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Epstein Survivor Sharlene Rochard is Interviewed about the Blanche Nomination; Dwindling Stockpiles of U.S. Missile Interceptors; Fauci Invokes the Fifth Amendment in Senate Hearing; ICE Arrests Climbing at Airports. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 30, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:12]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Half past the hour -- just a little past right now on CNN THIS MORNING. Here's a look at what's happening right now.

Storms starting to weaken in the northeast after days of flooding rain. Roads were washed away in parts of upstate New York as a month's worth of rain fell in just a matter of hours in some areas. Water rescue teams reporting dozens of rescues across the region. In New Jersey, one child was found dead, another is still missing this morning after going into a flooded river on Wednesday night. Rescue crews and divers searched through the night for the missing ten year old girl.

Some relief for fire crews in France as the weather begins to turn amid their wildfire fight. High humidity, cooler temperatures and rain moving in. French officials today are also allowing some 84,000 evacuees to return home.

New court filings reveal how the DOJ built a case against former FBI Director James Comey over that 8647 seashell photo. The documents revealing investigators interviewed a mobster from the Gambino crime family, searched 86 in FBI databases, ChatGPT and Merriam-Webster. We've also learned the Secret Service agents who interviewed Comey were ordered to send their notes to President Trump ASAP. Comey has asked for the case to be dismissed.

Epstein survivors are mounting one final push to stop Todd Blanche from becoming attorney general, going door to door on Capitol Hill Wednesday to deliver the government's Epstein files to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urged them to reject Blanche's nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANI BENSKY, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Our biggest point, our biggest takeaway is that Todd Blanche is unfit to be acting attorney general because he is not here for the American peoples' best interest. And he's proven that time and time again. So, we are dropping off books with all of the files and the leads sort of flagged for everybody to just prove that, you know, Todd Blanche has, in fact, lied. So, we hope that senators will take that into consideration.

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HILL: The Epstein survivors also launched the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Bookmobile, which will carry copies of 3.5 million Epstein files to communities across the country ahead of the midterm elections.

Joining me now, Epstein survivor Sharlene Rochard, who you saw in that video there.

Thank you for coming in this morning.

That was quite a day yesterday.

SHARLENE ROCHARD, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Yes.

HILL: What was the response going over -- going across The Hill?

ROCHARD: The response was positive. I mean, we really want people to understand the gravity of this situation and how badly the redactions were. And just the -- take our case seriously and to listen to survivors.

HILL: And do you feel that you were listened to, that you were taken seriously yesterday?

ROCHARD: Yes. Yes, we do. We had a meeting in Cornyn's office with his judiciary staff, and they listened and they were going to pass our messages along. So, it went really, really positive.

[06:35:01]

HILL: So, that was really positive. That went really well. The readout from the meeting with Todd Blanche is far different. I've heard other survivors describe it as checking a box.

ROCHARD: Yes.

HILL: I know you weren't personally in that meeting, as I understand it, but I know you've been, obviously, speaking to your fellow survivors who were. What did they tell you about those moments, about how the interaction went?

ROCHARD: It was demoralizing. It was just, you know, they were asking questions and not getting any answers. Just basically, like, you can go back to the FBI. We've been going to the FBI for almost 30 years now. It just seems so repetitive. It really was just to check the box. He wasn't listening to us at all. And that is what the next attorney general should do. His job is to listen to survivors and take us seriously. And he was just -- hadn't even read any of the files.

HILL: You mentioned it felt -- and they told you it felt like checking a box. The fact that it took this long to get that meeting -- I should point out, you've been going to the FBI. You'd also been asking for a meeting for some time.

ROCHARD: Yes. Yes, we have been asking for nine months to get a meeting. And all of a sudden, you know, a senator says, I'm not going to vote for you unless you meet with the survivors. So, it really was just a check the box.

HILL: Moving forward, as I noted you were on The Hill. So, you're handing out these copies, right, of the files. You're also taking them on the road. You've got this bookmobile. Are there specific communities that you're targeting? Who do you most want to get that message out to? And what is the message?

ROCHARD: So, the message is basically that, in the files they are -- we are human beings in these files. And we want the public to know the immensity of this crime. We are victims of a crime, and we just want to be taken seriously and for people to understand exactly what happened to us. So, we are going all across America and meeting people one on one and just telling them, you know, what happened to us.

