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The Brief with Jim Sciutto
CNN International: Trump's Tariff Pause Set to Expire; Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Trump Tariff Case; U.S. Special Envoy and Ambassador to Head to Gaza Friday; Israel Forces Fired Shots "Just Inches" from Crowd Waiting for Food Aid; Kyiv Moves to Restore Anti-Corruption Agency Independence; New Revelations at NTSB Hearing. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired July 31, 2025 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. And you're watching
"The Brief."
Just ahead this hour, the pause on most of President Trump's sweeping tariffs will expire in just a few hours. Ukraine is moving to restore the
independence of two critical anti-corruption agencies. And it's been a blockbuster earning season for big tech, Apple and Amazon the latest to
beat expectations.
President Trump's latest trade deal deadline runs out in just about six hours. There is no indication he will offer countries a last-minute
reprieve from higher tariffs. White House officials tell CNN that Trump feels emboldened to push ahead and personally vindicated against critics
who warned that tariffs would tank the markets.
Even though Trump himself said there would be no extensions, he did give Mexico another 90 days to reach an agreement. That pause will keep tariffs
on certain Mexican goods at 25 percent rather than the 30 percent rate that was set to kick in tomorrow.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said negotiations with other countries are going right down to the wire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The rest of those countries that either do not have a deal or have a letter, they will be hearing from
this administration by the midnight deadline tonight. So, yes, tomorrow, August 1st, the reciprocal rates will be going into effect. If more deals
are cut between now and midnight, I will never count out the president. You've seen him do it before. He cut three deals in one day, very recently.
So, we'll see what happened. I do know foreign leaders are ringing his phone, realizing this deadline is a real thing for them tomorrow, and
they're bringing offers to the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as the deadline approached. The new inflation reading showed consumer expenses picked up in June, even before
those higher tariff rates take effect. Philip Mattingly joins me now. And, Phil, it does seem that the president, as we were saying there, feels
vindicated. He feels no pressure, not even from the markets as we saw, you know, a few months ago, to pull back from his demands. I imagine we're
going to see more of this going forward.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF U.S. DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I don't think there's any question about it. And I think, Jim, you could just look over
the course of the last 14 days, even the course of the last two or three days, to understand kind of the approach the president is taking and the
reasons why he and his team feel vindicated at this moment.
And what I mean by that is it's not just the reciprocal tariffs from that liberation day and the famous chart that we've all looked at repeatedly
over the course of the last 120 days, it's the sectoral tariffs that he's been putting on various industries, various sectors, more of those will be
coming in the weeks ahead.
His willingness to use tariffs as a political cudgel for allies, like he's doing in Brazil, we are going to see more and more of this in the weeks
ahead because the president doesn't believe that not only have none of the worst-case scenarios or kind of potential for doom scenarios that were laid
out initially have they played out, in his mind, but he also believes that it's been extraordinarily effective.
And the reason why is because of kind of a through line that the president and his economic team had going into this entire process, which was the
U.S. has significant leverage and there's certainly truth to that. It's the largest market in the world, and they believe that there would not be
retaliation for the entirety of the world, with the exception of China, that has been the case in terms of retaliatory tariffs and that the market
is so valuable that countries would, A, have to accept higher tariffs. That is certainly happening at a level we haven't seen since the 1930s, and that
they would come in and need to make deals. That has happened over the course of the last couple weeks.
Now, a couple of critical caveats here. There are a myriad of warning signs in U.S. economic data, softness and corporate investment, concern about how
long consumers will continue to hold up kind of beating expectations as they have for the better part of several years. There's a reason Jay
Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, is not willing to cut rates right now. He said just yesterday, we are still at an early stage of seeing how these
tariffs are actually going to filter through supply chains and how countries are going to react.
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But there is no question that the president, in his mind, the jury's not out anymore. Everything has come in and he believes it has worked exactly
how he laid it out, as chaotic it has been and will be I think in the weeks ahead.
SCIUTTO: And listen, you do have the leaders of some of our closest allies saying that they simply don't trust the U.S. So, they don't consider these
deals fair. But for now, at least that power of the U.S. market rules. Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.
Well, President Trump's trade strategy faced a key legal test in U.S. Federal Appeals Court today. 12 states and five small businesses argued
that he overstepped his legal authority by imposing tariffs using emergency economic powers instead of seeking congressional approval first. Lower
court has already ruled against Trump in the case, and while judges aggressively question White House officials today, any ruling against the
administration could of course be appealed up to the Supreme Court.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has been leading the legal fight to strike down these tariffs, and he joins me now. So, how was the day in
court?
