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Florida Lawmakers Tour "Alligator Alcatraz" Facility After Delays; Acting FEMA Leader Makes 1st Visit To Kerrville After Deadly Floods; Central Texas Flash Flood Risk Grows As More Rain Expected Today; Elon Musk's AI Company xAI Apologizes After Grok Repeats Antisemitic User Posts; California Farmworker Dies From Injuries After ICE Raid; Today: Netanyahu To Discuss Ceasefire Deal With Far- Right National Security Minister; Federal Judge Orders To Stop Indiscriminate Immigration Arrests. Federal Judge Orders DHS to Stop Indiscriminate Immigration Arrests; FBI Director Bongino Considering Resigning; MTG Seeks to Ban "Weather Modification"; Rosie O'Donnell Calls Trump "Danger to the World". Aired 7-8a ET

Aired July 13, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:01:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good morning and welcome to this brand new hour of CNN This Morning weekend. It is Sunday, July 13th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Here's what we're working on for you this morning. Democratic lawmakers, they toured the migrant detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz, and we're joined by one of them to talk about what she saw and her message to the Trump administration.

Also, the acting head of FEMA was in Texas yesterday after so much criticism about his absence after the floods there. We'll show you what happened when CNN tried to ask him about FEMA's response. That's coming up.

Plus, the Trump administration is taking heat from the MAGA base over the Jeffrey Epstein memo. And now the FBI Director, Kash Patel, is weighing in on reports that he is considering resigning over it.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This morning, storms are firing up in central Texas, leading to a dangerous flash flood threat. I'll have that forecast coming up.

BLACKWELL: All right, first up this hour, Florida lawmakers finally got a chance to go inside the state's new detention facility in the Everglades. You've probably heard it's being dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. And while Florida state officials say that conditions there are better than inside some U.S. prisons, Democratic lawmakers, they're not convinced.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP) REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: What we saw, the conditions that we saw inside this internment camp, which it is nothing less than that description, were really appalling.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, they say they were not allowed to see the units where migrants were actually being detained, just the empty ones. Florida State Representative Angie Nixon was there. She joins me now. Representative Nixon, what stood out to you most? What did you see?

ANGIE NIXON (D), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: What -- thanks for having me, Victor. What stood out to me the most was going into the caged facility and witnessing where they housed over 32 grown men together with only three toilets. And those toilets were the same places that the folks would get their water from. And it was really appalling and disheartening to see.

Not only that, but the director of Florida, the Department of Emergency Management, he was very evasive in his questioning. We often asked who were the vendors and things like that, and they continually said, oh, you have to file a public records request. They were very evasive.

At the end of the day, this is a $450 million taxpayer facility internment camp that was just done for a political stunt, when Ron DeSantis just previously, a few days before, vetoed appropriations that could have addressed mental health in our communities, that could have addressed the rising cost of home insurance. He decided to do and partake in this political stunt with Donald Trump, and it's just very upsetting.

BLACKWELL: So was there anything that was off-limits, that you were not allowed to see?

NIXON: Yes. So I just want to be clear, there were two tours that happened. I was in the second tour, and apparently the first tour ran a little long, and many of my colleagues stated that some of the detainees were shouting, "freedom, freedom," in Spanish. And when we came in for the second tour, we were rushed, and they kept making mention that there were rains about to come.

And so, we were not able to see the detainees in the place where they sleep. We were able to see detainees in the intake area, and they were saying, "muy mal, muy mal," meaning bad in English. And so, towards the end of the tour, we were still supposed to have a lot of time. They rushed us out, stating that there was a security issue, and they had to put us on lock -- they had to put the facility on lockdown.

[07:05:10]

But we know that it was more than likely, because they didn't want us to see the flooding that would be -- that we take in place if the rains came. They rushed us off, didn't say bye. Just -- it was very upsetting. And the fact that we are hearing reports from multiple families that go against everything that the directors and the vendors were saying in regards to them not having access to food, not having access to showers, and it just shows that they have a lot to hide, which is why me and four other lawmakers decided to file a lawsuit, because Ron DeSantis and his administration continually overreaches, they continually lack transparency.

