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Trump Says Iran Released "Wrongfully Detained" American Citizen; Hegseth Wants To Test Troops For Low Testosterone; Investigators Seek Information From Government Officials As Part Of Air Force One Leak Investigation; The FBI Is Making New Allegations In The Shootings Death Of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo; More Than 830 Wildfires Are Burning Across Canada, And More Than 100 Fires Are Considered Out Of Control; Former U.S. President Joe Biden To Release His Presidential Memoir. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 16, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Reports say the patients at the facility, including those who were critically I'll, were temporarily evacuated after a projectile from a U.S. strike landed nearby. CNN's Kevin Liptak has more details now from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Even as the United States and Iran trade strikes over the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump is announcing that Iran has agreed to allow an American citizen who he says was wrongfully detained in Iran since the end of 2024, to leave the country. He wrote on Truth Social that she was now safely outside of Iran and in good condition. And he says the United States of America appreciates this gesture of goodwill by Iran.

Now, a lawyer for this American has identified her as the U.S. citizen Dena Karari. He says that she had been trapped in Iran on bogus charges. And he thanks President Trump for, quote, extraordinary and relentless efforts to get her out of the country. We know that according to American officials, that at least six Americans are believed to be being held in Iran. Not all of their identities are known.

Now, whether this translates into renewed talks between the two sides to reduce the tensions and end the conflict remains to be seen. And in fact, we have seen over the last several days, the U.S. intensify its efforts along the straight to try and loosen Iran's grip on the waterway and to bring them back to the bargaining table.

Behind the scenes, President Trump, we understand, is weighing escalatory options in that country. He met with advisers in the Situation Room on Tuesday evening to discuss some of how he may do that. And publicly and privately, the president has talked about, for example, a bombing Pickaxe Mountain where Iran is believed to have nuclear facilities. He's also talked about trying to take Kharg Islands, that critical Iranian export facility, but he has talked about that previously and stopped short of following through on his threats.

And so we don't know at this point where the president sees this heading precisely. But it is clear that the U.S. is trying to find options to break what has essentially become an impasse. And when you talk to American officials behind the scenes, they do acknowledge that this Iranian asymmetric ability to fire relatively inexpensive drones on commercial vessels that are transiting the straight has allowed the country to essentially close that waterway and will require negotiations to come to a final resolution.

We heard that from the vice president, JD Vance, in a very lengthy interview on the Joe Rogan Podcast that he taped earlier this week, saying that even as the president is ramping up these strikes on Iran, that eventually all of this will have to be resolved around the negotiating table. Kevin Liptak, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: I want to welcome from Cairo, Egypt, H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. Thanks for your time.

H.A. HELLYER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE FELLOW AT THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY STUDIES: My pleasure. Thank you for having me on the program.

KINKADE: So neither side is showing any sign of backing down. We're seeing another round of U.S. strikes and Iranian retaliation. Donald Trump said this war would last four or five weeks. We're now in month 5. At this point, is there any realistic Offrand and what would have to happen for both sides to move back towards diplomacy?

HELLYER: So the largest problem, I think, with this war since day one is that the Trump administration decided in the course of action without actually understanding how the Iranian regime works. They thought that they could knock out the regime and actually engage in regime change. That was never going to be the case.

They didn't account for the fact that the regime would seize the Strait of Hormuz as leverage, which of course, it was entirely predictable and quite well known in different war games in Washington, but involving experts as opposed to ideologues within the administration. Of course, that's what happened.

And now you see, unfortunately, the same phenomenon playing out where the Trump administration thinks that by striking Iran, by engaging in this sort of kinetic activity, it's somehow going to change the calculus of the regime. It isn't.

The regime has decided that this is a war that is existential, that the main point of leverage that it has against the U.S. is by having leverage against its neighborhood and the international community, and that means the Strait of Hormuz.

[04:35:04]

And I'm not saying that any of this is legal, by the way. The United States, with the Israelis, launched an illegal and unjustified war against the Iranians, and the Iranians are trying to change facts on the water as opposed to the ground in the Strait of Hormuz by moves that are completely thuggish and absent of legitimacy. But it doesn't really matter in terms of facts. The facts are they will try to do this. They will push in this sort of direction.

This sort of military activity I don't think is going to change their calculus. I think the only way that their calculus gets changed is by discussions at the negotiation table, and that's certainly what isn't happening.

I think Donald Trump himself goes between thinking, well, let's use force, let's use negotiation, but on the tactical level. Strategically, I'm afraid that Washington still isn't in a good place.

KINKADE: I want to get your perspective from Cairo. What are you hearing from Arab governments, and are they more concerned about Iran's actions, the expanding U.S. military campaign, the impact on the economy and the Strait of Hormuz, or the possibility of a broader regional conflict?

HELLYER: I think all of the above, quite frankly. The Gulf region in particular, the Arab world more generally, has no interest in Iran taking more control on a geopolitical level.

They're not interested in Iranian hegemony at all. They're also entirely in rejection of Israeli paramountcy, where the Israelis have shown over the last few years in multiple actions, whether it be the genocide in Gaza, whether it be occupation in Lebanon or in Syria, or indeed this war on Iran. They're not interested in that either.

