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At Least 91 Killed in Catastrophic Texas Floods; Netanyahu to Visit White House as Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Talks Resume; Israel Says Hamas Changes to Ceasefire Proposal Unacceptable; Stocks Fall as Trump Announces 25 Percent Tariffs on Japan and South Korea; Trump Delays Wednesday's Tariff Deadline to August 1. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 07, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": When it comes to coming here to Kerrville and Central Texas, this area that has been so devastated by these floods, where so many have been lost. Again, the news there from the White House, at least 91 people killed. And as we continue to remember the victims of the tragedy here, we want to tell you about Blair and Brooke Harbor. Their father confirmed to CNN that the 13- and 11-year olds passed away.

On this image, Blair is on the left and Brooke is on the right. These two young girls went missing during the flooding. We should point out, they were not among those that perished at Camp Mystic at the time. This was a separate incident. A GoFundMe set up by the girl's aunt says that the sisters were found with their hands locked together. The girl's father, RJ tells CNN that Blair was a gifted student and had a generous kind heart, and that Brooke was a light in any room, that people gravitated toward her, and that she made them laugh and enjoy the moment. Blair and Brooke, among those perishing here in Central Texas. Stay with CNN. We're back in just a moment.

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[13:35:19]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Just hours from now, President Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House here in Washington. The meeting coming as Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer to a potential ceasefire in Gaza. A source telling CNN, the two sides began indirect talks in Doha over the weekend and President Trump says, in his opinion, there's still, in his words, a good chance the deal could be reached this week.

Last week, Israel agreed to a U.S. backed plan for a temporary 60-day ceasefire, but Hamas wants certain guarantees that the Israelis call unacceptable. With us now, CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Brett McGurk, he's a former Coordinator at the White House National Security Council for the Middle East and North Africa. Brett, it's always good to have you when we're trying to kind of sort through this very complicated issue. You have a great analysis out on CNN today that really lays out where we are. As these two leaders sit down today, Trump and Netanyahu, just how close would you say they are to getting -- to getting there?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's close, Jessica, but I've been through this. I helped lead the talks --

DEAN: Right.

MCGURK: -- last year. Close is not enough. You got to get over the line. Look, this is a very, very important visit. OK? From what I understand, you're not going to see a lot of pomp because this is a working visit. So, Prime Minister Netanyahu is here almost all week. This is designed to try to get on the same page, to bridge from war to peace. I mean, there's a real opportunity starting with that Gaza ceasefire. So, the talks are ongoing now in Doha. It's really the same set of issues.

So there was an offer on the table. Israel said yes. Hamas said, well, let's sit down and try to work out some details, trying to wrangle over details. I'm very hopeful that over the course of this week, with Netanyahu here and face-to-face with Trump, that the negotiators in Doha can get the instructions they need to try to close the deal.

But this is really a critical week because, if you don't get this done, I think you're going to lose momentum. And this theme of bridging from war to peace and the war, I mean, the war that started on October 7th, you have a real opportunity. Gaza ceasefire, Lebanon and Syria are in back channel talks with Israel, very important. And then, of course, Iran. So after the extraordinary events of two weeks ago, talks are likely to start between the U.S. and Iran here, over the coming weeks.

So, but to get on the same page with the Israelis, very, very important because you got to try to, again, bridge from war to peace. That requires diplomacy. It requires American active pressure on everybody to try to get these deals done. But right now, focus is on Gaza. We got to get that ceasefire done.

DEAN: And in the Gaza piece of it, there's this major sticking point that Hamas is demanding a permanent ceasefire --

MCGURK: Yeah.

DEAN: Essentially, while they can still maintain control, which is what Israel says they're not OK with it.

MCGURK: Right.

DEAN: How do you -- that's a sticky one.

