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Measles Cases In U.S. Hit Record Rate Again; FAA Investigating After Seaplane Crashes Off Washington Coast; LeBron James Has Chosen His Next NBA Team; FDA Panel Votes To Ease Restrictions On Certain Peptides; U.S., Iran Trade Strikes In 13th Straight Night Of Attacks; U.S. & Iranian Officials Deny Report That Iran Rejected Ceasefire Deal; United Airlines Getting Rid Of Some Middle Seats; Houston Calls For Justice, Dem Lawmakers Hold Hearing On Deadly ICE Shooting In Houston. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 24, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The record- breaking number of measles cases taking over the U.S. for a second year in a row. Plus, a dramatic rescue after a seaplane, you see it here, is forced to do an emergency crash landing. How rescue crews managed to get everyone out alive, even after it burst into flames.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And later, he is taking his talents to Philly. LeBron James has made his decision and it's the 76ers --

(LAUGH)

ABEL: A lot of folks inside this video are happy about that.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: Jake Tapper.

(LAUGH)

ABEL: We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: Nearly three decades after measles was declared eliminated in the U.S., the highly contagious disease is surging to historic levels. New figures from the CDC show measles cases just reached a 35-year high. More than 2,300 cases have been confirmed in just the first seven months of this year. That's already surpassing last year's entire total and it comes as vaccination rates in the U.S. continue to drop.

According to the CDC, 93 percent of those who were infected with measles this year were not vaccinated against the disease. We're joined now by Dr. Paul Offit. He's the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Co- Inventor of the oral vaccine for Rotavirus, which is one of the childhood vaccines recommended by the CDC.

Dr. Offit, thank you for being with us. Can the U.S. at this point still claim to have measles elimination status?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: No, I think measles is out of control. It's come roaring back. I think this is only going to get worse. And I think there's two reasons like, first of all, as you noted, we eliminated measles in the year 2000. I think at the same time, we largely eliminated the memory of measles. I think people don't remember how sick or dead this virus can make you.

And the second reason is that we're much better at getting bad information out there via the social media or the Internet, and people are unnecessarily scared of this safe and effective vaccine. So this is the most contagious human infection and it's not done yet. I think that there's going to be more children who are going to suffer, more children who are going to be hospitalized. I think sadly, there are probably going to be more children who are going to die. We just don't know their names yet, but they have names.

KEILAR: Yeah, and as I mentioned, the case numbers already surpassed last year's, 2,318 cases reported It's only July now. What are your worries for the rest of the year?

OFFIT: Well, so typically measles is a winter and early spring disease. In Philadelphia, example, in 1991-1992, over a several month period, we had 1,400 cases of meals and nine deaths. But come April- May, that really virtually went away, but then started to come back again, November-December. I think that's what's going to happen here.

I think once we enter November-December, you're going to see this virus once again flaring up because there are pockets of under or unvaccinated children in this country and they are susceptible to this virus.

KEILAR: I also want to ask you about peptides, which are these injectables they're popular among wellness influencers and some doctors who say that they improve muscle recovery, that they reduce inflammation, promote longevity or simply boost overall health. An FDA committee is meeting today and tomorrow to review some of them, to discuss whether compounding pharmacies should be able to dispense them. Can you just talk a little bit about what peptides actually are?

OFFIT: Right, so peptides are strings of amino acids. So for example, Ozempic, a GLP-1 drug. The P in GLP-1 stands for peptides, so it's sort of too short to be a protein, but still big enough to have an effect. That's what a peptide is. In the case of Ozempic, it's been tested. So, you know what its safety data are. You know it's efficacy data are and so it's licensed.

What I think Robert F Kennedy Jr. wants to do as Secretary of Health and Human Services is stack those committees with people who, like him, believe that these drugs work independent of whether you have any data on safety or efficacy. I think it's fine to make a claim, but prove it. And what worries me here about this peptide story is that there are going to be drugs that are going to be taken by people thinking that they work, thinking that they're safe and effective when they're not. And this -- like anything, prove it, prove that you're right.

