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The Situation Room

White House Conducting Leak Probe; Interview With Kerrville, Texas, Mayor Joe Herring Jr.; South Texas Facing Flash Flood Emergency. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 16, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news: major flooding. Water rescues under way in parts of Texas right now, as relentless rain pummels the region, the Guadalupe River rising more than 25 feet in only one hour. We have new details. Stand by.

Plus: whiplash and backlash, the Department of Homeland Security reinstating ICE traffic stops after prominent MAGA voices suggested the president's administration was weakening immigration enforcement.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with the breaking news out of South Texas, where areas of the Hill Country are under a flash flood emergency. That's the highest possible level of warning. More than 20,000 people are being told to immediately head for higher ground, as large and deadly flood waves have seen multiple rivers rise to what are described as perilous levels.

The waters of the Guadalupe River rose more than 25 feet in just one hour earlier this morning. That's a danger for all creatures, not just humans. And crews have rescued dozens of people from rising waters. One family in Kerrville says they woke up at 2:00 a.m. to find water filling their home. They took shelter in the attic and say floodwaters were just a foot from the roof when rescuers reached them, thank God.

Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam is joining us right now.

Derek, so where do things stand right now? And when will this danger pass?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Wolf, we're getting new information from the National Weather Service regarding the Guadalupe River. They are warning people to not become complacent, that it can give a false sense of security if they see the water levels going down, because they believe that a second crest may occur, specifically in Kerrville and into Hunt.

This is, again, the Southern Hill Country of Texas. So that's right along the Guadalupe River, right here. We have highlighted that flash flood emergency. It's that white polygon. To the north, though, I want to focus in on this area. This is the Pedernales River.

And this is extremely important, because now another wording. This is the third time I have ever heard this from the National Weather Service, a deadly -- large and deadly flood wave moving downstream across the Pedernales River just below, downstream from the Fredericksburg area.

So that region is under major flood stage as it stands, or it's forecast to become. And it is likely going to rival some of the historic crusts. This is just incredible to see what's happening here. This rapid rise downstream from Fredericksburg, that is that large, deadly wave of water that we're seeing materialize here on many of the streams and rivers across the Hill Country.

We have had rainfall accumulations just since midnight more than 12 inches, and some places raining at five inches per hour, depending on where these bands set up. That's why they have these catastrophic flash flood emergencies tagged on that. That's the highest alert level that the National Weather Service can issue.

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Again, here's the Guadalupe River, Kerrville to Comfort. This is the area we have to watch out for the potential of a secondary crest. This is incredible to see on a river gauge, 25 feet of rapidly rising water just in one hour's time.

By the way, the Guadalupe River at Comfort broke last year's record crest that was set on July 4 of 2025. We all know what how that all played out.

BLITZER: Yes.

VAN DAM: So this is why we're taking this so seriously. Kerrville, the area here, we still have flash flooding within this region, and another additional three to five inches of rain could fall before we finally start to dry things out from the weekend.

BLITZER: And, as you correctly point out, one of the areas at great risk right now is right near last summer's Camp Mystic tragedy, which all of us remember. That's where 25 campers and several counselors, camp counselors, drowned on July 4. That weekend flooding was so awful.

How big is the danger there now?

VAN DAM: So we -- I'm going to go back to a really critical map here. And this is going to highlight the flood gauges, Wolf, because the area in question, the Camp Mystic, right, this is an area that we believe has already crested.

So this is downstream from the worst flood -- or upstream, I should say, from the worst flooding, the worst flooding now being between Comfort and downstream of this particular region, so between Kerrville to Comfort. Now, Camp Mystic was just to the north and west of that for the Guadalupe River.

So, the moderate flood stage that is forecast there continues, but it is it, again, possibility of a secondary crest right along that region between Kerrville and into Comfort, Texas. This is the area we're monitoring and kind of honing in on. But, really, those flash flood emergencies, they can pop up out of anywhere because of this extremely saturated ground.

