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CNN This Morning

Trump Lobs Insults At Political Opponents, Press During Rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner; Iran Reports No New U.S. Strikes As Tensions Remain High; Victims Share Impact Statements During Colt Gray Sentencing. President Trump Imposes New Tariffs Targeting Dozens of Countries; Texas District Attorney Says No Drugs Found in Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's Van After Deadly ICE Shooting in Texas; Cleanup Efforts Ramp Up After Storm Makes Landfall Near Texas- Louisiana Border. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 25, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:29]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN This Morning. Here's what you need to know today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: So this evening we're picking up right where we left off. So let's have a little bit of fun. You know, I said what do we do here? Is this supposed to be fun? Am I supposed to be serious?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes. That rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner was held last night in Washington. What started as a light hearted speech quickly took a darker tone. What President Trump had to say about coverage of his administration and the war with Iran.

The president's also taking aim at history. Why the White House is requiring the National Park Service to put warning signs up at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

And it was a heavy, really emotional day in a Georgia courtroom as victims and their families came to face the school shooter Colt Gray.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want it to be very clear that I do not forgive Mr. Gray.

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BLACKWELL: We'll take you inside that courtroom and tell you where the case goes from here.

Plus, an alarming milestone. Measles cases in the U.S. hit a 35-year high. What's driving the surge that's coming up on CNN This Morning.

Welcome to your week and you've earned it. Saturday, July 25th. Thanks for joining us.

I'm Victor Blackwell. New this morning, President Trump getting mixed reviews after appearing at the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Everyone's looking really good tonight. And I know it was not easy finding shoes to go along with your bulletproof vest which many people didn't want to wear because they'd rather die than they look 20 pounds heavier. You know that right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now is the President nodding to a dinner do over after man started shooting at the first dinner scheduled this year. But the mood turned dark when the president attacked members of the press by name during a rambling hour long speech, a speech that was laden with familiar grievances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This year the association decided not to have a comedian. So they considered using Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon. These guys, they're terrible. They're terrible. Stephen Colbert. These are people without talent. They get a lot. They have talent. You know who has talent? Their agents getting them the money they get. They have no talent. But they are not comedians. They're not funny people. They're angry people. They're sick people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The president also joked about running for a third term, even took a few shots at members of his team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire very delicious beef tenderloins, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy is right here, personally ran over the cow in his car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: It was a scaled down dinner with a lot of members of the president's cabinet and the first lady not in attendance. Here's how the former president of the White House Correspondents' Association described the mood in the room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: This was a room largely of journalists. He certainly got smatterings of applause because he had some of the members of his administration who were guests of news organizations in the room. But it was certainly a different vibe for him. And I think he picked up on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: This was the first time President Trump attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner while in office. We'll talk more about that coming up a little later in the show.

Now to the U.S. war with Iran. No strikes or explosions have been reported by Iranian state media or CENTCOM overnight for nearly two weeks straight. U.S. Central Command has posted video on social media of U.S. military strikes on Iran, but CENTCOM did not say if the U.S. took any military action yesterday. But CNN has reached out for comment.

Yesterday, President Trump said talks with Iran, we're getting his characterization here, more serious. He also said that he believes China and Russia are not arming Iran. That's despite Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling a Senate committee earlier this week that the two countries are enabling some of Iran's war activities.

Let's go to CNN's Leila Gharagozlou. Leila, the president gave an update on the war last night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Tell us more about that. What did he say?

[06:05:06]

LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: Yes. So over the last 14 days, we've seen the president give a lot of mixed messages and conflicting messages about the war with Iran. But last night he said that the Iranians were looking to talk, take a listen.

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TRUMP: And by the way, they are talking to us right now. They'd love to make a deal. I don't think they're ready to. I don't think it's time yet. But willing to listen. But they cannot have a nuclear weapon. We don't want to see Washington, D.C. or any of our cities or Israel or frankly the Middle East destroyed with a nuclear weapon because I know the power of nuclear weapons. I see it, I get to see it. We're not going to let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GHARAGOZLOU: Now, it's unclear if these talks are happening. The Iranians haven't said anything about restarting diplomatic negotiations. That being said, earlier this week we did hear that Qatari and Pakistani mediators were trying to get the U.S. and Iran back to the table to deescalate the conflict.

