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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Trump Announces New Defensive Weapons Shipment To Ukraine; Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Helps Save 165 Campers In Texas; Elon Musk Wants You...To Join His Party. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired July 08, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:31:25]
MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Before Monday's dinner with the Israeli prime minster at the White House, President Trump told reporters he plans to send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine. This despite the administration announcing last week that the U.S. would be pausing weapons shipments following a review of military spending.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now. They're getting hit very hard. We're going to have to send more weapons -- defensive weapons, primarily. But they're getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: For more on this we're joined by CNN's Clare Sebastian live from London. Clare, maybe a bit of whiplash here in Washington. Explain what's going on.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, I think there's a reason why we perhaps don't have a ton of reaction from Ukraine this morning MJ is because they're probably holding fire after these two weeks that first of all, saw President Trump suggest at the NATO summit that he would send more patriot missiles to Ukraine. Then we saw that Pentagon pause. Them we had Trump deny that it was even happening. And finally, this announcement on Monday that they were sending a new aid delivery.
I think, certainly in Ukraine, the hope will be that this is part of a permanent shift. That this is a realization in the White House that Russia is essentially trying to drag out any diplomatic efforts all the while escalating air attacks and trying to push forward, especially on the eastern front. And I think that hope will certainly be very strong in Ukraine today given that we see those attacks stepping up all the time.
But I think what this is it is not an announcement of new funding allocated by Congress. This doesn't in itself signal that it's a permanent shift. This is most likely a return to what we've seen certainly throughout the Trump administration and the Biden administration before that as previously allocated aid simply being trickled in. So in that sense it will eventually end if nothing changes, just not yet.
But for now, as I said, with these attacks escalating, things like patriot missiles are absolutely critical to Ukraine. And so I certainly think this will be very welcomed news in Kyiv this morning -- MJ.
LEE: Clare Sebastian in London. Thank you.
Anger is boiling over in Kenya where 11 people were killed in another round of antigovernment protests. We'll look at what's behind the unrest next.
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[05:38:30]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do we want?
SUPPORTERS OF KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: Bring Kilmar home!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When?
SUPPORTERS OF KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: Now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right --
SUPPORTERS OF KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: Now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right --
SUPPORTERS OF KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: Now!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Supporters of Kilmar Abrego Garcia rallied outside a court hearing on Monday demanding his return to Maryland. He had been living there before being wrongly deported to El Salvador in March as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Abrego Garcia was later brought back to the U.S. to face human smuggling charges and is currently being held in pretrial detention in Tennessee.
Justice Department attorneys say they will take steps to deport the Salvadoran national before his trial if he's released from criminal custody, which could happen as early as next week. Abrego Garcia's legal team wants to bring him back to Maryland and his family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SIMON SANDOVAL-MOSHENBERG, ATTORNEY FOR KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: And on Thursday afternoon, a Department of Homeland Security is going to have to come before this court and answer questions and tell the court what the actual plan is for Mr. Abrego Garcia.
If they want to deport him to a third country, they need to name that country and they need to describe the process by which they are give him due process, which is to say an opportunity to state a defense, to raise a case before an immigration judge as to why he shouldn't be sent to whatever that third country is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: A 2019 court order barred the U.S. government from sending Abrego Garcia back to El Salvador.
[05:40:00]
The mayor of Los Angeles is lashing out at the Trump administration after armed federal officers descended on a park in the city on Monday. Officials said 90 National Guard troops and military vehicles were deployed to defend immigration officers during a raid in MacArthur Park, but activists warned people to leave the area, so the park was mostly empty. And it's not clear if anyone was detained.
The show of force comes a month after widespread protests in Los Angeles against President Trump's immigration crackdown.
And Mayor Karen Bass had some sharp criticism for the administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KAREN BASS, (D) LOS ANGELES: Frankly, it is outrageous and un- American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in the parks. To me, this is another example of the administration ratcheting up chaos by deploying what looked like a military operation in an American city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Bass made her way to the park and was seen talking to officers. MacArthur Park is located in an area with a large immigrant population.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing its policy to defund Planned Parenthood. The Obama-appointed judge issued the order on Monday, and it halts the law's enforcement for 14 days.
