Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Headlines: Trump To Discuss Election Security In Primetime Address; Today: Senate Panel To Hear From Witnesses In Blanche Confirmation Hearing; Flash Flood Emergencies, Dozens Rescued In Southern Texas. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired July 16, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:28]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: Life-threatening flooding hitting Texas. The National Weather Service elevated their warning to a flash flood emergency in some areas. That is the highest level of flash flood alert.
And the FBI is making new allegations in the shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in a affidavit now claiming it was found in his van.
Plus -- too close for comfort? This Blue Angels jet flew low over a crowd on a Florida beach. More on this story later this morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us this morning.
Let's get this started.
Tonight, President Trump will address the country in a primetime speech. He is touting it as, quote, "really big news". The president is expected to assess multiple topics, but he says that he's going to focus on election security. Specifically, sources say that Trump will talk about the security of voting machines and alleged attempts by foreign countries to meddle with U.S. elections.
CNN's Manu Raju pressed Vice President J.D. Vance on whether Trump should avoid repeating his false claim that he won the 2020 election in tonight's speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot of Republicans here want him to focus on the 2026 midterms and not to relitigate his claims or the 2020 elections. Would you encourage him to steer clear of those unfounded claims that he's actually the true victor of the 2020 elections?
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm obviously not going to get ahead of his remarks, but we can talk about a number of the American people's problems. We can solve a number of the American people's problems in the next. That's exactly what we're going to work with our House colleagues and our Senate friends to do. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Now, further, Jay Clayton, President Trump's nominee to become the national director of the director of National Intelligence. He was on Capitol Hill yesterday for his confirmation hearing. And in multiple instances, Clayton responded to direct questions from Democrats about whether Joe Biden had won the 2020 election. Clayton simply responding that Biden was certified as the president, but neatly sidestepping the question of whether he won. Listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Do you deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 election?
JAY CLAYTON, DNI NOMINEE: Senator, I'm not an election denier. Joe Biden was certified as the president of the United States. I believe he had the most electoral votes.
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): So he won the election.
CLAYTON: He followed our process, had the most electoral votes, was declared the winner.
SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Who won the 2020 election?
CLAYTON: You know, I'm not going to do this with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: It is day two in another highly watched confirmation hearing, that of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. We'll be keeping an eye on that as today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hear from a handful of witnesses. They will testify on whether they believe Blanche should move forward in his bid to become attorney general. Just one vote opposing his nomination would dash his confirmation.
Blanche's fate likely depends on how two outgoing senators vote. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said that he's leaning yes on whether to confirm Blanche's nomination, but wanted more assurances that the anti-weaponization fund would be killed. In Texas, Senator John Cornyn said he's undecided after the Senate panel grilled Blanche on his handling of the Epstein files and President Trump's so-called anti- weaponization fund.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give before this committee will be the truth?
REPORTER: Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's nominee to be attorney general, faced a high stakes confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Blanche was tested on his fealty to Trump. SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Are you and President Trump friends?
TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm his lawyer, was his lawyer, and now I'm the Deputy Attorney General. So I met him as his criminal defense attorney.
REPORTER: And some committee members had questions about the Epstein survivors.
BLANCHE: I have never said I will not meet with survivors.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Will you meet with these 10 survivors? I'm asking you on the record.
BLANCHE: They have lawyers.
DURBIN: Well, you're dancing on the head of a pen here.
BLANCHE: I'm not dancing on any pen.
REPORTER: And questions about the Epstein files released during his tenure as acting A.G. He acknowledged there were some errors in the vetting of the publicly released Epstein files, but defended his handling of the files.
[05:05:02]
During the multi-hour hearing, Blanche called Trump's US Capitol riot pardons generous, dodged a question about litigation challenging federal rules allowing abortion pills to be received in the mail, and spoke about the status of a $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund for Trump's allies.
BLANCHE: There is no weaponization fund.
REPORTER: And the acting attorney general seemed to slough off calls to investigate FBI director Kash Patel.
SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): How long do you intend to put up with that Kash Patel character?
BLANCHE: That's an extraordinarily obnoxious question, Senator.
WHITEHOUSE: Great, you got to own that.
Well, Vice President J.D. Vance says that the Trump administration botched the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. During an appearance on the Joe Rogan show, Vance said, quote, "We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files." And take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: Again, like, say this with all candor, like, we absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files, like we just did. But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No. If people want to say we mishandled the Epstein release, guilty. We did, especially the communications of it.
JOSH ROGAN, PODCAST HOST: What do you think should've been done?
VANCE: I think that we should've just dropped everything at the very beginning. Obviously, it takes a little time to review the stuff, to find the stuff, to redact things where you have victims and so forth, but we should've just done it as quickly as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Vance added that now former Attorney General Pam Bondi should never have said that he had a client's list for the late sex offender, that she had a client list for the late sex offender. He also concluded and conceded that Trump was forced into releasing the Epstein files.
Well, the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood emergency for several cities in Texas. That is the highest level of flash flood warnings, and the area includes Camp Mystic. That's where kids and counselors were killed by catastrophic flooding last summer.
Now the flood threat is in effect for several counties after southern Texas was already drenched overnight. At one point, more than 100 roadways were engulfed by water on Wednesday. You can see cars submerged up to their windows, and some were even swept away.
Texas game wardens say that they performed 40 water rescues, including a child in a snorkel being carried through floodwaters. The governor says that more than 75 people were rescued across the state, and one of the hardest hit areas, Uvalde County, has received up to a half year's worth of rain just since Monday. Multiple rivers and creeks are in major flood stage, with some still rising.
SMITH: Governor Greg Abbott taking a look at this forecast here also says that this flood will likely break state records in Texas.
