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Now, Trump Meets With NATO Secretary General at White House; Senate's Bipartisan Sanctions Bill Targets Russia's Economy; Kerr County Commissioners Holding First Meeting Since Catastrophic Texas Flooding. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 14, 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 with new dangerous threat for Central Texas, flashflood warning, hampering the search for more than 150 people still missing after the flooding on July 4th, as officials in Kerr County meet for the first time to discuss how to prevent it from happening again.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: An unfathomable tragedy, elderly people were desperately trying to escape a fast moving fire that left nine people dead at an assisted living facility in Massachusetts.

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

We're following the breaking news on two major stories unfolding this hour. Right now in Central Texas, commissioners in Kerr County are holding their first meeting since Flash floods killed more than 130 people, and that includes more than 27 girls and counselors at Camp Mystic. And there are major questions about the emergency response at the local and federal levels.

Over at the White House, President Trump is about to be with the secretary general of NATO. It comes as the president says, the U.S. will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine through allies, and he voices growing frustration with Russia's leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I am very disappointed with President Putin and I thought he was somebody that meant what he said and he'll talk so beautifully and then he'll bomb people at night. We don't like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our reporters are scattered across Washington, chasing down the latest details on this very busy morning. Let's begin with CNN White House Reporter Alayna Treene. Alayna, what do we expect in that meeting that's about to get underway? ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Well, we did just moments ago, Wolf, see the NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, arrive here at the White House ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump. And, look, it comes as we know that the president has been teasing some sort of major announcement as it relates to Russia.

One thing we do know, though, is that he has struck a deal with NATO and NATO allied members to essentially sell weapons to European countries and then have them in turn hand those over to Ukraine. The president has been very consistent in trying to underscore that it's going to be these NATO allied countries that are footing the bill. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But we basically are going to send them various pieces are very sophisticated military, and they're going to pay us 100 percent for them. I haven't agreed on the number yet, but they're going to have some because they do need protection. But the European Union is paying for it. We're not paying anything for it, but we will send it. It'll be business for us, and we will send them Patriots, which they desperately need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Wolf, I think what's important to note here is how big of a shift this has been from what the president had been saying in his posture toward this conflict for several months now, essentially. I mean, look back on the campaign trail, but also his early months here in his second term, he had repeatedly believed that he could find a swift end to this war through negotiations, not only with Ukraine, but, of course, directly with Russia as well.

But we've learned that he's increasingly become frustrated, particularly with President Putin of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and arguing essentially that he doesn't believe he's listening, that he says all these things in their phone calls, but then what he says never ends up actually becoming reality.

And so now we're kind of seeing him adopt a position that actually looks similar to what his predecessor has done, which essentially try to give weapons to Ukraine in their hopes of fighting off this invasion. All to say, standing by to see what exactly the specifics of that announcement he's been teasing will be and what he promises in that meeting with Rutte today.

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene over at the White House, Alayna, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Wolf, also new today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is due to meet with his German counterpart this afternoon and it comes as Germany has agreed to buy two Patriot missile systems from the U.S. to supply to Ukraine.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We have a positive dialogue with President Trump regarding the Patriot systems.

[10:05:01]

My request is for ten Patriot systems and the corresponding volume for these systems. Germany is ready to pay for two systems. I have agreements with them. Norway is ready to pay for one system. We have a bilateral agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, let's go live now to CNN's Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon. Natasha, what is the goal of today's meeting?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well today during the meeting between Hegseth and Pistorius, what's likely to happen is they're probably going to be working out the details of what this transfer, or this purchase, I should say, will actually look like. The U.S. only has a finite number of Patriot systems to provide its allies, and Germany has already provided three of its roughly a dozen Patriot systems that it currently has in its inventory to the Ukrainians.

And so the Germans have been very concerned that if they give any more Patriot systems to Ukraine, then that will leave them kind of exposed. And so they have been wanting to purchase additional systems from the United States, and now it seems like this is likely to happen. And the details are going to be worked out between the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, also likely to weigh in here.

But it's worth noting also that the Germans are probably going to want to get a little bit more detail about the stability of U.S. weapon systems to Ukraine and to Europe, given the 180 that we have seen over the last week-plus or so from the Pentagon, in particular, which actually halted key weapon shipments to Ukraine that included interceptor missiles for those Patriot systems, just last week citing a shortage and a need to do a review of the U.S. stockpiles around the world.

