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At Least 111 Dead, 170-Plus Missing in Catastrophic Texas Flooding; House Swept Away in Deadly New Mexico Flooding; Sources Say, Hegseth Did Not Inform White House Before Pausing Ukraine Aid. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 09, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, urgent search for survivors. Rescue teams are still scouring through debris, desperately looking for more than 170 people still missing up for floodwaters tore through here in Texas.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, gap in communication, new CNN reporting that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth did not inform the White House before authorizing a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine, setting off a scramble inside the Trump administration.

And the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, will join me live this hour.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is in Kerrville, Texas, and you're in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with breaking news out of the Texas floods. The death toll climbs to 111. And the number of missing jumps dramatically to more than 170. Almost all the missing are in Kerr County, where no victim has been found alive since Friday.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael, pack these mules down.

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BLITZER: The landscape is so treacherous, clogged with broken trees and hazardous debris that mules and horses are now essential tools in the search.

The governor of Texas says the number of missing will likely go even higher. Emergency officials are expected to hold a briefing right at the top of the next hour, and we'll, of course, bring it to you live.

My colleague and co-anchor, Pamela Brown, is in Kerrville right now and has been working long days to cover all these important developments. Pamela, what are you learning this morning? BROWN: Yes. Well, I will tell you there are so many volunteers out here, search and rescue teams with this desperate search for survivors.

As you mentioned there, Wolf, more than 170 people are still missing, but the number of missing could be much higher due to the widespread disaster zone and the multiple R.V. parks and campgrounds in the area. Here in Kerr County, there are still more than 160 people missing. A police officer says no one has been found alive since Friday.

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SGT. JONATHAN LAMB, KERRVILLE POLICE: I think that the reality of the situation is the more time that passes, it becomes harder and harder to become optimistic. But we're not stopping. And whether someone decides, and it won't be me, that makes that decision, that this has changed from a rescue operation to a recovery operation, nothing is going to change for us. We're going to continue. To search and look, to try and reunite families, because that's where our focus is on reuniting families with their missing loved ones and bringing them closure.

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BROWN: Search and rescue teams are out across central Texas, as one official put it, going through debris layer by layer, and we're now getting a look at the scope of the devastation.

There are satellite images of Camp Mystic showing before and after the flooding, you can see how the rushing flood waters carved a path of discretion through the camp. One counselor at Camp Mystic tells me that they did not have access to walkie-talkies. Only some of the owners and the camp leaders in the office had access to those kinds of communication devices.

And the counselor told my colleague, Anderson -- one counselor told my colleague, Anderson Cooper, that the camp has a no screen policy, meaning that they must turn off their phones when they are at work. The counselor I spoke with told me her -- she personally was not given any emergency evacuation training.

Now, despite that, many counselors helped campers escape these rushing floodwaters. One mother is crediting two of them with saving the lives of her children. Some counselors themselves, they didn't make it out alive, though. At least 27 campers and counselors died.

This morning, there are growing questions about whether the public was adequately warned of the approaching danger.

Let's go live now to CNN's Shimon Prokupecz. Shimon, what are officials saying?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, we are here, Pam, outside the state bank center here, the expo hall. This is where officials are gathering. This is where the joint operation center is. [10:05:02]

So, every official, we're starting to see people arrive for the morning briefing, and then we're expecting to have a press conference here shortly from officials.

And then we're expecting to have a press conference here shortly from officials that there are still so many questions about how prepared the county was for this potential weather event. You know, there were certainly warnings going into the 4th of July weekend that something could happen. There was concern from the National Weather Service. Meteorologists were monitoring it. Even state officials, state officials of Texas were getting on calls, were conducting briefings, were monitoring what was happening and moving resources into this area.

But what was the county, what was the city doing during that time as they're inviting people to celebrate the 4th of July weekend at the river, you know, where this flooding occurred, where this devastation occurred, this area that is known as the flashflood alley? They're inviting people while weather, there's indications that the weather could be horrendous.

