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Former Officer to Be Sentenced for Breonna Taylor Raid; This Morning, Harvard V. Trump Over $2 Billion Federal Funding Freeze; Russia Pummels Ukraine With Deadly Wave of Missiles. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 21, 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, sentencing day. The Justice Department wants the former Louisville police officer involved in a botch raid that left Breonna Taylor dead to serve one day in jail. How her family is reacting.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, breaking overnight, Russia launches cruise ballistic and hypersonic missiles at Ukraine in a new round of blistering attacks.

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.

Happening now, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, providing an update on an off-duty border patrol agent who was shot during an apparent botched armed robbery over the weekend in New York City. The officer who was wearing plain clothes was approached by two men on a moped in a park when he realized he was being robbed. Police say he drew his service weapon. The officer exchanged fire with a suspect who was injured before he and the moped driver took off.

The 42-year-old officer is in stable condition and is expected to survive. Police say there's no evidence that he was targeted because of his employment.

The 21-year-old suspect was taken into custody after arriving in a Bronx Hospital with gunshot wounds. Police say he is an undocumented immigrant with an extensive criminal past. The secretary calling out the policies of the city and the leadership of Mayor Adams. Listen.

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KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Make no mistake, this officer is in the hospital today fighting for his life because of the policies of the mayor of this city.

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BLITZER: The secretary is still speaking at this news conference. We're going to continue to monitor that and update you as the news unfolds. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. And, Wolf, happening today, the former Louisville officer found guilty of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights and a botched police raid will be sentenced. Officers shot and killed Taylor inside her home back in 2020. And last week the Justice Department recommended that Brett Hankison be imprisoned for just one day.

CNN National Correspondent Jason Carroll is following this course. Jason, what more are you learning about today's sentencing?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, first things first. You know, I remember speaking to Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor's mother, shortly after her daughter's death. And the one thing that she had said that she wanted to see as a result of all of this is accountability. And now that is very much in question.

The legal team representing Breonna Taylor's family releasing a statement calling the recommendation by the Department of Justice, quote, an insult to the life of Breonna Taylor, and a blatant betrayal of the jury's decision.

Now, you'll remember a federal grand jury had found Brett Hankison guilty of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights. Hankison had fired ten shots into Taylor's apartment back on that botched police raid of her apartment back in March of 2020. Since Hankison actually fired 10 shots into Taylor's apartment, some of the bullets actually going into a neighbor's apartment. But as the Department of Justice points out, none of the bullets from Hankison's gun actually struck Taylor and he was not charged with her death. Again, he was found guilty of violating her civil rights.

The Department of Justice, again, recommending just one day time served, also recommending three years of supervised release. In response to that, we have a statement from the attorney representing Breonna Taylor's family saying, quote, this is a dangerous precedent. When a police officer is found guilty of violating someone's constitutional rights, there must be real accountability and justice. Recommending, just one day in prison sends the unmistakable message that white officers can violate the civil rights of black Americans with near total impunity.

Now, Hankison faces a maximum of life in sentence in prison for violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights. The federal judge overseeing this, Rebecca Grady Jennings, will be issuing her decision sometime later this afternoon. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Jason Carroll, thanks so much.

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Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Pamela. This morning, the Trump administration faces off in court with the nation's oldest university. Lawyers for Harvard University argue that the White House is breaking the law by freezing $2.4 billion in contracts and grants to the university. Harvard says the freeze is affecting more than 950 research projects and wants the money restored.

The Trump White House claims it froze the funds because Harvard failed to confront anti-Semitism on campus.

Let's go to CNN's Gloria Pazmino right now. Gloria, how important is this morning's hearing?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a pivotal moment in this fight between the Trump administration and not just Harvard but also higher education institutions all around the country. That hearing is now underway. My colleague is in the room waiting to hear from Harvard's attorneys and attorneys for the Department of Justice.

Harvard is going into this arguing that the freezing of the funds by the Trump administration was unconstitutional. Here's what they argue, that Harvard violated excuse me -- that the government violated Administrative Procedure Act in funding -- in removing the funding. They also say that there's actually no connection between anti- Semitism and stopping federal medical and scientific research. They also say that the freeze of funds amounts to a violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights as well as their academic freedom school.

