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Rescuers Searching For Dozens Of People Still Missing; At Least 89 People Killed In Catastrophic Texas Floods; Camp Mystic: 27 Campers And Counselors Killed In Flooding; Trump Admin Warns Countries Tariff Rates Will Revert On Aug. 1; Trump Admin Weaves Web Of Confusion On Tariffs. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 07, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash in Washington. And this hour, politics is taking a back seat to the harrowing and devastating flooding disaster as the hope for a Texas miracle wanes.

Right now, rescue crews are trying to outrun the rain and find survivors clinging to life before floodwaters can descend on Central Texas again. Right now, 5 million people are under a flood watch. The Weather Prediction Center just upgraded the threat level for parts of Kerr County and the surrounding area where, since Friday, biblical rainfall has plunged thousands across Texas into crisis. The downpours death toll sits at 89, making it one of the most destructive floods in the United States in the past one hundred years.

This is what it looked like when the flooding started in Center Point, Texas. This is the same setting. Minutes later, floodwaters high enough to swallow trees. Camp Mystic, a summer paradise for girls is now the epicenter of a tragedy. 27 campers and counselors are confirmed dead, as well as the camp's director, all victims of the surge from the Guadalupe River. Witnesses in the area struggled to find words to describe the loss and destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just know there are so many missing children and missing people. You just want them to be found for the sakes of the families. But you know, it's not going to be a good ending. It's just not going to be -- there's no way people could have survived the swiftness of the water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disaster. Disaster was horrible. I've been through a lot, but I haven't seen anything like that in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The entire episode has created a swirl of questions about who did what and when and if they did it in time. Texas emergency management officials say the situation was a perfect storm. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even when first responders were on the ground at 3:30 in the morning and we had reports. We had first responders that were getting swept away actually responding to the first areas of rainfall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I want to now bring in CNN's Isabel Rosales in Center Point, Texas, that is in Kerr County, one of the hardest hit areas. Isabel, we just saw a press conference from officials there giving an update on the latest in the rescue efforts and some of the questions that they were being asked about, what was known and what was told to people there ahead of these floods. What can you tell us?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And that's much of the same criticism that I'm hearing from folks that are from Central Texas here volunteers, asking the very same questions. When did those emergency alerts come down? Who heard them? Why weren't those campers evacuated? Could more have been done for those little girls and others that are now missing or have been killed in this flooding disaster. I know we're still sifting through all of that and digging into that.

We also heard in the press conference the challenges that first responders are dealing with. And I can't overstate to you how big of a searching area this is. You're talking about, from hunt down following the Guadalupe River to Center Point where I'm at right now. 25 miles away, and all the tributaries spanning off from the Guadalupe River like spider web. This is how vast of a search field; volunteers and first responders are looking through.

And take a look right over here. This is one of those tributaries. This is a low water crossing that would normally be dry. You would walk across or drive across there. But look at these rapids, how high the water levels are right now. I had a first responder telling me that right here on the left, where you see that foam.

He said that that's like a washing machine, where that can circle from the rapids. They can't get in there. That's not safe, but they want to look in there because that's somewhere where a victim could be right now. And then here on the ground, it's more troublesome terrain. These are cypress trees that have thick roots underneath the soil.

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And look at what the flood waters did to these trees just easily, tossing it over, snapping it like matchsticks. You have volunteers going out here with everything they got, horses, ATV, dogs, their bare hands, trying to look at every little hole, everywhere lifting these limbs. If not by their own hands and by teams of men, then by heavy machinery that they brought in today.

I want you to listen to one volunteer. He's a marine. One inspired him to come out with his fiance, his mother, his whole family to give their time, listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL GUYER, VOLUNTEER: What inspired me is the fact that I figured I could be prioritizing myself in an important way. Even though I'm not actively involved as a first responder and everything. I figured I can at least come and help relieve them of some stress and exhaustion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Right. And it struck me, Dana, a conversation that I had with somebody nearby here who said to me, hey, why is it that comfort, the town of comfort in Kendall County. They have an early flood detection system with loud sirens that you just can't miss. Why is it that hunt. And Kerr County in general didn't have that.

Well CNN, we dug into the record showing that Kerr County officials back in 2016 considered purchasing this enhanced system, and they had commissioners' meetings about this. They even had a quote of how much it would cost. And for some reason, this plan didn't come into fruition.

Now we've reached out to the commissioners to get an understanding of what happened here. And we have heard from officials that, of course, are going to do a review of what could have been done better here. Dana?

BASH: Yeah, absolutely. There are a lot of questions there. But first and foremost, as you have said, and as you showed us, the most important thing is recovery, maybe some miracle of a rescue at this point and just figuring out the way in which to handle all of that with spider web, as you described it of that river, the Guadalupe River, and the challenges that first responders have right now.

Thank you so much for your excellent reporting. Isabel, appreciate it.

And I'm joined here at the table by CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Jackie Kucinich of The Boston Globe, and Tia Mitchell of The Atlanta Journal- Constitution. Jackie, I am sure you are looking at that the way I am, as mom.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Absolutely, absolutely, and we have a little girl about that age too.

