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Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) On Iran Vessel Strike In Strait Of Hormuz; U.S. Rescue Teams Deploying To Venezuela Quake Zone; Massive Boeing 777 Flies Just 100 Feet Above Texas Runway. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 26, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

REP. MARK ALFORD (D-MO): You would start with an outline and then the negotiations, fill in the details, and start writing the script. That's what the State Department, along with our negotiators, are doing. And again, I'm trusting the process.

But look, we are much better off than we were a year and a week ago. It was just this week we had the first anniversary of the strike from Whiteman Air Force Base in my district -- the B-2 stealth bombers. I was there in New York with you right before that and we were talking about this.

And we are much better -- in a much better position trying to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. It's going to take a little more work and we're going to get there, but I'm trusting the process.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I will say, a year ago the Strait of Hormuz was open and had been open --

ALFORD: Yes.

BERMAN: -- and now it's tenuous, so it's a little bit different there.

Congressman, I do want to shift gears. You help re-found --

ALFORD: Sure.

BERMAN: -- the congressional real estate caucus, correct? And the real estate caucus --

ALFORD: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- has come out in support of this housing bill -- this bipartisan housing bill passed by both chambers. But the speaker now says he has sent it to the president. The president hasn't committed to signing it as far as I know.

How important is it to you that this becomes law fast?

ALFORD: John, this is very important to me, and not just to me. Mark Alford doesn't really count. This is important to the American people to make housing affordable once again in America. To help with our supply. To reduce over-regulation and to help people move into homes faster, especially our young people. The average age now for a first- time homebuyer is 40 years of age.

Just behind us here in Statuary Hall this week, we were -- I was supposed to be here with the president as he signed this into law. He wanted the Save America Act passed first. It seems that everything is getting attached to a -- with the Save America Act. This is a totally separate deal.

I understand where the president is coming from. I understand the frustration. We need voter integrity in America.

But this is a standalone bill. It is, I think, the most formidable piece of legislation when it comes to housing in more than 20 years. A bipartisan bill that we basically voting on here almost in a bipartisan fashion to make sure that the American people are served with affordable housing, increasing our supply, and making housing great again in America.

BERMAN: It sounds like you're frustrated that it has been delayed.

ALFORD: I'm very frustrated, yes, but that goes with the job here.

BERMAN: Yeah, I guess so. But no, it was totally a bipartisan thing. Republicans and Democrats in both houses --

ALFORD: It was, totally.

BERMAN: -- were supporting this.

ALFORD: Yes.

BERMAN: Congressman, you know, you were still --

ALFORD: Emanuel Cleaver from Kansas City was a large part of that.

BERMAN: Your neighbor.

As a student of history --

ALFORD: Yes.

BERMAN: -- I just want to ask you about something that Vice President Vance said. He was talking about Richard Nixon and just listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy. And by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon it's not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration. There is a parallel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, Richard Nixon authorized the break-in of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, you know, on tape, covering up the Watergate break-in. There was slush funds and other things there. Are we really saying no harm, no foul now?

ALFORD: Well look, John, I was actually a young child and watched the Watergate hearings while the rest of my family was enjoying pitching washers at our family reunion outside. That's how much I was into it.

But you've got to remember back then I think the point that the vice president was making is that now we live in an age of information where we are bombarded daily, hourly, instantly on our phones and through CNN and other news outlets and the stories that are breaking every day.

Look at the release of the Tulsi Gabbard files right before she left. That didn't get a lot of play and yet there's some substantiative things even if you don't believe that those things actually happened with Fauci that need to be investigated. That need to be discussed in the American zeitgeist.

But we are moving so rapidly that a story like Watergate I don't think would last as long as it did back in the 1970s when I was a young child.

BERMAN: It's lasted a long time; I will say that.

Congressman, though, before I let you go, as you noted, you are from near Kansas City. And I want to know --

ALFORD: Yes.

BERMAN: -- if you have any information about what appear to be the pending nuptials between Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift, which seem to be occurring down the street from where I am in Madison Square Garden on the Fourth of July.

[07:35:05]

Do you have any congressional --

ALFORD: Yes.

BERMAN: -- information about this?

