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The Situation Room

American Idol Music Supervisor Killed in Home; Suspect Arrested in Robin Kaye's Killing; NPR and PBS Stations Could Soon Lose Federal Funding; Rise in Measles Cases. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 16, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- dead in her Los Angeles home. Now, a suspect is in custody. The latest on the investigation, straight ahead.

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BLITZER: This morning, new details in t truly shocking double homicide that's rocked the community behind one of America's most popular TV shows. Longtime "American Idol" music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband Thomas Deluca both found dead in their home this week from apparent gunshot wounds. And now, police say they have a suspected custody in connection with those killings.

Let's go live right now to CNN Security Correspondent Josh Campbell, who's in Los Angeles for all of us. Josh what more are you learning?

[10:35:00]

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's such a tragedy here. Obviously, as you mentioned, Kaye and Deluca both found dead. This happened Monday when police discovered their bodies at their Encino home here in L.A.

We got a statement in from the "American Idol" team, and they tell us that we are devastated to hear of Robin and her husband Tom's passing. Robin has been a cornerstone of the Idol family since 2009 and was truly loved and respected by all who came in contact with her.

Now, police said that they went to the home after a friend requested a welfare check after not hearing from the couple for several days. Police broke a window to make entry. Here's what authority said they found.

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LT. GUY GOLAN, LOS ANGELES POLICE: The suspect had managed to scale over one of the fences, gain access to the residence. When the homeowners returned back to their residence, a violent struggle ensued between them and the suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMPBELL: And the couple was shot and killed. As the authorities conducted their investigation, they identified who they believed as a suspect, 22-year-old Raymond Boodarian. They said that was based on the surveillance video from the home, as well as forensics. We're working to determine if he has a public defender.

It's worth pointing out that authorities were called to the home days ago, on Thursday, after someone had reported seeing someone jump of fence at the home. Police said that they went. They couldn't make entry because of the fortified nature. They flew a helicopter overhead, didn't see anything unusual. So, it's possible, Wolf, that the couple had been dead for days before being discovered.

BROWN: All right. Josh Campbell reporting for us. Josh, thank you very, very much. Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And just a head wolf at PBS and NPR stations could soon lose the federal funding that's helped keep them on the air for decades. We're going to speak to the head of NPR up next.

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[10:40:00]

BLITZER: Right now, NPR faces a fight for survival. This week, the Senate votes on funding cuts that would deny millions of dollars to the public broadcaster as well as PBS. The White House argues that NPR and PBS journalists are too biased and too woke. One Republican senator says, even if that's true, it's not a reason to tear them down.

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SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): When it comes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting my colleagues know I've been a strong supporter. I will continue to be a strong supporter. Where if you don't like what's going on within NPR, you think that there's too much bias there, we can address that. We can address that, but you don't need to gut the entire corporation for public broadcasting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Katherine Maher joins us live in the Situation Room. She is the CEO of NPR. Katherine, thank you so much for coming on. So, as we know, NPR stations across the country have been lobbying lawmakers. Do you see any signs of those efforts working?

KATHERINE MAHER, CEO, NPR: I think that the fact that we are having this conversation right now and the fact that the vice president had to come down to the floor of the Senate last night to break two ties to move this bill forward to debate today is an indication that people are listening. Absolutely.

This bill threatens the coverage of public media coverage for 13 million Americans, and we have heard from folks from Alaska to Nebraska, Alabama to Maine about how concerned they are about what might be become.

BLITZER: As you know, 50 Republican senators voted with the vice president, and he's the vice president, the president of the Senate, so he can break a tie, voted to advance the bill, the final bill, as we've been noting, takes place later today. Are there any specific senators you're focusing on just ahead of that vote?

MAHER: Well, in fairness, we are talking to any senators that will listen, of course. Because we have stations in every state in the country, 246 member stations, as well as hundreds of music stations and public television stations as well.

But I think that the place where we're seeing the most traction is senators who represent communities where there are large rural communities, large tribal communities in particular in places like Alaska, where there just isn't a lot of other options. Broadband service is not universal, and heck, even cell phone service is not universal. There's a real understanding of the need there as well as for emergency alerting in which public media plays an extraordinarily important role.

BROWN: What do you say to Republicans who argue the funding is a waste of taxpayer dollars and consider your outlet to be a biased propaganda machine?

MAHER: Well, I would take those two things apart. Number one, 70 percent of all funding goes directly to local stations. NPR receives 1 to 2 percent of national funding on an annual basis. We're talking $3 million, $5 million. It's not much. I think, unfortunately, this is cutting off their constituents noses despite NPR's face. It doesn't help anyone to take this funding away.

As far as the accusations that were biased, I would stand up and say, please show me a story that concerns you because we want to know and we want to bring that conversation back to our newsroom. We believe that as a public broadcaster, we do have an obligation to serve all Americans, and we need to make sure that our coverage reflects the interest and perspective, and we hear from Americans across the political spectrum. That's important to us and we want to make sure we live up to that.

BLITZER: Katherine, explain to us what happens to the local stations all around the country if these cuts pass.

MAHER: I mean, I think that we could see as many as 80 stations shutter. We saw a report from Senator Cantwell's office on the Commerce Committee that indicated that those are the numbers that they are looking at. These are stations that received more than 50 percent of their funding from the federal government. Again, tribal stations, rural stations primarily.

