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Laura Coates Live

CNN Reports On Texas Floods; Trump Tires Of "Putin's Bullshit" In Major Flip On Ukraine; New Outrage Over AG Bondi's Handling Of Epstein Files; Gov. Newsom Stokes 2028 Hype With South Carolina Trip; Texas Flood Survivor Speaks Out; End Of An Era For The TSA Security Line. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired July 08, 2025 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: When I get on the Amtrak to go back to New York from D.C. because you've cancelled the flight. Yet again, Delta --

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You're really calling them out. I hate when you're going through and they say take off the puffer jackets. But if I'm wearing a blazer, it's not a problem at all. I'm, like, what's the difference between a little puffer jacket because I'm a little cold and the blazer?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hmm.

SINGLETON: It's crazy.

PHILLIP: These are all very good questions. I would like us to take --

SINGLETON: Yeah.

PHILLIP: -- a closer look at airplane security because I think some of these things need to be revised.

(LAUGHTER)

DYLAN RATIGAN, CEO OF EUFORIA SNEAKERS, PODCAST HOST, AUTHOR: I want teleportation.

PHILLIP: Everybody -- teleportation. Thank you. Thanks for watching "NewsNight." You can catch me any time on social media. "Laura Coates Live" is right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Breaking tonight, more than 170 still missing in Texas as officials face tough new questions about their response to the floods.

Also, ahead, President Trump says he's tired of Putin's B.S. and what may be one of his most major shifts yet on the war in Ukraine.

And new this evening, we're talking to Congressman Jim Clyburn on what he thinks of Zohran Mamdani. Plus, what he makes of the 2028 hype as Governor Gavin Newsom swings through his home state.

Tonight, on "Laura Coates Live."

Welcome, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez, in for Laura tonight. We're going to start with the breaking news. A tragedy that was already horrific has gotten even more devastating. The number of people missing from the Texas floods has skyrocketed to 172, a huge jump from what was reported earlier today when 18 were publicly unaccounted for. And Governor Greg Abbott warns it could get worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for. Know this also. There, very likely, could be more added to that list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: We're also learning officials have known for a couple of days that the number of missing was likely much higher than that -- was much higher than publicly disclosed. One official says they've struggled to confirm how many RVs were in the area, for example, since they're not registered.

And then on the death toll. That, too, has grown. So far, 111 people are confirmed dead. At least 30 of the victims were kids in Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic, the old girl's summer camp along the Guadalupe River. The damage there? Catastrophic.

And tonight, we're learning more about one of the camps most heartbreaking moments. One cabin specifically took the full force of the floodwaters, it's called the Bubble Inn, and all 13 girls and two counselors staying there were either killed or are still missing. The campers were eight and nine years old.

Now, as you can imagine, people across central Texas are grieving. Some are looking for answers, wondering if this disaster could have been avoided in any way.

And local officials are being asked what they knew about the flood risk, when they knew it, and whether they did enough to warn people.

When Governor Abbott was asked who's to blame for this, he wasn't happy with the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBOTT: You ask, I'm going to use your words. Who's to blame? Know this. That's the word choice of losers. Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who's to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say, don't worry about it, man, we got this, we're going to make sure that we go score again, we're going to win this game. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, Governor Abbott may be calling for unity, and there is a lot of unity and grief among those who are looking for loved ones and in the efforts of first responders that are still ongoing. But some officials are still dodging or unable to answer basic questions about the emergency response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): At what point was the state in contact with Kerr County?

NIM KIDD, CHIEF, TEXAS DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Wednesday and Thursday before the Friday morning.

UNKNOWN: So why was evacuation --

KIDD: I can't answer the whys. I'm not going to answer the whys.

BEN BAKER, LIEUTENANT COLONEL, TEXAS GAME WARDENS: We understand you have many questions.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Where is the judge? The judge is not assigned here.

BAKER: We understand that. But right now, this team up here is focused on bringing people home.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE).

BAKER: That's our focus.