Now, while President Trump is saying that the Iranians want to talk and he's saying there could be negotiations, we've also heard him say that he's going to ramp up pressure on the Iranians by striking Iran harder, whether that is on that southern coast hitting more military targets and potentially even civilian infrastructure, or hitting Mount Kolang Pickaxe Mountain, which is part of Natanz.

So, we're getting a lot of different messages from the president. The Iranians have been pretty tight lipped. They have said, however, that they are not going to come to the negotiating table if they're going to get back into some sort of ceasefire similar to the one that they were in before. They want a peace deal that is lasting. They don't want any more ambiguity the way that we saw with the MoU.

BLACKWELL: Leila Gharagozlou reporting for us. Thank you so much. So the Pentagon has not updated its website to show the correct total of deaths for U.S. service members killed in Operation Epic Fury. As of yesterday, the Defense Casualty Analysis System said that only 14 members of the U.S. military were killed in the war against Iran.

Actually, I checked this morning, still says 14. The correct number of troop deaths is 18 after four soldiers died last weekend. Dozens of injuries also disappeared from the website Thursday. Both correct figures actually did appear earlier this week.

The Defense Department called this a, quote, data disruption. CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with the widow of Staff Sergeant Michael Swinton about this.

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ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon does say it's a glitch. Has anyone spoken to you about this or told you anything about it?

JAMIAH GONZALEZ-SWINTON, WIFE OF SGT. MICHAEL SWINTON: Nobody has reached out yet. Well, I kind of don't have words for that.

BURNETT: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: She also spoke about her husband and the last phone call that she had with him.

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GONZALEZ-SWINTON: He just sounded different. Like, I don't want to say he sounded scared, but the way he spoke, he, you know, he said that he loved me, he wanted to talk to our daughter, and he was asking me if I was OK.

He had sent me a message and he said, you know, if I die, just make sure that my kids know that I love them. And that was maybe a month before this happened. So, I think we all knew that things were getting pretty serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Sergeant Swinton was killed at the Erbil Air base in Iraq. The incident is under investigation. He was 30 years old.

Headlines for you this morning. President Trump has ordered the National Park Service to install temporary signs near the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The signs will warn visitors of what the White House calls inaccurate information presented in the museum's exhibits.

Critics accused the Trump administration of trying to rewrite history to promote a more conservative worldview. The White House controls much of the Smithsonian's funding, and Vice President JD Vance serves on its board.

Four more states have joined the growing cyclospariasis outbreak across the US. Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania and bring the total number of affected states to nine. Health officials have now reported more than 12,000 cases. The majority are in Michigan as illness is thought to be linked to, at least in some states, to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms.

[06:10:04]

The FDA is still investigating what may have caused the contamination.

51-year-old Raul Morales has been charged in connection with two stabbings in New York City. Police say two men were stabbed Thursday afternoon. This happened in broad daylight on Manhattan's Upper west side. Both are expected to survive. Prosecutors have charged Morales with several hate crimes, including two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault, one count of attempted assault. Morales is in custody without bail.

Let's talk about this terrifying crash, a burning plane, heroes on the water, how quick thinking boaters helped rescue everyone aboard a seaplane off Washington State.

Plus parts of the south on guard for a threat of flooding across the area. This weekend we've got a look at the city's most at risk.

Also, a guilty plea for Georgia school shooter Colt Gray. And now a judge will decide his future. Families and survivors demand the maximum sentence.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hate you and I'm mad at you because you had options. You had other options besides going in and killing a bunch of innocent people that did absolutely nothing to you.

