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U.S. Carries Out Heavy Strikes on Multiple Locations in Southern Iran; Poland Blames Russia for Firing Missile into Its Territory; Trump's Attorney General Pick Hits Roadblock in GOP- Controlled Senate. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 30, 2026 - 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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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, renewed U.S. strikes on Iran. We're live at the White House after President Trump promised retribution.

Plus, nomination now in jeopardy, why a GOP senator is holding up a key vote for Todd Blanche as the next U.S. attorney general.

And a third, yes, a third of Democrats now say they identify as Democratic socialists. The new CNN polling just in this morning.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment. You're in The Situation Room.

We begin with the breaking news. New U.S. strikes on Iran overnight after President Trump vowed to retaliate for attacks on U.S. forces. The U.S. military now says it hit Iranian command centers, missile and drone facilities. Iran state media reports explosions in multiple locations in the country's south, and that three people were killed when U.S. missiles struck a home on an island near the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's go to our White House and CNN senior reporters Kevin Liptak, first to you. Kevin, what's the latest you're learning over there?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And what Central Command is describing this as is a heavy wave of strikes in retaliation for those Iranian missiles that were fired towards U.S. positions several nights ago. What CENTCOM says is that they targeted IRGC positions, including military command centers missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense site, and maritime capabilities.

But what it does seem to stop short of is the full-scale return to war that President Trump has been threatening and that we know that he is continuing to consider behind the scenes. The president described this as essentially the United States' turn to fire back on Iran after Iran fired on those U.S. positions. And, in fact, when he was in the Oval Office before this began, he said that this was just a little bit of a slap, and he essentially said that those Iranian strikes were the result of miscommunication between the officials in Iran that the U.S. is attempting diplomacy with and other factions. In fact, he said that some officials in the regime had in fact apologized to the United States.

But nonetheless, this ends the days-long pause that the U.S. had put in place to attempt diplomacy, and where this goes from here at this point, I think, is unclear.

BLITZER: And, Kevin, how is the White House now reacting to this latest strike on an Egyptian port, Egyptian port, I think the first time that the Iranians have hit Egypt? Has the U.S. discussed this incident with Egypt?

LIPTAK: Yes, and it's not clear if the president has gotten on the phone yet with the President Abdel Sisi, but it does seem clear that this is an expansion of the war.

Now, President Trump yesterday did suggest that this was an Iranian drone that had struck these ships. The Egyptians haven't said yet where they believe this originated from. But you do see how now the conflict is beginning to expand. You have Egypt. You also have the Saudis joining in strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Yesterday, we had a visit, went under the radar, here at the White House from the defense minister from Saudi Arabia, Khalid bin Salman. He was here to convey a message from his brother, the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, about how he sees this war going.

But it is evident that attempts at diplomacy here seem to be faltering. And the president, even though he says he is seeking diplomacy, and even though he says that Iran is begging for a deal, he's also threatening an expansion of the conflict. It is deja vu in a lot of ways, but his strategy how exactly to get out of this at this point isn't precisely clear.

BLITZER: Yes, this war in the Middle East is clearly escalating. Kevin, thank you very much.

I want to pivot to the Ukraine conflict. Poland, a NATO ally, is now blaming Russia for firing a missile into its Polish territory. The incident is under investigation, but already NATO is saying it is activating its air and ground defenses and scrambling some of its combat aircraft as a result of all of this.

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Is the administration, Kevin, while I still have you, is the Trump administration seeing this as a provocation from Russia to pull NATO into the conflict?

LIPTAK: You know, I think they're being fairly cautious. They haven't publicly commented on this very serious incident, clearly could risk bringing Russia into more direct confrontation with NATO. I think it's notable that it occurred the day after President Zelenskyy of Ukraine was here at the White House meeting with President Trump asking for more air defense capabilities.

It's also important to note where exactly this incident took place. It was about 55 miles into Polish territory. It's not the first time that a Russian missile has crossed into Polish airspace, but it is the first time that it has actually landed in Poland, and it was occurring about 30 miles south from where Zelenskyy and the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, had been meeting.

Now, Donald Tusk said that all indications suggest that it was a Russian cruise missile. And, of course, any confirmed strike on a NATO member would be a very, very serious incident, including for President Trump and including for the United States. Of course, the NATO charter says that an attack against one is an attack against all. That's enshrined in Article 5. And so if this is indeed what happened, it will be a very serious crossroads, I think, for President Trump and his relationship with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

BLITZER: This is a major development. We'll get analysis from the former NATO Supreme Allied commander, General Wesley Clark. That's coming up later this hour.

Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you very, very much.

And there's more breaking news this morning. The Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation to become the permanent U.S. attorney general and lead the Justice Department is hitting a major roadblock and now in jeopardy before the Senate departs for its August recess. Republican leaders were forced to postpone a vote to advance Blanche's nomination late last night. The key Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, is refusing to back down in a weeks-long battle over Trump administration's controversial $1.8 billion so-called anti- weaponization fund. Listen to this.

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SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): It's just that they refuse to commit to writing what he testified to under oath. And it's not a big ask.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why do you think they're not getting the message from you?

CORNYN: Maybe they think they can roll me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go live right now to CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju, who's up on Capitol Hill, as he always is.

Manu, where does this confirmation process stand right now? The Senate's about to go into recess within a week or so.

RAJU: Yes, it's languishing, and that's a real risk for Todd Blanche and the White House. Because in Washington, if there's no momentum, oftentimes things stall out and oftentimes things collapse, which is why it was so significant, the decision last night by the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Chuck Grassley, to delay that critical vote that was set to take place this morning to advance the Blanche nomination to the Senate floor.

But because of the holdouts, Senator John Cornyn in particular, but also Senator Thom Tillis, that was enough for Grassley to decide to pull the plug and delay this indefinitely until these issues are resolved. Because any one Republican defection on this committee would be enough to deadlock that vote and kill the nomination, which is what Grassley is hoping to avoid.

Now, last night, I'm told that John Cornyn actually provided a counterproposal to the Justice Department as part of this back and forth that they have had. Cornyn wants in writing language saying that that $1.8 billion weaponization fund is dead once and for all.

But also he has raised concerns about this immunity dealing with President Trump and his family's IRS audits. There's concerns about this having an impact on future audits as well as for future presidents. He wants that pared back and he wants that written into a format in which he could agree to.

But he has not gotten that back from the Justice Department. In fact, he just spoke to reporters moments ago, Wolf, and he said, it's very straightforward, and I know Todd Blanche understands it. But I think he's getting -- probably getting some pushback from the White House, and that's making things more complicated than it needs to be, so a sign here that this stalemate is not going to be resolved, at least anytime soon.

We'll see if anything changes here, but there is a lot of belief here on Capitol Hill that it's President Trump, his closest White House advisers, his attorneys, that are preventing the acting attorney general, the attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, from going as far as John Cornyn wants, which means that he may not get confirmed, not before recess or maybe not ever. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thank you very, very much.

I want to get some analysis right now and bring in Congressman Robert Garcia of California. He's the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which is leading the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, as I'm sure many of you know.

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Ranking Member Garcia, thanks so much for joining us.

I know you and other members of the Democratic Party strongly oppose Blanche's confirmation, in part because of how he handled the release of the Epstein files. What's your view on this setback that's happened overnight for his nomination?

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Well, the setback is, is welcome news, but the reality is that it's not just about the weaponization fund, it's not just about the way that Donald Trump is trying to enrich himself and his family by using agencies and the IRS and other means. It's also about the clear corruption and cover-up of the Epstein investigation. We join the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein that have been very clear that Todd Blanche should not be confirmed by the Senate.

And what Senator Cornyn is doing right now is absolutely the right thing. He should lean in, he should not provide the vote, he should put the White House on notice, but he should also expand his reasoning as to why he should oppose this nomination.

Half of the Epstein files, Wolf, have not been released to the public by Todd Blanche's own admission. By his own admission, he recognizes that his department has put the lives of survivors in danger by putting their public information out in the limited release that has happened so far. And so time and time again, Mr. Blanche has given clear reasons for the Senate, not just hopefully Senator Cornyn, but others to oppose the nomination.

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BLITZER: Welcome back. We fixed our audio problems. We're back on the air.

I want to go to CNN's Manu Raju. Manu, I understand you just managed to catch up with Senator Cornyn on the -- in the House of Representatives over there. What did he tell you?

RAJU: Yes. Actually, he just spoke to us on his way into a meeting with the Senate Finance Committee, and the short of it is, John -- Wolf, is that John Cornyn says that there is no deal with the Justice Department, and that he says that someone at the White House is preventing Todd Blanche from reaching a deal over the two big issues that John Cornyn wants in writing to ensure that that $1.8 billion weaponization fund is dead and dealing with immunity for tax audits for the president and the president's family in the future.

Things that he says that Todd Blanche should testify to under oath, but he wants it in writing, and he said he is not getting it in writing. He sent a counterproposal last night to the Justice Department. He got word back this morning that that counterproposal is not good enough for the Justice Department, which means this nomination will continue to languish.

