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What We Know with Max Foster
Trump Threatens Russia With "Severe Tariffs"; Family Of American Killed In West Bank Calls For Justice; U.S. Threatens E.U. And Mexico With 30 Percent Tariffs; Trump Rallies For Bondi Amid Epstein Investigation; 132 Confirmed Dead, Nearly 150 Missing From Texas Floods. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 14, 2025 - 15:00 ET
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[15:00:22]
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Donald Trump pressures Vladimir Putin to reach a peace deal with Ukraine soon or face steep tariffs and additional
sanctions.
This is WHAT WE KNOW.
The U.S. president is giving Russia 50 days to reach a deal in hopes of finally ending the war in Ukraine. Mr. Trump met with NATO Secretary
General Mark Rutte today at the White House. As you can see, he says he now plans to have European nations purchase top of the line weapons from the
U.S., which in turn the alliance can give to Ukraine. This comes as President Trump grows increasingly frustrated with Russian leader Vladimir
Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My conversations with him are always very pleasant, I say, isn't that very lovely conversation? And
then the missiles go off that night. I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Kevin Liptak joins us now from the White House. Obviously, his tone is changing. The whole narrative really is changing for the White
House, isn't it?
But quite an interesting way this deal, if I can call it that, has been structured. Handing it to NATO, who then takes control.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And this is as you mentioned. I think it's a hardening of President Trump's stance towards
Russia. And it all seems to be rooted in this increasing animus that he feels towards the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. And there are kind of two
elements to what the president announced today. One is this agreement on the weapons, the president essentially saying that the U.S. would provide
European nations with things like Patriot missile batteries. The European nations would then transfer them onward to Ukraine.
The goal seems to be twofold. One is to get these weapons to Ukraine as quickly as possible, and even President Trump acknowledged today that
Ukraine really does need these systems if it is to defend itself against Moscow.
The other seems to be a way to insulate the president from some potential criticism that he's flip flopping here. Remember, as a candidate, he said
he would back away from this war, that he would reduce the U.S. commitment to Ukraine. And he criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for spending
billions and billions of dollars and sending all of this weaponry to Ukraine.
The president, by doing this, seems to be putting some distance between himself and the war, even if in reality he is sort of wading in further to
this conflict. So that's one element of the announcement today.
The other is the economic piece the president giving Putin 50 days to come to the negotiating table or to suffer some dire economic consequences. He
announced a potential 100 percent tariff on Russia, which at the end of the day is sort of meaningless. Russia doesn't export all that much to the
United States, far more serious could be these potential secondary sanctions on countries that continue to import Russian fuel. So, countries
like China and India, which do have an enormous trading relationship with the United States, President Trump threatening to put tariffs in place
there to punish their purchase of the Russian oil and gas.
And so all of this, I think, intended to try and pressure Putin to come to the negotiating table, but I think it still remains far, too far from clear
whether all of this will have the effect that President Trump hopes it has.
Obviously, the U.S. has been sending weapons to Ukraine for quite some time, and it hasn't affected Putin's thinking. Certainly, President Trump
seems to think that this could make a difference.
FOSTER: Yeah, Kevin at the White House. Thank you.
Let's ask Nick Paton Walsh about that.
So is this going to is this enough to pressure Putin to come to the negotiating table?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm absolutely not. No. I mean, we've seen these deadlines pass -- way past
Vladimir Putin's ears very quickly, and he's paid little attention to them. Could there be something extra in the idea of the Chinese and the Indians
being concerned that they might get hit with the damaging tariffs --
FOSTER: Secondary sanctions, right?
WALSH: Which is potentially up to 500 percent? I mean, Trump actually totally truthful in saying you get to 500 percent, it's kind of meaningless
because it's such an enormous tariff on any kind of trade or interaction that its essentially stops it. So, the Chinese and the Indians might look
at this and think, they have 50 days to try and change Russia's mind or even get out of Russian gas and oil. But they may also think that they've
been here before and seen Trump change his mind in a shorter period of time, too.
So I think the key takeaway from that part of the announcement today is its being pushed down the road, and its yet another deadline to ask Putin to do
what he doesn't want to do, which the kremlin is likely to ignore. The interesting bit, though, is the urgent extent of the help they urgently
need Patriot interceptors and batteries, and they're going to get them within a matter of days. And there is a bit of a win-win in the deal here,
where the Americans get to have weapons bought from them and showcase their technology and talk about it like Trump in the White House today, the
Europeans foot the bill and the Ukrainians get what they need to defend their skies.