LARRY LEITHA, SHERIFF, KERR COUNTY, TEXAS: We're in the process of trying to put a timeline. You know, yhat's going to take a little bit of time. As I've told you several times, that is not my priority this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Kerrville for us. Ed, I know you've been reporting out there for the past few days and you spent some time today along -- along that -- at Camp Mystic, I should say, along the banks of the Guadalupe. What did you see and what you're learning about the camps emergency response?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've tried to document as best we can just the heroic efforts of -- especially the young counselors who were there in that camp trying to save as many lives as possible.

And we've learned from a source that tells CNN that those counselors did not have two-way handheld radios, walkie talkies that they could communicate with each other. We understand, according to this source, that those radios were in the hands of the camp owners and several other leaders there on -- in the -- at Camp Mystic. [23:05:05]

But that the -- despite all of that, it was the young counselors that had to improvise in the heat of the moment, and many of them are choosing to hike up a hill to get the younger girls to higher ground, and then others moved into a recreation hall and got on the second floor of that where there were dozens and dozens of campers that had made it in there before the floodwaters took over the brunt of the camp.

So, you know, what we've heard over and over is that a lot of these camp counselors were some of the ones that were doing some of the most heroic work in saving the youngest lives there at that camp.

JIMENEZ: And, as we tragically see in some of these cases, with the stories of heartbreak come stories of heroism as well. I know you've been on the ground reporting for several days as we've talked about documenting some of those incredible stories of survival in some cases.

But there are still a lot of unanswered questions here. What is the feeling among survivors and the families of those impacted? Are they voicing concerns about the initial response?

LAVANDERA: We have heard some of that. You know, we've been spending so much time since Friday along the banks of the Guadalupe River. The vast majority of the people that were coming are reporting team coming into contact with our people who are literally going through miles and miles of debris in this flood path, trying to take care of that.

Obviously, with the heightened concern now as we've heard that this number of missing is over 160, it's all very real for a lot of these people as they treads through this really difficult terrain, knowing and having to be careful that in these massive debris piles, there could still be victims tangled in all of that mess, people that they are desperately trying to reach so that they can get them back to their loved ones. That's the reality of what many of the people here are dealing with right now on the ground. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Search efforts are still ongoing. Ed Lavandera, really appreciate the reporting.

And with me now, an expert in disaster management and flood control, Phil Bedient, engineering professor and director of the Speed Center at Rice University.

Phil, thanks for being here. You've studied Texas flooding like this for decades. Can we just start with your assessment of what happened here? We know the National Weather Service issued alerts. But what steps should have been taken in the hours after they issued the first flash flood warnings?

PHIL BEDIENT, PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING AND DIRECTOR OF SSPEED CENTER, RICE UNIVERSITY: Well, the warnings were issued. But unfortunately, this was a very fast-moving system, a huge flood. There was not a whole lot of time for those responses to be heard or to be received. Apparently, a lot of them were not received.

And finally, we ended up with about a 20 to 25-foot wall of water moving down through this system in the middle of the night, somewhere between -- starting at 1 a.m. when they issued some of the first alerts, and then 3 a.m., 4 a.m. is when the flood actually roared through this valley.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. You know, we heard from Governor Abbott today that Texas is going to hold a special legislative session in part to talk about the emergency alert aspect of this disaster. The lieutenant governor has said the state would help pay for flood sirens despite some resistance locally to them in the past.

But based on what -- based on what you study, what needs to be in place to prevent another disaster like this from happening again?

BEDIENT: Well, first of all, this is called Flash Flood Alley. This is one of the most devastating areas around in terms of the speed of the water and the danger to individuals and especially to campers that are camping close and along that river basin.

And so, it's very important, because of that, that we rely upon more modern, more realistic warning systems that are reliable, both reliable as well as can handle this type of situation.

We've spent years working in the Houston area with real-time flood warning systems using radar base, using plenty of gauges, using modern computer systems. And all of these are relatively straightforward measures that have been in place for a number of years, both in Houston and in Dallas and in Austin. They need to be brought to this area based on everything that has happened, this terrible tragedy.