So, what was the city, what was the county doing in those moments leading up to this storm and trying to figure out if they were prepared? There clearly was no advance warning to people who were down at the river that something could go wrong, that they should be prepared for the potential weather. There's no indication right now that many of them were even aware. They were there vacationing. Why we're having such large numbers of missing people is because no one was registering people. They were in their R.V.s, they were there celebrating the weekend. And so, of course, just late yesterday we learned the number of missing is so high.

So, there are a lot of questions as to what the state was doing so far. They have refused to answer simple questions of who was in charge of the emergency operations, who was monitoring the weather in the overnight hours, in the evening as this weather, as this storm was progressing through. And all of those questions still remain unanswered while you have here the state that's preparing and conducting briefing.

The big question now is what was the county and the city doing in those moments, Pam.

BROWN: I know you'll be asking those questions coming up at this press conference.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

All right, Wolf, I want to send it back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Pamela, we'll get back, stay in constant touch with you as well. Stand by.

We're following some other breaking news out of New Mexico this time, where flash flooding has left three people dead, including two children. Watch this.

Monsoon rain triggered record breaking floodwaters in the village of Ari Reste De Soto (ph), causing yesterday enormous damage, look at that home swept away in the raging waters. A mountain river in the Sierra Blanca Mountain Range swelled from under 2 feet to over 20 feet in less than half an hour. Emergency crews carried out 85 water rescues. We will continue, of course, to monitor the situation in New Mexico as well.

Also new this morning, other important news, Russia launching its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war three years ago. According to Ukraine's Air Force, the barrage involved 728 drones and 13 missiles. The assault comes just hours after President Trump expressed his frustrations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a cabinet meeting.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: 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.

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BLITZER: And this week, President Trump vowed to restore U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Joining us now is CNN White House Reporter Alayna Trine and CNN Senior National Security Reporter Zachary Cohen.

Alayna, CNN has obtained audio from a Trump fundraiser last year before returning to office where he talked about Moscow. Alayna, what did he say?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. He was meeting with some of his richest donors in New York when he was still a candidate last year, and he was describing, according to this new audio that we have, essentially this conversation that he had with Russian president Vladimir Putin, where he said essentially that he told him and cautioned him against invading Ukraine and said, if you do so, you know, we are going to bomb Moscow.

I want you to take a listen to exactly what he told them.

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TRUMP: And I said, if you go into Ukraine, I'm going to bomb the (BLEEP) out of Moscow. I'm telling you, I have no choice (INAUDIBLE). So, he goes like, I don't believe you. I said, he said, no way. And I said, way.

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And then he goes like, I don't believe you. But the truth is he believed me 10 percent. I told you this, he believed me 10 percent.

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TREENE: So, you could hear there. I just want to give you some context here, Wolf, is that the president often argued that Putin would have never invaded Ukraine on his watch because of something he had told him privately once, but he never said what that was. Well, now you're hearing exactly that conversation.

And, look, what's important here is that the reality then of what he's argued with Putin, essentially saying that he thinks that Putin thinks he's just crazy enough to move forward with his threats doesn't really match the reality of today. As you played in that cabinet conversation yesterday, I mean, it's clear that the president is now very frustrated with Putin, arguing that he's just not listening to him right now.

BLITZER: Alayna Treene, thanks very much.

Let me go to Zachary too. Zachary, I want to turn to another major development in this story, U.S. military aid to Ukraine. What do we know about why the Trump administration initially paused some important weapons shipments last week?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf. Our Kaitlan Collins asking the president yesterday who ordered that pause and the president saying effectively he didn't know. But we're learning that all you need to do is turn and look at the person that was sitting directly next to him in that cabinet meeting, and that's defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Multiple sources telling me and our colleague, Natasha Bertrand, that Hegseth is the one who, who gave the final sign off to initiate that pause. But the problem here, Wolf, is that Hegseth, according to our sources, did not inform the White House before he authorized the pause of military aid to Ukraine. And that's something that caught people in the White House and several other senior national security officials within the Trump administration off guard.