I mean, the wording they're using from the National Weather Service, the ground cannot absorb any more additional rainfall, and, unfortunately, it is still raining.

BLITZER: Derek Van Dam, thank you very, very much.

And don't forget this to our viewers, you can always keep up with any severe weather in your area or indeed anywhere else around the country with the CNN Weather App. You can download it at the Apple App Store.

Joining us now by phone is the mayor of Kerrville, Texas, Joe Herring Jr.

Mayor, thank you very much for joining us.

The Kerr County judge just signed a disaster declaration and requested additional assistance from the state. Bring us up to speed on what you're seeing right now on the ground where you are in your city.

JOE HERRING JR., MAYOR OF KERRVILLE, TEXAS: First off, thanks for telling our story. I appreciate it.

What we're seeing here is levels of water that are even higher, in my opinion, than the water -- river levels we saw July 4, 2025. It rained hard all night, but it had rained hard Monday night and Tuesday night as well.

And so, as we went to bed last night, it was dry until about midnight. But since midnight, we have had hard, hard rains in the Ingram, Kerrville, Center Point, and Comfort areas.

BLITZER: Let me get some numbers from you, Mayor Herring, while I have you. We're showing video, live pictures right now from Kerrville, your city, community. The water's really rising still.

How many residents are under evacuation orders right now? How many rescues have taken place? And have there been any reports of deaths or serious injuries?

HERRING: Well, I don't know. I don't have those numbers. I'm sorry. I know the regions in which we went to do evacuations. That's the low- lying areas where residents still live. And they're identical to the residences and areas we evacuated before.

As far as fatalities, I have no confirmed fatalities, although I'm concerned that we're going to -- we're going to have some confirmations later in the day.

BLITZER: Yes, I'm concerned too. That water is really moving and rising.

Still, many of us, of course, are watching what's happening in Kerr County right now and reminded of last summer's devastating floods, which killed 119 people, and that included 28 from Camp Mystic, counselors and campers, some of the youngest victims over there.

Have any camps along the river -- and some of those camps are still open this summer, not Camp Mystic. Have any of the camps requested rescue assistance, at least so far? And how are people in the area feeling as they watch this situation unfold?

HERRING: I personally called one of the camps on the north fork of the Guadalupe River. That's the other fork opposite Camp Mystic. And they said the river up there only rose one or two feet. I think most of the rain coverage will be downstream from Hunt and between Ingram to Comfort.

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That's what I'm seeing here. I know your meteorologist gave you a report, but I have called people upriver to find out what they're experiencing. And, for the most part, Hunt this time has been spared the horrific flooding that it suffered last year.

BLITZER: Last summer, my co-anchor and friend Pamela Brown came down to Texas -- she had been a camper at Camp Mystic -- and talked to you in the days following the July 4 tragedy at Camp Mystic and elsewhere in your area.

You told her that you hadn't received the crucial emergency alert to your phone about the flash flooding in the middle of the night. That was a year ago. Listen to this. Let's -- this is a clip from that interview.

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HERRING: Everyone here, if we could have warned them, we would have done so. And we didn't even have a warning. We get alerts on floods fairly often because of the terrain here.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And did you get an alert on your phone in those overnight hours?

HERRING: I did not.

BROWN: Does that concern you?

HERRING: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, over the past year, have things changed from last summer? Do you feel more prepared going into this severe weather event? Did you get an alert earlier as far as the current situation is going on?

HERRING: Yes, sir.

With the help of the state of Texas and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, a whole series of warning tools have been in place before summer. And, yes, I got possibly six or eight warnings on my personal phone. My wife got them on her phone. Our son, who lives closer to the river, got them on his phone.

So this time was different, in that, with the help of the state and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, we had more warning. And I think, while the damage to our infrastructure here in the city, and the damage to our parks, the damage to our water treatment plant, the damage to our bridges will still be severe, it is my sincere hope that the loss of life, which is -- the protection of life as our primary responsibility, will be significantly lower than it was last year.