And in addition, because of the remoteness of this area, there needs to definitely be sirens installed and placed along this river basin so that, just like in Dallas where they have sirens for tornado warnings, they would have sirens for these type of emergency situations with high flood loss.

[23:10:02]

JIMENEZ: And, you know, on that front, some local officials in the past sort of -- just to give you an idea of the local back and forth on this. Some local officials in the past questioned where funding would come from for new warning systems.

Some even questioned the noise, like at a meeting back in 2022. One former Kerr County official said -- quote -- "The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of the night, I'm going to have to start drinking again to put up with you all," at least according to the transcript of that meeting.

And I should note, some officials have also supported adding sirens and more measures. But where is the line between letting local officials dictate on something like this versus, you know, someone like yourself or others at the state or federal levels sort of studying and recognizing that this is a high risk of flooding area and acting based on those risk assessments, essentially going to the city and saying, hey, look, we've assessed this, here's what we think you need?

BEDIENT: Look, this is -- this is one of the top three most flood- prone watersheds in the United States, according to some documents that I've seen. This is a torrent of water. It comes unprepared. It came unprepared in the middle of the night.

And so -- and given the huge and tragic loss of individuals and children and little girls along the river in campgrounds with no warning at all, I think we need to take a whole another look at what needs to be done out here.

Even though these floods are few and far between, look at the huge loss and just the coverage. I've never seen -- in all my time, and I've been studying floods for some 25, 30 years in Houston and up and down the coast, I've never seen so much interest in a flood as we've had with the flood in the Hill Country that just occurred over the weekend.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Phil Bedient, appreciate the expertise. Thank you for being here.

BEDIENT: Absolutely.

JIMENEZ: Let's get some more perspective on this. Dennis Price is a retired Force Recon Marine and founder and CEO of the nonprofit Heroes for Humanity. He has actually been on the ground helping with search and rescue efforts, and he joins us now.

Dennis, thanks for taking the time. I mean, you know how heroic these rescue workers have been, working around the clock to save lives and just -- I just want to hear from you. What was your reaction when you heard the number of missing dramatically rise today?

DENNIS PRICE, FOUNDER AND CEO, HEROES FOR HUMANITY: To see that it's at 170 still missing, it's just heartbreaking. It makes me feel for the families and all of Texas Morris (ph). There's not really much to say.

Our guys on the ground, we've been relentlessly searching. And it's really -- it's really a fresh of breath -- a breath of fresh air to see that there's so many volunteers flooding in, and everyone across Texas and the United States is flying out to help out here. And it's well needed, especially to see 170 still missing.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Sergeant Jonathan Lamb of the Kerrville Police Department said no one has been found alive since Friday in Kerr County. I don't say that to extinguish anyone's individual hope, but really just to get your perspective on what the challenges are that rescuers on the ground are facing as they continue to search for survivors and especially as days continue to go by.

PRICE: Yeah. So, right now, a lot of the destruction, as you guys see in there, it's -- the flood came so strong and so fast that it tore RVs, trailer parks, cabins, all the pieces. So, you're seeing any kind of backstop against a prior bridge that was formed, like in that photo right there. It's going about anywhere from 15 to 20 feet up in the air, just like those photos you're seeing. We need more extraction equipment and cadaver dogs.

So, we covered down -- at Heroes for Humanity, we covered down on the hurricanes in North Carolina. And this is verbatim. The same thing we saw on the Toe River all through there. And that was a hurricane.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

PRICE: So, the power of this flood just coming out in the middle of the night, it's heartbreaking to see. And we just need more extraction equipment, more cadaver dogs, and just more time on the ground, pulling all this stuff apart and trying to find 170 still missing.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. And Dennis, you know, I -- we've talked a lot about, you know, the numbers and sort of getting that -- that upgraded, that really shocking number.

But, as you know, you know better than anyone, that each number is an individual story and a person with an individual family who's looking for them. And as I understand, you -- you recovered a young girl today based on pin drops from the family.

[23:15:01]

What happened there and did it help provide any closure to that family?

PRICE: Absolutely. And you really nailed something there at the end when you said closure. That sheriff -- I can't speak on the accuracy of Friday being the last alive person.