So that potentially works all round. But you have to bear in mind the significant change in Trump rhetoric that we've seen in just the last week.
He's clearly decided that he's getting nowhere with Putin, as it currently stands, and basically reverted to the Biden administration's position all
along, which Ukraine needs help to defend itself. But there is this weird contradiction. He's been through this sort of six-month education of
realizing the Kremlin doesn't really want peace, yet still, this deadline holds out the possibility that he might be able to persuade Vladimir Putin
all the same.
And so, I think there's a lot here for Ukraine to be pleased about. But at the same time, too, there's still the background suspicion that ultimately
Trump has misread Putin and perhaps thinks he's a man who wants a deal, after all, just hasn't been pushed hard enough.
FOSTER: What could -- what leverage does he have over Putin?
WALSH: Secondary sanctions could potentially work. But ultimately, if the U.S.'s position is we don't want to get involved in this war and even after
announcing a big announcement like todays was supposed to be, they're still doing kind of the smallest they really can, their leverage is reduced. I
think the point is, if they show to their European allies and to Ukraine that they're going to back them and potentially back them for as long as is
necessary, then you're back into the Biden administration game of how long can you push Russia until Russia breaks? Does Ukraine break first? But does
the Russian economy heat -- overheat?
So, does the Russian manpower begin to become unsustainable? But you're in a long game potentially there that maybe U.S. electoral cycles don't really
have in them.
FOSTER: Okay. Nick, thank you very much.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing pushback over a plan to confine Palestinians in Gaza into a camp in Rafah. Former prime minister,
Ehud Olmert, said it would be, quote, a concentration camp and would amount to ethnic cleansing. Israel's defense minister, who's ordered plans drawn
up, calls it a humanitarian city but acknowledges Palestinians wouldn't be allowed to leave.
Hopes for a ceasefire are fading amid relentless Israeli strikes. Medics in Gaza say six children were amongst those killed on Sunday at a water
distribution site. Israel said it meant to strike an Islamic jihad militant.
U.S. President Donald Trump says an update on ceasefire efforts could come soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're doing pretty well on Gaza. Steve Witkoff is here and I think we could have something fairly soon to talk about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The family of a young American man beaten to death by settlers in the West Bank is calling for justice. Hundreds of Palestinians turned out
for the funeral of Sayfollah Musallet on Sunday. The 20-year-old was born in Florida to parents of Palestinian -- of Palestinian heritage.
The Palestinian health ministry and eyewitnesses say settlers severely beat him in a town north of Ramallah. His family says he was trying to protect
their land.
The State Department says its aware of the reports, and Israel says it's investigating what it calls a confrontation.
Father says the IDF initially blocked ambulances from reaching him after the attack.
Our Jeremy Diamond traveled to the West Bank and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the back of an ambulance, Sayfollah Musallet's aunt says one final goodbye. She is far
from alone. Hundreds in this West Bank town have come to honor the American son, who was deeply rooted in his Palestinian community. Sayf was killed on
Friday, just two weeks before his 21st birthday, beaten to death by Israeli settlers, according to his family.
Those settlers also shot and killed another Palestinian man in the same attack, according to eyewitnesses. It is a senseless yet all too common
outcome in the West Bank.
Today, it is an American citizen being put to rest here. But over the course of the last 20 months of this war, nearly a thousand Palestinians
have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the United Nations.
But today, Sayfollah Musallet's family is demanding an American investigation into his death.
KAMEL MUSALLET, SON KILLED: We want we want justice.
DIAMOND: His father, Kamel, was home in Florida, where he runs an ice cream shop with his son. When he got the call that Sayf had been attacked
by settlers.
MUSALLET: You never think that it's your son or anything like that, that - - who is this happening to. And then I got word that it was my son. He was hit. He was beaten. He lost consciousness.
But nobody could get to him. Ambulance couldn't come in. Why? Because the IDF restricted that, the IDF blocked that.
[15:10:00]
DIAMOND: So you hold the Israeli military responsible?
MUSALLET: I hold the Israeli military just as responsible as the settlers and the American government for not doing anything about this.
DIAMOND: The State Department said it is aware of Sayf's death, but declined to comment further on calls for an investigation.
Israeli authorities say they are investigating, but have not made any arrests. For two months now, Palestinians here say Israeli settlers have
been encroaching on their land and terrorizing Palestinians who try and access it.
This was the scene on Friday as Sayf and other Palestinians tried to reach their farmland.
Hafez Abdel Jabbar said he saw settlers chase after a man he would later learn was Sayf.