BASH: Yeah.

KUCINICH: So, it's hard. It's been hard to watch. I mean, I was watching it all weekend, and it's been really -- it's been really interesting to hear how you see officials responding to this, because they are, I mean, the mayor that Pam was talking about or talking to. He obviously has a lot of people that he knew in this community. And they're really trying to sort out, finding people and then figuring out what happened and what could have been done to prevent this.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yeah. I think it's -- you know, you hear people saying, we heard Senator Cruz say, you know, now is not the time for politics. Now is the time for, you know, focusing on the rescue and the recovery. And you want to honor that right, because at the end of the day, there are lives lost in the number is counting. But you can't help to already begin to wonder what could have been done to prevent loss of life, especially when we're talking about children. We're talking about the decision making of elected officials.

And again, we're all -- we're going to be in hindsight and we're going to be reflective, and we're going to have to take time to study. But I think there are plenty of people immediately in the aftermath who want answers because people -- young people with their whole lives ahead of them are gone and that's not something you just want to put thoughts and prayers into. People are already going to be saying, where's some action, where's some accountability.

BASH: You mentioned Senator Cruz. He was at this press conference, which happened in the last hour. Let's listen to a little bit more of what he said.

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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): My hope is, in time, we will learn some lessons to implement to next time, and there will be another flood, there will be another disaster. But next time there's a flood, I hope we have in place processes to remove, especially the most vulnerable from harm's way.

BASH: Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, this is not the first flood there, as we know. There was a deadly devastating one in 1987 and smaller floods since then. But look, this is not the moment to point fingers at government officials, but it is the moment to understand why government and the breadth of government and scientists are needed.

I mean, there's no doubt that the weather is changing. There's no doubt that we've seen how many of these 100-year floods. That metric is not any longer relevant here. So, going forward, no one needs their government, or no one likes to pay taxes, until they need the fire department or until they need something in their own lives. So that's why it does matter, and that's why public officials are elected to take care of the people.

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So, my questions are going forward. The president is still possibly planning on going there on Friday, if events warn and he is able to get around. But does this change any thinking in terms of his decision to essentially phase out FEMA after the hurricane season. And these questions should be asked right now. And local officials, obviously in deep red, Texas, will be asking them, but that's why FEMA is needed.

So, the plan is, the administration has talked about phasing it out, and effectively, you know, allowing us states to use funding. But are states equipped to do that? BASH: Exactly.

ZELENY: And we talk about, obviously, many things that have been handed out just in the last several days because of this, a big bill, Medicaid, new costs are being passed on to states, food assistance and now this. So, these questions should be asked right now. And the fact that it's in a red state also makes it more interesting because some of these Republican Congressmen often vote against some of these spending measures.

BASH: Yeah.

ZELENY: We saw it in Hurricane Sandy. And it is -- you know, it is the time to talk about politics in that respect because that impacts people.

BASH: Yeah. And it's not -- Senator Cruz said multiple times, this isn't the time for political finger pointing. And that's not what this is. This is -- these are legitimate questions, like some of them that we heard from our colleague, Pamela Brown, who we'll talk to later in the show, about government, the way government works and the way government should work.

Senator Cruz did say that he believes in the National Weather Service. He believes in FEMA. And so, I would not be surprised if those sentiments gain traction in a different way now that they have seen this happen, sadly, generally, but also that it's happened not in a blue state, but in a red state that is harder for Republicans to politicize.

KUCINICH: Well, and this goes beyond Texas. These -- let's say, for argument's sake, that the National Weather Service because there has been a bunch of different reporting on this that they did -- they did do their job here. Let's just say that. Maybe in some other states, they won't, that when a tornado hits, when some other weather event hits.

So, these cuts are not without -- there will be consequences for these cuts. And FEMA, I mean, you've had -- already had Texas officials say, this is what government is for. This is what government is for. When something like this happens, this is when the federal government should be at your door.

And FEMA does have a lot of flaws. We know there's a lot of reporting about times that FEMA has fallen down on the job here, and maybe some reforms are needed. But when something like this happens, I think a lot of people, you know, non-partisan, partisanship aside, really think this is where the government should be prepared.

BASH: So, this isn't politics. This is a fact. The Trump administration cuts to emergency weather workforce, NOAA, approximately 675 employees fired. National Weather Service, 570 plus employees affected by the layout. Now that is nationally. So far, the evidence suggests that these agencies operating on a local level did as much as they could have done, the federal agencies operating on a local level. But again, it is very early. MITCHELL: It's early, and no one is arguing that, like these cuts were good for what happened this weekend, you know. So, I think there's always going to be reflection of -- at what point is it detrimental, or at what point does it just not induce confidence in our federal government, in our federal agencies, when people at home who are dealing with the aftermath of what happened know of the cuts. They're aware of the cuts.

