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Officials Blasted For How They Handled Deadly Texas Flooding; South Africa Hit With 30 Percent Tariff On Exports To U.S.; Radioactive Wasp Nest Found Near Nuclear Waste Tanks. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 01, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:30:55]

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine is denying that Russia has overrun the town of Chasiv Yar. The Kremlin posted this video to support its claim that the key town in eastern Ukraine has fallen, but the Ukrainian military says its units are still holding the line without providing details.

The town is now largely in ruins after being on the front line for almost a year and a half, but it does lie on high ground and its capture would open the door for further Russian advances.

Meanwhile, search operations have concluded at a Kyiv apartment block that was blown up in the latest Russian strikes. Officials say the death toll stands at 31 people with almost 159 others injured. The attack launched overnight into Thursday was the city's heaviest in recent weeks.

And meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is sending his envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia. He'll go there as Moscow faces a new deadline to make peace with Ukraine or possibly be slapped with more sanctions.

But as Jeff Zeleny reports, not everyone is convinced that those sanctions will work, including President Trump.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The clock is ticking for Russia to make a decision whether to engage in peace in Ukraine. No signs of that happening.

But President Trump reacting once again on Thursday to the added violence -- the waves of violence on Ukraine.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia? I think it's disgusting. We're going to put sanctions. I don't know that sanctions bother him, you know? They know about sanctions. I know better than anybody about sanctions and tariffs, and everything else. I don't know if that has any affect but we're going to do it.

ZELENY: So the president calling "disgusting" the actions that Russia has been taking on Ukraine -- the incessant and repeated bombings -- but also acknowledging that sanctions may not work. However, saying in the most forceful terms as of yet that he does intend to go forward with sanctions. Those secondary sanctions could actually carry more weight than others largely because it would be sanctions against countries that do business with Russia.

Now the bottom line is it's very much an open question if Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking any of this into account. As of now the Kremlin has simply acknowledged hearing President Trump but not acknowledging wanting to change its behavior.

A new twist also on Thursday when the president announced that his leading envoy Steve Witkoff would be heading back to Moscow. His itinerary was not immediately announced. But the last time he met with Putin was in April. Clearly, those meetings did not bear any fruit in terms of urging Putin to end the war.

But again, that new deadline from President Trump is looming. Some eight days or so are left before he says he'll make action.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

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LEE: Still ahead new testimony is revealing details about that fatal mid-air collision over Washington's Potomac River that claimed the lives of 67 people.

And later, how America's new tariff plan is affecting virtually every country around the globe. Stay with CNN for the latest developments.

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[05:38:37]

LEE: Some Texas lawmakers and flood survivors are slamming local officials over how they handled last month's deadly flooding. At a hearing on Thursday key officials in Kerr County revealed that they missed an emergency planning briefing ahead of the flood.

One state lawmaker pressed those officials to learn from what went wrong.

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REP. ANN JOHNSON, TEXAS STATE HOUSE: The three guys in Kerr County who were responsible for sounding the alarm were effectively unavailable. And at 3:30, when there's a call coming in, people are on their roof. You wrote down "That's time for all hands on deck."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

JOHNSON: But you didn't wake up until 4:20. The judge is in Lake Travis and the emergency manager is sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEE: The July Fourth flash flooding killed at least 136 people and two people are still missing. The storm swept away homes, businesses, and children's summer camps.

Grieving residents at the hearing called for a more reliable flood alert system and they blasted those local officials.

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NANCY ZDUNKEWICZ, FLOOD SURVIVOR: Had there been early detection of the rising waters and sirens, we may have been able to leave in time to get to higher ground safely. I heard someone else say that they didn't think that was necessary or would save lives in Hunt, and they are dead wrong. And frankly, that's offensive.

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[05:40:00]

LEE: A federal hearing will resume today as officials continue to investigate that fatal mid-air collision between a passenger plane and U.S. Army helicopter in January. The National Transportation Safety Board heard testimony for the past two days about the disaster that killed 67 people.

A federal official confirmed on Thursday that the air traffic control tower did not warn the pilots of the passenger plane about the approaching Army helicopter.

The head of the NTSB says she has concerns that there is a problem with safety culture in both Army aviation and the air traffic organization of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Officials expect to know what caused the crash by January.

