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CNN This Morning

Flash Flooding Leads To Water Rescues In Maryland, Virginia; Kerr County, Texas, Revises Number Of Missing People Down To Three; Today Marks Six Months Of President Trump's Second Term; Ukraine Calls For Talks With Russia Next Week As Ceasefire Talks Stall; E.U. Imposed New Sanctions On Russia Friday Focused On Oil; Hong Kong Axes 500 Flights As Powerful Typhoon Hits City; CEO Resigns After Viral Incident At Coldplay Concert; Texas Lawmakers Go Into Special Session To Address Flood Disaster. TX House Approved Funds For Emergency Preparedness; Stalled In Senate; Texas Gov. Orders Lawmakers To Consider Congressional Redistricting; How Music Stars Are Helping Combat Climate Change; North Korean Defectors Pursue Musical Dream; Jake Larson, World War II Veteran TikTok Star, Dead At 102. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 20, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:43]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, July 20th. I'm Danny Freeman in for Victor Blackwell. Let's tell you what we're working on today.

There are two breaking news stories that were following. First, the summer of flooding continues. This time, flash flooding and rescues are affecting parts of Maryland and Virginia near our nation's capital. We're tracking it all.

Plus, a dramatic change in the number of people missing in a county hard hit by flooding in Texas. We'll tell you why officials say the nearly 100 people missing has now gone down to just three.

Plus, today marks six months since President Trump began his second term. We'll check in on the vibe among voters as billions in funding cuts and immigration crackdown, and the Epstein files saga dominate attention just a half a year in.

We begin with breaking news. Heavy rain triggered flash flooding across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Saturday, leading to dozens of water rescues. Now, flash flood emergency was issued for areas across D.C. and Maryland with officials urging people to stay home because the floods, creating dangerous conditions there.

Video shows flood waters submerging entire roads, you can see it right there, and stranding cars in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is this even possible?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait. What are you guys seeing? I mean, do you live here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever seen this flooded -- flood like this before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I grew up here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, the same thing happened in Maryland where flash floods also submerged entire roads like the one you see here. Firefighters rescued a couple stranded in their car and trapped by the floodwaters.

And we're also following breaking news out of Texas, where officials have revised the number of missing people after those catastrophic floods in Kerr County from 97 people missing down to just three. This update comes two weeks after the deadly floods took the lives of at least 135 people over the July 4th weekend.

Now, authorities also said Saturday one person remains missing in nearby Travis County and another is missing in Burnet County. And recovery operations will continue throughout the Guadalupe River watershed. For those who are still missing more than 1,000 first responders and thousands of volunteers were involved in the response and search efforts following the deadly floods, according to officials.

For more on all this, we have CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. I mean, let's talk about Texas. Remarkable that the number of people missing went down so dramatically.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. And if you're going to be wrong, this is the better way to be wrong --

FREEMAN: Absolutely.

CHINCHAR: -- to have that number go back down. Absolutely. So yes, it's a good thing. The key thing to just keep going back is to talk about how the summer really has been when we talk about flooding, because we know Texas hasn't been the only spot that's had flooding. There's been so many areas that have had tremendous amounts of flooding.

So, let me show you a map to kind of put this in perspective. So, the map you see behind me, all of these green boxes, the red boxes that you see behind me, these are all of the different flash flood watches and warnings that took place since January 1st of this year. We are up to just 3,300 -- like 3,352 to be exact, since January 1st. That puts us on pace to have a record number of those flash flood warnings.

So again, it's not just you thinking, I feel like there's been a lot. It really has been. Yes, across Texas. You can see a lot of these clusters right down through here. But also notice how it spreads up through the all the way up to the northeast, the mid-Atlantic, portions of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. There's been a lot of areas that have been impacted by these flash floods.