And that is what has really led to this public reversal by Donald Trump of that decision to pause the military to Ukraine. And also really this -- it doesn't align with this new shift in rhetoric we've heard from the president as it relates to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This really more frustrated and aggressive rhetoric from Donald Trump where he's vowed to continue to give Ukraine the support, it needs to defend itself, this is raising new questions, of course, about Pete Hegseth's future as the secretary of defense.

Of course, this is not the first controversy that he's been involved in. The White House supporting him publicly, but we'll have to wait and see how things play out.

BLITZER: All right. Zachary Cohen reporting for us, thanks very much.

Still ahead, I'll speak to the House minority leader, the top Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, about the new reporting on Defense Secretary Hegseth and how the Democratic Party moves forward after the signing of President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: We're continuing to follow one of our top stories. Multiple sources now telling CNN Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give the White House a heads-up before authorizing a pause on weapon shipments to Ukraine last week. With Hegseth at his side, President Trump said yesterday the U.S. will be resuming those shipments to Ukraine, suggesting he was not responsible for the pause.

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TRUMP: Putin is not -- he's not treating human beings right. He's killing too many people. So, we're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine and I've approved that.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So, who ordered the pause last week?

TRUMP: I don't know. Why don't you tell me.

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BLITZER: I want to discuss that and much more right now with the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, thanks so much for joining us.

What do you think? What does this say about the relationship between President Trump and the defense secretary?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified defense secretary in American history. He undermines the ability of the Department of the Defense to keep the American people safe, and Donald Trump should fire him, or Pete Hegseth should tender his resignation. That's been clear and apparent for months.

And it's shocking to me that this charade continues to go on. Ukraine is an ally. Russia is a sworn enemy of the United States of America. And when you limit Ukraine's ability to be successful in the war of aggression that Russia has launched against a sovereign country, you undermine America's national security interests, and that's highly problematic.

BLITZER: Very strong words. Very strong words, I should just say.

Trump says he is now considering supporting a bill in the Senate that would impose punishing sanctions on Russia. Leader Jefferies, what do you make of the president's change in tone against Russia and Vladimir Putin for that matter? And do you expect that these sanctions, this sanctions bill will ultimately come up for a vote?

JEFFRIES: There's strong bipartisan support for sanctions against Vladimir Putin and Russia, and it's unfortunate that the Trump administration has spent months playing footsy with Vladimir Putin, and some would suggest bending the knee to an enemy of this country.

This war of aggression that Russia has launched against Ukraine is clear. It's not just about territorial integrity. It's a battle between democracy and autocracy between freedom and tyranny, between truth and propaganda. And the United States of America should always stand on the side of democracy and freedom and truth. That means standing on the side of Ukraine until victory is won.

BLITZER: So, you would support these sanctions if, in fact, they're passed?

JEFFRIES: We certainly need to take a look at the specifics of the sanctions.

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But I am a strong supporter of continuing to escalate and intensify the sanctions that have been previously put into place relative to Russia until they back down and, you know, withdraw from Ukraine and create a situation where Ukraine's sovereignty can be restored and the killing of innocent civilians stops, including the killing of Ukrainian children that have been targeted by Russia and Vladimir Putin.

BLITZER: And the Russians are now launching a record number of drones and other missiles against various civilian targets in Ukraine as we speak right now.

I want to turn while I have you, Leader Jeffries, to the president's major policy bill that he signed into law on July 4th. All Congressional Democrats, of course, voted against it. What's your biggest concern right now about the impact this legislation, which is now the law, he signed it into law, will have?

JEFFRIES: Donald Trump's one big, ugly law hurts everyday Americans all across the country and rewards billionaires. It's an unprecedented assault on the healthcare of the American people. Hospitals will close, including in rural America. Nursing homes will shut down. Community-based health clinics will no longer be able to operate. And as a result of so many people losing coverage in different ways, people are going to die all across this country.