BLITZER: Are you aware, Mayor, of Black Hawk helicopters now assisting with the rescue?

HERRING: I have seen them myself.

BLITZER: Yes, well, that's important. Got to save these people from potentially a disaster unfolding, which already seems to be happening.

HERRING: Yes.

BLITZER: How is the infrastructure holding up right now? Are water plants, for example, operating? Have there been reported issues?

HERRING: Yes, sir. There are reported issues with our water treatment plant, and also with our wastewater transportation, the pipelines transporting wastewater to our wastewater treatment plant.

But that's not all, I mean, the bridges too. We have a major bridge in the middle of town which was struck by a large search and recovery barge, and we're concerned about its viability as a bridge right now, so it's closed.

BLITZER: All right, well, good luck, Mayor Joe Herring, the mayor of Kerrville, Texas. Good luck to you. Good luck to all the people in that area. It's a very dangerous situation. We will stay in touch with you. Thank you very much for joining us.

HERRING: Thank you.

BLITZER: And still ahead: making the case for or against Todd Blanche, witnesses testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Todd Blanche's nomination to lead the U.S. Justice Department is facing razor-thin margins right now.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: We have new CNN exclusive reporting. President Trump is demanding that the White House find out who leaked information about the security deficiencies of the Qatari-gifted U.S. Air Force One.

CNN has learned the chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and the FBI director, Kash Patel, are leading this initial probe. And they have asked some officials to actually turn over their cell phones as part of the probe.

Let's continue our conversation with CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk and Sabrina Singh, CNN global affairs commentator, former deputy press secretary at the Pentagon.

To both of you, thanks very much for being here.

Brett, you served as a Middle East adviser to four U.S. presidents. What's your reaction to this spiraling investigation, asking White House officials, other officials, hand over your cell phones, we want to say -- see who called you, who you called, stuff like that?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think that the biggest you hear is that Air Force One -- I have been on Air Force One plenty of times.

BLITZER: The new Air Force One or the older one?

MCGURK: The older one.

BLITZER: Yes.

MCGURK: It is the most secure plane in the world, does things that I have probably never even briefed on.

So, to suddenly have a new plane, I doubt it's gone through all those security protocols. So it's not surprising there might be some potential vulnerabilities in an extreme scenario. But, look, I'm against leaking classified information.

But so much comes out of this White House. There was a Situation Room meeting yesterday about operations against Iran. It was put out. So I don't know what to make of all this, Wolf. I just think the president should be on Air Force One, Air Force One being the plane that has all the stand -- the most exquisite protections that we need.

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And until this plane is ready, which it seems like it might not have been, he should not be on it.

BLITZER: When I first heard that the president of the United States is going to be flying aboard the Qatari-gifted Air Force One, I thought the U.S. security services, Secret Service and intelligence community, would be worried about eavesdropping devices on that plane that the Qataris may have planted.

But they're really worried about major security concerns aboard that plane because they don't have the security precautions that the normal, the old Air Force One had.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that's what's interesting about this whole investigation that's happening at the White House with Susie Wiles and FBI Director Kash Patel is they're clearly embarrassed by this.

I mean, it is embarrassing that the president, he touted this new aircraft from the Qataris. It had to be retrofitted with hundreds of millions of dollars, and then he couldn't even fly home on it. It's not a surprise, I think, from the reporting that you saw that it wasn't a secure aircraft.

And so the president -- like Brett was just saying, Air Force One is the most secure aircraft in the entire world. The president needs access to certain things that the Qatari jet just did not have. And so I think this comes down to the president being embarrassed and trying to figure out who leaked this information, where the reality is, is that there's so many other more important things to be focused on, including the war.

But yet they're focused on these leaks, which every administration has had to deal with. I know we had to deal with it in the Biden administration, but this isn't really exactly where I'd be directing my efforts right now.

