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The Situation Room

Massive Flooding Becoming More Frequent?; Weapons For Ukraine; Supreme Court Set to Gut Voting Rights Act?. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 11, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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[11:32:49]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: This morning, a crucial part of the landmark civil rights law that prohibits practices that deny racial minorities an equal right to vote is at the risk of being gutted if one U.S. Supreme Court justice has his way.

I want to bring in our chief Supreme Court analyst, Joan Biskupic. Joan, what more can you tell us?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: I can tell you that Clarence Thomas, who once looked like an outlier on this issue and who once was considered by his colleagues back in the '90s to have a radical point of view, has a point of view that's gaining traction.

And the justices have signaled that they might be seriously looking to limit the Voting Rights Act in a way that Clarence Thomas has wanted. Remember, the provision that we're talking about is one that, after it's been found that congressional districts were drawn in a discriminatory manner, that a majority-black or another-majority Hispanic district has to be added to make sure that the votes of minorities are not diluted in some way that they can have -- do not have an equal chance to elect a candidate of their choice.

And here's what Clarence Thomas said back in 1994 in an opinion that his colleagues then called radical: "The statute was originally perceived as a remedial provision directly -- directed specifically at eradicating discriminatory practices that restricted blacks' ability to register and vote in the segregated South. We have converted the act into a device for regulating, rationing, and apportioning political power among racial and ethnic groups."

The remedy when there are voting districts that are discriminatory is to look at voters' race to try to put them together in a way that would enhance their power. He has never liked it. And Chief Justice John Roberts, who's been a critic of the Voting Rights Act, has nonetheless at other times said, but we have to take account of race to -- for this remedial view.

The justices have signaled in this important Louisiana case that they're going to hear early in the fall that they are looking to broaden -- to, as I say, contract what was once viewed as a very broad statute.

BLITZER: Interesting. Could be very significant indeed.

I want to ask you about another member of the Supreme Court...

BISKUPIC: Sure. Right.

BLITZER: ... Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

BISKUPIC: Yes.

BLITZER: She's expressing concern about the state of American democracy right now.

[11:35:03]

What is she saying?

BISKUPIC: It's so interesting, because she has said what keeps her up at night is exactly that, the state of American democracy.

She's been saying that in speeches when she goes around, but she's also been writing it in a sense. And what she's been saying, Wolf, just really having her voice heard, is that right now there's an existential threat to the law. She's pointing her finger at the Trump administration and what it's doing.

And she's speaking out in a way now reminiscent a bit of what Clarence Thomas was doing back in the '90s alone. But she is in the minority now on this court, and she's decided not to stay quiet, not to kind of fall back behind dissents written by fellow liberals who are more senior. Instead, she's taking her point of view about the threat to American democracy on the road when she speaks and also very loudly in opinions, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very interesting indeed, and very significant...

BISKUPIC: Yes.

BLITZER: ... move for her.

All right, thanks very much, Joan Biskupic, with excellent analysis, as usual.

BISKUPIC: Thanks.

BLITZER: Just ahead, President Trump announcing a deal with NATO to send American-made weapons to Ukraine as Russia continues its deadly attacks.

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[11:40:29]

BLITZER: New this morning, no letup from Russia as it assaults Ukraine. At least 10 people have been killed in the latest bombardment. A maternity hospital in Kharkiv has been evacuated after it was damaged in an overnight Russian strike. No injuries have been reported to any women or children.

Meanwhile, President Trump says he secured a new deal with NATO to send additional Patriot air defense missile systems to Ukraine. And U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg confirms to CNN that he will travel to Ukraine next week to meet with President Zelenskyy. And he will continue -- and I'm quoting him now -- an important dialogue between the two countries.

My next guest, the president of the Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer.

Ian, thanks so much for joining us.

What is the significance of this new deal, sending additional U.S. military aid and weapons to Ukraine through NATO?

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: It's the most significant turnabout we have seen from President Trump on any foreign policy issue since his inauguration, not only in terms of a complete lack of trust for Putin, who he thought he was going to do a deal with, but also a willingness to engage with the Ukrainians, who he said didn't have the cards, and a willingness to treat Europeans as partners who, back in February, the Trump administration said were principal adversaries.