ALFORD: John, I do have some breaking news for CNN. Mark Alford will not be attending the ceremony wherever that happens. I know that's going to disappoint Taylor Swift. My family is a big fan of Taylor's. But I will not be able to be there and I send my regrets, but the gift is on the way.

BERMAN: Regrets from the family of Congressman Mark Alford. Thank you very much --

ALFORD: Yes. BERMAN: -- for sharing that with us this morning. Have a nice weekend, sir.

ALFORD: Sure.

BERMAN: Kate.

ALFORD: Take care.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, J.B.

Let's turn back right now to Venezuela and the search for survivors. At least 235 people have been confirmed killed from those devastating earthquakes -- that is so far. And before and after images really just show the staggering scale and level of destruction and devastation.

One thing seen over and over again after these tremors is buildings just pancaking on top of themselves and CNN's Bill Weir has more now on why that can prove so deadly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): As Venezuela reels from two devastating earthquakes the rush to rescue survivors is facing a significant challenge because of the way many buildings collapsed.

CNN reviewed dozens of videos of the destruction and noted a deadly pattern common after major earthquakes. Many of those residential towers suffered what's called a "pancake collapse" when a building falls into itself with each floor stacking atop the one below.

NECATI CATBAS, CIVIL ENGINEERING PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA: Looking at this, the first story collapses and then the others, others, others -- and then people are stuck in the -- in the floors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are walking in Los Palos Grandes.

WEIR (voiceover): CNN was on scene in Caracas after this 15-story residential building crumbled. If you look at a photo of that same building from before the quake each story was around 10 feet tall, but now the space between each floor is compressed into just a couple of feet.

That's why pancake collapses are so dangerous. The weight of debris weighing down on each floor doesn't leave survivors as many gaps or air pockets as a building that falls to one side. And a pancake collapse makes rescue all the more complicated. Any movement could bring more heavy debris crashing down.

CATBAS: The search and rescue is a very important and very specialized operation in this case because you don't want to put your search and rescue mission people in harm's way.

WEIR (voiceover): Search and rescue teams are beginning to dig into the building while nearby families of those trapped inside wait, hoping against hope their loved ones will soon be pulled from that debris.

But the scale of the damage is overwhelming, and it comes at a time when Venezuela remains in deep political and financial crisis.

Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, those pictures are just devastating.

And these are more live pictures there of a structure that just fell apart, and you can see people trying to break it apart. Usually when you see all of those folks there, there's a reason they're there. There's probably someone that they may be able to hear or they're trying to get to as they are trying to still do rescue efforts at this time.

Teams from all over the world are deploying to Venezuela to help with the rescue effort. Among them, the elite urban search and rescue team from Fairfax, Virginia, which is sending dozens of members and six canines to the region to try and help.

Joining me now is Robert Schoenberger. He is the battalion chief for the special operations division of the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department. Thank you for being here with us and thank you for going to a place that is going to be so difficult and trying to help.

We are -- we are watching right now just like you are from afar and seeing these enormous and deadly collapses.

What is your big worry as you look at the scene from afar and are seeing these images about the work that you're going to have to do there?

ROBERT SCHOENBERGER, BATTALION CHIEF, SPECIAL OPERATIONS DIVISION OF FAIRFAX COUNTY FIRE & RESCUE (via Webex by Cisco): Well, first and foremost, thank you for having me on. It's a pleasure.

The worry at this point is that the team is prepared. They spend years doing this. We've got thousands of hours every year that we train. So I know the team is anxious to get on the ground. They're currently inflight.

The worry for me is always the safety and security of the team. We have the U.S. State Department that's giving us intel live to ensure that when they land and hit boots on the ground that we work collaboratively with the local government. But that is not an issue.

But for us, it's always taking care of our team members first. My job here back at home is to take care of families as all these folks are full-time fire and rescue personnel but also are engineers and doctors. So as they drop their bags at home and move out internationally my concern here is to take care of home because all of them are mission-focused and I know they're anxious to get all their training and their expertise finally to work again.

[07:40:12]

SIDNER: I know that this is -- you all have been deployed to other disasters. This is what you do, right, which is pretty incredible when you --

SCHOENBERGER: Yes, ma'am.

SIDNER: -- start looking at the pictures.