DAY RAYFIELD, OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL: You know, I think it is incredibly humbling to be in a court with 11 judges that are grilling the federal
government, and it's an interesting moment when the federal government looks those judges square in the eyes and says, you don't have a role here.
You cannot cabin the authority of the president under this area. And says, you know what, we can set tariffs at absolutely any level, and you can't do
anything about it.
And so, it was a very interesting, important moment I think for America as we really consider the impacts of tariffs.
SCIUTTO: The trouble is courts take time, right, to hear the cases and to make a decision. And then you have, of course, the appeals process here.
Trump is imposing the tariffs already, right? I mean, they're a fact of life today and countries are yielding and making deals based on those
tariffs. In the best-case scenario, how quickly could the courts come to a decision, either in your favor or against you?
RAYFIELD: Well, they're not going to do it in days, right. And obviously, we have deadlines pressing upon us. They're going to happen likely in a
matter of weeks or in months, I think is where it hit -- where it hits.
But I think you bring up an interesting point, right? We always talk about these as impacting other countries, but it's not impacting other countries.
You look at Goldman Sachs, you look at JPMorgan. All of their data shows that roughly about 70 percent, give or take, are paid by the American
people. So, they can talk about deals all the time but they've never talked about taxes.
And I'm a politician, right? I don't talk about taxes on American people as deals for all of us, right? We're the ones paying these things. And we
think we need to ground ourselves in that reality. Because they've already bragged 150 million so far. It's going to be 300 billion, excuse me, by the
end of the year.
SCIUTTO: And you do begin to hear people describe it in moments of honesty as tax in effect largely paid by Americans. I mean, the legal issue here is
that if the president can bypass Congress to rewrite trade policy, which constitutionally typically is in their space, what precedent would that set
or what precedent is it setting?
RAYFIELD: Well, really, what it will be is instructive to Congress. And so, Congress passed IEEPA, they gave the president certain powers under an
emergency. It doesn't ever list tariffs as one of those powers. And so, they come in saying, hey, we can pass an emergency order and you don't get
to review it. We can do anything under this Emergency Economic Powers. So, I think if the courts let that stand, which I think would be incredibly
damaging to what is being damaged to our economy and to our people, what's going to end up happening is Congress is going to have to consider have we
gone too far?
They now have new information, and do we need to curtail the authority that has the courts have now uniformly given the executive.
SCIUTTO: Listen, Trump has greatly stretched the definition of national emergency. I mean, even going back to his first administration when he used
that to justify tariffs on Canada. There's the particular case now of Brazil, right? So, here's a country with a -- where the U.S. has a trade
surplus and Trump has taken aim at the country, it seems, because he doesn't like that their own courts are prosecuting his friend, Jair
Bolsonaro. Does a case like that where the rationale seems totally detached from a trade justification, is that a broader opening for legal challenge?
RAYFIELD: It absolutely is. And it makes our point. Because we sit there and the judges will say this, so you're saying you can make an emergency
order on anything? For instance, I want to make an emergency order on Canadian maple syrup. But then I'm going to tax Canadian hockey players,
you know, their, salaries 200 percent. And so, it is the egregious in nature of where he's going. And now, it's just political vendettas, right?
It's looking at someone saying, I don't like this in the world. I can now create an executive order, which already is not reviewable. And then that
gives me this broad scope of powers, right?
SCIUTTO: Yes.
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RAYFIELD: It's a very scary thing. It's a slippery slope. And I think the courts are very mindful of how dangerous this is.
SCIUTTO: Listen, we have a lot of slippery slopes happening at once, right, where the president seems to be expanding powers or at least
compared to how they were used prior. Now, to your point, the lawsuit challenges Trump's use of emergency powers under IEEPA. He does have other
means if he were to lose here to then attempt to impose those tariffs. Does that make this case? I don't want to say impractical, right, be -- and
first of all, it's going to take time to get to a decision, but then he has a whole another way to go if he loses here.
RAYFIELD: It doesn't make it impractical at all. Because the way that Congress set this out, they said Congress, we're going to give the
president some power to set tariffs, however, we're putting sidebars or we call safeguards for our economy, for our consumers, for those
relationships, those trade relationships we've built through for decades.
And the president has to follow those safeguards. And here, in this case, he didn't want to use that existing law. Now, remember, he used only this
law during his first four years. This is the law that every other president has used. He wanted to get around those safeguards. Expand executive
authority. And so, that's why he's tried this new approach under IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, that no other president in the
history of the country has used.