HILL: As all of this is playing out, it was remarkable that in the Senate there was a vote, unanimous I should point out, but there was a vote in the Senate on Wednesday that Ghislaine Maxwell should not be allowed a presidential pardon or clemency of any kind. Great that it was unanimous. The fact that that vote had to be held. When you heard that was happening, what's your reaction?

ROCHARD: My reaction is that it's a positive step forward. However, you know, we just never know. It seems like things are changing every single day in this. So, honestly, I think it's a step forward.

HILL: What does accountability look like to you at this point?

ROCHARD: Accountability looks like that we will be heard, there will be justice served, that transparency and all of America can see what happened to us so that this doesn't happen again and that we are taken seriously, the leads are followed, that we are listened to and heard by the DOJ. There's -- the redactions are corrected. I mean, there's so many things that we want for justice.

But it's just like, all of America is watching. The world is watching this case. We need to have trust in the DOJ and we just don't have trust in them right now with Todd Blanche, you know, and this vote. So, we are hoping that everybody's going to vote no, continue to call their senators and vote no.

HILL: Thank you for coming in and for continuing to share your story.

ROCHARD: Thank you.

HILL: It's got to be exhausting, I would think. We really appreciate it.

ROCHARD: It is. Thank you so much.

HILL: Yes. Thank you. Also this morning, U.S. Central Command says it has now wrapped up a

new heavy wave of strikes against targets in Iran. More countries also being drawn into the conflict. Egypt says two ships caught fire at a port Wednesday due to a drone strike. Now, no one has claimed responsibility for that attack, but it does mark the first time Egyptian infrastructure has been hit in the growing war.

With the U.S. and Iran going back on offense, do U.S. forces actually have what they need for defense? New analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates the U.S. had about 2,300 Patriot missiles when the war started. Now those numbers have dwindled to less than 1,000.

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COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It is also something of concern because it takes so long to replenish these missile stocks and these other munitions resources.

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HILL: Joining me now, Gordon Sondland, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union during the first Trump administration, and Sabrina Singh, CNN global affairs commentator, former Pentagon deputy press secretary.

Nice to see both of you, and always nice to see you both in person.

When we look at that analysis that I just mentioned from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, it also finds that it could be not until 2030, right, that these stockpiles are back to their pre- war levels. What does that signal to you, Sabrina, when it comes to the planning here and for the thinking of how long this war could last?

[06:40:06]

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, something that the Department of Defense and this administration is going to have to calculate is because our stocks are so low and dwindled to such lower levels than pre-war, they're going to have to make calculations on the actual battlefield. So, when drones are coming over or ballistic missiles, they're going to have to make those calculations on what can actually be shot down and how quickly.

And so, I think what this administration is really wrestling with is the defense industrial base. It takes almost two years to make an interceptor. That is so long to backfill our stocks. And so, this administration, I think, has done a good job of trying to invigorate the defense industrial base to speed up production but it's just not enough.

HILL: NBC News is reporting, Gordon, that Trump is becoming exasperated with Iran, that he recently erupted in a meeting with his top advisors. Do you see evidence at this point, right, that there is a plan or a strategy emerging to end the war? GORDON SONDLAND, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE E.U.: I think,

unfortunately, the plan and strategy is to hit them harder and hit them continuously. We probably, and I think Trump in retrospect, regrets that he stopped to talk. I think he should have held the talks while he was hitting them. If they want to talk, we can go to Qatar. We can go to any number of places and have meetings. But the missiles are going to keep flying in your direction until we have a deal that the United States is happy with.

And that's somewhat at odds with what Sabrina just talked about, which is our missile supplies. I don't think it's as dire as is being publicly reported because I think the narrative is that Trump shouldn't have started this war unless we had enough missiles to finish it. And I don't think that that's exactly accurate. If he were being selfish, he would have not started this war until after the midterms. This war could cost the Republicans the House. He had intelligence that said he needed to do something, and he did it. And I've seen that intel as well, that intel is not new, their exponential production of conventional missiles, never mind the nuclear program.

