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Venezuela Quake Death Toll Rises as Rescuers Race to Find Survivors; John Bolton Expected to Plead Guilty to Retaining National Security Information; Texas Could Require Bible Lessons for Millions of Students. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 26, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I love watching Mbappe. I've gotten into this. John Berman has gotten me into this, and I'm in it.

It's fun. The energy in me goes by the way of me.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Can you do his celebration?

SIDNER: No.

RIDDELL: This is his celebration. Can you do it?

SIDNER: I can't do that because I am too wild to be just so calm like that. You know what I mean, Don? You know what I mean. Don Riddell, it is a pleasure to see you. Thank you.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, the desperate search for survivors of two devastating earthquakes. Time running out for people who might be trapped inside that rubble.

We're standing by for former National Security Advisor John Bolton to arrive at a federal court. He will arrive shortly and expected to plead guilty to mishandling classified information. Jail time is on the table.

And the first rule of being a fake officer, do not pull over a real police officer. A Florida man, yes, hauled away in handcuffs after he allegedly stopped an undercover deputy.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: All right, the breaking news this morning, an urgent search for survivors happening right as we speak in Venezuela as the toll rises from the powerful earthquakes that struck the country. At least 235 people have been killed, more than 4,000 injured. It is unclear at this hour just how many people may still be trapped in the rubble. And right now, every second matters. It's been about 38 hours since those twin quakes hit. Rescuers are racing against what they call the golden window, 48 to 72 hours after a disaster like this, when the odds of survival are at their best.

There are new images coming now from the moments that the quake hit. Watch this. The video shows a plane full of passengers shaking violently as it simply sat on the tarmac at Venezuela's main airport, which was damaged.

There's also this, cable cars beginning to sway in the mountains above Caracas. And we're hearing harrowing new stories of surviving this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN BAKER, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: The local people there were screaming for God to save us. I saw three tower blocks that completely collapsed and one of them had came down over a three lane highway. So yes, it was really, really horrendous, really much worse than I thought it had been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Certainly thought it had been. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has the very latest for us. You've been watching all this from, from Colombia and also experiencing it. I know you, this was so strong, you even experienced it in Colombia.

Stefano, what are you learning this morning? Because the time is ticking and there are all these pancake buildings and damage across Caracas.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, exactly. Sara, what we're learning today is that the government is really trying to bring as many, as much heavy equipment and machinery to the areas most impacted by the earthquake. These areas are of course sandwiched between the mountain where that British tourist was trying to get shelter from and the Caribbean sea.

It's a state called la Guaira. It's about half an hour from the city center of Caracas. And that is where we know that dozens of buildings have collapsed.

Like you said, collapsed on top of each other. This is why we use this expression, pancake collapse, because one floor sits on top of the floor below and below and below, and you can feel like the floor stacked one on top of the other. And in order to rescue people who are trapped, perhaps under that rubble, you need heavy machinery.

Today, the vice minister for logistics told the local media, for example, that the Delcy Rodriguez, the acting president, ordered the deployment of up to a hundred excavators to that particular area as first responders and rescuers are really trying to race against time to bring those machinery in. And that gives you a little bit of a sense of the logistical challenge that Venezuela is facing right now. Moving these heavy machinery is not like moving a container full of medicine. We are starting now to see a Hercules C-130 cargo planes landing in the Caracas International Airport despite the cracks on the runway or in runways around the city to bring in medicine, to bring in first aid kit, to bring in emergency aid.

[08:05:00]

That is not the same as bringing in a giant excavator, which is what you need in order to lift an entire floor of armored concrete that is stacked on top of maybe six, seven, eight other floors, one on top of the other. This is the challenge in this situation to bring in the heavy machinery, Sara. And Venezuela, unfortunately, is not really equipped with coming up with solutions to this big logistical problem because of the crisis that has been going on for ten or fifteen years there, unfortunately.

SIDNER: Yes, it's really hard to look at these images and imagine that the death toll is not going to rise. It would be a miracle if it didn't. So many people injured, so many people dead, and there's so much more work to do.

Stefano, we're looking at pictures from the World Central Kitchen, who's clearly gone to try to help, and you're getting this view, and it's just, every single building looks devastated. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you for all your reporting. And for more information about how you can help Venezuela earthquake victims, go to cnn.com/impact, or text QUAKE to 707070 -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get another view from the ground now. Joining us by phone from Caracas is Noris Soto, a journalist who is there, experienced the earthquake herself. Noris, thank you so much for coming back on.

John spoke with you yesterday. Can you just give me an update on how things are going in your view, what you are seeing?