HAFEZ ABDEL JABBAR, SON KILLED IN 2024: They ran up the hill, they caught him. They started beating him with sticks.
DIAMOND: By the time he reached Sayf's body, he was already dead.
As we head to the location where Sayf's body was retrieved, a white vehicle suddenly appears behind us. We have a group of settlers who are now
following us in their vehicle. They've put their masks on as well, which is a concerning indication.
At an intersection, the settlers get out and try to pelt our vehicle, but we manage to approach a nearby Israeli border police vehicle, and the
settlers turn around. But minutes after, the border police head out to search for the settlers. We are ambushed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
DIAMOND: Everyone okay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot!
DIAMOND: Go, go, go! Drive, drive, drive! Keep driving!
The masked men smash the rear windshield of our car. But we managed to speed off unharmed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no, they --
DIAMOND: They turned, they turned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They turn, they turned, they turned.
DIAMOND: It is just a small window into the reality here.
ABDEL JABBAR: What? It took us five more seconds. We all would have been beaten with sticks.
DIAMOND: You think they would have beaten us?
ABDEL JABBAR: Yes, sir.
DIAMOND: But your son was also killed.
ABDEL JABBAR: In January 2024. By a settler simply just being there, barbecuing.
DIAMOND: What does that feel like? To have to constantly try and tell the world what's happening?
ABDEL JABBAR : You scream into the whole world, and the whole world is watching simply silent, seeing all these mothers put their sons that they
worked so hard to raise them up for 20 years. And you pick them up and you put them in the ground under the sky, in the silence, go on and on and on.
DIAMOND: Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Sinjil, the occupied West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now, a new 20 percent U.S. tariff on tomatoes coming from Mexico going into effect today. And American consumers may feel the impact of it
sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, European Union trade ministers are huddling in Brussels following President Trump's surprise announcement of 30 percent tariffs on
the E.U. and Mexico.
Mr. Trump struck something of a softer tone on tariffs at the White House earlier, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The deals are made. There are no deals to make. They would like to do a different kind of a deal, and we're always open to talk.
We are open to talk, including to Europe. In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Anna Stewart's here trying to make sense of all of this because he wants to talk, but he's also been quite tough on the statement.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And he's saying that he's already given them a deal. The deal is the letter. He's kind of rebranded these letters
as deals, which feel to the trading partners more like a fait accompli. There's nothing they can do about it. The tariff is now 30 percent for the
E.U., and actually this did come as something of a surprise. There is no carve out for autos or metals. There's a 50 percent tariff on metals and 30
percent is a lot more than the 20 percent that was actually offered back in April on so-called liberation day. It's pretty steep.
And I think investors feel like this isn't going to be where the tariff level settles, because the fact of the matter is, this doesn't get
implemented until the 1st of August at least, which gives them over two weeks to negotiate. And as President Trump said today, you know, if they
want to do a better deal, the door is still open.
FOSTER: But the E.U. can also be notoriously tough in their response themselves as well. So you'll expect to hear something from them or not.
STEWART: Well, already, I mean, you've got 27 member states who have different sectors to protect and also different appetites for risk and
retaliation. So they're trying to speak from one voice, show unity.
But today, it was very telling that the trade commissioner said they're hoping for peace. They are preparing for war. They are pushing off one
round of retaliatory tariffs that are due to take effect tomorrow. They'd already paused it for some 90 days, and they're also preparing another raft
of tariffs, which will be around 72 billion euros, about $84 billion.
So that is going on at the same time. And there was also this suggestion in this press conference that G7 countries will get together and cooperate to
discuss how they can increase trade between themselves or how they can cooperate in terms of the response to the president. This is not something
President Trump will like to hear, and it's worth remembering that any retaliation, the president says, will be met with exactly the same tariff
backs, which just means escalation.
FOSTER: War, war.
Anna, thank you very much indeed.
Donald Trump's mega base being shaken. There's frustration over how the U.S. attorney general is handling the Jeffrey Epstein files. What they're
saying about the lack of transparency, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:18:24]
FOSTER: Outrage within the MAGA base of the Republican Party continues to grow over the U.S. attorney general's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein
files. President Donald Trump is standing by Pam Bondi saying she is doing a, quote, fantastic job. This after she decided not to release documents
from Epstein's sex trafficking investigation.
CNN has learned FBI director, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, was considering resigning over the handling of the Epstein files. To refresh your memory,
it wasn't that long ago that some observers who hold key positions in Trump's administration today were diving head first into many Epstein
claims, including Donald Trump himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There are those people. There are many people. I think you're one of them, right? But a lot of people think that he -- he was killed. He knew
a lot on a lot of people.
TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: He was killed.
TRUMP: I think so.
Yeah. I'd be inclined to do the Epstein -- I'd have no problem with it.
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That is an important thing.
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are.
ALINA HABBA, U.S. ATTORNEY: We have flight logs. We have information, names that will come out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Fast forward a few months into the Trump presidency and the Department of Justice says Epstein list doesn't exist and that's left MAGA
supporters fuming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Epstein is a key that picks the lock on so many things, not just individuals, but also
institutions, intelligence institutions, foreign governments, and who's working -- and who is working with him on our intelligence apparatus and in
our government.
[15:20:01]
This is why it's a time for choosing now.
JACK POSOBIEC, HOST, HUMAN EVENTS DAILY: And, Pam, if you can't do your job, we'll find someone who will.
BRANDON TATUM, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: How many of you guys think by raising your hand that the government is not telling us the full
story about what happened with Epstein? All right, we -- I'm in the right place at the right time.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST, THE MEGYN KELLY SHOW: I have nothing against Pam Bondi, but if you want to look for the villain in this story, we have found her.
CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: Why are we not impaneling a special prosecutor to find every single one of these powerful people that
went after these kids?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: For more on this, I want to bring in Brian Stelter.
I mean, you're a media expert, but these days you're also a conspiracy expert, aren't you? You have to be, because conspiracy often fills these
vacuums of information. But for people outside the U.S., just explain how we got here and how this is actually quite damaging to the MAGA movement.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: It could be, I think this -- I think this story goes back almost 15 years to the days when Donald Trump
sowed lies about then-President Barack Obama. That was the so-called birtherism conspiracy theory, and it helped launch Trump's political
career. I would argue he probably wouldn't be the Republican president in 2016, were it not for that birtherism conspiracy theory.
So historically, Trump has benefited from conspiracy theories. He has flirted with the QAnon movement, for example. And you just played that clip
where Trump asked these questions and played along with Epstein, conspiracy theories about some sort of broader pedophile cover up in the United
States. Now, however, Trump is being burned by the very fires that he helped stoke, and it's a very rare situation to have Trump filling this
blowback because he's able to move and persuade his base in almost any direction.
But on this particular topic, it seems some of the MAGA media influencers, the commentators that are so popular online, they're not movable. They
don't want to move on. Even though the Trump administration is urging them to, and Trump himself is urging people to move on from these questions.
Well, we've heard FBI Director Kash Patel and others basically say is we looked we looked for evidence, and there's no "there" there. You all
believe there's some grand conspiratorial plot. It's not there. We're sorry.
But historically, we've seen that that sort of attempt to shut down conversation rarely deflates conspiracy theories. Instead, Max, it
sometimes -- it actually inflates them and amplifies them even more.
FOSTER: Just explain how MAGA is separating slightly. I don't want to miss it. You know?
STELTER: Yeah.
FOSTER: I don't want to sort of misrepresent it, but there are different groupings now forming beneath it, right, since, you know, the president
came back into power.
STELTER: Yes, definitely. There is a purity test of sorts that's shaping up right now, because in the last I would say, day especially, we have seen
some commentators that are really close to the White House. People like Charlie Kirk say, let's move on. This is not helping our movement. Let's
focus on other matters where we all agree.
You have other MAGA media commentators pushing back and saying, that's a big mistake because this is so foundational, so important. And again, all
kind of based on a lie here, this idea that there must be an elaborate abuse of children on an industrial scale, that the government is covering
up. That is the essential claim when we talk about Epstein these days.
But there is this split, I think, underway within the movement about whether to focus on this, whether to pressure Trump to release more files
or whether to move on to other grievances, to other matters. And you know what? The algorithms that fuel our daily lives, they do not want answers
necessarily. These algorithms support and encourage and reward people asking questions, and in this case, stoking conspiracy theories.
So, a lot of what's bubbling up online is conspiratorial in nature. And it makes you think about the power of these social media algorithms to
encourage people to speculate, to encourage people to demand answers, but then not necessarily to be satisfied when the government does provide
information or does give the answers that it does have.
This is a very complex one, Max, and I don't think people that are demanding answers about Epstein will ever be fully satisfied with the
information they get.
FOSTER: No, I mean, it's a fascinating media story, isn't it? Brian, thank you so much for joining us today.
