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The Situation Room

Questions Emerge Over FBI Director's Travel; Family of Nolan Wells Speaks Out; Security Concerns Over New Air Force One?. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 10, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The Air Force says that it's equipped with the most advanced technology that's necessary to protect the president and meet the requirements of a presidential mission.

Now, the former Air Force One had certain capabilities that are absolutely critical to not only the safety of the president, but also the safety of the aircraft itself. First of all, it's a heavily modified Boeing 747-200. They don't make them anymore.

So that's one of the reasons that this whole business about a new aircraft was so important for the presidential fleet. It does have highly specialized capabilities. Those capabilities include advanced missile defense systems.

So this is key. This is something that not only includes missile defense systems, but also things like chaff, where you actually dispense aluminum foil to foil radar signatures so that it makes the aircraft look like it's in a different place if somebody's trying to threaten it.

It does have air-to-air refueling capability. The new aircraft does not have that. It also has electronic hardening. So, in the case of an electromagnetic pulse, say, for example, with a nuclear blast, the aircraft would be hardened so that it wouldn't be as impacted by an EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, as other normal aircraft would be.

And it does have, for medical purposes, an onboard operating room. And, as far as we know, the new Air Force One does not have that.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Can they add all those devices to the new Air Force One?

LEIGHTON: Well, that's actually quite a problem because, when you look at the new Air Force One, it basically doesn't have some of the same capabilities and even the places in which to put some of those things.

So, for example, if you if you look at the actual aircraft itself, there is no -- there's a bubble on the old one. There's no bubble on the new one. And that bubble is -- includes electronic equipment that would otherwise be able to jam certain receivers, certain transmitters that are going after the aircraft, such as radar transmitters.

And that's the kind of thing that the new aircraft doesn't have, at least not in that location.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a very, very significant development, indeed.

There's other new reporting we're getting from our own Pamela Brown that Iran may be trying, as we have been reporting, to kill the president, based on some Israeli intelligence coming to the U.S.

If the two sides don't get together very, very soon, the U.S. and Iran, what's going to happen?

LEIGHTON: Well, Wolf, there are several possible scenarios, of course, in a case like that, but that would be an extremely escalatory situation.

And what you would be looking at here is the potential not only for strikes in the Gulf region as we currently have, but not only would that happen, but you would also have the possibility of strikes of -- at leadership areas all throughout this area of Iran, the Central Tehran, all the air bases that they would have in areas like here.

So those are the kinds of things that would actually be really part of a new strike capacity. So one of the things to note is that, with the current strikes that we -- that we have seen recently, strikes along this borderline are critically important, because one of the things that's important about this particular location is, it's the rail line that leads into Turkmenistan.

Why is that important? The rail line from Turkmenistan and into Iran actually goes and connects with the Russian rail line and the Chinese rail line. Those rail lines are critical to resupplying Iran, so it's great for sanction avoidance and it's also great for weapons resupply.

So these would be areas that would be struck even more. They were struck in the latest attacks that we conducted, but this area would also be another area where we would go after this and actually kind of minimize the area that Iran actually controls and their ability to actually go after us from an offensive military capability.

BLITZER: A very delicate moment right now unfolding.

All right, thanks very much, Colonel Cedric Leighton, as always.

And we're going to have much more of our special report here in THE SITUATION ROOM coming up. There's more breaking news in just a few moments.

But, first, the family of Nolan Wells is speaking out, the questions they still have about the investigation and their very emotional message.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:38:28] BLITZER: We will continue our special report on the war with Iran in just a few moments.

But, first, happening now: The family of Nolan Wells is demanding answers about the circumstances surrounding the teen's death. Wells' body was found on Mississippi's Horn Island this week. Wells was last seen on July 4, his disappearance prompting a massive search in the area.

CNN affiliate WLOX has new reporting this morning saying that a friend reported Wells missing around 11:00 p.m. that night, an hour before his mother reported him missing.

And now we're hearing from his parents for the first time. They spoke to ABC's "Good Morning America" about some of the major questions they have about what happened before he died, namely Nolan's cell phone. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL STRAHAN, CO-HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": You say you have Nolan's cell phone and messages were deleted. How could you tell messages were deleted?

BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF NOLAN WELLS: Well, his parents got the phone back, and that's something that's important, Michael, because they tracked this phone on Life360.

CHRISTINE WONSLEY, MOTHER OF NOLAN WELLS: So, Life360, but whenever -- so, when I received a phone call from Warren, I immediately called my friend (ph) Toshima (ph), and I said: "Hey, have you guys seen Nolan?"