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CORNYN: I thought we were pretty close to landing the plane last night, but this morning, there's been some more complications. I think if this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would've worked this out. But, apparently, he's getting some pushback from higher-ups at the White House. I don't know who, but this doesn't need to be this hard.

RAJU: What have you heard from the White House, and what have you heard from the Justice Department? CORNYN: Well, we made -- they made a proposal last night. We made a counterproposal. And we thought we basically had met in the middle, but heard this morning that that was all off.

REPORTER: So, he doesn't want to put it in writing? Is that what it is?

CORNYN: That's basically it, yes. And it's what he testified to under oath. So, it's not like this is something new and different. And it causes me concern if they don't want to put it in writing that this is not something that is going to be enforceable in the long-term. Because, as you know, people can change their mind later on, whether it's to reconstitute the weaponization fund or that what they claim the limits are of the release, that now they take a different position in a court.

So, we need to get --

RAJU: Can you explain what that counterproposal was? What did you offer?

CORNYN: It's basically we provided some additional documentation that did not require changing the release itself. Quoting his testimony before the Judiciary Committee and making it clear that what he testified to was what the -- how the release should be interpreted if it ever was called into question in a later lawsuit.

RAJU: Do you think if he audit --

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RAJU: But actually, so it's very clear here, Wolf, that nothing has really changed despite what the senator said there, that he was trying to meet the Justice Department in the middle, or at least move off of maybe some of his chief demands. But the Justice Department was unable to meet him there, and he thinks it's someone from the White House who's intervening. The question is who at the White House? John Cornyn doesn't quite know, or if it goes all the way up to Donald Trump.

Now, we also caught up with Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the committee, the, the, the key player here, because he wants Todd Blanche confirmed. But he can't move forward because of the opposition of Senator John Cornyn as well as Senator Thom Tillis.

And this is what Grassley told us just moments ago about whether or not this Blanche nomination is effectively dead.

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SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): It's my intention to get Blanche approved. Exactly when that can happen, I don't know, but we're going to work hard to get the differences worked out.

RAJU: How significant are the differences right now? How significant are the differences right now?

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RAJU: So, Chairman, they're not dealing with any follow-up questions because there are a lot of questions about whether or not he will actually try to move forward before the recess or not.

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But if Cornyn is still in this position, Wolf, there is very little room for Grassley to maneuver. And if the Justice Department does not move closer to him, that means that Cornyn is still going to be a no, and likely Thom Tillis as well, which means that the president is not going to get his attorney general pick confirmed before the August recess, which could mean this will hang over a recess that will go into the fall, and that could mean the end of this nomination to be the next attorney general of the United States.

Although, he is still serving in an acting capacity, Wolf, so perhaps that's one incentive of why the president doesn't want to go as far as what John Cornyn wants, because he's an acting attorney general, just not the permanent one that the president has nominated him for.

BLITZER: And I just want to be precise, Manu. At issue right now is that $1.8 billion so-called weaponization program to reimburse people who stormed the U.S. Capitol, including beating police officers, and to pay them, in effect, for what they've gone through. Is that right?

RAJU: Yes, that's one of the chief demands. Remember, that $10 billion lawsuit that the president initially filed against the IRS claiming that he had been hurt b- by the unauthorized release of his tax returns led to that very unusual settlement that included that $1.8 billion weaponization fund, but also language shielding the president from IRS audits from past -- any past tax enforcement. There have been a lot of questions on Capitol Hill about that audit issue, how much it could affect the president in the future, his family, other organizations.

And that's one of the big sticking points, too. John Cornyn wants clarity on that, wants essentially to -- in writing, what Todd Blanche testified to under oath, that it would not affect future tax audits as well. But he has not gotten that, Wolf, which is why John Cornyn has really been scratching his head, doesn't understand exactly why it appears that the White House, in his view, is intervening here and blocking him from going forward.

So, John Cornyn, of course, is in no incentive to cut a deal with a president who backed his primary challenger earlier this year, and that primary challenger, Ken Paxton, defeated him in his primary. Cornyn essentially told me yesterday he feels fully independent and is willing to break from the president.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens, a very sensitive situation indeed. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill. Thanks very, very much.

I want to bring back Congressman Robert Garcia of California. He's the top Democrat of the House Oversight Committee, which is leading the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. I know you've repeatedly spoken out, Congressman, against Todd Blanche's nomination because of his handling of the Epstein files as well. What's your reaction to what you just heard from Republican Senator John Cornyn and the chairman of the committee, Chuck Grassley, about this current holdup?

