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WH: Mideast Envoy & Ambassador Huckabee to travel into Gaza Tomorrow; 25 Delta Passengers Injured After Turbulence Forces Emergency Landing; Now: TX Officials Face Questions About Response to Deadly Flooding; Key Trade Deals Still Not Done as Trump's Deadline Looms; Trump Extends Current Trade Deal with Mexico for 90 More Days; Trump: Canada's Palestinian Move a Trade Deal Stumbling Block; Russia Claims Its Force Have Captured Key Ukrainian Town. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 31, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:43]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Trump's special envoy to the Middle East set to travel to Gaza as the starvation crisis in the enclave worsens. We have new details on the trip and what this could signal for stalled ceasefire negotiations.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, chaos in the sky, dozens hospitalized after an airliner hits extreme turbulence, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing and sending unbelted passengers and bar carts flying.

Plus, good jeans or a bad jean ad? The Internet can't make up its mind about the new Sydney Sweeney ad for American Eagle. Divisive, as always.

These major development stories and many more coming your way right here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: We begin with breaking news. The White House now says U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee will travel into Gaza after the pair met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Tomorrow, Special Envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be traveling into Gaza to inspect the current distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground. The Special Envoy and the Ambassador will brief the President immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: This is the second time that Witkoff will enter Gaza since President Trump took office. It comes as a starvation crisis is suffocating the region. The U.N. says one in three Gazans are going days now without eating at all. The addition of Ambassador Huckabee is notable after he said this just a few days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: The U.N. method, which, by the way, has been a disaster, is one that, as they like to use the euphemism, it's self-distributed. That means the food is stolen off the trucks as they drive in. So, is there suffering? Yes. Is it as bad as some of the Europeans say it is? No. But it could be a whole lot better. It could all be over quickly if Hamas would finally decide there's no future for them there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live from Tel Aviv with the latest here. Jeremy, can you tell us what else you're learning about all of this?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was dispatched to Israel to address the dire humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza, one that President Trump has acknowledged quite directly in recent public comments, unlike the U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee in those comments that you heard there. Special Envoy Witkoff met today with the Israeli prime minister. And according to the White House, the meeting was very productive. But we haven't gotten more details beyond that.

What we do know is that Witkoff will go into Gaza tomorrow, presumably headed to one of those Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites. That's the organization run by a private American organization that is backed by Israel and is the preferred distribution mechanism for Israel. It is also one that has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and other humanitarian aid agencies, particularly as we have seen hundreds of Palestinians who have been shot by Israeli forces as they have tried to make their way to those sites.

Following the meeting, we understand that Witkoff will speak with President Trump and approve a final new plan for aid distribution, presumably one that would include the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. But we simply don't have those details yet.

This week, we have seen an uptick in the number of aid trucks that are getting distributed inside of Gaza. About 200 trucks over the course of the last three days, each of those days. But that is still well short of the 500 to 600 trucks a day that humanitarian aid officials say are needed. And it is also, as we are seeing, the desperate scenes continuing to play out, including as some of these convoys make their way into Gaza.

I want to show you this video from a U.N. convoy that was making its way into the Gaza Strip yesterday. And after waiting for two and a half hours at a checkpoint, they finally made it through, only to find an enormous crowd of Palestinians in the area.

[15:05:03] And then you see gunfire fired just inches away from this crowd of Palestinians. You can see it hitting the dirt in this video. According to the U.N. spokesperson who was in that vehicle, it was Israeli fire, something that Israel denies in this instance. But it shows you the dangers that are still happening around this aid distribution. And a lot of that stems from the fact that there simply is not enough food in Gaza right now, and that is causing people to desperately seek to crowd around these trucks as soon as they make it into the Gaza Strip.

Of course, what could alleviate all of this is if there was some kind of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But right now, Brianna, that seems further away than ever before. I'm now told by two sources familiar with the matter that Hamas has stopped engaging in discussions regarding a ceasefire and hostage release negotiations. Basically, they've told the mediators that until the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is resolved, they will not be engaging in these talks. This comes, of course, a week after the United States and Israel pulled their negotiating teams from the Qatari capital of Doha. Brianna?

