sign of a ceasefire. We have a new report on the dangers that face Palestinians trying to get food.

Plus, protests in Ukraine over a new law that some say raises the risk of corruption. How President Zelenskyy is responding to the concerns.

And the United States organ donation system under question. What a startling investigation found about the potential donors being selected before they're even dead.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Lynda Kinkade.

KINKADE: Thailand has launched airstrikes against Cambodian military targets along the long-disputed border in what is a major escalation of tensions between the two Southeast Asian neighbors. Cambodia's defense ministry said it would respond decisively. Hours earlier, Thai and Cambodian forces clashed in multiple areas along the border.

The cross-border attacks have injured civilians and triggered evacuations in the affected areas. The Thai embassy in Cambodia is urging its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible, warning that conflict is likely to be prolonged and may expand further.

I want to bring in our senior international correspondent, Will Ripley, who's following the developments. Good to have you with us, Will.

So a day after a Thai soldier was seriously injured in a landmine, tensions have certainly flared dramatically. And we are hearing of reports of troop build-ups and now a full diplomatic breakdown. Just how serious is the situation?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's getting more and more serious by the hour, Lynda. Just since the last time we talked, we learned that fighting has now erupted, according to the Thai military at least -- in at least six locations along the 500-mile land border between Thailand and Cambodia, a hotly contested area. Skirmishes have been happening for decades.

Basically, there are temples on either side of the border that both countries claim at their own. But when colonial-era lines were drawn, they just kind of drew a line, the French, right through an area that left people in Thailand thinking that some of the Cambodian temples were there and left people in Cambodia claiming some of the temples that are in Thailand. So there's a lot of hurt feelings that have lingered.

But the military escalation that's happening now has turned this area, which is quite vibrant in normal times. There's often trade between the two sides. They could, up until May, kind of cross frequently back and forth.

Now the borders are shut down. You've had the Thai military conducting airstrikes on military locations in Cambodia because they claim that at those Cambodian military sites, they were launching artillery into Thailand.

And we actually have video of the purported aftermath of one of these artillery strikes where it didn't hit a military target, but actually hit a 7-Eleven and there were civilians involved, potentially seriously injured. We've got reports of a number of injuries likely to rise as more information comes out, at least one person dead, according to the Associated Press.

So Cambodian military firing artillery, the much larger and more well- equipped Thai military sending F-16s for airstrikes, Thailand expelling the Cambodian ambassador -- recalling their own ambassador, urging all Thai citizens to leave because the situation could get worse. It's not looking good.

And right now, the diplomatic solution seems to be pretty elusive, even though regional neighbors like Malaysia are calling for that.

KINKADE: Yes, talk to us more about those calls from other regional countries. Is there any sign of outside mediation to kind of temper, to reduce these tensions?

RIPLEY: There's been no offer for outside mediation as of yet. And perhaps a third party could be useful down the road.

Just to give you a sense of how severe these feelings are in Thailand. Okay.

For example, the Prime Minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, she tried to defuse the situation and she placed a phone call to a very high- ranking politician in Cambodia, who's also a friend of her father's. Her father used to be the Prime Minister. She had this phone conversation with this man named Hun Sen.

[03:04:55] And during the conversation, which was recorded, she was accused by people of being too deferential to him, using a term of endearment here in Asia, calling him uncle, talking about trying to resolve the Cambodian side of this dispute, even referring to the Thai military as her opponents in all of this. The military in Thailand is extraordinarily strong, politically powerful, and Thailand's had more military coups than just about anybody in the last 90 years or so.

And so when this phone call was then unfortunately leaked for the Prime Minister, she was suspended by a Thai court. So that just goes to show the public, which is so angry and has hurt feelings over this Cambodia issue, they actually suspended their prime minister during this time of crisis because they felt like she was being too sympathetic to Cambodia.

So now you have an interim Prime Minister. You also have the military very much politically working alongside the government, and some might even say calling the shots or trying to.