Now, still to come, recovery efforts continue in Texas from those deadly floods. Now one city council is asking for security guards. Would you
believe what they're saying about new threats?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:27:43]
FOSTER: U.S. president Donald Trump is hoping money will convince Russia's Vladimir Putin to cut a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Sitting next to the
leader of NATO, Mr. Trump said the U.S. would enact punishing tariffs on Russia and countries who do business with Moscow if the war in Ukraine
doesn't end in the next 50 days. He also promised to send more weapons to Ukraine with NATO members acting as an intermediary in those sales, he
appeared to be clearly frustrated at the president -- President Putin's refusal to even talk about peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I thought we should have had a deal done a long time ago, but it just keeps going on and on and on. And every night, people are dying. A lot
of people, a lot of Russian soldiers are dying, by the way, and a lot of Ukrainian soldiers, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the U.S. president for his support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am thankful to President Trump for his readiness to support defense of our
people's lives. This war continues only because of Russia, because of Putin's wish to continue it, to prolong it. Russia is trying to make the
war like a new normal. This should never be agreed upon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: President Vladimir Putin has reason to be nervous about these new warnings. That's the opinion of CNN's former bureau chief in Moscow, Jill
Dougherty. She told my colleague Isa Soares a few minutes ago that the united front from Europe and the U.S. would be a concern for the Kremlin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I think they're nervous because what you have is Europe and the United States, albeit after
a period of, you know, disagreement. They seem to be on one page and they're moving quite quickly with very severe and serious sanctions and
weapons deliveries, et cetera. So, I think that Putin should be nervous about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: So what we want to know is will the Trump threats bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table?
Joining me now, Kurt Volker, he's a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and a former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine negotiations.
I have a feeling I know your answer to this. He's not going to rush back to the negotiating table.
[15:30:02]
But there might be something in here, right, that might put pressure on Putin?
KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, the thing that would matter is if we really do the secondary sanctions and that cuts off
purchases of Russian oil and gas because that would start to dry up. The funds available to the Kremlin to pay for this war.
That's not going to happen right away. President Trump gave a 50-day warning. And then after that we'll see what happens and how long that will
take.
And as you say, Vladimir Putin is not in the mode of negotiating right now. He's in the mode of ramping up the attacks. Hundreds and hundreds of drones
and missiles every night, in order to see how much he can get before he eventually does get forced into a cease fire.
FOSTER: When we talk about secondary sanctions, were talking primarily, aren't we, about India and China that by Russian crude, the U.S. putting
pressure on those two countries to stop buying Russian crude? Or is that an oversimplification?
VOLKER: Those are two of the biggest countries doing that. There are others as well and I think that it is a little bit of an
oversimplification, because I think what President Trump would probably choose to do is use these sanctions in kind of an escalating way. So, he's
probably going to look first at China rather than India as an example, and try to then go after maybe a Chinese bank or someone that is actually doing
this to send a signal to the market, he doesn't really want to have to impose the sanctions. He wants countries to make the choice not to work
with Russia.
FOSTER: Yeah, this is very unlikely, isn't it? You know, both countries are very reliant on Russian oil, but the thinking, presumably, is that if
it becomes difficult, then India and China will at least go to Russia and put some diplomatic pressure on them to avoid any more issues with the oil
interfering with those Indian and Chinese economies.
VOLKER: Yeah, there's that. And of course, there is a global oil market. And with the amount of energy that the U.S. is producing, and if we have
Saudi Arabia increasing its production as well, we could probably squeeze the Russian oil out of the market and not suffer too much. So, I think that
President Trump is betting that we have so much energy dominance right now that we can use this as a tool and put enough pressure on China that they
don't want to put their whole economy at risk. So they're going to give up on the Russian oil.
FOSTER: Can I ask you about this you know, this turnaround really. So, supplying us weapons to NATO the narrative being that the European
countries will pay for those U.S. weapons and then provide them to Ukraine. I mean, isn't that a bit semantics here? Because obviously the U.S. puts
money into NATO as well. So, it's paying for them as well. And you know, we know they're going to go to Ukraine. So, it really is the U.S. giving
weapons to Ukraine.
VOLKER: No, that's not right. These are individual European countries that are going to be buying the weapons from the United States and providing
them to Ukraine. In terms of NATO budgets, this is not going to be coming out of a common NATO budget. This is coming out of individual allies
defense spending.
So, it is exactly what president Trump was saying. Even during the campaign. No more taxpayer money for weapons to Ukraine. But he's perfectly
willing to have others buy American weapons and provide them to Ukraine.