MCGURK: Yeah. Look, every this -- this Gaza war is so -- for everybody, this war has to end, OK? Too many people are being killed. The hostages have to be released. But the fundamental crux of it is that really from the day after Hamas launched that attack in Israel on October 7th, they have had one demand. Permanent ceasefire, we'll return the hostages, but we get to stay in power. That has been their demand from day one. Israel has said, no way. We will never again accept Hamas being in power in Gaza. This remains the crux of the issue. So the way to bridge it is these temporary deals and what's on the table now, there's about 20 living hostages left in Gaza is to release -- if Hamas releases 10 of them, about half of them, there will be a 60-day ceasefire. That is a very long period of time, that brings calm, it brings humanitarian relief. And over that 60 days, you can try to work out the arrangements for a permanent solution. But without getting into that ceasefire, this war is going to continue. It'll continue.

And that's why pressure also has to be brought on Hamas. It's unfortunate. There's very few international voices saying, Hamas, take the deal. There's a lot of calls on Israel to stop the war, understand that. But Hamas, take this deal, release 10 hostages, get into this 60-day ceasefire, bring relief to the people of Gaza. That's the opportunity. But this is a critical week. And I am -- I know what it's like in Doha. I've done those talks. It is hard. It is difficult. It's frustrating. But we got to try to get this over the line this week.

DEAN: It is interesting. We were saying, with all of this happening, the environment around it has changed dramatically in the last two weeks.

MCGURK: Yeah.

DEAN: But really since October 7th, so much has happened. But even since you were in that position, going back and forth, trying to get these talks to a ceasefire, this is a new environment that they -- how much does that play into this?

MCGURK: It is an extraordinary term. I mean, when I was last here a couple weeks ago with you, talking about the events in Iran and predictions of maybe an all-out Middle East war, we've heard those predictions over the course of the last two years, again, did not pan out that way. What's happened since October 7th is truly an extraordinary set of events where Hamas started a war against Israel.

[13:40:00]

Hezbollah to the north, an ally of Hamas backed by Iran, joined that war the next day, the militias in Syria and Iraq started firing at us and at Israel, joining in. Then, the Houthis in Yemen joined the war, and then Iran, twice last year, launched direct attacks against Israel. What has happened now is the tables have been totally turned. So, the war against -- the attacks against Iran over the last two weeks were extremely successful. Hamas is extremely weakened. Most of its leaders are now dead.

Hezbollah had to cut a ceasefire last year. And in Syria, the Assad regime is gone, the main backer of Iran. And in Iraq, the militias there have also declared a ceasefire. Totally changed circumstance.

DEAN: Totally.

MCGURK: Israel's in a very strong position. That also allows Israel now to have some leeway to get to bridging this from war to peace.

DEAN: Yeah.

MCGURK: Cutting some of those deals, working with the United States to get that into place. It's very important, but it's hard. It takes creativity. It takes diplomacy and discipline. I'm encouraged that this visit is set up not as a victory lap. There could be a tendency to do that, but as let's try to roll up our sleeves and talk about where we have to go after the military success, turning that now into diplomatic success, throughout the region. There's an opportunity, but until you get there, you're not there.

DEAN: You got to get it over the finish line.

MCGURK: Yeah.

DEAN: All right, so again, as you say, a very critical week. Brett, thanks so much for being here with us.

MCGURK: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: We appreciate it. Up next, we're going to head back to Texas, where rescue crews are facing mountains of debris and the threat of more flooding as they continue to search for victims still missing. Our next guest has been desperately looking for a friend and his dog, after discovering their RV had been swept away.

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[13:46:00]

SANCHEZ: We're back now live from Kerrville, Texas with our breaking news. Right now, urgent search and rescue efforts are underway for dozens of people still missing after devastating historic flooding. Among those missing is Bill Houston, Bill and his dog, Sage, were staying at the HTR camp in Kerrville, which is located right next to the Guadalupe River. That's the river that overflowed and turned into essentially a 20-foot wall.

