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ICE Vetting Process Under Review?; Wildfires In Europe; Mass Shooting In Seattle; President Trump Heads To Michigan. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 27, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

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[13:00:40]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Revving up voters in the Motor City. President Trump heading to battleground Michigan to sell his economic policies with the midterms just 99 days away.

Plus: an urgent manhunt, police in Seattle looking for a suspect believed to be involved in a deadly shooting at a packed food festival. We have the latest on that search.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a new lawsuit accuses ChatGPT of misdiagnosing a man's medical issues, leading him to the -- quote -- "brink of death."

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

SANCHEZ: This hour, President Donald Trump is making a pit stop in Michigan as the nation races towards the midterms.

In just 99 days, voters in the battleground state will decide several key races, including a Senate seat that could determine which party controls Congress. The president is hoping to flip it red and build on his Republican majority. The question, though, will voters buy that message?

Today, his speech is supposed to focus on the economy, as new polling finds that Americans are almost evenly split over which party has the better economic policies; 37 percent say Democrats; 36 percent say Republicans.

Let's go live to Milford, Michigan, now, where CNN's Steve Contorno is anticipating the president's arrival.

Steve, what will you be watching from President Trump?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Donald Trump certainly has a challenge in battleground states like Michigan in convincing Americans that he has answers to the economic malaise that so many people are feeling as we head into these final days before this midterm election.

Take a look at this recent pew poll; 29 percent of respondents say they want to hear candidates talk more about their plan for the economy. Just 7 percent say immigration, which is a topic that the president often drift towards. And you see as well his approval ratings with so many voters remains underwater.

Just 34 percent approve of the job he is doing. And so much of that is tied to the economy. And certainly that is being felt, especially in a place like Detroit area, where Trump's tariffs are having so much of an impact on the various industries here.

Look at the unemployment rate in Michigan versus the rest of the country. It's at 4.9 percent, one of the highest rates in the country. And the Detroit area is at 5.5 percent as of May. That's up from 4.8 percent just a year ago.

And I just had a chance to ask Mike Rogers -- he's the Republican nominee or soon to be the Republican nominee for Senate here in Michigan -- why so many voters are not feeling the impacts of this economy that Trump keeps touting?

And he said, well, certainly the price uncertainty around energy and oil is really hurting people, but he anticipates that will settle down if this war with Iran comes to a close in the weeks ahead. Of course, that remains to be seen.

And what remains to be seen as well is who will be facing Rogers in that Senate race, eight days until that primary contest, where the Democrats will be choosing his opponent in one of those key races that you mentioned, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it is set to be a big race. Steve, we know you will be monitoring the president's speech. Thank you so much for that report.

Steve Contorno in Michigan -- Brianna.

KEILAR: A manhunt is under way in Seattle after a deadly mass shooting last night. Authorities say three people were killed in this, that several others were injured, including a toddler.

This was a horrifying attack that unfolded at a popular food festival right next to Seattle's Space Needle. It's an event that brings out thousands of families, and video from one of the vendors captures the moment that gunfire rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooting. Shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooting? Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (EXPLETIVE DELETED) right here. Get down, get down, get down, get down. Just get down.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Investigators believe two people were shooting at each other, one person taken into custody here, but police are still looking for a second possible suspect.

[13:05:02]

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's an eerie scene here in Seattle this morning, as we're seeing the cleanup of this food festival starting to take place, authorities opening up for vendors to come and collect their belongings.

The scene seems like it was frozen in time in that very moment that those shots rang out at around 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, where people ran, including in this direction, towards the Space Needle, this iconic landmark of Seattle to take cover to protect themselves as they heard those what sounded to some like fireworks at first, they said.

Take a listen to what one of them described it was like to be in the middle of that shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was about -- I was about 20 feet or less maybe from one of the people who was shot. And I couldn't really clearly see what was going on. But I ran toward the gunfire. And there was -- I would say at least two dozen shots, multiple. It sounded like an automatic weapon.

VARGAS JONES: One major development overnight, that one of the people who were injured died of their injuries in the hospital, but all other survivors were released, according to the hospital, except for the 2- year-old, who they say is in satisfactory condition.

Now, the attention today turns to the suspect who is in custody. It's unclear if they are cooperating with police in finding the missing person who was involved in the shooting. The hearing, though, it is not a charging hearing. It will be a preliminary appearance in front of a judge, where they will bring some information, where prosecutors say that decision can take up to 72 hours how and if they will charge that person.

Hopefully, that will bring a little bit more clarity, a little bit more information on who those people are and perhaps a motive. They say at this time there is no threat to the community.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Seattle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Julia for that report.

Still to come: Wildfires are raging across Europe, and exhausted crews are struggling to get under control all of these fires, soaring temperatures about to make their jobs even harder. Plus, what President Trump's border czar is now saying about the ICE

officer who was involved in that deadly shooting in Maine. Why he now says the officer should not have cleared the vetting process.

