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Spokane County Emergency Management Deputy Director Chandra Fox is Interviewed about the Wildfires; Spokane Resident Bobby Atwood is Interviewed about The Wildfires; Blanche Rescinds Fund; U.S. Troops Asked for Ideans on Punishing Iran. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 03, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Effort. We're going to not only hold those people accountable, but we're going to fix the pool, make it -- continue to make it beautiful from this despicable vandalism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Except now federal prosecutors have dropped charges against one of the people they vilified, former Olympian, who was arrested and accused of vandalism. Prosecutors have now admitted in court that the pool's severe issues weren't caused by political activists, but a, quote, "hasty and botched" $14 million renovation project.

Now, in the filing, prosecutors said that it was only after the indictment that the Department of Interior provided them with documents showing that, quote, "the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism, as initially represented." The president, though, is refusing to accept prosecutor's findings, publicly calling out U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who he appointed. He says in a post, "I disagree 100 percent with Jeanine Pirro. I don't know what she's thinking. To me, it was a pure case of vandalism." Well, prosecutors have been clear, the evidence does not reflect that.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Breaking news, the wildfire disaster burning across part of Washington state. Nearly 65,000 families evacuated, more than 700 homes destroyed. Now, here is the key. There has so far been zero percent containment. And the concerns this morning that this is continuing to burn out of control.

All right, now to the Pentagon, looking for new ways to pressure and punish Iran and its opening suggestion box to get them. Our exclusive report on the unusual email that went out from U.S. Central Command.

And some inspiration for your morning workout. One woman, eight countries and more than a thousand miles. The elite athlete who just ran into the record books. And, ladies and gentlemen, it could have been John Berman, but it wasn't. I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS

CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the breaking news this morning, nearly 65,000 families evacuated and zero percent contained. Multiple, dangerous wildfires are spreading across the Spokane area in Washington state. So far, officials say more than 700 homes have been destroyed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is (EXPLETIVE DELETED) insane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Just a short time ago, Kate spoke with a senior fire official.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRIS MAYNARD, DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF, SPOKANE COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT 8: A big portion of the fire, we've been able to help control. We got some lines around it. But that doesn't mean it can't change within the next day. We -- this fire is going to be going on for weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Also this morning, Fairchild Air Force Base, outside Spokane, has declared a limited evacuation order for personnel and families. The pacific northwest is facing its worst fire season in more than 30 years. In all, some 15 major fires have burned more than 250,000 acres across the state of Washington.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And joining us right now to talk more about this is the deputy director for Spokane County Emergency Management, Chandra Fox.

Thank you so much for jumping on this morning.

Can you just describe, give me your assessment of where things stand this morning?

CHANDRA FOX, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, SPOKANE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good morning, Kate. Happy to be with you today.

So, this morning we're not quite 48 hours into this incident. And as you noted, we have multiple fires burning in several locations across the county. As emergency management, we're still very, very focused on public safety. We're still working through the evacuation process, making sure that we're getting folks out of the area as needed. We did have some expansion in evacuation areas yesterday evening. So, we have a little bit of an expansion on the Autumn Lane Fire.

You know, it's just -- it's a challenging time.

BOLDUAN: Do you have reports of anyone injured or unaccounted for?

FOX: So, we have -- at this point we've had, fortunately, we've had no injuries to any of our public safety responders.

[09:05:01]

We have lost some equipment. We lost -- one of our fire districts lost a brush truck in the fires. I believe it was Sunday that that happened. As far as loss of life, we have no information on that right now. We do have a number of missing persons reports that law enforcement is following up on. But to this point right now, we have no information on any potential fatality.

BOLDUAN: OK. But there -- yes, the deputy fire chief I was speaking to for the county, he was concerned that those missing persons reports were going to start coming in since this really blew through so quickly, started and came through so quickly.

FOX: Yes.

BOLDUAN: The latest we have had is that there are more than 700 homes destroyed, and nearly 65,000 families have been forced to evacuate around across the Spokane area. Can you give me -- is that the latest numbers you have?

FOX: That's pretty much what we know right now of the, what we refer to is 700 structures. So, that does include some outbuildings and some shops in the rural areas. But that will be, unfortunately, the majority of that number will be primary homes.

BOLDUAN: The deputy fire chief I was speaking to also just said really plainly that it's not only devastating, but also just something that he's really just not seen before and just how fast this has moved. Can you, Chandra, just give me your -- just your sense of that, your experience with this so far, what you're hearing from people on what is unfolding.