JIMENEZ: Sure.

PRICE: As my knowledge, it was about two or three days ago. However, it's -- it's providing these families with closure and having them know. My son, my daughter, my brother, sister, whoever, they're still out there. Are they still maybe, you know, wandering there or were they -- were they found, you know, passed away?

They at least can provide closure for them, and they know they can rest at ease, and then they can take their body back, and then they can give them a proper burial, and they can rest from there, and then we can continue the morning cycle. But that's something that's severely overlooked.

To say that you're -- one of the things that we've been extremely successful is not just searching in the bulk of those river beds, that kind of you were saying, is that we'll contact and use our special operations backgrounds from our veterans, and we'll go and target and locate of when -- and use investigative mindset and say, when was the last time you saw this person? Do you have their cell phone? Do you have whatever? And then we start pinging around those locations, and we try to investigate from there. A lot of us are special operations snipers. So, we look for anomalies in the baseline and anything of shine, outline, contrast, the background, and we just keep peeling back the onion, and we were eventually able to find about approximately a dozen people --

JIMENEZ: Wow.

PRICE: -- so far.

JIMENEZ: Dennis, it goes without saying that the work that you all and so many others are doing right now, incredibly crucial. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you for being here.

All right, we're going to have more on the floods later in the hour. But first, we're going to talk a little politics because Trump's Putin pivot seemingly fed up with Moscow. The president strikes a dramatic new tone that could put him at odds with a campaign promise. We'll explain. Coming up.

Plus, it's not just the MAGA voices outside the White House that are upset with Attorney General Pam Bondi, it is inside, too. We've got brand-new reporting tonight on the backlash over the Jeffrey Epstein controversy next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: All right, you heard it from President Trump there, maybe realizing his attempts to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin haven't really gone anywhere substantial.

We're also hearing for the first time an audio of Trump in 2024, obtained by the authors of a new book out today, where he tells donors about warnings he claims he once gave to Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (voice-over): With Putin, I said, 'if you go in to Ukraine, I'm going to bomb the (bleep) out of Moscow. I'm telling you, I have no choice.' So, he goes like, 'I don't believe you.' He says 'no way' and I said 'way.' Then I'm with President Xi of China. They greet me with 100,000 troops in there. I said the same thing to them. I say, you know, 'if you go into Taiwan, I'm going to bomb the (bleep) out of Beijing.' (END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: All right, a lot to talk about here. With me now, CNN political commentator Ashley Allison and Republican strategist Lance Trover.

Lance, so, look, bomb Moscow as a deterrent on Ukraine and Beijing as a deterrent on Taiwan. No doubt, real issues to be worked out on those fronts. But does that type of rhetoric concern you even in the context of a private fundraiser like this?

LANCE TROVER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No, it doesn't concern me. I mean, you know, when you're in a campaign, a lot of things get said. The president has been very clear from the day he came into office, though. I don't think he gets the credit he deserves when it comes to dealing on this Ukraine issue.

Look, this was not a war that started under his watch. It was one that he inherited and it's one that he and the rest of the American public want to see come to an end.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with coming into office and saying, hey, let's take a new approach, let me see if I can deal with this Putin guy, I think he's clearly finding out that he's not going to be the guy that he thought he could deal with. And now, here we are.

But look, if I were Putin and I were Xi Jinping, I would look at what happened in Iran a couple of weeks ago and know that this is a president who takes this stuff very seriously. I think that's something they should be thinking about.

JIMENEZ: I will say Iran is a little different than Russia and China, but your point is well taken. Ashley, look, to Lance's point, the president might be figuring out, okay, Putin is not the person he thought he was. I think there are a lot of people out there that might say, well, this is who Putin always was. Just what is your reaction to hearing this and the posturing right now about prospects with Russia moving forward?

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Welcome to the club, Mr. President. We've been like trying to explain that to you over and over. And let's just be honest. This is not the president's first term. He has already been the president. He should know who Vladimir Putin is.