The fact that Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump are now offering these no- bid contracts to throw up these makeshift detention centers, these makeshift internment camps, should put us all on notice as Americans that this is not the type of America we want to see.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that was my question to you, that you're in the same predicament as congressional Democrats in the minority in the legislature. And so, with this information that you have gained with the knowledge you have after the tour, what do you do with it?

NIXON: Yes. So we filed a lawsuit because we -- it is our statutory right to be able to pop up at these facilities unannounced. And initially on last week, they blocked me and four other legislators from coming into the facility. And so, we are suing Ron DeSantis, James Uthmeier, who is an appointed, not elected attorney general, because of the things that they're doing here. We feel that they have a lot of things that they are hiding.

And look, at the end of the day, this was simply a hyper-curated, super-sanitized field trip. And we should be concerned as Americans, as people who should have humanity, that my Republican colleagues are trying to make this a joke about how harsh they can name this facility and really how harsh they can treat people. But right now, they are simply -- they're simply not being transparent.

We are hearing --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

NIXON: -- horrible reports coming out of the facility. And again, it is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Now --

BLACKWELL: Well, the Department of Homeland Security says that this will be replicated in other places, if not in Florida, but across the country as well, and will reimburse these states for these facilities.

Florida State Representative Angie Nixon, I got to go, but thank you so much for sharing the report from your visit to the facility.

The acting FEMA administrator visited the Texas flood disaster zone on Saturday. David Richardson is his name. He visited the site where at least 129 people died. His visit came more than a week after the July 4th catastrophe. Richardson did not respond to CNN's Julia Vargas Jones when she, as you see here, tried to ask him about a New York Times report that FEMA struggled to answer nearly two-thirds of the calls into its disaster assistance line in the first two days of the floods.

Meantime, at the Turning Point USA Student Summit, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem did address what the Trump administration believes is the role of the federal government in emergencies. (BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It should be state-managed, which means the state makes the decisions on how they're going to universally handle this disaster. And the federal government, our role should be to support. We should be there to support. We shouldn't be making the decisions.

We should be sending the support that is necessary to get that state through that situation, and that's exactly how we implemented it in Texas.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN Correspondent Ivan Rodriguez is live in Kerrville, Texas, where there is, I see behind you, this growing memorial.

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning. Yes, this growing memorial here has been growing by the day. Along this fence here in downtown Kerrville, you'll find flowers, stuffed animals, messages, pictures of victims. One message that stood out to me, I took a picture of it. It appears to be written by a little girl in color, crayon, and it says, "Beautiful angels, fly high until we meet again. May you rest in peace."

Those are the sort of messages that you'll find when you walk alongside this fence here. And, you know, when we talk about at least 129 people who are dead, 150 missing, 140 of those here in Kerr County, it's a hard number to grasp, but being here at this memorial, you're able to put some faces to those numbers.

[07:10:03]

And yesterday, as you mentioned, David Richardson, the acting FEMA administrator, was here in Kerrville touring the catastrophic flooding, his first time that he visited since that flooding occurred. And we did hear a little bit more about that. You mentioned how Julia Vargas Jones, our correspondent, tried to press him for answers on that New York Times reporting.

A spokesperson from FEMA ended up responding to CNN in a statement saying that the call center for FEMA experienced a high number of calls, but that they were answered, quote, "efficiently," ensuring that nobody was left without assistance. Of course, this still is a lot of ongoing controversy, a lot of questions being asked in this community in terms of how the response went out throughout the days leading up to the catastrophic flooding, the hours after the catastrophic flooding as well.

So here, we're also seeing Texas Governor Greg Abbott praising the federal response. We saw that when President Donald Trump was visiting here in Central Texas as well. We know that today, like yesterday, volunteers will also be out assisting crews who have been working around the clock to try and find anybody else, those people who are still missing. In terms of other people trying to find some solace, we've seen already this morning people come and pay their respects here at this growing memorial, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Ivan Rodriguez for us there in downtown Kerrville, thank you so much.

All right, let's talk about what's ahead for Texas and New Mexico and Oklahoma, by the way, 18 million people under flood watches throughout the day. Meteorologist Chris Warren joins us now. What do we need to know?

WARREN: Well, north of where I've been standing right now is where some of the heaviest rain and more of the dangerous flooding is happening right now. So this is an ongoing threat that we are tracking this morning right now, fueled by a slow moving system tapping into a lot of moisture that's available to be rained out.