HILL: Part of that intel, though, and you were -- I mean at least for your time, right, in the previous administration, as I understand it, part of that intel was also the reason that a number of other presidents have chosen not to follow this path is because of exactly what happened in the Strait of Hormuz.

SONDLAND: Well, when the other presidents chose not to follow that path, things were not as dire as they are for President Trump. He had different intel. And, trust me, he would have wanted to wait until after the midterms if it were up to him.

SINGH: I would, just on that note, though, I would say that President Trump, if -- I think he thought this was going to be a short operation. He thought this was going to be like Venezuela. He said, this is going to be four to six weeks, a little detour.

The reality is that this is not anything like Venezuela. It's so much more complicated. So, to your point, I think also he wanted another win before the midterms. Another thing to say, I've toppled the regime and I'm walking away victorious.

And today the Strait is closed, which was open pre-war. So, I think there was a miss -- a political miscalculation on his part of, he wanted to do this before the midterms in some way, whether it's intel or other reasons. And he saw how successful operation midnight hammer was and thought he could get out easily. And that's just not the case.

HILL: There's a lot of discussion as we talk about these dwindling stockpiles, right, about the message that it sends, not just to allies, but to adversaries as well. Overnight, right, things heating up in the Ukraine war. And you have this object, right, landing in Poland. Poland's prime minister just came out and said, we believe that that came from Russia.

What do you see as the impact on allies and adversaries when this is such an important, you know, topic of discussion?

SONDLAND: Well, our allies, to be truthful, are not helping us very much. They don't need to fire any shots. They don't need to even send any troops or any, you know, any weapons to the theater. What they need to do is stand up next to President Trump and say, we're with you. Iran is at war with all of us, not just with the United States and Israel. That doesn't cost them anything. But there's too many constituencies in too many of the 27 E.U. members that are -- basically support Iran and prevent their leadership from standing as allies should stand with us.

Iran needs to understand they are not just at war with the United States and Israel. They are at war with the entire western world. And they don't understand that yet because the allies have not helped.

SINGH: I would say that's not entirely correct. I mean, I think you've seen the prime ministers and presidents of France, Germany, Italy, the U.K. say, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. And you just said that they don't need to commit forces or capabilities. I think they don't want to commit those forces and capabilities because this was not a war that they were even consulted in.

And you do have -- you do have --

SONDLAND: Oh, that -- I don't agree with that at all, Sabrina.

[06:45:01]

SINGH: Well, you do have allies, you have our gulf nations standing side by side with us. Just the other day, Saudi and the U.S. joined together in joint strikes. So, we do have allies working with us. But I think European countries are hesitant because they see what this war is doing and they -- frankly, what is the exit strategy is what everyone's asking.

HILL: Gordon Sondland, Sabrina Singh, really appreciate you both joining us. Good to have both your perspective.

SONDLAND: Thank you.

HILL: Thank you.

Still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, it was supposed to be the worst of the worst. So, why is ICE targeting people going through a legal process?

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): What day of the week is it today?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, FORMER DIRECTOR, NIAID: I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Anthony Fauci pleads the fifth 100 plus times. After the show, did the public actually learn anything from that hearing?

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[06:50:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): Here I am, sitting in front of you six years later, saying, who the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) do you think you were for doing that?

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HILL: So, you likely have heard that a little bit before. Maybe you didn't hear a bleep the first time, but it's early here on CNN THIS MORNING. Republican senators not happy with Dr. Anthony Fauci after he invoked the fifth more than 100 times during his grilling yesterday on his Covid-19 response six years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): What day of the week is it today?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, FORMER DIRECTOR, NIAID: On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

HAWLEY: What color tie are you wearing?

FAUCI: On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to -- respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under -- the Fifth Amendment -- the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Senator Rand Paul, Fauci's longtime foe, who subpoenaed him to testify under oath, is now threatening to hold the doctor in contempt. Republicans still want answers about the doctor's personal diaries, which Rand Paul put out publicly, and also past testimonies to Congress.

The group chat is back.