The parents of Nolan Wells and their lawyers they met with the Jackson County District Attorney on Wednesday in a case that has stoked speculation into his mysterious death. Wells, a black teenager, was found dead off of the Mississippi coast after a July 4th trip with friends. No new details about the investigation were shared after the meeting, but attorney Benjamin Crump said that the DA plans to turn the case over to a grand jury once her office concludes its investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Our lived experiences tell us that we must question everything, everybody's role. Law enforcement role that is the lived experience of us as Black people in America and we would be not honoring the ancestors' sacrifices for us if we did not be honest every chance we got when we talked to power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Wells' mother said that Funeral services will be held on Monday, and she described the gathering as a homegoing celebration for her son.
Well, new details now in that deadly ICE involved shooting in Houston. An FBI affidavit now claims that drugs were found in the van driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. He is the man who was killed by an ICE agent last week. An agent alleges that he arrived on the scene after the shooting and saw small plastic bags with white crystal-like substance. That affidavit does not specify who they believe those bags belong to, but a Latino rights group says that the new allegations smell of smear campaign and a cover-up.
And now, President Trump is ordering federal agents to resume traffic stops by ICE officials. This is a measure that was announced would be paused after two deadly ICE-involved shootings. Sources say that the president was furious about that announcement made Tuesday by his Department of Homeland Security. It was fueled in part by the outrage of those incidents that happened less than a week apart, one in Texas and another one in Maine.
[05:10:05]
Neither victim was an actual target of an immigration enforcement operation.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
SMITH: Thousands of soccer fans poured into the streets of Buenos Aires after Argentina booked a spot in the World Cup final. The defending champion scored two late goals in less than seven minutes to beat England in the semifinal. Messi and company now have a chance to win back-to-back World Cups for the first time since 1962. They'll meet Spain in the final on Sunday. Sure, be an exciting game.
We've got lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. This is the skyline in Toronto, and all that is blowing into the U.S. Some saying this looks like it's straight out of this show, "Stranger Things". We've got the details on what's causing it.
Plus, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has a new message for troops. Why he wants to screen their testosterone levels? That's coming up.
And with that outbreak linked to a parasite, what is the best way to protect yourself from getting sick? That's coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SMITH: Well, new this morning, Tehran is warning that it will crush infrastructure across the Middle East if President Trump delivers on his threat to do the same kind of damage in Iran. That warning comes as the U.S. launches a fifth night of airstrikes and struck an empty oil tanker bound for Kharg Island.
Sources tell CNN that Trump has been fielding options for military expansion operations in Iran. Now, when asked about the potential negotiations, the president said, quote, "They better behave."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you giving Iran this deadline before you restart bombing --
TRUMP: I don't like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know. They know this story. They better behave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: A spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry says Tehran has no plans to negotiate with Washington.
New this morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiling a plan for troops dealing with low testosterone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Today, I'm authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Under the new program, tests will be conducted annually as part of required medical screenings for troops who are aged 30 and over. But Hegseth says receiving testosterone replacement therapy will be voluntary, and while he used the word troops in that video, it appears that he's referring to testing only men. The Pentagon did not clarify the specific conditions or the research that prompted this decision.
Well, this morning, an outbreak of an illness caused by a stomach parasite is surging across parts of the U.S. More than 4,000 cases of cyclospora have been reported in Michigan and Ohio, and more than 7,000 additional illnesses are either confirmed or being investigated in over half of the U.S. This is according to the CDC.
CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more on how to protect yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: The outbreak of diarrhea that's happening right now caused by the cyclospora parasite. It has so many people wondering what is safe to eat and health officials in Michigan. They're zeroing in on lettuce or salad greens as being possible sources of this outbreak, but they haven't completely ruled out other food sources, too.
So, here's what you should do to stay as safe as possible. You should buy this. Instead of this with whole heads of lettuce, you can remove the outer layers that may have been exposed to germs, and then you want to wash the inner layers and use those to eat.
When washing your fresh produce, you don't just want to rinse it underwater. You physically want to scrub either with your hands or a brush. The friction from you scrubbing can help remove potential germs. Some foods like raspberries and basil, they are more difficult to wash and they have been linked to previous outbreaks.
All of these steps are helpful, but they're still not 100 percent effective at killing the cyclospora parasite. To do that, you really have to use heat. Cook your food to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.
So, while these tips are helpful for everyone to be safer, they are particularly important for people with weakened immune systems.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: That's very timely tips there. Thank you, Jacqueline.
Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, sources say officials at the White House have been told to turn over their phones, and it's all linked to that Qatari-donated plane.
And Flavor Flav said that he was going to honor the women of the U.S. Olympic team, and now he has made good on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:24:00]
SMITH: A developing story out of the White House. Sources tell CNN that some Trump administration officials have been asked to hand over their phones as part of an investigation into potential leaks. President Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and FBI director Kash Patel longed as the probe last week. And it comes after reports about security problems with a plane gifted to Trump by Qatar, a plane that he wanted to use as Air Force One. Sources say those reports angered the president.
The controversy over the alleged whitewashing of American history ramps up after panels are replaced at a slavery exhibit at a historic site. Overnight into Wednesday, exhibits were removed from the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia. The panels first went up in 2010 and told the story of nine slaves who lived there.
After a long court battle, they were replaced by new displays that critics say sanitized Washington's ownership of enslaved people.
[05:25:02]
Last year, the Trump administration ordered federal or historic sites not to show information that, quote, "disparages Americans past or living".
Straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, dangerous flooding is hitting parts of Texas, and now, the area devastated by last year's deadly floods that killed dozens of children reached the highest level of flood alert. We've got the details you need to know and the forecast.
Plus, what does an FBI affidavit say about that deadly ICE-involved shooting in Houston? We've got those details coming your way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