This is what happened. A lot of this happening overnight. And you can see some of the pink colors getting about 6 to 8 plus inches of rain. A lot of that during the overnight hours and a lot of that rain still falling, leading to this. The red of the flash flood warnings, the green flash or the flood watches.

Watches are kind of the precursor to warnings. We watch for warnings. If you get a warning, take action. There's a white outlined area in here. This is a flash flood emergency for a particularly dangerous situation. This does include the Colorado Bend State Park.

So seeking higher ground right now is the word what you need to do there. And this is also where the heaviest of rain is falling. A couple counties north of Kerrville at the moment with thunderstorms still going and expected to continue right into the afternoon. So more showers, more storms popping up and firing.

In fact, even drifting a little bit farther to the south as the day wears on and showers and storms. Once again, we'll be back tomorrow. The threat not as great as it is right now for tomorrow. But this is what is expected right through the day on Monday.

Areas in orange and red is where the heavier rain or more rainfall amounts are expected. That could lead, Victor, once again, potentially to some more flooding again tomorrow.

BLACKWELL: All right, Chris, thank you so much.

New this morning, more flooding. People in Oklahoma City, they were pounded with heavy rain. Look at the flooding on this street. National Weather Service says the area got up to 4 inches of rain by mid- afternoon yesterday. An extra inch or in some cases 3 inches expected last night with flash flood warnings for that area.

All right, still to come. FBI Director Kash Patel, he's denying rumors that he threatened to resign over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy. We're going to get to the bottom of that fallout. Plus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to talk about the ceasefire proposal with Hamas, with a key far-right member of his government. It comes as talks with Hamas have run into trouble.

Also, Elon Musk's AI firm has apologized after its chatbot praised Hitler in social media posts. We have the latest on that controversy.

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[07:18:50]

BLACKWELL: FBI Director Kash Patel says that he's staying on the job. That's despite backlash over a Justice Department memo that found no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein had a client list or was murdered. Patel for years pushed conspiracy theories about Epstein's death and potential blackmail. And now he's backing away from some of those claims.

Sources tell CNN that both Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, have privately expressed frustration for months over how the DOJ has handled the case.

Elon Musk's AI company is apologizing after its chatbot Grok repeated violent and antisemitic posts last week. In a statement released yesterday, xAI blamed a system update that caused Grok to pull content from existing user posts. Some contained extremist views. The update was active for 16 hours before it was rolled back. xAI froze the chatbots account Tuesday night, but it's back online now.

A farmworker in California who fell from a greenhouse roof during an ICE raid has died from his injuries. Jaime Alanis Garcia is the first person known to die during the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented migrants. His family says Garcia worked at a farm producing cannabis, tomatoes, cucumbers for 10 years.

[07:20:10]

Hospital and government sources say that Garcia may have been running from ICE agents when he fell about 30 feet from that roof. The Department of Homeland Security says it was not pursuing Garcia.

Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with his far-right national security minister to talk through a possible ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas. That's according to a source familiar with the talks. There's mounting pressure on Netanyahu from within his own government and from families of the hostages still held in Gaza.

CNN's Nada Bashir is following this from London for us. So what do we know about the meeting?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, unclear at this stage when that meeting will take place. But, of course, this comes just a day after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. While those details around that meeting were not made public, as you mentioned, we have heard from sources telling CNN that today's meeting will certainly be focused on those ceasefire discussions.

But, of course, important to note that both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have been vocally against any sort of ceasefire agreement with Hamas. In fact, they have called for an escalation of the war in Gaza until Hamas is entirely destroyed, in their words. They've also both been vocal in calling for no aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip.

And, of course, these two key figures within the Israeli Prime Minister's cabinet are key coalition partners as well. So the Israeli Prime Minister is somewhat dependent on their backing. So they are key players in these ongoing discussions and negotiations. But, as you mentioned, there has been mounting pressure from within Israel, particularly from the family members of those hostages remaining held captive in Gaza for a ceasefire deal to be struck.

At this stage, we've been hearing from diplomats and officials familiar with those ongoing talks in Doha saying that they have seemingly stalled. And while some gaps have been closed, there is still some daylight between Israel and Hamas, despite those close proximity talks. According to officials familiar with those discussions, one of those key sticking points still remaining is questions around the areas in which the IDF would be required to withdraw and then areas where they might redeploy.