[10:45:00]

Beyond that, you'd see the stations would probably start by letting go of local journalists. We already know that there's a crisis in local news in this country. 20 percent of Americans live in a place without local news other than public media. And then, I think the next thing to go would be universal coverage.

Right now, public broadcasting covers 99.7 percent of the country, places that commercial broadcasters just won't go or can't go because it's too expensive to maintain that infrastructure. You'd start to see that coverage degrade as well, and you'd be punching holes in a national infrastructure map that has served this nation for more than half a century.

BLITZER: What about the stations in the bigger cities like Washington or Chicago and New York?

MAHER: Well, it's important to support those stations too. They are independent local journalism. And at a time where we have excellent national journalism coverage, we know that. We're sitting here on one of those broadcast networks. We have excellent national newspapers. But we don't necessarily have really strong local coverage. I know this as a resident of the city of Washington, D.C. It's hard to find the person that is covering my transit map changes.

Stations like WAMU here in D.C. they do that kind of work. New York, it's the same. You see that across cities in the nation, especially mid-size cities like Kansas City, Tallahassee. These are stations that fill a critical gap that don't otherwise exist.

BLITZER: Yes, I love NPR. Before I joined CNN, I was a regular guest on some of the NPR shows.

MAHER: I'd love to hear that. Absolutely.

BLITZER: It's a subject close to my heart.

MAHER: Thank you.

BLITZER: And thank you very much for joining us.

MAHER: Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you so much. And coming up, measles cases are on the rise while vaccination rates continue to fall. We're going to speak to a medical expert about the decline in immunizations. Did I say that right? Right after this break.

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[10:50:00]

BROWN: As childhood vaccine rates are on the decline, the CDC has tallied the highest number of measles cases in a year since the disease was declared eliminated. And we're only halfway through 2025. Last week, the CDC reported 1,288 cases. The previous record was in 2019 when there was a total of 1,274 cases.

So, here to help us make sense of this is former Baltimore Health Commissioner and emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen. And, Dr. Wen, I want to talk about measles and the lack of vaccinations there, but also the big picture because you wrote an article about the trends when it comes to more and more people being unvaccinated. Tell us about this.

DR. LEANA WEN, WASHINGTON POST CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST, FORMER BALTIMORE HEALTH COMMISSIONER AND EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN: Well, this is a significant issue. We know for measles, for example, that it's one of the most contagious diseases in the world and that you need about 95 percent population immunity in order to stop outbreaks. We were at over 95 percent pre-pandemic. But unfortunately, the numbers have fallen.

According to the latest CDC numbers, the percentage of kindergartners who've obtained both doses of the measles moms and rubella, MMR vaccine, has now dropped to 93 percent nationwide. And there are 14 states where that number is less than 90 percent. And of course, they are pockets of the country where the vaccination rate is substantially lower than even that. For example, in parts of Texas, the vaccination rates are 80 percent, 82 percent, and that's what's triggering these outbreaks of measles.

And it's not only measles. It's often said that measles is the canary in the coal mine. That when you see cases of measles starting, you could also then see other infectious diseases returning. And I think it's just a real tragedy that diseases that we thought were eliminated, that we as parents and clinicians thought we would never have to see again, are now back.

BROWN: And so, tell us more about how this could impact even vaccinated people. I know you talked about that in your article.

DR. WEN: Right. And so, we -- there are people who say, well, measles is not that big of a deal. And it is true that the majority of people who contract measles will have viral symptoms and they'll recover fully. However, we have to keep in mind that the rate of complications is significant, that vaccination, first of all, is very effective, 97 percent protective against measles infection and also reduces the chance of severe illness if you are vaccinated, but you could still have a chance of breakthrough infection.

And individuals who contract measles, one in five end up hospitalized, one in 20 end up with pneumonia. One in a thousand could get severe brain swelling leading to permanent damage to their brain. A nervous system, one to three in a thousand children could die. And this is a very serious disease.

And the other thing to mention is in recent years we have gotten to know that there's a phenomenon called immune amnesia, where essentially, we know now that measles can reset the immune system so that individuals who thought that they previously had protection against certain diseases through vaccination or prior infection may lose the immunity against those other diseases as a result of contracting measles.

And so, this poses a real problem for older individuals and people who have chronic medical conditions who have to worry about not just measles but other diseases if they contract measles. BROWN: Yes. Like how could declining vaccine rates potentially bring back other diseases that we've eliminated here in the U.S.?

DR. WEN: I think that the vaccine skepticism around MMR vaccine or if people are saying, well, measles is not a big deal, they're wrong, but also the same kind of vaccine skepticism will then bleed into skepticism around other vaccines too. And this is something that all of us can help to combat.

I would highly recommend that people go to the American Academy of Pediatrics website. There are conversation guides that clinicians use with their patients that perhaps can also help individuals speak to their family members or their neighbors or their loved ones. The parents of other children in their schools who may have questions. It's important to respond with compassion. And also state the facts. And of course, there's a lot to do on the policy levels too, to make sure that it's not just a matter of skepticism, but also about access that we have to continue providing coverage for these vaccines so that ability to pay doesn't become the limiting factor that allows people to get vaccinated.

[10:55:00]

BROWN: All right. Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much. Important information there. We appreciate it.

BLITZER: She's a great doctor. I love listening to her.

BROWN: She is.

BLITZER: She knows her stuff.

BROWN: She absolutely is.

BLITZER: All right. Any moment now, President Trump will be meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain over at the White House. We're going to bring that to you live. When it happens.

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BROWN: Happening now --

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