We are looking at a picture of a building that has pancaked and we've seen this over and over again not just here in Venezuela, but I remember back when Haiti had its huge devastating earthquake and we saw a lot of pancake buildings there.

How do you work that scene to try and save people? What are the difficulties and the dangers for you all, as well as the persons that you're trying to rescue?

SCHOENBERGER: Yes, ma'am. As I was listening to the news broadcast prior to me coming on, you spoke of these pancake collapses. And ironically, this is our 181st mission out the door with over 30 years of experience and every mission is different.

But the pancake collapse that you speak of is truly one of the things that we home in specifically. But the time we get there our training is designed for reinforced concrete collapses, making the rescue very difficult. So these are rescues that could take up to 12 to 36 to 48 hours to one individual.

So there's kind of four terminologies we use that are kind of specific to what we do.

The first key is to detect, right, just to make sure that we're even in the right vicinity, whether it's using those six canines you spoke of -- highly experienced and technical equipment. The listening devices in the cameras that are all continuing to evolve.

And then we move into not just detecting but then the location of where we exactly start to dig. And that's as every structure is different and even as we've done our research in Venezuela -- as you spoke of Caracas -- just because it's in one country doesn't mean all the buildings are built the same. So we are designed for the deeply in tune, heavy reinforced concrete, and that is going to take an extensive amount of time to operate and at the end of the day that's what we're -- our team is designed for.

SIDNER: I'm so, so glad that you are going. We love our firefighters but particularly appreciate when you go into these places where the danger is just extremely high. I can't thank you enough and I know that the people of Venezuela will feel the same way as you get there and do your damndest to try and save those who are caught in all this.

Chief Robert Schoenberger, thank you, thank you so much. I do appreciate it. I'm glad I put a smile on your face this morning. That was -- it's a good thing. And good luck to you -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning a CNN exclusive on the $14 million no- bid contract to renovate the Washington, D.C. reflecting pool.

The company that previously repaired the pool more than 15 years ago tells CNN they actually turned down the job this time. They say the administration's strict demands to have the job finished by the Fourth of July and that the bottom of the pool be painted blue were "unfeasible." They said it was unfeasible.

The National Guard has now put up fencing around the pool early ahead of the Fourth, citing an increase in vandalism. Nothing says welcome and enjoy the Fourth of July in this communal space more than fencing.

A new court filing reveals the park service will completely drain and repair the pool right after the Fourth of July -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Um, hmm, hmm.

This morning the FAA says that they are now investigating a viral video of a wild low fly-by in Texas. It's a Boeing 777 plane flying -- we'll show you -- just feet from the ground and just feet above people, nearly scraping the runway at an airport there. Just look at that.

The wing of the 200-foot plane making an extremely low pass on a private runway without any landing gear down, as you can see. Tracking data from Flightradar 24 shows it dropping to about 100 feet above the ground.

So although the paint there says Qatar Airways, the plane is actually operated by Jetran, which converts planes to cargo freighters. The company released a statement saying that was a test flight that "does not reflect operational standards."

Joining us right now is CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo with much more.

So Mary, what do you think happened here, and how dangerous is this?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (via Webex by Cisco): Well, this is very dangerous because of the loss of altitude. And, you know, I checked Flightradar 24 and it said it was 725 feet. Of course, that's plus or minus. That's no 725 feet. And that close to the ground you can't really get an accurate reading anyway.

But what's interesting is there are so many clues in these videos is you can see there are several people when it gets towards the end of the runway just off to the left. There's several people out there watching. There's a guy there filming. You can hear when you listen to the audio people yelling -- going whoo-hoo, wow, oh my God, so they knew this was coming.

[07:45:00] And then the pilot did announce there are actually ways that you do this in the airmen's information manual. I think it's 4312. You announce your intentions to do a low approach, it's called, or a low pass -- and the pilot did that. So this was prepared to do a fly-by, and I think it was one that just got dangerously low and horribly dangerous for the right wing. The FAA will probably cite them under -- there's a statute 91.13 for careless, reckless, operation.

But I think the people on the ground knew this were coming just because you can hear it in the video. You can see people waiting for it in the video, and that's unfortunate.

But in and of itself, you can legally do a low approach or a low pass. And, for example, at air shows this is routine. You do this all the time. They actually have a parade like this through the air show.