And, of course, important to note that the Israeli Prime Minister has continuously reiterated that after that initial 60-day ceasefire, he wishes to reserve the right to return to combat in Gaza. That is something that Hamas officials have repeatedly said they do not want to see. They want to see a pathway to an indefinite ceasefire in Gaza.

Victor?

BLACKWELL: Nada Bashir for us in London, thank you.

Coming up, the Trump administration says that it will increase deportations, thanks to tens of billions of dollars in new ICE funding. And they're denouncing judges who they say are just trying to get in their way. That story and more in the morning roundup.

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[07:27:31]

BLACKWELL: Federal judge in California found the Department of Homeland Security has been making arrests in Los Angeles without probable cause. And that judge has ordered the DHS to stop detaining individuals in their immigration raids based solely on race or spoken language or occupation. The ruling comes after ICE agents arrested more than 300 migrants in a pair of chaotic raids in legal marijuana farms.

With me now, Former Political Reporter Bill Nigut, Senior Editor of Bossip, Jason Lee, and former judge, trial lawyer, and mediator Ashley Willcott. Welcome back to all of you.

Let's start here because the border czar says that, yes, we can use accents. We can use location. And that's just reasonable suspicion. What do you say?

JUDGE ASHLEY WILLCOTT, COURT TV ANCHOR: All right. First of all, great to be on with you. Second of all, you still can't target. That's not reasonable suspicion when you are targeting people with brown skin. Now, the judge, the federal judge said there was a mountain of evidence to suggest that's what they were doing. And guess what? When there's a lawsuit, when it goes to a federal judge, the federal judge gets to make that decision.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And, you know, what he says is reasonable suspicion. Some people here, if you can use accent, location, appearance, job, that's just profiling.

WILLCOTT: Targeting.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BILL NIGUT, FORMER POLITICAL REPORTER: Because you know, one of the other things about the ruling is that the judge said to the government lawyers, you want us to believe something different from what we're seeing with our own eyes, which is not unusual these days for how government lawyers go into court to defend Trump's, in some cases, executive orders, other kinds of actions. It strikes me it's one thing to be Karoline Leavitt talking from the podium at the press briefing room and spinning things. But when the Trump lawyers are making things up and the judge calls her out for it, it's really distressing, I think.

WILLCOTT: But they also say -- I'm sorry if I interrupted --

NIGUT: No, no, no.

WILLCOTT: -- but they also say, hey, listen, Judge, you don't have any authority --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WILLCOTT: -- to step into our purview, which is absolutely untrue. There are three different independent branches of government for a reason.

JASON "JAH" LEE, SENIOR EDITOR, BOSSIP: And beyond that, what is suspicious about your accent? What crime is an accident? What have you -- what statute have you violated by having an accident or having a certain skin color? It just sounds like we're really back in a Jim Crow time. And the Trump administration is doing everything they can to push these agendas. And it's disturbing to say the very least.

BLACKWELL: Speaking of some video, and this, some people will find disturbing. Let's play this. This is video of San Francisco protestors, they're trying to stop an ICE vehicle, and you'll watch here that the vehicle drives into and then through this crowd. The president also tweeted out that people were throwing rocks and bricks at agents should be arrested by any means necessary. Nobody supports throwing bricks. But what about this video just driving through these people? LEE: We're going to see more and more of this unfortunately. The people feel threatened. Rightfully so. And it doesn't feel like they have any recourse. There's no one coming to save them. There's no one coming to stop all of this that's going on. So, they're taking their safety into their own hands. The communities are rallying around them. And the more and more they participate, more and more than where they do these raids, the more dangerous it's going to get.

Hopefully, we don't reach the point where it gets, you know, violent to the point of no return. But I don't see how this gets better before it gets worse.

BILL NIGUT, FORMER POLITICAL REPORTER: And I didn't mean to interrupt you there. We also know that it's going to get worse because they've now decided to add thousands of ICE agents to cities across the United States.

So, I mean, and the other thing that's interesting is this is all going on as we've just seen new polling, which suggests that, for the first time, a majority of Americans are feeling sympathetic towards immigrants. And it's all because of the way in which the administration has been treating people as they make these mass -- try to make these mass arrests.