Now, ongoing flash flooding, as in, right now, we've got two separate areas that we're keeping an eye on. We have a flash flood warning right now across portions of New Jersey, and also two separate ones in Iowa. Now, one thing we're keeping an eye on here, this is the remnants of some of that flooding that took place across the mid- Atlantic last night.

So, as it moved from that area back over into New Jersey, this is what we are left with right now. Is this last cluster of storms over New Jersey that will finally, and thankfully, move off shore here shortly, but you're still likely going to have some of that standing water in some of those places.

Flood watches are also in effect, again, encompassing some of that area in Iowa where we have the current flooding, but also a little bit downstream in anticipation of more of that rain to fall as we head into the later morning hours, and especially into the afternoon. We also have a moderate risk.

[06:05:01]

A level three out of four risk for excessive rainfall right here in this spot. Mostly encompassing portions of Illinois.

But you also have that slight risk. The yellow area encompassing other areas of the Ohio, Tennessee valleys and portions of the Midwest. Because, again, we talked about this yesterday, that ground is saturated. It is not going to take much, even an inch or two inches of rain could trigger flooding in these areas because that ground is already completely saturated from days of rain.

Here's a look as we head into the afternoon. You can see a lot of those lines of storms continuing to slide through and that will unfortunately continue through the evening as well.

FREEMAN: Yes, and it's just amazing. I mean, the flood waters keep coming. I mean, it's remarkable. And the rain keeps falling.

CHINCHAR: Yes.

FREEMAN: Allison, thank you so much for your time. As always appreciate it. Today, marks a whirlwind six months of President Donald Trump's second term in office. He's expected to kick it off by signing off on billions of dollars worth of federal funding cuts, mostly from foreign aid and public media.

But any celebration may be dulled by this controversy swirling around his administration's handling of the Epstein case. After pressure from his own base and others, the administration pushed the justice department to release grand jury testimony. But the president argued on social media that nothing will be good enough for some, despite what the testimony may reveal.

He was very busy on socials this weekend. He also pushed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to get to work on confirming his remaining nominees. In a social media post late Saturday, he urged Thune to cancel August recess and long weekends to push through the pending 136 nominees.

Senator Thune faces a tough decision. Appease the president or give senators the time to go home and tout that big, beautiful bill to constituents. Now they may face an uphill battle, though, with that mission. A recent CNN poll shows about six in 10 Americans still oppose the president's signature policy law.

All right. With me now to discuss all of it is Emory University associate professor and pollster Andra Gillespie. Thank you so much for being with us early this Sunday morning.

Let's just dive in right here. We're at the six-month mark, right? And according to the CNN poll of polls, which averages several recent polls, this is remarkable, President Trump is polling at 42 percent approval and 56 percent disapproval.

Now, the reason I say it's remarkable is because this has been amazingly consistent through his first term, frankly, and now part of his second term. It doesn't seem like, doctor, his base is going anywhere anytime soon.

DR. ANDRA GILLESPIE, EMORY UNIVERSITY POLLSTER: Well, President Trump's base isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But if we look at the average on the trend line over time, so looking at CNN polls and, actually, looking at other media outlets' polls going back to the start of this administration, what we'll see is that on average Trump's polls were net positive at the start of his presidency. So, his approval ratings were higher than his disapproval ratings. And the trend line has actually been pretty negative over the course of the last six months.

So now it's been more often than not that the polls are net disfavorable as opposed to being favorable. And so that has a lot -- there's a lot there. So, first we want to look at just what's the difference between favorable and unfavorable in any given poll.

A lot of these polls are statistically significant in saying that people are more likely to say that to have an unfavorable opinion of President Trump's approval rating. But then what we also want to do is look to see whether or not those polls have seen these significant jumps in, say, the disapproval rating from where they were in January, for instance, to where they are in June.

Given the sample size of some of these polls, even where we see big jumps, they may not be big enough just yet for us to say that there's been a significant increase in the number of people who disapprove of them, there are some that are clearly outside of that margin of error, and there are those where the trend line continues in the direction that it's going they are soon going to demonstrate a significant increase in the number of people who have an unfavorable opinion of the job that President Trump is doing.