KEILAR: Jeremy Diamond, thank you for the latest there. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Back in the United States, the NTSB is investigating a Delta jet's emergency landing due to what aviation officials are calling significant turbulence. The plane with 270 people on board departed Wednesday from Salt Lake City on its way to Amsterdam, when about 40 minutes later it suddenly had to divert to Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport because the turbulence over Wyoming was so severe. Twenty-five passengers had to be rushed to the hospital. Most fortunately have since been released. CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean is here with more details about the investigation.

Pete, our understanding is that there were thunderstorms in the area where the plane was traveling. What more have you learned?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this flight was at 37,000 feet, Boris. We know from the radar returns at the time that the weather was between 35,000 and 40,000 feet. Oftentimes, a turbulence can be created by thunderstorms. It can come at a clear air. The passengers were apologized to by the pilot who said that this simply came on without warning. But this is likely one of the worst turbulence incidents involving a U.S. commercial flight in recent years.

Twenty-five of the 270 people on board were injured here. We're talking about one in every 10 people on board injured. That is very significant. Turbulence is the top cause of injuries on commercial flights, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. And I want you to listen now to one of the passengers who was on board this flight, who says this turbulence came on quickly. It started off bad and it only got worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEEANN CLEMENT-NASH, DELTA PASSENGER: If you didn't have your seatbelt on, everyone that didn't - they hit the ceiling and then they fell to the ground. And the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground. And people were injured and it was - and it happened several times. So, it was really scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The latest from Delta, we just got an update from the airline. They say seven of its crew members were injured. They have all since been released from the hospital. Also, the passengers who were on board who shared their condition with Delta, they, too, had been released as well, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, thank you so much for that update. Brianna.

KEILAR: A major revelation from this Texas legislature hearing that is now entering its fifth hour. The key leading officials in the Texas county where the most people died in that July 4th flooding missed an emergency briefing call ahead of the catastrophe. They were from Kerr County, where at least 107 people were killed. Listen to a Texas lawmaker inquire about what Kerr County officials were doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANN JOHNSON (D-TX): The three guys in Kerr County who were responsible for sounding the alarm were effectively unavailable. And at 3:30, when there's a call coming in, people are on their roof. You wrote down that's time for all hands-on deck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

JOHNSON: But you didn't wake up till 4:20. The judge is in Lake Travis and the emergency manager is sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Kerrville, has been attending this hearing.

Shimon, tell us what you've been hearing. It sounds like it has been very eventful.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It has been very eventful. And finally, some answers for the members of this community, for the public. You know, the first week when I got here, there were certainly questions about the way in which these officials here in Kerrville and in Kerr County prepared for this.

And now, finally, we're getting to the root of some of the problem here is that they would never, ever on any of the calls that the Texas Department of Emergency Management was holding to warn people to be prepared for this.

[15:10:05]

It is not the county - it is not the states, I should say, it is not the state's responsibility to tell the counties and the local officials what to do. They rely very much on the local officials to make sure that people in their community are aware of what's going on. And why all of this is so important is because people by the hundreds were coming here for the Fourth of July weekend, parking their RVs along the river, families, kids thinking everything was going to be okay. They went to bed expecting everything was going to be okay. And no one in this community was warning them, hey, watch out, there could be bad weather and maybe at some point you will need to move to higher ground.

The other thing, the leading official for this county, Judge Kelly, he is the person who would make all of the decisions for evacuations, for any of the other resources that need to come into this area. Well, the Judge and the Lieutenant Governor who was here listening to testimony, the Lieutenant Governor called him out. It was kind of - it's not something that I certainly expected. It's - I honestly say quite unprecedented to see the lieutenant governor go after a fellow Republican in this way, asking him where was he on July 4th. Take a listen to that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK, (R) TEXAS: Governor Youngkin was here. I was here. The Mayor was here. Everyone was here.

ROBERT KELLY, KERRY COUNTY JUDGE: And I wasn't. Then, I wasn't.