SCIUTTO: Well, let's see when the courts decide. Dan Rayfield, thanks so much for joining.
RAYFIELD: Yes, thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will go to Gaza on Friday with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, as global criticism mounts of
Israel over Gaza's worsening starvation crisis. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says they will inspect aid distribution sites there and
secure a plan to deliver more food as well as meet with Palestinians to hear firsthand about the dire situation on the ground.
On Thursday, Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. The question is, will ceasefire talks resume and really, will
they go anywhere? Hamas tells CNN, it is committed to continued negotiations, but first, the situation in Gaza must improve significantly.
This comes amid reports that Israeli forces fired gunshots within inches of a crowd waiting for a U.N. aid convoy. Salma Abdelaziz has more on the
perilous effort simply to get food in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are watching an aid convoy as it enters the Gaza Strip.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kids. It's children.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Israeli troops firing warning shots just inches away, according to the U.N.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do this. Don't do this. No, no, no.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): This aid convoy was held at an Israeli checkpoint for nearly two and a half hours. So, by the time it is allowed to pass,
thousands of people are ready to descend.
Each face here is etched with fear and desperation. Nothing makes it to the United Nation's warehouses. On the other side of the enclave lies another
aid entry point, Zikim. Gazans call it a place of death. For most, there is an arduous journey to get here and then a long wait, often crouched and
afraid that death may strike.
Suddenly, people start running towards danger. Food has arrived. Our cameraman hangs back for his safety. As people return, so do the accounts
of horror at the crossing. This injured man says he's lucky. He made it out alive.
You go out to get a bag of flour for your family, he says, but you are the one that returns in a body bag.
Amid global outrage, Israel says it is implementing tactical military pauses for 10 hours a day in limited parts of Gaza to allow more aid into
the Strip. But even during these so-called pauses, fathers are risking their lives to feed their children.
Three hours under fire and tanks beside us just to get this bag, he says, we want the aid delivered to our children safely, peacefully. Please end
this siege on us and on our children.
On this day, at least 60 people were killed trying to get food aid, according to Palestinian health officials. But the dangers don't end here.
Criminal gangs may try to rob them on the way home. Some have armed themselves with household objects just in case.
If they may get back, their families will eat tonight, a luxury here where a third of people go one or more days without food. Everyone here is
afraid, even the aid workers. CNN spoke to a local clansman who sent us this video. He says it shows his men providing security to an NGO. Loaded
truck speed down the road as the clansman fired dozens of warning shots.
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This is seemingly the only way to ensure the cargo reaches its destination intact. Law and order has broken down here. That's why Israel says it is
now allowing airdrops. But the U.N. warns these are inefficient, costly, and dangerous.
You can see why here, the goods land amid gunfire, only the strong or armed will grab a box.
I got nothing, this woman says. The man behind her ads, the criminals take it and sell it on the black market. This is not a solution.
These chaotic, limited, and deadly sites are now the only way most can get food. Children are left fighting over scraps. Many will go to bed with
empty bellies tonight.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: A desperate fight just to eat. Well, coming up after the break, a corruption climbed down for Ukraine's president, Zelenskyy, who is now
promising to protect the independence of two key anti-corruption agencies. Does this reversal go far enough? We're going to discuss coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: After facing the first major anti-government protest since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine is moving to restore the
power of two anti-corruption agencies. Parliament has now approved a bill giving the country's key agencies their independence back, that's days
after President Zelenskyy brought them under government control, which sparked those protests.
The bill drew major criticism from inside and outside Ukraine, including close allies such as the European Union. Zelenskyy initially said they did
it to rid the two agencies of Russian influence. Ukraine has long been considered one of Europe's most corrupt countries and continues to fight
it.
Joining me now is Yevhen Krapyvin He's head of Law and Order at Ukraine's Agency for Legislative Initiatives, an independent think tank which
monitors judicial reform. Thanks so much for joining.
YEVHEN KRAPYVIN, HEAD OF LAW AND ORDER, UKRAINE'S AGENCY FOR LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES: Hello. Thank you for inviting me.
SCIUTTO: So, this is quite a reversal in the span of just a few days. Do you believe that President Zelenskyy restoring this law and the
independence of these agencies that he has solved the problem, reverse the damage?