And President Trump's new tariffs are set to kick in next week. And coming up, a live report on the impact they will have on some African countries.

And an unexpected discovery at a nuclear waste site in the U.S. -- a radioactive wasp nest. More on that just ahead.

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[05:45:20]

LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is in Gaza today. He is visiting Rafah to inspect an aid distribution site with plans to report back to President Trump about how the U.S. can help. Witkoff met Thursday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Donald Trump says he doesn't know why convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein used to poach staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump says his behavior prompted him to break off relations with his longtime friend. The comment came days after Trump said Epstein had "stolen" women from the club, including Virginia Giuffre who would later accuse Epstein of abusing her.

The White House unveiled its new trade plan on Thursday hours before President Donald Trump's self-imposed deadline. The senior administration official says most countries will face a 10 percent tariff when the policy takes effect next week. Other nations with which the U.S. has a trade deficit will be hit with at least a 15 percent rate.

And joining us live from Nairobi, Kenya is CNN's Larry Madowo. Larry, good to see you.

How does this announcement hit countries in Africa, and are there any active negotiations between specific African nations and Washington right now?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: MJ, there are African countries negotiating with the U.S. to find a trade deal, but the United States did not strike a deal with any African country before that February -- before that August 1 deadline.

And it reflects a sovereign reality. None of these economies are big enough compared to America's largest trading partners like China and the European Union, but also some say it shows how low on the priority list the White House places African countries.

For instance, South Africa was actively speaking to U.S. officials into the deadline trying to get feedback on a proposal they had given about a framework for a trade deal. And this is really important for South Africa because it is the U.S.' second-largest trading partner. There's half a million South African jobs tied to trade with the United States and yet they were still not able to get this across the line.

I want you to listen to the South African trade minister speaking on public television just hours before this deadline came into effect and talking about they had been on the phone as late as Wednesday night with the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. trade representative.

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PARKS TAU, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF TRADE, INDUSTRY & COMPETITION: And they were unable to give us a firm indication as to what it is that we need to do now to get to the point of a decision --

MADOWO: Yeah.

TAU: -- in relation to South Africa.

They suggested that look, maybe present a revised offer because we had given an offer when we were in the U.S. You will recall we announced that we've given a framework deal to the U.S. with a set of issues that we thought we should be able to offer them, but also a reciprocal engagement on what we would require from the U.S. side. We haven't heard confirmation as what their stance is so far.

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MADOWO: So South Africa's tariffs will be at 30 percent, same as Algeria and Libya. Some of the African countries in which the U.S. has a trade deficit will go up to 15 percent, such as we have a few of those in that list -- Nigeria, Angola, and others.

But African countries export a lot of products -- about 1,800 that are covered by this law that allows them to export to the U.S. We're talking everything from Levis jeans to Trump-branded golf shirts. And they need to work out some kind of deal before this comes into effect.

LEE: Larry Madowo in Nairobi, Kenya. Thanks for that update.

The U.S. jobs market could be running out of steam amid global economic uncertainty. July's jobs report is set to be released in less than three hours from now and we are expecting a considerable downshift in the net gain of jobs as well as a slight uptick in unemployment.

This month the research group FactSet says the country is expected to show a net gain of 115,000 jobs, a drop from June.

Hiring is at a one-year low, and unemployment this month is expected to rise from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent. Despite that, unemployment claims have fallen for the sixth week in a row. Some experts say a key indicator is that layoffs haven't gone up recently despite job cut announcements trending up this year.

So you've certainly heard of the canary in the coal mine. How about a radioactive wasp nest in a nuclear site? Still ahead we'll speak to an expert to see if the wider public should be concerned about the unusual discovery in South Carolina.

[05:50:00]

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LEE: A radioactive wasp nest has been found at a site in South Carolina where the U.S. once made key parts for nuclear bombs. The nest had a radiation level 10 times higher than allowed by regulations. It was discovered last month near tanks where liquid nuclear waste is stored. No hornets were found inside the nest and the nest itself was disposed of as radioactive waste.

A statement from the organization that oversees the site says there is no danger of wasps outside the facility. A report from the U.S. Department of Energy says there is no leak from the nuclear waste tanks.