BLITZER: And this notion of asking government officials, White House officials, Pentagon officials, we want your cell phones, we want to see who's calling you, who you're calling, what you're texting about, what do you make of that?

SINGH: I mean, I think it does go back to this idea that the president is embarrassed by this episode and that he did not want this to get out that he wouldn't be able to fly back on his gifted plane that he has touted. I mean, he did a whole press conference rolling it out.

So, I mean, the fact that they're trying to collect phones and messages, I mean, that just leads to further witch-hunts. It leads to an erosion of trust. And I don't know how -- if people understand how much effort it takes to get an Air Force One off the ground.

It takes so many staff across different agencies, including the military. I mean, you're going to spend all your time going through everyone's phones? It's just not worth it.

BLITZER: Yes, it's important.

It's interesting, Brett. Two sources are telling CNN right now that President Trump is weighing an operation to seize control of Kharg Island, a crucial oil export hub. The sources tell us he's also considering airstrikes on what are called underground complexes not too far away believed to be connected to Iran's nuclear program.

How serious of an escalation would that be?

MCGURK: If he actually carried it through, very serious.

What I took yesterday was, there was a big White House Situation Room meeting. Sabrina and I have been in those types of meetings. Options are presented, and then you put out publicly the president's considering really escalating the war to send a signal to Iran that, if we can't get back to the table, can't get the Strait of Hormuz open, this could really escalate.

Whether we actually follow through, I think, is a question that the president might take down the line. But separating the signal from the noise here, Wolf, Ghalibaf, who is J.D. Vance, the vice president's counterpart in these talks, he made a public address to the Iranian people yesterday, and it was very defiant, particularly on the issue of the Strait of Hormuz.

He said, it is our national security to control the arrangements in the strait. And that's what this boils down to. And if Iran is not backing down from that, I just don't see a way out. And I think, as you look ahead, the president might have to consider some of these additional options.

But, then again, this is a very difficult equation, Wolf, because of -- Iran is using the ancient advantage of terrain, if you just look at a map, and the modern advantage of drones, which they can fire from anywhere. They can go 1,000 kilometers and hit a slow-moving ship. That's what they're doing. Very hard to stop.

And until we figure out the Strait of Hormuz, this kind of tit-for-tat thing is going to continue.

BLITZER: It looks like it's going to continue for a while and escalating in the meantime.

The president also suggested that maybe taking Kharg Island could fall to another U.S. ally. Is that realistic?

SINGH: Well, I don't see any other U.S. allies really stepping up. I mean, maybe you could see Israel joining efforts, but I don't see another -- like a European ally joining in these efforts. I mean, they haven't even joined in strikes against Iran.

I think, just to Brett's point, right now, we have 20 Naval ships in this area in the Strait of Hormuz. That is a lot of effort and manpower there. To take Kharg Island and then to be able to hold it, you're going to need even more. And that is going to put such a long- term strain on our military.

So I think the questions that haven't been answered by this administration is, how long can they keep this up for? How much are we depleting our stocks? And at the end of the day, which we haven't gotten the answer to, is, what really does success look like? Because now we're at a second phase of this war, which is not even where the objectives were on the nuclear program or addressing the ballistic missile program.

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It's about just opening the Strait of Hormuz. And that is going to take -- if now we're going to be the guardians of the strait, that's going to take a lot of effort from our military.

BLITZER: And, very quickly, do you see another U.S. ally, Israel or maybe some other country, going in with ground troops to take Kharg Island?

MCGURK: Absolutely not, no. I wish we had allies with us, but that's one problem here. We don't, so no.

BLITZER: Yes.

All right, Sabrina, Brett, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

And coming up: day two of the confirmation hearing for Todd Blanche. Now witnesses are testifying whether they think he should become the nation's top prosecutor.

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BLITZER: Right now, witnesses called by both Democrats and Republicans are testifying at Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing for attorney general of the United States. Democrats have invited Dani Bensky, one of many victims of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse, who are pushing to stop Blanche from being confirmed.