FREEMAN: No, no. And that's a great point that he did come into this second term, you're absolutely right, with higher favorability ratings. But I'm just -- I guess, I'm noting that I feel like we've grown accustomed to him eventually landing in this 41, 42, 43 percent. I just remember it from four years ago.

I want to get your perspective on this, though, because one of the interesting things about this term initially, or this second term I should say initially, was President Trump governing largely by executive order and executive action, but now he's passing legislation like the so-called big, beautiful bill. The bill, as we noted, still unpopular. But do you think we're going to see more attempts at legislating as we continue through at least this year?

GILLESPIE: Well, I think sometimes we forget because we have seen the increase in presidential power, and we have seen the increase in the use of executive orders, not just over the Trump administration, but actually also over previous administrations. We have to forget that in order to be able to issue an executive order, there has to be some type of controlling legislation or statute on which the president is acting and interpreting.

[06:10:04]

So, you know, he really can't, you know, do everything by fiat. He can't dismantle the government without Congress weighing in. So, for instance, you can't dismantle the Department of Education officially until Congress says that you can.

So, he's still going to have to have a legislative agenda right now with the trifecta. And having Republicans in charge of both the House and the Senate, he has more favorable conditions to be able to try to get things passed, even though things are very, very tight, given the narrow margins in both chambers.

If that changes in 2026, in the midterms and Democrats get control of either chamber, that's going to make his legislative agenda really hard, and he's going to have to go through more hoops and twist himself in knots, if you will, to come up with a legislative justification to actually implement some of his agenda.

FREEMAN: I'm curious your perspective on what's become the story of July when it comes to presidential politics. Do you think this ongoing Jeffrey Epstein story, and lack of transparency from the federal government, do you think that's actually going to impact President Trump eventually when it comes to his support?

GILLESPIE: Well, the historical narrative looking over Trump's political career suggests that he has had a high level of resiliency. And so, I think people need to be prepared for the Epstein saga to not have much of an impact on his job approval ratings, but this is still very early. This hasn't been part of the news cycle long enough for us really to be able to detect what the effect is going to be in public opinion. And so, it's going to take a few weeks for us to see whether or not there is any impact, and then it's going to take even a little bit longer to see whether or not any impact, if it materializes, actually sticks over a while. So, we have to remember that polls are a snapshot in time. There are polls that are likely in the field right now. They are asking questions about Epstein, and it's going to take a couple of weeks for them to kind of be published and released, and for us to be able to analyze that data.

FREEMAN: Again, it will be -- again, especially interesting as we see how this story continues to develop over perhaps the next couple of days and weeks. Dr. Andra Gillespie, thank you so much for joining us this morning and for sharing your perspective. Really do appreciate it.

GILLESPIE: Thank you.

FREEMAN: And new this morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for a meeting next week with Russia. Now, Russia says it's ready to move quickly.

Zelenskyy wants to restart stalled ceasefire talks. He proposed the talks at the leadership level at his nightly address. Moments ago, a Kremlin spokesperson told Russian media that their goal is to achieve their clear and obvious objectives. But the process doesn't depend solely on them. The spokesman said a meeting between the U.S. and Russian leaders is necessary, but the time has not come for that yet.

Now, this all comes as Ukrainian officials say that Russian strikes on Ukraine have killed five civilians and injured more than two dozen people in the past 24 hours alone. And all of this follows Friday's announcement by the E.U. that it will impose a sanctions package on Russia focused on Russian oil.

Let's go straight to CNN reporter Barbie Latza Nadeau with more. Please tell us what the latest is here.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes. You know, this proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to have talks with -- directly with Putin, you know, this is an important step towards the peace. But, of course, all of this comes on the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump's offering of a 50-day window to Vladimir Putin to finish up the war in Ukraine before -- or he would face very heavy sanctions for the country.