That RV campground was overwhelmed when the flood water swelled in the early morning hours of July 4th, catching visitors by surprise and sweeping away numerous vehicles and buildings. We're joined now by Greg White. He's a friend of Bill Houston and he's desperately trying to locate him right now. Greg, thank you so much for being with us. Can you bring us up to speed on the latest in this effort to find your friend?

GREG WHITE, FRIEND MISSING IN FLOODING: Yes. Thank you for having me. The latest news is that his brother has provided DNA, out of state I believe he is and somebody went over there and got it. And so, that was an interesting development. Yesterday, we did confirm that DNA has been collected. There is no word, no confirmation of where he is or what's going on. Our daughters are actually helping with the -- they are 29 and 30, but they're helping out with the -- they're on the river right now. And my wife and I have been on the river a lot.

SANCHEZ: We're so sorry that you're going through this as we look at photos of Bill and his dog, Sage. I understand you've been looking for Sage and you have an update for us.

WHITE: Yes. On Friday night, actually of July 4th, we got a call through social media with pictures of what could be a -- what could be Sage needing recovery way up in a tree. It was reported 30 feet in a tree, Thursday -- excuse me, Saturday morning, we went there and met the gentleman that had contacted us, and Sage was actually trapped behind the 4th of July stage. It was to be Robert Earl Keen on the Kerrville stage for 4th of July with the fireworks behind it.

And right above her was the American flag that probably was in the -- on the stage in the background, whatever. But the entire stage is -- was just trapped behind two or three Cypress trees, which are massive. Those are the trees that are standing. And Sage was just in there kind of looking over the river. So we did recover the dog and we had got in touch with the family to --

SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's just unreal. I'm glad that Sage is OK. I wonder given the circumstances --

WHITE: No, no, no, it was a recovery. No, I'm sorry -- I'm sorry. Sage was not OK. Sage, it was a recovery.

SANCHEZ: Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I misunderstood when you said that she was out looking over the river.

WHITE: Yeah, just a position, kind of this.

SANCHEZ: Understood.

WHITE: Ethically (ph), horrific scene.

SANCHEZ: Understood. I'm --

WHITE: OK. Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. I'm so sorry for your loss. Let's go back to your friend Bill. I wonder, how did you find out that --

WHITE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- he had gone missing?

WHITE: I got a call from a friend of ours, I get up in the four o'clock hour, and so I'm just goofing around by -- I watched the weather report and nothing was on there. And so, I move over to concerts, watching Dylan Gossett on Stagecoach concert came up. And so we are watching that. My friend calls me in the seven o'clock hour early and says, I can't get in touch with Bill. And I said, well, in the floodwaters -- he mentioned the floodwaters. And so, I got my wife up so we could go look at the floodwaters like we've seen here so many times. It's just fascinating.

And so, we were just going to go, just kind of oversee everything and go check on Bill if he had wet shoes or whatever. And he wasn't answering his phone or text, which was unusual for him even in the early hour. He and I are both up early and talking most mornings, and so, we just -- as we approached the river and we saw that it was worse than anything I'd ever seen before. So we started heading towards Bill's place and it just kind of unfolded that this one is different.

[13:50:00]

And so, we pulled up to his RV park and got past emergency response. And just everything, the RV park was just gone. Everything, it was -- it's -- wasn't on this earth anymore, all of it, the cabins, everything. And the water had receded by that time to about the level where it is -- was, but you could tell the debris and all that. And I later looked at that, just kind of thinking, and it's a pinch point right there where basically it spreads out, I don't know, 300 yards or something, just upstream. And another creek that was flooding come together just upstream. And then it pinches down between hard rock on both sides.

So, I can't imagine. I mean, hydraulics are -- it's like putting your finger over the hose right in that section. When you spray like a --

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

WHITE: You know, you put your thumb over the hose to get pressure. That's similar, I think, to what would've happened at that point in the river.

SANCHEZ: Greg, I'm so sorry that this has happened. I just want to express our condolences for Sage and just holding out hope that Bill may be somewhere out there and may still be around. We're so sorry for what you're dealing with. It must be grueling.