The legislation was signed by President Trump on Friday. It blocks Medicaid users from getting coverage with any health care providers that provide abortion services. Though it doesn't mention Planned Parenthood by name, the law still puts the health care provider in its -- in its crosshairs.
At least 11 people were killed and 500 arrested in the latest round of antigovernment protests in Kenya. Police clashed with protesters on the anniversary of a major pro-democracy rally. It comes after 16 people were killed during antigovernment protests in June and dozens were killed during anti-tax demonstrations last year.
CNN's Victoria explains what's behind the growing anger in Kenya.
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VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voiceover): Video shows police using teargas and water cannons on demonstrators in Kenya where protests turned violent. The demonstrations marked the 35th anniversary of a pro-democracy rally known as Saba Saba. They come amid an ever-growing antigovernment resentment among young people in Kenya following an unpopular finance bill presented and later withdrawn by the government last year.
Protesters are outraged over corruption allegations, alleged police brutality, and the recent death of a teacher in police custody.
RAILA ODINGA, FORMER KENYAN PRIME MINISTER: We have a rogue police force that shoots people with impunity. And this is a force that we inherited from the colonialists.
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LEE: Kenya's national police are reporting the death toll of 11 and more than 500 arrested. They said in a statement each reported incident will be "subject to further investigation in accordance with the law."
Still to come, CNN speaks with a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who helped save more than 100 campers from the Texas floods. His own account of the rescues just ahead.
Plus, how climate experts say those floods were made worse by global warming.
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[05:48:00]
LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we are watching today.
Texas officials report more than 100 people have died in the catastrophic flooding over the weekend. At least 24 remain missing across the affected areas. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says more than 20 state agencies are responding to the flooding. More rain is expected this week but at the moment the weather is not likely to present much of a flood threat.
A note of optimism following the Israeli prime minister's White House meeting with the U.S. president. Benjamin Netanyahu says he believes very broad peace is possible in the Middle East with President Trump's leadership. The White House said Trump's special envoy to the Middle East will be joining the negotiations in Qatar this week. The president is imposing new tariffs of up to 40 percent on 14 trading partners. Back in May he paused reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. They were supposed to take effect this coming Wednesday. The new deadline is August first. Japan and South Korea will face 25 percent tariffs if no new deals are reached.
And we are learning more about some of the heroic rescuers who helped save people caught in the Texas floods. U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan was assigned to a search and rescue team headed to Camp Mystic where there are still missing girls and a camp counselor. Ruskan helped rescue 165 campers in total.
Here is what he told CNN about his very first mission on the job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETTY OFFICER SCOTT RUSKAN, U.S. COAST GUARD: Originally, it was just really bad weather, right? We weren't initially able to reach Kerrville for probably about, maybe like six to seven hours. It should have been about an hour flight from Corpus but, yeah, we were just really battling bad weather -- kind of the storm that was causing these floods. So finally we were kind of able to make our way to Kerrville after about a long six to seven-hour day before we were even on scene.
[05:50:00]
We were tasked along with the United States Army National Guard. Our main mission was to kind of exfil and get all the campers out of Camp Mystic -- any of the ones that were still there. So when we arrived on the scene and we were kind of overhead, we really noticed, like, as you guys can see behind me -- like, yeah, this is like a devastating flood. Like, I have never seen anything this tragic in my life.
Once we got on scene and we were boots on the ground there's just a lot of scared kids. You have anyone from the ages of seven to 17 as long as like -- as well as their camp counselors as well there. So everyone's pretty terrified, everyone's cold.
And again, I've said this a few times before but, yeah, these people are having the worst day of their life and it's my job to kind of make it as comfortable as possible given the situation and just kind of assess based on the condition of how cold these people are, any injuries they may have, or the youngest ones -- I wanted to get those guys out of there first.