Now, you know, Russia has very much all along stuck to their goals. Their goals are, of course, territorial, not to have Ukraine ever join the European Union, not to have them ever be part of NATO. So, there is a lot to discuss there because Zelenskyy for Ukraine, of course, has very different priorities.

But there are talking points, including prisoner swaps, including bringing back some of those children, Ukrainian children that were taken to Russia at the beginning of the war. All of those things will, of course, be on the table. But as you mentioned, you know, the fighting and the attacks still go on in the background. And these talks, if they take place next week, will be very crucial. But I don't think many people have hoped that they will be the last. The last time these two parties met was early June, and their talks in Istanbul lasted just over an hour, Danny.

FREEMAN: Barbie Latza Nadeau, thank you so much for that crucial update. And still to come this morning, authorities are searching for the person who shot the driver of a vehicle that rammed into a crowd in Los Angeles. We have the latest on that investigation.

Plus, the CEO of a New York company who was spotted embracing an employee at that Coldplay concert has resigned. We have the latest on that viral kiss cam incident.

And President Trump pitched his strategy for Republicans to hold on to power in the midterms, redrawing districts to allow for even more GOP seats. We'll talk about it all ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:44]

FREEMAN: In this morning's headlines, Hong Kong is cleaning up after taking a direct hit from a powerful typhoon. Winds topping 100 miles per hour slammed the city, forcing officials to raise the highest storm warning, something that's only happened 18 times in nearly 80 years. Around 500 flights were grounded, streets were empty and people sheltered wherever they could.

[06:20:04]

Officials say several people were hurt and hospitalized. Officials are urging everyone to continue to stay indoors.

And the CEO of a New York tech company has stepped down after that viral moment at a Coldplay concert. Andy Byron, head of Astronomer, was seen on the kiss cam with his company's chief people officer, sparking theories and questions about workplace conduct. The board accepted his resignation saying, leaders must set the standard. Astronomer's co-founder is stepping in as interim CEO.

And no charges will be filed against the owner of a Tennessee plastics factory where six workers died during flooding from Hurricane Helene last September. A state investigation found no evidence workers were forced to stay or threatened with losing their jobs. Officials say there was a brief window to evacuate, but some just couldn't make it out in time. Now the company still faces civil lawsuits from victims' families, who say those workers never had a real chance to escape.

This morning, police are searching for the person who shot a driver accused of driving into a crowd outside of a club in L.A. Now, that driver is in custody recovering in the hospital. Video shows the aftermath of what the mayor is calling a, quote, "a heartbreaking tragedy." At least 30 were hurt and several remain in critical condition. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more on the investigation. JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Danny, we're piecing together some more elements of what exactly happened outside of this nightclub here in East Hollywood in Los Angeles. Police is saying that that driver rammed into a crowd, and after that, he was taken out of the vehicle and beaten by the crowd that was outside. People that they said didn't know each other, that they were helping each other, but also at some point, in that confusion, someone pulls out a gun and shoots the driver.

He is in hospital in an unknown condition at this point, but authorities say that their main priority is to find that suspect who shot the driver. They say that he is dangerous and considered armed. Take a listen also to what they said about the -- how unusual this situation is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY LEE, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE, L.A. POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is not common at all. I would say in my 18 years as a law enforcement officer in the LAPD, I would say this is first of its kind that I'm aware of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And it's particularly unusual, Danny, because this is a part of Los Angeles that is known for its vibrant nightlife, but it is not considered dangerous or violent. The mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass said in a statement on Saturday that, quote, "This is a heartbreaking tragedy." And, "I want to thank the more than 100 LAFD and LAPD personnel who responded to the scene to help save lives. The hearts of Angelenos are with all of the victims impacted this morning. A full investigation into what happened is underway."

Now, we do have reporting that there is no indication beyond the impaired state of that driver that there was any kind of criminal intent in that incident. And at this point, there is no connection to terrorism, Danny.