And so it's a difficult situation to resolve at the moment. And of course, on the Cambodian side, with each airstrike and each escalation, they're vowing retaliation as well. But of course, Cambodia doesn't want this to escalate further, nor does Thailand, frankly.

But Thailand has a much bigger military, much more modern, much more well-trained. It would not go well for Cambodia if this were to escalate into a full-blown military conflict. That still seems unlikely at this point.

But Lynda, you know how bigger wars start. They start sometimes with these small regional skirmishes that then escalate and escalate, and things happen. And before you know it, the train is rolling out of control, and you're in a major military situation.

We're not there yet. We hope we won't be there yet. But we have to watch very closely, because it's a dangerous moment right now.

KINKADE: Yes, it certainly seems that way. Will Ripley, good to have you on the story. Thank you.

Well, Hamas says it has submitted a new response to ceasefire mediators after Egypt and Qatar rejected their previous proposal as unworkable. The latest Hamas statement did not include any further details. It comes as the head of the World Health Organization blames the partially lifted Israeli blockade for causing mass starvation in Gaza, he also says food distribution sites have become places of violence.

The Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, blamed Hamas for sabotaging a distribution while visiting troops in Gaza. A government spokesperson denied that Israel is causing a famine, instead claiming man-made food shortages are being engineered by Hamas.

Well, the effort just to get food and water has become perilous for Palestinians in Gaza. Israel admits that some aid sites, its forces have fired warning shots. The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz," quote "soldiers who say they were ordered to fire on unarmed crowds."

We need to warn you, our report from Jeremy Diamond contains disturbing video.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cradling the body of his 13-year-old son, Mohamed Massoud cries out in agony. Ibrahim has just been struck down by Israeli gunfire, which is still crackling overhead.

Moments earlier, Mohamed and his son had arrived here in the hopes of getting flour for their family from a World Food Program convoy. But as soon as the crowd surged toward the trucks, the World Food Program says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on the crowd.

Ibrahim is one of more than 1000 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli fire near aid sites and convoys in the last eight weeks, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Nearly every day since late May, hungry Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food for themselves and their families, from one person killed on June 5th, to 87 on June 17th.

But Israeli gunfire has been the through line in this nightmarish game of survival. In almost every single incident, local health officials and eyewitnesses say Israeli troops, often firing from tank-mounted machine guns, opened fire on the crowds.

Have mercy on us, enough. This man's brother was among dozens killed near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site on June 24th.

We have no food or drink. And they shelled them with tanks. They sprayed them with bullets.

This month, 461 people have been killed while trying to get aid, 99 were killed on Sunday alone, the deadliest single day of aid-related violence.

That day, most were killed while crowding around U.N. convoys, as they did here on Tuesday. In these eight weeks of carnage, 1062 people have been killed trying to get aid, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. That's one out of every five people killed in Gaza during that time.

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In a world where the quest for survival can turn deadly, none has been deadlier than trying to collect aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private American organization backed by Israel.

60 percent of all aid-related killings since late May have taken place near GHF sites, according to a CNN analysis of Palestinian Health Ministry data. GHF rejected what it called false and exaggerated statistics, and said there is violence around all aid efforts in Gaza.

The bullets crackling over this hunched crowd are among countless fired at Palestinians trying to make it to this GHF site in southern Gaza. Satellite imagery captured the next day, three military vehicles can be seen parked between a crowd of people and the GHF site, tanks and troops have been posted near all four GHF sites that have been operational at different times since late May. It is a militarized aid distribution system that the U.N. warned would turn deadly.

A CNN investigation into one of the first GHF-linked shootings in early June pointed to the Israeli military opening fire on crowds of Palestinians. The Israeli military denied it then. The military now regularly acknowledges that troops have opened fire on Palestinians heading to aid sites, often describing the shootings as warning shots.

But Israeli soldiers described a, quote, "killing field near the GHF sites" to the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" last month, saying they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds.

"Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day," one soldier told the paper. "They're treated like a hostile force. No crowd control measures, no tear gas, just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars."

In the wake of that firepower, Mohamed Massoud is left to mourn his son Ibrahim, remembering a boy who was always eager to help, joining his father on a hunt for flour so that he could help feed his grandmother and neighbors.