PATRICK: And you were not. You were not. And I asked the question, where is the county judge? I have covered multiple emergencies in my 10 years as lieutenant governor. This is about as bad of a day as you can have, and I've had a lot of bad days. Because we didn't just lose people. We didn't know where people were. And you weren't here. I asked where you were for the press conference that night. You weren't here. I don't know where you were on day one on July 4th. But you should have been here. You should have been here directing that response. That's your responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And that's the key here. There's a lot of questions in the failure, in the failure of leadership, in the failure for the locals to prepare for this. Local officials were going to sleep. They were not on any of the briefings. They didn't wake up. They didn't wake up until things were just completely out of control.

And just as an example, I spoke to the Kendall County judge who testified here, but I got a chance to catch up with him afterwards. It's a nearby county. The difference - the difference in the two judges, he, the Kendall County judge, was up all night. He was being briefed by his emergency operations coordinator. They were on the calls before the storm hit, and they were on the calls after, and they worked through the night. And the county judge told me that that made the difference, because talking to those officials from the weather center, from the Texas Department of Emergency Management, indicated to them that this could be worse. And so, they wanted to be prepared. And that was the difference.

And clearly what's playing out here is that this was a county that was not prepared and didn't take the threat seriously. And so, there's going to be a lot more questions as we go forward here, certainly.

KEILAR: Yes, that's quite a contrast to the other county that handled it differently.

Shimon, thank you so much for the reporting and for monitoring the hearing.

Still to come, President Trump's higher tariffs on countries that haven't struck trade deals are set to take effect at midnight, but he just gave America's largest trading partner a reprieve.

Plus, Russia's summer offensive is progressing. We have CNN's Nick Paton Walsh giving us a firsthand look at how the eastern front line in Ukraine is changing fast.

And ad backlash, an American Eagle ad campaign about Sydney Sweeney's, quote, "good jeans," is fueling debate about beauty, race and cancel culture. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:18:40]

SANCHEZ: With just hours now left before President Trump's tariff deadline, the White House just put countries without trade deals in place on notice again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Those who probably won't be hearing from the White House, folks in Mexico. The President announcing a last-minute extension for that country earlier today, though other major U.S. trading partners like Canada, Taiwan, India and Brazil have not yet struck deals, each facing steep increases in tariffs. The clock is now ticking as an appeals court is also hearing a case on whether the President's tariffs were imposed illegally and whether the executive branch has the authority to impose them.

Former Trump economic advisor Stephen Moore joins us now.

Stephen, a lot to discuss.

STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER: A lot of moving parts here.

SANCHEZ: A lot of moving parts. One of them, President Trump multiple times has said that this deadline is fixed. And yet he gives an extension to Mexico. One of many extensions that he's given throughout this process. Are you anticipating more exceptions? What do you think is going to happen once we hit midnight? MOORE: Well, one thing that has happened in the last three or four

months is that every time a country makes a deal, it puts pressure on other countries to come to the table. And that's why you've sort of seeing this cascading effect. I'm surprised, frankly, that some of these countries haven't already come forward because that clock is ticking.

[15:20:03]

Now, it is also true that Trump has tended to give countries an extension when they get close to that deadline. And maybe what - that's what these countries are counting on. But I wouldn't, you know, that's a dangerous game they're playing because those tariffs are pretty steep if they can't get it done. We have big deals in the works with China. It looks like they're good with Japan, India. You know, the situation with India as Trump is saying, you know, if you don't stop, you know, buying all the oil from Russia, we're going to impose tariffs on you.

So - but so far, I think the markets, if you look at the financial markets, which are pretty good barometer, they're pretty with - happy with the way things are going in terms of getting these trade deals done, especially the one that was caught earlier this week with the Europeans.

SANCHEZ: They've been fairly stable today.

MOORE: That's right.

SANCHEZ: And you're right, there were increases over the last few days. I do wonder four months out from Liberation Day whether the result has been this realignment in the balance of global trade, especially because you mentioned China, the broader deal with China still being worked out.

MOORE: That's right.

SANCHEZ: And it - there are accusations among ...