FOX: It's -- it really is -- it's not normal for us. I mean we -- wildfire is our primary hazard for Spokane County. We have a very risk-prone environment. We're -- it's very typical for the entirety of the county to be under some level of drought condition during the summer months. But unfortunately this year, because we had a very -- we had a very warm and uneventful winter, we did not have the snowpack that we normally have. And so, at this point, you know, we're here on the 3rd of August and in terms of fuel load and fuel condition across the landscape, we're actually about six weeks ahead in terms of conditions. So, where we're at today are conditions we normally see at the end of August or into September. So, we're very concerned that not only are we under heightened risk, we're also potentially looking at fires well into October.

BOLDUAN: Yes, not only what you're dealing with now, but what this portends, if you're already here today, what the rest of this fire season is going to look like for you guys.

Chandra, thank you very much. You guys have a lot of work ahead of you. I really appreciate you.

FOX: The potential is not good.

BOLDUAN: Not good, but hard at work at it.

FOX: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Chandra Fox. I really appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, joining me now to talk more about this is Bobbi Atwood. She lives in Spokane and she had to evacuate her home.

Thank you so much for talking to me.

Give me a sense when you knew that this was so dangerous that you had to run for your life, leaving your -- some of your things behind.

BOBBI ATWOOD, LOST HOME IN SPOKANE WILDFIRE: Well, it all happened very quickly. When I got word of the fire, I was just up the road at the Walmart and I had to rush home and started getting my animals gathered up in crates. And within 30 minutes, it had moved well over a mile, jumped the road and came up from two angles. It came from behind my home and it came from up the hill in front of my home, and then combined on my property. And it was actually at the edge of my property when I was trying to get my other dogs out.

I'm sorry.

SIDNER: It's OK.

ATWOOD: And then I just had to go out to the road and call my animals and try to get them out. At that point, two of the dogs ran out to the road and one was found the next morning, and the other one was the one in the picture with me, my dog Luna. We got her some vet care and she's with my older kids, but it was very devastating to sit there and watch it. And then it just kept moving so fast as soon as those two fires kind of combined on my property. And, yes, it was very devastating to have to leave and have no real time to get anything figured out and out of there.

SIDNER: Give me some sense, I mean, did you end up losing some animals and how are you and your family at this hour?

[09:10:06]

ATWOOD: I did. My son and his wife and their two young children live in a mobile home -- or lived in a mobile home on my property and I had the house. They lost their dog, Evie (ph). And I lost my dog Diamond. And my little daughter lost her kitty cat Bubbles. And I lost Henny Penny (ph), my chicken.

So, yes, it really sucks. I did find two of their bodies yesterday when I was allowed to go back into my -- at my home. It's hard, but I'm thankful that my children and my grandchildren all made it out of the property. And of all the things that were just destroyed on my property, my four fish, in the middle of my burnt property, were still alive in the hot tub, their little homemade pond.

SIDNER: Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about the losses.

ATWOOD: Very hard.

SIDNER: Because, you know, animals, to most of us, are family too.

I do want to ask you about what the status is of your home -- we're looking at some of the pictures -- and whether or not you had homeowners insurance. You had something to try to help you rebuild because this is utter devastation. I mean there appears to be nothing left. What did you see and what will you do going forward?

ATWOOD: Well, I did not have homeowners insurance. We're low income homesteaders and I did not. I inherited this property about six years ago and had just, in the last two years, replaced all the power, replaced the well and was, you know, building it up. Got my son and his wife the trailer and -- or mobile home and I don't really know what we're going to do quite yet. We're just going to hope for the best.

But, yes, everything was destroyed at my house except for the children, my grandkids' play toys out in the yard, and there's a couple green grass spots, and the fishes. And we made it out with our lives. And we're thankful for that.

SIDNER: Well, thank God that you did make it out with your family and your grandkids and kids.

ATWOOD: Thank you.

SIDNER: But the devastation, it's shown all over your video. And this morning, I just hope that you find some bit of hope today because I know this is really, really terrible. I'm sorry.

All right, over to you, John.

BERMAN: Oh, it's devastating.

