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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Torrential Rain Causes Flash Flooding In Northeastern U.S.; "Change Amplified: Live Music And The Climate Crisis"; National League Wins In Historic Home Run Swing-Off. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 16, 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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[05:30:20]

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. president is firing off new tariff threats and the latest targets include foreign pharmaceuticals. He says prescription drugs will face import taxes probably at the end of the month but that the rates will start out low to give companies time to move more production to the U.S.

Donald Trump also took aim once again at Brazil threatening a crippling 50 percent tariff on its exports, like coffee, without offering any justification for such an aggressive move. The U.S. enjoyed a nearly $7 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: How do you justify putting tariffs on Brazil if they have a surplus with the United States?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are doing it because I got to -- because I'm able to do it. Nobody else would be able to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: President Trump though failing to answer why he would need to do this but last week he linked the tariffs to what he called a witch hunt against Brazil's former president. His ally, Jair Bolsonaro, is on trial for allegedly trying to stage a coup.

President Trump campaigned on a promise to bring down persistent inflation but it's only going up, hitting its highest level in June in four months. Consumer prices on all items rose .3 percent pushing the annual inflation rate up to 2.7 percent. The Consumer Price Index shows just how much inflation has been fluctuating over the past year. It also shows food and housing costs up .3 and .2 percent respectively, and gas prices rose for the first time in five months by one percent.

Tariffs and inflation worries weighed down the markets Tuesday. Here is where things stand a few before the opening bell. At least check all three were in negative territory as you can see there. The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq futures all in the red at the moment just a few hours away from the opening bell.

Still ahead part of the U.S. are experiencing an extraordinarily rainy July triggering deadly flash floods. We'll look at what's driving these massive storms up ahead.

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[05:37:15]

LEE: Torrential rain along the northeastern United States is causing dangerous flash floods. At least two people in New Jersey died on Monday after a vehicle was swept away by floodwaters. The rain tapered off a bit Tuesday but still caused problems for areas which were already drenched.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam explains what's behind these power storms.

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DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Another day, another flash flood disaster to discuss across the U.S. -- this time centered throughout the mid-Atlantic and portions of southern New England. There were numerous record daily rainfall totals that were set on Monday, including New York City, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as well as Baltimore.

Here is just a drop in the bucket of some of the flash flooding that impacted the East Coast. This is coming out of Somerset County, New Jersey, a very interesting aerial perspective of the flooding. There is submerged vehicles. Look at all the debris left behind as well. Certainly impacting some of the businesses.

And if you thought it's been raining and causing a lot of flash flooding you are right -- very spot on. And we did some digging. In fact, the National Weather has been extremely busy this year when it comes to issuing flash flood warnings. They're at a record pace -- the most number of flash flood warnings issued ever year-to-date, over 3,000. And remember the instances across Texas -- the Hill Country -- and now most recently throughout the mid-Atlantic and southern New England.

So what's at play here? Many factors on the ground but also what is known as a Bermuda high. This is pumping in deep tropical moisture over the eastern parts of the country. This is known as precipitable water, right? So think about it as the gas in the fuel tank of your car. The more gas you have the further you can drive. If the atmosphere has more precipitable water to work with the more heavy rain events it can produce.

And, of course, we know the damage that it can cause. This is coming out of North Plainfield, New Jersey on Monday. That car decided to not turn around and eventually just stalled out and caught fire.

There have been over 1,000 reports of flooding across nearly 40 states since the beginning of the month alone. That shows you just how active it's been.

Now, climatologically speaking, this is the wettest time of the year from the end of April to September. The atmosphere is just primed and ready to produce these slow-moving summertime thunderstorms that are very effective rainfall producers.

But we know in this warming world that the -- there is a marked increase in the frequency and the intensity of heavy rain events. You can see it here across the northeast increasing by nearly 60 percent over the past several decades.

Back to you.

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[05:40:00]

LEE: Coming up music that makes a difference. What some of the biggest names in the industry are doing to help battle climate change. I'll be joined live by Adam Met of the popular band AJR.