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[06:15:57]

BLACKWELL: A Georgia court is in recess after survivors and victims' families described how that 2024 school shooting at Apalachee High changed their lives forever. Here's what some of the survivors and family members say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to start off by saying that I forgive you. Not for you, but for me and my peace. What you went through at the hands of your parents was not OK. I don't wish that anyone but it does not excuse what you.

BREANNA SCHERMERHORN, MOTHER OF VICTIM MASON SCHERMERORN: Every morning I wake up to the reality that my son is gone. Every night I go to bed knowing that there is nothing I can do to change it. I have lived 688 days so far of a sentence with no parole and that is what he should receive as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I hope that you realize something that you did when you were 14 is going to impact you for the rest of your life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yesterday, 16-year-old Colt Gray pleaded guilty to all 55 counts, including four counts of murder. Prosecutors also revealed some new evidence. They introduced notebooks that say they say outlined Gray's plans, including his movements around the school. The court also heard Gray's confession to police in his own words. For the first time, he described briefly reconsidering the shooting and jurors also heard him apologize.

The prosecutors expected to present more evidence. The defense plans to call witnesses. And Gray himself is expected to address the court.

With me now, criminal defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant. Ashleigh, thanks for being with me. I want to start with just a portion of that recorded confession and then we'll talk about the influence on the decision the judge will make.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just came here and did this stupid. I'm really affected that. It really affected thousands of people. Dude, this is --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that something that you've been thinking about doing for a while?

COLT GRAY, ACCUSED OF KILLING FOUR PEOPLE AT APALACHE HIGH SCHOOL: Yes, it's been years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've been thinking about it for years.

GRAY: It's only gotten worse. And I finally just now got to the point where I wanted to reach out and get help. We were so close. Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where do we go from here, Cole. What should happen to you?

GRAY: Honestly, I think I should be put in a mental health unit. Very, you know, obviously, because what I've done is beyond horrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So the court is deciding life with the possibility of parole or without the possibility of parole. How do you think those two pieces of evidence will influence that decision?

ASHLEIGH MERCHANT, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think this is going to be a very difficult decision for the judge. And the only reason that it's difficult is because he was 14 at the time that this happened. And so he's not eligible for the death penalty, but he is actually eligible for life without parole. That's really hard to sentence a 14 year old to life without parole.

I do think hearing from the victim's families and hearing the impact on them and hearing their pleas that he get life without parole is probably going to sway the judge. I anticipate we'll hear a lot of mental health defense, a lot of mitigation from the defense next week.

I think it's going to really be a tough call, but what it really comes down to is whether or not he's going to have hope that he might be paroled one day. But I'll tell you, here in Georgia, even if he got life, he would have to face 30 years before he's even eligible for parole. And I think it's extraordinary, extremely unlikely that he would ever actually get parole.

BLACKWELL: Yes. When you say that, what will be a difficult decision for the judge, that he was 14 at the time. These were teenage victims as well. Most of them were teenage victims as well. So that is going to weigh in this decision, too.

You talked about the mental health defense. He said that he didn't intend to carry out the shootings, although we saw the notebooks and heard the confession. And he said that the voices in his head were egging him on.

[06:20:00]

How much do you think that'll play into it, this mental health defense?

MERCHANT: Well, I think it's very interesting that the defense has not actually asserted insanity. So that tells me they don't have anyone who's actually been able to say, well, you were suffering to the point that you're not guilty by reason of insanity. Because I think if they had that, they would have. We would have possibly seen that defense.

So I think what we're going to see is more what I would consider mitigation evidence. Not evidence that excuses his conduct, but evidence that tries to explain his conduct. But I still think it's going to be a very, very difficult decision. And I think the judge is probably going to give him life without parole.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this other high profile case, the potential murder trial, because there's a pretrial hearing to determine if it will go there. This performer, D4VD, and the possibility that he murdered this young woman. It's interesting that Dr. Ho with the L.A. Department of Medical Examiners said that he couldn't determine when the victim Rivas Hernandez's death occurred because of degradation of the body. It had been some time between her death and her discovery.

How much do these scientific dead ends influence the possibility of whether it goes to trial?