But as soon as they started moving toward the trucks, Ibrahim suddenly fell to the ground. I didn't see any blood on his body, but then he started bleeding from his mouth. I started calling his name, Ibrahim.

He said, take me to my mom, take me to my mom. Please, dad, pull me out.

A son's last words before the final breath that shattered his father's world.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

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KINKADE: Well, CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has reported extensively from Gaza for decades. And right now, of course, the Israeli government has banned international media from the territory.

And Ben joins us live from Rome. Ben, thanks for being with us.

Obviously, that was a horrific report we just saw from Jeremy Diamond there. And these calls, these warnings of man-made famine are growing louder. And so too, of course, are the international calls for a ceasefire.

And now that we're hearing that Hamas has proposed amendments to the latest ceasefire deal, what are they asking for? What do we know about it? And is Israel likely to compromise at all? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand

that Hamas initially responded to these proposals put forth by the mediators. The mediators were not happy with Hamas' response. Hamas came back with new proposals which are currently being studied.

Really, the sticking points are the extent of the Israeli presence in Gaza in the coming phase. The Israelis want to control essentially a buffer zone of 1200 meters inside Gaza, keeping in mind that the line that separates Gaza from Israel is 51 kilometers long. Gaza is really just the size of Washington, D.C.

So if you have Israel controlling that much territory, that is about 25 to 28 percent of the total area of Gaza.

Now, Hamas is saying that they're proposing around an 800-meter buffer zone inside Gaza. They also don't want Israel to have the kind of control of internal movement that it currently has imposed on the residents of Gaza. They now, for instance, have this Netzerim Corridor, which essentially cuts Gaza in half, stopping people from freely moving within the corridor.

[03:15:00]

Hamas also wants the GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a rather absurd name, given the amount of people who have been killed trying to get the food from there, as Jeremy Diamond's report very vividly shows.

Hamas wants that to be eliminated altogether and to return the old system, which was run by the United Nations and other organizations, which were able to distribute food without this horrific loss of life.

Now, we have yet to know what the Israeli reaction was. And, of course, we are expecting somewhere in Italy today representatives of the United States, Israel, and Qatar to meet to discuss a progress, or lack thereof, towards a ceasefire in Gaza. No indication at this point where it's going to go.

Initially, we did hear some optimistic words from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that perhaps some sort of agreement was in the offing, now it's not at all clear. And, of course, with every day that a ceasefire is delayed, more and more people in Gaza are being killed, Lynda.

KINKADE: Yes, it's a shocking situation. Ben Wedeman for us in Rome, we appreciate it. Thank you.

We are following a developing story out of Russia, where rescuers say they've located the burning fuselage of a Russian passenger plane. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane carrying nearly 50 people earlier today.

It happened in the far eastern part of the country in a region bordering China. Authorities say the AN-24 passenger plane was operated by a Siberia-based airline called Angara. We'll bring you any further updates when we get that information. Well, a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine remains a long shot

following a third round of peace talks in Istanbul. Negotiators met for less than an hour on Wednesday and agreed on a future prisoner swap. But they're still far apart in their demands to end the fighting.

Ukraine is pushing for a full and unconditional ceasefire, while Russia only wants a short-term truce. The Ukrainian side also floated the idea of a summit between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, as well as the U.S. and Turkish presidents. Russia reportedly shot down that idea, saying such a meeting would only be helpful to sign an agreement.

Well protesters were back on the streets of Kyiv Wednesday in the first major anti-government rallies in Ukraine since the war began. They're pushing back against a law that President Zelenskyy approved Tuesday, which critics say would undermine the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies.

As Fred Pleitgen reports, the President is now backtracking on that plan.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy feeling the heat as thousands of protesters gathered as close as they could get to the presidential palace in Kyiv, voicing their anger and demanding that Ukraine's President do away with a new anti-corruption bill that he had signed into law just a few hours earlier.