[18:20:00]
KRAPYVIN: Yes. So, the draft of law is already voted silent and even entered into force. So, according to the laws, the procedural independence
of (INAUDIBLE) anti-corruption produce is restored. But still, there are no -- not all the negative consequences are restored. And for example, some
negative issues, provisions on prosecutor office, on the consolation or the competition to prosecutor's office and so on are still on the table and
will work on fix it.
SCIUTTO: President Zelenskyy, as I've said, justified this by saying there was Russian influence inside these agencies. Was that a credible claim and
has that -- if so, has that been fixed?
KRAPYVIN: Well, I need to remind on the presumption of innocence. So, it's like a version of State Security Service. They provided a massive search
and arrests in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, but in the end, we have just two facts of detectives who traced it with Russian spies, with Russian
influence.
But again, still, it's like an investigatory version. And they were arrested, notice of suspicion, but still, they waiting for the court and we
cannot 100 percent say that it is really so. But again. Two person for the whole bureau, which has more than 300 detectives, I think that it's not
like a characteristic of all the bureau. It could be just two men who really conduct crimes against Ukraine.
SCIUTTO: You and others have noted, The New York Times recently, that the Anti-Corruption Bureau has charged 42 lawmakers since 2022, 71 in all since
2016. How extensive is the corruption problem there and do you believe it's getting better?
KRAPYVIN: It is getting better. So, we built this anti-corruption infrastructure to prosecute these top-level corruption cases against MPs,
ministers, judges, and so on. And, previously, before the Revolution of Dignity, we have really a huge corruption in Ukraine. But I hope, and the
numbers are support my versions that we are going positively on this and we see the effectiveness of this voice.
And this attack -- a democratic attack against the NABU and SAP, which we see in the last week is a sign that the system, the people who, on the top
level of government who do not want to be prosecuted, they trying to stop anti-corruption bodies and stop the prosecution of crimes.
SCIUTTO: Well, Yevhen Krapyvin, thanks so much for your efforts there, and we appreciate you joining.
A second day of disturbing witness testimony at the U.S. Federal Hearing into the deadly midair collision in Washington, D.C. in January. We're
going to speak to U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell about where air safety in the U.S. goes from here. Have the problems been corrected? That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Jim Sciutto. And here are more international headlines we're watching today.
Key trade deals around the world remain up in the air as President Trump's tariffs deadline expires at midnight tonight, less than six hours away.
There has been no last-minute retrieve except for Mexico, which we'll keep paying a 25 percent rate rather than the 30 percent, which was supposed to
kick in tomorrow. The White House says last-minute agreements with other countries are still possible.
Just as U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff is visiting Jerusalem, we're learning from two sources that Hamas has stopped engaging in Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
Witkoff met with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, today. The White House says Witkoff and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee,
will travel to Gaza on Friday to inspect aid operations there.
A thunderstorm watch is underway for more than 34 million people across the U.S. That watch includes here in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia,
and New York. In Queens, one man was left standing on the roof his car waiting to be rescued from a flooded expressway. There have now been more
than a thousand flight cancellations, 4,500 delays at major northeastern airports due to all that rain.
Well, tourists and residents in Hawaii can once again relax in paradise. Tuesday's, earthquake off the coast of Russia prompted tsunami alerts all
across the Pacific Ocean. For those in Hawaii, that meant evacuating to higher ground and for tourists trying to find a place to take shelter.
Here's CNN's will Ripley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There's nothing quite like a Waikiki sunset, that's why so many people come here. A
picturesque vacation that suddenly turned into this tsunami sirens, traffic jams. The shock of Wednesday's 8.8 magnitude quake near Russia shuttering
across the Pacific, around the world. And here in Hawaii, vacationers found themselves suddenly scrambling.
When the warning came in, Norwegian Cruise lines, pride of America had to abandon port hours ahead of schedule. Passengers ran trying to make it.
Those who did not, forced to flee.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's scary. It's crazy right now. Like everybody is evacuating all at the same time.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Hundreds stranded.
JEFFERY BOOKER, VACATIONER FROM ORLANDO, FLORIDA: But we knew at that point we weren't going to make it. So, it's pulling away now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the hotels are taken. So, we're probably sleeping in my Jeep here. Yes, that's what we're going to do.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Before the ship came back the next day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look, they're welcoming us. We're back.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Flights heading to Hawaii turned around in midair. The impact of travel cancellations will be felt for days.
[18:30:00]
RIPLEY: So, what'd you guys do?