[05:55:05]

But a watchdog group, the Savannah River Site Watch, called the report at best incomplete and wants to check to see whether there are other radioactive nests. And Tom Clements is the director of the Savannah River Watch Site. He is in Columbia, South Carolina. Tom, thank you for joining us to talk about this interesting issue.

So your watchdog group looked at the report from the energy department about this wasp nest and it sounds like your view is that the report leaves a bunch of important questions unanswered.

TOM CLEMENTS, DIRECTOR, SAVANNAH RIVER SITE WATCH: Uh, thanks, MJ. We don't know much and I -- this is really all the Department of Energy has posted publicly. Basically, one paragraph in what's called an occurrence report that was posted on July 25. And it basically says there's no problem. It's from what they call legacy contamination.

But the problem here is this was by the high-level nuclear waste tanks, which contains nuclear waste as a byproduct of plutonium production in the past. So there is either some problem at this -- they call them tank farms because there's over 20 tanks -- million- gallon tanks -- or as I have been told, it could be contamination from nearby trees where the wasps went to gather material to build their nest.

So any way you look at it there's radioactive material in the environment, and we know this because there have been leaks and accidents over the years. So this is of concern and the Department of Energy needs to provide more information about what's going on.

LEE: Yeah. So part of your concern is that where exactly this radioactive waste comes from is really important because if, for example, there is a leak, the public should know about it, right?

CLEMENTS: Well, they built the Savannah River Site with the idea of the solution to pollution is dilution. But in this case, it was -- the solution is buffering. So they put these processing facilities with high-level waste in the middle of the site. It's over 300 square miles or 1,000 square kilometers, so it's several miles to the boundary of the site. So they buffered from the public the impacts of these things.

We're talking about high-level nuclear waste. If it gets in the groundwater, it's very risky. Or why in the world would there be trees contaminated with nuclear materials -- highly active nuclear materials that the wasps gathered?

So I've been tracking Savannah River Site for over 40 years. I'm aware of other animal contamination that has occurred as well as humans, but this is a new one. I've never heard of something like this, but it does point out to the public here in South Carolina and across the river in Georgia that there's some risk out there that people should be aware of.

LEE: Yeah. That's interesting because there are a number of underground tanks that are holding nuclear waste.

I mean, how concerned should the public be about the potential for contamination or even leaks from those tanks? CLEMENTS: Well, the Department of Energy acknowledges there are risks with the tanks. Most of these tanks were built starting in the early 1950s and they're basically carbon steel. They are outside their in- use date.

So the Department of Energy is trying to empty the tanks and classify the material into small containers, and then it would go to some non- existent high-level disposal site. And that's -- the tanks are supposed to be emptied by 2033 but they're still pumping more high- level nuclear waste into the tanks.

And the ominous thing that we're looking at is they want to bring -- the Department of Energy wants to bring plutonium to the site -- t already has some plutonium -- to make the nuclear core of nuclear weapons. That's the sphere of the weapon. So that's the big project looming. And processing plutonium has risks of release or criticality.

So now we see there's a radioactive waste problem with these tanks or with some nearby contamination and now they want to bring tons of plutonium to the site to process into new nuclear warheads -- or at least the pit for the warhead. And that's of great concern and people here in South Carolina don't really know a lot about this whole plutonium pit project that's under development.

LEE: So, Tom, what are the remedies for preventing a future leak or contamination? I mean, that seems particularly important given that the Trump administration would like to invest more in nuclear energy.

CLEMENTS: Yeah, I would say two things. First thing, they need to do a better survey of the high-level nuclear waste tanks and all the pipes and pumps and see if there could be some leak there. And secondly, they need to reveal nearby contamination of vegetation. I'm just not aware of a survey near to these high-level waste tanks.

[06:00:05]

And actually, there's a third thing. There's an environmental impact statement process going on about this plutonium pit production and the draft EIS on that is going to be out next year and the public can comment.

LEE: All right.

CLEMENTS: So people need to be aware about that.

LEE: Tom Clements in South Carolina. We are out of time but thank you so much.

And thank you, everyone, for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm MJ Lee in Washington, D.C. And "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.