KEILAR: Well, and maybe you can talk a little bit more about that because, yes, he does like them. He says he's a big fan of them. He's used them himself and as he's hoping to relax restrictions around them and you point out that a lot of them have not been tested. It's important to note that he also argues childhood vaccines haven't been studied enough and the CDC website has been updated to incorrectly claim that a link between vaccines and autism has not been disproven, when there actually are a ton of studies, you know, and we know that there is no proven link, right?

So when you're looking at that science, the scientific method, what is that telling you about the approach here?

[14:05:00]

OFFIT: Right. So in the case of vaccines, you have dozens and dozens of studies showing that you are no more likely to have autism if you have gotten the vaccine or if you haven't, whether it's the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine or preservative in vaccines or an adjuvant in vaccines. He just doesn't believe them because he has a fixed immutable belief that vaccines cause harm, no matter what the data show. And conversely and ironically, he believes that peptides work even though there are often no data to show that they work.

And it just worries me. He has said, I think anybody should be able to take an experimental drug. That's a dangerous thing to say. I mean thank goodness he wasn't head of health and human services when the German company, Chemie Grunenthal made thalidomide because then he would have said, sure, if you're a pregnant woman, take it, it reduces nausea. I mean, what could happen? What could go wrong?

KEILAR: Yeah, remind us what did go wrong.

OFFIT: Well, what went wrong is those children had horrible birth defects, were basically hands and feet were attached directly to the body something called phocomelia. It was a disaster. Fortunately, we had people in the FDA in this country who never allowed it to be used in this country because we had a regulatory system and that's what you want here. You want a regulatory system that says, if you think this peptide works, prove that it's safe, prove that it's effective, and then license it.

Don't give it a pass because bad things can happen.

KEILAR: Yeah. A good reminder of why we don't want people being guinea pigs, right? Dr. Paul Offit, thanks so much for being with us.

OFFIT: Thank you.

KEILAR: Brian?

ABEL: We turn now to the war with Iran. Just hours ago, Kuwait's military saying it was intercepting hostile targets from Iran after the U.S. launched its 13th straight nights of attacks. We are waiting to hear from President Trump next hour, after he told Axios just over 24 hours ago that he was, quote, "Considering a massive attack, bigger than ever before."

All of this as officials from the U.S. and Iran are now disputing a report in the New York Times that Tehran rejected a new ceasefire proposal from President Trump. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us at the White House. And Kristen, what more are you learning about all of this?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Brian, the messaging coming out of the White House and from President Trump has been incredibly conflicting. First of all, we are seeing what seems to be President Trump really deeply considering this new massive attack. It's not just his words, also the fact that we know the Wall Street Journal reported that medics were being sent to Germany, that there were going to be ships and various fighter jets being sent from Europe bases to the Middle East as part of this kind of gearing up in case they do want to take these extra steps.

And President Trump himself, in addition to saying that to Axios, also said that he doesn't believe that Iran is ready for a ceasefire. He doesn't believe that they're ready to come to the negotiating table. At the same time though, when I'm talking to U.S. officials, it really sounds like there is so little appetite for any kind of military escalation.

Now, interestingly, one of the things that is playing out today has been this idea behind Russia and China supporting Iran in this war against the United States and President Trump addressed this. He seemed to be downplaying and saying it wasn't possible because these leaders had told him that it wasn't -- that they were not supporting Iran. This is what he says, it's two major countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating. If they did, it would be very bad for them, certainly not in their best interests.

So, unclear if this is kind of a threat or also him actually saying he doesn't believe they're involved, which would be very interesting given the fact that the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and General Caine, both said under oath during a hearing that they were in fact aiding Iran and that there was an alignment of adversaries when it came to this war.

Now, all of this is happening as now we are learning that the prime minister of Israel is going to be in Washington, D.C. and meeting with president trump here at the White House on Tuesday. It's unclear how that factors into this. Of course, one of the things to note is that when there was an enormous military escalation in Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu was all for that. He was the one really trying to sell this war in Iran early on to President Trump.