So every piece of this war, Trump has really changed his tune.

BLITZER: How much will these Patriot air defense missile systems actually wind up changing the dynamic of this war?

BREMMER: Well, less than you would think, in part because the Ukrainians have done a lot more with their own drone systems as part of air defense. So they are taking some of that in-house with their own technological capabilities.

And, secondly, the big way that the Russians are making progress against Ukraine in the war is on the ground, grinding out kilometer after kilometer. They are continuing to take land, even though that's not making the headlines. They just took a small village in Dnipropetrovsk, a part of Ukraine that they hadn't been able to take territory over the past year, just in the last week.

That has nothing to do with the Patriot systems. And that's where Ukrainian lack of reservists and population is just ultimately playing a big part in how hard it is for Ukraine to defend themselves.

BLITZER: And, as you know, Ian, there's been a dramatic tone shift from President Trump towards President Putin in recent days. President Trump has even signaled an openness to punishing new -- to put forward punishing new sanctions on Russia. How significant do you think this is?

BREMMER: The last two phone calls that Trump has had with Putin directly have been described to me as cold. Trump has spoken from his talking points, but hasn't gone off-piste at all, radically different from the way that Trump was engaging with Putin in the first few months.

Some of this was Trump just losing interest, getting bored, because it wasn't moving quickly. But some of it is Trump being embarrassed by Putin, who he was prepared to really engage with over the heads of the Europeans. He was willing to take sanctions off of Russia.

And all he wanted was for that respect, that engagement to lead to a cease-fire with no preconditions, the same cease-fire with no preconditions that the Ukrainians were prepared to give him. And Putin gave Trump absolutely nothing. And, obviously, Trump is never going to say that he got it wrong, that it's his fault.

So he's blaming others, including his advisers. But, principally, he's blaming Putin. And I think it's going to be hard to walk back from that.

BLITZER: I think you're right.

Where do you ultimately see all this conflict going?

BREMMER: Putin still thinks that, ultimately, he's got a lot more staying power than Trump. There are no term limits on Putin. It's not a democracy. He's also a lot younger than Trump. And he's prepared to continue to fight this war.

He thinks that the Europeans will fragment, and he thinks that the Americans are going to lose interest. That felt like a reasonably good bet back at the Munich Security Conference in February. It feels like a much worse bet right now.

Look, Putin still has a lot of support from China and Putin does have the rest of the world kind of indifferent to the fact that he's a war criminal. But the Americans and Europeans are only getting stronger. And Trump -- back in The Hague a few weeks ago at this NATO summit, Trump was taking a victory lap.

[11:45:05]

You have got the Europeans now prepared to move their target of defense spending to 5 percent, 3.5 percent of that directly on defense. That never would have happened without Trump pushing really hard and without Putin invading Ukraine in the worst of possible ways. And so I think Putin's made some really big strategic mistakes here.

BLITZER: He is getting a lot of support from North Korea, as we know, as well.

BREMMER: Yes.

BLITZER: Ian, let me ask you about the Middle East right now.

There was some speculation we could see a 60-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas by the end of this week. What needs to happen for there to be lasting peace and the return of all the hostages?

BREMMER: Well, that peace -- that 60-day would have led to 10 of the hostages that are still alive returned. And there is agreement on that. There's not yet agreement with Hamas on the disposition of Israeli forces longer term.

The Trump administration is blaming Hamas for that. They're not blaming the Israeli prime minister for not getting to this 60-day cease-fire. And, on balance, it's not imminent, it's not within hours, but they're feeling reasonably optimistic that they will eventually get there.

But a longer-term peace that allows the Palestinians to have governance over their own population and territory, that requires a new government in Israel. And the question is, with Netanyahu having succeeded in Iran and his Likud Party now polling far better than any time since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, he could declare an early election.

He could say, we're not going to fight in Gaza anymore. The war is over. We're going to end the occupation. That would lead to the far right jettisoning Netanyahu, but he might be able to win an election with the center, governing with the center.

