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Earthquake Strikes Mexico; Lettuce Served at Taco Bell Tied to Parasitic Outbreak; Trump Administration Threatens State Election Officials; Smoke Impacting 100 Million Americans. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: An urgent warning to stay inside. More than 100 million Americans are shrouded in smoke from Canadian wildfires, as cities from the Midwest to the East Coast are enveloped in hazy orange clouds.

Culprit identified. One source of that diarrhea-causing parasite has been traced to lettuce sold at Taco Bell, but not everyone who got sick ate there.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: And President Trump says the United States' election systems are vulnerable to being rigged and need to be fixed, but, in many cases, the intelligence isn't backing up his claims.

We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: And I was just coughing because that's what we're dealing with here. We're beginning with this haze that is hanging over the Central and Northeastern U.S. for a second day now, a thick cloud of smoke from rampant Canadian wildfires. This is just blanketing the region.

It's causing the air quality index to spike to hazardous levels for 100 million some people in 18 states. And it's creating a legitimate public health crisis that will impact in some states even healthy adults with no allergies or preexisting conditions.

Officials are warning people to avoid going outdoors if they can.

Someone has to report the news, so our Brian Todd is on the mall right now doing his best to stay healthy in between live shots.

And, Brian, officials are telling people to avoid going outside. What precautions are you and the team taking?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we do have N95 five masks like you would wear during the COVID period. I'm going to talk about that in just a second. But I will give you a couple of superlatives regarding this weather and this haze and just how miserable it is.

According to the Web site IQAir, which monitors air quality, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Detroit are the three most polluted cities in the world as of this morning. We can show you a visual of what that looks like. Take a look at the haze behind me.

You can barely see the Capitol there in the background. On a normal day, you can see the Capitol very, very clearly. You can see the monument there. Even that is shrouded in some haze. It's halfway between here at the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol. But just take a look at that haze and how thick and kind of overbearing it is.

I'm going to talk to a lady who's here from Glasgow, Scotland, Yanula Dobson (ph).

Yanula, thanks for talking to us.

You're here. This is maybe your first or second day in D.C. You were in New York, so the fog has been following you around, the smog.

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TODD: What's that been like?

YANULA DOBSON, TOURIST: It's been difficult. My daughter's asthmatic, so she's found it really tricky, and her beating is really bad. So we have been taking lots of breaks and going in and out of cafes, restaurants, just to try and get a bit of relief.

TODD: And you mentioned how it kind of takes away from the tourist experience. Talk about that. What does this do to the tourist experience?

DOBSON: Well, as you just mentioned, folks -- she can't see many of the sites, and so we're walking to the site to site just to get really close to it as best as you can. And also because of the smoke, we're wanting to take more shelter, so we want to get away from it as much.

So we don't want to spend as long outside. So, you're kind of taking away from that experience.

TODD: And the pictures aren't as good either.

DOBSON: Photos aren't as great. Obviously, everything's a photo-op, so you want to have really great photos, but they're not as good. They're not as clear.

TODD: Yanula, you know, thank you very much for talking to us. I hope it clears up. I think it's going to by tomorrow. So good luck with the rest of the trip.

DOBSON: Thank you so much.

TODD: Thank you very much.

As I just mentioned to Yanula, this might clear by tomorrow afternoon because they are expecting possible thunderstorms here by tomorrow afternoon in D.C. That's going to dissipate a lot of the smoke and the haze.

What they are recommending for people, if you're going to be outside, wear one of these, an N95 respirator mask or a regular N95 mask. What they are telling people is, the cloth masks do not help you, that they do not protect from smoke and that kind of smoke and haze from a wildfire, Brianna.

So, if you're going to be outside for a long period of time, it'd be better to wear one of these, but, as you can see, the vast majority of these tourists behind us not wearing masks -- Brianna.

KEILAR: No. It's a fine particulate matter,. And this is -- listen, we have a lot of beautiful museums in this city, and it is time to go to the museums, I think.

So, Brian, it's interesting, because some lawmakers actually want to sanction Canada for the smoke caused by these fires. Tell us about that.

TODD: That's right.

Senator Bernie Moreno, he is a Republican senator from the state of Ohio, which has been affected by some of this. He says he is going to introduce legislation to sanction Canada for what he believes is a lack of effort to do enough to mitigate wildfires that have taken place in the province of Ontario.

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Senator Moreno complaining that they have not done enough regarding forest thinning, things like that to mitigate and take enough measures to prevent this kind of thing from happening. We will see how far that goes. But you have at least one maker (sic) wanting to sanction Canada for, in his opinion, Bernie Moreno's opinion, not doing enough to prevent some of this.

But, again, I think, from every forecast that we see Brianna, that it's going to get better in the Northeast and here in the mid-Atlantic in the next couple of days with the arrival of some rain tomorrow. That's especially important for the World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.

There's going to be rain in that area tomorrow, according to forecasters. That's going to take away a lot of the smoke and haze. So, hopefully, by the time they kick off that World Cup final at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, a lot of this will have vanished.