JENNY MASSEY, VACATIONER FROM CALIFORNIA: So, we ended up going up to our 28th floor of our hotel and just staying there the whole night.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Jenny Massey and her family are from California. She went to the University of Hawaii. A trip meant for nostalgia suddenly
became a night to remember.
J. MASSEY: I'm super thankful because it would've been devastating if something happened. We love Waikiki in this area. But it is a bit surreal.
RIPLEY (voice-over): And fun, says her son Brandon.
BRANDON MASSEY, VACATIONER FROM CALIFORNIA: We get to swim at the beach now.
RIPLEY: Are the waves bigger today?
B. MASSEY: Yes.
RIPLEY: Yes.
B. MASSEY: It's --
RIPLEY: They're really big.
B. MASSEY: It's funner.
RIPLEY (voice-over): but the National Weather Service urges caution. Strong currents and unpredictable surf can still be dangerous.
RIPLEY: So, here we are, 24 hours after Hawaii's tsunami scare and Waikiki beaches as busy as ever. For a lot of these people, this was just a minor
blip on their vacation radar. A story they can go back and tell their friends about.
DOAN TRANG, VACATIONER FROM CALIFORNIA: And this happened.
RIPLEY: Yes.
TRANG: You know, once in my lifetime.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Doan Trang is a surfer from California. She and her son heard the sirens and walked two hours to get to higher ground.
RIPLEY: They did a good job warning everybody.
TRANG: Warning everybody, because you do have to warn people. You know, the Thailand and everything in 2004, it's a big thing.
RIPLEY (voice-over): In 2004, more than 230,000 people died when an earthquake triggered tsunami slammed into countries across the Indian
Ocean. In 2011, a tsunami off Japan's coast killed nearly 20,000 people, crippling Fukushima's nuclear plant, sending debris across the Pacific.
This week's earthquake was the strongest in the world since that day.
TRANG: I just thought about it, say, wow, what a night, you know?
RIPLEY: Could have been a lot worse.
TRANG: Could have been a lot worse.
RIPLEY (voice-over): And so, tourists are back on the sand, grateful for another day in paradise.
Will Ripley, CNN, Honolulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: A troubling series of revelations that the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's hearing today into what caused the deadly
January collision in Washington, well, there it is, between a U.S. Army helicopter and commercial flight killed all 67 people on board, both
aircraft.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy blasted the Federal Aviation Administration for failing to act on multiple warning signs. Also, something of a bombshell
admission for military officials that army helicopters routinely fly below planes that are already descending. Here's some of what we heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: There is at no point should there ever be helicopters flying underneath civilian aircraft that are departing and
landing on any runway, any runway in the national airspace. And it's -- and I'm concerned that if it's happening here, that it's happening somewhere
else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: In addition, an investigator testified that air traffic controllers and pilots struggle with the constant stream of planes in the
D.C. area and simply have to, quote, "make it work." Because for now, there's no alternative.
Joining us now for a closer look, U.S. Senator from the State of Washington, Maria Cantwell, also ranking member on the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Senator, thanks so much for taking the time.
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA), RANKING MEMBER, SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION AND SENIOR MEMBER, SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE:
Thank you, Jim. There is an alternative, by the way, that is for the FAA to do its job. And we need this agency to be aggressive about safety, the data
and information and the warning signs that were here that the NTSB has uncovered.
SCIUTTO: Yes, the warning signs stood out to me, particularly this revelation that between 2021 and 2024 there were 15,000 near miss events in
the area, which as someone who flies in and out of that airport all the time, I would've liked someone to do something about it prior to a deadly
event such as this. What took so long?
CANTWELL: Well, my guess is we're going to find out even tomorrow more evidence that this flight path of allowing military helicopters to be so
close proximity to commercial flights was a bad idea in general. But we have to ask very tough questions of the FAA. How is it with those warning
signs and with this information and even air traffic controllers suggesting that this flight pass should be changed, no one changed it?
SCIUTTO: Is there any worry about a broader problem? Because just in the last several weeks, we've reported on this broadcast about, well, there was
that encounter with a B-52 bomber at another airport or close encounter between a commercial aircraft that had to reverse, fighter jets in other
places. I mean, do you have any concern that there's a broader issue with the interaction of military aircraft and civilian aircraft?
CANTWELL: Well, absolutely. We want the FAA, we want the secretary of transportation to investigate in high volume cities where there is
transportation interface between the military and commercial flights that we have acceptable routing.