Now, the problem that the protesters have with this new law is that they say that it severely curtails the independence of two offices aiming to fight corruption in Ukraine. And that's because it puts those offices under the supervision of the Prosecutor General and thus makes them subject to being supervised by Ukraine's government. That, they say, is the opposite of fighting corruption and could indeed lead to more corruption in Ukraine.

Now, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he came out and he said that he is hearing the protesters' concerns and that he is willing to mitigate in the matter. Here's what he said.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We analyzed all concerns, all aspects of what needs to be changed and what needs to be stepped up. I will propose to the Ukrainian Parliament a bill that will be a response that will provide strength to the law enforcement system.

And there will be no Russian influence or interference in the activities of law enforcement agencies. And, very importantly, all standards for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be in place.

PLEITGEN: The protesters say that they have several issues with this law. And there were protests not just in Kyiv, but in several other regions and cities in Ukraine as well.

On the one hand, they say that it was pushed to the Parliament very quickly and signed by the President very quickly. And they feel there wasn't enough debate about it. But they also say that they fear that it could hurt the fight against corruption, where Ukraine, of course, has been making a lot of headway over the past couple of years.

But the other thing is also that they believe that it could hurt Ukraine's chances of becoming a member of the European Union in the future. Of course, the European Union is holding talks with Ukraine to try and become a member.

[03:20:02]

But they also say that fighting corruption and progress in fighting corruption and, of course, transparency are extremely important for any new member state.

Now, there have been some European officials who have come out and criticized Ukraine's government for this new law, saying that it seems to be a 180 by the Ukrainian government and could indeed hurt their chances of making it into the European Union. That, of course, is also something that the protesters voiced as well as they were outside the presidential palace in Kyiv.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: The E.U. and China mark 50 years of diplomatic ties as tensions linger over trade and their shared frustrations with the U.S. A report from Beijing is next.

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[03:25:00]

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KINKADE: With the threat of U.S. tariffs looming, two world powers who have yet to reach a new trade deal with the Trump administration are holding their own summit. E.U. leaders are in Beijing to mark off a century of diplomatic relations with China. While there's hope of finding common ground, the two sides are struggling with their own trade tensions.

According to Chinese state media, Xi told European Commissioner President Ursula von der Leyen that they must demonstrate strategic vision and responsibility and stand the test of history. While both sides are facing the U.S. August deadlines for striking a trade deal, if Europe and the U.S. fail to reach an agreement and the new import taxes kick in, the E.U. warns it may launch retaliatory tariffs by August 7th.

Envoys from China and the U.S. are planning to meet next week in Sweden to discuss extending their trade truce. CNN's Marc Stewart reports now from Beijing.

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MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The diplomatic speak has been very heavy since these conversations began. Despite perhaps some shared frustrations between China and Europe toward the United States, toward their approach toward trade and tariffs, these two blocks, if you will, have frustrations of their own.

As you mentioned, there has been concern that China perhaps isn't playing it so fairly, flooding the European market, everything from EVs to solar panels. China responding, saying that the response from the E.U. maybe isn't so fair and that it should focus its efforts elsewhere.

So these talks are underway, but for the moment, the language that we are hearing is pretty safe. As conversations continue right now, just down the street from our bureau here in Beijing, we are hearing from the two world leaders themselves as they began these conversations. Let's listen to these different leaders.

XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): The more complex and challenging the international situation becomes, the more China and Europe need to strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust, and deepen cooperation, so as to contribute greater stability and certainty to the world through a steady and healthy China-Europe relationship.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: As our cooperation has deepened, so have the imbalances. We have reached an inflection point.

Rebalancing our bilateral relations is essential. Because to be sustainable, the relations need to be mutually beneficial. And to achieve this, it is vital for China and Europe to acknowledge our respective concerns and come forward with real solutions.

STEWART: Ursula von der Leyen speaking today from Beijing.

This is a complicated relationship. There was some commentary we heard from an analyst before this meeting even took place. I think that these remarks are noticeable, saying that going into this, we should expect a very difficult moment and not a deal-making moment.