And there is this exceptionalism that I feel like this administration feels like they have, that people are going to behave differently when it comes to them. And what they're seeing, whether it be Russia, whether it be the tariffs and trying to do this trade with different countries, they're not -- the folks are not just kneeling to Donald Trump. He doesn't have the power that he thinks he has. And I Russia and China are very different than Iran and the strikes on Iran.

And so, I can't really give him credit because now he's coming to the realization of something that people have been trying to tell him for years, but definitely for the last few months of this presidency.

JIMENEZ: Hold on one sec because we're going to shift topics. But I just want to key the viewers in to what we're going to talk about, because there's continued frustration in MAGA world over the Trump administration reversal and the Jeffrey Epstein saga. President Trump telling critics, get over it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?

[23:25:00]

This guy has been talked about for years. You're asking -- we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Attorney General Pam Bondi is sitting two places over from the president, trying to tamp down the outrage by explaining why the 11-hour long video outside Epstein's prison cell was missing a minute. Here's how she explains the mysterious time lapse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: -- and the minute missing from the video. We released the video showing -- definitively, the video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was, showing he committed suicide. They redo that video. It's old from, like, 1999.

So, every night, the video is reset. And every night should have the same minute missing. So, we're looking for that video to release that as well, showing that a minute is missing every night. And that's it on Epstein.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Well, how will that land with those who are interested? Tonight, CNN is learning there's growing frustration among many of the president's allies inside the White House over Bondi's handling of this review.

I've got Ashley Allison and Lance Trover back. So, Lance, look, the president has, let's say, flirted with theories before around the assassination of JFK, New Jersey drones. But on this, there were these big implications that something was coming. I think there were a lot of supporters of his that were looking for him to be the person to sort of bring the -- quote, unquote -- "truth" out.

Do you think there is real political damage done here by sort of not meeting this moment that maybe some of his supporters thought was coming?

TROVER: No. I know many on the Ashley side probably hope that there's something that will break up the MAGA coalition. Look, I think there are some loud voices on -- in the MAGA world who are very upset about that. I'm not judging them for being upset about that. That's their right to do that.

But I look at this and I think I'm not sure the rest of America woke up this morning really super concerned about the Epstein files. And again, that's not to downplay other people's feelings on this. But take a step back. Yes, they have talked about that. But I don't think this is something the American public is super concerned about. And yeah, I mean, I just want to say, I'm kind of with the president. I'm not sure why we're still talking about it, to be completely honest.

JIMENEZ: Well, and, you know, the line over -- again, what's -- what's to online? What's actually out in the public that will move the needle? That's always -- it's always going to be an issue here.

But Elon Musk, for one, seems to be running with -- with the ball a little bit, saying that his America Party or his new party, it will be the one to uncover the truth and really pushing that same process for promise for political gain. I mean, is this something that is actually exploitable from a politics standpoint that could work to Elon Musk and others' benefits?

ALLISON: Look, this is a crisis in, like, this and some of the people in his administration's own making, including the FBI director and the deputy FBI director. If they hadn't been pushing these conspiracy theories, they wouldn't have gotten so many people in MAGA wound up about it. And they were making campaign promises on this.

Now, could Elon Musk actually take this and try and use it for political capital? I think what it could do is actually suppress some voters who care about the Epstein files not to come out.

And this last election cycle, we saw a lot of first-time voters actually come out for Donald Trump. And so, maybe with this new America Party that Elon calls himself starting, he could try and suppress a certain component of this coalition.

But Pam Bondi, the attorney general, told people that she had a list on her desk. She didn't have to say that. And if she didn't know she didn't have a list, she shouldn't have said it as the attorney general. We have to hold some of these folks at higher standard and they are now reaping what they have literally sow.

TROVER: I mean, that presupposes what you're saying, though. That most voters are going out there voting on whether to release the Epstein files.

ALLISON: No, no. I think it's on the trust of the institution. So, if they thought people who were elected were going to bring some type of justice because they are now part of the Department of Justice and they are not, they could potentially lose trust in the White House and the -- and the institution, regardless of what party.