MERCHANT: I think it's going to go to trial. I mean, at this point, so we've got the judge making a determination whether or not there's probable cause. And that's a really low standard. It's about 25 percent. So we'll likely see it go to trial. But the question's going to be what happens at trial.

And you can sort of see the defense is already weaving in some themes. And this forensic evidence that you talked about and these really loose ends, I think is going to be a problem for the state in proving that he actually is the one that killed her. Because there's not evidence.

And you could already tell that the defense was sort of weaving this defense that she maybe harmed herself. So, they're going to have to do a lot of work to try to disprove that she actually is the one that harmed herself. And perhaps he helped dispose of her body, or perhaps someone else helped dispose of her body. I think that might be where this case comes down to if it does go to trial.

BLACKWELL: Ashleigh Merchant, always good to have you. Thanks so much.

All right, first, ICE agent said it looked like drugs. Now test results tell a very different story. The new twist in the deadly ICE shooting that's intensifying demands for transparency.

And as we head to break, live look at my hometown Charm City baby. Baltimore. Good morning.

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[06:26:50]

BLACKWELL: President Trump just attended his first White House Correspondent's Dinner since taking office. The event was rescheduled after man started shooting at the first one back in April.

Last night, the president spoke for an hour and lashed out late night TV hosts and members of the media by name. Joked about running for a third term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: But just like my presidency, the second time is always better. It's always better. And the third time will be better yet. I'm only kidding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in Errol Louis, political anchor and Spectrum News and host of the Big Deal with Errol Louis. Errol, good morning to you.

So, you know, it was really clear watching this when the President was speaking, you know, unscripted, kind of extemporaneously, and then when we went back to the speech that was written for him where he was appreciative of the press and valued press freedom, but the whole thing for an hour didn't appear to go over really well.

ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR, SPECTRUM NEWS: Good morning, Victor. Yes, I was kind of glad I didn't go to that recap. I was at that chaotic first one and was curious about what the president was intending to say, if last night is what he was intending to say. Boy, it was like two speeches, I think, just as you suggest, where one was something that clearly had been written for him and he deviated from the script almost immediately and began freestyling.

And that's when the insult comic side of the president came out and it wasn't terribly funny. Of course, journalists are not supposed to really show too much in the way of emotion one way or the other at these events. So between it not being funny and journalists not supposed to react too much, it was a kind of a quiet room. It was kind of hard to watch.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The president also last night talked about the war with Iran, said it's going well. But some congressional Republicans are now at least rhetorically starting to create a little more room between themselves and the president and this war. I want you to listen to what West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito told News Nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): I do think that the American public's growing weary. Senator Justice and I represent the same folks. We can feel that in our, in our local conversations. And I do think, you know, a promised shorter endgame has now been timeline's been exceeded, which we've lost 4 of our service members. That is always devastating to Americans and American families, not just those most closely affected. And I think that's where you begin to see the weariness creep in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: She mentioned Republican Senator Jim Justice, who said this week there's got to be an off ramp. There's all -- that's all there is to it. White House said four to six weeks. This is week 21. What's the relevance of the rhetorical shift from Republicans now?

LOUIS: So the rhetorical shift, Victor, is an indication that Election Day is fast approaching and they're not necessarily thrilled about having to go back to their constituents and explain why this has gone on for this long. Why 18 lives have been lost and counting, why $35 billion has been spent and counting.

Why the military is now asking for over a $1 trillion at a time when families and local economies are struggling. I mean, it's just a very hard sell. And even if you are in a pro-Trump district, it's going to be a hard sell. That's really what we're hearing from all over the country at this point.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Yes, say rhetorical shift because we'll have to see where those votes are for the funding request. And if any of those War Powers Act votes change. Tariffs now, new tariffs from the administration, 10 percent for some 12.5 for others, the 59 biggest trading partners in the EU.

New tariffs for Canadian imports. There's a poll out this week that shows a shift among Republicans who say that Trump's economic policies are better or worse for the economy. Let's put these numbers up. Republicans from January to now, 18 percent said that the President's economic policies were making the economic conditions worse back then.