FOSTER: So that's quite a smart way of dealing with this issue, isn't it, where he's trying to move forward with the crisis but not undermine what
he's said in the past?
VOLKER: Well, exactly. And he's also -- he's basically making the point and he's been doing this consistently. The U.S. under President Biden
provided over $100 billion worth of arms for Ukraine, and he doesn't believe that European allies have done their share, especially since the
war in Europe is a much greater threat to them than it is to the United States. So, they are now increasing their defense spending to 5 percent of
GDP, as they promised at the NATO summit. And some of that is now going to be spent on buying American weapons and providing them to Ukraine.
FOSTER: Former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker, thank you, as ever, for joining us with your insights today.
To Texas now and a key detail in the deadly flooding in central Texas now revealed. "The Washington Post" reporting that the executive director of
Camp Mystic received an alert warning of, quote, life threatening flash flooding about an hour before he began to evacuate the young campus. The
alert did not include an evacuation order, and Dick Eastland died trying to rescue some of the children, 132 people have been killed, and about 150
people are still missing. Now, city council members in one hard hit town say they've received threats since the floods, and some are asking for
security.
[15:35:04]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDA HUGHES, COUNCIL MEMBER: But now we have to worry about threats that are coming to staff. Targeted threats that are specific to individual staff
members. And I want it on the record that I would like additional security here. And I'm not leaving here until we get it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Joining us, Julia Vargas Jones. She's in Kerrville, Texas.
As if the area hasn't been through enough already, Julia. Just explain where this anger is coming from.
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Max, look, this wasn't just from the city council's meeting. Today, we were here at the county
commissioner's meeting where the county judge told me he also got death threats, you know, to him and his family at his house. There is a lot of
anger and this is being directed at these authorities because there are question marks about whether or not local authorities handled this
emergency, which was a catastrophe, to be fair.
But that they're saying that they didn't know enough, that they didn't have enough data and that those alerts that we all get on our phones when
there's flash flooding alerts, that they didn't go out in a timely manner. The mayor of Kerrville saying that he didn't receive any of those alerts.
Now, when we pressed the city, the county judge, I should say here, who is the person in charge of emergency management for the entire county? He said
he didn't know that it would be this bad. And had he known, he would have acted differently.
Now, it's interesting to me that the person in charge of emergency management isn't aware of how bad the situation would be passing the puck
per se, to the next agency over National Weather Service. Now, there are questions about whether or not staffing at the local San Antonio office
could have impacted this, but it's hard to say, and it's definitely really difficult to put that decision on then the executive director of Camp
Mystic, who at 1:15, I believe, got that first alert that didn't say to evacuate. It's not until 4:00 a.m., Max, that there is an order to say, now
go to higher ground.
And I will say, also speaking to folks here on the ground and who were at this meeting earlier today, to express their appreciation to first
responders and to these local officials, they said, we get these kinds of alerts all the time, and this is an area where a lot of people are used to
being on their own and not depending on the government. Now, why is it that it wasn't clear, Max, that these alerts were for a much more serious and
devastating flood event? That is what will be uncovered in the weeks and months to come.
FOSTER: Yeah, absolutely. The numbers are still horrific, aren't they? Thank you so much, Julia Vargas Jones, for bringing us those details.
Wildfires threatening one of America's best known national parks. It's the Dragon Bravo Fire. It's burning along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in
Arizona. It's destroyed at least 50 structures, including the historic Grand Canyon lodge, the larger white sage fire is burning north of the
canyon near the border with Utah. The two fires have burned a combined 55,000 acres. That's more than 22,000 hectares.
Still to come, a mass grave at a site once run by nuns for mothers and children now being excavated in Ireland. Chilling details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:41:56]
FOSTER: A team of experts has started a two-year excavation at a mass grave site in western Ireland. That site is believed to contain the remains
of hundreds of children who died at a so-called "Mother and Baby Home".
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the middle of this housing estate lies one of Ireland's darkest secrets.
There was knowledge that something was here.
CATHERINE CORLESS, LOCAL HISTORIAN: Yes, of course, there was.
O'SULLIVAN: Yeah.
CORLESS: It was just hidden between the lot of them.
O'SULLIVAN: Now were here in the town of Tuam. It's on the west of Ireland, and this housing estate was once the site of a so-called "Mother
and Baby Home". Between the 1920s and 1990s, tens of thousands of Irish women who became pregnant outside of marriage were sent to homes run by
nuns.
CORLESS: Every inch of that now is going to be excavated.