TROVER: Fair enough. And look, my argument to folks would be, yeah, Dan Bongino and Kash Patel, who run the FBI, were big proponents of investigating the investigation. And now, we have the results of that. They're saying, look, there's nothing there. And that's what I would say to folks who are still questioning it.

JIMENEZ: And the question is, will that credibility hold with the Wild West of the internet?

ALLISON: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

JIMENEZ: It's an evergreen question. Ashley, Lance, appreciate you both. Thanks for being here.

All right, look who's in South Carolina. California Governor Gavin Newsom fueling the 2028 hype, whether he likes it or not, as he hammers Trump in a series of events across the state. Congressman Jim Clyburn met with Newsom and will be my guest tonight.

Plus, why did Congressman Clyburn endorse Andrew Cuomo over Zohran Mamdani, and does he support Mamdani today? I'll ask him next.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): It's not what happens to us, it's how we respond to it. And our opportunity presents itself anew. In 18 months, you have the power to end Donald Trump's presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:35:00]

JIMENEZ: That's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom launching a two-day swing throughout rural South Carolina, calling on voters to make the 2026 midterms a referendum on President Trump and Republicans.

The high-profile Democrat's visit to the early primary state fueling any rumors there may be about a potential presidential run.

With me now, Democratic Congressman from South Carolina, Jim Clyburn. Congressman, thank you for taking the time.

You appeared alongside Gavin Newsom, who is visiting your home state of South Carolina today. And I'm sure you know he does come with some 2028 speculation. Even an attendee at one of the events said she drove in to see the next president of the United States. But let's put that to the side for a second. Do you believe he is an effective messenger on behalf of the Democratic Party?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Oh, yes, I do. He HAS been there for some time now. Gavin Newsom has established a record in California. That's enviable. He has been around the country over the last several years, carrying the message of the Democratic Party. And I think he would be a viable candidate going forward if he were to run.

JIMENEZ: And let me just ask on that front. Based on what you saw today, do you think he would be a strong candidate for president?

CLYBURN: Well, I was with him in Camden this evening. And I went there expecting a modest crowd on a Tuesday afternoon. And this was, in fact, his, I think, six or seven stops for the day. It was an overflowing crowd of people, some of whom I'd never seen at an event like this before. And so, I do think that people are listening to him, and they are listening to the Democratic Party in a big way.

JIMENEZ: Let's talk about the party a little bit, too. I'm going to shift gears just a little bit because just a few states up in New York, you endorsed former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the New York City democratic primary race, not Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who ended up winning that primary. At this point, do you support Mamdani's candidacy as the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York?

CLYBURN: Absolutely. I do. I support Democratic nominees. The fact of the matter is my relationship with Cuomo goes back to when he was secretary of HUD. And the South Carolina got one of those empowerment zones because of his help. It happens to be something -- Columbia Empowerment Zone. And it still exists today. A lot of those empowerment zones went out the window, but not this one.

And my relationship with him and one of his assistants at the time, Alvin Brown, go back for years. And so, when I was asked to be supportive, I returned the favor.

JIMENEZ: So, just to be clear, you support Mamdani's running or, I guess, his position as the democratic primary winner. Is that an endorsement? Are you endorsing him as mayor of New York City?

CLYBURN: I support the Democratic nominee. He is the nominee. I've never met him, never even heard of him until he was running. And I never could understand why people think that you toss longstanding relationships aside. No, you try to add to those. And so, I want to add him to my list of Democratic friends. I don't add him and throw away the older guy. So, let's just accept the fact that we all go through processes.

I lost three times before I ever won. And every time I lost, I supported the guy that beat me because I supported the Democratic nominee. And so, I'll do the same thing in this instance.

JIMENEZ: Congressman, I want to shift to the midterms right now because -- I know there's still ways away, but House Democrats are telling Axios that they're seeing growing anger from grassroots Democrats, wanting to see them fight harder. One Democratic lawmaker saying some of them have suggested what we really need to do is be willing to get shot when visiting ICE facilities or federal agencies, according to Axios's reporting.

What do you -- what do you make of that? Do you think Democrats can and should be fighting harder here?