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

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has joined a growing list of Republicans pressing the Trump administration for more transparency on the Jeffrey Epstein case. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department memo on the investigation released last week speaks for itself, declining to release new documents. President Trump, meantime, says he doesn't understand the continued interest in the case.

[05:45:00]

President Trump confirms that new Patriot missile defense systems are on the way to Ukraine. It's part of a new U.S. deal to boost weapon supplies to Kyiv through European allies. President Trump says he is not looking to give Ukraine longer-range missiles that could strike targets deeper into Russia.

President Trump announced an investment of more than $90 billion from private companies toward AI infrastructure in the United States on Tuesday. The funds will help turn Pennsylvania into a hub for AI innovation. It will also go towards addressing energy needs required to power AI applications.

And we should have some sound from AJR's new single "Betty" from their upcoming album titled "What No One's Thinking." The band of brothers kicks off their latest headlining tour in North America later this week. And the "A" in AJR, Adam Met, is also featured in this Sunday's "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER."

Adam, alongside some of the biggest names in music -- like Billie Eilish, Jack Johnson, and Bonnie Raitt -- talked to CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir about their efforts to revolutionize the eco footprint of live music.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AJR, POP BAND: Singing "Burn the House Down."

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Finding your tribe at a show can turn into a force for good. Just ask Adam Met, bass player and singer for the New York band of brothers known as AJR.

ADAM MET, CLIMATE ACTIVIST, BASSIST, AJR: We actually grew up a couple of blocks from here. We grew up just down in Chelsea. And we started out street performing in the streets in Washington Square Park.

WEIR: Yeah.

MET: And we grew up listening to folk music of the '50s and '60s that our dad played for us

WEIR (voiceover): But he also fell in love with climate science, human rights, and sustainable development. He got two PhDs, and when he isn't making music teaches climate policy at Columbia University.

MET: So music -- it's all about how do you reach people. How do you talk to them from an emotional perspective? But really, at its core it's how do you move people.

And honestly, the climate movement needs the same thing. We haven't moved enough people. We haven't reached them in the way that they need to be reached. We found that so many small organizations just focus on awareness or just focus on raising money, and we're past that point. We need to get as many people engaged as possible.

Join AJR and take climate action for your community right now.

So we did this on our last arena tour last summer and we had 15 percent of the people who walked through the door of the venue actually take action. And I'm not talking about pledging to do anything or changing the kind of straw that you're using.

WEIR: (Laughing).

MET: I'm talking about on-site. We had people phone-banking, calling their representatives about local issues. We had them signing petitions. We had them registering to vote and volunteering for local organizations. Seventy percent of the people who took action on-site actually followed up and went to a second location after the show to volunteer --

WEIR: Wow.

MET: -- to sit in at community boards. To do beach cleanups. To do actually physically tangible things.

WEIR: Right.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEE: And Adam Met joins me now live from London. Adam, it is so great to have you on the show and I'm really looking forward to this documentary.

So you are featured next to some heavy hitters in the music industry -- Billie Eilish, Jack Johnson, Bonnie Raitt -- and you're all part of this growing movement of musicians trying to make eco-conscious touring and caring about our planet look cool.

Talk to me about the relationship a band like yours has with its fans and how you're trying to use that to make change in the climate space happen.

MET: Thanks so much, MJ.

Yeah. So our relationship with our fans is such a deep and important one to us. You might look at our Instagram and see we have a certain number of followers. But really, the fans that care -- they're the ones coming out to the shows. And artists like us, AJR, and Billie Elish and Jack Johnson are really using our shows in order to communicate effectively about these issues.

There's a term I love. It's called "collective effervescence", and it basically means when people are in the same room at the same time all working towards the same thing their brainwaves get on the same page. And if you can use that energy at a show to move people towards action I can't think of really any other space in the world that motivates people the same way they are at a concert.

Think about if you're at a Taylor Swift concert, right? Everyone is there singing, dancing, holding hands, and you don't even know the other people there.

If we can capture that energy and move them towards climate action that's exactly the power of a fan base. And Billie realizes it, and Jack realizes it, and we realize it. And that's why we installed a whole bunch of things on our tour last summer in order to move people to this kind of action.

[05:50:05]

LEE: Collective effervescence could be your next new song.