Again, we're going to see how FEMA is able to respond in the coming weeks. We know Republicans were very critical of FEMA response under President Biden just last year when there was flooding in states like North Carolina, for example. So since then, FEMA has only been, you know, perhaps crippled further by the cuts under the Trump administration.

BASH: To meet, we're going to -- again, we're going to hear a little bit more for this later in the show. But in the last hour, when Pamela Brown was talking to the mayor down there and he said he did not get an alert on his phone about floods, that says it all.

Everybody standby. Before we go to break, for more information about how you can help Texas flood victims. Go to cnn.com/impact, or text, flood to 707070. Up next. We're going to come back here to Washington, actually look at something that has a global effect, and that is the president's trade war. What his treasury secretary told me about what happens now for about 100 countries and what it means for businesses in the U.S.

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BASH: Today a threat and a new deadline. The president's treasury secretary is warning the rest of the world that they have an ever- shrinking window to secure trade deals. Scott Bessent told me yesterday here on CNN that the administration is putting 100 letters in the mail, cautioning smaller countries that terrorists will revert to their April 2 rates at the end of this month.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: It's not a new deadline. We are saying this is when it's happening. If you want to speed things up, have at it. If you want to go back to the old rate, that's your choice. When we send out the 100 letters to these countries that will set their tariff rate. So, we're going to have 100 done in the next few days.

BASH: That's not a deal. That's a threat.

BESSENT: No, that's the level. That's the deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My panel is back. And Jeff, we were told that the letters would go out around noon eastern, which is 20 minutes ago. Maybe they did. We don't have any word about it, but it just kind of broadening -- widening the aperture, if you will. This uncertainty, which is part of what I got to with the treasury secretary yesterday, is a big, big challenge for businesses across the world, never mind the American businesses that the president cares a lot about.

ZELENY: Without question, and the uncertainty really has been the only through line of all of these on-again, off-again, whiplash tariff policies the president has impacted. Now, White House officials will say and point out, and rightly so, at least largely, is that prices have not gone up exponentially so because of these tariffs.

Now business -- small business owners will say it's the uncertainty that is really hurting them much more than bigger businesses. Walmart, of course, a few months ago, said it was going to have to raise prices. The administration and the president went hard after them, and then, so other companies really backed off and didn't do it. But look going forward here, it is an uncertain phase, like what is coming next.

One thing that is certain, the ease of which Howard Lutnick and Secretary Bessent and others are suggested that it would be to reach these deals. They said 90 deals in 90 days. It just didn't come to pass. So, we're near the end of that timeline here, and these letters are going out. The president absolutely flipped the script by saying, you know, we can't possibly do all these deals individually with countries. Now we'll just send out these letters completely different than what they said in April.

MITCHELL: And I think that gets to what Jeff is saying. One of the problems here is the credibility of the White House, because you can't trust what the White House says about these -- the purpose of the tariffs, when deals are going to be done, how easy it's going to be for deals to be done.

So, it's saying one thing, and then a few weeks or months later, they're saying something completely different. The White House has contradicted itself repeatedly when it comes to the purpose of the tariffs and when these deals with all these countries are going to get done.

Now, so far, it doesn't seem to have hurt the White House much that this is perhaps another example where there's not been a consistent message, but maybe it could. I think American people are starting to get confused.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, it is true that we have not seen evidence of inflation or higher prices because of this. It's also true that there's been a pause and the market, you know what, went down and then it came up during and because of that pause. So, we don't know what we don't know with the economy.

KUCINICH: Well, it's also hard for businesses to plan beyond 90 days and then another 90 days, and then maybe two weeks, because usually they're two weeks or 90 days of the administration where they're -- then they bump it another 90 days or two weeks. It's hard to run a business like that when you've got to be thinking about what you're going to order for Christmas and down the line. That's what we're hearing from businesses in New England and beyond.

And I don't know, for some of these folks, it's too late to fix that. And what happens, you know, going into the next year, we'll have to see. But to your point, Dana, during that interview, the uncertainty is the problem, and none of this really fixes that.

BASH: And you know, in some ways, you can kind of see the tail chasing the dog. And by that I mean, people in and around the president, some of whom are like minded in the belief that tariffs are important, some of whom may not be as wedded to that policy, are trying to figure out how to implement tariffs that Donald Trump, the private citizen, has wanted since he -- since we ever heard anything that he said, you know, in the 80s. This is something that has been consistent. He is determined to keep on this, and they're still trying to figure out how to make that desire a viable policy.

ZELENY: Right. I mean, this has been a consistent message of his or belief of his, since the 80s, but it's different to have that belief as a private citizen and whatnot as a president and have this be like the driving part of your economic policy. We also have not heard the White House really talk about tariffs are going to pay for the huge legislation that was passed last week. I mean, that has effectively gone out the window. So maybe they start talking about it more this week, but it was intended to be this massive revenue source that it's been a long time since they've talked about that.

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BASH: Yeah. That's a good point. OK. We're going to continue to follow the breaking news from Texas, the scene of devastating flooding. We're going to go to Camp Mystic, where 27 campers and counselors have lost their lives.

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