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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Officials Hold First Meeting Since Deadly Texas Floods; Arizona Governor Demands Investigation Into National Park Service; Trump Floats Update "Fairly Soon" On Gaza Talks. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:35]

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Some live pictures for you here off the coast of San Diego where the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is about to splash down. Dragon autonomously undocked from the International Space Station on Monday. The four-member crew flew to the Space Station when the Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 25.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- signature through things like cloud layer and any kind of atmospheric disturbance allows us to maintain visual contact with the vehicle as it's making its final descent towards water landing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's a little foggy as you can see there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, the Pacific fog is rolling in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got some very bright lights as Dragon -- you can see the ocean there. Dragon is about to touch down in just a few seconds here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And working their way towards the vehicle are the SpaceX and Axiom support teams that will be present for the next phase of our splashdown coverage today. At this point we'll be waiting for confirmation of the crews' safe landing and then we'll move into the phases of the -- of this mission, which are really -- it's recovery of the vehicle. It's recovery of the crew. Let's make our assessments and at that point we'll be covering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we have splashdown of the AX-4 crew back on planet Earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome home.

LEE: At least 132 people have died amid flash flooding in central Texas. Twenty-seven of those victims were campers and counselors who were killed when raging waters swept through Camp Mystic. As communities in Kerr County begin to grieve and rebuilding, we are learning more about what led to the tragic loss of life there.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has the latest.

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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now getting a fuller picture of what happened in the early hours of July Fourth at Camp Mystic. Richard "Dick" Eastland, the co-director of the camp, did receive a 1:14 a.m. flash flood alert warning of life-threatening conditions. Now it wasn't until about 2:00 to 2:30 a.m. that Eastland started to evacuate campers into a different part of the camp. That initial alert though -- it did not order an evacuation. That second, more urgent alert comes in until -- not until 4:03 a.m., and that's the one that says "move to higher ground now."

Now, Eastland lost his life trying to save campers from the cabin called "Bubble Inn." That's where some of the youngest campers were house at the time.

And a family spokesperson did say that camp leaders acted promptly based on the information they had at the time and that they did not have a sense of the magnitude and the devastation that these floodwaters would bring.

Now, there are many questions about that alert system and if local authorities did everything they could to try and warn people of the magnitude of this disaster.

Today at a county commissioners' meeting here in Kerrville we did speak with the county judge Rob Kelly who said he was not authorized to speak to the media but who told me that he did not know the magnitude of this and had he known he would have acted differently.

[05:35:00]

Here in Texas those county judges are responsible for emergency management systems. And it raises the question that if the person in charge was not aware of the magnitude of this disaster what is it that went wrong.

This as operations had to be stopped on Sunday because if those heavy rains but now have resumed. But those search and rescue operations are now even more challenging as those on the ground going through the debris of the river encountering scenes like this one. This photo shared from the United Cajun Navy with CNN showing an entire vehicle under gravel and debris. A lot more of those have been found according to a Cajun Navy commander saying that this is not an uncommon scene here at this point and that the new rains have only made that more difficult as scenes in parts of the river that had already been searched have now to be searched again.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Kerrville, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: The National Park Service is facing the heat of the Grand Canyon wildfire. Arizona's Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs is calling for a federal investigation into the National Park Service's decision to not aggressively fight a wildfire along the Grand Canyon's northern rim.

It was started by lightning back on the Fourth of July and allowed to keep burning for more than a week after. It flared up over the weekend destroying dozens of structures and forcing the closure of the entire North Rim of the park for the rest of the 2025 season.

Fire weather danger is in place today and could rise to critical levels in some areas and includes the White Sage and Dragon Bravo fires according to the Storm Prediction Center.

European goods are poised to get pricier if President Trump's tariffs take effect, but now the EU is warning of an outcome much more dire.

And a new report shows China's economy is doing better than expected but for how much longer? We'll look at the country's domestic challenges and the threat of U.S. tariffs.

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[05:42:00]

LEE: The European Union's trade commissioner is warning that President Trump's proposed tariffs on European exports could effectively knock out transatlantic trade. Those 30 percent tariffs are due to take effect on August 1.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAROS SEFCOVIC, EU TRADE COMMISSIONER: It prohibits the trade. So if you are talking about 30 percent or 30 percent plus, there will be a huge impact on trade. It will be almost impossible to continue the trading as we are used in the transatlantic relationship.

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LEE: The EU said it will push back any retaliatory tariffs until early August to give both sides more time to hammer out a deal. According to the European Council, the trade in goods and services between the U.S. and the EU was worth nearly $2 trillion last year.

And Wall Street closed fairly flat on Monday with just minor gains. Let's see how the U.S. futures are looking. At least check they were mixed. As you can see there the Dow futures is down slightly. The S&P and Nasdaq futures both in the green. The Nasdaq up around six-tenths of a percent.

China has reported slightly better-than-expected economic growth despite its ongoing trade war with the U.S. The second quarter GDP coming in at 5.2 percent. That's slightly down from the 5.4 percent expansion in the first three months of the year. But diversification efforts to non-U.S. markets gave China's exports a boost. Beijing has less than a month to secure a permanent trade deal with the U.S. or face new tariffs.

NVIDIA says it will resume sales of a key artificial intelligence chip to China. The H20 graphics processing unit was designed specifically for China to comply with U.S. export regulations, but NVIDIA was stopped from selling the chip back in April. Now NVIDIA says the U.S. government has assured the company that it will be granted licenses to sell the H20 to China again. NVIDIA chips are highly coveted for their ability to run AI applications.