JUDGE ASHLEY WILLCOTT, FORMER JUDGE AND COURT TV ANCHOR: And because the videos like this, when you see these videos, it's just immediately distressing that this is what's happening. Freedom of speech, they can protest so long as they do so peacefully.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: And President Obama was one of the most beloved presidents that we've had in recent memory. And he was known in some pockets as the deporter in chief. And we never saw this kind of stuff going on when he was doing what he had to do to, you know, deport people. So, the way that they're going about this, the phrase always comes back to the cruelty, is the point.

BLACKWELL: I'll also say that there were also more people coming across the southern border at the time, during the Obama administration. And they were counted in that deportation number. That number during the Trump administration is far lower than it was during that administration.

LEE: And here we are.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Dan Bongino and saying that he might be ready to leave because of the -- throwing up the dues to Dan Bongino -- leave his position because of the controversy and the disagreement in the DOJ about the Jeffrey Epstein memo, saying that there was no secret client list and he wasn't murdered. The post overnight from the president, 400 words to his so-called boys and sometimes gals. What do you think?

NIGUT: Well, first of all, it's hard to read the whole thing. I mean 400 words. You got to speed read it and understand it. What's fascinating with -- two things about this. Number one, Bongino may quit. Bongino may quit, I think, because he realizes he isn't getting enough time in the gym in this number job at the FBI.

But number two, it's fascinating that with Bondi and Bongino at war with one another over this, last night in that crazy Truth Social, the president stood firmly behind Pam Bondi and talked about the perfect administration and how can people possibly take issue with what they're doing.

WILLCOTT: But listen, the DOJ and the FBI theoretically should not be at odds like this. That's the point, because the DOJ is responsible for prosecuting, the FBI as responsible for the law enforcement piece. And the fundamental problem is that the president, I think, in -- is encouraging or in the middle of it becoming such an issue.

LEE: Well, it's going to be interesting to watch how this thing metastasizes inside the MAGA universe, right? Because this was an issue that if you talk to -- if you watch the online spaces, this was an issue that a lot of the diehard MAGAs are on about.

BLACKWELL: Including Dan Bongino.

LEE: Including Dan Bongino, which is crazy. Part of the reason why he's even there in the first place, he probably doesn't have any real interest in doing this job outside of getting this box checked for the -- you know, the MAGA cult. And so, to see this thing kind of turn -- this might legitimately turn on Trump.

BLACKWELL: Now, before we go to the break, Judge, if he leaves the administration, how much can he say about what he knows if there's something that isn't in line with the memo that came out from the DOJ?

WILLCOTT: You can't share on an ongoing investigation, he would have to be very careful, even if he's no longer there, because he cannot share information about an ongoing investigation. It's against the rules. So, he may be somewhat limited in what he can share. I think he can certainly speak out about his frustrations of things not being revealed that he thinks should be.

BLACKWELL: All right. Everybody stay with me. After the break, we're going to hit a story from each of our guests this morning. Mary Lou Retton, Kai Cenat, and MTG, talking about geoengineering and contrails and weather controls. Stay with us.

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[07:35:00]

BLACKWELL: Bill Nigut, Jason Lee, and Judge Ashley Willcott back with me. Bill, the post from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene now saying that, first they said that we were crazy to talk about geoengineering and contrails. Now, they say that it's no impact. This caught your eye. Why?

[07:40:00] NIGUT: Well, for a number of reasons. Number one, there's been this longstanding conspiracy theory that the government is trying to change the weather through geoengineering, that they're trying to change the food supply and all other notions of why they're shooting into space. the chemtrails they call them, which are nothing more than airplane contrails.

And Marjorie Taylor Greene, who by the way recall, was the one who said that Jewish space lasers were causing wildfires in California has been a long-time supporter of this theory. And it comes back now because Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's introducing legislation to ban chemicals being fired into the atmosphere to geoengineer our weather. And Robert Kennedy, our HHS secretary, is one of the supporters of the conspiracy theory. And says he will do everything in his power to stop chemicals from being used to engineer the weather. It's just another one of those conspiracy theories that continues to erupt.