BOLDUAN: Mary, you were long -- people are seeing -- hearing it from you already without me even explaining it. But you were long inspector general at the Department of Transportation. You've represented victims of plane crashes. You know federal regulation inside and out when it comes to this type of thing.

Talk to me about not necessarily really -- it's kind of clear what the rules are around how low or close a plane can fly, but just how do -- how far outside the bounds do you think that this is when -- how they operated this.

SCHIAVO: Well, it's way outside of the bounds because of the loss of altitude. I mean, you can see in the video -- and this is a huge plane, gorgeous plane, but a huge plane. So the -- some of the distances are a little misleading but you can see that right wing. I mean, it is just a few feet above the ground and that is so dangerous. A few more feet and we would be looking at a huge disaster and possibly a dangerous fireball, loss of life.

This is just -- I mean, this is -- this is probably closer to the ground than most air show flights, and those are professional stunt pilots. So this was a very dangerous maneuver.

I really do think that the FAA is going to cite them. Whether or not they'll lost their license, that's an issue for the FAA, but the FAA will not look kindly on this.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. And it also seems that they -- the company already seems to recognize that things were not exactly as they should have been, for sure.

Mary, it's great to see you. Thank you.

SCHIAVO: That is right.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: Good conversation. That was terrifying. Thank you so much, Kate. A royal relocation is upending nearly 200 years of tradition. King Charles has announced he will not make Buckingham Palace his primary residence like every other monarch has since 1837. He was expected to move in next year after an enormous and very expensive $500 million renovation of the place is finished. Instead, he will stay at Clarence House, which has been his home since 2003. Royal officials say Buckingham Palace will still serve as monarch headquarters for official events.

All right. Ahead, jet fuel prices finally falling. Why you shouldn't expect though plane tickets to also fall anytime soon? Why is that? We'll find out.

And the moment police officers rushed inside a burning house to save a woman trapped inside. How she's doing this morning.

Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:45]

BOLDUAN: Oil continuing to fall this morning. The U.S. benchmark has dropped below $70 a barrel. Drivers are also slowly starting to see lower prices at the gas station. The national average for a gallon of regular fell overnight to $3.90. Jet fuel, which has been a huge problem and a huge question -- jet fuel prices are also coming down as well. Yet, airfares still super high. Why?

CNN's David Goldman is looking into that for us this morning. What are you seeing about this?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, airfares are up about 15 to 20 percent, according to Deutsche Bank. And, you know, you would think if jet fuel prices are down a lot and they are down 42 percent from their peak --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

GOLDMAN: -- well, then maybe those airfares would start to come down a little bit. Not the case.

Take a listen to what Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta, had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Do you expect prices to keep going higher?

ED BASTIAN, CEO, DELTA AIRLINES: I don't -- I don't think so. I think the initial shock -- you know, we can -- prices went up about 10 to 15 percent and not just Delta, across the airline industry. And I think that was probably the right level. Oil prices have come down now, so I think we're in a pretty good spot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLDMAN: Yeah. So, I mean, if prices aren't coming down -- well, then --

BOLDUAN: A pretty good spot seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

GOLDMAN: Well, that's what I was going to say. I think that, you know, I don't think anyone is happy when they're buying a plane ticket today given how expensive they are. Remember that when jet fuel prices doubled, airfares went up significantly.

What's going on here? Well, it's supply and demand -- those two factors in the economy that continue to be the undefeated champions.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: If people want to go and fly then jet prices can continue to stay high. That's the key. People want to go on vacations. They're willing to spend whatever to go on those vacations. That's what they're going to end up spending until, you know, they decide not to go anymore. And then they can't -- the airlines can't support those prices.

BOLDUAN: Right. I guess then the question really is how much -- how much can the consumer stomach when it comes to -- when it comes to this part of the economy -- and we will see.

GOLDMAN: We'll find out.

BOLDUAN: They're still flying. I was just at the airport. They're definitely still flying.

Goldman: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you, David. Thanks so much.

[07:55:00]

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right. In Arizona, new video of three police officers rescuing a woman from inside a burning home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yeah. So what happened there was the man who made it out told them his wife was still inside. So one officer went back in with him through the smoke. They were able to find her and get her out safely.