If you might remember, that the president signed an executive order shortly after he took office in January increasing enforcement and saying that campuses that were not addressing anti-Semitism would face these kinds of potential cuts.

Now, Harvard is one of a few universities that actually responded very forcefully filing this lawsuit last April. Now, they've also asked the judge in this case to make a decision quickly, specifically by September. That is when Harvard will have to submit its paperwork, closing out grant funding. So, they need to know if they're going to get the money or not. On the balance, more than 900 medical and research scientific projects, and, overall, more than $2 billion. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Gloria Pazmino reporting, we will stay on top of this story as well. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. And new this morning. Russia is launching another wave of intense strikes across Ukraine.

At least two people were killed in the capital, Kyiv, as Russian drones and missiles hit. That's according to Ukrainian authorities. Even a subway station where people were taking shelter was hit in these attacks. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Let's go to our senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen. Fred, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called for talks with Russia this week and President Trump has threatened Russia if it doesn't agree to a ceasefire, but it doesn't seem as if any of this is having an impact on Vladimir Putin. He keeps launching rockets and missiles and drones at various civilian targets inside Ukraine despite all the threats from Washington.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And the aerial blitz certainly seems to be continuing at full pace. So, Wolf, what we've heard overnight is that more than 400 drones and missiles were launched by the Russians, most of them drones. It really seems as though the Russians are drastically increasing, expanding their drone campaign against Ukrainian cities.

First and foremost, of course, the capital, Kyiv, you guys were just showing some of the pictures that we saw from last night, and that almost belies the situation that actually happened there on the ground. Folks that we've been speaking to saying that the air raid sirens were on for about eight hours overnight, and they could hear those drones buzzing over the Ukrainian capital, some of them obviously landing in residential buildings as well. There was one of our producers who was on the scene at one of those buildings where a person said that a drone had hit an apartment near him. And he was only able to get out of his own house by breaking down the door after that had happened. So, certainly, that aerial blitz very much continuing.

The Ukrainians also saying that ballistic missiles were used in even hypersonic aerial ballistic missiles called Kinzhal, used by the Russians as well. At the same time, you're absolutely right. The Ukrainians calling for another round of talks saying they should happen as fast as possible. The Kremlin, Wolf, came out earlier today, this in the form of the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, saying that Vladimir Putin wants, talks with the Ukrainians, wants an agreement with the Ukrainians, but at the same time says that the positions of the two sides are so far apart, that, right now, they are, as he put it, diametrically opposed.

At this point in time, it's absolutely unclear when the two sides are going to get together to speak again. As you've noted, Wolf, very much, President Trump appears to be losing his patience with Vladimir Putin as the war, and, of course, that aerial campaign by the Russians drag on. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Fred Pleitgen reporting for us, Fred, thank you very, very much.

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Pamela?

BROWN: All right. And as President Trump reaches the six-month mark of a second term, he's facing rare backlash from some of his MAGA supporters. They're demanding that the White House deliver on its campaign promise to release details of the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein.

So, let's go to CNN White House Reporter Aylayna Treene. Alayna, how much attention is the Trump administration giving to this controversy about the Epstein files?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, they're getting a lot more attention to it, Pamela and Wolf, than they would like to be despite the president's, you know, big efforts to try and bury this. We're continuing to see not only Democrats who are really trying to keep the attention on the Epstein case and specifically the Trump administration's handling of it by trying to force votes on releasing all of the files in this case.

But we're seeing a lot of Republicans say that too. Just yesterday we heard from Republican Congressman Tim Burchett, who was on some of the Sunday shows saying that he thinks what Trump did on Friday, which was essentially ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to unseal the grand jury transcripts and testimony from the case. He said that's a good start, but he still wants to push for more of these files to be released.

And that's exactly what I'm hearing as well, Pamela and Wolf, in my conversations with someone Trump's fiercest supporters, people like Steve Bannon, for example, who told me that he agreed it's a good start where Trump is going on this. He likes his changing rhetoric on this, but he believes that more needs to be done.