[23:40:00]

CLYBURN: I think we're fighting very hard. It's just that people are beginning to notice. I think that what we saw last week, the fight we put up against this awful piece of legislation, I think is the worst thing I've seen in my lifetime. And it mirrors stuff that I've studied in history. We are seeing an attempt on the part of this administration to replicate that which took place when we saw the creation of Jim Crow.

When you see an administration doing the kind of things that this administration is doing, they're taking food out of the mouths of babes, subjecting able-bodied people to the same kind of tests that you -- subject people to -- who have never worked. Just think of what this new work requirement is all about. Eighty-five percent of the people who get this aid or Medicaid are already working.

And so, what we're going to do is say that even though you're already working, we are now going to subject you to a new test which could very well result in you not working at all.

JIMENEZ: So, let's talk about Medicaid a little bit because Democrats, I'm sure, like yourself, looking at these Medicaid cuts in President Trump's spending bill ahead of the 2026 elections. But these cuts or least the most significant portions of them are ones that won't necessarily go into effect until after the midterm.

So just from a strategy standpoint, are you confident the party can regain the House, for example, just on that messaging alone? And if so, do Democrats have a plan to roll back these cuts if you gain power?

CLYBURN: Well, let me answer the last question first. We absolutely have a plan to roll back these cuts, and that is to win next year. And if we win next year, we will do the things that are necessary to roll back the cuts. Now, once again, if it passes the House, will it pass the Senate and will the president sign it? That is a bridge we'll cross when we get to it.

But as to your former, no, we are not going to run on Medicaid alone, we're going to run on that entire bill.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Congressman Jim Clyburn, really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for being here.

CLYBURN: Thank you very much for having me.

JIMENEZ: And we've been covering the floods in Texas all evening, and there are few people who can understand the scope of the suffering and devastation in the state. My next guest, though, is one of them, because in 1987, he was driving a school bus full of children when a similar flash flood hit. He's going to share his perspective with us next.

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[23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JIMENEZ: It's happening again. Those are the exact words my next guest posted as soon as he saw the news of the deadly flooding on the Guadalupe River on July 4th. And that's because it pulled him back to the nightmare he and his wife lived through during a similar disaster in Texas back in 1987.

He was driving a bus near the river, trying to get more than 40 campers to safety when they got trapped in flood waters that were 35 feet deep. Ten campers were swept away by the floods and killed that day. Eventually, helicopters arrived to rescue him and the rest of the survivors. The image you're looking at right now shows Reverend Richard Koons right after he was rescued.

He joins me now to share his story. Reverend, thank you for taking the time. Just -- what was going through your head when you first saw what was happening in Texas over the last few days, having survived something similar in your own life?

REV. RICHARD KOONS, SURVIVOR OF 1987 TEXAS FLOODS: Yeah, my wife and I were actually on the July 4th. We were looking for a onesie for about to be born great grandson when my wife saw it on her phone. And immediately, in that store, we broke down because we certainly understood what everyone down there was going through.

You certainly understand you're helpless when that water begins to go at 70 miles an hour and 35 feet deep. It's just -- it's hard to explain unless you've been swept down a river.

So, we were actually going away from the river. We were on our evacuation route when the water became -- it was a wall of water that came out of the river and stalled our bus. And we were just trying to walk to dry land.

JIMENEZ: You know, one of the things that we've heard from local officials is that making an evacuation call in the middle of the night, for example, as waters were rapidly rising, could have put more people in danger. And again, as you were telling me, you all were also trying to evacuate a flash flood. Are there any lessons from what happened in 1987 that you think officials either should have been paying attention to here or should be moving forward?

KOONS: Um, you know, that's not really for me to answer.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

KOONS: Um, ours was -- ours was spur of the moment. Um, it -- the river had not done that in 50 years. I don't know what could have been done different for us. I don't know all the details. I know -- I trust our leadership of our state, um, if there's something needs to be fixed for that to happen.

[23:50:04]

JIMENEZ: And so then just take me back then because, as I understand, you and your wife managed to survive after drifting, or your wife at least, managed to survive after drifting a mile downstream. Obviously, we're multiple days out from this. I don't know if you saw, but the missing total is up to almost 200 as far as what has been announced.