In England, an officer hitched a ride in a van that chased down a suspect wanted for assault.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: Stop here on the right. Stop, stop! Don't move. Put your hands in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all right. No problem. I'm glad I could be of service.

POLICE OFFICER: Thank you. Cheers, buddy. We'll get on with doing the rest of the work. Thanks very much for your assistance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was quite exhilarating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Cheers, mate. I like that -- understated. They were able to place the suspect under arrest.

All right. In Leakey, Texas, giraffe on the lam. Officials are searching for a giraffe named Gracie that went missing from a ranch about 90 miles northwest of San Antonio. She was last spotted on a game camera outside town. The owner is offering a $5,000 reward for information that could help bring her home. So if you see something suspicious, like a giraffe, contact that person and you might get a reward.

SIDNER: OK, so I went to look this up. There is this place right outside of San Antonio that I've been to, and you can go see animals. Same thing with Austin. And I am thinking --

BERMAN: Not a giraffe, apparently, today.

SIDNER: There was a giraffe. There were a few giraffes. And I was like do I know her? I thought I knew her but then it turns out it wasn't me. I didn't take Gracie. I would just for the record. But I am worried about it. I mean, also, how can she go missing with all that neck?

BERMAN: Notable that you have a guilty conscience about missing giraffe.

SIDNER: Listen, if I could have the giraffe in my small, tiny apartment in New York, I would do it.

BERMAN: Elie Honig called and said stop talking. His legal advice is stop talking about the missing giraffe.

SIDNER: OK, fine. Oh, I hope they find her, John Berman.

All right. We now know who Team USA will play in the first knockout round of the World Cup. Yikes! We have to look ahead because they just had a brutal last-second loss against Turkey.

CNN's Don Riddell joining us now. Was this a big wakeup call? I mean, the team has been doing so well and this -- oh, this hurt. DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It hurt but the sting will quickly pass, Sara. This was a game that never mattered in all honesty. And in the end, actually there were a lot of positives for the U.S. team. They didn't have to beat Turkey. They'd already won the group, and nobody got injured and nobody is now suspended for the knockout round.

The U.S. have made fast starts in every game so far. This was no exception. Leading after just three minutes at the L.A. stadium through Auston Trusty. But Turkey came to play in this one and the USA found themselves trailing 2-1 until Sebastian Berhalter leveled the scores with a rasping volley from the edge of the area.

Despite the result there were many positives for the host team. Look at this. They were able to get their star Christian Pulisic back into the mix for the last half hour. He's recovered from his calf injury.

But Turkey had the last word with literally the last kick of the game. Kaan Ayhan stabbed the ball in. It means nothing for them. Turkey had already been eliminated. The USA advance to play Bosnia and Herzegovina next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN BERHALTER, USMNT MIDFIELDER: I think you saw the second half how we came out, and I think we deserved more out of that game. You know, that's one moment, you know, we slipped in the last second of the game. And, you know, I think we're proud of (INAUDIBLE). You know, I think the guys, you know, did well and, you know, we fought. And, you know, unfortunately, not the end result but we'll be ready for sure.

BRENDEN AARONSON, USMNT FORWARD: You can always take these things as fuel, you know, for having that moment, you know, in the last moment where they score. Uh, it's tough, you know. We wanted to walk away with, you know, no loss in the group stage but, you know, we've got to take it as it was still a fantastic group stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: All right, check this out. Just incredible scenes in New Jersey where Ecuador came from behind to beat Germany 2-1, securing their passage to the knockout round for the first time since 2006. Gonzalo Plata's stealthy toe poke into the roof of the net would have blown the roof off the stadium if they had one.

And nowhere was the joy more palpable than with the coach, under pressure after a draw against Curacao. He leapt into the crowd to celebrate with his family.

Ecuador advance as one of the best third place teams.

The big game today is in Boston where France and Norway go head-to- head for a top spot in group I. It's Kylian Mbappe against Erling Haaland, two of the best strikers in the world. They've already both scored four goals each in their first two games. Both of these sides have already clinched their passage to the round of 32. Back to you guys.

SIDNER: That is going to be so good. I love watching Mbappe. It's -- I've gotten into this. John Berman has gotten me into this and I'm in it. It's fun.