And as you pointed out, we have now hit the six-month of this term. We saw the White House yesterday trying to outline a series of the president's accomplishments. But the focus is still very much on this. And it's not just, you know, Democrats who are kind of in an uproar about this. It's people in the president's own party, and it doesn't show signs of going away despite the president trying to kill it. Pamela and Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene reporting for us for the White House, Alayna, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, new this morning, more soaring prices at the grocery store, but it's not eggs draining your wallet this summer. The Department of Agriculture says the cost of beef is hitting record highs across the country.

Let's go to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. Vanessa, break down these numbers for us.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The last time that Americans may have noticed sticker shock at the grocery store was when eggs were at record prices. Since then, they have come down because the avian flu, which was killing millions of birds, has been contained and supply is now back up.

But it's a different story for beef. Just look at prices since January up 9 percent and beef is retailing at the grocery store for on average $9.26 a pound. And that is a dramatic increase since the beginning of the year. The Tyson CEO, the biggest producer and processor of meat here in the United States, says that beef is experiencing the most challenging market conditions that the company has ever seen.

Now, there are several reasons why beef prices are rising, and it's really been decades in the making. You can see there on your screen there are smaller cattle herds. There's been years-long drought in several states that are big ranching states for producers of cattle, and then shifting consumer preferences.

Now, 8 percent of all beef consumed here in the United States is now imported from places like Australia and Argentina. Also because there has been drought, there's less grass, free grass for cattle to eat. So, you're seeing higher feed costs for ranchers. And then, ultimately, sustained demand from consumers. There's that demand is still there for beef.

Pamela, the one way that we could see falling prices in beef is if consumers start to pull back, and they usually do that when economic conditions worsen. They usually trade down in protein, so going from beef to chicken. We haven't seen that yet, but that is something that economists are looking for in terms of when we could see falling prices for beef. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Vanessa, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, disturbing new video shows the chaotic moments after a man drove through a crowd just outside of Los Angeles nightclub. Police say he did it intentionally.

BROWN: And next, in the wake of extreme and deadly flooding, I'll speak with Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell on her push to invest in weather forecasting.

You are in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: In Texas, Kerr County, officials there have revised the number of people missing after that catastrophic flooding to just three. That's down from 97 from days ago and from the initial count of 161. And officials say many people who had been reported missing have now been verified as safe.

The historic flooding killed at least 135 people, including 37 children. Most of the victims were in Kerr County. Search and rescue efforts across the region are expected to continue for months.

BLITZER: Really an awful situation. The devastation in Texas is part of a suburb season marked by historic flooding across the country. In just the past few weeks, we've seen an unprecedented series of flashfloods stretching from New Mexico to New York City, including right here in the Washington, D.C., area as well. And scientists say it's no accident, they're happening more frequently.

BROWN: All right. So, let's go to Meteorologist Derek Van Dam to try to understand what's driving these extreme weather events. Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Pam, Wolf. It should come a very little surprise with these record number of flashflood events have occurred recently in our warming world. There is a lot of well- known scientific evidence, textbook examples, really, that you can see in your everyday life. Warmer air holds more water vapor, just like your bathroom gets steamier after you take a hot bath versus a cold bath.

[10:20:04] Well, when the atmosphere increases its temperature, it has the ability to hold more water vapor. More water vapor allows for more extreme and more frequent heavy rain events. In fact, it's known that 1 degree Fahrenheit increase in our atmosphere actually produces about 4 percent more water vapor in the atmosphere.

And the particular weather conditions that have set this up lately over the month of July have really produced these heavy rain events, particularly over the eastern two thirds of the country. This is the rainfall accumulation since the beginning of the month, and you could see some of the hot spots, the Texas Hill Country, Chicago, the Mid- Atlantic, portions of Florida, these are all the July flashflood events that we monitored, the 1 in 1,000-year flood event in Chicago that turned the city streets into rivers. And, of course, we cannot forget what happened in Ruidoso, New Mexico, as well as the Texas Hill Country.

Climatologically speaking, this is the wettest time of the year from the end of April to September, meaning that the atmosphere just has that much more moisture to work with. But until we can kick this very stagnant weather pattern out the door, we'll be leaving with more flash flooding potential going forward in the days and weeks to come. Wolf, Pamela?