Then, later: for the third day in a row, no strikes from either Iran or the U.S. after nearly two straight weeks of nightly attacks. We have new reaction from the president on why there's a pause in hostilities.

New details ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:12:04]

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN.

Firefighters in Spain and France are racing to contain wildfires raging near Madrid and Bordeaux. More than 300,000 people have now been forced to flee their homes, and officials say these fires are so intense, they're creating gigantic fire clouds, a weather phenomenon never before seen in France.

High temperatures this week are making conditions even more difficult for firefighters.

CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell is in Southern France, and she has the latest.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An inferno raging beyond all control.

Five days in, the Gironde fire keeps growing, despite the rotations day and night of 2,500 firefighters. Plus, the civilians who've been drafted in to try and tame a blaze that seems to have taken on a life of its own, creating its own winds.

(on camera): This is what the firefighters are dealing with. Even in those parts of the forest that the fire has gone through that have been ravaged where the pines have been destroyed, as you can see, the ground, the soil, the nature of the vegetation are such that it is so hot that flames are constantly popping up from it again.

The other challenge is this westerly wind that's been driving this monster fire always further to the southeast, where the biggest flames continue to progress.

(voice-over): And ever closer to Bordeaux and its satellite towns, forcing over the weekend an extra 55,000 from their homes, overall, the number evacuated so far, 220,000, according to authorities.

Wendy and her family fled in the early hours of Saturday morning.

WENDY, FIRE EVACUEE (through translator): It's really not knowing why we're here in the first place, whether it's because the fire is approaching our home or because of the ash that was blown our way by the strong winds, and, in the end, not knowing when we will be able to go back home.

BELL: Christophe wouldn't leave without his neighbors, both in their 90s and diabetic. The hard part, he says, was getting them out of their homes with their medicine in time.

CHRISTOPHE, FIRE EVACUEE (through translator): We never knew the war, but we have known calamities, nothing like this, though, this type of fire. Spain too is battling several wildfires, one on the outskirts of Madrid, another in the east of the country. Authorities say that 60,000 people have now been displaced.

MARA ANGELES SERRANO, FIRE EVACUEE (through translator): More than anything, I'm afraid because of what is being lost, nature itself. Material damage is one thing, but that can be repaired, so to speak. What really hurts is emotional loss.

BELL: A loss that will only be measurable when the fires are finally contained.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Melissa Bell for filing that report for us.

[13:15:00]

Still ahead: White House border czar Tom Homan says that ICE's vetting process is under review after the deadly shooting in Maine involving one of its officers. Other procedures are also being changed. We're going to go through what they are.

Plus, there's some terrifying video to share with you as a typhoon rips a huge section of scaffolding off a high-rise skyscraper. We have new details and more video when we come back on CNN.

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KEILAR: Border czar Tom Homan says officials are reviewing the vetting process of ICE officer David Brouillette, who is connected to the fatal shooting of a Colombian man in Maine earlier this month.

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SANCHEZ: A look into Brouillette's past revealed multiple accusations of abuse from his ex-wives and other serious concerns that Homan admits raised some red flags.

CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez joins us now.

Priscilla, what else can you tell us about this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these concerns, Boris and Brianna, are laid out in court documents. Those court documents show, for example, that, in one case, he said

that he suffered cognitive issues because of a serious head injury. There were these allegations of abuse by his ex-wives, all of which he has disputed in these court records as well.

So, all of this was documented. Still, he was hired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was connected to that fatal shooting in Maine, which is raising questions about what type of checks, if any, was ICE conducting at the time when they were onboarding hundreds, if not thousands of officers all at once in that speedy hiring push that happened last year?

Now, Tom Homan addressed this, and, in particular, the allegations against this officer, in an interview with Dana Bash yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: If those are facts, he -- I don't think he should ever have cleared vetting. When they hire somebody, they put them through a vetting process and look at all that stuff.

So, I know, based on that information -- that's part of the ongoing investigation. How -- did the vetting process fail? If that was factual, he would have an almost impossible time to pass vetting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, he had also called this a rare instance.

But all the same, current and former ICE officials have been concerned for months now about these minimal background checks that had happened last year. And the Department of Homeland Security has disputed that. They said that they did run checks on the individuals that they hired.

But as you see there with Homan, this is all going to be part of that ongoing investigation. This isn't the only review that's happening. They're also adding additional training. He said that this was not because he felt mistakes were made, but as normal course of action, that there would be additional training, and that those officers who were involved both in Maine and in Texas should be on administrative leave, which would be standard protocol as these investigations are ongoing.

KEILAR: But he says it's rare. But we have been talking about this vetting issue as a concern even for months now, for months and months.

So, how are they going to make sure that it doesn't keep happening with vetting being an issue?