MOORE: That's right.

SANCHEZ: ... some critics that the U.S. is kind of with Taiwan, especially sort of letting the Chinese get their way early on in trade talks. What do you make of that? Are we actually going to see a realignment of world trade as a result of this?

MOORE: I think so. I think Trump has changed the playing field. No question about it. And this is going to go on. This isn't just going to last the next couple of months. I think it'll be throughout his presidency, we'll be talking about tariffs.

But the idea that the United States is going to open its borders to other countries and you can - you don't have to play by the rules, those days, I think, are over. And it is - look, whether you like tariffs or not, and I'm not a big tariff guy myself, Trump does have a point that a lot of these countries really do discriminate against American products, our agriculture industry, our dairy industry, our technology industry.

Look, Europe put these really discriminatory taxes on Google, and Apple and Facebook and so on. So, I think those days are over. There are new rules. There's a new sheriff in town. How this is all going to play out is very hard to predict.

SANCHEZ: That's the big question, in part because of the legal fight that's playing out.

MOORE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: We were discussing a moment ago ...

MOORE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... the court seems skeptical about the administration's argument that there's a national emergency over trade and that would allow the President to then impose these tariffs. If the courts decide that the executive branch doesn't have that power, that there isn't a national emergency, this will likely wind up with the Supreme Court. But what happens to trade? What happens to these partnerships with trading partners?

MOORE: Well, this throws a monkey wrench into everything if Trump loses in court. He's lost in some of the lower courts. I can't say what this appellate court is going to say, but he may well lose. I mean, the Constitution does say that the power to tax rests with Congress, not the White House, although the issue here is whether Congress can delegate all this authority to the President.

If he loses, one issue is going to be whether these countries that have already paid these tariffs, do they get their money back? You know, I don't know the answer to that, but it's something that has to be resolved. And then, how will this affect future trade negotiations? So, it's going to be a really momentously important court decision, but I don't see Trump backing off.

SANCHEZ: Before we go, Stephen, I wanted to get your thoughts on President Trump today saying that Canada's decision to recognize a Palestinian state would, quote, "make it hard for us to make a trade deal with them." We've seen the President threaten to impose tariffs unilaterally on nations, on issues that relate ...

MOORE: That's right.

SANCHEZ: ... to politics, irrespective of trade. I wonder what you make of the ...

MOORE: I wouldn't say it was politics. I'd say issues of sort of more national security. So, an example of what you're talking about is Trump saying to the Russians, hey, you know, if you don't come to the peace negotiating table, we're going to, you know ...

SANCHEZ: Well, Congress enacted sanctions on Russia.

MOORE: Yes. SANCHEZ: We have a limited amount of time, but I just want to ...

MOORE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... point out the difference that this isn't exactly like a consensus decision that the United States sees that there's some kind of emergency. This is more just a - Canada taking a political position with their own sovereignty, irrespective of the United States over foreign policy.

MOORE: That's true. Although Trump is using - Trump is basically saying to these countries, you want to trade with us, you have to do things that are not just in our economic interests, but our national security and foreign policy interests. But you're right, this is kind of a new angle of these trade deals.

SANCHEZ: Stephen Moore, great to speak to you as always.

MOORE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much.

Still plenty more news to come on NEWS CENTRAL. CNN goes to the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where the incremental gains from Russia's summer offensive are adding up.

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[15:29:17]

SANCHEZ: Major developments today in the war in Ukraine. Russia launching another punishing missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight, killing at least eight people. Emergency crews race to pull survivors from smoldering rubble.

KEILAR: And at the same time, Russian forces are gaining ground, claiming they captured a key town in eastern Ukraine after nearly 18 months of fighting in the area. Ukraine has been struggling to maintain positions as Russia ramps up its summer offensive. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh went to Ukraine's Donetsk region to see firsthand how difficult things have become for the Ukrainians.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After dusk, the war has fallen silent but got deadlier. This tiny military medical unit near the town of Pokrovsk, which Russia is close to encircling, is waiting for patients.

[15:30:06]

In total darkness and quiet, just ...