[18:35:00]
If there's something that exists in DCA where just a calculation of being off by a few hundred feet could cause such a calamity, our -- my heart
still breaks for these families. They had to sit there and listen to all of this yesterday, today. I can't even imagine. And so, we want to make sure
that if the FAA didn't take the precautions in this particular area, corridor, what other corridors they might also be missing?
SCIUTTO: That's a fair question. The other issue, and this has been a subject of focus since really the moments after the crash, that there was
one controller handling two roles at the time, and this seems to be part of a broader issue. There was this 2023 FAA safety review that found that
staffing combined with outdated equipment and technology was, quote, "rendering the current level of safety unsustainable." Folks have been
talking about solving the staffing problem for a long time. Is that problem getting solved?
CANTWELL: Well, we did pass an FAA bill that increased the staffing. And I can tell you, we were advocates from the very beginning that the number one
priority in the legislation should be increasing the amount of air traffic controllers. We can't ask people to work on six days work. We can't have
staffing shortages. We can't have people under-skilled, not ready to handle the job. We need to make sure that we have the best qualified people.
The other thing is, Jim, I think we have to think about is that we are now back to pre -- above 2019 level. For a while, transportation took a break,
if you will, post -- you know, during COVID, post-COVID. But now, we are back into growth numbers above 2019, and I think we have to ask ourselves,
what kind of stress is that putting on the system? I want the FAA to wake up every day, I want the new administrator to wake up and say, what kind of
stress is that putting on the system that we may not be calculating and take account for it?
SCIUTTO: You may remember this, but in the immediate wa immediate wake of this crash in January, Trump -- President Trump and other officials implied
that DEI might have been to blame. And just to remind folks, I'm going to play some of those comments now and get your thoughts on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: So, if you look back to the Obama years, there were some DEI principles that were brought into air
traffic control. They were new. We brought in more people into the academy, but less people passed through the academy and became trained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Because I have common sense. OK. And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Has any part of this investigation by anyone turned up any evidence that DEI played any role in this air tragedy?
CANTWELL: No. No. And I think, you know, shortly after the -- after those original comments that the president made, he did walk those back after we
provided lots of data and evidence that showed that it didn't.
Now, his administration did give an exemption for the Army to fly that helicopter without the proper out signaling that might have been being able
to be picked up by somebody in the region. And we have questions of why did the FAA give an exemption? I had a whistleblower deliver a letter to my
office basically saying the military never planned on turning this, you know, digital sound signal out. They never planned on it, even though in
they asked for the FAA to give them an the exemption, they said, oh, well, we'll only very rarely do that.
So, look, it all boils down to we need a more aggressive FAA. That's their job to protect the flying public, to make these decisions. And if air
traffic controllers are telling them, look, this is too much, then they need to listen.
SCIUTTO: Senator Maria Cantwell, we appreciate the work you're doing on this and thanks so much for joining the show.
CANTWELL: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Well, just terrifying moments on a Delta flight from Utah to Amsterdam. The plane had to make an emergency landing after it was rocked
by severe air turbulence. Some passengers thrown into the ceiling as the aircraft jolted up and down. More than two dozen people were taken to the
hospital. We have the latest from Pete Muntean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The images captured by passengers prove the force of what could have been the worst-case of
turbulence on a U.S. commercial flight in years, anything not strapped down was tossed to the ceiling of the Airbus A330, about 40 minutes into the
nine-hour flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Minneapolis tower, Delta 56, emergency aircraft.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The unplanned landing in Minneapolis was caught on video with emergency crews waiting at the gate. 25 people, nearly one in
every 10 on board were taken to hospitals.
WILLIAM WEBSTER, DELTA 56 PASSENGER: I watched a wine cart just get thrown into the air.
[18:40:00]
MUNTEAN (voice-over): William Webster says the bad turbulence came on quickly and only got worse.
WEBSTER: It was very unnerving. And I mean, I'm a frequent flyer. Like I'm on like 80 flights a year, probably flown over a million miles in my life.
Never seen anything like that.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Flightradar 24 shows the flight climbed more than 1,000 feet in less than 30 seconds followed by a rapid descent, causing
passengers to scream and phones to go flying. The flight was over Wyoming where the National Weather Service warned of potential thunderstorms on
Wednesday.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A SIGMET, which is an aviation weather advisory, was in effect where we believe the turbulence took place
over portions of Wyoming.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): It is just the latest example of passengers being rocked by turbulence in flight. Last year, a British man died after
turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight. But fatalities are rare and such incidents often leave flight attendants with broken bones. In this latest
case, one passenger who suffered whiplash said the episode felt like an earthquake.