NORIS SOTO, JOURNALIST: (via phone): Hello, Kate, thank you for having me. Well, the situation is still very dramatic in the capital. People are still very shaken.

Everybody's in shock. Of course, we are pleading for help, because like Stefano said earlier, this is a golden window, so we can find more survivors. There are two buildings completely collapsed in the area of Cacao, which is completely collapsed.

Maybe there's some people still there, underneath those rubbles. But if we can't get the help, get help, we will probably increase the death toll. But what we're seeing in the capital is right now, people are working halfway.

They are open, only the essential businesses, such as grocery stores and drugstores are open and operational at around 60 percent. Gas stations are operational as well, but not much more is open. All activities have been cancelled because of the emergency decree that the interim president declared two days ago. So, this is a situation, a shadow, a ghost city practically. You can only see people -- affected families, on the skirts of the highway, camping because they lost their homes, or they are unable to get back to them because they were severely affected. Some of the buildings were not totally collapsed, but the cracks and the devastation is so severe that many, many families can't really come back to their houses.

And that's the situation we're facing in Caracas right now.

BOLDUAN: We know that La Guaira is one of the hardest-hit places that's outside of Caracas. Have you been able to hear more from people who are there? Has connectivity gotten any better?

SOTO: No, connectivity in La Guaira is still severed. We practically are unable to communicate with people over there. I haven't been able to go there because, for example, yesterday the highway was completely collapsed because of so many cars, so many vehicles of people either trying to get out of La Guaira or trying to get in, desperate to find their families or their loved ones living in La Guaira, but the connectivity is terrible.

Some people, some homes are so collapsed that not even cars can access to those places. And, you know, the internet and mobile cell phones and mobile communications are completely severed with La Guaira, which makes the situation even harder because even if they are survivors, they're having a hard time to connect with their loved ones in Caracas to ask for help or to report either if they are OK or in need of help.

[08:10:00]

BOLDUAN: Yes, it seems other than actually finding their loved ones, getting that level, any kind of connectivity up to these areas that are hardest-hit seems to be the thing that people need most right now in order to try to alert people to what resources are needed. And we're just looking at more video of just buildings collapsing in the midst of this earthquake.

It is just hard still to wrap one's mind around the true scale of the destruction and what is happening and unfolding before us in Venezuela. Noris, thank you so much for calling in once again and for your reporting on the ground -- John.

BERMAN: Former National Security Advisor John Bolton due to arrive in court any minute. He is expected to plead guilty to mishandling classified information. How likely is it that he will get jail time?

And then a major curriculum change goes up for a vote today as millions of students could soon be forced to read the Bible in school.

And how two AI rivals are teaming up to get American workers ready for the AI boom. Well, the AI boom is already here. Better get ready soon.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: We are standing by for former Ambassador John Bolton, National Security Advisor in the first Trump administration, to appear in federal court. And he is expected to plead guilty to illegally retaining sensitive national security information.

This has to do with the way he took and transmitted notes for a book he wrote about the Trump administration in the first term. With us now is CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. Counselor, great to see you here.

So it's interesting. I mean, first of all, John Bolton, we should say, is a very accomplished lawyer. So he knows what he's doing here.

Why would he take this plea deal? And why would the U.S. attorney's office take this plea deal?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Every plea deal is about risk management both ways. So for John Bolton, I think it's an easy call if you get an offer like this. If he were to go to trial, he would likely, not certainly, but likely be convicted.

Just mathematically, most federal defendants who go to trial get convicted somewhere in the range of 70 to 80 percent. The evidence against him, if you look in the indictment, looks quite strong. So now John Bolton has a good chance to argue to a judge at sentencing, which will happen three months from now.

I accepted responsibility for what I did. I'm 74 years old. It's my first offense.

And you should not sentence me to prison. From the prosecutor's point of view, you lock in a conviction. There is still always some risk at trial, especially with a high profile, controversial person like John Bolton.

You get the conviction. He admits his conduct. And if you want to argue for prison at sentencing, we don't know what they're going to do a few months from now.

You still retain the right to do that. So both sides cut down the risk and they bring the case to a conclusion.

BERMAN: Talk to me about prison time here because it is interesting. It's hard to imagine a guy like Bolton agreeing to a plea deal that does include prison time. How likely is it?

HONIG: This is a fairly open plea deal. So they agree. The sides agree.

The maximum sentence now is five years. The minimum is zero, meaning probation. Certainly, John Bolton's lawyers are going to ask for probation.