Todd Zelin, the EPA administrator, put out two website postings in which he said, we've investigated this. There's no truth to it at all. Which is an odd thing for a diehard Trump guy and a conspiracy theorist himself to do. But the fact of the matter is that MAGA people aren't going to believe that. They're going to continue to believe this conspiracy theory.

LEE: Well, I feel like they need to pick a side, because these are the same people that would tell you that corporations and industry that are releasing toxins into the air based off manufacturing or whatever, it is doing nothing to the weather. It's doing nothing to the ozone. There's no greenhouse. There's no global. It's not harmful tool at all. But somehow, at the same time, these chemtrails are controlling the -- like you have to pick a side.

WILLCOTT: That's different.

LEE: Do you -- that's different for some reason. That's different.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: Go figure.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk Kai Cenat, because there has been this ongoing protest of Target because of their backing away from DEI priorities. And Kai Cenat, a well-known, very popular content creator, his team has now branded has a cooperation -- a team up with Target with new lifestyle brand items in the store. That stood out to you this week?

LEE: Target is scrambling. They have taken profit losses. They've taken hits in their quarterly earnings and they're trying to find something to get back on track. And when I first heard this story, it reminded me a lot of when Jay-Z decided -- announced that he was going to do the Super Bowl halftime show, and people who are critical of that would say, well, why is Jay-Z giving his cultural capital away to act as a cleaner up for this entity that is having trouble? Why would you give that to them? And you know, we've seen artists just recently, LL Cool J and Jazmine Sullivan pulled out of the concert they were supposed to do in Philadelphia for Wawa. They said, I can't perform because people who worked for Wawa were fighting for living wages, fighting for workers' rights, and they didn't feel comfortable crossing that picket line.

So, I'm hoping that -- I fully expect Kai to kind of go through with this. The check has been signed. He's going to do this business venture, but I just hope that someone can kind of get to him and talk to him and kind of explain to him why this is probably not a good look for him.

BLACKWELL: Yes. We've also seen some people pull out of performances at the Kennedy Center because --

LEE: Kennedy -- yes, correct.

BLACKWELL: -- the administration's changes in DEI. And for you, Judge, I want to show this video. This is Olympic Gold medalist, Mary Lou Retton, a body cam released this week of her DUI in West Virginia. This was back in May. I -- when I saw this video, they say she failed the field sobriety test. I know she's got a medal for balance beam, but it looked like she was heel to toe there for me, but I'm not the person here. Why is this for you an important story of the week?

Well, first of all, the whole context has to be considered. Clearly, they found the evidence. But here's why this stood out to me. Three reasons. Number one, the question, should public figures be held to a higher standard? They're going to make mistakes. They're going to do these things. But a lot of people don't like it that they do engage in these behaviors. Number two, she got the same sentence that the average person would get, and that's why it stood out to me. That's how our justice system should work. And number three, she took accountability for it and she said, I'm embarrassed. I shouldn't have done this. I did. And that is refreshing to see out of a star.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right. Lastly here, in addition to the 400-word post that we got from the president yesterday, he now is considering, he says, revoking Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship. Oh, the judge --

WILLCOTT: He can't do that. It's not that simple. It's very hard.

NIGUT: But you know what, the fact that we're talking about this this morning on CNN, because that Trump has succeeded.

BLACKWELL: Yes. It's the win for him.

[07:45:00]

NIGUT: He's diverted attention with this ridiculous notion of having her citizenship revoked from issues that we also, of course, and you report on all the time, you know, not to diminish you at all.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

NIGUT: But this is Trump's style just. Throw everything out there to keep us from thinking about the importance --

WILLCOTT: To distract. And get distracted, because legally I'm like, you can't just do that. It's very rare. There's judicial oversight, et cetera, et cetera.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, considering Texas, Gaza, Iran, the tariffs that he's got to figure out is his way out of that, this is what has his attention. And it caught Rosie O'Donnell's attention because she responded, including with a picture of the president with the late Jeffrey Epstein. So, this is what's on the President's mind with all that's on his plate.

Speaking of on the plate, there is a war over chicken wraps. Now, I've never had either one of them, right? So, I don't have a dog in the fight. But Popeyes has now released a video for its A.I. generated dish track. Let me play a little bit of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And so, there's a portion here where they said, the food be tasting funny when a clown is in the kitchen. And so, I think it's actually kind of genius. But I guess this is now what advertising is in this environment. It's not, you know, where's the beef anymore? It's this.

