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Trump Claims Elections Vulnerable, Demands Congress Pass Voting Bill; Hundreds Rescued in Same Region as Camp Mystic Disaster; Source Says, Lettuce Served at Taco Bell Linked to Cyclospora Outbreak. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, new emergency warnings after catastrophic flooding hits Texas. Two people have died, more than 200 needed to be rescued, and more rain is on the way still this morning.

FREDRICK WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And new details on the source of a parasite outbreak affecting thousands across the country. What Taco Bell is saying after lettuce sold there has been linked to the illness.

And an officer's split-second decision saves a man from a car that went up in flames. How that man and the officer are doing.

John and Sara are off today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and along with Kate Bolduan, this is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: So, a presidential primetime address is exactly what it sounds like. It's a big deal, and there are real questions though today if President Trump's promised big announcement delivered much of anything at all like it. He said it would shock the American people. He declassified documents. He ran through a laundry list of claims suggesting there were massive efforts to cover up voter fraud and election interference attempts related to the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure, one where cheating and interference are not just difficult, but virtually impossible. Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, the documents he declassified to back that all up fall short. An early CNN review finds that those documents largely discuss potential vulnerabilities that were previously included in U.S. intel assessments, vulnerabilities that even Trump's team acknowledge would not have changed an election outcome. Another focus of the president's last night, China specifically. Trump says that they attempted to access more than 200 million voter files dating back to 2020, a claim that China denies. But Trump's own team was at the very same time acknowledging that the Intelligence Community documents show no evidence that votes and election machines were changed in the past three elections.

The big question now, what does this speech mean for the not past elections, but the election now just four months away?

CNN's Betsy Klein is live at the White House for us with much more. Betsy, what are you hearing there today about last night?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Kate, President Trump using this very rare primetime address to speak directly to the American people on an issue that he has been long fixated on, election security, the president now trying to raise the alarm about potential future election vulnerabilities as he's making this push for an elections overhaul bill that is currently stalled in Congress.

Now, to do this, the president largely discussed previously known declassified intelligence that was part of a 2021 report from the U.S. intelligence community.

Now, the White House did, as you mentioned, post hundreds of pages of newly declassified documents on their website. Just to take you through some of the president's claims here, he took aim at China for illegally acquiring 220 million U.S. voter files with sensitive data. He also said that China works to undermine both his administration and the 2020 elections.

However, this intelligence report says that China considered trying to influence the election outcome, but did not choose to do so ultimately. Then, the president claimed that 278,000 non-citizens are registered on state voter rolls. He was doing that, citing data that has been uncovered by a program that has been well-documented to inflate those numbers.

And then the president going after members of the so-called deep state, who he said actively suppressed information about China working to meddle in the election and covered it up from both him and from the American people.

Now, none of this declassified information supports this claim that any U.S. election results were manipulated in a way that would have changed the outcome.

[07:05:03]

But election law experts have really raised the alarm that the president in this address is sowing doubt in these upcoming November midterm elections. The president pushing back on that. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in election, but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly, and that's what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, one very notable issue that the president did not or barely mention during this address is this conflict with Iran. And as he is weighing the possibility of expanding the U.S. military operation, all he said was, quote, the U.S. is winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very shortly. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Betsy, thank you very much for that. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Kate. So, what do President Trump's newly declassified documents actually say about threats to U.S. elections? CNN's Marshall Cohen is part of the team reviewing hundreds of pages of documents, and he's joining us right now.

All right, Marshall, what are we learning?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Hey, Fred. Good morning. We were going through these hundreds of pages last night while the White House was releasing these declassified documents. Look, we're journalists. We like it when the government declassifies intel reports so that we can learn what's going on behind the scenes. But with the Trump administration and with this White House, we have seen that sometimes when they put out a claim, there is a lot of context that needs to be added to give the full picture.