And then just kind of coordinating with the Army. Like, those guys and the National Guard and Task Force One were stellar. Like, what awesome professionals to work with. And yeah, they did a great job taking all these people out. I was kind of just the middle man moving them back and forth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Climate experts say these extreme weather events are only becoming more common as global warming intensifies. More now from CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
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DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voiceover): More than a summer's worth of rain fell in a matter of hours across the Texas Hill Country triggering unprecedented flash flooding. The deadly tragedy described as a one in 100-year flood disaster struck in an area that was entrenched in the worst drought anywhere in the country.
This weather whiplash from drought to flood is yet another example of human-induced climate change and its impact on extreme weather -- one we have seen play out in California multiple times in recent years as a multi-year drought was followed by atmosphere river-fueled flooding and mudslides. And then came the deadly wildfires in January.
The frequency and intensity of heavy rain events are increasing. Last year alone a record 91 flash flood emergencies. The rarest, most extreme warning issued less than one percent of the time came from the National Weather Service.
Generational flood events like last year's Hurricane Helene killed over 200 people and produced historic rain in North Carolina.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any more down there?
VAN DAM: Texans will remember Hurricane Harvey that dropped over 50 inches of rain in the Houston metro and was one of America's costliest weather disasters.
It's not just with hurricanes. Residents across Kentucky and Tennessee are still recovering from inland flash flooding over the last couple of years.
These events are a product of a warmer atmosphere that's able to hold more water vapor, acting to enhance rainfall rates, turning 100-year events into something every generation as to deal with.
And even while the flood threat continues in Texas, parts of the East Coast are reeling from their own flash flooding as the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal dropped months' worth of rain in the Raleigh- Durham area of North Carolina, also resulting in floods that turned deadly.
Derek Van Dam, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Elon Musk has announced a strategy for his new political party. We'll hear what Donald Trump thinks about that after the break.
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[05:57:45]
LEE: Residents of San Antonio, Texas held a vigil for the victims of this weekend's flash floods. At least 104 people were killed in the disaster, including 28 children. Mourners gathered on Monday evening to light candles and to pray for those who lost their lives.
In the Dallas area, families with ties to Camp Mystic plan to meet at the George W. Bush Presidential Center to pray and honor the 27 campers and counselors who were killed in the flooding.
The major sports teams in Texas are also stepping up with millions of dollars to support relief efforts for the flood victims. The NBA and its teams in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio are joining together to donate more than $2 million. In baseball, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers say they are each committing $1 million. And the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans are joining with the NFL Foundation to donate $1.5 million.
Elon Musk has announced he's starting a new political party in the U.S. called the "America Party." This comes after his quite dramatic and very public falling out with President Trump.
CNN's Hadas Gold has more on the plan and its challenges ahead.
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HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elon Musk wants to upend American politics with his new political party, so can he do it? It's not going to be easy. There are both legal and political hurdles.
Legally, there are rules over how much money a single person can donate to a political party. And then each state has their own different rules and regulations over how a party and a candidate appear on their ballots.
Politically, it may be hard to get candidates to run with your party and voters may be hesitant to vote for a third party, especially because third parties tend to be seen as protests votes or even sort of throwing away your vote.
Musk does seem to recognize this, saying in a series of posts on his social media platform that instead, this party will focus specifically on just two to three Senate seats and eight to 10 House districts. That way, he says, with the razor-thin legislative margins, his candidates could serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws.
President Trump, for his part, seems to be brushing this all of.
TRUMP: And I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. So he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous.
[06:00:00]
GOLD: He wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post that he is saddened to see that Elon Musk has gone what he calls "completely off the rails," essentially becoming a train wreck over the past five weeks.
Musk responded with his own post on his social media platform X, seemingly making fun of Trump's Truth Social platform, saying "What is Truth Social? Never heard of it."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm MJ Lee in Washington. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
