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The Situation Room

Netanyahu and Trump Committed to Stop Iran from Detaining Nuclear Weapons; Epstein Survivors Speak Amid Fight Over Blanche Nomination; New Audio in Nolan Wells Investigation. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 29, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- general assembly.

DORON SPIELMAN, INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE: We're not concerned about the prime minister's security. What we are concerned about is the fact that Mamdani is the mayor of New York. And in fact, this came up in the meeting between the president and the prime minister.

How unbelievable it is that a city that is the second largest Jewish population in the world has a mayor that threatens the prime minister of the State of Israel. He says nothing about the actual criminals in the world. He's blaming the prime minister, which is standing up to these criminals. And in fact, I think that bodes very poorly for Jews in the city, for other people in the city. He's pitting different populations in that city against each other, Wolf. And it's by no mistake, it's not random, that just hours after Mamdani said this, a Jewish man was stabbed in Manhattan. We can see the absolute result of that type of antisemitism, that Jew targeting. And I think that's our biggest concern. It's for the people of New York.

BLITZER: One final question before I let you go, Doron. This week, a retired Deputy Chief of Staff of the IDF, of the Israel Defense Forces, Matan Vilnai, issued a public letter to President Trump, signed by others of former retired senior officers in the IDF, warning that the threat of Israeli terrorists need to be taken as seriously as other terrorist groups.

Among other things, in the letter, he writes -- they write this, "Whereas our security agencies excel in dealing with Hamas and other West Bank Palestinian terror groups, they are severely constrained when it comes to Jewish terrorists. It is no secret that certain members of our current government orchestrate much of this chaos, including by shielding their followers, who are armed and driven by messianic impulses, from the law and its enforcement." It was quoted, by the way, the New York Times columnist, Bret Stephens, referred to this letter in the New York Times today.

SPIELMAN: You know, we have to put everything in perspective. If there are Jews that are breaking the law, they need to be brought to justice, and in fact, they are being brought to justice.

BLITZER: But do you admit that there are Jews and the West Bank Jewish settlers who are breaking the law and attacking Palestinians?

SPIELMAN: There are, of course. In every society, there are those who are breaking the law. And we are aware, in Judea and Samaria, which is the Jewish heartland, there are those who go against the law, and they are being brought to justice. However, to call that terrorism, to compare that to a group of people whose ideal, like Hamas, kills pregnant women on the streets, kills families in the roads, kills young men when they're stopping at a crosswalk, which is what happens in thousands of incidences, it's putting it in the wrong perspective.

But Israel knows it is a nation of law. Wolf, we bring people to justice, and therefore we create law that is equal for everyone.

BLITZER: And Pamela has a question, but one final question for me. If the Saudis accept this nuclear deal, this enrichment deal that the United States is putting forward, and accept the Abraham Accords, work to naturalize and normal diplomatic relations with Israel, they will do so, the Saudis say, if Israel accepts what's called a two-state solution, a new state of Palestine living alongside Israel. Will Israel accept a two-state solution in order to win Saudi recognition, a full diplomatic relations, accepting the Abraham Accords?

SPIELMAN: You know, we're at a time right now where Iran is the evil of the Middle East, and what we can see is other countries in the Middle East, whether it's Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, are coming together and recognize that there's an actual evil, and therefore the Abraham Accords has achieved something at this point in time that we never imagined it would.

There is a bonding of Abraham Accord countries. Israel's open, as is the U.S., to expanding that. However, there's not going to be preconditions on what Israel has to do. There's an opportunity here to expand the peace in the Middle East and to create a better future, and that's what Israel's looking for.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm just wondering, as Wolf pointed out, Netanyahu was skeptical of the MOU, and you said that's because Iranians are scoundrels, and yet you also said that Netanyahu would be OK with a diplomatic solution with the Iranians. So, how does that square?

SPIELMAN: You know, the prime minister of Israel has a relationship with President Trump. He has a relationship. The relationship is built on trust. Neither of these two men are naive. Both of these men are hoping to have a diplomatic solution, and therefore we're hoping, both of them are hoping, that perhaps, despite the likelihood, Iran will come to its senses and sign a diplomatic agreement. It could save lives. We have to understand what that means.

If the chance is that Iran, whether it's the IRGC, which is highly unlikely it is, or the people of Iran pressure that regime, where something comes along, whether it's the economic pressure, the military pressure, and they say, you know what, we're for once going to act for the betterment of Iran, take the president's guarantee, build a wonderful country, we want to give that a chance.

BROWN: But right now, that's not happening. So, would Netanyahu want the U.S. to go back into full combat operations?

SPIELMAN: It is up to the president. The president --

BROWN: But what does Netanyahu want? What did he convey in that meeting?

SPIELMAN: The two of them agree on the outcome. The outcome is that Iran absolutely will not have a nuclear weapon. Of that they see eye to eye. There's a guarantee that that will happen. If it can happen diplomatically, great. If they need to shift into a military gear, both countries have shown clearly that they're able to do so. Not only do you and I know this, but they know this. Iran knows this. And there's a chance, however highly unlikely, that they'll follow the diplomatic route. And if it doesn't happen, it will be done the hard way.