So, let me tick through three big buckets here of what we learned and what you need to know to really understand what's going on. So, as Betsy just mentioned, there were vulnerabilities that the White House highlighted about voting machines and claimed that there are weaknesses that foreign adversaries could exploit.

And that is what the documents do show, that there are weaknesses in the system that could be taken advantage of. But the documents do not even assert that foreign adversaries ever actually took that final step, hacked any machines, and changed any results, which is a very key distinction.

Moving on to the topic of non-citizens voting in U.S. elections, which is one of the president's fixations, even though there is no evidence of it occurring on a widespread basis. The documents do discuss allegations of non-citizens on the voter rolls at a far higher number than we've already known, something to the tune of 250,000 citizens, non-citizens on the rolls in some key states. But, number one, there are some issues with how that data was collected, which could lead to a lot of false positives. And the documents released last night importantly do not provide any evidence of illegal voting.

To be clear, there's a difference if you're on the voter roll. That doesn't mean you always go and vote. And if someone who is not supposed to be on the rolls is on the rolls, it's a very different story if they then go walk into a polling place and try to cast a ballot. There are a lot of safeguards in place to stop that from happening.

Finally, Fred, on the topic of China, this was a big one. The documents do show that China, over the years, has obtained millions of voter records on American voters. But the context here is pretty important. Yes, the intelligence community accuses China of obtaining that through hacking, and illicitly, but also a lot of those voter records are available for sale. A lot of these are public records that the states sell to anybody who wants to buy them.

And, importantly, the documents do not show that China actually tampered with any of those voter databases, deleting a record, manipulating a record. Yes, they have the information, but it's not clear that they actually ever did anything with it to hurt our elections. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, all very important distinctions. Marshall Cohen, thank you so much.

All right, breaking overnight, new emergency warnings for Texas Hill Country this morning after deadly floods swept through the same area where more than 100 people died last year.

And Taco Bell is responding this morning after shredded lettuce sold there was linked to the multi-state outbreak of that very serious stomach illness. What to look out for.

And this hour, Today Show Anchor Craig Melvin back on set after some very scary moments yesterday. How police say an intruder managed to make it backstage and lunge at him.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: So, heavy rain is triggering flashflood warnings again in Texas this morning. At least two people have been killed in the catastrophic storms that just hammered Central Texas. There have been more than 230 rescues. Video here is capturing one of those rescues from a helicopter that happened in Uvalde. Helicopter crew coming to help a family, which included a child, to get them away and to safety from the rising floodwaters.

The Guadalupe River reached higher levels yesterday than during last year's deadly flooding in this very same area. All of this understandably triggering some major fear and anxiety for so many who lived through that tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are still reeling from what happened a year ago. Those are not easily forgotten memories. And to have this happen again so suddenly is literally quite devastating for a lot of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Let's get to CNN's Derek Van Dam. He's tracking all of this. It was a lot that all -- I mean, the, the video yet again is just astonishing to see how high these river waters rise. What are you watching today?

[07:10:00]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So, after such a devastating past 24 hours that triggered so many memories from a year ago, we're finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I want to show you just quickly the moment when we saw that crest in the Guadalupe River when it was at its highest stage in Comfort, Texas.

Look at the aerial extent of the flooding, as far as the eye can see, I mean, bursting its banks across this area. Of course, there are homes and people who reside here, so their lives have been completely changed and altered, turned upside down at a moment's notice.

But look to my left, because this is the power of that flashflood as well, taking debris down the river with it. So, if you look at this, it's just incredible to see how RVs were flipped on their sides, cars tossed like toys, tree limbs left in the middle of roads, even stripping some of the pavement. A lot of debris here that's going to be left over, a lot of mud, and this will take weeks to clean up after such a devastating amount of water. Look at this. We saw over a year's worth of rain in some locations across the Texas Hill Country.

Here's the good news. Notice where it is now. It's north of that location. It is expanding north. So, the heavier rainfall right now is really across the Abilene region into West Central Texas. That's where we're going to focus our attention today, but the rainfall rates are significantly lower than what we experienced yesterday.