FREEMAN: Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for that report. Still to come, we have a look at President Trump's push for redistricting in Texas to help keep the House majority. We'll discuss what that means for the entire congressional map. It's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:54]

FREEMAN: If you're just joining us, I want to get you up to date on one of the morning's top stories. Officials in Texas have revised the number of missing people in the wake of that catastrophic flooding in Kerr County from 97 people down to just three. This update comes two weeks after the deadly floods took the lives of at least 135 people over the July 4th weekend.

Authorities also said Saturday, one person remains missing in nearby Travis County and another is missing in Burnet County. Recovery operations will continue throughout the Guadalupe River watershed for those who are still missing.

Tomorrow, Texas lawmakers go into a special session, and disaster preparedness and flood recovery are at the top of the agenda. Joining me now to discuss all of this is Andrew Schneider, politics and government reporter for "Houston Public Media." Andrew, thank you so much for joining us early on this Sunday morning.

Let's just start with the top line here. What are you looking for when this special session gets underway in Austin?

ANDREW SCHNEIDER, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT REPORTER, HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA: Well, there are two major topics that are going to be on the agenda. One, as you mentioned, is flood relief and disaster preparedness. The other is redistricting. And the question becomes whether the latter is going to crowd out efforts to affect the former.

FREEMAN: Oh, wow. That's interesting. Well, let's stick on the flooding for a moment just because -- especially in the wake of this most recent update this morning, the number of missing has gone down. In your recent reporting, you write that Texas lawmakers actually tried as recently as this year's regular session to pass a bill that would have funded upgrades to emergency communications systems. That bill overwhelmingly, as I understand it, passed the Texas House but stalled in the Senate. Does that bode well for progress in this space tomorrow?

SCHNEIDER: I think so because since the flooding, Lieutenant Governor Patrick, who heads the Texas Senate, publicly said that he favors the installation of siren systems along the Guadalupe River. That was a major point that was -- that the bill would have taken care of. So, if he's in favor of it, that speaks well for its chances in the upper chamber, which speaks well for its overall chances.

[06:30:01]

FREEMAN: Have lawmakers faced any political blowback from voters because of this inaction when it comes to this emergency preparedness?

SCHNEIDER: There's been a lot of talk along those lines. The -- the blowback as much as anything, though, I think has to do with the amount of items that are on the special session call. There's been a lot of concern about redistricting being added on top of this. And the question becomes, then we'll, we'll both be able to be taken care of in a limited amount of time, because the special session call only last lasts for 30 days.

FREEMAN: All right, so let's get into the redistricting conversation then. Governor Greg Abbott wants lawmakers to redraw congressional lines during this session. And President Donald Trump voiced his support.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Just a very simple redrawing, we pick up five seats. But we have a couple of other states where we'll pick up seats also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: I guess tell me first, what is the likelihood that this actually goes through?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the Republicans definitely have the numbers to push this through. The question is whether they're going to get what they're aiming for. You have to remember that in 2021, they passed a very successful redistricting plan from their standpoint to maximize Republican gains. But if they were trying to shift the lines now, they would have to shift Republican voters into Democratic precincts. And that would be putting existing Republican voters -- existing Republican precincts, and districts, making them more competitive than they are now.

So, they might wind up gaining seats in one part of the state and losing seats in other parts of the state.

FREEMAN: Andrew, is there any sense of regular Texan voters are feeling about this new proposal to try and redistrict here?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the state is sharply divided. The Republican voters are likely to favor it. The Democratic voters are likely to oppose it. There's been a lot of campaign talk about trying to devote resources to try and defeat any Republicans that are trying to campaign in seats that have long been held by Democrats.