So we'll see what comes out of that meeting or if there's an escalation before that. But I can tell you this, there is a lot of conflicting narratives coming out of the White House.

ABEL: And you are there to help us get through it all. Kristen Holmes for us at the White House. Kristen, thank you.

Still ahead, a Houston community rallying behind the family of an immigrant and father shot and killed by an ICE agent. We are live from Houston as lawmakers hold a forum on the violence involving federal agents.

Plus, an urgent rescue mission after a seaplane forced to do an emergency landing. We have the dramatic new video of the moment the plane went down.

[14:10:00]

And Wisconsin is warning voters not to make bets on election outcomes unless they're willing to face legal consequences. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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ABEL: The FAA is investigating after a seaplane carrying 11 people made an emergency water landing before erupting into flames off the coast of Washington State.

[14:15:00]

Video from a nearby boat showed the plane preparing to land, tilting to its left, you see it there, before bouncing on the water and disappearing from view.

Officials say everyone on board escaped before the aircraft burst into flames, prompting a multi-agency search and rescue operation. Take a listen to the dispatch call made to first responders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lopez EMS. ALS. Trauma. Plane crash. Respond to sheriff's boat for marine response to Sucia.

Lopez EMS. ALS. Trauma. Plane crash. Respond to sheriff's boat for marine response to Sucia to San Juan EMS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Let's bring in CNN Transportation Analyst, Mary Schiavo, for more perspective on this. And Mary, just incredible that everybody got out of that plane. Considering what we see in that video with those intense flames, how do you think that happened that everybody made it out alive? And what does that tell you about the pilot?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, first of all, they got out and they made it out alive because they got out before the fire. In accidents, the difference between living and perishing often comes down to if you can get out before the fire engulfs the plane. So thank heavens they were all able to do that.

But if you look at the video, we have a lot of clues. And what's really odd is we saw a video very much like this on July 5, when another seaplane crashed in New York City in the Hudson River. And you see them come in. Apparently they had a problem, a mechanical problem with the plane. So this is not where they were originally intending to go.

And you can see them come down and it wasn't a stable landing. And they weren't all set up to what you call flare and make the landing. And they hit one side and then the other. And so that caused them to lose control right at the landing. And you see them hit the island and then the fire starts. So the fire might have been due to the collision, not the mechanical they were having on board.

But you know, it'll be, you know, lots of important things for the NTSB to investigate, including what was the mechanical or the alleged mechanical that's needed the landing right here right then.

ABEL: According to Kenmore Air, Mary, the plane, it did go down around 45 minutes after takeoff, roughly 15 miles from its destination in the San Juan Islands. What questions do you have about what prompted the plane to make this emergency landing?

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, looking over the years and at statistics, they're very important in aviation. I mean, I've worked a number of seaplane crashes. And ordinarily, the NTSB, they get kind of predictable. About two-thirds of the time, they do say it's pilot error, a loss of control, poor airmanship decisions, letting your airspeed deteriorate.

But then, the next reasons come in at mechanical and weather. And with the seaplane, you have this added component of not only is your plane moving, your runway is moving. So it adds another component on airmanship and piloting skills. And sometimes you don't have a choice, when you're trained for a seaplane addition to your license, it's not a separate license. It's separate endorsement. You're trained in the beginning to look for what's called glass water. You want that water to be just as smooth as a runway surface.

And of course, it's often not, particularly when you have to put down an emergency, and the currents can be very tricky. And here, as in the accident we saw just a few weeks ago in New York, one side caught first and then left the landing not stabilized and not under control. And so that's what the investigators will be looking at.

But also going back to the records of the maintenance of the plane to see what could have caused the mechanical.

ABEL: Mary looks like we lost your video there, but not your audio. So while we still have you, I want to turn to another story now.

United Airlines just announced they're getting rid -- we have you back -- of some of its middle seats, the bane of any airline passenger, really.