But the ground is so compromised at the moment, it doesn't take much additional rain to get those rises in the rivers, and you'll see that in just one moment. Here's the forecast river gauges. We have three locations right now or that are forecast to be at major flood stage.

But this is the Guadalupe River gauge at Comfort when it spiked above that July 4th, 2025 benchmark flood event. Here it is now. We're still in the action stage. But remember, these little bumps right here, Kate, that is when it starts to rain upstream, so we see the rises in the river. Our flood alert here is really a slight risk across West Central Texas and then spreading into the Great Basin today. Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right. Thank you so much, Derek, for keeping such a close watch on this for us. I really appreciate it.

Still ahead for us, a new warning sign for the housing market. Mortgage rates hit their highest level since the start of the Iran war. What this now means for buyers and sellers.

And the nuns going viral for their podcast and positivity, and the catchphrases that the interwebs just can't seem to get enough of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sister, yes. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. Taco Bell is responding this morning after lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and sold at some of its restaurants has been linked to an outbreak of serious stomach problems. The CDC warning contaminated lettuce was sent to Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia, but they have only linked that lettuce to the cases in the Midwest. Separately, health officials say there are nearly 7,000 cases nationwide. Over 100 people have been hospitalized so far.

Joining us right now, CNN's Jacqueline Howard with more on all this. Jacqueline?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, Fredericka. This is a big development that the CDC and FDA say that they have linked these Midwest cases to shredded lettuce provided at some Taco Bell locations.

So, what we know about this Midwest outbreak, we do know that more than 1,644 people have reported getting sick and have been part of this outbreak. Among them, 94 people have been hospitalized, and the CDC is putting out this statement saying, do not eat shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in these five states, like you said, Fredericka, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.

And the FDA has announced that its investigation has identified a single supplier of the lettuce from Mexico used by these Taco Bell locations. So, that's the latest that we know so far about this Midwest outbreak. But like you said, Fredericka, outside of those five states in the Midwest, across the country, several other states have reported increases in cyclosporiasis cases, and those are still under investigation. Nearly 7,000 cases nationwide are either confirmed or under investigation at this time.

And with cyclosporiasis, we do know the main symptoms are gastrointestinal. Many people do develop watery diarrhea or explosive diarrhea, and these symptoms can lead to dehydration in some cases, and that, Fredericka, is what led to some people being hospitalized. So, this is an ongoing outbreak, and many cases, Fred, are still under investigation at this time.

WHITFIELD: Yes, all of that very bad.

All right, Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for that.

HOWARD: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Kate. BOLDUAN: A new look now at the economic impact of the Iran war is just out, showing the conflict has now trickled into the U.S. housing market. The average 30-day fixed mortgage climbed to 6.55 percent this week, the highest level in nearly a year. This is after the renewed strikes in Iran rattled financial markets. There are also signs rising rates are keeping potential buyers out of the market, with a new report showing that pending home sales fell by 5.4 percent last month.

Now, despite the disruptions, the turmoil, and the ongoing uncertainty around all of this, economists at Zillow, though, expect mortgage rates to fall slightly to 6.4 percent by the end of the year. We'll take any good news where you can get it, right? But that would still be higher than where rates ended up last year.

Still ahead for us, devastating storms are still sweeping across Texas, and we are keeping a close eye on this morning as we are getting our first look at some of the aftermath. More than 200 people have had to be rescued from the high water. A storm chaser in the middle of it all is going to be joining us live.

[07:25:01]

And we have new details about a major security breach at the Today Show after an intruder lunged at host Craig Melvin off set.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Overnight, President Trump delivered a primetime White House address to sound an alarm on U.S. elections. The president made several wide-ranging claims, saying newly declassified documents can back up allegations that China carried out an influence campaign in the 2020 election.

[07:30:01]

He also claimed that more non-citizens on voter rolls are known than previously.