But they're also quite concerned, and I think quite legitimately so, about the impact on their economies if the war starts up again in the same way they did earlier this year. We haven't seen that yet.

There have been deleterious effects of the economies already as a result of the last couple of weeks, but nothing like what we saw earlier this year. And they don't want to return to that. That's why even though the MOU was frankly not very well negotiated, you saw the Gulf and the Arab world more generally be quite supportive of efforts to come to an MOU, because the alternative was returning to whole- scale war.

Nobody's interested in that. I should say I don't think the Americans or the Iranians at present are also interested in returning to full- scale war. But unless you get an off-ramp, then the law of unintended consequences becomes more and more dangerous, and you could just slip right back into it.

KINKADE: Yes.

HELLYER: We've seen that over the last couple of days. Tensions increase. KINKADE: The question is who's going to move to that off-ramp first.

H.A. Hellyer, good to have you with us. Thanks so much.

HELLYER: My pleasure. Thank you so much.

KINKADE: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he's rolling out a new program to test American troops for low testosterone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Today, I'm authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Secretary Hegseth said troops over 30 will be screened every year and receive testosterone replacement therapy will be voluntary. It appears he's planning to test only men for hormone irregularities. The Pentagon did not respond to questions about what research or academic studies are behind the policy move.

The White House is reportedly shifting its efforts into overdrive (ph) to get to the bottom of a suspected leak about the new Air Force One. The New York Times reported last week that there was security concerns related to the presidential jet, which had been donated by Qatar. As Evan Perez reports, the White House is going all out to find out where they got that information.

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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and FBI Director Kash Patel oversaw hours of investigation at the White House last Friday in an extraordinary scene as part of an investigation to try to find out who in the government may have leaked information about the new Air Force One. This is a plane that was gifted by the cattery government to President Trump and is now serving as the Air Force One.

If you remember, President Trump had to fly back from the NATO summit in Turkey in one of the older planes because of concerns about security. And the New York Times reported that at least some of those concerns were because the plane was missing some of the key defensive features that are required for an Air Force One.

Now, the president has been fuming about that reporting. The Justice Department issued subpoenas to FBI -- to New York Times reporters about that reporting and last Friday for about 7 hours.

[04:40:07]

Susie Wiles and Kash Patel were overseeing the work of FBI agents as they called in White House employees as well as other government officials who may have known details about the president's trip to try to find out what they may have been -- whether they have were the source of the information for those reports.

Now we have a statement from the White House that says leaks that jeopardize the safety of the president, his staff, and the traveling press pool are dangerous and a threat to national security. The White House takes these leaks seriously and will do everything legally to ensure the individual or individuals are caught and it does not happen again.

Now, this is highly unusual for the FBI director and the White House chief of staff to be doing any part of an investigation. We know that FBI agents from the Washington Field Office, we have been doing this leak investigation, but it's not normal for White House officials to become very much involved in that process. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: President Trump is ordering federal agents to resume traffic stops in their effort to deport undocumented immigrants. Sources say the president was furious about the pause ordered chooser by the Department of Homeland Security. It came after ICE officers shot and killed two people in less than a week, one in Texas and another in Maine. Neither was the actual target of an immigration enforcement operation.

The FBI is making new allegations in the shootings death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The Mexican national was killed by ICE agents last week in Houston, Texas. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There were already questions swirling around the validity of how federal investigators describe the shooting death of 52 year old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo last Tuesday in Houston. And now there is renewed criticism of federal investigators and how they are handling this case.

In a federal search warrant obtained by CNN, investigators say they found four plastic bags inside Salgado's white van and that those plastic bags contain a white crystal substance consistent with methamphetamine. You know, we should be clear, this warrant also does not say that definitively it is drugs of any kind. We have reached out to the FBI to ask and see if that substance has been tested. We have not heard back, but already there has been intense calls and questions about the validity of what is in this search warrant.

A Latino activist very close to has been working with the family over the last week says this smells of a smear campaign and a cover up. The ACLU put out a statement saying that the Trump administration and the FBI lacked the credibility to investigate itself in this case. They say that anybody reading what is in the contents of this search warrant should be very skeptical of what they're reading. And they continue to call for a full independent investigation.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office say prosecutors were given access to the van by the local FBI office there in Houston. It's not clear whether or not they were able to watch the execution of this search warrant on this white van. That isn't exactly clear to us. But a great deal of questions and accusations that perhaps the drugs were planted in the van and a lot of criticism of the information detailed in this search warrant.

The Salgado family has not commented directly about the accusations and the allegations in this search warrant. But we also did learn today that the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers, the state authorities here, they say that they will be conducting an independent and separate investigation into the shooting death of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo as well. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: The parasite outbreak is spreading across the US. Just ahead, I will tell you how to reduce the risk of infection.