FREEMAN: Well, let's talk about some of that pushback from Democrats. Here's Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, who represents part of Houston.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZZIE FLETCHER (D-TX): It's not just about Texas. But Texas is a cautionary tale of what's to come when an out of control president and an administration demand loyalty to them, rather than the people and places that Republicans are elected to represent and whom they have sworn to represent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: All right, but let's talk about the reality, Andrew. I mean, is there anything that Texas Democrats actually can do to stop this redistricting plan?

SCHNEIDER: They don't have a whole lot of leverage. The one thing that they could potentially do to slow down the process is by breaking quorum. Now, you may remember, they did this four years ago, in response to some voting laws that the Republicans were trying to push through. That only delayed the process that did not stop the process.

Basically, what happened in that case was that there was a special session, Democrats in the House fled the state. The special sessions clock ran out and Governor Abbott immediately called another special session. And he has the power to call as many special sessions as he wants to get his goals.

So conceivably, that's what could happen. The Democrats would be in a very difficult position though, because if they did break quorum, the Republicans would be able to blame them for any delay in getting flood relief passed.

FREEMAN: Andrew, question for you. You know, even if it is President Donald Trump, who's popular in Texas, what is the impact of state lawmakers when national political figures start to make their voices loud in your state?

SCHNEIDER: Well, so far, it hasn't cost the Republicans anything. As you said, Donald Trump is still very popular here in the state. And when he's weighed in on an issue and Republicans line up behind him, it's very rare that they pay a price for that.

FREEMAN: Yes, well said. I think it's going to be a very busy week for you. So, I appreciate you taking a little bit of time during your weekend to break this all down for us. We really do appreciate it.

Andrew Schneider, thank you.

SCHNEIDER: You're welcome.

FREEMAN: And still to come, we're going to talk about how extreme weather is affecting the music industry, and how musicians in turn are using their star power to help combat climate change.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:39:24]

FREEMAN: The Environmental Protection Agency is cutting 500 employees from its staff. Now the EPA said the affected workers are in the Office of Research and Development.

Since President Trump took office in January, the agency has lost 3,700 workers, mainly due to early retirements or deferred resignation programs. The EPA says it will create a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions to prioritize President Trump's deregulation agenda.

And the climate crisis is why classic rocker Steve Miller says he's calling off his U.S. tour. The tour was set to start in August with nearly three dozen stops, including cities in New York, Florida and California.

[06:40:04]

But the singer of hits like The Joker says the intense heat, flooding, hurricanes and wildfires make it just too risky for fans, the band and the crew. And he's not the only musician with the climate crisis at top of mind. CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir spoke to some of music's biggest stars for tonight's episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER."

Here's a quick preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK JOHNSON, SINGER-SONGWRITER: That's cool, that's a lot crayfish.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The tunes we love come from both person and place, and without this place without the sun and soil, waves and wonder of Oahu's North Shore, Jack wouldn't be Jack.

JOHNSON: I think growing up here there's this really slow rhythm that you don't realize you're taking in which is the sound of waves hitting the shore. And -- and usually that's about 12 seconds 14 seconds apart.

WEIR (voice-over): But while plenty of places have an ocean rhythm, Jack was also raised on aloha. The humble respect for nature and neighbor passed down from the very first Hawaiians.

Right around the time flakes started drawing bigger crowds, that Hawaiian sense of responsibility would gnaw at his soul.

JOHNSON: Going back to those early shows when you have these sort of awakenings, you know, it's like everything's great and it's like wow, what a night. And then you walk out on the stage after everybody's gone, you just see a sea of plastic water bottles. And all of a sudden, you're at a amphitheater and you look out back and you realize well, there's multiple trucks here, there's multiple buses.

This is a footprint, you know an environmental footprint that's kind of bigger than I realize it's all of a sudden it gets here. And it's a little wake-up call OK, well, how can we do better? What can we do?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: And Bill joins us now.

Bill, I'm so looking forward to the special tonight, but I want to start with some of that news that we just reported. Steve Miller's decision, were you surprised or is that really something that musicians will need to consider now?