Going into this, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took to social media and gave a very positive, forward-thinking statement. But these trade issues are very difficult between these two trading partners. And so expect some difficult conversation.

And it's not just Europe and China that's paying attention to this. As we know, the United States and China have their own trade issues. Trade talks are scheduled for this weekend in Stockholm.

And perhaps the tone of what happens here will help diplomats decide the tone they need to take. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Our thanks to Marc Stewart there.

Well, U.S. President Trump has been trying to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein. About two months ago, he was briefed on the Epstein files. What we're learning about that briefing next.

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[03:30:00]

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KINKADE: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Lynda Kinkade. Let's check today's top stories.

The World Health Organization is raising the latest red flag on the situation in Gaza. The group's director-general says residents are facing a man-made mass starvation, where food distribution sites have become places of violence. Israel blames some masks for engineering food shortages.

Ukraine's President is reversing course on an anti-corruption bill he signed into law Tuesday. It led to large anti-government protests, critics said it would hurt the autonomy of the country's anti- corruption agencies.

[03:35:06]

President Zelenskyy is now promising a new bill that would protect their independence.

The leaders of the E.U. and China are holding trade talks in Beijing. No major breakthroughs are expected despite a shared frustration with looming U.S. tariffs. The Chinese President called for stronger communication and deeper cooperation between his country and the E.U.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed President Donald Trump in May that his name appears in files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Sources familiar with that briefing say Bondi mentioned that several names of high-profile figures were also in the Epstein files. Investigators did not find evidence of so-called client lists.

According to an official, the White House does not view the latest news as groundbreaking or new. The official adding that there is no evidence that Trump was involved in any wrongdoing with a late sex offender.

CNN's Jeffrey Zeleny reports.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yet another day here at the White House, yet another attempt to change the subject, deflect away from a question that has been hanging over this administration and this President for days. That is the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Now we learned on Wednesday that the Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed President Trump back in May saying that his name appeared in the Epstein file multiple times. That is something that the President did not say when he was asked about this. Just a couple weeks ago, he said no, that his name was not appearing in there or he was not told that by the Attorney General.

So this is now a contradiction that will have to be resolved in the coming days. The White House trying to deflect from this, change the subject by essentially going after the Obama administration, trying to relitigate the allegations that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election, going to the lengths of having the Director of National Intelligence come to the White House, Tulsi Gabbard, and accuse the Obama administration of treason.

Well look, this is something that ended up not changing the conversation at all. The President now will be faced with the question of what did he know about his name being in these files.

Now again, we should say the context is unclear. There are many people's names in these files. It does not show any wrongdoing.

So what it does do though is continue this case, the unanswered questions that continue in the House. A committee voted to subpoena some Epstein files and records from the Justice Department. So one thing is clear as yet another day ends here, that the questions about Epstein and Trump continue and grow louder.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well a terrifying moment, one Kentucky hospital has led to a federal investigation. We'll break down the findings and what it means for the state of the U.S. organ system.

Plus, the push to protect people from the next severe flooding event, what scientists are doing to get ahead of a future deadly storm.

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[03:40:00]

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KINKADE: Welcome back, I'm Lynda Kinkade.

U.S. lawmakers are pushing for improvements to the country's organ donation system after a federal investigation into a string of concerning reports from Kentucky. The U.S. Health Department looked at more than 350 cases in the state where organ donations were authorized but ultimately not completed; 73 patients were found to have neurological signs incompatible with organ donation. And in at least 28 cases, the patients may not have been deceased when the organ procurement began. The nonprofit group Network for Hope, which manages organ donations,

said at a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday that it's now reviewing the issues that were cited.

Brian Rosenthal is an investigative reporter with the "New York Times," and for the past several months, he's been digging into the organ transplant system. He joins us from New York. Brian, good to have you with us.

BRIAN ROSENTHAL, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE "NEW YORK TIMES": Thanks for having me.

KINKADE: So, in your article, you open with what was a chilling case. A 42-year-old woman in a coma after choking, whose mother agreed to then donate her organs. So explain what went wrong in that situation.