O'SULLIVAN: Contraception was illegal in Ireland until the 1980s, and abortion was illegal here until 2018.
JOHN RODGERS, TUAM MOTHER AND BABY HOME SURVIVOR: The church and the state they had this thing about unmarried mothers being evil. They looked on them
as dangerous because they were dangerous to men.
O'SULLIVAN: John Rodgers was born in the Mother and Baby Home here in Tuam.
RODGERS: A lock of hair. My mother kept that for 40 years and gave it back to me the day that we were reunited.
O'SULLIVAN: John was taken away from his mother, Bridie Rodgers (ph), when he was only one year old.
RODGERS: Because she swore the day that she took that, that no churches would he ever be able to claim me as their own? I belong to Bridie Rodgers.
CORLESS: So I think they're somewhere about the bouncer course.
O'SULLIVAN: Local historian and grandmother Catherine Corless began researching the Tuam Baby Home from her kitchen table.
CORLESS: That is the home itself.
O'SULLIVAN: Now that's what -- that's what. That's what it looked, housing, estate.
CORLESS: Yeah, yeah, that's -- that's it.
O'SULLIVAN: She made a shocking discovery.
You discovered 796 babies had died in this home.
CORLESS: Yes. Yeah.
O'SULLIVAN: Theres no records of them being buried anywhere else.
CORLESS: Anywhere else, yeah.
O'SULLIVAN: But there is the septic tank.
CORLESS: Yeah.
O'SULLIVAN: What did you think?
CORLESS: Well, I was horrified. Absolutely horrified. And but, first of all, I had to absolutely prove it and keep talking and keep saying they're
there.
O'SULLIVAN: Catherine kept talking, even though some people in Tuam and in the Irish Catholic Church wanted her to stop.
CORLESS: First of all, I felt the resistance. I wasn't expecting that. I just thought they said they'd look at my research and say, my God, I
thought they'd take it over from me and do something. I mean, I mean, between the archbishop, the nuns, the whole lot. But no.
O'SULLIVAN: Her discovery shocked Ireland.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Tuam is not just a burial ground. It's a social and cultural sepulcher.
[15:45:01]
It seemed as if in Ireland, our women had the amazing capacity to self- impregnate. And for their trouble, we took their babies, and we gifted them, or we sold them, or we trafficked them, or we starved them, or we
neglected them, or we denied them to the point of their disappearance.
O'SULLIVAN: Now, forensic archeologists are beginning the delicate process of exhuming and identifying the baby's remains.
RODGERS: This babies that are in septic tank, maybe they were my playmates. I'll never know. All I know is that those children, friends of
mine, they disappeared.
O'SULLIVAN: In homes like this across Ireland, many babies disappeared because they died. Others disappeared sometimes after allegedly being
illegally adopted or trafficked to America.
ANNA CORRIGAN, LOST BROTHER AT TUAM: I'm here. I've spent ten years looking to find you.
O'SULLIVAN: Two of Anna Corrigan's brothers were born in the Tuam home. She believes one of them was sent to America and could still be alive.
CORRIGAN: If somebody is watching this. And if you know anything about a William Joseph Dolan (ph) who was born in the Tuam home in 1950 and would
have been eight months old when he was moved to either America or Canada, please reach out.
O'SULLIVAN: Her other brother, John, died as a baby and is on Catherine Corless' list of 796 names. His body may be in the septic tank.
CORRIGAN: For the children that are lying up there. They've been crying for an awful long time. They've been crying to be heard. They didn't have
dignity in life. They didn't have dignity in death. And we're hoping now that they will be identified, they will be moved to a dignified burial.
O'SULLIVAN: The Republic of Ireland has been an independent country for a hundred years now after a proud history of fighting British colonial
oppression. But for much of the last century, the Irish Catholic Church and the Irish government colluded to create a form of oppression of their own,
one that specifically targeted women.
What's happening here in Tuam is a reckoning.
As a younger Irish person, I just find it very hard to reconcile how -- how people put up with this. I understand it was probably fear.
RODGERS: It was fear. It was fear. I think it was because the church, the Catholic Church, had such a grip on people and they were trying to dictate
morally and they were trying to introduce, I suppose, a puritan society.
CORRIGAN: They wanted to show were not like those. And no disrespect to anybody watching on their religion. We're not like those Protestants. We're
good, wholesome Catholics, right? And we have comely maidens dancing at the crossroads, and we don't have any of that carry on that goes on in other
countries. But we do because we're human beings.