LESLIE WOODS, DELTA PASSENGER: There was a little girl across the aisle from me that was just terrified and she screamed, we're going to die, we're
going to die. So, I was trying to keep her calm and I really thought we were going to die. It was that scary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: What a moment in the air. Thanks to Pete Muntean for that. Still ahead, so-called wrench attacks on wealthy crypto investors are on the
rise. How your digital assets can become a target for criminals.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: A well-known online gamer and OnlyFans model was the victim of a terrifying home invasion in March. The attackers were after her
cryptocurrency. It's what's come to be known as a wrench attack. Shimon Prokupecz has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Kaitlyn Siragusa's attackers came under the cover of darkness, guns drawn
with one demand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just do it. Go, go, go. Where's the -- crypto? Give us the crypto. I swear to God. I will cut you and kill you.
KAITLYN SIRAGUSA, ATTACK VICTIM: They point the gun at me from the hallway and they tell me to stand up. And so, I'm freaking out and I'm standing up,
and there's a chair over here. And so they kind of just all come towards me, because there's three of them, and they corner me into the chair and
that's when they start like pistol whipping me, you know, asking where the crypto is, holding me at gunpoint.
[18:45:00]
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Siragusa is a famous streamer and OnlyFans model, known to her millions of followers as Amouranth. And while she's no crypto
kingpin, she believes that a tweet nine months earlier, alluding to her investments in crypto, is what prompted the attack.
PROKUPECZ: So, you are sitting there and the three of them are like around you, like this sort of --
SIRAGUSA: Yes.
PROKUPECZ: -- masks on.
SIRAGUSA: Oh, yes.
PROKUPECZ: Guns. And then one guy --
SIRAGUSA: Yes.
PROKUPECZ: Is it here?
SIRAGUSA: Yes. He was -- no, he was -- he was on this side of me, holding the gun to my head and the other one was here hitting me.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): What Siragusa's assailants didn't realize the entire attack was being captured by surveillance cameras. And Kaitlyn
wasn't alone. She called her husband, Nick, when the attack began and he was listening to the entire frightening episode from another part of their
home.
NICK LEE, ATTACK VICTIM: I got to hear kind of all the dialogue that was happening and then even them hitting her. I'm running over here. I go to
the little safe thing I have here, and I type in my code and then it pops open. I grab the handgun and then I slip this on, grab this, and then I'm
rushing downstairs.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Fearing for her life, Siragusa decided to lead her attackers towards her husband.
PROKUPECZ: So, you, at this point, you're up. What do you tell them?
SIRAGUSA: Like, oh, I remembered where it is. I'll take it to you two. Like, it is so comical, honestly.
It's in the pool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not in the pool. Stop playing.
PROKUPECZ: And so, how does this -- this is blood here.
SIRAGUSA: Yes. Those were my hand bleeding after it was touching -- it was my head dripped onto my hand.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Surveillance footage captured Siragusa sprinting across her driveway.
SIRAGUSA: Over here. It's in here.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Leading them to what she hopes is in ambush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go.
SIRAGUSA: As soon as I turn the corner of these stairs, he's there waiting at the top and he tells me to get down. And I'm about like right here when
I do, I just hugged the side of the wall.
LEE: I fired three shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got shot. I got shot. I got shot.
LEE: I hit the guy once, I believe, in the lower abdomen area.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Attacks on prominent crypto holders have been growing. Police say in May, a man in New York was kidnapped, held hostage
and tortured for three weeks by men trying to gain access to his Bitcoin account. He escaped with his life, beaten, bloody and barefoot.
That same month in France gunmen ambushed the daughter and grandson of a French cryptocurrency boss, attempting to abduct them off the streets of
Paris in broad daylight.
And it's not just the crypto elite being targeted. In 2023, an elderly couple in North Carolina was held hostage by two men posing as construction
workers. They zip-tied the couple before threatening to cut off the man's toes, genitalia, and rape his wife before making off with more than
$150,000 in cryptocurrency.
Both men were convicted, and Justice Department officials say the ringleader is now serving 47 years in prison for his involvement in a
series of similar attacks. The other is awaiting sentencing.
Ari Redbord is the global head of policy for TRM Labs. They're a blockchain intelligence firm that tracks wrench attacks. They issued a report this
year analyzing wrench attacks and identified three key factors contributing to their rise: The perceived anonymity and irreversibility of
cryptocurrency transactions, the public visibility of wealth, and the ease with which personal information can be gathered online.