And so it is likely that the Europeans, including the Germans today, are going to want to seek clarity on what exactly happened here and whether they can trust the fact that the United States is going to be sending the systems that it says it is going to be sending. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Natasha Bertrand, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Up on Capitol Hill, Pamela, there's strong bipartisan support for a Senate bill that would slap punishing new sanctions on Russia and its economy that funds the war on Ukraine. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says the sanctions could prove to be what he describes as a, quote, turning point in the war.

BROWN: CNN Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox joins us now. So, Lauren, this bill has strong bipartisan support. What happens next?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Right now, we are waiting to see how quickly and whether or not the White House gets behind this bill because what we have heard from Republican Leader John Thune in the Senate is he is prepared to move this piece of legislation as soon as in the next several weeks before they leave for this August recess. But he's also signaled that he wants Trump to weigh in, that he's supportive of it before they move forward.

This bill has 85 co-sponsors. It is led by Senator Lindsey Graham of the state of South Carolina. And here is why Graham says that this bill would provide the president with maximum flexibility in this moment.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): A turning point regarding Russia invasion of Ukraine is coming.

Dick and I have got 85 co-sponsors in the United States Senate for Congressional sanctions with a sledgehammer available to President Trump to go after Putin's economy and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine.

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FOX: And this legislation would essentially allow Trump to levy a 500 percent tariff against any country that purchases Russian uranium gas, or oil. Again, if this makes it through the United States Senate and it currently has 85 co-sponsors. Then Speaker Mike Johnson said yesterday on Fox News that he does believe there would be wide appetite in the House of Representatives to move forward with it as well. But obviously everyone waiting for that signal from Donald Trump that this is something that he wants Capitol Hill to send to his desk.

BROWN: All right. Lauren Fox, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Also happening now, commissioners in Kerr County, Texas, are meeting for the first time since catastrophic floods, devastated the region back on July 4th. Council members have requested additional security citing what they described as targeted threats as emotions run very high.

Search and rescue operations are back underway for the more than 150 people who are still listed officially as missing just the day after being paused due to the ongoing flood danger in the area.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Julia Vargas Jones, who's in Kerrville, Texas, for us. Julia, what are we expecting to emerge out of this meeting?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the commissioners here have made it very clear that this is a business, meaning they will go over what happened on July 4th. And one of the main questions that we hope will be answered is of that timeline. Between the first issued flood warning at 1:18 all the way up until 4:00 A.M., everything that went down as those considerable flash flooding warnings came out at 1:15, life-threatening flash flooding warnings coming out, why did it take so long to get people and why did so many people here have told us that they weren't aware of the flooding so long after they were already no way of getting out from where they were?

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Another question, Wolf, something that we've heard not just from people here but also from the owner of Camp Mystic, decades in the making is those requests for alert systems to be installed here in the county. Now, multiple requests had gone out from the county, from different state authorities that were denied all the way back to 2018.

And now we're also hearing from some of these local authorities that a vote that had happened last year, one of them telling the Texas Tribune that he would have voted differently had he known how devastating all of this could have been saying, quote, I can tell you in hindsight, watching what it takes to deal with a disaster like this, my vote would probably have been different right now. That's from Texas State's Representative Wes Virdell.

What he's talking about there, Wolf, is just a measure that would've created a council that would establish an emergency response that could have helped this community. Now, we can't really say what could have been done at this time with the catastrophic event of this magnitude, the Guadalupe River rising so quickly, 30 feet in 45 minutes. But what we have heard from people here is that they do want some kind of accountability, that they can't just allow for people to lose their lives in a catastrophic event, knowing that more could have been done to at least help prevent it. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Julia Vargas Jones in Kerrville, Texas, for us, Julia, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, new this morning, an all-hands-on-deck moment in Massachusetts. A fire tore through an assisted living facility killing nine, injuring dozens more and leaving some elderly residents crying for help while hanging out of windows. Listen here to the fire chief describe what happened when first responders arrived on the scene.

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CHIEF JEFFREY BACON, FALL RIVER FIRE DEPARTMENT: So, when you pull up to a building, the first thing you see is the fire. But then you see the multiple people that are asking to be helped and begging to be helped out the windows. So, that's where it complicates the scene. It makes everything more difficult. So, that is something that none of us want to ever pull up to.

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BROWN: And let's go live now to CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who has been closely tracking this story for us. Gloria, just horrible scenes.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And what first responders arrived to last night, Pam, when this, fire first broke out were elderly people trapped inside that facility asking for help, hanging out the window. Many of the residents of this facility, the Great Gabriel House, had mobility difficulties and could not get out on their own. This is something that complicated the rescue efforts, according to the fire chief who spoke there last night.