O'SULLIVAN: Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Tuam, Ireland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:38]
FOSTER: Movie fans all over the world have been swept away by brand new "Superman": in theaters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUPERMAN: Superman robots, I thought I told you to keep an eye on him.
SUPERMAN ROBOT: We feed the canine, but he is unruly, and he realizes we are not flesh and blood and couldn't in our heart of hearts, care less
whether he lives or dies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The "Superman" reboot smashed expectations at the box office on opening weekend, grossing more than $120 million in the U.S. The film
represents a complete reboot of the DC cinematic universe. Writer/director James Gunn, who's the co-CEO of DC Studios, has an ambitious slate of
movies that he wants to make going forward. That why launching a successful Superman is so important to the studio and its parent company, Warner
Brothers Discovery, which also owns, for the record, CNN.
What we don't know is, has Superman saved the DC universe?
Joining me now is David Betancourt, collectibles editor for "The Athletic".
Thanks for joining us.
I mean, we can't really underestimate how much faith is being put into this one movie, right? This one franchise. And, you know, the wider impact that
the movie industry hopes to get from this.
DAVID BETANCOURT, COLLECTIBLES EDITOR, THE ATHLETIC: Well, absolutely. This is a huge first step for the newly named DC Studios, with James Gunn
as co-head. I think this opening weekend here in the United States is exactly what they wanted.
You know, $100 million weekend is always what you want with a superhero movie because of how much money is put into making these films. But this is
a long journey. They've gone on record saying they want this to be a ten- year, decade-long journey, and these numbers so far indicate this could be a successful first step.
FOSTER: Because a lot of younger people, he's not part of their upbringing in the way. Perhaps he was for myself, I guess. So, the big challenge was
making sure this character connected with young people, but they seem to have managed it, don't they?
BETANCOURT: I think so. You know, Superman, you know, he's been around for over eight decades. There are many that would say maybe he's an old-
fashioned type of character that can't connect with younger viewers. I think this movie has done a pretty good job of connecting the character,
who's a classic and one of the most important superheroes in comic book culture to a younger generation, and it seems to be working.
You know, there have been a lot of kids in theaters, very positive word of mouth. You can't really argue that they haven't succeeded in keeping the
character relevant to younger generations.
FOSTER: We were talking a bit about the cost of these movies, and you just see it, can't you? From these images that the cost of every single scene,
they have to be expensive, but they also have to have great acting and characters because they're the ones that we follow.
Have they managed to get the balance right here, do you think? And the dogs, obviously a bit of a star?
BETANCOURT: I think so, I think my biggest takeaway, I saw the movie about a week before it hit theaters, at the press screening here in Washington,
D.C., and my biggest takeaway was just how much they nailed the casting of Superman, which obviously was the not just the most important thing for
this movie, but might just be the most important thing for the future of DC studios over the next ten years.
David Corenswet, I think, did an absolutely fantastic job, and maybe more so than any other Superman, including Christopher Reeve. He captured
Superman in the most human way. This is the most human and humane and caring Superman we've ever seen on screen. He's not coming off so much as a
deity that we all look up to, but just a guy who grew up in Kansas that wants everything to be okay.
FOSTER: In terms of the merchandise, you can see it, can't you? It's got huge potential. That would have been at the back of their minds as well.
BETANCOURT: Oh, absolutely. This isn't just cinematically. This is merchandise. This is T-shirts. This is action figures, a few of which I
have here in my office. This is comic books. This is novels. This is so much more than just a movie.
FOSTER: Okay. David Betancourt, collectibles editor for "The Athletic", really appreciate your time today and glad it worked for you.
Finally, we're getting a first look at the new cast of the HBO "Harry Potter" television series. Young Potter will be portrayed by Dominic
McLaughlin. The show released this image of him with the signature glasses and Hogwarts uniform. What do you think?
There will also be a new Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley. The trio beat out 30,000 others for the starring roles. The show also released pictures of
the actors in supporting roles. Filming has begun. The series will debut on HBO, HBO Max in 2027.
[15:55:03]
HBO is a sister network of CNN.
And Bastille Day celebrations are underway right now in France, a military parade was held earlier in Paris, with French President Emmanuel Macron
reviewing troops and air force jets flying overhead. About 7,000 people marched, rode on horseback or in armored vehicles along the famed Champs-
Elysees.
Now, in 1789, protesters stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in Paris, marking the start of the French Revolution, which eventually overthrew the
monarchy. So that's where the context here. It's a nation built on revolution, of course.
I'm Max Foster. That's what we know.
"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" up next.
END
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