GARCIA: Well, I think Senator Cornyn as well as Senator Tillis are both doing the right thing by pushing back, creating roadblocks, slowing the nomination, and they should stick to that position. I mean, look, when you look at the weaponization part on its own, I mean, you're talking about paying the people that tried to overthrow an election, that attacked the Capitol, that were insurrectionists against our country and Constitution, and there's no guarantee that this weaponization point is actually dead. The reality is that we're not sure if Trump -- if he's going to try to bring it back.

And so I think the push here is right. But also on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, I mean, here is someone in Todd Blanche that essentially has not released half the files, is not following the law, that the survivors themselves have said multiple times he should not be confirmed. He dismissed the survivors at that hastily arranged meeting that he just had, and, of course, put their lives in danger by releasing their personal information.

And so the list goes on and on, weaponization of government, the Epstein coverup that's happening at the White House and the DOJ. And let's remember that Pam Bondi herself is the one that put the Epstein investigation clearly on Todd Blanche, and all of its failures.

And so I hope that the senators stand strong. Quite frankly, more of them should be doing the right thing, but, hopefully, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis decide to vote no, or at least slow this nomination and hopefully end it.

BLITZER: And I want to be clear, Congressman, the two Republican senators skeptical of Todd Blanche on the Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, have not ruled out supporting him if he sufficiently addresses certain issues. But what if that gets resolved? What makes you sure this isn't just a delay in Todd Blanche's eventual confirmation to become the U.S. attorney general?

GARCIA: Well, that's what's very concerning. I think a lot of us, certainly, Democrats that have been working with the Department of Justice on the Epstein investigation are very concerned that, of course, both of them are going to cave and finally confirm Todd Blanche.

Todd Blanche, as he has said himself, is Donald Trump's personal lawyer. He was Donald Trump's lawyer before he was appointed to the Department of Justice.

[10:25:03]

He has consistently, consistently put people's lives in danger from the survivor perspective. They've told those stories themselves. And he has completely, completely and, we believe, led this cover-up of the Epstein investigation.

Now, why he won't release all the files, why he won't bring survivors justice, why he won't go after for convictions against the powerful men who raped and abused women and children, these are the questions that need to be answered.

We also believe that he needs to be in front of our committee, which he has refused to do. Fortunately, we're pushing him. We hope to get him soon, and he looks like he's going to be coming in, but that should be happening before this confirmation process. So, he should not receive a single vote.

BLITZER: On another sensitive and very timely topic, Congressman, I know you're demanding information from Taylor Farms about that food company's potential role in the outbreak that's sickening so many Americans right now. You allege it could have been -- it could have used its political donations and White House connections to interfere with the FDA's investigation into that contaminated food supply that resulted in that cyclospora outbreak. What do you think? What's your reaction?

GARCIA: Well, I think, look, we have to just see what's happened in the last -- over the course of the last few weeks and months. It's very clear that the leadership there have been friendly with the president and the White House and made significant donations. And then, of course, there's been this back and forth with the FDA and the White House messaging. First, you know, arrows were pointed in that direction, and then all of a sudden the president is backtracking with someone that he considers a donor and possible friend.

I think these are -- these raise concerns, and why are we getting word from inside the FDA that there are concerns that somehow their investigation is going to be slowed, or there are going to be actual things in the way of them getting their information, their investigation through because of that relationship and that donor relationship?

At the end of the day, there's been a serious health emergency. There's been obviously an outbreak that's affecting a lot of people, and we need to get to the bottom of what happened. What did Donald Trump himself engage with the FDA or anyone at the White House? So, those are the questions that we're asking. We're demanding those answers.

BLITZER: Taylor Farms told CNN in a statement, Congressman, that it, quote, categorically rejects any suggestion that the company has attempted or received favorable regulatory treatment as a result of political contributions or any other improper influence. These allegations are false, end quote. What evidence is driving your investigation?

GARCIA: Well, what we want to know then is the connection between Taylor Farms, its leadership, and the donations to President Trump, and were conversations had. Was there a back and forth as to why the messaging, why there was an investigation that was beginning through the FDA, and then all of a sudden either slowed or certainly through comments out of the White House attention was being diverted from Taylor Farms?

And so these are legitimate questions. What we want is the truth. We've sent questions that we want answered. Taylor Farms should answer those questions. If they have nothing to hide, then they should speak to the Oversight Committee.

BLITZER: Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California, thanks so much for joining us.

GARCIA: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up new comments from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about his meeting with President Trump, his response to President Trump resuming these military strikes on Iran overnight.

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