This bill also rips food away from the mouths of children. And all of this is being done to reward their billionaire donors. And, by the way, it's also going to set us on a course toward possibly bankrupting the nation by adding trillions of dollars to America's debt, which is already far too high. We are going to tattoo this law on the foreheads of every single House Republican who voted against the best interests of the people that they represent in doing the bidding of supporting this bill and continuing to rubber stamp Donald Trump's extreme agenda.

BLITZER: Your fellow Democrats have signaled they intend to make the Medicaid cuts, and there are enormous Medicaid cuts in this new law, a key issue in next year's midterm elections. But the bill was designed so that those cuts won't actually happen until after the midterm elections.

Given that, Leader Jeffries, will this bill really have as big of an impact on the midterms as some Democrats are saying?

JEFFRIES: Well, this is not about politics. It's about policy. And Republicans have supported a policy which involves the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. And by setting this massive cut into motion, it lays the conditions for the collapse of the Medicaid system in many ways.

So, this is a big challenge. And also, Wolf, it's important to recognize that this bill also will rip coverage away from millions of Americans because of changes that were made to the Affordable Care Act. It also goes after Medicare, possibly a cut that could be set into motion by more than $500 billion. And it also represents an attack on the Children's Health Insurance Program and on Planned Parenthood. So, it's an all out assault on healthcare, and it is going to have real consequences for the American people. And that will be felt in many ways immediately.

BLITZER: Many of your Democratic colleagues are facing angry voters back in their districts. According to Axios, some are even being told they need to be more willing to go out there and get shot when fighting, that was a direct, quote, get shot when fighting back against some of Trump's policies. One house Democrat saying, quote, and I'll read it to you, our own base is telling us that what we are doing is not good enough. There needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public.

How do you respond to that, Leader Jefferies? Are Democrats not meeting -- not doing enough to fight these developments?

JEFFRIES: Well, we are in a more is more environment in terms of the unprecedented assault on the American way of life and our country that has been launched by Donald Trump and compliant House Republicans. More speeches, more rallies, more protests, more sit-ins, more press conferences, more town hall meetings in Democratic districts and Republican districts.

We're in a more is more environment and we'll continue to lean in aggressively. At the same period of time we also are going to span out across the country and talk to the American people about our affirmative vision for making their life better.

Imagine a country where everyone can afford to live the good life, a good paying job, good healthcare, good housing, good education for your children, and a good retirement. That's what Democrats are working hard to bring about.

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When you work hard in America and when you play by the rules, you should be able to afford to live the good life. And far too many people are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. That's unacceptable in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. BLITZER: Leader Jefferies, I also want to talk to you about Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor in New York City. CNN has new reporting that some progressives who empowered Mamdani to victory now want to primary you and other Democrats in New York City. The co- chair of the New York City's Democratic Socialists of America says he thinks you're picking fights, quote, with the left, instead of focusing on fighting the right, his words. Asked whether Mamdani thinks those House incumbent challenges should happen, his press secretary told CNN he was declining to comment, at least for now. How do you respond?

JEFFRIES: I have no idea what these people are talking about. We are going to continue to focus our efforts as we did on the House floor in connection with Donald Trump's one big, ugly bill on pushing back against the extremism that has been unleashed on the American people.

It's clear to us as House Democrats, it's clear to us as members of the New York City delegation that the problem is Donald Trump and House Republicans who have launched this unprecedented assault on the American way of life and assault on healthcare. They're ripping food out of the mouths of children, veterans, and seniors. They're exploding the national debt. They're unleashing masked agents on law- abiding immigrant communities. It shouldn't be too difficult for some people to figure out who the problem is in the United States of America.

BLITZER: The Democratic leader, the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

JEFFRIES: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up, search efforts continuing in central Texas to find more than 170 people still missing following the catastrophic flooding there. Our Pamela Brown is in Kerrville for us. Pamela?

BROWN: Yes, that's right. In fact, coming up, Wolf, I'm going to be speaking to a chaplain as well as a, a disaster trauma specialist who are going to talk to us about how they're comforting families here on the ground dealing with so much devastation.

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