WEIR (on-camera): Well, we've been hearing it a lot from promoters, especially festival promoters, small ones, a couple dozen, big -- smaller festivals were canceled over this summer. Bonnaroo the big festival in Tennessee, second time in four years cancelled due to intense rain and flooding there. And the insurance rates for these things are going up.

So, some cynical fans are saying Steve Miller is blaming the weather for his low ticket sales. But you know who believes in climate change even if you don't insurance companies. And so, the cost of these putting hundred thousand people out in the open in making them vulnerable, it's getting harder every year.

So, it's -- it's brave of Steve Miller to call out what he sees as a existential problem for the outdoor music industry.

FREEMAN: And Bill what else has stood out from the conversations you've been having with other musical artist.

WEIR (on-camera): Well, it's fascinating Danny. I mean, I -- I kind of went back I wanted to follow the thread that goes back to Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie these artists who use their voice to help the voiceless and talk about big problems and whether it was civil rights or anti- nukes through the years now, it's this climate crisis. And with a dearth of leadership, especially in Washington, where they're opposed to everything a lot of these artists stood for, I wanted to see how they're connecting with fans and trying to innovate.

So, everyone from Willie Nelson to Coldplay has been working on the industry in various ways. Billie Eilish when she blew up as a young teenager, she made demands for battery-powered stages and fur free runways that Met Galas and big corporations at, OK.

And so, I'm just fascinated as these sort of our artists our cultural leaders these days, the ones that are really trying to take the lessons learned at these festivals and concerts and spread them into cities. And it's really working, and it's more than just getting somebody to register to vote at a show. Now it's about connecting networks at every stop so people get engaged with each other fellow fans of the same music, but also have the same anxieties about local environments and can pitch in and start things from the bottom up.

It's a fascinating look at all angles of the industry.

FREEMAN: And again, I'm really looking forward to your special tonight. I think it's going to be really, really enlightening.

Bill, though I wanted to pick your brain about something else just as we continue on in this summer of flooding, right? I remember you've done strong reporting about people in fire prone areas rebuilding in climate resilient ways. I wanted your thought here though.

Is there any safe way to rebuild after flooding if you're rebuilding in flood plains?

WEIR (on-camera): No, that's -- that's the thing. And then that is the biggest struggle whether it's you live on a coast that's been ravaged again and again by hurricanes or sea level rise or these rain bomb events where you live in watersheds. Now the flood maps of our youth don't -- don't apply anymore. Past is no longer prologue, you saw that in Hill Country there on the 4th of July, a 30-foot wall of water more like a tsunami. That's -- so the hydrology is changing.

The problem is the FEMA maps are so outdated. And now President Trump's administration wants to dismantle FEMA. So, who's going to pay for new maps that help people understand the safest places to build and retreat is just not in, you know, the American vocabulary in a lot of parts of the country especially places like Texas.

[06:45:13]

So this is a real, real debate a real tough one for local emergency planners, for local leadership to figure out how to tell people, you know, that is -- that is not the way to go is to rebuild in that same spot that we know is going to put your family at risk, but it's a huge psychological beat to this story. And in some places like after Superstorm Sandy, they bought back low-lying areas, Staten Island here and already people are saying, this is wasted. Look at these amazing views. We should rebuild here again.

So, it's -- it's human nature and the ravages of nature out of control, Danny, that are colliding in these ways.

FREEMAN: Yes. And to the point about the Jersey Shore, I mean, people still rebuilt, they just put their homes on huge stilts. Right. And, but again --

WEIR (on-camera): Exactly.

FREEMAN: -- that that's not immune to floodwaters coming back there.

Bill, one of the things, though, I wanted your reaction to as well is some of the sobering, but good news that we learned from Texas this morning, or rather yesterday afternoon, that the number of missing people has now shrunk dramatically from 97 at one point to just a handful.

What's your thought on that?