[11:35:00]

BLITZER: I know you've got to run. You see the day that Prime Minister Netanyahu or any Israeli government accepts the creation of an independent Palestinian State?

SPIELMAN: You know, at this point in time, Wolf, when I look at a Palestinian State and I look at the people who are running a Palestinian State, when I look at the Palestinian Authority that are still funding pay-for-slay, this is who we're dealing with, who does pay-for-slay.

Every time a terrorist kills a Jew, he gets a grant from the Palestinian Authority for killing a Jew. His family gets a grant. I think that we're a considerable way off from seeing people on the other side that are actually willing to even speak and recognize this state of Israel.

BLITZER: All right. Doron Spielman, thanks very much for coming in. Welcome to Washington.

SPIELMAN: Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you. And still ahead, more breaking news from Capitol Hill. A key GOP senator calls off a meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as his nomination to get the job permanently hangs in the balance. We're hearing from Epstein survivors up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

BROWN: And we're following some breaking news. Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse are speaking amid the fight over Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general. And this comes after Senator John Cornyn said his planned meeting with Blanche is canceled. Cornyn is demanding that the Justice Department formally kill the anti- weaponization fund. The Texas Republican is a key vote to advance Blanche's nomination for AG. CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT MANU Raju is following all of this for us. So, Manu, the survivors spoke after the meeting with Senator Cornyn's staff. What did they say?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They want the nomination of Todd Blanche to go down tomorrow in the Senate Judiciary Committee because of their concerns that Blanche has not been responsive to their demands and their concerns about everything that happened with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, the lack of prosecutions, and what they said was a meeting in which Blanche, in their words, were condescending to them as they raised concerns about all of this and the Justice Department's handling of this issue.

And they emerged from this meeting with John Cornyn. They also spoke today with Senator Thom Tillis, another key swing vote on this committee. But they made clear they want Cornyn and Tillis to both vote no tomorrow if that committee vote happens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANI BENSKY, EPSTEIN ABUSE SURVIVOR: Meeting was very condescending. It was a lot of talking in circles. It was a lot of arguing semantics and not a lot of actually getting to the core points. We went in with quite a few points that we needed answers to. We needed answers to why Ghislaine Maxwell was moved.

We needed answers to why investigative leads haven't been followed or even brought, you know, Comer's office just made two referrals. Why aren't we following those referrals? They came from your own party. And basically, we walked away with absolutely no answers, and it felt like a very no-win situation. They can speak to some of that as well.

RAJU: What do you mean, when you say he was condescending, can you give us some examples on how he responded?

BENSKY: Yes. I mean, he actually said the words get to the point to us. We're survivors who have been waiting to meet with him for nine months, eight months. We've been asking for meetings. And he very much said, can you get to the point already? Like, what are you getting at, right?

So, to treat us with that sort of -- now, there was no integrity. There was no understanding that he's dealing with the largest sex trafficking ring that the -- we've seen in the U.S. ever. Instead, it was like, you have an Epstein problem, right?

RAJU: How did he describe not having any other prosecutions in this case?

BENSKY: How did he -- Yes. Come on in here, guys. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He hasn't read any files.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I -- we were very specific in, in pointing out investigative leads. We actually brought files in the office with him that had names of perpetrators. And when we presented them to him, he said he can't use that, that he hadn't read the files himself. And when Skye gave him a specific example relating to Virginia, who, you know, we had said, well, what is it going to take to open investigation? What do you need? And he said, well, I need evidence. I need testimony. I need corroboration.

And Skye had said, OK. Well, let's use Virginia as an example. She gave testimony sworn under oath, depositions under oath. She named former Prince Andrew. She provided a photo document of Andrew, and then they were corroborated in the files by Ghislaine Maxwell as being real that Virginia was present and did meet Prince Andrew. Is that not an investigative lead? And his response was, well, Andrew won't cooperate, and your sister isn't here, so I can't use her testimony.

And it's just blatantly untrue. We were advised by men in legal counsel that's not true. There are ways that we can build a case with Virginia's story. And so, it just was the complete unwillingness to pursue actual leads here. You are asking for a promotion to be and provide justice the -- to the American people, and he has displayed that he's unwilling to do that.

RAJU: Todd Blanche --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I understand that after that meeting with Todd Blanche, a group of Epstein survivors sent a letter to Senator Cornyn, to Senator Tillis, asking that they oppose Todd Blanche's nomination. Did you guys ever receive a response from Tillis or Cornyn?

BENSKY: We've been -- we've now since today been in touch with the offices. So, we are really hoping that they will work with us.

RAJU: If Todd Blanche makes it out of committee tomorrow, what message does that send you, to you guys, to your group?

BENSKY: I think it's a massive chilling effect to all survivors across the U.S. I think it is absolutely a vote against survivors in this country, not --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:45:00]

RAJU: So, the question will be whether or not this carries weight, how much weight it carries with some of the key Republican votes on this committee. I can tell you that Senator Cornyn did not meet with these survivors just now. His staff met with them. Thom Tillis has not actually had a formal meeting with these survivors either. They did run into Tillis today, they told us, on the way in, randomly ran into him in the halls of the Capitol. They said that they raised their concerns directly with Tillis.