Today, it's 28 percent. For those in January who said that it was doing better for the country, a 15-point drop over six months. This may be more important for Republicans on the ballot than thoughts about the war.

LOUIS: Well, look, the economic harm that's been caused in certain sectors, and it's not easy to trace it, but you can look from state- to-state and sector-to-sector, especially, say, in the farm sector. And these are -- these are very serious problems.

The fact that the President all over again is going back to do in some -- under a different kind of authority, exactly what the Supreme Court said he cannot do is going to cause a number of legal problems. So, that's going to be back in the headlines.

And people are going to see that the price of things that they wanted to export and make money from, including farm products, is going to go up. They're going to have a very hard time. It's not going to be a fun time for Republicans who want to defend this going into the Fall elections.

BLACKWELL: Errol Louis, always good to have you. Enjoy this Saturday. All right, new developments in the case of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo; the man shot and killed by ICE agents in Houston. Officials now say a substance found in his van was salt.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office announced the test results Friday. In a warrant filing, the FBI said it believed a white powder found in the vehicle was illegal drugs. The prominent Texas lawmakers have joined the family in asking for more details about what led to the fatal shooting. They held a field hearing yesterday to talk about the case. And CNN's Ed Lavandera was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It has now been more than two weeks since Lorenzo Salgado was shot and killed by an ICE officer on the streets of Houston. And the lead prosecutor here in Houston says that essentially, federal investigators are stonewalling their investigation.

They say that they have not been able to get any key pieces of evidence. They do not have the identity of the officers involved in the altercation. They do not have key paperwork surrounding the targeted immigration operation that led them to Salgado and the three other men in that white van, and that they still also don't have access to the weapon.

And because of that, the prosecutor says this is completely out of the ordinary, unlike any other officer involved shooting that the district attorney has investigated here in Harris County over the years. And that led to calls of -- from the Democratic lawmakers who were leading this forum.

All of this came out during a forum led by 11 Democratic congressional lawmakers. There were no Republicans involved. These lawmakers essentially are saying that the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are federal agencies that have gone rogue in their words, that are completely out of control.

And they are using this forum to continue ratcheting up pressure to force the DHS and federal investigators to turn over key pieces of evidence to local prosecutors and also state authorities that are conducting an investigation as well.

But so far, it is clear that a lot of the local -- the local prosecutors who are trying to spearhead this investigation into the shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado are having a very difficult time getting access to what they believe is key pieces of evidence to be able to figure out if any criminal charges against the officers should be brought forth.

The two sons of Lorenzo Salgado also spoke emotionally at this forum as well today, saying that, you know, how many more dads have to die before this -- the ICE and agency like ICE is brought under control.

[06:35:00]

They once again called for a full independent investigation, apart from what federal investigators are doing at this point. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: People living along the Gulf Coast are cleaning up from Tropical Storm Bertha this weekend. The storm made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border this week. The storm brought 45 mile-per-hour winds to the Louisiana coastline, and officials say it will likely be sometime next week before things return to normal.

Now, that moisture from what was Bertha is still fueling a flood threat across parts of the south. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins me now. We got some of that rain here.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we did.

BLACKWELL: I appreciated it, but maybe too much all at once --

CHINCHAR: Maybe a little too much --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

CHINCHAR: I know, mine was a little too much. Yes, it's interesting to think that Bertha is dead and gone, but we're still being able to pull moisture from the gulf from where it had been located. And that stationary front isn't going anywhere.

So, you've got a lot of these areas that have already seen a lot of rain. Now, we're going to be adding more rain on top of it. We've got rain right now across the Carolinas and Virginia, more over into Tennessee and even some heavy showers right there right around St. Louis, with some rumbles of thunder, perhaps waking a few folks up.

This is where the main concern is going to be for flooding for today. Again, you can see it stretches from Arkansas all the way over to the eastern coastline here. Again, the two target areas are going to be in yellow, but even the locations in green still have the potential simply because they've already had so much rain in the last few days.