Now, this is in Fall River, Massachusetts. The capacity of this facility is about for a hundred residential units, but there were 70 people who were housed inside that facility there last night. Sadly, nine of them lost their lives.

The chief talking about the smoke conditions that likely led to many of these people being injured and many of them suffering fatal injuries, not so much the spread of the fire, but the smoke that was spreading throughout the facility.

Now, as these, first responders were arriving, there was also the family members of the people who lived inside this facility trying to get a hold of them. We heard from one family member who talked about what it was like to be on their phone with her family member trying to instruct them about what to do. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was on the floor talking to me and I'm crying, telling him, break the window, try to break it, because he's so weak and he couldn't break it. And I'm like, what are you -- where are you? He's like, I'm in the bathroom. I said, open your bathroom. He says, it is open. But they're not hearing me. They're not hearing me, Melanie (ph). I'm going to die in here. And I'm like, please don't say that. Please don't. Like, you know, try to fight it. Get on the floor, stay low so you're not breathing in the smoke. And he was coughing and choking like he was breathing in all that smoke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: The fact that this was, an assisted living facility with people with medical issues, mobility challenges, it made all of the rescue efforts extremely complicated. It also meant that some of the people simply could just not get out.

This facility has been in operation since 1999. According to local fire officials, the investigation about what led to the fire still very much in the early stages, Pam. We are told by fire officials that they are starting to look into what started this fire late last night.

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BROWN: Gloria Pazmino, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: So, heartbreaking indeed.

Hundreds of detainees within Florida's new migrant detention center reportedly have no, I repeat, no criminal record, this according to new details from the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times. The joint report also notes that over 250 people are listed as having only immigration violations but no criminal convictions.

For the latest developments, let's go live right now to CNN's Rafael Romo, who's joining us from Atlanta. He's watching on all of this unfold. Rafael, this is a major development since President Trump toured the facility. What more can you tell us?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. Hi. Well, when President Donald Trump toured the migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades earlier this month, he said that it would very soon house some of the most menacing migrants, he said, some of the most vicious people on the planet. But a new report published Sunday suggests that may not be the case. Hundreds of immigrants with no criminal charges in the United States are being held at Alligator Alcatraz, according to the investigation by the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times, which obtained records about the migrants being held there.

According to the report, Wolf, there are more than 250 people who are listed as having only immigration violations but no criminal convictions who are being held together with those accused and convicted of crimes. The report says only a third, Wolf, of the detainees have criminal convictions with charges that range from attempted murder to illegal reentry into the United States, as well as traffic violations.

The information comes from a list of more than 700 migrants who are either already being held at the tent facility or are scheduled to be transferred there. Several elected officials and members of Congress had access to the migrant detention center on Saturday for the first time since it opened earlier this month. This is what two of them had to say about the facility.

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REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): They should not put humans in cages in the middle of swampland in the Everglades. It's outrageous. It's inhumane. It's unlawful.

REP. MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): What is the hurricane plan? What is the plan with flooding? We want to see the medical unit. We want to see what the segregation unit looks like. We want to see where the law library is. We want to see all this and make sure that it's up to the standards of what a federal facility is.

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ROMO: And, Wolf, Wasserman Schultz also said that migrants are packed into what she described as cages with 32 people inside each holding unit and only three toilets available. In an interview with NBC on Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem dismissed the claim, saying ICE detention centers are generally better than most county jails or federal prisons across the United States. Just take a listen.

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KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Well, our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons. The standards are extremely high.

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ROMO: And, finally, Wolf after touring of detention center Saturday, Representative Darren Soto, a Democrat, said lawmakers also witnessed evidence of flooding, highlighting serious concerns of what could happen to detainees if there's severe weather during what forecasters say may be a busy hurricane season. Wolf?

BLITZER: Rafael Romo reporting for us, Rafael, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And still ahead right here in The Situation Room, dangerous situation. That's what the National Weather Service is saying with more rain and flooding in store for areas in Texas already reeling from disaster. How much more could be coming?

BLITZER: And a gunman is dead after opening fire on a trooper and killing two women cooking at a nearby church in Kentucky. The latest on the investigations as the police search for a motive.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Right now at the White House, President Trump is meeting with the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte. It comes as the president says the U.S. will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine through NATO allies.

Let's continue this conversation. Joining us now, the former CNN Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty, she's the author of a brand new, truly excellent book entitled, My Russia, What I Saw inside the Kremlin. And also joining us, retired U.S. Army General James Spider Marks, he's a CNN military analyst.