ARI REDBORD, TRM LABS GLOBAL HEAD OF POLICY: We've seen a spate of these recently, I think in part because you're seeing copycat-type activity. You
know, one gang says hey, we can see -- we can do this and then we can steal these funds and move them at the speed of the internet. And another kind of
does the same.
SIRAGUSA: These are the bullet holes actually, and there is their blood still, where they were bleeding from --
PROKUPECZ: It's what? This is the blood from one of them being shot.
SIRAGUSA: Yes.
PROKUPECZ: So. these are still the bullet holes.
SIRAGUSA: Yes, and some fragments.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Kaitlyn Siragusa and Nick Lee are now taking more precautions. They've hired private security and installed a 12- foot-high
steel fence around their property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop playing. Stop playing!
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): As for her attackers, the man who was shot survived and all have been arrested and charged in connection with the
crime.
PROKUPECZ: The crypto thing now -- there's a lot of concern over security for people who own --
SIRAGUSA: Yes.
PROKUPECZ: -- who own crypto.
SIRAGUSA: Yes. I'd say if you have -- if you have crypto and you're public about it, definitely make sure you live somewhere where you can have a gun.
PROKUPECZ: And with these attacks happening all across the world, law enforcement from every part of the world is trying to work together to
prevent these from happening. One of the things that they are using -- one of the tools is that they're trying to work with private firms who know how
to trace cryptocurrency -- these blockchain tools, they're called -- and that is helping them in their investigations.
Another thing that we're going to see a lot of in the future are prosecutions and stiff penalties for people who conduct this kind of
attacks.
Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[18:50:00]
SCIUTTO: Some scary stories there. Well, two big tech companies that could have been hit hard by higher tariffs are out with their latest quarterly
results. Earnings from Apple and Amazon just after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Two of the best-known names in tech, Apple and Amazon, have just released closely watched quarterly results. Apple posted its strongest
revenue growth nearly four years as people snapped up iPhones on fears of higher tariffs. CEO Tim Cook, however, warn tariffs could cost the company
more than $1 billion this quarter. Amazon's quarterly profit surge 35 percent with solid demand for its cloud computing services. Many investors
were, however, let down by its guidance for the current quarter.
Joining me now, Clare Duffy. And, Clare, a good quarter for Apple now, but it seems like short-lived because they're warning about how tariffs are
going to hit coming -- going ahead.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH WRITER: Yes. I mean, listening to that call, it was hard to feel like they sound optimistic about the rest of this
year. Of course, the company working very hard to mitigate the impacts of tariffs by, you know, upending their supply chain, doing everything that
they can. But the company did say that it believes tariffs led to higher sales this quarter. As you said, consumers racing to purchase new devices
ahead of potential cost increases.
The company said that iPhone sales were up year on year, max sales up on year. But the company did say that, you know, we could see consumers
pulling back because they have done all of their spending the first half of this year.
And as you said, Apple expecting to take a $1.1 billion cost increase in the current quarter because of tariffs, that's after taking an $800 million
cost increase in the previous quarter. So, this is something that's really hitting the company's bottom line.
But I do think that the increase in sales of devices is a good sign for Apple because there have been these concerns that Apple is falling behind
its rivals on artificial intelligence, and consumers might start to turn to other device makers that have more compelling offerings. So, I think on the
whole, a good sign for Apple, but I do think big questions heading into the rest of this year.
SCIUTTO: Amazon, seems like a lot of the focus of its growth is on cloud services.
DUFFY: Yes. I mean, there was lots of questions also for Amazon about how tariffs were going to have impacted the company's retail business. Again,
seems like fairly good signs on that front. It beat on both sales and profits. But again, I think big questions going into later this year,
although CEO, Andy Jassy, did say that if costs have to go up, the company plans to absorb those costs. But you're right that all eyes really were on
the AWS cloud computing business. Sales there, up 17.5 percent. Andy Jassy said demand is still above supply.
[18:55:00]
But I think Wall Street may have been looking for even stronger results on that front, the race in A.I., in particular to provide cloud services to
small businesses, to other companies that want to build A.I. services, that race is so competitive right now. And we saw the shares of Microsoft and
Google really pop after they've reported strong earnings in their cloud business. We're not seeing quite the same for Amazon tonight.
SCIUTTO: Well, the stocks keep going up though, don't they? Clare Duffy, thanks so much.
DUFFY: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: And thanks so much to all of you for your company. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief." Please stay with
CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:00:00]
END