ROSENTHAL: Yes, so the plan was for this woman to be taken to the operating room, withdrawn from life support, and a time to pass for her heart to stop. And then after she had died, go in and remove her organs and donate them to somebody in need.

Unfortunately, what happened is that a mistake was made. And the woman did not die. And so when they started the surgery and started cutting into her, they found that her heart was beating and she was breathing and she was alive and a horrifying mistake had been made.

KINKADE: Yes, absolutely horrifying. You describe in your article this system that do perform tens of thousands of life-saving transplants a year. Yet, we have seen, certainly in Kentucky, a group that was doing organ retrieval before confirming death.

[03:45:04]

Just based on your interviews, your reporting, how often does that kind of failure happen?

ROSENTHAL: Well, I think the answer is we don't know. We don't know how often these problems happen.

The investigation into Kentucky, which was conducted by the federal government, was really concerning because they looked at 350 cases in which plans to remove a patient's organs were canceled at the last second and looked at what had occurred in those cases and found that in 73 instances, the organ procurement officials had ignored signs of increasing consciousness in the donor.

So that's 20 percent of the time that that mistake had been made. It's something that's never supposed to happen.

Now, there's not been a level of detailed examination in every state. We obviously don't have the power to look at every single case, but we identified a number of really concerning incidents and have heard that this is a major problem.

KINKADE: Yes, and you note that a third of all donations now come from circulatory death, triple what it was five years ago. How does that process differ from traditional brain death donations?

ROSENTHAL: Yes, so in the cases of brain death, the patient has suffered an injury and they have become brain dead, which means that their brain has permanently stopped working. It's an irreversible condition.

It is confirmed by tests, it's very black and white. In cases of donation after circulatory death, it is much less black and white, it's more subjective.

When the process begins, the patient has brain activity. They are alive, but they are on some form of life support, maybe they're in a coma.

And so there's a process by which the family can agree to withdraw life support, and the doctors can withdraw that life support, wait for the patient's heart to stop, and then go in and remove the organs. But there are a lot more judgment calls that need to be made along the way, and doctors say that is the place where mistakes can happen.

KINKADE: Yes, and of course you write that this transplant system mostly polices itself. I mean, how does that happen, and why is there so little federal oversight?

ROSENTHAL: Yes, pretty much since the beginning of the transplant system in the U.S. in the 1980s, there's been an organization called the Organ Transplantation and Procurement Network, the OPTN, which is made up of actual transplant surgeons, transplant hospitals, and organ procurement organizations, basically everybody that works in the system, and they elect their own board of directors, they elect their own committees that do investigations, and their policy committees, and it's really all based on the idea that these people have the expertise, and so we should trust them to run the system.

Of course, the flaw with that is that they are, in fact, policing themselves, and we have found in our reporting that it is an extreme rarity for this system that polices itself to take action against one of its members who has been accused of wrongdoing.

KINKADE: Yes, it's certainly frightening. So there are reforms underway, certainly an investigation, a house hearing in motion. How do leaders in the system say that they're going to restore public trust in the system and prevent this from happening again?

ROSENTHAL: Yes, I was in Washington yesterday for the hearing on organ donation, and there was a lot of talk about that question, how to restore trust, because that's what it's all about, and everybody is very invested in making sure that people continue to donate organs for these life-saving transplants. With this particular issue, I think the solutions are a little complicated. Finding the right regulation that can be put in place to improve patient protections.

From the interviews that I've had, the conversations that I've had, it's something the transplant system wants to put in more of these patient protections, more safeguards with this type of donation, but it's not going to happen overnight. There's going to be some studying required to come up with the best policies.

KINKADE: Brian Rosenthal with the "New York Times," we appreciate you joining us. Thanks very much.

ROSENTHAL: Thank you.

[03:50:09]

KINKADE: Well lawmakers investigate if any of the deaths connected to the flooding in Texas could have been prevented. Coming up, some of the tough questions legislators are asking, and what one Trump administration official said was fake news.