And the big question is, what will prosecutors do? Because sometimes prosecutors say, judge, we're OK with probation, looking at all the circumstances, or prosecutors might ask for prison time. If I had to guess, and we're going a few months out now, I think Bolton's got a compelling case to avoid prison, given his age, given that this is a first-time offense, given that he will accept responsibility.

That matters when it comes to sentencing. So I think Bolton has positioned himself well here to have a good chance to get a probationary sentence. He's also agreed to pay a $2 million fine.

BERMAN: Which is not nothing. And again, we will not learn about the prison time today. OK, so you said a good chance to get convicted if this had gone to trial.

I can see people watching this and saying, hey, wait a minute, though. A lot of the cases that the Trump Justice Department, this is I'm putting the question in their mouths here, have taken or failed. They've either never come, they've gotten past the grand jury, they've all fallen apart.

Why would this one be different?

HONIG: I think it is now 100 percent clear that this case does not fall in with the category of weaponization cases. This case should not be lumped in with the weaponized prosecutions of Jim Comey, of Letitia James, of the efforts to prosecute Jerome Powell, Mark Kelly, on down the line. This is fundamentally different.

First of all, this investigation of John Bolton, initiated under the Biden administration. Second of all, this is being done by career prosecutors, the normal folks who run these cases. Nobody has resigned.

And third of all, the evidence is strong. And we will know in a few hours for sure that John Bolton is in fact guilty. So I do not count this as one of those weaponization cases.

I think it's different in kind.

BERMAN: All right, we'll be watching this closely. There could be more information we do learn from this court appearance. Eli Honig, thanks so much for being here, appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: Right ahead, the phrase call Leon Black appears hundreds of times in the Epstein files. This morning, the billionaire Leon Black heading to Capitol Hill to answer questions about his ties to the late sex offender and about how Epstein monetarily fueled his sex trafficking.

And the man accused of helping orchestrate Tupac's murder now asking for evidence to be kept out of his trial. Tupac's brother joins me for a conversation later this hour. Those stories and a lot more ahead.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This is revving folks up to a curriculum battle in Texas now, where public school students may soon be required to read the Bible. State lawmakers are set to adopt a state mandated reading list that includes Bible passages and stories like David and Goliath. The move would affect more than five million students.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joining us now. What kind of responses are you hearing when it comes to having this be something that is required reading in schools?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Sara, that's a great question. This debate is raging in the middle of these summer months. People are on vacations.

Kids are out of school. So it's hard to say exactly just how much the average person is paying attention to what is happening here. But there have been hours and hours of public testimony on this, of a lot of intense debate this week, as hundreds of people have lined up in front of the State Board of Education, which is controlled by a Republican majority on that board.

And as you mentioned, they are set to vote later this morning on this new social studies curriculum that would require biblical and religious teachings, kindergarten through 12th grade. And it would continue to intensify in different types of stories as children were to get older. As you can imagine, this is setting off all sorts of debates.

Supporters of this say that they believe that this is getting back to teaching religious role in the context of world history and the way the United States was established. Critics say that this is a clear violation of the constitutionally protected separation of church and state. They actually say it also goes against parental rights.

This is some of the sampling of the debate we've heard throughout the week this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:00]

RABBI DAVID SEGAL, FIELD ORGANIZER, RELIGIOUS ACTION CENTER OF REFORM JUDAISM: The First Amendment does not permit the state to anoint one religious tradition above all others. Texas students deserve an education that broadens their understanding of the world's religious tradition rather than narrowing it. If religious texts are included, they should reflect the diversity of our society.

SUSAN PEREZ, FOUNDER, CITIZENS FOR EDUCATION REFORM: Our nation wasn't founded on all religions and we don't need to apologize for that. We don't have to incorporate every religious belief in our history or in our literary works because our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Sara, there was a conservative public policy group this week that said that this is the final battle in the quest to purge classrooms of race history and issues that divide Texans. You can really see the intensification of this bringing religion into public schools has intensified here in Texas over the last few years. The state passed a bill a few years ago requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in all public school classrooms.

That was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court so these issues continue bubbling up here in the state of Texas -- Sara.

SIDNER: It is one that is a big divisive issue and I will be really interested to see how this plays out even if it goes through what version of the Bible. I mean there will be arguments forever about this and I know you'll be watching all of it. Ed Lavandera, you're such a great reporter.

I do appreciate your time this morning from Dallas -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So there's a lot of uncertainty right now hanging over the trial of the man charged with starting the horrible Palisades fire after the jury told the court they can't reach a decision.

And if you are going to pretend to be a police officer, we now have further proof that a key piece of advice is avoid pulling over an actual police officer.

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