So, over 100 times. He did say in his opening statement that he felt, and I'm paraphrasing here, right, that he was there because, as Senator Paul has said, he wants to see him behind bars. So, there were questions about what he wouldn't say. But there was also -- there was a lot of debate yesterday, certainly on our air, about whether he made the right choice in choosing to plead the fifth. And I just want to play what one attorney had to say about that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERIT BERGER, LECTURER, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL: He's not in criminal jeopardy because the pardon has essentially said there's -- it's not possible for you to be criminally prosecuted for this. So, there is a real tension between the Fifth Amendment and this presidential pardon. And I got to say, he is not on solid, legal ground with exercising the fifth here. I think this will be a real question for a judge eventually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Maria, what are your thoughts on that?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that it's a question, right, but I heard other lawyers say that if Fauci was their client, they would absolutely have advised the same exact thing.

HILL: Yes.

CARDONA: Because the pardon is for stuff, apparently, that you have done. It's -- they are not sure whether it will count for things moving forward. And so, what the danger was is that Republicans wanted to catch him in a lie, wanted to catch him, twist his words and make -- hold him in contempt. You know, get him for lying for -- to Congress. And because they're so obsessed with going after him, I think, you know, and again I'm not a lawyer but I talked to a lot of them yesterday, and the vast majority of them said this is the safest place for him to be.

And I think what it did to the American people is it showed what a sham this congressional hearing was, because I agree that there are things to talk about, but because Republicans have politicized this so much, there was no way that they were going to be able to get to the things that we wanted to know.

And Dr. Fauci, right now, has a much better approval rating than anyone at HHS right now. And so many people in -- when I posted about this they were like, thank you, Dr. Fauci. Because of you, I'm alive. He saved the lives of millions of Americans. He got the Presidential Medal of Freedom or whatever the medal was that Donald Trump got him -- you know, put around his neck.

So, this is all a sham by Republicans who, again, have nothing to talk about when it comes to the economy and just want to distract.

TERRY SCHILLING, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PRINCIPLES PROJECT: I just got to say, he's already been caught in several lies. His diary was leaked. He -- this guy is -- he has nothing to protect himself from being incriminated against. He was pardoned. He can't even answer why. He can't even answer why so many of our loved ones had to die alone in hospitals. He can't answer why our young kids had to go outside of schools, had learning loss, had serious mental crises happen to them.

This is pathetic. And if anyone's politicizing this, it's not Republicans who are seeking justice, it's the Democrats who failed to even account or acknowledge the fact that our kids and our families were hurt so badly by his actions while he was lying. The diary is so incriminating and an indictment of him. And anyone that doesn't speak up against --

CARDONA: A diary is a diary.

SCHILLING: The diary is him admitting that he cares more about Kim Kardashian --

CARDONA: It's -- that's -- that is way, way political --

SCHILLING: It is political (ph).

HILL: The diary is a -- I -- we -- I called it this yesterday and I stand by it, the diary is a choose your own adventure of 1,100 pages of --

CARDONA: That's right.

HILL: I think anybody in there who wants to find something that they don't like about Dr. Fauci --

CARDONA: That's exactly right.

HILL: They can find something in there.

SCHILLING: But he was caught lying.

HILL: What's fascinating in this moment is the fact that there is still, six years later, right, this is still so passionate for so many people. What does that say about where we stand and what the priorities are in Congress?

TAMARA KEITH, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "NPR": Yes, I mean, I think that Covid was this massive rupture for the American people. I mean, globally, it was a terrible event that extended for a long period of time, changed people's lives, and really drew out the political divisions that definitely already existed in this country.

[06:55:13]

But the polarization has very much been applied to Covid and that experience that I'm pretty sure everyone can agree was terrible, but other than that, there's not a lot of agreement on how long people should have had social distancing, whether there should have been masks, whether the vaccine is going to kill you or save your life. Like, there is just so much polarization about this. But this is the -- this is an event, a global event, that people will be talking about, that we will be talking about when we're 100 years old and people will still be fighting about it.

HILL: Absolutely.

We have one more topic we need to get to. Immigration attorneys raising concerns now over what seems to be a new tactic by ICE officers targeting people in airports. So, there's some videos that have come in from San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas this month alone showing ICE officers, often wearing masks and in plain clothes, arresting travelers. Now, in each of these cases, ICE claims the crime was overstaying their visas. Immigration experts, though, say that what they see here is really a change in priorities.