You clearly care a lot about this topic. You teach courses on climate policy at Columbia University. You've pushed for legislation in Congress supporting renewable energy. You founded a nonprofit called Planet Reimagined. You even wrote a book called "Amplify" -- sort of a guide to modern day activism.

How do you talk to the average person about what's at stake here, and what advice do you give people on practical things they can do to try to make a difference?

MET: So the number one question that I get when I'm on the road from fans is what can I do? I feel like the world is a messy place. It's really scary and difficult. And they have no on-ramps to be able to participate in activism. And that's why I wrote this book.

Fans, like we were talking about -- creating a fan base is one of the best ways to actually move people towards these kinds of actions. So the book actually does a deep dive into how artists and the entertainment industry in general builds these fan bases. How can we take those strategies from music and the entertainment industry and apply them to activism? We want to give people all of these on-ramps.

So some people -- when they first hear a song, they might not go to a show. They might not follow people on social media. But how do we move people to engage more? And so that's what I like to think about in terms of activism. How can we give people an understanding of how their local representatives impact them?

So to give you an example, at the local level, that's how decisions are made about transportation. How you get to and from places. Where your food come from -- comes from. Where the next petrochemical plant is being built. That doesn't happen at the federal level. That all happens at the local level.

And one of the most powerful things that you can do to get started in activism is to vote for a local official. There are elections in Texas that just happened where these elections were won or lost by 12 votes. Think about how powerful your vote is when you can win or lose by just 12 votes.

So I would say for anybody who is watching and listening go and look up when your next local election is. There are hundreds of them happening around the U.S. and around the world right now. And your impact is going to happen because you step out. You get your friends and family to go vote locally. That's step one.

LEE: And look, Adam, you know, so much is happening in the world and some people can feel overwhelmed sometimes just by the news. Artists like yourself generally give people a place to escape reality.

What would your message be to fellow musicians on why you hope they will join you and your movement?

MET: Yeah. So all of the academic literature historically has said that when you're trying to build a fan base or a movement you use this metaphor of a ladder, right? You hear a song in the supermarket, then you'll go follow a band on social media, and then you will go to a show, and then you'll buy merchandise. You'll join the fan base of the street team and try and get other people engaged.

That model doesn't work in 2025. So any artist that is still using that model trying to move people up a ladder, I would suggest to use this new model that we developed. It's called a "Hurricane." You think about the shape of a hurricane. It's kind of like a spiral, right?

What we did as a band and what we need to do as the climate movement is bring people really close to us. When we first started as a band, we brought our fans in really close and gave them first access to tickets, to hear new music. We gave them access to us. And then we gave them the tools to go out in the world and become

evangelizers for the movement that was our band. Gave them the tools to go and convince other people to then join the movement. And what that emphasizes is this idea of community. You having relationships with other fans.

The ladder is a very solo project, really. It's thinking that people doing this are doing this on their own. And a band and a movement are really now focused on bringing people together through this idea of community. People want to relate to each other, people want to relate to the music, and people want to relate to a cause that impacts them locally.

So using this model of a hurricane is the number one thing that artists can do and that movements can do in order to build an audience for their cause.

LEE: All right, Adam Met. So good to talk to you. Thank you so much.

MET: Thank you.

LEE: And '"CHANGE AMPLIFIED: LIVE MUSIC AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS" premieres this Sunday at 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. Eastern on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" right here on CNN.

And we'll be right back.

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[05:59:20]

LEE: In the WNBA, the Indiana Fever's win over the Connecticut Sun last night ended in dramatic fashion. With less than a minute left in the game Fever star Caitlin Clark could be seen holding the inside of her right thigh before walking off the court visibly emotional. Her coach confirmed Clark felt something in her groin and that she would be evaluated, according to ESPN.

It's the latest injury for Clark during her sophomore season as a pro.

And Major League Baseball's All-Star Game also finished in dramatic fashion. With the score tied 6-6 after nine innings, the game went to a first-ever home run swing-off.

[06:00:00]

The National League was down 3-1 when Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber swept to the plate -- stepped to the plate hitting three homes runs on three swings. Schwarber was named game MVP.

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