All right, new this morning, a concession that could lead to confirmation. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put in writing that the so-called weaponization fund is dead. Blanche released a one-page memo stating that he is formally rescinding it. This was the fund that President Trump wanted that could go to January 6th demonstrators and whatnot, other political supporters of the president. But even though Blanche says the fund is officially dead, there are still a couple major questions. Number one, does the president actually think it's dead? He just praised it yesterday. And if he does not agree it is dead, does it matter what Blanche is saying?

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House trying to get some answers to these questions.

Good morning, Alayna. ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Yes, there have been days now of frenzied negotiations over how to try and push Todd Blanche's nomination to become attorney general through the Senate. And it does appear now that the Trump administration believes they have a deal to do so. And it comes in the form of Blanche formally putting in writing that that very controversial $1.8 billion weaponization fund, which would give, as you mentioned, potentially money to a number of people who claim that they were victims of a weaponized Justice Department, many of them, including people who participated in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. All of that now in writing, Blanche saying that this has been formally rescinded.

Now, this is exactly what two of the key Senate Republican holdouts, Senator John Cornyn and Senator John -- or, excuse me, Senator Thom Tillis had been pushing for with this. Both of those senators, Cornyn and Tillis, sitting on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is, of course, key to advancing the nomination of Blanche.

Now, what they'd been arguing was that they did not think that it was enough that Blanche had previously said that that weaponization fund was essentially dead. We know that the Justice Department as well had been telling the courts that it was basically been abandoned. But these senators wanted it in writing because they know, or they argued, that it could be revived in the future. And so, this is Blanche's way of coming to a deal with Cornyn. We saw Cornyn issue a statement from his office yesterday saying that they had reached a deal to try and settle this and move this nomination forward.

As you mentioned, though, John, the president had continued to issue threats that he wanted to see this fund be revived and that he would push for that should Blanche's nomination fail.

[09:15:10]

Listen to what he told reporters just yesterday on Air Force One when returning to Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a man named Todd Blanche. He's outstanding in every way. Most of you know who he is. You're not going to find a better person. And everybody agrees. And it's because I backed Cornyn's opponent, and his opponent won in a landslide. This is -- that's the only reason it's happening. A lot of people like it. If they don't -- if they don't approve Todd, I can put it back on the table. A lot of people like him. A lot of big supporters of Trump like him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, a few quick things there, John, just from those comments. One, it's clear that the president still believes in this fund. He said he believes that people have been hurt by past Justice Departments and that they deserve this money. So, continuing to kind of throw fuel on this fire that perhaps he may try to push to revive it one day.

He also put the blame on Cornyn and Tillis, saying they were really the key people standing in the way of getting Blanche through. However, a number of other Senate Republicans have also raised similar concerns about this. And a question will be, if it does succeed through the Judiciary Committee, they meet tomorrow, will other senators get on board with his nomination as well?

We have not yet heard from the president regarding the documents that Blanche had issued yesterday. We also have not heard from Senator Thom Tillis. So, keep an eye out for that. And we'll be looking to see whether or not this is enough to actually push Blanche through and get him confirmed.

BERMAN: Yes, I'm very curious what the president says if he is pressed on this today.

Alayna Treene, at the White House for us, thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Next, a CNN exclusive. The U.S. military is getting creative in finding ways to pressure Iran into ending the war. The email request command sent out to its troops.

We're standing by for more testimony today as well in the trial of a mother accused of killing her children, after the jury visited the home where the killings happened.

And, talk about a traffic hazard. A 20-foot sinkhole swallowing up this pickup truck. Where it happened and what happened next. Goodness.

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[09:21:21]

SIDNER: This morning, we're bringing you a CNN exclusive. The U.S. military is reportedly crowdsourcing ideas for the Iran War, sending out an email asking troops for creative and unconventional ways to punish and put pressure on Iran.

CNN's Zach Cohen broke this story.

What did you learn as you -- as you got this information that there was a request out there to help with Iran in any way possible?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara. Sources telling me and our Katie Bo Lilis that the U.S. military is casting a wide net as it's seeking new ideas for how to ramp up the pressure on Iran. And it comes as the U.S. military and Central Command in particular is reevaluating their current strategy and the options that are currently available to President Donald Trump, intended to bring Iran to the table on his terms. And that includes this, effectively, a crowdsourcing email that we're told was sent to a broad range of U.S. military analysts and military planners last week, just before President Donald Trump issued those threats to escalate the conflict with a new round of military strikes, ultimately walking those -- that threat back this weekend.