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ANDREW NIETOR, ATTORNEY, AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYERS ASSOCIATION: One of the ironic things, and kind of odd thing is, that a lot of these individuals who are going to the airport have government issued I.D. They might have a work authorization card, but they're still being detained by ICE because their process of extending their visa or applying for some type of lawful status has been backlogged so much that they kind of got caught up in the system.

They're now being detained, even though they're not a flight risk, they're not -- they're not a danger to the community, which, again, used to be the focus of ICE detention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: New CNN polling suggests that people actually disapprove of how the president is handling immigration. Just 39 percent now say they approve. That's down from 51 percent last March.

The group chat is back.

What's interesting, Terry, is the president was making real wins, right, and real gains, specifically when it comes to the border. People were very happy. It's the ICE tactics that have really contributed to a lot of that. And the fact that, as a country, we were told they were going after the worst of the worst, this is another example of people being detained who are actually in a legal process, who are following the rules and following the law. What do you make of this?

SCHILLING: Well, I think the big reason why he's slipping in the polls is, obviously, Democrats are being intensified by seeing all these ICE videos. But also, it's -- I think it's a lot of the half measures. There's a lot of Republicans who are upset about a lack of the mass deportations. They want more of this stuff. And they're doing these half measures where, you know, President Obama, I think, deported around 400,000 people in 2012, right before his election. So, I think that if President Trump really wants to do this, he's going to have to go further and shore up the base.

We're seeing the intensity amongst Republicans. It's much lower, about 16 points lower than it is for the Democratic Party. And if he wants to have a strong turnout in the midterms, he's going to have to ramp up that base turnout.

CARDONA: From a political standpoint, this has become kryptonite for Republicans. Why? This is not what Americans voted for. Americans thought that when Trump talked about deporting the worst of the worst, deporting the criminals, that that's actually what he would do. Ninety percent of the people that have been detained and deported have no criminal record whatsoever. He is detaining grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, slamming on the pavement the heads of moms, putting in jail five year old kids, ripping people from the streets, ripping families apart.

As a Latina, I talk to my community every day and they are in fear. People do not want to take their kids to school. They don't want to go to the grocery store. They're not even going to the doctor. They go to their immigration hearing to try to do things right, and they get ripped from their families because they're trying to do it right. This is a complete disgrace, Erica. And that's why you're seeing these numbers as dismal as they are. And Republicans have no backbone to stand up to Donald Trump and what he's doing.

HILL: When you're talking to lawmakers, and specifically Republican lawmakers, how are they feeling, not only about the shift in the polls, but in the tactics that are out there?

KEITH: Yes, I mean, I think that there is some obvious discomfort when there are videos out there of vehicle stops that go wrong, other tactics that are rough and put things in the headlines in the wrong way. I think that for the Trump administration and for Republicans, they do have this immigration agenda. The desire in putting Markwayne Mullin in as DHS secretary, as Homeland Security secretary, was to turn down the temperature, was to get this out of the headlines while keeping the base happy. And I -- it's hard to get that very careful balance. And I think that it's out of balance at the moment, particularly with those shootings a couple of weeks ago.

HILL: Yes, it --

CARDONA: When they murder people, including two American citizens, that is going to be something that America --

SCHILLING: Well, I don't think that's a fair characterization. Americans have been getting murdered and sexually assaulted.

CARDONA: They have killed -- they killed two American citizens, Terry.

SCHILLING: Look, we've -- yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[07:00:00]

HILL: I'm going to stop all of this because we're just about out of time. I will say, there is a significant discussion to be had, right? I think you're hearing from people like Governor DeWine of Ohio about, are we doing this the right way, right, when you look at the people we have now.

Before we go, we don't have time for everybody's group chat, but we have a special day tomorrow, so let's end on a high note, if we can, and wish Terry a happy birthday.

SCHILLING: Thank you. I'm turning 40. My kids asked me for money to buy my birthday presents, which is the most dad thing ever. So, I'm very happy and very blessed.

HILL: Just make him a card.

CARDONA: Happy birthday, Terry.

HILL: A card. That's all you need, right, a handmade card.

SCHILLING: Exactly.

HILL: All right.

KEITH: Happy birthday.

HILL: Thanks to all of you for being here this morning. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us. I'm Erica Hill. Stay tuned. The headlines are next.