That ground is saturated. It just simply won't take all that much to trigger additional flooding. Here's a look at the forecast radar, even by about lunch-time today, here you can see a lot of those heavy showers and even some thunderstorms across the Carolinas.

Then once we get late into the afternoon, and especially into the evening, you're going to start to see more stuff begin to fire up, say, from Kentucky all the way down into Alabama. So, those are going to then continue through the overnight, pushing southward and eastward so that by the time we wake up, Sunday morning here, you've got some pretty strong showers, say around Asheville heading into Greenville.

Spartanburg and even a few over into around the Birmingham and even the Huntsville, Alabama area. Those will continue throughout the day Saturday, with more of them firing up once again, once you kind of get the sun out there heating things up, most of these areas you are looking at, maybe an extra 1 inch to 2 inches.

Some spots could pick up 3, 4 or even 5 inches of rain. The key thing here though, is even just an extra inch or 2, Victor, is enough to cause flooding because of how much rain has already fallen in some of these areas.

BLACKWELL: All right, we're still in it, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. The NBA's hottest free agent has picked Philadelphia as his final landing spot. LeBron James is signing a two-year $8 million contract with the 76ers, calls it his last decision.

He's 41 years old, entering his record extending 24th NBA season. The 76ers will be his fourth team, he's won championships with the previous three. Philly rolled out the red carpet for LeBron hours after the decision was announced, expectations are about as high as they can be for next season. A lot of fans saying they're going to win this championship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I screamed, I probably cried for like a good ten minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm excited, I'm ecstatic. The king, we got the king. Paper, cardboard, whatever you want to call it, like we're going to the chip, OK, we're going to the chip.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have one of the best teams ever assembled, and we're going to win a championship this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he brings the championship to Philadelphia, the city will go crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right now with LeBron James headed to Philadelphia, attention is turning to his son despite trade speculation, Bronny James is expected to stay with the Lakers. His agent says the father- son duo is not a package deal, as Bronny looks to carve out his own NBA future in Los Angeles.

Measles making an unwanted comeback. The troubling milestone that's raising alarms across the country and what experts say is fueling this surge. And if you're heading out, listen, I am a good wingman, I promise, take me with you.

You can stream my show from anywhere in the U.S. right from the CNN app. You can also go to cnn.com/watch, live look at Hartsfield Jackson here in Atlanta.

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[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: Measles cases in the U.S. have reached a 35-year high, breaks records for the second year in a row. Now, the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2,000, but there have been more cases recorded in the past 18 months than the previous 25 years combined. We've got more now from CNN's Meg Tirrell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We're already just seven months into 2026, we have already surpassed the historic year we saw for measles cases in the United States last year. Now, more than 2,300 cases, you can see the sort of vertical trajectory of measles cases here.

And this really shows you that this is quite unusual, typically, a year looks more like 2023. We'd see fewer than 100 cases recorded in the U.S. all year. You can see here also historically; this is just tremendously unusual to have so many cases reported.

And really, where we've seen these cases, of course, last year in West Texas, there was a massive outbreak, where we saw two school age children die from measles. There was also a large outbreak, even larger than West Texas that started in October in South Carolina. That one was finally declared over in April, recording almost a

thousand cases. There are still ongoing outbreaks going on right now, one on the border of Utah and Arizona, another in Virginia, another in Pennsylvania.

[06:45:00]

And this one really is one that folks are watching very closely because it started last Summer. And as it relates to measles elimination status, the way we define that here in the United States is that we don't have ongoing transmission for a year or longer.

And so, if this one is determined to have gone on for at least a year, that will threaten our measles elimination status. And in fact, many public health experts think we really have actually reached that point. Now, the reason we are here is essentially that vaccination rates have been falling too low to stave off measles in a major way.

You want to keep measles vaccination rates above 95 percent in order to protect the community through what's called herd immunity. Because measles is the most contagious virus that we know of. But only these states here in green have actually reached that 95 percent threshold for kindergartners on a statewide basis.