Tillis has actually been more positive about the fact that Todd Blanche had met with these survivors, even though, as you heard from his remarks, that they thought that meeting went terribly with Todd Blanche. They called him condescending. They said that he was not responsive to their concerns, didn't answer their questions. But that's -- despite their concerns, that does not seem to be the issue which is driving the Republicans to potentially vote against this nomination as soon as tomorrow. The issue, of course, is separate, dealing with that anti-weaponization fund, that $1.8 billion anti- weaponization fund.

Cornyn says that the Justice Department has not been responsive to his demands to have a formally written-down language that could be essentially adopted in this ongoing court case to ensure that that fund would no longer be in existence, that they would not move forward with it. We are hearing that the Justice Department has provided some level of written proposal to Cornyn, but that is simply not past muster with the senator.

Now, we also caught up with Thom Tillis after Cornyn's remarks. Tillis sounded more positive about the possibility that they could reach a deal by this afternoon. Cornyn and Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has given the Justice Department until 4:00 p.m. today to respond to Cornyn's concerns. Otherwise, they may delay tomorrow's vote.

So, a lot of developing storylines here. But what's clear here, John Cornyn in particular really has nothing to lose. He's no longer running for re-election, where he was, and he lost his primary race. And now, he has come back, after Trump backed his primary foe, to be a bit of a thorn in the side of the president.

BROWN: All right. Mani Raju, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And coming up, a new audio from the day Nolan Wells was reported missing. We're following the latest developments in the probe of the Mississippi teen's death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

BROWN: Well, new this morning, audio obtained by CNN Details. People requesting towing assistance for their boat on July 4th near Mississippi's Horn Island. That boat is the same boat Nolan Wells had been aboard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like you're on Horn Island, correct? Are you on Horn Island?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We are at Horn Island. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Is the boat sinking or you have it aground?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are sinking, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it aground is the question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we're not aground. We are in 17 foot of water -- we're in 31 foot of water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: This new audio comes as investigators try to piece together the events that unfolded that day. Wells disappeared on the 4th of July after visiting Horn Island with friends. He was later found dead in the water. His cause of death remains undetermined.

BROWN: Let's go live now to CNN Senior National Correspondent Ryan Young, who has been following this story. Ryan, what more are you learning about the events that day?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, we've been listening to this audio and, of course, there's a lot of internet chatter about what people actually hear on this audio recording. There's parts of this recording that we can't verify some of the claims that have been made on the internet. But what we can do is let people listen to the fact that this boat was taking on water. The teens on board said they needed help.

Let's not forget it's been 25 days since Nolan Wells went missing. And, of course, his body was later found. There's so many questions about this investigation. But what we're absent of right now is any investigator saying how this connects to this case in general. But there's still a lot of questions swirling around this.

Let's take another portion of this audio and let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're in a panic and the boat won't crank.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, they're in a panic. He's saying the bilge is not keeping up. I asked for Coast Guard. He said no, but he's just really upset on the back end. And, you know, I get it for the kid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just doesn't understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Now, guys, just last week, the DA who's involved in this investigation talked about taking this to the grand jury and made it pretty clear that she's asked for people involved in this investigation not to speak out right now. There is a section of audio that people have played across the internet and they believe they have heard a few other things. We've had some of our engineers look at it. We are not able to verify that at this point.

So, what you're seeing, though, is in the vacuum of a lot of information, a lot of people are drawing their own conclusion. What we don't have right now is an autopsy or a toxicology report that leads us to believe that this investigation is going one way or another. So, we're still just trying to drill down on the facts. And as soon as we get anything verified, of course, we'll pass it along. Guys. BROWN: Yes. And have we heard anything else from Nolan Wells' family, especially in light of this audio?

YOUNG: Well, no, not right now. We've reached out to Ben Crump today. We've reached out to other folks who are around this case right now. There have been some troubling things said out loud about this case, even connected to this audio. But again, we're not sure that connects to the investigation part and how or why Nolan Wells went missing.

So, it's just a lot of hearsay right now. And it's very hard to kind of sort through all this right now, especially without the absence of having a news conference with investigators to say exactly what's going on.

BROWN: Now, what's next in this investigation, Ryan?

[11:55:00]

YOUNG: That's really the big thing right now. When did they go to the grand jury? What friends have been interviewed? What have they learned? There was a 1-800 number set up so people could call. Do they have sightings of him? Is there video? Are there pictures? Did we get any closer to any of this?

Now, what we did learn is this did help set up a sonar investigation. So, when that 911 call came in and they were looking for Nolan Wells, they did start searching from some of those phone calls. But right now, nothing concrete in terms of what happened on that day off the coast of Horn Island.

BLITZER: All right. Ryan Young, thank you very, very much. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media, @wolfblitzer and @pamelabrowncnn.

BROWN: And we'll see you back here tomorrow morning and every weekday morning at 10:00 Eastern. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts after a quick break.

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