(LAUGH)

ABEL: It will block out two of the middle seats in the Economy Plus section of a new jet debuting this fall, which will give adjoining passengers a bit more elbow room and an extra table for an additional cost. And we don't know what that cost is for yet. This is just one more tier in the available menu of amenities passengers are going to be able to pay for. How do you see this evolution?

SCHIAVO: Well, it's called taking price. I mean, this started way back in the 70s when they came up with many, what they call, different buckets of fares. Economist worked on this for many years to figure out how to exact additional dollars from us every time we fly. And so this is another, if you will, a bucket or another fare bucket.

And I assume that some people will pay for it, especially on a longer flight. And it's just another way to exact more traveler dollars and fares are really high right now. And I don't see them coming down when the fuel prices go down. So I believe someone is going to buy that. It's like buying an, you know, extended leg room seat. You have extended arm rooms, if you have to type on your computer.

[14:20:00]

ABEL: I am interested to see just how much more this will cost and who will pay for it, the person on the left of this table or on the right, or do they split it? Who knows? We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure. Mary Schiavo, I appreciate you as always. Thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

ABEL: Coming up, a community is still reeling after a deadly ICE shooting in Houston as the brother of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo attends an immigration hearing to learn his fate. We are live from Houston with an update on that hearing and the calls for justice, next.

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[14:25:09]

ABEL: At this hour, a hearing is underway in Houston into the deadly ICE shooting of an immigrant. 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was on his way to work earlier this month when he was shot and killed by an ICE agent.

KEILAR: Homeland Security says the Mexican national rammed an ICE vehicle when they attempted to pull him over in his white van and an ICE agent opened fire in self-defense. Attorneys for men who were in the van deny those claims.

His death sparking protests in Houston amid mounting calls for an independent investigation. And today, members of his family made an emotional plea for justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORENZO SALGADO, SON OF MAN KILLED BY ICE AGENT: How many more of our dads have to die? How many more of -- how many more children have to wait hopelessly for answers? This is not a partisan issue. This is of issue -- this is an issue of right and wrong. And we believe that there are many wrongs in what happened on July 7th, the day our dad died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Ed Lavandera is with us now. Ed, what can you tell us about this forum?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this forum just wrapped up. It lasted a little more than two hours and clearly, the Democratic members of Congress -- there were no Republicans at this forum -- really trying to ratchet up pressure on the Department of Homeland Security, Immigrations & Customs Enforcement to be more transparent about this investigation. The calls for independent investigation continue.

The members of Congress described ICE as an agency, a law enforcement agency, out of control that they essentially used the words that -- one member said that they were responsible for the murder of Lorenzo Salgado.

This is a telling exchange. One of the people who spoke before this forum was the district attorney who is trying to conduct an independent investigation here, but it's clear that they are having a very hard time. Listen to this exchange that they had just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- has been provided and what has been withheld?

SEAN TEARE, HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: My office has reached out to DHS on a number of occasions after the shooting. And not only have we not been told no, we haven't gotten anything back. We haven't gotten a response to anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we've not gotten anything back?

TEARE: No, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this normal for an agency to act this way?

TEARE: It's unique in its abnormality. There has -- in every agency, in the 20 years that I've been in law enforcement, I've never seen behavior like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Brianna, it's been more than two weeks since Lorenzo Salgado was shot and killed by an ICE officer on the streets of Houston. The district attorney and prosecutors say that they still do not have key documents that led -- that would -- internal documents that led to the pursuit of that day.

What led them to Salgado and the three men in that white van, that they still do not have any identification on who the officers involved were, that they do not have the weapon that was used. They haven't had access to any of that. So clearly, what they're painting a picture of is a stonewalling from federal investigators in this investigation and obviously, the family of Lorenzo Salgado calling for an independent investigation that they want the justice for their father.

But clearly, they have -- the local prosecutors and local investigators do not feel they're making any headway in that area.

KEILAR: All right, Ed Lavandera, this story will continue. Thank you.

Still ahead, growing uncertainty surrounding the U. S.-Iran War as the two countries push back on reports that Tehran turned down a new ceasefire proposal, but continue exchanging fire.

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