And you can see that this has really declined since before the COVID- 19 pandemic. This is the national vaccination rate for U.S. kindergartners. We were above 95 percent in the 2019-2020 school year. Now, down to 92.5 percent in 2024-2025.

And of course, it is school age children who are affected the most by these measles cases. We have about 70 percent of the cases being in kids under the age of 19, and 93 percent of them have not been vaccinated or have unknown vaccine status.

And so, the warnings that we are hearing from public health folks right now is that measles cases could continue to get worse if we don't see a turnaround in vaccine status, and also that it could potentially be the tip of the iceberg because it's such a contagious disease.

Other ones are going to follow potentially, that are also vaccine preventable, which would really be a public health tragedy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Meg Tirrell, thank you for that report. Last December, former Senator Ben Sasse was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Doctors gave him just months to live. Well, he recently sat down with Jake Tapper for a conversation about facing death and what comes after.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN SASSE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: I felt the heaviness of death being terrible, and obviously not wanting your wife to go through being widowed or your kids to be orphaned, to lose their dad. But I just felt at peace that death is real. I've always known we're all on the clock. And to get a finite number, felt horrible, but not surprising.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Your faith is -- it always has been remarkable, but never more so, I think as somebody who has long admired and covered you during this period, just your supreme confidence in what happens next, and that you will see your loved ones again. And do you ever have any moments of doubt about any of it?

SASSE: I mean --

TAPPER: Let me just say, I sure I envy it. I wish I felt that way. I think there are a lot of people probably watching who think, God, what a gift.

SASSE: I think death is wicked, but I don't think it's a surprise to any of us who reckon hard with a conscience that says we're broken, this world is broken, things are not as they should be. So, to your direct question, no, I don't, I don't doubt it.

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BLACKWELL: Yes, watch the rest of this interview about life and death on the "WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER", it airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN, and then Monday, it will be on the CNN app. Everyone survived a sea plane's crash landing off the Washington State coast.

Well, now the search for answers begins. What investigators are hoping to learn from video moments before the plane went down.

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[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Some top stories for you now. Maine Democrats will meet today to officially nominate Troy Jackson as their candidate to take on Senator Susan Collins. Unusual convention comes just a few days after Graham Platner pulled out of the race following months of controversy.

Maine is crucial to Democrats' hopes of retaking the Senate majority in the Midterms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the U.S. next week. He's expected to meet with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

His meeting is two weeks after -- of American strikes on Iran after those two weeks. Netanyahu is also expected to attend the funeral for Senator Lindsey Graham. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating a sea plane crash off the coast of Washington State.

Now, all 11 people on board were rescued before the aircraft burst into flames. Here's CNN's Whitney Wild with more.

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WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's just astonishing that everybody lived after this plane crash. You see in that video that the plane crashes, then erupts into flames shortly after the crash. We are still learning more details here.

What we know is that federal investigators are looking into this. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating this crash. We know that it elicited a huge response, a huge multi-agency response that included the United States Coast Guard, the Navy, as well as the Canadian Coast Guard and local authorities.

What we know about the injuries is that they ranged from head injuries to broken bones and lacerations. What we know is that at least, one person was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

[06:55:00]

At least, five people have been released. We are expecting more to be released as time goes on here. It is not clear exactly what prompted this emergency landing. What we know is that the plane was leaving from Lake Union and was headed about 100 miles north and went down about 45 minutes after takeoff, just about 15 minutes from the final destination.

The weather conditions at the time were windy. Rain was moving in, but it's not clear what role that might have played in this emergency landing. Still a lot of questions here. What we know is that the plane is owned and operated by Kenmore Air.

That is the largest seaplane airline in the United States. They canceled all of their flights Friday as they continue to look into this incident. Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

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BLACKWELL: Next, President Trump returns to the White House Correspondent's Dinner and says, probably what you expect, he says.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You people have no idea how lucky you are when I'm gone, you're all going to be broke. Your business model is going to be finished -- no, it's true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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