And President Trump is set to announce a $70 billion investment package in AI and energy. That's expected at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh in the coming hours. The White House says the initiative will create thousands of new jobs.

Gaza ceasefire talks have faltered but Donald Trump says an update on progress could be coming soon. The latest in a live report ahead.

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[05:48:45]

LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.

U.S. President Donald Trump would like the hype around the Epstein investigation to disappear. Sources tell CNN the president has privately urged his team to let the story die down, but Republican lawmakers, MAGA supporters, and now some Democrats are demanding more transparency into the investigation.

President Trump says he's giving Russia 50 days to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, or he'll impose 100 percent tariffs on Moscow. Buyers of Russia's oil could be hit with secondary sanctions. Trump also said NATO countries will buy U.S.-made weapons and then transfer them to Ukraine.

Summer storms are drenching several states in the northeastern U.S. as heavy rainfall continues today. Millions of people remain under flash flood warnings. The weather is also impacting air travel in major metropolitan travel hubs like New York, Washington, and Boston.

[05:50:00]

U.S. President Donald Trump is expressing some optimism over his administration's efforts to broker a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. During an Oval Office meeting with NATO's secretary general Trump said he believes there could be something to talk about "fairly soon."

Negotiations on a ceasefire deal have faltered in Qatar though they do continue and so, too, have Israeli strikes in Gaza. Palestinians gathered Monday at Nasser Hospital to mourn loved ones killed in Khan Yunis. Gaza's health authorities say children were among the dead.

And CNN's Paula Hancocks is tracking developments and joins us now live. Paula, are there any signs of real progress in the ceasefire talks right now?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, MJ, there's nothing that's being said publicly beyond the U.S. when it comes to becoming and feeling optimistic about these talks. You here there from the president saying he believes that they will have something to talk about fairly soon.

We've heard from Steve Witkoff, the Mideast envoy of the Trump administration, saying he is still hopeful. And yet that is where the optimism seems to end at this point. We did have cautious words from one of the key mediators, Qatar, saying that they don't expect it to be that swift.

Now we did hear that both Israel and Hamas are blaming the other one for the fact that talks are not progressing as quickly as they might. We heard from the Israeli prime minister saying that he's agreed to the deal. Hamas has rejected it. We're effectively hearing the same from the Hamas side as well.

Now one of the key sticking points we know is an issue and has been an issue for months is where exactly the Israeli military will be once the 60-day temporary ceasefire begins. Now, initially, this proposal suggested that in the first week the military would move out of parts of the northern Gaza and then just a week later parts of southern Gaza would be evacuated by the IDF.

But we know that the military wants to stay along the border between Gaza and Egypt, saying that is where they believe Hamas has been smuggling arms and rearming itself and they refuse to leave from that area -- the Philadelphia Corridor.

So at this point it does appear as though there is very little progress, certainly in the first week of the talks. We heard from U.S. officials that many of the issues had been -- had been nailed down and had been agreed to, but there are still these outstanding issues -- most notably, where exactly the military would be.

We also know that Hamas wants U.S. assurances that there would be -- even after the 60-day ceasefire, if they haven't agreed on a permanent ceasefire, there would be assurances that it wouldn't automatically go back to war as it did after the ceasefire of just a few months ago.

So at this point it is fair to say it does appear as though they have stalled but they are still talking -- MJ.

LEE: Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. Thank you for that update.

Still to come, police are searching for whoever stole hard drives containing unreleased Beyonce songs. How they ended up in the wrong hands ahead.

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[05:57:45]

LEE: Beyonce just wrapped up her "Cowboy Carter" tour dates in Atlanta. But while she was in the city someone stole hard drives containing unreleased music and other items from a car that was rented by her choreographer. That's according to Atlanta police who responded a week ago to the call about a vehicle theft. Two laptops, the hard drives, and several luxury items were reported stolen. Police have issued an arrest warrant for an unnamed suspect.

And the maker of YoCrunch yogurt has issued a voluntary recall for all varieties of the products with expiration dates between early July and early September. The company, Dannon U.S., says it has received reports that the dome-shaped packaging on top of the yogurt could contain small plastic pieces that could pose a choking hazard. Dannon U.S. says the issue does not involve the yogurt itself.

And in Major League Baseball, Cal Raleigh has won this year's Home Run Derby with a little help from his family. The Seattle Mariners star had his father on the mound as his pitcher and his 15-year-old brother as his catcher. Raleigh smashed 18 homers in the final round to defeat Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays.

It's another highlight and an incredible season for Raleigh. He's the Major League leader in home runs, three clear of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. Raleigh is nicknamed "Big Dumper" -- an affectionate reference to his prominent backside.

And finally this hour, it's known as the world's coolest marathon and it's easy to see why. The summer edition of the North Pole Marathon took place on Sunday with runners competing in subzero conditions traversing snow and ice. Britian's Oleg Polyntsev took first place in the men's race finishing in three hours, 43 minutes, and 25 seconds.

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OLEG POLYNTSEV, MEN'S WINNER, NORTH POLE MARATHON: Well, it was not easy, but it was a fun run actually. I enjoyed it.

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LEE: And American Becca Pizzi broke the women's event record crossing the finish line in four hours, 46 minutes, and 26 seconds.

[06:00:00]

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BECCA PIZZA, WOMEN'S WINNER, NORTH POLE MARATHON: By far, the hardest race I've ever done, but I just put head down and took one mile at a time and just -- and just tried to stay focused and in the zone and get it down. And here we are in the Arctic Ocean and it's just so beautiful. I feel so lucky to be here.

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LEE: Ninety-one runners from 22 countries took part in that marathon.

Thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm MJ Lee in Washington. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.