WEIR (on-camera): It's so interesting. We saw that in Hawaii after the Lahaina wildfires. There's such confusion, such worry. And then you look at those debris piles that are stacked for miles along the Guadalupe River and you can see, oh, this is going to be.

But then as time goes by and connections are made and the numbers come down, that is -- that is a blessing there. But for those who still don't have the peace of mind or knowing what happened, especially to their children, your heart breaks for them there.

This will go down as one of the V seismic events. But will it be enough to change lawmakers to have them rethink floodplain construction and zoning? That is the question.

FREEMAN: Bill Weir, thank you so much for discussing all of those topics. And of course, be sure to tune in to the all-new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER, CHANGE AMPLIFIED: LIVE MUSIC AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS." It's airing tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

And still to come, a World War II veteran and social media star has passed away. Remembering Jake Larson's unique life. That's coming up next.

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FREEMAN: Rags to Riches really doesn't scratch the surface when describing the story of two 20 somethings who are now on the verge of global fame in the world of K-pop.

As CNN's Mike Valerio reports, their story begins in one of the most repressive countries in the world, North Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are two North Korean defectors who could be on the verge of K-pop super stardom.

Meet Hyuk and Seok, two 25-year-olds who each escaped North Korea when they were teenagers. They're now living in Seoul, determined to launch the next great K-pop band.

VALERIO: You both have come so far from North Korea. What parts of your journey have affected your music the most?

HYUK, 1VERSE MEMBER (through translation): After coming to South Korea, I liked writing down lyrics or phrases that I wanted to remember. A teacher saw me jotting things down and said, you seem to like writing, why don't you try rapping?

SEOK, 1VERSE MEMBER (through translation): I liked music when I was in North Korea. I liked singing songs or lyrics about mothers. I also wrote lyrics of songs I used to sing.

VALERIO (voice-over): They're both members of the group 1Verse, with bandmates Ito from Japan, Kenny from California and Nathan from Arkansas.

Seok and Hyuk have trained for more than two years now, united in a love of songwriting.

VALERIO: What's a lyric that comes from a memory, and when you sing that lyric, it hits pretty deeply?

SEOK (through translation): In Shattered, there's a high-note part, who's going to save us now? That line reminded me that sometimes we all need someone's help.

HYUK (through translation): Our songs come from our own stories and experiences. They're like puzzle pieces we put together.

VALERIO (voice-over): They already have more than 22 million likes on TikTok, and are planning to debut in America, perhaps even teaming up with U.S. artists down the road, like we saw with Bruno Mars, for instance, and K-pop icon Rose.

VALERIO: If you two could collab with any American sensation, Ariana Grande, JLo, Mariah, who would it be?

HYUK (through translation): I really liked Post Malone's songs when I was younger. I'd love to work with him.

SEOK (through translation): The first person that comes to mind is Charlie Puth.

VALERIO (voice-over): For Seok and Hyuk, taking a leap into the unknown from unlikely beginnings is something anyone can relate to. And through their music, they hope fans worldwide will find the same courage, daring to dream.

HYUK (through translation): When those people see that we came from tough circumstances and managed to grow and share something with fans, I think that process itself can be meaningful and give others the courage to try.

VALERIO (voice-over): Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Great story there from Mike.

To this now, Jake Larson, the 102-year-old World War II veteran who became a TikTok star known as Papa Jake, has passed away.

Larson died on Thursday, according to his granddaughter. She announced it on social media to his more than one million followers yesterday.

[06:55:07]

CNN's Christiane Amanpour interviewed Larson in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. It was only a few weeks ago, though, that Larson learned that Amanpour was sharing the Emmy Award that she'd won for that interview with Larson. He called it phenomenal and proof there is a God. His son told CNN his father had a, quote, epic, epic, life.

Epic indeed, a life well lived of that.

And still to come, we'll have details on the heavy rain that has triggered flash flooding across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. this weekend.

The next hour of "CNN This Morning Weekend," starts after a quick break.

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