Jill, let me start with you. How significant are these Patriot missile systems for Ukraine right now?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think, Wolf, they're quite significant. I mean, just the mere decision by the president to do this is very important. It hasn't been done by him before, and as we know, you know, for weeks, it has been kind of the reverse message. But right now, he's talking about that.

And I think what's also important is you have a different mechanism for doing this, which essentially puts the Europeans in charge of giving them to Ukraine. It provides a little bit more let's call it predictability because of the vacillation by the Trump administration for a while, and it also is extremely important to Ukraine to protect themselves from these attacks by Russia, which have been absolutely overwhelming in the past few days and week.

BLITZER: General, could these Patriot air defense missile systems basically change the trajectory of this years-long war already?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES SPIDER MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I don't think so. The Patriot is a significant enhancement, as Jill described.

[10:25:01]

And what it does is it protects not only those tactical forces that are engaged along the line of engagement, but it also protects different key locations throughout the country. So, it really provides an overarching defense against the drone attacks and the missile attacks that the Russians have been using, frankly, quite effectively.

What needs to happen in addition to this is there has to be an ability for the Ukrainian forces to reach that much deeper into Russia, to go after the lines of communications, the ammo depots, the unit assembly areas, the headquarters, all of those mechanisms of war that Russia needs in order to sustain its fight. Absent that, this is a defensive measure and it's essential, but it needs to be complimented by an ability to reach deep and really provide some punishment against the Russian forces in that theater of operations.

BLITZER: And very quickly, General, based on my conversations over the years with Israeli officials who have been using these us Patriot air defense missile systems very effectively over the years, they're pretty complicated and it takes a while to train. It will take a while to train these Ukrainian officials to learn how to use it. Is that right?

MARKS: Well, it is true. And, in fact, again, as Jill indicated, we're going to sell these things to our NATO partners. They will then forward deploy them. So, the training that's taken place has taken place over the course of years. This is a system that we have used and have provided to NATO priority this engagement, I mean, this fight. But there will be a lag in terms of how well they're deployed and how quickly they could be deployed. It wouldn't surprise me if there's already been some training of Ukrainian forces in theater someplace in the NATO region, potentially Poland or elsewhere, to up-gun them and get them more quickly prepared for the deployment.

BLITZER: And presumably will save lives because the Russians keep launching missiles and rockets and drones towards populated areas, including the capital of Kyiv.

Jill, the Senate amidst all of this is now considering a bill that would slap major, very punishing new sanctions on Russia and its economy, specifically countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium, other products could face 500 percent, 500 percent tariffs on exports sent to the United States. Tell us how significant this would be.

DOUGHERTY: Well, that is a big deal, if it happens. So, the way this would work, it's not sanctions on Russia, it's sanctions on countries like China, Brazil, India, especially India and China, that buy oil and petroleum products from Russia. So, the sponsors of this bill say, in effect, these countries are paying for the war that Russia is carrying out.

So, what the bill does is it gives the president, President Trump, the ability to impose those sanctions on those countries if they sell oil -- if they buy oil from Russia. However, it is all in his hands so he can decide to do it, or he can decide not to do it. And if he does it, he has the latitude to go all the way up to 500 percent, which is really huge, or less.

So, I think that, you know, the key now is maybe we'll hear today, what does the president intend to do? Is he going to follow through on that bill? And if so, how strongly, what percentage?

BLITZER: It's very significant that Lindsey Graham, the Republican, is working closely with Senator Blumenthal, a Democrat, on this legislation.

Lindsey Graham says those tariffs potentially could mark a turning point in Russia's war and choke off what he describes as the Putin war machine. What do you think, General?

MARKS: Well, you'd hope so. Look, Putin enjoys where he is right now. He's an aggrieved leader. He's a nation at war. He is the president, he's the leader of a nation at war. He's exactly where he wants to be. So, the incentive immediately that Putin has to stop what he's doing goes beyond Patriot missile systems. It goes beyond even the punishment that can be applied if it is increased over the course of the next few months.

The real issue is how long can he sustain this war economy? Is it 12 months? Is it 18 months? And at some point, that rushes upon him and he realizes this is a fool's errand to keep doing what he's doing. But right now, he's got every incentive to keep doing what he's doing.

BLITZER: Are there serious concerns, General, about potentially depleting the U.S. arsenal of Patriot air defense missiles systems by deploying, by sending some to NATO allies who would then in turn forward them to Ukraine?

MARKS: Yes, great question. Clearly, there is an issue in terms of our inventory of the various capabilities that we have that have been used not only in what we've been doing in the Mideast, but certainly in Ukraine as well.

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