WHITE: It is. We've been able to put a lot of energy, me and my wife, my -- our daughters, out on the river and my wife and I are just helping to coordinate supplies, too many supplies are showing up in one place and not enough in another. So we have been using our truck and it's been a good use of our energy and we're just still in task mode and concern for the other side. We're going to try to run a storage room because a lot of folks are sending stuff that just can't get distributed right now. So that's kind of, I think, our next effort.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, I'm sure folks are grateful for your work. Greg White, thank you so much for the time.

WHITE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: And there are many stories just like that one, folks looking for loved ones who are still missing days after this devastating historic flooding. We have much more still to come on. CNN. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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DEAN: Stocks are down. Take a look there, as President Trump announces new tariffs, 25 percent on both Japan and South Korea. They're the first of dozens of new tariffs. The White House is expected to announce in the coming days, as the president pressures trade partners to negotiate new deals, hopefully by his July 9th deadline. But it sounds like he's planning to stretch that out until August 1st now. Let's get straight to CNN's Matt Egan. Matt, what are you learning?

[13:55:00]

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Jessica, this is just the latest twist in what has already been a very confusing trade war full of stops and starts, delays and deadlines. And look, U.S. markets, they fell sharply the moment that these letters, announcing the tariffs on Japan and South Korea, came out. You see the Dow is down 520 points, about 1.2 percent. The S&P and the Nasdaq are also down about 1 percent, backing away from the all-time highs that were set at the end of last week.

And we are seeing even steeper losses for Japanese automakers, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda, all of them down about three to four percent on this news. Now, what stands out to me really are two things from this tariff announcements. One, that the 25 percent tariff on Japan and on South Korea, this really takes things back to where they were back on Liberation Day, right? That's when the president announced those April 2nd very high tariffs that unnerved investors.

And at that point, South Korea was at 25 percent and it'll stay there according to this letter. And Japan was 24 percent there and it would go up slightly to 25 percent. The other thing that really stands out though, from these letters that the president sent, is the timing, right? The tariffs do not take effect immediately. I think there had been some concern that the tariffs would be taking effect as soon as this week, July 9th, since we had this deadline coming up from the 90- day pause. But instead, now the president says the tariffs will take effect on August 1st.

And so, that does buy some time here for the administration to potentially negotiate or perhaps even just kick the can further down the road. Take a listen to administration officials, over the weekend, explaining their thinking around these new deadlines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, (R) UNITED STATES TREASURY SECRETARY: If we have not reached an agreement, then you will go back to the April 2nd level.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Starting when? On August 1st?

BESSENT: August. On August 1st.

BASH: OK. So, there's basically a new deadline.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tariff rates, do they change on July 9th or August 1st?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No, they're going to be tariffs -- the tariffs are going to be the tariffs. I think we'll have most countries done by July 9th. Yeah, either a letter or a deal. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they did -- but they go into effect on August 1st?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Now, all of this, I think, just feeds the uncertainty that has just made it really, really hard for businesses to plan, especially businesses that are importing from other countries. Veteran Policy Strategist, Greg Valliere, he put out a note saying, we're back to confusion. It's not clear when tariffs will take effect as President Trump and cabinet officials seemingly return to the head spinning ad hoc policies that upset markets in the spring.

I think the bottom line here, Jessica, is it looks like tariff uncertainty is here to stay and the longer it's here, the greater the damage it's going to do to the economy.

DEAN: All right, Matt Egan with the very latest on this ever changing picture. Thank you so much. Up next, we are going to go back down to Texas where the devastation is simply unimaginable. Another victim has just been named, eight-year-old Hadley Hannah was spending her first summer at Camp Mystic when the storm hit early Friday morning. Her mom says she was the most joyful, happy kid who seemed to be loving camp. Sweet Hadley.

We'll be right back.

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