KEILAR: Yes, so we will be looking toward that on Sunday.

Brian, thank you so much for that report from the National Mall -- Omar. JIMENEZ: Not fun at all out there today.

After President Trump used his prime-time speech to cast doubt on the American election system and to make another push for his elections overhaul bill, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is now threatening dozens of states, warning them, if they don't comply with the administration's new election security requirements, they're going to lose millions of dollars of funding, and, in some cases, state officials could be arrested.

Now, this ramped-up pressure comes after President Trump said the goal of his speech and the release of declassified documents were not to -- quote -- "weaken confidence" in America's elections, as he described it. But critics say he did just that. Here's part of what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Put together, these disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it. It is not defensible.

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JIMENEZ: So let's go to CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House for us.

And, Kevin, just what more do we know about this escalation by the Trump administration, essentially threatening state election officials?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes.

And what the homeland security secretary said earlier today was actually much further than President Trump went in his own speech last night, really threatening some of these state election officials if they didn't work with his department and saying that he would apply -- quote -- "maximum pressure" on states to prevent noncitizens from voting.

And this all stems from one of the revelations that President Trump made in his speech last night, which was that they found that, in four states, they found more than two hundred thousand noncitizens on the voter rolls.

Now, how they derived those numbers, it wasn't clear from the president's speech. And when you talk to experts, they say that some of the methodology that the administration could have been using actually leads to inflated figures.

And what we know is that instances of nonvoter -- or noncitizens actually casting ballots is extremely rare. But, nonetheless, you do hear this line keep coming from Mullin and from President Trump. And, in fact, what Markwayne Mullin said today is that his department would actually try and punish some state election officials if they refuse to use the administration's systems for trying to root out some of this alleged fraud.

Listen to more of what he said.

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MARKWAYNE MULLIN, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time.

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LIPTAK: So you see this back-and-forth, and this has actually been going on for several months now, between the administration and individual states.

The administration is trying to compel these states to provide the federal government with their voter rolls, and you have seen the Justice Department just this week send letters to all 50 states, threatening them that if noncitizens are found to have voted and these states refuse to cooperate with them, that there could be potential consequences.

Many of these states have just refused to hand over their voter information, and in fact a number of judges have found in the states' favor when they have refused to do that. And so this will continue to be a back-and-forth.

It was interesting. Earlier today, the White House put out a tweet, I think trying to sum up some of what the president was doing in his speech, saying that -- quote -- "For years, fake news and other bad actors tried to convince you that we had safe and secure elections, when that clearly wasn't reality."

It goes on to say: "America must continue to fight for honest elections and properly functioning voting systems. Our nation depends on it."

But I think there is a question of timing here. A lot of the vulnerabilities that the president laid out last night, particularly when it comes to foreign meddling, have been known for quite some time. And the president has not done much to counter it.

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He gutted task forces at the FBI and ODNI and at CISA that are meant to target some of that. And so it leads a lot of voting experts to raise the question, if the president is just raising this now, is he just trying to sow distrust in the upcoming midterm elections?

JIMENEZ: And there's an important threshold. One, it's acknowledging threats toward elections, but also there's another threshold for anything that might alter the outcome of elections, which, of course, we have not seen evidence of to this point.

Kevin Liptak, appreciate the reporting for us there from the White House, a dynamic to watch in the months ahead leading to the midterms. Still to come, we're going to take a closer look at the intelligence

reports released by the White House and compare them to the president's claims about election security.

Plus: An outbreak of a diarrhea-causing parasite has been traced back to shredded lettuce sold at Taco Bell. Check your sources, everyone. But not everyone infected ate at the fast-food chains, so we will tell you what that means.

And then, later: more flash flood warnings issued in Texas, as the same area struck by deadly floodwaters last year is hit again.

That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: Health officials now say shredded lettuce served at some Taco Bell locations is linked to a five-state outbreak of the intestinal illness cyclosporiasis.

Those states include Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard is with us now.

All right, Jacqueline, what more are you learning here?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Brianna, we're learning that more than 1,600 people have gotten sick as part of this outbreak that has been connected back to the shredded lettuce sold at some Taco Bell locations.

And among those people who've gotten sick, we know that 94 of them have been hospitalized. And, again, this is in just those five states that you mentioned, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Indiana.

And, Brianna, we also know that the FDA says it is working directly with the supplier of that shredded lettuce to determine if the contaminated lettuce has been sent to other places too outside of Taco Bell. So this is an active investigation that is ongoing.

Now, Taco Bell has provided a statement in response to the outbreak. In the statement, Taco Bell says -- quote -- "Based on ongoing conversations with public health officials, and out of an abundance of caution, Taco Bell has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states. The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states" -- end quote.