But we're told that the email itself asked for, quote, "creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran." And it's -- this is significant on a couple of different fronts. One, multiple sources we talked to said that the request itself is not necessarily a bad idea. Clearly, the Trump administration has been looking for a way to ramp up that pressure on Iran in a pursuit of some sort of a diplomatic, negotiated agreement that has eluded them to date.

But at the same time, the request also betrays the idea that this strategy currently being used by the U.S. military is not having the effect that the president and the Pentagon want to see.

So, one source put it to me this way, "at the end of the day, POTUS will want a deal, so he'll continually look for ways to get tough and get out of this. You need creative minds at times, especially if you're running out of conventional options."

And we've reported too previously that both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency have assessed that the kind of airstrikes the U.S. military has been carrying out to date are unlikely to force Iran back to the table on Donald Trump's terms. And so there is this reluctance, though, at the same time to escalate the conflict. We know that there was reporting by CNN and others last week that the president was considering potential strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure. For example, that has elicited concerns from the Pentagon and the intelligence community about what potential impact that might have.

And we went to U.S. Central Command for comment for this reporting, and they responded that, quote, "U.S. Central Command has a long history of thinking and working in innovative ways. Admiral Cooper, in particular, reaches out to members of our great team, regardless of rank, to achieve the highest levels of operational performance possible."

So, we'll ultimately have to see if any new fresh ideas come from this crowdsourcing email or other conversations. But it's clear that the Pentagon is looking for a new path forward.

SIDNER: The president says they are going to be in talks today. We will see what happens there.

Zach Cohen, great reporting from you and Katie Bo. Thank you. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, retired Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

General, always great to see you.

What do you think of this request for ideas, this crowd sourcing notions for how to deal with Iran?

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, I think it's a good idea. Now, CNN wasn't clear. It said in the headline they were requesting it of troops. In the write up it says you are requesting it of analysts. I can assure you that they didn't send me a note. So, I suspect they're trying to keep that internal to the uniformed military.

BERMAN: Yes, even if --

KIMMITT: Look, I was a CENTCOM planner many, many years ago. I was a planner many, many years ago. And we were always reaching out to the different intelligence agencies and other organizations to develop branches and sequels.

[09:25:07]

That's not a sign of failure, it just is a sign that as we say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. So, after you've been fighting the campaign for a while, it's good for you to think about, now that we know where we are, beyond what the plan said, how do we take it forward?

So, I think it's refreshing that Admiral Cooper is doing this. I think there are many that suggest that this is a sign of failure. I wouldn't consider it that at all. I think it's a pretty good idea, as a matter of fact.

BERMAN: So, where do you think things stand today with Iran? The president said he was calling off a planned bombing campaign. He said there could be talks as soon as today. The Iranians, they're not saying that there's any talks going on. But if there are talks, do you think that, I don't know, if this is the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth time, but do you think this will be the charm?

KIMMITT: Look, we've got a lot of diplomacy left in this entire campaign. I'm glad to see the president mention nuclear capabilities because too many people are getting distracted by the issue with the Strait of Hormuz. That is important, no doubt. But the core elements of the plan and the reason we went to military conflict is to end their nuclear program, push back their missile program, and cut their links with proxies. And I fear that if we focus too much on the Strait of Hormuz, we're going to allow the Iranians to divert the entire campaign from the core principles.

BERMAN: The memorandum of understanding, which is no longer in effect, to what extent did that address your concerns about the Iran nuclear program? If the United States gets back to the memorandum of understanding, is that enough?

KIMMITT: It's a start. You remember, the memorandum of understanding was an agreement to start discussions. It was, in many ways, meant to be a confidence building measure between the two sides to see if we could get to the real diplomacy, which were those three points that I mentioned. It, obviously, didn't work. If we get back to a working memorandum of understanding that allows us to get back to negotiations on the key principles, that will be a good thing.

I don't think it's going to happen. I think we've got a lot of -- a lot of war fighting left to do. And that goes back to what Admiral Cooper is trying to do, figure out some other ways in branches and sequels.

BERMAN: We will see what happens by the end of the day, if there are discussions and if so, what comes of it.

Brigadier General, retired, Mark Kimmitt, always great to talk to you. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: One day out from one of the most closely watched elections of the entire midterm season. Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, what it means for the future of the Democratic Party there and everywhere else.

And the women's professional baseball league makes history, bringing America's pastime into a new era.

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