Now, if that happens, you could have peace in Gaza. If that happens, you could have the Saudis joining the Abraham Accords. If that happens, frankly, Trump would deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. But none of those things are on the table right now. That's not what the prime minister of Israel was discussing in his meetings with Trump this past week.

BLITZER: Ian Bremmer, thanks so much for joining us.

BREMMER: Always good to see you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we will be right back.

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[11:51:24]

BLITZER: Time now for a SITUATION ROOM special report.

President Trump is set to arrive in Texas soon to see the flood devastation for himself. Texas is not alone in seeing deadly record- breaking weather events.

CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, takes a closer look at these extreme weather events and why floods seem to be more intense and more frequent.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: We're just upriver from Camp Mystic, and you don't have to look far to see the heartbreaking symbolism of the violence of this storm and what it took from people's lives.

Here we have probably laid out by search teams a photo album where the images have all been washed away by the floodwaters next to a child's chair. And then framing it above, look at the canoe bent around that tree, a good 30, 40 feet in the air.

The hydrology in these canyons, of course, have been dangerous for decades. We've known that. This is a Flash Flood Alley. Grandma and grandpas in Hill Country have been talking about the big ones through the decades. There was a deadly one that took campers lives back in '87.

But the planet is so much warmer now, and we're seeing in real time that these rain bomb events and the ensuing deadly flash floods are becoming even more violent. Just Google last month, June, flash floods around the world. You can see them just about on every continent.

And so the water line, the life-and-death line in valleys like this is changing. And the future health, wealth and happiness of these people depends on knowing where that line is. And, for example, here, if you look at Camp Mystic, about eight of their structures were inside FEMA's most dangerous floodplain there.

But if you use a map used by the First Street Foundation, that number jumps to 17 buildings, because FEMA does not account for flash flooding in their flood risk models. Isn't that crazy? It doesn't account for rain bombs and these kinds of events, only focuses on coastal flooding and big river systems.

So, First Street Foundation does take into account these modern phenomenon. And, as a result, it doubles the number of Americans who are at risk of these kinds of flooding events, and not just in Hill Country of Texas or the Southwest deserts, but cities like New York, where a big chunk of folks live in flood zones unwittingly, people in basements most vulnerable, because the dynamics there are the same as a canyon or arroyo.

It's that water rushing on hard surfaces faster than you can run, and bringing such destruction in its path.

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BLITZER: And CNN's Bill Weir is joining us now from Hunt, Texas.

Bill, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for that report.

WEIR: You bet.

BLITZER: Let me ask you about something that the Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene recently shared.

She said this -- and I'm quoting -- "I am introducing a bill that prohibits the injection, release or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate or sunlight intensity. It will be a felony offense. I have been researching weather modification and working with the legislative counsel for months writing this bill."

And she added -- and I'm quoting now -- "No person, company, entity or government should ever be allowed to modify our weather by any means possible."

Walk us through what she's referring to, Bill. Is this something we actually need to worry about?

WEIR: Well, there's a couple of things that are being confused in the conspiracy theory.

[11:55:01]

Cloud seeding took off as a conspiracy theory here in Texas, the idea that this flash flood was created by man somehow. Cloud seeding has been around for decades. It's very debatable as to whether it even works. But it's just spraying silver iodide into already existing clouds to kind of squeeze more moisture. It can't cause flooding. It can't create storms.

Global radiation management, this is what she's talking about, solar radiation management, is a theory based on volcanic activity. Now, Mount Pinatubo back in the Philippines, in the '90s, after it erupted, the natural ash that came out shaded the Earth enough to cool off the planet by a degree for about a year or so.

There's a theory that we could duplicate that with very high-flying aircraft spraying either sulfur or even diamond dust in order to lower the temperature on Earth. But there's maybe six planes in the world that could fly that high. Nobody is doing this right now. It's been outlawed in places like Mexico because it seems like a scary thing.

But, remember, Marjorie Taylor Greene also blamed Western wildfires on Jewish space lasers a few years ago. So consider the source, Wolf.

BLITZER: We will consider that source. All right, thanks very much, Bill Weir.

To our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

"INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" is coming up next, right after a short break.