WILLCOTT: It's A.I.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LEE: So, on top of the fact that I find A.I. in music wildly problematic on multiple levels, I desperately, desperately want corporations to be freed from the shackles of injecting hip hop and rap music into everything that they do. I love hip hop. I love -- I'm a child of hip hop. I'm a child of this culture.

BLACKWELL: All right.

LEE: But we don't need chicken battle wraps. This is not Drake versus --

WILLCOTT: Generated by A.I.

LEE: Yes. Generated by A.I. This is not Jay-Z versus Nas. This is not any of that.

NIGUT: I know you got to go, but I think the fact you and your team, in addition to following all the major news that's going on, you come up with this cultural stuff. I hadn't seen this at all. I'm very impressed with how far reaching you all are.

BLACKWELL: We are nothing if not versatile. Bill, Jah, Judge, thank you all for coming in. WILLCOTT: Thank you.

LEE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll take a break. We'll be right back.

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[07:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Iga Swiatek didn't just win the Wimbledon final, she shut it down. CNN's Coy Wire is here with the highlights. I mean, she made it look easy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It was incredible. The Polish sensation. She was unstoppable, unyielding, unbelievable. Swiatek swatting aside American Amanda Anisimova with a double bagel, as it's called, 6-0, 6- 0 in 57 minutes. The most one-sided women's final at Wimbledon since 1911. This is Iga's first Wimbledon title. Six Grand Slam overall. She now boasts a perfect 6 and 0 record in Grand Slam final.

To a titanic tussle about to unfold at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, the men's final featuring Carlos Alcaraz and world number one Jannik Sinner, a rematch of the Epic five-set French Open final last month. Alcaraz aiming for a threepeat at Wimbledon. Sinner dispatched seven-time champ Novak Djokovic in straight sets to reach this, his first Wimbledon final. Starting at 10:00 a.m., you can follow along CNN's analysis and insight on our Wimbledon live story at cnn.com.

Yankees' slugger, Aaron Judge, the power provider just keeps pulverizing pitches in a 5-2 loss to the Cubs. He hit his 350th career home run, reaching the mark faster than anyone in history. 1,088 games is nearly 200 games faster than the next closest Mark McGwire.

Two-time Allstar Byron Buxton hit for a piece of Minnesota Twins' history in their 12-4 drumming of the Pirates going five for five. He hit this home run in the seventh to complete the cycle. It's the first time anyone has hit for a single, double, triple, and a homer in Target Fields' history. Just the 12th time a cycle was hit in Twins' history. Best part of it, it was on his Bobblehead day, Victor. So, Buxton was the gift that just kept on giving for the home field fans.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee inducted eight athletes into their Hall of Fame yesterday, six are women, including the most decorated athlete in the history of track and field, Allyson Felix, who amassed 31 medals across Olympics and World Championships. She caught up with CNN's Don Riddell ahead of the ceremony.

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ALLYSON FELIX, 11-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALIST: It's just an incredible feeling. A little bit surreal. But I'm really grateful. I've gotten to do the sport that I absolutely love and it's really shaped me, you know, on the track, but also off of it. I think it's really -- it's led me to purpose in a lot of different ways. And so, that's why I'm just so grateful for everything that sport has provided me with. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: One of the most inspiring and humble superstars I've ever got to meet and speak with. I asked her about her nickname, Suge?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WIRE: She says it's short for sugar because she loves sweets so much.

BLACKWELL: It makes sense. It makes sense. Coy Wire, thank you.

WIRE: You got it.

BLACKWELL: All right. The CNN original series "Billionaire Boys Club" goes inside the social and investment club in the 1980s that despite its alluring facade was filled with greed and fraud and murder.

[07:55:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a huge fuss on the other side of the restaurant, and it was the guys from the BBC.

They were young, they were dressed in suits that looked like they came out of the pages of Vogue. They acted like a hundred dollars bills were napkins. It didn't matter the rich and famous are there, it was all about these guys. They really seemed to have it together. No one knew at the time about the dark underbelly.

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BLACKWELL: The news, CNN Original Series "Billionaire Boys Club" airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. Thank you for joining us. "Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju" is up next.

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