BLITZER: All right. Derek Van Dam reporting for us, Derek, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: An important warning for everyone there. So, for more on this, we have Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington. She is the top Democrat on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. And, Senator, you sent the president a letter yesterday calling -- outlining what you call a, quote, once in a lifetime opportunity to create the world's best weather forecasting system. And I was reading you a letter and you noted that the U.S. used to experience an average of nine extreme weather events per year. Now, it's spiked to 23 per year. And you argue that the cost to better detect these extreme weather events is worth it to offset the cost of responding to these catastrophes, right?

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): Well, good technology can come to weather too, and that's what we need to use is better technology to detect the storms. And as Derek was just saying, we know now that warmer temperatures are causing more precipitation and it's causing storms to hold in a pattern, which means it's dropping an unbelievable amount of rainfall, which means it's causing unbelievable flooding.

So, why don't we want to be the most weather-ready nation we ?an. Why not know this information, likelihood of this storm effect earlier? And that is what our NOAA Research Lab is doing, is giving us that kind of modeling. But we have to upgrade our radar, our satellites, our buoy system, and make sure that we take that information in, analyze it, create the models. But their results already are showing you can give people hours and hours and hours at advance notice of this potential hazard instead of a few minutes.

BROWN: And the Trump administration says it is upgrading some of the systems. So, what would you want to do that's different from what's already being done?

CANTWELL: Well, we definitely want them to make the upgrades and we definitely think that we need to use more analysis. The European model, which you hear a lot about, uses more supercomputing time. So, it analyzes and creates a more correct model. And, in fact, we've had some East Coast storms that they better predicted than our own system.

So, we know that these storms are costing us billions of dollars and costing us lives. Thank you for your Kerrville coverage because you are really putting a story to this, but we can't have this happen again. I come from a very, disaster-ridden state. I'm in the top ten states of disasters like this. We know what it costs us. So, let's get the best weather radar and technology system, do the analytics and give people fair warning to get the heck out of the way and move some of our resources too.

BROWN: Right. Because in Kerrville, you know, from talking to people on the ground there, I just kept hearing, it happened so fast, we've never seen anything like this. And even though there was that initial warning of life threatening floods from the National Weather Service at 1:14 A.M., people were sleeping, a lot of them didn't get it on their phones. I mean, what are the lessons learned from there to prevent that, so that people aren't just so caught off guard and lives are lost?

CANTWELL: We can do better that, that our nation can beat the Europeans. We can use technology. We had a similar incident in my state where we didn't have good Doppler coverage and people died. And we were able to then improve upon that system.

So, in Kerrville, if we would've had this kind of technology here today, we would've been able to forecast the potential event of this weather pattern of a storm holding because of warm temperatures in the Gulf and process that information into a more, let's just say, searing alert into people's minds, you know, hours, maybe even days ahead of time of this potential.

And, obviously, from this great technology, you can also produce a lot better mapping, a lot more analysis. We're a very mudslide tendon state because of this kind of precipitation in our hills, and it's a very dangerous environment.

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So, we want -- Americans should have the best weather system. Why not? It's -- every hurricane is costing us billions of dollars. So, why not prevent some of this?

BROWN: And let me just follow up with you, because you've also been outspoken about the potential impact of cutting funding to public broadcasting and the impact that could have on the emergency alerts. We were just talking about, you know, creating more searing alerts. What is your concern there moving forward?

CANTWELL: Well, if you have better information and you can give people, you know, this -- again, this Oklahoma lab is focused on tornadoes, but it was able to give people a pretty good idea of where tornadoes might come. So it wasn't 13 minutes of warning. It was hours of warning. And so once you have the warning, now you need to have the systems. You need to have the apps that people can have on their phones.

BROWN: Public broadcasting.

CANTWELL: I'm all for public broadcasting.

What people don't realize is that in very remote parts of my state and in the United States, there is no commercial use. So, you do have a public system that is very valuable to those people and you want that system to work. But I think in these kind of very remote areas, sirens and things of this nature are also helpful.

BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, Senator Maria Cantwell. We really appreciate it.

BLITZER: I really appreciate it as well. Thank you so much.

BROWN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you very much.

Coming up a pilot forced to avoid a military jet, how his quick thinking and evasive moves prevented a disaster.

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