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[04:47:05]

KINKADE: An outbreak of an illness caused by a parasite is surging across parts of the US. More than 3000 cases of Cyclospora have been reported in Michigan and Ohio. Nationwide, the CDC says more than 7,000 cases have been confirmed or are under investigation in 34 states since May. The parasite causes an intestinal illness that can lead to diarrhea and other symptoms. CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: The outbreak of diarrhea that's happening right now caused by the Cyclospora parasite. It has so many people wondering what is safe to eat. And health officials in Michigan, they're zeroing in on lettuce or salad greens as being possible sources of this outbreak. But they haven't completely ruled out other food sources, too.

So here's what you should do to stay as safe as possible. You should buy this instead of this. With whole heads of lettuce, you can remove the outer layers that may have been exposed to germs, and then you want to wash the inner layers and use those to eat.

When washing your fresh produce, you don't just want to rinse it underwater. You physically want to scrub either with your hands or a brush. The friction from you scrubbing can help remove potential germs. Some foods like raspberries and basil, they are more difficult to wash and they have been linked to previous outbreaks.

All of these steps are helpful, but they're still not 100 percent effective at killing the Cyclospora parasite. To do that, you really have to use heat. Cook your food to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. So while these tips are helpful for everyone to be safer, they are particularly important for people with weekend immune systems.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KINKADE: Thanks to Jacqueline, more than 800 active wildfires are burning across Canada, and this is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take us here. This has gotten a little scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Y'all need to hurry up here. Like seriously, we're encased in flames now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: A crew member there describing the hellish scenes outside a train that was halted by a wall of flames in Ontario, Canada. The train has been evacuating areas affected by wildfires. Spokesman for the Canadian National Railway says the crew safely escaped the area but did not offer any details.

The union representing the crew criticized the railway for allowing a train to travel through the region. More than 100 active wildfires in northwestern Ontario have forced mandatory evacuation orders this week.

Another round of storm moving storms is causing life threatening flooding in parts of southern Texas already drenched by rain. Up to 16 inches of rain has fallen in some places. Uvalde County has received about half a year's worth of rain so far.

[04:50:02]

The flash flooding has led to dozens of water rescues. Tens of thousands of people are under the highest level of flood warning, while others are in the mandatory evacuation orders.

More rain is expected from the storm than fell during the deadly flooding last year. The storm also spawned a tornado in San Antonio Wednesday evening. The governor has declared a disaster in nearly 60 counties. The threat of catastrophic flooding won't ease until Friday. Officials say this type of storm pattern where rain repeatedly pounds the same areas is a worst case scenario for flooding.

Well, still to come. A new law takes effect for millions of Americans hoping to own their own home. We'll unpack it for you, next.

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KINKADE: A bill aimed at making housing more affordable in the U.S. is now law. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was supported by both Republicans and Democrats. CNN's Jenn Sullivan breaks down what's in the bill and how it aims to solve the housing crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENN SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Owning a home has long been part of the American dream, but it's becoming less of a reality for many as housing prices soar.

LAWRENCE YUN, CHIEF ECONOMIST FOR THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS: Home prices reaching record high condition.

[04:55:00]

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Lawrence Yun with the National Association of Realtors says home prices keep going up and aren't likely to come down anytime soon. The median home sale price in June was just over $440,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. In June of 2016, it was just over $247,000. That's nearly an 80 percent increase in just ten years.

Mortgage rates and not enough housing is driving up prices. Experts say there's simply not enough homes to meet the demand. That's where this new housing bill can help. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is all about creating and building more homes by allowing factories and offices to be converted into apartments. It authorizes pilot programs to offer grants and forgivable loans to fix older homes that have fallen into disrepair.

YUN: It removes some of the excessive regulations so the builders can be a little more active.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Critics of the bill say home building could be slowed by local zoning laws. This law does include provisions to encourage States and local governments to adopt land use and zoning policies that are more supportive of housing development. Yun says the law won't solve the housing crisis, but taking several smaller measures to create more supply will help overtime. For Consumer Watch, I'm Jen Sullivan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: The U.S. Treasury says it's producing $1.00 coins with President Trump's face on them. Generally, federal law prohibits living people from appearing on U.S. currency, but the Treasury says it's calling the coins collectibles to mark America's 250th birthday. When the coins will be available and how much they will cost has not yet been announced.

Former President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he will release his presidential memoir in November. The book will be titled "Promise Me, America" and will include his account of major moments during his presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It's about the challenge we faced as a nation, about the decisions I made, why I made them. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: In the video, Biden also said his treatment for stage 4 prostate cancer is going well. "Promise Me, America" is set for release just two weeks after the midterm elections.

A Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton from South Dakota has become the world's most expensive fossils sold at auction. Take a look at Gus. It was about 67,000,000 years old, 38 feet long and one of the largest T. Rex has ever found. The fossil sold for a record $50.1 million at Sotheby's in New York. The auction house says gas is also one of the most complete T. Rex fossils. Paleontologists generally believe that once a fossil ends up in private hands, it is lost to science because studies can't be reliably conducted.

Thanks so much for watching. I'm Lynda Kincaid. Stick around. CNN Headline Express is next.

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