ALVAREZ: Well, part of it is looking at the systems that were in place and are in place. Remember, we're thinking -- we're talking about a very particular instance in time.

According to one of his ex-wives, Brouillette said that he was hired by ICE last year. This would have been happening when they were trying to hit that target number of 10,000 additional officers. Remember, there were signing bonuses at the time. There were local police departments that were angry at ICE because they were plucking them out of their ranks.

Now, there was a demand at the time for current and former law enforcement officers because they went through training much faster. They were able to just kind of expedite the process of becoming an ICE officer, and he was a former law enforcement officer.

So there are questions there as well, as, was every category not vetted correctly? Was it certain categories that weren't vetted correctly? Was it really this one instance, as Tom Homan says? Those are all questions that are part of the internal review for Brouillette, but also ones that other part -- arms of Department of Homeland Security would be looking into.

SANCHEZ: We will see what details emerge when that review is finalized.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

We should let our viewers know that President Trump has just landed in Michigan and he gaggled on board Air Force One. So we have some remarks coming soon from President Trump.

Also still ahead: U.S. military operations in Iran are on hold, the pause now coming as concerns are growing within the Trump administration over the shrinking stockpile of U.S. weapons.

That story is next.

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[13:25:25]

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN.

President Trump just landed in Michigan, where he is set to deliver some remarks, specifically on the economy. But here he is on Air Force One gaggling with reporters. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only reason they want to meet is because we have been hitting them very hard.

Yes.

QUESTION: How much patience do you have left?

TRUMP: I have a lot of patience. I have plenty of time, plenty of time.

Their whole shoreline is wiped out. The strait is in very good shape. And we're talking right now. They wanted to talk. Their people said, please don't drop -- don't shoot last night, the night before, two nights. Don't do it. We're having good talks.

So we will see what happens. I think there's a good chance that something could happen. And if it does, good. If it doesn't, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: With who?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Well, we're dealing with Saudi Arabia, and it's a problem that we had a while ago. And we knocked the hell out of them, as you know, and we didn't have any problems with the Houthis after that.

But we're not involved with that, but we may. If they're a problem, we will probably have to get involved.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

Have you gotten any indications from Saudi Arabia when it comes to the Abraham Accords, if they will sign on?

TRUMP: We haven't talked about that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: No, no, we have plenty. We have a lot of ammunition, different types. Biden gave a lot to Ukraine. And so we're building that up, but we have a lot.

We have a lot of the mid-level stuff too, I mean, more than we could ever use, no matter what. But we have a lot. I'd like to have more, to be honest. But so much was given to Ukraine by Biden. When I left, the cupboards were full.

When I came here with Obama, he didn't buy ammunition. We had very little. And I got it built. Now, as soon as I left, they gave a lot of it to Ukraine. I mean, I -- I mean numbers that nobody's ever seen before.

So we're building it very rapidly. Plants are being built. And a lot of equipment's being built. The Patriots, in particular, are being built. The THAAD system is going up. We have a lot. Every one of our contractors is building four to five plants right now.

And we're in very good shape. But for some of the more sophisticated stuff, we'd certainly like to have more. Biden gave a lot of it away.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you put out a TRUTH Social this morning about Leader John Thune.

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: What's your relationship like...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's fine. It's fine. He's got to get his job done. It's fine. I have a good relationship with John Thune. He's just got to get his job done.

You got to get the SAVE America Act passed, or better than that would be the filibuster. If you terminate the filibuster, everything happens. If you don't terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen. If you don't terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen.

QUESTION: But you don't want to see him replaced as leader?

TRUMP: I haven't even thought of it.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow.

TRUMP: I will be. I will meet him.

QUESTION: Why did you ask for that meeting? Are you on the same page on Iran? Are you on the same page on Iran with Prime Minister Netanyahu?

TRUMP: Pretty close, yes, pretty close. We have a little difference, but pretty close, yes.

No, Iran took a beating over the last 14 days. And they asked us very nicely, please stop. Let's meet. And that's where we are right now. We will see what happens. If we don't make a deal, we go back to the same thing.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Zelenskyy says that Russia is giving Iran satellite imagery of U.S. bases in the Gulf to help them target. What do you know about that?

TRUMP: Well, we will find out if that's true. I will ask Putin about it. We will find out.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Hasn't had much impact, because we have knocked the hell out of them, wouldn't you think, if that's the case.

Look, they gave Venezuela a lot of equipment. Venezuela had all Russian equipment. How did that work out? Not too good. So, they may be giving, but, if they are, it hasn't worked out, because they have no army, they have no air force, they have no navy, they have no nothing. So it hasn't worked out well.

I don't think -- I don't think they have been doing it, certainly not at a high level. And if they have, it has been very unimpactful.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: Thirteen billion from Venezuela? I think even more than that. No, Venezuela, we paid for that war many times over. And that will happen with Iran also. We paid for the war many times over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)