What are you -- what are you thinking right now as I'm sure you know rescue crews are out trying to find who may still be out there?

KOONS: They're heroes. Our heart breaks for families. Our heart breaks for counselors, survivors. We know what's about to happen. There's going to be a bunch of funerals. And I can just tell you, it's heart- wrenching.

I was responsible for those kids to come home. And, you know, in one moment, I'm secure in the fact my wife is safe, but on the other hand, a body that I had to identify, being told it was my wife, when they pulled the sheet down, it wasn't my wife, it was one of our students.

And in the one moment, you're elated that my bride is safe, but on the other hand, it's immediate terror and guilt and grief that we had students that weren't coming home.

And what this did was, it just brought all the grief back. But it also challenges me again, my faith, knowing that those students, at least our students, were believers in Jesus Christ. And the faith that sustains my family and my friends is we're going to see him again. And there's no doubt about that because Jesus Christ died on the cross for everybody. And they accepted that. And that's what gets us through.

JIMENEZ: Reverend, I really appreciate you taking the time and relieving what I know must have been an incredibly awful and traumatic time. But it helps give some perspective on what some of these families are going through, unfortunately. Reverend Richard Koons, appreciate you taking the time.

KOONS: Yes, sir.

JIMENEZ: All right. And up next, we're taking a look at a few other headlines, including the end of an era at the TSA security line. Our Harry Enten is going to explain it all, coming up.

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[23:55:00]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO, COMEDIAN: Take out your laptop!

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

Your liquids, your creams, your gel. Can we leave the shoes on? Have you seen people's -- have you seen people's feet?

(LAUGHTER)

Guy took a shoe off. Looked like he had a machete hanging off his toe. I swear to God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Hey, that bit might not hold up much longer because comedians like Sebastian Maniscalco there might lose some top-notch material because for those of you who can't sleep at night at the thought of walking barefoot on the floors of LAX or JFK, then you're going to love this news because after almost two decades, the TSA is announcing that passengers going through airport security won't have to take their shoes off anymore.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem says that requirement will go away -- quote -- "effective immediately." So, what do people think about this? What do you think about this?

Our chief data analyst Harry Enten ran the numbers. Harry?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Omar, dear friend, Sebastian is not the only one who's sick and tired of taking off your shoes at the airport and seeing other people's feet.

What are we talking about here? Well, get this, going through airport security is too much of a hassle. Fifty-nine percent, 59% of flyers say it is too much of a hassle. And amongst those who haven't signed up for TSA pre-checks such as myself, we're talking over 60% of those flyers say going to airport security is too much of a hassle.

But it's not just that it's a hassle to take off your shoes. It's also that Americans didn't think it was actually doing anything. What are we talking about here? Taking off shoes at airport security, very effective security measure, only 26 % of Americans said it was a very effective security measure.

And get this, they asked Americans to rate seven different ways in which the airport was trying to ensure security. Yes, we're taking off your shoes, right, in terms of those seven different ways. It ranks seven out of seven when it came to very effective security measures.

Of course, there is a whole question of whether or not this will impact whether folks like myself actually sign up for TSA pre-check. And indeed, when we're talking about Department of Homeland Security trusted traveler programs for expedited screening, including TSA pre- check, get this, over 40 million Americans are signed up for it.

Will folks actually stay signed up now that you don't have to take your shoes off anymore? Well, maybe so because, keep in mind, you're still going to have to take off your jacket if you're not signed up for a DHS trusted traveler program.

[00:00:05]

So, I guess the question is, is taking off your shoes really that much to go back to the old ways? I guess I'll ask that question to you, my dear friend, Omar. Will you stay signed up for TSA pre-check because you no longer have to take off your shoes? That's, I think, a question a lot of folks will be asking themselves tonight. JIMENEZ: I'm going to stay on it. The speed with which you took off your clothing on T.V., Harry, only you could pull that off. Thank you, Harry, as always. And thank you all for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" up next.