Because her two sons, Jalen (ph) and Jaboley (ph), they grew up together. They played City League sports together. When they got into school, they played sports together. And so she was like: "Hey, like, OK, the boys were pulling up the location from Snapchat."

[10:40:00]

So the Snapchat location looks completely different than the Life360 location. So when I pulled up Life360, it was different. It was showing everywhere the phone had been. Like, it had -- I was like, well, it's showing that he's back on land. Like, I'm not -- he's like: "But, no, he didn't come back with us."

STRAHAN: Well, how were you able to get the phone?

WONSLEY: So we tracked it, and my friend Toshima went and picked it up. And...

CRUMP: It wasn't like they said, we got his phone. They tracked it.

And that highlights all these contradictions, Michael, the fact that they said Nolan was talking to a young woman, and she said that he said: "I'm going back to get on the boat with the boys." The boys said that he said he was going to stay with her. And so that's an obvious contradiction. And then this video of this -- you can hear an argument going where Nolan is saying: "Give me my freaking phone. What are you freaking doing?"

And so then his phone ends up missing? I don't know any teenagers, Michael Strahan, who says, if you believe their story, I'm going to stay behind, and I'm going to leave my phone? I mean, no young person leaves their cell phone.

And so then there's so many things their parents are telling us about, even, why didn't his body wash up with the tide on Sunday? Why would it come on Monday? It's not adding up. And that is the problem when you think about the history of Mississippi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: His parents are also sharing this very emotional message about their son:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WONSLEY: Nolan was just like this bright light, right? Walk into a room, his smile, his energy was just so infectious. Like, he -- it's almost like he drew you into him.

We are doing this because, at the end of the day, I would hope any -- any parent would fight for their kids to find out if anything happened, what did happen. So we just want honesty and transparency. We want a thorough investigation. We want that same respect that would be given to anybody else. And that's it. We just want answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to go live to our senior national correspondent, Ryan Young, who's been covering the story.

This story has captivated a lot of the country, as you know, Ryan, and so many unanswered questions about what happened to Nolan. What are you learning today?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, especially on the Internet, people are coming up with their own theories about exactly what happened.

What we do know, of course, is Nolan and a group of friends decided to go to that barrier island July 4. Now, this appears where a lot of people want to hang out on that waterline. But what doesn't make sense to a lot of people, especially from the photo you see right there, is the fact that Nolan was the only one who didn't return.

So there's a lot of questions about how this investigation is moving forward. We do know there was a large search effort for his body after this happened, and it took more than eight agencies to circle that area. They eventually found his body in the water on Monday. But there's so many unanswered questions. I talked to the sheriff this

week. He was saying their investigation is ongoing, and, obviously, he wants to talk to all the witnesses in that area.

But take a listen to the sheriff talk about where they are with this investigation as we speak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LEDBETTER, JACKSON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, SHERIFF: We do not have the cell phone that they speak of. And we have never had the cell phone, but it is to my understanding that we requested the cell phone for an extraction.

We're working towards the same goal as is the family. We want a thorough investigation, and that's what we're going to continue to do until we arrive at the answers that the family deserves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, Wolf, something else that stands out is, obviously, there's an autopsy that has taken place, and the family's going to have their own autopsy.

We also know, today at noon, Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for the family, is also going to have another news conference. What everyone's trying to figure out right now, obviously, is whether or not there was any trauma to the body, what exactly happened, what the toxicology shows.

And so there's going to be a lot of questions about how they put this investigation together. What they're also hoping is, is there more cell phone video? Are there more pictures? Is there something that could lead to some answers in terms of, how did someone go from not getting on a boat with his friends to go back to the dock to then ending up in the water by himself?

And then there's that gap before anyone made that 911 call to say that he was missing. So there's a lot of questions about this case, a lot of online theories as well. But, at the end of the day, this investigation has to be done thoroughly, and, hopefully, we will get some more information -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Hopefully, indeed.

All right, Ryan Young, thank you very much.

I want to bring in right now Josh Gill, the incident commander with the Cajun Navy, an organization made up of volunteers that helped with the search for Nolan Wells.

Josh, thanks so much for joining us.

Tell us about how this search actually played out and walk us through what happened.

JOSH GILL, INCIDENT COMMANDER, UNITED CAJUN NAVY: Sure.

Well, good morning, everybody. And thank you for having us on.

So, again, this is a very tragic case, and we really want to focus on making sure that the family gets all the closure that they need and gets all the information.

[10:45:07]

So I received a phone call late Saturday night from a concerned friend of Nolan's, basically telling me the information. I mean, it already started going viral and being online. Received that phone call late that night and start gathering some information, drawing it down off of the Internet, and then received another message and then a follow- up phone call from the mother first thing that Sunday morning.