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KINKADE: The death toll from the huge floods in Texas has now risen to at least 136. Officials reported an additional death in Kirk County, where the death toll stands at 108. The acting leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was asked yesterday about its response during a Congressional committee hearing, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LAURA FRIEDMAN (D-CA): So with that, the benchmark now we're looking for, for FEMA to answer their calls, 15 percent, or in one case, 35 percent in a day, in the middle of this disaster, this huge disaster.

DAVID RICHARDSON, ACTING FEMA DIRECTOR: I would have to agree with Secretary Nuland, that's fake news. The majority of the calls were answered. There was never a lapse in contract.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: The state legislature also held a special hearing on the deadly flooding Wednesday, scrutinizing the state's safety preparations in the events leading up to the tragedy. The Texas governor called a special legislative session that began Monday to address flood warning systems, emergency communications, and relief funding for victims.

Well, CNN's Bill Weir visited an area at high risk of flooding right here in the U.S. state of Georgia. The question, how are emergency officials preparing for the next big weather event? Turns out wireless alerts are part of the answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a hot day in the mountains of north Georgia, few places are more inviting than the Chattahoochee River. And tubing the hooch on days like this makes it easy to forget that the same waterway providing so much joy can take life and property in a flash.

And when the Chattahoochee turned deadly 16 years back, it changed both Georgia and Laura Belanger, one of the top hydrologists in the south.

LAURA BELANGER, SR. SERVICE HYDROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ATLANTA: So I am in the position I'm in today because of the September 2009 floods. I was young in my career at the time, and there were 10 fatalities in the state of Georgia. That left a lasting impression on me, and wanting to kind of see how we could do better with our hydro services and getting those warnings out, that's what helped be a catalyst for those flash flood warnings to be included in wireless emergency alerts.

[03:55:06]

WEIR: Today in the tourist town of Helen, Georgia, those wireless alerts and weather radios are the only sources of flash flood warning. Because in a place like this, sirens might confuse people to run for low ground from a tornado instead of high ground from a flash flood.

It's been a long time since the water topped that 10-foot marker. It hit 12 feet back in '67, and while there have been some swift water rescues in recent weeks, most people don't remember really high water.

That's the thing that struck me in Texas there. It reminded me more of covering a tsunami in Japan where children were swept away while they debated what to do because no one could imagine the worst. And when you're watching tubers here, you can't imagine that water turning deadly.

BELANGER: It's hard to get, especially with how shallow it is at the moment, it is hard to digest what a big amount of water coming through here would look like and how it's inundated.

WEIR (voice-over): And she is especially worried about Enchanted Valley just over the hills. The folks living in these permanent trailers sit smack dab on the Hiawassee River next to one of the flashiest river gauges in the nation.

BELANGER: Those are the places that keep me up at night. Regardless of the amount of readiness or preparation, the fact that there are people and property that close to the river, that's what the concern is.

The biggest question we get is when we see a 100-year flood plain and maybe the water level has risen to this point and someone says, oh thank goodness, we don't have to deal with this for 99 more years. And it happens. The reality is what that means is that there's a 1 in 100 chance of occurrence in a given year of that happening again.

WEIR: But that math is changing.

BELANGER: But that math changes over time as you see flooding occur more frequently.

WEIR: The kind of flood that happened once every 100 years could now happen every decade, the experts tell us, from the First Street Foundation. This is a nonprofit that maps flood risk around the country. The CNN climate team partnered with them to try to evaluate which communities are most vulnerable to a disaster like we saw in Texas.

And from Santa Barbara, California, to the Catskills of New York, from Nogales, Arizona, to Appalachia, we found this combination of topography that creates the flashiest floods, lack of warning systems, a lot of tourists who may not understand the risks, and as the flash flood warning set new records in 2025, knowledge is power and possibly life or death.

Bill Weir, CNN, Helen, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Our thanks to Bill.

And thanks so much for your company, I'm Lynda Kinkade. Have yourselves a wonderful day. Stick around if you can, "Amanpour" is up next, and then it will be "Early Start" with Rahel Solomon.

And I'm Lynda Kinkade. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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