So, for now, Brianna, the CDC is telling people do not eat shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in, again, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. And if you do develop symptoms like watery diarrhea or fatigue or nausea, or sometimes people have explosive diarrhea, then definitely talk with your doctor and tell them if you have eaten lettuce or what you have eaten recently that may have contributed to your illness. -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So not all victims have eaten at Taco Bell. For instance, we spoke with someone on the show this week who had confirmed cyclospora, had eaten actually in New York City at an establishment that was not Taco Bell. So what does that mean?

HOWARD: That's right, Brianna.

That tells us that there might be something broader going on. And the CDC has said that it is investigating two separate situations. One, there is that outbreak centered in the Midwest. But, two, we do know that several other states have reported cases. And, nationally, for now, it does appear that there are higher than-normal-numbers of cyclosporiasis nationally.

Now, could these other cases be tied back to the Midwest outbreak? Could they also be tied to just travel? Could they be just we happen to see more cases than usual this year, it's a random year? That other question -- those questions, that other situation is what the CDC is also investigating.

So, Brianna, while we have the Midwest outbreak, like you said, we are seeing other cases too where people are getting sick and they haven't eaten at Taco Bell. So that's why there are more questions to answer here while health officials look at these increases in cyclosporiasis cases.

KEILAR: Yes, how did we get to this point?

All right, Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much.

A powerful earthquake hits Mexico. It's being felt as far away as Guatemala and El Salvador, and we have the latest on that.

Plus, an update on this extremely low Blue Angels flyover in Florida. The Navy has just released a statement after conducting an internal review.

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KEILAR: We're following some breaking news out of Mexico, where a powerful earthquake has struck off of Mexico's southern Pacific coast and triggered a tsunami warning. This was a 7.3-magnitude quake that's also rattled Guatemala and El Salvador.

JIMENEZ: And we're just getting some video, and it captures the really utter confusion during a public event, as people start to realize what is happening here. The U.S. Geological Survey gave the quake a preliminary magnitude of 7.3.

I want to bring in Maureen Long. She's a seismologist and a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Yale.

So let's just start with, how serious of an earthquake are you assessing this to be?

MAUREEN LONG, PROFESSOR OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, YALE UNIVERSITY: Well, a magnitude 7.3, that is certainly a sizable earthquake.

So the U.S. Geological Survey, the USGS, they have estimated that there may well be fatalities from this event, and there may well be significant economic damage in the area as well. So this is certainly an event. It's not an unusual event from a tectonic perspective, but it may very well be a significant one.

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KEILAR: And could there be some aftershocks? What's the risk of that?

LONG: Yes, that -- aftershocks are extremely likely. Aftershocks are expected for this kind of event. And, actually, indeed, there have already been several aftershocks reported. I believe that there was a magnitude-6 aftershock that has already been supported -- has already been reported.

For this type of event, magnitude 7.3, we would expect the aftershock sequence to go on for days or even weeks. So, certainly, those in the affected area should expect and anticipate to feel aftershocks.

JIMENEZ: And we had the map up earlier showing exactly where this struck. It happened along Mexico's southwestern coastline. There it is on your screens there, obviously along the coast here.

Are there any concerns about tsunamis or anything like that in the midst of some of these aftershocks as well?

LONG: Yes, and that is always a question, of course, that you want to ask right away. Whenever there is a large earthquake that happens offshore, and an earthquake that happens, as this one did, in what geologists would call a subduction zone setting, those are always the earthquakes where tsunamis are a worry.

This particular event was fairly shallow. It happened at a depth of a little less than 20 kilometers. My understanding is that a local tsunami warning has been issued for that local area. I'm not aware of whether there have been any reports yet of tsunami waves.

It is likely that the tsunami threat is probably going to be localized to that -- the area, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, to that area. But, certainly, I would encourage everyone to keep an eye on those tsunami warnings just to make sure that people stay safe in this kind of situation.

KEILAR: Yes, and Guatemala and El Salvador, they felt it there. What can you tell us about the nearby fault lines and the regional risk?

LONG: Yes. So this is an area that is at very substantial risk from earthquakes. This is -- from a tectonic or geologic point of view, this is not an unusual earthquake. So, this area is located along, again, what geologists call a subduction zone.

That's where one tectonic plate of the Earth dives beneath another plate. And these are the tectonic regions where we actually can expect the very largest earthquakes on Earth to occur. So, a subduction zone, this is a region where we would expect earthquakes.

Now, fortunately, this one is 7.3. That is a very large earthquake, but it is not the biggest that we can expect in this kind of setting. Here, in this area, the -- what we call the Cocos tectonic plate is diving beneath North America.

And this earthquake happened on the shallow part of that fault. Whenever you have an earthquake that's relatively shallow, that means it tends to be more damaging.

JIMENEZ: And we're going to continue to look for some of these details as they come in. Just trying to get this breaking news out there as we're following these initial reports.

And Maureen Long, I really appreciate you being here and helping us sift through some of these initial details. Appreciate the time.

LONG: My pleasure. Great to be with you.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right, coming up for us: We went through those documents released by the White House on election security. So, next, we're going to tell you what the newly released intelligence files actually reveal about the president's allegations and his speech last night.

Stay with us.

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