Again, in the conversation I had with the mother, you could hear the concern, you know, to find her son. We did everything we possibly could. We had already had boats en route to go to the island, boots on the ground, multiple surface vessels, as well as drones, search throughout that day.

And then we had fixed-wing aircraft on standby. The Coast Guard was already out there with the sheriff's department doing their searches with some rotary-wing aircraft, searched that day into the night. Then, that Monday morning, at daylight, we had additional surface vessels and fixed-wing aircraft that were in the air, ultimately which he was found that morning.

BLITZER: Tell us, Josh, a little bit about the area and the island. What is it like? Is it normally crowded?

GILL: Absolutely crowded, a lot. July 4 weekend, nice, pretty weather, the water was calm. That allowed a lot of vessels to be out there, hundreds of vessels, hundreds and hundreds of people. So it's hard for me to believe, in my honest opinion, that nobody saw anything.

Again, we're not law enforcement. We're just a volunteer group, but we are working very closely with law enforcement, as well as the family, to provide any information that may come to us to help just to build out the story on what exactly happened to Nolan.

BLITZER: Due to the nature of the island, Josh, how difficult was it to conduct this search?

GILL: So, the water is -- it's dangerous water in that pass on the northwest side of that island. There's a pass that cuts through, and it's a lot of current.

Wasn't extremely dangerous at that point. The surface conditions were amenable for us to be out there and to provide a pretty good search pattern, a good grid, as well as allowing us to be on the island with boots on the ground. It was -- again, it's an accessible island.

BLITZER: I think we just lost our connection with Josh, but we will try to reconnect.

Josh Gill joining us. And we will continue to stay on top of the story.

Also coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM: Using the FBI's plane to travel to the Winter Olympics? A Republican senator now wants FBI Director Kash Patel to detail the use of the plane and the purchase of several BMWs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:52:27]

BLITZER: Happening now: The FBI director, Kash Patel, is being asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Chuck Grassley, to defend his use of the agency's planes.

This new inquiry by the Iowa Republican comes despite Patel's own criticism of past directors' use of FBI aircraft. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Chris Wray doesn't need a government-funded G5 jet to go to vacation. Maybe we ground that plane, $15,000 every time it takes off. This is odd.

Go take their money. Chris Wray doesn't need a private jet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: According to the letter sent to Patel, which CNN has reviewed, Grassley is also asking about the purchase of BMWs.

Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM is CNN senior reporter Annie Grayer, who's been reporting a lot about this.

What all is Grassley asking Patel here and how did all this come up?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Wolf, Grassley has some very specific questions for Patel. He wants to know every flight that Patel has taken on an FBI plane. He wants to know how much each of those flights cost, and whether that flight was taken for personal or professional use.

Now, if the flight was used for personal reasons, Grassley is also asking Patel to state whether he has reimbursed taxpayers for those flights. Grassley's also asking Patel for a cost breakdown of why the FBI purchased these BMWS and to compare it to some other vehicles and a cost-benefit analysis.

Now, this letter that Grassley sent to Patel on May 5 was not publicized by the Republican chairman. Actually, Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committee found this letter as a part of their own investigations into Patel's spending habits.

So it's notable that the Republican chairman who oversees the FBI, Republican chairman of Judiciary Committee is also interested in learning the answers to these questions. But Grassley says in his letter to Patel that I reviewed that he's asked these questions of FBI directors past regardless of party.

And he has given Patel up until May 19, according to the letter, to respond to these questions. The FBI said publicly that they defend the director's spending habits, that there's no real question or concern here.

But the question's going to be, did Patel respond to this May 19 deadline, and how much does Grassley want to push this issue? It was a voluntary request initially made on May 5. Is Grassley going to renew that quest request if he didn't get the answers?

If he needed, he could go as far as subpoenaing the information if he really wanted to. So, this is just a really interesting investigation developing on the Hill.

BLITZER: Was there any legitimate reason for Kash Patel, the FBI director, to go to Milan, Italy, for that game, that Olympic game, to see, to watch it?

[10:55:07]

GRAYER: The FBI says so.

But it's come under major scrutiny, and it's really raised larger questions about his spending habits. It's why we have so many investigations popping up on the Hill. And what we're seeing from Grassley's letter today is that there is bipartisan interest in getting the answers to these questions.

BLITZER: We will see if they do.

All right, Annie Grayer, thank you very much.

And Annie will be back in the next hour. She's got new reporting on Senator Mitch McConnell as well. She's a busy lady.

And here's what's coming up all new right at the top of the hour, a SITUATION ROOM special report. My co-anchor, Pamela Brown, goes one- on-one with the captain of one of the destroyers protecting the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. That's all new in the next hour.

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